I got my letter from the NVC last week saying they were sending the petition to HCMC with in a week. About how long will it take for packet 3? I heard about 3 weeks? Will Tram be able to just pick the packet up to save time?

Can someone point me to a post or guide about what is in the VIETNAM packet 3? I have my financial evidence stuff almost done and i will be sending it to Tram this weekend. Is there anything else i will need to send her ASAP?

I will be going back late in OCT and i will be putting together the evidences and etc that she will take to the interview at that time.

Assuming that HCMC gets my App this week when could i expect an interview date? Would it be looking like Nov or Dec time frame or pushing into Jan, Feb? My NOA2 date was 8/3 so end of december would be just under 5 months. Any chance of her getting the interview early Dec?

From my experience, it takes about 1.5 months from NOA2 to packet 3 received. Then packet 3 submission to interview date used to be 3-4 months, but recently it's been more like 2.5 months. Looking at your timeline, I would expect an interview in December, more likely late December rather than early, and maybe even January.

For samples of packet 3 & 4 in HCMC, please refer to this old post by member scy (many thanks!):

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14246

I had a question relating to packet3 as well. My wife (stupidly) mailed the packet instead of actually turning it into the consulate. She did this on June 10 and yesterday I called to inquire about why packet 4 hasn't been sent yet, and they told me that they didn't receive the packet3 yet.

I know there's a backlog problem with tons of paperwork, but June 10 was quite a while ago and they have not gotten around to it yet. Should I be concerned about the mail? I'm not sure whether I should tell her to do the paper again or just wait longer.

Any advice I can get would be great. Thanks in advance..

I would try to verify whether or not packet 3 was received as soon as possible. Call the consulate one more time or two. If the answers are all "packet 3 not received," then she needs to pick up a blank packet 3 from the consulate and resubmit it (in person this time) asap.