This morning my wife and I went to U.S. Consulate in HCMC for her interview scheduled at 8 am. We left at 6:30 and got there at 7:30 am. Sometimes after 10 am I got a phone call from my wife as she just got out of the gate. She said, it's "pink!" We are both very excited right now. The visa pickup date is June 12th. Anyway, I'll make sure to post the details later.

Less than a year for a HCMC CR-1! I think you guys set a record there! Congratulation's!

Hi Tyrobe,

I'm so happy for you and your wife.

Congratulations.

Shape

That's great news!
Congrats Tyrobe!

Congratulations! :D

I hope you can live together soon! :)

Congrat Tyrobe. I hope I'll have lucks like you

Congratulations Tyrobe.

Congratulations!!!

Congrats!

What is CR-1?

Congratulations to your approval!!

Congratulations!

Congratulations

We're glad to see that you were successful in getting your visa. Enjoy your new life together!

Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26
I-129F NOA1 : 2007-06-11
I-129F RFE(s) :
RFE Reply(s) :
I-129F NOA2 : 2007-10-26
Touched: 2007-11-02
NVC Recieved: 2007-11-16
Consulate recieved ??????
Packet 3 sent 2007-12-11
Packet 3 received 2007-12-24
Packet 3 returned 2007-12-28
Packet 4 sent 2008-1-14
Email Reply with Interview Date 2008-1-23
Interview Date 2008-2-27
Passed Interview 2008-02-27
Visa Pick Up Date 2008-3-05
Received Visa 2008-2-29 (called to pick up earlier)
POE 2008-3-05 Los Angeles
Wedding 2008-4-26

Congratulations!!!

congratulations

That's wonderful, Congratulations!!!

Congratulations!

congrats.

The CR-1 (less than 2 years married)/IR-1(more than 2 years married) Visa is an option that married couples have. It looks like you are doing a K-1, so it isn't an option for you.

It is essentially the best Visa you can get since it permits work immediately upon arrival. There is no Adjustment of Status (AOS).

congratulation!!!

Congrats to you both, Tien and Khanh. Please do post your experience at the visa interview. I'm close now (ds230 and required documents sent to nvc) and would love to have some insight of an interview at the HCM consulate... Thanks in advance and congratulations again.
Kilun

As promised, here's the details of our interview yesterday.

On Thursday, June 5, 2008 my wife and I left Bien Hoa at 6:30 am and arrived at the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City by 7:30 am. At first I didn't see any long line outside the gate so I thought we were really early. Wrong! Once we walked across the street to the gate, there was a long line of people already waiting inside.

I was carrying my passport and a 12-lbs bag of documents and with my wife on my side. Once I approached the guards outside and got ready to show him the interview letter, he immediately told me I can't go inside. Only my wife as an applicant can enter.

So we stepped aside and let another woman with a big box of documents to get in front. Then I gave my passport and a bag of documents to my wife and I told her that I'll wait for her for the good news. My wife quickly proceeded to the line inside after the guard has scanned her. Even though the appointment letter stated to not bring cell phone, my wife still kept the cell phone with her in the purse since she can check it in a locker.

After my wife entered, I walked back to the car and told my driver to drive around in order to find a good café to hang out. Eventually, my wife got through the long line to meet a staff there at window #7. She gave him the Official Documents folder that I have organized with all the required documents in order. The he asked my wife where's the photocopy of the passport. My wife forgot where exactly I put it so she just handed the whole Photocopy Documents folder to the staff. Then she was given a number 21. This number doesn't signify the order of the interview since there are people with higher numbers got calls first. Then the swearing ceremony took place together instead of individually during the interview. By the way, my wife said the Vietnamese staffs there is very rude. The discourteous staffs kept yelling at soon-to-be Americans and they even threw paperwork back after applicants handed to them.

Anyway, while waiting on the bench, my wife saw many people got blues. She sat with two other CR1 applicants. One of them is the woman carried a big box of documents with photo album. My wife was helping her earlier to get all those pictures out of the album. It's a no-no to bring album to interview. In the meanwhile they practiced asking questions with each other. The interview was taking place over a window instead of inside a room. The interviewee has to stand up throughout the interview and people behind waiting at the benches can overhear the questions being asked. It's full of anxious people in that room and it's nerve-wrenching in there.

Finally, my wife got a call for her interview around 10 am at window #9. The consular officer interviewed my wife is a small, young Asian man in his 30's. The interview lasted 5-10 minutes. Here are the questions that he asked during the interview:

- How do you meet your husband?

- When was the first time you meet him?

- Does your husband have any children?

- How many time your husband visit Vietnam? How long?

- Where do his parents live?

- Does he live by himself?

- Do you have any family members living in US?

- Which state does your older brother live?

- What does your older brother do for a living?

- Do you have any other relatives living in US?



