Thuan's experience and questions from August 19th interview

[NgocThuan 0]

I had already posted my experience at the HCM embassy; will actually outside the embassy. The following is Thuan's account:

Thuan gave them the appointment letter and got a number. She waited until 9am then they swore everyone in. A little past 10am, they call her number and Thuan gives the Vietnamese lady her packet 4 required documents. Thuan also slipped our timeline under the packet 4 stack of paperwork. The lady saw the timeline and kept it. Thuan later noticed that she didn’t keep it for another girl and the girl yells at the Vietnamese lady; they both argue then later the girl apologizes and convinces the lady to keep it. After looking at the packet 4 stuff, she asked Thuan a few questions like, have you ever traveled abroad? Have you ever been refused a visa? She also asked Thuan if she had another visa photo? Thuan said no then the lady took out one out of the 4 required photos. After that Thuan sat back down until they called her number again. A middle aged, white male interviewed her for about 20 minutes. The interview was conducted in English and Vietnamese. The CO and a Vietnamese lady translator had just finish yelling at another girl telling her to get out. Don’t stay here, go. Thuan wasn’t sure what exactly happened. The girl was already sitting down when Thuan first sat down after her first interview. She doesn’t know if the girl finished her interview and got blue and wouldn’t leave or something else happened. Thuan was a little nervous after that, but remained confident and composed. She said the CO kept a serious look on his face throughout the interview. He had her sign 230 and then did fingerprinting. He asked her right off to see our pictures; flipped through them pretty quickly and handed them to the translator to look at. He then proceeded to asked her:

1. Who is your fiancé’s best friend?

2. How does he know him?

3. How did you guys meet?

4. When did you meet?

5. How many times did you meet?

6. Why did you decide to get engaged so fast?

7. How many people attended your engagement party?

8. What does your fiancé do for a living?

9. Where does he work?

10. How many people work with him?

11. What are some of the names of your fiancé’s colleagues?

12. What are your wedding plans?

13. How much does it cost for one person (to feed them at the reception)?

14. How many people will attend?

15. Who will you invite?

16. What are your plans for a honeymoon?

17. Which hotel and the cost for hotel you will be staying at?

18. What is the cost of plane tickets to honeymoon destination?

19. Do you have any relatives in the U.S?

20. What does your fiancé do in his free time? She said I like to exercise.

21. What kind of exercises?

22. How many days of vacation per year is your fiancé allowed?

23. When did he first come to the U.S. (I was born in Vietnam)?

24. How did he come to the U.S.?

25. Who helped him come to the U.S.?

He didn't look at any other evidence (we had chatlogs, email, phone logs, trip receipts, boarding passes, ring receipt, diamond bracelet for her birthday receipt, cards, packages sent receipts and labels, and wedding plans stuff) and signed the pink slip and told her she passed. Thuan said he had both a blue and pink slip in front of him; he looked at the pictures one more time and then signed the pink. I've read in the forum that other people mentioned that the CO already had the pink ready to sign, and that they had already decided the case before the interview. Now I'm not so sure about that; perhaps they had both a blue and pink ready to be signed and the beneficiaries only saw one or the other at or near the conclusion of the interview. Just a theory. Anyways, I hope this information will help other couples prepare for their interviews.

[johncali9 6]

I had already posted my experience at the HCM embassy; will actually outside the embassy. The following is Thuan's account:

Thuan gave them the appointment letter and got a number. She waited until 9am then they swore everyone in. A little past 10am, they call her number and Thuan gives the Vietnamese lady her packet 4 required documents. Thuan also slipped our timeline under the packet 4 stack of paperwork. The lady saw the timeline and kept it. Thuan later noticed that she didn’t keep it for another girl and the girl yells at the Vietnamese lady; they both argue then later the girl apologizes and convinces the lady to keep it. After looking at the packet 4 stuff, she asked Thuan a few questions like, have you ever traveled abroad? Have you ever been refused a visa? She also asked Thuan if she had another visa photo? Thuan said no then the lady took out one out of the 4 required photos. After that Thuan sat back down until they called her number again. A middle aged, white male interviewed her for about 20 minutes. The interview was conducted in English and Vietnamese. The CO and a Vietnamese lady translator had just finish yelling at another girl telling her to get out. Don’t stay here, go. Thuan wasn’t sure what exactly happened. The girl was already sitting down when Thuan first sat down after her first interview. She doesn’t know if the girl finished her interview and got blue and wouldn’t leave or something else happened. Thuan was a little nervous after that, but remained confident and composed. She said the CO kept a serious look on his face throughout the interview. He had her sign 230 and then did fingerprinting. He asked her right off to see our pictures; flipped through them pretty quickly and handed them to the translator to look at. He then proceeded to asked her:

