Whats the hold-up??

[Anh bob 0]

My wife had her interview November 9,2009. After the interview she received a blue slip, they wanted additional papers and gave a date to return on December 7, 2009 but at the bottom of the slip it said the information could be submitted at any time. So we gave them the papers they wanted on November 13,2009 as was told to "go home and wait for a letter".Well, its been 6+ months and haven't received a letter yet. I've e-mailed them many times and they only say it has to be reviewed by a officer. The last e-mail stated that they have over 30,000 cases a year.

On March 1st, we went to HCM to ask at the consulate about the hold-up. I went in both days (Tues. and Wed) for 3 weeks with no luck. I even demanded to speak with a supervisor which was no help. I talked with Marc Ellis on the phone and went to his office to speak with his assoiciate. ME told me only a court order could make them review the case faster, but its almost impossible to get a court order. His assoiciate only told me to continue to go to the consulate as often as I could and said e-mailing them wasn't a good way to find out.

Anyone have any other ideas what can be done or how long it will take?

[ScottThuy 140]

I have talked to ME several times as well with similar info provided... The congressional or Senatorial inquiries become part of the case file.. they can't speed up the review or make anyone do anything, they do document your inquiry and the ongoing importance of the petition to you.. as does your visits to the consulate....

The emails seem to be pretty useless in many ways since they appear to be answered by those local VN clerks, but they do become part of the case file as well...

As Marc said.. there isn't anything anyone can do to "make them" look at the file, but he told me that there is hope that they will clean house of pending cases before the new Consular General comes to office this summer.... contrary to Jeromes report, it is also common for the consulate to clean house before the end of the fiscal year.... filing a writ is an option,but it takes along time and can cost a bit of $...

There is no incentive for the CO to do anything other than the new cases and interviews until they have to complete an annual report for Washington... as long as everything seems to be going smooth in Fairfax's eyes.. things will keep going the way they are.... he won't be there much longer...

Stick to your guns and stay on them with inquiries.. any form that you can... Congress, Senate and emails and in person... I will likely be submiting additional evidence via mail or fed ex in the coming week.... another way to get someone to actually open the case folder to slip a piece of paper in it....

What you have done so far is similar to what Fred did... he also had Dao go to the consulate several times to submit additional evidence.... look how long they sat waiting...

[BinhJerome 14]

Scott is right on many points, there is nothing you can really do to speed up the process, but every inquiry you make does go into your file, at least it is supposed to. There is no standard “cleaning house” that they do in HCMC, at least none that my friend which is a current CO in HCMC would admit to. The best bet is to keep emailing them, and while in Vietnam if you have the time keep going in there when possible. It might not actually get them to do anything, but at least you will have the peace of mind knowing that you did everything you could. Jerome

[feelinglucky 1]

Bob, I hate to say it but you made things more harder on yourselves. In this case the system had let you down. During your submission the CO who took your docs. should have sad to come back on the schedule date of submission as well. This is the only date that CO will review your file again in front of you or the benificary. Just submitting early, only gets the docs in early but there is no advantage. They will only review on that schedule date. The correct approach was to go back on that date with a copy of the blue slip and meet with the CO and hear what decision they have made at that time. I only saying this now for other members who have future interviews to keep this in mind. Did you try call DOS to see the status on thier system (AP, AR)?

[BinhJerome 14]

Bob, I hate to say it but you made things more harder on yourselves. In this case the system had let you down. During your submission the CO who took your docs. should have sad to come back on the schedule date of submission as well. This is the only date that CO will review your file again in front of you or the benificary. Just submitting early, only gets the docs in early but there is no advantage. They will only review on that schedule date. The correct approach was to go back on that date with a copy of the blue slip and meet with the CO and hear what decision they have made at that time. I only saying this now for other members who have future interviews to keep this in mind. Did you try call DOS to see the status on thier system (AP, AR)?

I am sorry, but I disagree, the CO I know in HCMC says it is always better to submit early, we did that, then when Binh went on the date it said to go on she wasted a entire day because she never got to see the CO, and finally they just handed her the other blue slip stating we needed to do nothing that they needed more time. Our case might have been different since we later found out that the interviewing CO lied and was never going to give us an approval, but I will check with my friend on his take of the situation, we are planning on having lunch Friday or Saturday and I will see what his take is on showing up on the date as well. But as in our case it did not make a difference and it didn’t on quite a few others as well. I know many people that have also submitted on the date, and turned in the evidence, only to wait for a few more hours, never seeing a CO then getting another blue slip. Hopefully by the end of the week I can find out more on this subject. Jerome

[feelinglucky 1]

Jerome, It your god given right to disagree with me, but my point i was trying to make flew over your head. You should have talked to your CO friend first before commenting, very intereseted to find out what he says about this situation. I personally heard this advice given to petitoners during their submission several times. How many times have you heard the advice given by a CO? By showing up Bob will at the very least get a desicsion, (approval, denied, or another blue ). At least he will know where he stands, not just going home to wait near the mailbox.You stated that you know many people who submitted on the day schedule. But how many people you know went to submit early ( didnt go back on schedule date) and didnt get any type of response execpt for go home and we will mail you something that has never came yet.

