natalie.le

Applied July 6, 2018. Received Interview notice Dec 18 for Jan 29.

I had my oath ceremony yesterday and now finally an American!
 
Thank you so much for all of you on this forum. I received so much help and support in spirit. To those who are still waiting, hang on there! It will be soon that you will receive the naturalization certificate!

Hi guys,
 
I'm noticing some of you are saying your getting your appointments?

Hello All,
 
I have been following the thread for a couple of months with this being my first time posting. I applied for my N-400 online in early July. I just received an update that my interview has been scheduled for the first week of November. Hang in there. Your interview notice is just around the corner. It was exactly two months from Biometrics to receipt of my Interview Notice. 

Hi I put our tracking into a google drive spreadsheet if you are interested. Feel free to edit
 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z8GKsf-mwsC3JZAhdGJJtuRYrP01zKgg7-V1nujeVYg/edit?usp=sharing
 

I did same, I finished biometric on 08/06, my estimate case completion is 9 months, now the status they reviewed biometric ., I hope I can be interview on Febuary or March next year

July filer here! Just saw this thread. And just finished biometrics yesterday. 

July filer here! Just saw this thread. And just finished biometrics yesterday. 

July filer here! Just saw this thread. And just finished biometrics yesterday. 

Congrats!!!!
 
Celebrate well  

I just received the approval notice in the mail today! For some reason the receipt EAC number was different than what I previously got, so I never even got a text notification. The original receipt number showed up as CRI-89, but this new number does indeed show I-751.
 
I see a few June filers in the timeline who have gotten approval. I hope that your time will come soon too. 

I just received the approval notice in the mail today! For some reason the receipt EAC number was different than what I previously got, so I never even got a text notification. The original receipt number showed up as CRI-89, but this new number does indeed show I-751.
 
I see a few June filers in the timeline who have gotten approval. I hope that your time will come soon too. 

every i-751 case has two eac or wac numbers

Unfortunately, the Vietnamese way is to ignore advice because we know a guy who can fix things. Then it all goes to pot. Then the request to the American relative to fix it.
I'm Vietnamese. This happens all the time with my relatives.

Congratulations!!!!
We just got approved yesterday Dec 22 too

You don't need to translate the Police Record #2 to English. In fact, you don't need to translate any documents as long as they are in Vietnamese or English, including copy of your chat log, phone log, emails, or what have you.
Also, the Police Record #2 doesn't have to be notarized. The place where it is issued will stamp it (with the Red stamp) and that's all you need. But you may need to give them some coffee money to speed up the process. My then-fiancee gave them 500,000 VND and she had it in 4 days.
Ask me how I know. LOL

Going through the K1 process here in Vietnam, there're a few things I thought we could have done differently. If you are in a rush and want to minimize waiting time, read on:
1. Police record number 2:
As soon as you get approval from USCIS, I suggest you start applying for this. It will take 3 weeks or longer to process and you don't need any documents from the embassy to apply for this.
2. NVC:
Two weeks from when your application is transferred from USCIS to NVC, you can start calling NVC to get your HCM number. Call in the morning US time when they just open so you don't have to wait for hours on the phone.
Once you get your HCM, you can check on CEAC website to see when your application leaves NVC for US Embassy in Vietnam.
3. DS-160 and UStravel:
I would argue that once you have your HCM number, you should start submitting DS-160 form and pay the visa fee so that you can see the available interview dates on USTravel website. We didn't pay the visa fee but only rely on the earliest interview date available (29 Oct 2014), which was a mistake because it turned out that other people were taking up all other dates in Nov without us knowing. So now we're stuck with 29 Oct 2014 which is really early for us because we do not have all the documents ready (the police record 2 to be specific). Today they just opened interview dates in Dec but that's too late for us so we will just stick with 29 Oct and see how it goes.
If you want to get the visa asap, keep this in mind because the interview dates get snatched up fast/are limited. There are only about 8 to 10 dates and only about 2 slots available for each date in Dec.
4. Medical exam and vaccination:
After getting your package 3, do your vaccination first at HCM quarantine center even though on the US Embassy website said go to your medical exam first. The medical exam people expect you to have your vaccination first and if not you'll have to come back to the medical exam again to submit the vaccination form.
You can go to the quarantine center the day before and get a queue number so you dont have to wait too long for your turn the next day. I was perplexed at first because I was one of the first tens to get there and I still get a number 79 and had to wait for 3 hours for my turn. If you dont have any record, they will draw blood and do test but we think it's more simple to just get all the shots again beforehand. I started to get my vaccinations about 6 months ago (Hep A&B takes 6-7 months for 3 shots, MMR, Tdap, Varicella).
Once you get the yellow vaccination form, go for the medical exam. Having gone to Cho Ray, I think you should go to IOM. At Cho Ray if you do some additional tests (eyes, ultrasound etc) you will have to go to another department in the hospital, or worse, a clinic outside. In this case you have to compete with all other patients from outside and it's just a long, agonizing wait. If you have had surgery or other hospitalization documents, bring them along as the doctor might need it.
Also at the moment, you have to submit some 3x4 photos but they have to be international 3x4 size, which is bigger than the normal 3x4. Go to the shops in district 1 coz they're more familiar with those sizes.
They can send the medical exam result back to your address so even if you're not from HCMC, you dont have to worry about whether you have allocate enough time to wait in HCMC. I did my exam on Tue, submitted vaccination form on Thu and got the result delivered to my house in HCMC the following Wed. It could take more time if you're from other provinces.
Will post more if there's any thing interesting from my interview. Cheers!