1. Who is your fiancé’s best friend?

2. How does he know him?

3. How did you guys meet?

4. When did you meet?

5. How many times did you meet?

6. Why did you decide to get engaged so fast?

7. How many people attended your engagement party?

8. What does your fiancé do for a living?

9. Where does he work?

10. How many people work with him?

11. What are some of the names of your fiancé’s colleagues?

12. What are your wedding plans?

13. How much does it cost for one person (to feed them at the reception)?

14. How many people will attend?

15. Who will you invite?

16. What are your plans for a honeymoon?

17. Which hotel and the cost for hotel you will be staying at?

18. What is the cost of plane tickets to honeymoon destination?

19. Do you have any relatives in the U.S?

20. What does your fiancé do in his free time? She said I like to exercise.

21. What kind of exercises?

22. How many days of vacation per year is your fiancé allowed?

23. When did he first come to the U.S. (I was born in Vietnam)?

24. How did he come to the U.S.?

25. Who helped him come to the U.S.?

He didn't look at any other evidence (we had chatlogs, email, phone logs, trip receipts, boarding passes, ring receipt, diamond bracelet for her birthday receipt, cards, packages sent receipts and labels, and wedding plans stuff) and signed the pink slip and told her she passed. Thuan said he had both a blue and pink slip in front of him; he looked at the pictures one more time and then signed the pink. I've read in the forum that other people mentioned that the CO already had the pink ready to sign, and that they had already decided the case before the interview. Now I'm not so sure about that; perhaps they had both a blue and pink ready to be signed and the beneficiaries only saw one or the other at or near the conclusion of the interview. Just a theory. Anyways, I hope this information will help other couples prepare for their interviews.

Hello friend

Oh my godddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd Thank you so much ,to let us know

JOhncali9

[NgocThuan 0]

My pleasure.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I suspect your case was borderline, so they prepared both slips pending the outcome of the interview. It sounds like this was one of those relatively rare cases in HCM where the interview actually WAS the make-or-break factor in getting the visa. In most cases where beneficiary has seen a slip already prepared, there was only one slip, and it was the one they received at the end of the interview.

Congrats on pink!

[NgocThuan 0]

I suspect your case was borderline, so they prepared both slips pending the outcome of the interview. It sounds like this was one of those relatively rare cases in HCM where the interview actually WAS the make-or-break factor in getting the visa. In most cases where beneficiary has seen a slip already prepared, there was only one slip, and it was the one they received at the end of the interview.

Congrats on pink!

Good point. I'm a little curious as to why he didn't look at the rest of the evidence if our case was borderline; our major concern was only knowing each other for 2 months before the engagement and me traveling to VN only twice. I felt these were the weakest points of our case, so maybe that's why he had the pink and blue ready, waiting for our explanation before deciding. Anyways, I'm glad he chose pink. Thanks.

[kevinbui86 0]

yea, it was pretty much the same story as my wife's interview. there was a pink and blue on the table. after a few questions, the C.O put the blue away and reach for the pink

[hniHnitsuJ 8]

so.. your wife got a pink.

congrats..

[AlanYen 0]

Thanks for the post.... Great info ... Good luck on your future plans...

[NgocThuan 0]

yea, it was pretty much the same story as my wife's interview. there was a pink and blue on the table. after a few questions, the C.O put the blue away and reach for the pink

Congrats! Wish you guys all the best, and remember to cherish her everyday.

[NgocThuan 0]

Thanks for the post.... Great info ... Good luck on your future plans...

It's my pleasure and thank you; we plan on getting married within 90 days of her arrival to the U.S.

[anh tien 0]

could you please elaborate some more about slipping in the timeline? the person looking over the required documents accepted it? and sometimes not accept it? thanks.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Thank you for telling us about the interview experience. We ask over and over and few do so and it is a real help to others. Again many congrats and God bless.

[NgocThuan 0]

could you please elaborate some more about slipping in the timeline? the person looking over the required documents accepted it? and sometimes not accept it? thanks.

We first organized all the packet 4 documents according to the instructions letter, then she placed our timeline underneath everything. When she presented to the Vietnamese lady, she looked at it and kept it. Thuan noticed she didn't keep it for another girl; she took it out of her stack of documents and gave it back to her. The girl got angry and they exchanged words until the lady asked her to sit down. A little while later, the girl realized that sweet words work a little better, so she apologized to the lady and in a very nice way asked her to please accept the timeline, which she did. I'm not sure why she gave the girl a hard time in the first place. Thuan was very nice and courteous with the lady from the start; perhaps that's why she didn't give Thuan a hard time. Not sure what their normal policy/procedure is regarding when someone can turn in the timeline. I guess normally the timeline is handed to the CO directly by the beneficiary. Thuan and I wanted to make sure he had it infront of him and maybe a little time to read it before he interviewed her. I'm glad we did because he did read it; I know because some of the questions he asked her were related to specific things I mentioned in the timeline. I heard of some people sending in their timeline before the interview; I believe Anh map was one of the ones that mailed in the timeline directly to the embassy. Not sure.

[NgocThuan 0]

Thank you for telling us about the interview experience. We ask over and over and few do so and it is a real help to others. Again many congrats and God bless.

You're very welcome. Thanks to the info and advice from others on VJ, we were able to prepare well for her interview. I would have never known about submitting a timeline and other stuff without the help of others on VJ. So now I want to help others still on their journey. Thanks a million!