Blue Slip

[J & Q 0]

I am not sure that he thought that I was from the US government as I had been dealing with the same person from day 1. He said off the record that they make it difficult because they frown on Americans, especially white American, marrying Vietnamese citizens.

I believe that it is probably the same mindset with most Vietnamese officials.

J & Q

I understand now why you asked about the SOS stamp. I have a little problem with the Vietnamese Consulate in SFO in calling them on the phone about the visa fee. They don't like to answer the phone..... And depending on who finally answers, you get brief answer sometimes "friendly" and sometimes not.

It seems the person you originally sent your documents to at the Vietamese Embassy is thinking you're from the US government.......

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

[Teacher Mark 53]

Wow what an article. Thanks for sharing. There are certainly a lot of interesting points especially about marrying a Vietnamese citizen.

I actually went that approach and hit nothing but road blocks. It was certainly a very costly and timely mistake but I certainly learned a lot from it, not that it will be useful in any way. Even the Vietnam Consulate in DC is extremely difficult to deal with. They want things that are impossible to obtain. For instance, the Vietnam Consulate required all and every document to be notarized, authenticated by the County Clerk, and sealed by the Secretary of State. Well, they kept denying the forms saying that it wasn't properly authenticated. This went on for about a month until I finally got fed up and drove from NY to DC to meet the consulate in person. The person who I had ongoing dealings with who said it was incorrect stamped all of the papers right then and there. I wasn’t there for more than 10 minutes. I asked him why we denied the papers if everything was correct to begin with. He of course couldn’t answer my questions. He just replying “oh I see.” I don’t know what the hell he saw. I think that he was surprised that I actually went to the extent to come there in person. Dealing with the Department of Justice in Vietnam is a totally different story. I could write a book about my experiences as I am sure that anyone who has been through it can.

Why were you dealing with the Vietnamese Consulate? Were you married in Viet Nam?

[J & Q 0]

Wow what an article. Thanks for sharing. There are certainly a lot of interesting points especially about marrying a Vietnamese citizen.

I actually went that approach and hit nothing but road blocks. It was certainly a very costly and timely mistake but I certainly learned a lot from it, not that it will be useful in any way. Even the Vietnam Consulate in DC is extremely difficult to deal with. They want things that are impossible to obtain. For instance, the Vietnam Consulate required all and every document to be notarized, authenticated by the County Clerk, and sealed by the Secretary of State. Well, they kept denying the forms saying that it wasn't properly authenticated. This went on for about a month until I finally got fed up and drove from NY to DC to meet the consulate in person. The person who I had ongoing dealings with who said it was incorrect stamped all of the papers right then and there. I wasn’t there for more than 10 minutes. I asked him why we denied the papers if everything was correct to begin with. He of course couldn’t answer my questions. He just replying “oh I see.” I don’t know what the hell he saw. I think that he was surprised that I actually went to the extent to come there in person. Dealing with the Department of Justice in Vietnam is a totally different story. I could write a book about my experiences as I am sure that anyone who has been through it can.

Why were you dealing with the Vietnamese Consulate? Were you married in Viet Nam?

Technically no. We had a wedding and everything but were never able to get our marriage license from the Department of Justice in her village.

[Teacher Mark 53]

O.K., I remember now. You were there twice trying to get married. What a pain in the a$$.

[J & Q 0]

O.K., I remember now. You were there twice trying to get married. What a pain in the a$$.

Indeed. This isn't much easier though. Hopefully it will all be in the past soon and we will be together. That is the dream anyway. I guess nothing worth having comes easy and they surely do a good job so it isn't easy. I am sure that a lot of relationships fail due to all of the red tape with the whole process.