You haven't heard anything because they haven't even started your ts, and they won't until after you ship out.
Travel opportunities for Ns are very limited. They don't do DIRSUP.
China is a bigger deal than Taiwan, but any foreign contacts you maintain will at the very least delay your clearance because they have to be investigated, if not outright disqualify you. Everyone I knew who had foreign contacts spent months, sometimes years waiting on their clearances while the rest of us were working.
|