Going through the K1 process here in Vietnam, there're a few things I thought we could have done differently. If you are in a rush and want to minimize waiting time, read on:
1. Police record number 2:
As soon as you get approval from USCIS, I suggest you start applying for this. It will take 3 weeks or longer to process and you don't need any documents from the embassy to apply for this.
2. NVC:
Two weeks from when your application is transferred from USCIS to NVC, you can start calling NVC to get your HCM number. Call in the morning US time when they just open so you don't have to wait for hours on the phone.
Once you get your HCM, you can check on CEAC website to see when your application leaves NVC for US Embassy in Vietnam.
3. DS-160 and UStravel:
I would argue that once you have your HCM number, you should start submitting DS-160 form and pay the visa fee so that you can see the available interview dates on USTravel website. We didn't pay the visa fee but only rely on the earliest interview date available (29 Oct 2014), which was a mistake because it turned out that other people were taking up all other dates in Nov without us knowing. So now we're stuck with 29 Oct 2014 which is really early for us because we do not have all the documents ready (the police record 2 to be specific). Today they just opened interview dates in Dec but that's too late for us so we will just stick with 29 Oct and see how it goes.
If you want to get the visa asap, keep this in mind because the interview dates get snatched up fast/are limited. There are only about 8 to 10 dates and only about 2 slots available for each date in Dec.
4. Medical exam and vaccination:
After getting your package 3, do your vaccination first at HCM quarantine center even though on the US Embassy website said go to your medical exam first. The medical exam people expect you to have your vaccination first and if not you'll have to come back to the medical exam again to submit the vaccination form.
You can go to the quarantine center the day before and get a queue number so you dont have to wait too long for your turn the next day. I was perplexed at first because I was one of the first tens to get there and I still get a number 79 and had to wait for 3 hours for my turn. If you dont have any record, they will draw blood and do test but we think it's more simple to just get all the shots again beforehand. I started to get my vaccinations about 6 months ago (Hep A&B takes 6-7 months for 3 shots, MMR, Tdap, Varicella).
Once you get the yellow vaccination form, go for the medical exam. Having gone to Cho Ray, I think you should go to IOM. At Cho Ray if you do some additional tests (eyes, ultrasound etc) you will have to go to another department in the hospital, or worse, a clinic outside. In this case you have to compete with all other patients from outside and it's just a long, agonizing wait. If you have had surgery or other hospitalization documents, bring them along as the doctor might need it.
Also at the moment, you have to submit some 3x4 photos but they have to be international 3x4 size, which is bigger than the normal 3x4. Go to the shops in district 1 coz they're more familiar with those sizes.
They can send the medical exam result back to your address so even if you're not from HCMC, you dont have to worry about whether you have allocate enough time to wait in HCMC. I did my exam on Tue, submitted vaccination form on Thu and got the result delivered to my house in HCMC the following Wed. It could take more time if you're from other provinces.
Will post more if there's any thing interesting from my interview. Cheers!

That's most likely the HBV shot. You get 3 shots for HBV which are placed at 1-month and 6-month or so interval. I think she can definitely have the the third shot in America I've read about it on forums.

