I spoke to recruitment on this issue for a friend of mine who was desiring to work for Cathay while he hoped for FedEx.

I mentioned that the individual would maintain a residence in the USA. The reply I received stated, "Where would he be during training?" I said he'd be trained in Hong Kong but based in the USA. "Where would he reside while in training?" I said, "Hong Kong". I was told that his training event would constitute "residing" outside of the USA and thus he'd have to wait five-years to re-apply.

This is a part of the FedEx postal service contract.