field_get_items('user', $user, 'field_name') empty? I have a added data to the user using:

taxonomy_term_reference


when creating the

field_create_instance($instance)


and everything is working fine, I can add and store values and these are added to the specified vocabulary.

The problem is, I cannot extract the value added as a term to the $user object using field_get_items and field_view_value since field_get_items('user', $user, 'field_name') is empty.

Is field_get_items and field_view_value not applicable to $user?
I was experiencing the same issue. field_get_items was always empty when trying to get a field attached to a user. The problem was that the $user object you get when you do a 

global $user

isn't the full entity. So when you pass it into the field_get_items function, it doesn't match anything.

Do a full user_load on the $user->uid and THEN pass the resulting object to field_get_items, and everything should work.