sweetiewynn

Here's one just for the co's on here. Good job busting the scammers in Utah! Now howzabout letting the non-scammers through?

Let me ask you this: If I can catch one or two scammers for you and get enough proof for you to prosecute or whatever, would you make a deal with me and let my sweetie through? I am convinced that an acquaintance I met has information which could be useful and I think I could probably find out what you require. However, last time I helped you out it didn't do us any good. All I got was escorted out of your consular building by an armed guard after offering up information. This time I want it in writing the deal and then I would be willing to invest my time in tracking down a criminal for you. Without any assurance that it would in fact helop our case I pretty much don't care anymore about helping you. PM me with the written deal and it will be done. You can be the big hero and take all the credit. I don't care about that I just want my sweetie with me.

If you can't see the characters it means you don't have Japanese fonts installed. The post is posted correctly.

-Hope that helps.

Try downloading Howie's funware to capture your screen. Go here to download. www.howiesfunware.com. My future husband and I used it during our chatting. Good luck.

Thanks I think the print screen is what I will try first

Thanks,

CJ

The article is a little unclear as to the how where and why's related to it all. From what I get this must have been part of a scam involving the suspects mentioned in the article, but also must have included people buying a visa from someone and I would think also involved someone in Korea who would have to be posing as a husband or a wife or whatever for the person who bought the visa. Then the person who had bought the visa would also have to go along with some story... This all sounds so elaborately created and has so many people involved but we ned more information. Anyone who knows, please post.

Congrats you two. So let me guess, she's on the next plane you can get?

So the other day I heard all this talk on the radio about North Korea supposedly talking about firing a test missile at Alaska and Condoleeza goes on to threaten that if N. Korea goes ahead with this test then there's going to be trouble.

#######? They have ALREADY HIT ALASKA - almost 3 years ago now. Me and several other people have been trying to draw attention to that fact for years now and now this? I can't believe the blatant disinformation our propogandized "news" sources get away with these days.

Here it is in mainstream news that N. Korean has in fact already hit the U.S. with a test missile!

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200...17272311970.htm

(for those of you who just can't believe it and think this is some kind of a Korean joke, it was also reported in BBC and if I can find it I will post it.

We have a possible BREAKTHROUGH in our case:

Ok, I called the state department's Office of Visa Services that is mentioned on: http://www.usaimmigrationattorney.com/Secu...tiveReview.html under the section

titled, "ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW" and talked to a real live person. She

told me two times that there was nothing I could do, just to wait.

They are investigating and I asked how I can help and she said nothing

I can do, they have their own ways.. Then I tried to keep her on the

line a little longer by talking about it and just repeating like she

told so it was clear like while I thought of a way to pry more. Then

I asked her like this "you know, I have nothing to hide and I will

help them however they need and point them in the right direction in

any way I can and asked but what I am trying to do is find out the

reason for suspicion and then I can help them find anything they are

looking for or clear anything up. So... Guess what? Then she asked

if I have been married before and asked me about that. I told her

"twice, yes" and just told her. Then she asked if I ever brought

anyone here before and I told her "no" and she was surprised but asked

if I ever filed an I-129f before and I said "no" but I told her I did

file an I-130 before and never followed through on it and never heard

back or got her a visa. She said like "oh so you brought someone here

before" and I said "no, no, hold on, no, she was here already!!!"

God! So then she told me that probably they were thinking I had

brought someone here before and I had to eplain clearly to her that,

no, I never did and no, I never followed through and also never heard

anything back and actually though, I was not sure if I had ever mailed

that paper or not. It has been a few years and I didn't even know if

I had actually put it in the mail or not because as soon as I figured

out what she was after (visa and $) I decided to divorce her and also

put her on a plane to Mexico! God! So now I know! Now I know it is

that wench AGAIN causing me headache o mania. Ok, I think I am going

to be able to clear this up right quick now that I know what the dayum

problem is!

I have already explained clearly to the immigration people about my previous marriage but! I did not say anything that I remember about ever filing an I-130. On the I-129f it asks if I've ever filed an I-129f and I marked "no" on my form but it doesn't ask about an already married couple filing and therefore I didn't talk much if any about the thing. Now I am just thinking of the best way to get them the investigative evidence or whatever they are looking for. Do I go see my congressman and tell him in person the problem and what the situation is? Do I write to the consulate like the woman on the phone did not advise me to do and just tell them the detailed account and help them any way I can?