[BinhJerome 14]

Jerome, It your god given right to disagree with me, but my point i was trying to make flew over your head. You should have talked to your CO friend first before commenting, very intereseted to find out what he says about this situation. I personally heard this advice given to petitoners during their submission several times. How many times have you heard the advice given by a CO? By showing up Bob will at the very least get a desicsion, (approval, denied, or another blue ). At least he will know where he stands, not just going home to wait near the mailbox.You stated that you know many people who submitted on the day schedule. But how many people you know went to submit early ( didnt go back on schedule date) and didnt get any type of response execpt for go home and we will mail you something that has never came yet.

I do know a few people that have submitted early and never went back, not as many, but a few. I do agree that he should have gone back regardless, but I was stating that he would have still probably gotten the same result. I know one person that did not go back, and they called them about a week after the resubmission date requesting that they go to the consulate to pick up something, and low and behold it was the visa, but there is no clear indication that it was waiting for them at the time of interview. As I also said I will talk to the CO and see what his take is at the end of the week, but as your opinion was he should have gone and if he had, he would have gotten something, my opinion was that even if he had gone he would probably have the same result. We all also know that they tell you to show up on the resubmission date (I am not disputing that), and when most people do, they wait around for hours only to receive another blue slip. The only difference between them and him is that he never got handed the second blue slip. Look at all the people that did resubmit and then went back at the date that are still in AP, they know just as much as the OP does, ####### for tat they are both in the same boat with the only exception being the ones that went back spent hours at the consulate to get another blue slip clearly stating what the OP has been told. “Your case requires additional processing; we will contact you when we have reached our decision.”

I also think that in the past when to resubmit has been an issue that many people do not agree with, and the Co I talked to said he would rather see the documents submitted early because in his view it shows interest in getting through the process as quickly as possible (so if you are reading between the lines it clearly also means to go back on the resubmission date). Jerome

[feelinglucky 1]

Jerome, Im in a frisky mood tonite so Im gonna keep it going. In my OP I have stated 5 points that i believe how the matter should have been handle on boths side ( benificary and consulate).

1) Accepting CO should have advised benificary to return on date to receive a descision of any kind.

2) The CO has to give the benificary a decision about the petition on that date. (approval, denial, or AP)

3) Benificary should have gone back on date to receive a decision. (nowhere in my OP did I mention or inferred that an approval was waiting)

4) There is no advantage to submitting early. (i.e. submitting early doesnt make the CO review the file EARILER)

5) The file will only be reveiw again on that date, if a date for resubmission was given. (BOB was given one)

Please indulge me and specify which part of my argument do disagree with. In your earlier post you used your personal expericence as a reference. You said that you submitted early and went back and found out it was a waste of time. Would you have made that same statement if you had gotten an approval? New members might read it and think that your insinuation was correct, and not bother to show up later. Finally in your last post you justified your reasons to submit early, because it gives the preception that the petitioner and benificary are eager to finish the case. Does that mean the rest of us that submitted on the date specified dont care about our petitions and the consulate and take as long as they want? Let me know if I have missed anything between the lines, reading between them isn't one of my strong points.

FeelingFrisky Tonight

[ScottThuy 140]

Please note that resubmissions submitted at a time other than the date indicated on the OF-194 (earlier or later than the appointment) will be reviewed at a later date.

straight from the site....

[BinhJerome 14]

Jerome, Im in a frisky mood tonite so Im gonna keep it going. In my OP I have stated 5 points that i believe how the matter should have been handle on boths side ( benificary and consulate).

1) Accepting CO should have advised benificary to return on date to receive a descision of any kind.

2) The CO has to give the benificary a decision about the petition on that date. (approval, denial, or AP)

3) Benificary should have gone back on date to receive a decision. (nowhere in my OP did I mention or inferred that an approval was waiting)

4) There is no advantage to submitting early. (i.e. submitting early doesnt make the CO review the file EARILER)

5) The file will only be reveiw again on that date, if a date for resubmission was given. (BOB was given one)

Please indulge me and specify which part of my argument do disagree with. In your earlier post you used your personal expericence as a reference. You said that you submitted early and went back and found out it was a waste of time. Would you have made that same statement if you had gotten an approval? New members might read it and think that your insinuation was correct, and not bother to show up later. Finally in your last post you justified your reasons to submit early, because it gives the preception that the petitioner and benificary are eager to finish the case. Does that mean the rest of us that submitted on the date specified dont care about our petitions and the consulate and take as long as they want? Let me know if I have missed anything between the lines, reading between them isn't one of my strong points.

FeelingFrisky Tonight

Very well put and you make great points. I do admit my first post might have been a bit misleading, and I will address all of your points.