While the consular officer asked my wife he's also filling out the pink slip. In fact, long before the interview when turning the documents, my wife noticed that a staff was filling out the pink slip with her name and case number in there. When he asked to see the pictures my wife handed him the picture of our wedding inside a Catholic church. We brought a lot of pictures but he only saw a few. When he asked how many times I visited Vietnam, my wife told the CO that I'm currently here with her but she forgot to show my passport as I've told her so. Then she just read the dates on the coversheet of the Airline Tickets folder that I have prepared. The interpreter asked for the folder so she handed the CO the whole folders of my five trips to Vietnam with boarding passes, itineraries, luggage receipts and credit card statements. Now it's almost a requirement to have proof of purchase for flight tickets for HCMC. My wife saw one applicant received a blue asking for this proof of purchase.

Well, we brought a lot of hand-written letters, phone bills and emails. We even brought our parents' birth certificates and wedding DVDs, etc. However, the CO didn't even attempt to see those. One thing that disappointed me the most is that my 60-pages Timeline of Relationship didn't receive any notice. I spent a lot of time to produce this timeline, almost a day-to-day diary. Anyway, I'm happy that we received PINK.

At the end, my wife received all the originals that I had submitted to NVC. She also got back all the paperwork that I submitted to USCIS. The funniest thing is that USCIS cut out the package box and pasted the mailing label and postage on a paper to send to NVC, then to HCMC, then to us. The package I sent to USCIS is 7 lbs 10.4 ozs for $42.15 shipping fee.

Now I'm just enjoying my time in Vietnam with my wife. We will pick up the visa on June 12th and will return to US later this month. Life is good!

Congrats to you Tyrobe. Happy that this journey has come to a successful end for you and yours. May the good Lord continue to bless, guide and protect you as you venture on this new journey called life with your wife by your side.

Tyrobe

Like you we got the cut out shipping label (from when I sent in my I-129f) when they returned the originals at HCMC Consulate.

Have a great time in Vietnam and best wishes when your return to the US!

Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26
I-129F NOA1 : 2007-06-11
I-129F RFE(s) :
RFE Reply(s) :
I-129F NOA2 : 2007-10-26
Touched: 2007-11-02
NVC Recieved: 2007-11-16
Consulate recieved ??????
Packet 3 sent 2007-12-11
Packet 3 received 2007-12-24
Packet 3 returned 2007-12-28
Packet 4 sent 2008-1-14
Email Reply with Interview Date 2008-1-23
Interview Date 2008-2-27
Passed Interview 2008-02-27
Visa Pick Up Date 2008-3-05
Received Visa 2008-2-29 (called to pick up earlier)
POE 2008-3-05 Los Angeles
Wedding 2008-4-26

Gracias for info!

Marriage License in Viet Nam is a hassle dealing w/ the Gov. It's easier in the U.S. K-1 is fine w/ me.

congrat tyrope.

Congratulations, Tyrobe! That's WONDERFUL!

--And thank you so much for taking the time to tell us how it all went down.

CongratZ!

that was a great read! i like to read the good visa journeys. my fiancee picks up her visa a few days after yours. lol only thing im wondering is why does it take so much longer for the marriage visa compared to the K1? looks like it took you guys about 1 year, and the average K1 is aobut 6 months

Congrats!

Congratulations to both of you on your visa!!! Finally this part of the journey is over.. u get to begin your life together in one place. Thanks for posting step by step of your wife's interview !

My wife and I went to HCMC at 2 pm to pick up her visa as scheduled on the pink slip. She waited until almost 5 pm when there were only five people left in the room. Then she asked the staff there to look up the visa for her. For some reason, they said my wife's visa is not ready yet! They have a week since June 5th when my wife passed her interview to print the visa. Anyway, my wife is very devastated right now.

What pissed me off was that while she checked in her bag with the cell phone, the staff(s) there took it out and played with it. They even changed the theme on the phone. Keep in mind that we also keep some personal materials on the phone. Well, we suppose to have a visa party tonight and a 3-day trip to Da Lat starting tomorrow. This event is a big turn off. I'll give the Consulate a call tomorrow to find out why. They also said they'll call us for update on the visa. Hopefully, we'll receive the visa before my return trip on June 18th. I already threw away my scheduled flight on June 16th and bought two brand new one-way ticket so my wife can accompany me on the same trip. Air China + Continental don't refund the ticket; there's an inside story but I'll tell it other time. It would suck if I've to delay my return trip to US even further. I'm an optimist so I hope for the best.

Sorry to hear that Tyrobe. I ran into the same problem. We drove to Saigon from Ben Tre to pick up the visa and they said they could not issue it to Thao. We were on our way to Da Lat,so we just continued on for the weekend. A week later, on Friday morning, I called them and they said they are ready to print the visa but they didn't know if it would be finished that day. We took a chance and rented a car to go to HCMC to pick it up. Just as we got there, they called and said come pick it up next Tuesday. That left us with only one day to have our celebration before our flight. Sometimes I think the consulate enjoys messing around with our head. Once you think everything is fine, they do something to like this to make you worry. Keep calling the consulate. It could be as simple as they couldn't print it out on Friday because hey were too busy. You may get it early next week.