Maybe I was a bit harsh in my choice of words and upset some of the c/o's or government workers and related on here. I am sorry for that and not going to blame every dry cleaner in the world for the shirt. I admit that sometimes I can punch out a pretty harsh criticism. I think the majority of the people within the consulates and embassies are good honest diligent government employees who unfortunately for them are also subject to a higher level of scrutiny from the public, and maybe the occasional overly suspicious inquisitions, etc. too. It's an important thing to point out and for the people not involved they deserve a good deal of respect and thanks for their work. These same people are the people we count on not to let things get out of hand and let's all hope the problems are going to be fixed soon or are fixed now. I'm sure it is a never-ending task for them and one that offers little back-patting from outside their circles. I don't think they have the best jobs in the world either because they have to live under this blanket of eyes and protection and though they are probably comfortably taken care of financially it's probably not all fun and games for them either. Then they get some jerk like me making broad accusations and it is a shame that the masses of govt. employees have to work so much harder and always be on the lookout for the bad apples. To those people I say kudos and please keep an open eye to make sure everything is done according to law not only for yourselves but also for everyone around you. Part of my reason for posting is to collect possible information and yes, if I do find anything worthy of reporting that can be verified I will certainly do so. I have already done it in the past, though let me clarify it was another group of people and not embassy related people. I certainly don't want to give anyone the impression that they should try for themselves anything like going to a visa broker or other scammers and no, I don't want people preying on the naive visa applicants. We don't need any more of that.

Now let me explain why I think this relates to not only our case but to any case going through one of these posts. I was told by an attorney the other day that all fiance visa cases had been or may still be currently held up because of this very issue. He was getting the informaiton as he told me so there could have been errors in the conversation but this is what he was hearing and then I told him I had heard about that but I had also heard that they had resumed processing cases. We never got a clear answer but I heard this from more than one source. It seemed as if they had internal problems which, according to the DOJ report, "FINAL THREE VISA BROKERS SENTENCED FOR WIDESPREAD INTERNATIONAL BRIBES-FOR-VISAS SCHEME" haven't necessarily been fixed and by that I mean the new procedures had not been implemented. By the way, I used the word "rampant" before taking it from the DOJ title where they use the word "widespread." I realize they have different meanings and two different things so I stand corrected about that. However, it is still concerning that 28 cases. Let's be clear that this is 28 people busted in some form or other even if only about half of them were actually able to be prosecuted. It is not the number of visas issued. According to the report, the final 3 sentenced had sold around 200 visas, so this is about 66 average per case.. .then do the math we are talking about a potential of somewhere above 1800 visas. That's not a small deal, even if spread over a few posts and my thinking tells me that if there were people to do this method of fraudulent activity, visa malfeasance, then I personally feel they would use any means available. So I personally feel like they really should get on these controls which according to the report would most likely be able to stop the majority of any insider selling of visas.

It's good to hear that one person actually came out of AR. It might take 3-5 more years for us but I am looking forward to the day I can post a similar story.

I realize many of you won't want to read the whole thing so I will give my summary of it in relative briefness.

from pp. 5 "Results in Brief":

"State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs has a set of internal controls to prevent

visa malfeasance and has taken actions to improve them; however, these

internal controls are not being fully and consistently implemented at the

posts we visited. While State’s controls are consistent with accepted

control standards, we found noncompliance with required supervisory

oversight of the visa process at 6 of the 11 posts we visited."

Basically, the October, 2005 the publication goes on to say that they looked at 11 visa issuing posts to see if the regulations they had implemented after incidents in 2002 prompted investigations, prosecutions, and sentencing for the guilty had weeded out the corruption and bribery that they had found before. What they found was that the controls they had put in place to stop the very problems which have been found within several Consular offices were not even being implemented and therefore could not possibly be stopping anything. The report also tells us that even if the controls had been implemented those controls still rely upon the honesty and integrity of the people within the Consulate or post and therefore the same bad apples can be making hundreds of thousands of dollars, just as they have been found to be doing just a few years ago, and nothing has changed. The 11 posts visited and found to have problems were:

Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam; Nogales, Guadalajara, and Mexico City, Mexico; Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador; Lima, Peru; Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand; and Mumbai, India.

