Ben Arterburn is the Director of Consular Affairs at Argo. He served as a U.S. diplomat for 6 years, making decisions on over 60,000 visa applications in China and Colombia. Having worked in immigrant visas, nonimmigrant visas, and fraud prevention, he is an expert on all aspects of the visa application and interview process. Before leaving the State Department, Ben served as the Press Secretary and spokesperson for the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, China. While serving as a visa officer, Ben saw that visa applicants had very little access to accurate, authoritative information about how the visa process works, and many applicants were refused their visas unnecessarily. He became an immigration and visa consultant to help prevent that. Ben has a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and a master’s degree in contemporary Chinese studies from Columbia University. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, and he can order a meal Portuguese, French, Cantonese, and Vietnamese.
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What’s the most useless talent you have?
‍I am a Chinese noodle aficionado. I've studied all different types of Chinese noodle techniques from masters in China.

‍What fashion trend needs to be brought back? 
‍I'm not very nostalgic for the past.  Let's create some new trends.