i met my fiancee on-line in January of 2006. we have been engaged since June of 2006 (my first visit to Vietnam). i began the petition in August of 2006. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh received petition in September 2006. i visited her again in October of 2006. she had her interveiw in April of 2007.
at her interview she recieved a blue slip stating more evidence of relationship was needed. everything needed was submitted one month later. she then received a green slip stating that their office needed more time to process our case. i fruitlessly waited 6 months with no progress. i finally went to the Consulate and requested to speak with the Chief Immigration Officer. his name is Greg Adamson or Addenson. actually, he seems like a nice guy. anyway, he told me that they were very sceptical of my petition (appearently they felt it was a shame). i asked him what i could do to help solve the problem. with a little persistence, he granted the visa (pink slip). my fiancee picked it up a week later.

Quite an ordeal, congratulations on receiving the visa

Congratulations and best of luck on the continued journey!

STL_HCMC

congrats!

Any ideas on why they were skeptical?

No doubt going there and arguing your case showed a lot to CIO.
Sounds like your lady would have been denied if you hadn't.
Good work!

My opinion: long courtships for the consulate = real deal.

Anything less than two year courtship; they'll be skeptical.

I would too, wouldn't you?
To mytrang_chinhgoc, time and time, I see people get blue and green consistantly when it comes to case that has a short timeline, nothing personal or special treatment which HCMC gives your case. I'm glad you take the process with a clear mind and high concentration and extremely focus. Congratulations and let's this be an example and encouragement for all who are going through and struggle with HCMC.

Chuck and Kim

congratulations to your Visa!!!!

Congrats! Nice job getting the pink! She'll be home for Christmas!

You stuck it out to the end...man, that is a long wait , but you did it and now you have the reward with your sweet wife...congrats! HCMC is a rough post, but you toughed it out ..

Thanks for sharing your story and I'm glad everything was able to work out for you and fiancee. Congratulations!

It's understandable why they would be skeptical at HCMC, but I always liken the situation to my parents (met to married in 6 months, 24 years later still married) and my younger brother (met to married in 5 months, married for 2 years now). You can never really know when it comes to love. It is still very understandable that such a high fraud post would be skeptical though.

I did read through a couple posts and saw that yours had a real tough interview. Does she only speak Viet or does she know english as well? I'm assuming she spoke Viet and the translator messed around with her?

I can only imagine (for now) how good it feels to know you got the pink in the end.

No, I don't think I'd automatically think shorter courtships are a fraud. There are alot of people who get married after knowing each other less than a month and stay married for decades.

If you love someone, why would you want to wait for years to be next to them?

I agree. It's hard to put a timeline on love. Some can love at first sight and other can take years to develope the same kind of love. It's one of those things only your heart will know at that moment.

If people here saw the terrible way that some applicants are treated; these "kind" words of understanding their scepticism probably would not be said.

I saw the way one of the CO's was treating an applicant. In my opinion, he was very unprofessional. He looked angry to me. He used the interpreters to speak with applicants. I'm pretty sure he's the same guy who interviewed my wife based upon her description. My wife ended up in tears after speaking to him and I bet she's not the only one.

However, they aren't all bad. When I went into the consulate, the CO that I talked to was polite. He was not the same angry guy that I saw talking to others. This guy spoke Vietnamese and seemed to talk politely to the Vietnamese applicants. I actually saw him speaking Vietnamese to an interviewee without an interpreter.

What a great Christmas present

Congrats

AustinJohn and Neverseen,

Nothing personal, but your case is only special to you and you alone. In the eyes of the C.O., you are some random people from the States come into this third world underdeveloped country to marry some Vietnamese woman for a wife and they (C.O.'s) have to review your case, make their decision to grant a visa or more evidence is needed. NEXT! Nothing personal and nothing means, just business as usual. Don't take it personal if the C.O.'s yell or mistreated your S.O., so what, don't blame them, blame the ones who lie and fraud their way to HCMC for years. I would keep this reality in mind and prepare, overload your case with evidence and don't hope or count on your girlfriend will get an easy/nice C.O., prepare for the worst and anything else is just icing on the cake brothers!

mytrang_chinhgoc gives us a lesson that readers on VJ should learn, I myself did too, be patience and persistence are the two main drives you want to possess during this Visa journey, especially through HCMC. Remember, HCMC don't owe you anything, they got something that you want (K-1, K-3 Visa), so convince them and hope they yield to favor your case!

Chuck and Kim

You are correct at the point that "no one can explain what is love". Love can come anytime, anywhere.

But the CO are still very surprised if the wife/fiance cannot speak English while the husband/fiance is the Americans. Then if your timeline is short, it will raise the doubtfull. In this situation, your case may be delayed in long time.

If your case is delayed, the American husband/fiance should come to the Consulate to clearify the situation and try to meet the CO to explain/talk to them. That way can help to cut short the time.

I agreed with chuckandkim in this point. Mytrang-chinhgoc did the right way.

Hien