I invite anyone to read starting from the section entitled "Consular Affairs Has Internal Controls over the Visa Process, but Controls Are Not Being Fully Implemented.." It tells all the ways that corrupt individuals within these posts can get a visa through in an unjustified, expedited fashion. I think it's something which needs serious attention. The previous serious attention has not been found to have made any difference and if it is something which is stopping law abiding, honest visa seekers and we find out about it I for one am going to be pissed.

Oh, wait guys, more evidence of rampant corruption within our consulates and embassies... Here's a long read that some of you might find interesting. What I get from it is this sort of thing is commonplace - so common in fact that when you read through the document they casually mention that 7 were caught selling visa issuance recommendations from people with Consular credentials and casually mention how they can't prosecute people they know about dealing in visa fraud or related because of the local laws... How the policing of the staff is pretty much left to the staff... When I was reading this document it sounds like a mob-boss instructing the thugs on how to make more money in their criminal dealings:

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06115.pdf

Have any of you seen the Power of Nightmares? It is quite an eye-opener... if you have the opportunity to see it please do... Islamic extremism and the Neo-con ideology stem from the same premise... does that surprise you???

No, why would it surprise anyone? We know Al-Quaida was not only funded by the CIA (remember the great American "hero" Ollie North?) but was actually formed by the CIA for the purpose of instigating terror acts so that the opposing government could step in and offer their solution. It's not that they stem from the same premise, it's that they ARE the same premise. Just because some of them are brown doesn't make them any different.

Being suspicious about the consular officers being involved in a conspiracy and accepting bribes as the method of visa issuance or denial decision making isn't unfounded. They were caught just a few years ago. I don't know why this article from the U.S. Department of Justice has been cut-off prematurely but it has been widely reported that a very high up officer within the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City was found guilty in a huge case of consular fraud. She lived in the same neighborhood with all the other heavily protected and shielded people so the real question for me is, was she the only one? Did they really catch everyone or did some slip through the cracks and have found better ways to hide their activities. I am not accusing but it will be interesting to see how everyone's cases are handled. It also gets very interesting hearing of all the people who somehow receive their I-129F visa within 4 months, from start to finish all the way from USCIS to visa in hand in 4 months but just need the correct attorney... It gets more interesting all the time and will be interesting to see over the next few years if anyone is able to overturn something again.

"WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott of the Eastern District of California announced today that three key �visa brokers� received sentences of 57, 41 and 30 months in prison for their roles in facilitating a bribery and visa fraud scheme involving the unlawful issuance of approximately 200 visas from the U.S. Embassies in Sri Lanka, Fiji and Vietnam"

from: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2005/February/05_crm_062.htm

Bush doesn't regret anything. Everything went exactly as planned and him and all his chronies were able to instill martial law in America while at the same time maintaining the same war profiteering tradition that his grandfather did with the Nazis, his father did in Cuba and Iraq, and now junior is keeping the war profiteering tradition alive. It's a conspiracy folks, wake up and realize it for the sake of your children.

He's not YOUR president, he's a very intelligent man acting like a dumb hayseed and is merely a puppet for the same families who've been controlling things since 1776 when the Illuminati first set up shop in Bavaria. Check your history and look up Skull and Bones or find out why Prescott Bush had his bank seized (it was a Nazi bank he was director of) or check out why King George the first tried to deny he was director of the CIA when Kennedy was assassinated saying "It must be another George Bush who was director of the CIA, it wasn't me." Conspiracy folks, see for yourselves...

I've actually considered taking them to court and try to force them to do their jobs rather than try to dissuade people from getting married. There is a case which could be used as precedence where a guy had waited almost 8 years for his family to get their visas and join him in the states. They were having doubts about the guy's genuity and were trying to wear him down because he had presented some conflicting information in error. Anyway, the guy's family was in "additional processing" and had been there for 8 years and was able to successfully force the consulate to review his case.

Hmm... maybe I will try to find that case and ya, take them to court. This is ridiculous and makes me really mad because I feel like we are being unfairly victimized.