Do your best to enjoy Da Lat! We stayed at Ngoc Lan Hotel, in a deluxe suite with a nice belcony facing the lake. It was a little expensive, $95 a night, but what the heck.


Good Luck!
Think Positive!
Dave

I'm so sorry, Tyrobe.

Hang in there.

I called HCMC daily and all I got was canned answers. The operator couldn't tell me the real reason why the visa can't be printed out yet. I don't understand why the staffs there just say "I don't know", instead of making non-sense statements. Anyway, I called the U.S. Department of States and they were able to tell me why. Currently, my wife is under the process of Security Check. It's a standard of procedure for everyone before the visa can be issued. Usually, the Security Check is completed before the interview has been taken place. However, for our case, we didn't have enough time before the interview for them to have Security Check done. NVC completed the case and sent to HCMC in mid May, and my wife passed her interview in half a month after the physcial file got to HCMC. Therefore, my wife's Security Check is currently taking place after the interview.

By the way, we also stayed at Ngoc Lan Hotel during part of our honeymoon last year. The view of the lake directly from the room was awesome. I would love to stay there again. Well, I was planning to have a family trip to Da Lat, but my father-in-law and my wife just got into a traffic accident right before Friday the 13th. The traffic in Vietnam is notoriously dangerous as any visitors can attest to it. Fortunately, both my father-in-law and my wife wore helmets. My wife is okay, but my father-in-law is really bad. We rushed him immediately to the hospital. I ended up cancelling the trip.

Now, the visa issue takes a back seat. Sometimes important life event puts thing into perspective. Anyway, I have to call Continental again to delay my flights yet again and have to use up my last two-weeks of vacation to stay with my wife and her family.

Sorry to hear about the accident. I'll keep him in my prayers. Please keep us posted.

Sorry to hear that Tyrobe. I hope your father-in-law comes out of it alright.

I hope your father-in-law is recovering quickly!

Thanks all for the well wishes. My father-in-law's condition has stabilized and he has checked out of the hospital.

On Tuesday, June 17th, a day before my supposed flight to US, a staff at US Consulate in HCMC called me. When I answered she didn't even ask to speak to my wife, as a main visa applicant. She even knew my full name as soon as we talked. During the coversation, she specifically mentioned about my email and explained that we can come to the Consulate to pick up the visa!

This time the lady on the phone was very courteous. I truly believed that someone at the Consulate conscientiously took the initiative to process the visa before my flight on June 18th as I've explained in the email. Another staff at the Consulate also gave us a second call later on about the visa.

My wife and I went to Saigon to pick up the visa the same day. We could have gotten on the plane late that night, but I decided to postpone our flights anyway. We'll be at Newark PoE on Wednesday, June 25th.

That's great to hear Tyrobe. Nothing like a little stress to make your hair fall out and give you an ulcer. I hope you have a nice relaxing trip home and enjoy the rest of your time in Vietnam!
Good Luck!

Good news on both counts. Congratulations!

Congrats!

Chuc Mung!

Congrat Tyrone!

well done!. Thanks for the heads up. My interview will be soon and I'm going to Vietnam soon. I will be receiving the rest of items being sent over from my wife regarding the DS-230 package. I will send it first thing Monday morning over night Express delivery. Based on your (Tyrone) account time line. It said 1 month from sending DS-230 or NVC receiving DS-230 will be the interview date. So I expect my interview date to be late July. I also received a check list requesting docs from NVC. which is the DS-230. In the letter I received also had a PRIORITY DATE for the 20th of July. Would anyone know what this means in this particular event? Other than that everything is going good. NVC has already received my I864 and seems they don't need anything from me regarding I864

Very sorry to hear that. I hope everything will turn out for the better for you and your family.

Tyrobe,

Congrats on your rapid approval. I hope my case can be as fast. I just submitted ds230 and I864 this week. Hopefullly, my case can be completed at the NVC after 2 weeks.

Now it's time for me to write the timeline. I hope my wife's interview goes smoothly as your wife's.

Thanks and good luck to you as well!

Just a quick update: My wife and I made it back to America on June 24th. Her POE was at Newark. Upon entry I took her with me on the US Citizen line. The wait was a bit long at the custom, but once her name was call it was really quick. Altogether, it took less than 5 minutes to process before we moved out of the room.

So far my wife has adjusting well, except her oral English. We spent the last several days shopping and moving stuffs around the house. And the greatest news is that we just found out that my wife is pregnant! I'll be the new dad next year!

Gratz on the news of the baby.