1) I agree the accepting person should have advised to return on the date, however at times when all the requested information is turned in early they will advise NOT to come back on the date since they will need to review the recently received evidence ( I also agree they should have returned no matter what)

2) I agree the CO does have to give some sort of notice of action (I never disagreed with this statement; I just feel that you will be waiting for another blue slip is all. When Binh went back on the date she did NOT see the interviewing CO and only talked to a Vietnamese person that did not know why she was there since she had already submitted the evidence) Thus she was given the second blue slip.

3) Yes I agree that the beneficiary should have gone back, even knowing what I know and what we have dealt with in regards to our own case experience, and I did not mean to insinuate that you said to get an approval, I simply threw in the case I know of that it happened that way, another person that did go back on the date I think was Luckytxn and he also got an approval but not 1005 sure on this.

4) I disagree with this and agree with it,(disagree) the CO I know clearly told me that he would rather have a person submit earlier, and that he said (not I) that it feels to him they are truly motivated to keep the process running as fast as possible. (agree) Because it was submitted early the CO might have other things going on and there is now no way unless he just happened to be in-between interviews or other things that he could look at it since it was not on his agenda for the day.

5) I disagree with this one, solely based on what the CO has told me in person. He has said clearly he prefers for the documents to be submitted early in my opinion this does not mean they will review the evidence if you waited until the requested submission date. Remember this is HCMC they put things on the website and then clearly go against it, as well as require evidence that no other embassy has ever requested on a regular basis such as HCMC.

With our personal experiences I do feel going back was a waste of time (meaning we got our hopes up for a decision since we submitted early) but I would do it again just because if you make sure you are there early, then again on the day, you are continuing to show commitment to your case. I am NOT stating if you only wait for the resubmission date that you are not showing commitment, but even you would have to admit that if you do submit early, then show up again in a logical situation (I know in HCMC there is very little to no logic) that you have actually given the CO the chance to look at your documents at their leisure so if you do show up you have possibly given him a chance to make a favorable decision on your case. I do feel that the consulate in HCMC takes their sweet time when doing anything, my friend even has all but said so with the comment that he has been sitting on a specific case for 4 months waiting for the petitioner or beneficiary to prove them wrong and they have done nothing since resubmission. My question to him when he made that statement was "why have you not just denied them already" his reply was "if they are not that worried about it why should I be?" This really irked me since I know Daniel and others (Scott, Huong, Ly, and many others) have been very vocal during their AP. But this leads me back to the fact that they seem to be able to do what they want when they want (within reason.) Heck according to Scott they just wait until the end of the fiscal year (which the CO said was untrue) so let's say that Scott is correct and my friend was just covering up a dirty secret that they don't want out, this clearly shows they are not giving peoples petitions the time they truly deserve, or the manpower to stay on top of them to give people their fair chance. This to me is the consulate doing whatever they want when they want. Jerome

Edited May 24, 2010 by jeromebinh

[lindal24 1]

There have been some cases (Fall 2009) that some individuals reported submitting their evidence early and getting approved (Pink) on the spot...

My recommendation and opinion is if you're going to be submitting documents early, be sure to keep your original blue slip so that you could go in on the date instructed on your slip to follow-up.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Jerome, It your god given right to disagree with me, but my point i was trying to make flew over your head. You should have talked to your CO friend first before commenting, very intereseted to find out what he says about this situation. I personally heard this advice given to petitoners during their submission several times. How many times have you heard the advice given by a CO? By showing up Bob will at the very least get a desicsion, (approval, denied, or another blue ). At least he will know where he stands, not just going home to wait near the mailbox.You stated that you know many people who submitted on the day schedule. But how many people you know went to submit early ( didnt go back on schedule date) and didnt get any type of response execpt for go home and we will mail you something that has never came yet.

I can vouch that going in early can be good. My fiancee was supposed to come back and submit additional info a month later but came back a week later and submitted and received the pink slip that same day and I know for a fact that others have done so too. So don't try to sound like a know it all and give out false info. This causes more harm than good.

[feelinglucky 1]

Lukytan, Jerome wrote he also submitted early and got another blue, in his opion a waste of time. You submitted early and got a pink. You consider it benifical. Both of you did the same but came away with different result. My point is if the OP had submitted earlier and got no descision or blue sheet, he or any other future applicant should go back on asigned date as well. How hard is that for you to UNDERSTAND. Instead of commenting on the your past experience why not try and look at my post objectively. I post in good faith I dont need your flack.

[Anh bob 0]

So I take it no one knows how long we will have to wait??

[ScottThuy 140]

it could take up to a year from the date of the interview if it is only at the consulate..longer if they send the case to DoS for security checks (usually MENA)... they will likely be doing something in the coming month or two.. it all depends on the CO and nobody can speed them up... the only thing that can force them is a writ of mandamus and that takes along time and $... steady inquiries is about all one can do aside from providing additional evidence to them..

My congressman and senator send inquiries for me regularly and I send emails every 2 or 3 weeks... There has been some recent activity on our case as well as another VJer in AP so this could be a good sign that we will see decisions soon...