I believe the case you are talking about involves a "writ of mandamus". Mandamus action compels an officer or employee of the US government to perform a duty owed to the plaintiff. It does not force a decision in favor of the plaintiff, but merely compels the officer to make some sort of decision. Often, the decision is to deny after such a court action. But, at least it's a decision. Mandamus action is pursued in the Federal District Court of the plaintiff.

There is a lot of good information avaliable on the web about this. If you go to Google and type in "writ of mandamus and visa cases" you will get a good list of sites to visit where you can read more.

In brief, there are certain procedures that you must exhaust before seeking a writ of mandamus. One lawyer suggests that a writ should be pursued after one year of no answer from the Consulate. The procedure involves documenting the case and contacting the particular department with notification that a mandamus is being pursued. Most cases never make it to court as the matter is often settled during the initial contact. Bringing a case against the government involves suing the Attorney General and he doesn't like being sued for a department/agency not responding to a case.

Of course all this requires a lawyer, so it will take some money if your case actually goes to court. However, if it's solved in the early stages it may be worth the money.

That's great info., wait4ever but what I am most curious about right now is have you tried this yet or why not? I think I will give it a shot and working with some Catholic Community Services here in the states. I'll be sure to get all the information and advice I can out of them concerning this idea as well. Maybe it will force a denial but that's one step closer to starting over too, and if it forces the decision as a "ya we believe you because you've totally lost your mind in the process of waiting" that's just as well too, hehehe.

Thanks for posting the experience! Congrats and welcome to America! Nha will most likely be coming through SFO one day too and good to know.

Hello VJs,

For those who'd gone through the HCMC interview, did you recieve the medical form in package 3 or package 4 like the "I-693" or something different? How soon can one schedule the medical exam at Cho Ray or IOM?

Thanks,

I don't think the consulate sends the medival form in packet 3 or 4. When your fiancee gets packet 4 encloses the appoinment letter, she needs to bring it to Cho Ray or IOM and there they will have forms for her.

It's a beautiful ring, Matt. I haven't seen my wedding ring yet though it had been here for a while. I promised Nathan not to look at it and I kept my word. When he left here last time I gave back him all of the jewels because I worry I may lose them when I travel there.

Nathan broght two bottles of wine and jewelry here without any problem. My family in USA has done that many times and they have no problem so far.

Yes, you can and they won't tax on you. You even can bring two bottles of wine and jewelry too.

We are happy for you.

Can't wait to hear your news. Good luck.

ds-230 part 1 again, ds-156, ds-156K, birth certificates (hers and yours), medical documents, interview letter,..... tell her to read the instruction in paket 4. They tell everything what they need.

Good luck.

Yes, you can do that and then print out. It doesn't matter you write or type.

Nathan,

Will Miss Anh be able to get a visa to "visit" Canada?

Just curious?

GOOD LUCK

She could likely get a visitor's visa but that also requires that we have (I am paraphrasing, despite the quotation marks) "enough money to stay for 6 months and also to return home", which, when I checked is equal to about $10,000 sitting in stocks or a bank or something.

The way I am thinking right now to do it is to come in as skilled workers. The most amazing part is that she can come in as my commonlaw wife and no need to be technically married - This is according to what I have learned so far but I could definitely be wrong and I am still not convinced it can be so easy.. As my commonlaw wife, we are looked at together and it actually seems to make it even easier for us. In some cases, families are only required to submit one form for the entire family! They will let me add my commonlaw wife's education and experience to my own and adds even extra "points" for us in giving preference. The skilled worker visa is an immigration visa but from what I can tell it is often used for temporary visitors and is another term they use with it. As a skilled worker, the asset requirement is waived so long as you have an employment offer waiting. I hate to leave my business behind mostly and get a j.o.b. but it's a matter of priorities I guess.

I still have a lot to figure out and there may be problems which make it impossible so I am trying to be conservative in my excitement. I am still not 100% sure about all this and if others know answers please post, but my god it seems so easy that I have this fear I am missing something. Since we'll still have the process going in HCMC consulate, I'll be consulting about this and need to make sure that is still ok and if it affects either visa. When I know more I will definitely keep you posted, in case others find this an idea to help them through the long wait times.