I'm not a Psychologist, Physician of any type. I'm a nurse. But I'd like to chime in to help. We are in NW btw. You might find your wife in same shoes, or differ somewhat. I'm a Vietnamese guy, we have a huge community of Vietnamese locals here: foods, shopping, markets all were either Vietnamese or Asians.
My wife in USA for months, but she still suffered depression, moods swings. She lost weight, was sick severe due to "homesick" (admitted to hospital). She cried in bathroom alone. She cried softly in her sleeps. Even if she didn't cry thru the night, I found her tears dried up on her face & pillow every other mornings.
I tried these: take her outdoors, hiking, walking together (always bring an umbrella regardless weather, water bottles & snacks in backpack), ride bicycles, take photos of her at random seconds w/my iphone, always standby/stand nearby the women restroom in malls/costco/walmarts/hiking trail/picnic areas/rest areas/parks...etc (regardless she has her phone in her pocket/purse or not), always offer foot/legs massages as she walks (she didn't use to walk a lot in VN, easily get sour muscles/tired....get her running shoes for walking as well).
Find out what she interested in, sometimes she fell in-love with big SALES in shopping malls, especially those with 50% SALES and higher. Brought her to thrift stores for treasures hunts, shown her websites about expensive & rare US coins, pennies, stamps, etc… to carry her interests. Brought her to 4D (D-Box theaters) or take her to those games center where racing or shooting but the seats shake heavily. Drove her around towns, downtowns where there were homeless, let her hand those homeless individuals (men/women) $1 & coins herself.
Arrange her to go to Hospital/Clinics for appointment, check up and go to those that have interpreter services (or staff speak Vietnamese). Get her Driving Instruction permit ASAP, teach her to drive patiently in remote parks, empty parking lots, and rural highways.
Takes her to funny cartoons movies (such as upcoming penguins movie) or romantic movies (avoid Terror, Horror or Too much Actions/Shootings/Killings/Deaths movies, because she couldn’t understand from listening, she only tried to understanding by stare at the images).
Hook up Facetime, Skype, Video Chat to let her talk/chat with her family in VN, voice phone alone is not sufficient, but if you think voice phone, try OneSuite or Localphone.com have lower rates for phone.
Got to to go now. But let me know if none of these ideas work for you or you are welcome to PM me at anytime.

I think your petition is now at HCM Consulate. You can send them an email to ask whether they receive it or not.
NVC received your case on 6/30 and the last update was 7/7 which I assumed HCM received it before/ on 7/7/2014.
The status on ceac website should be " At NVC " and then changed to " In Transit" when they ship to HCM Consulate. The last update should be " Ready", which they receive it and stay at " Ready" for long time. The status will change to " Administrative Processing" right after interview. It might change again to " Ready" before " Issued".
From now on, if the Status Updated Date changes, it means they either send package to your fiancee or they receive the paperwork from her, or they review her file.

I accompanied my fiancee to her interview this past Tuesday. While we were waiting for her number to be called, we saw numerous people exiting the interview with a blue slip. Many left weeping. I would say 8 out of 10 left with a blue slip. I went up to the window with my fiancee but was told to take a seat and would be called if needed. The interviewing officer was a middle-aged gentleman who speaks Vietnamese fluently. He was polite, courteous, and easy going. He spent about 8 mins asking my fiancee 5-6 questions and told her that her visa would be ready in 2 weeks. He then asked to speak with me and told me about the visa printing issue and that we shouldn't be worried. My fiancee had told him that I had already bought the ticket for her.
He never asked about my birth certificate or even the relationship timeline that I had prepared in advance.

Since yours is a K-1 visa petition, your case will go to NVC first, where they assign a case number (HCM 2014 XXX XXX), scan your case into their system, and forward it to the consulate in HCMC. The NVC does not collect any visa fees or schedule your interview appt like the other immigration cases (spousal visa, for example).
After the consulate receives your case, they will mail your fiancee Packet 3 (aka Instruction Package). The consulate actually receives the electronic file a day or 2 after NVC sends it, and the actual physical file follows a few days later, usually a week. They do not mail your fiancee Packet 3 until they have received the physical file. Packet 3 contains the letter that you will need to bring to the medical exam and vaccination in HCMC. It also contains instructions on what to do next. I am attaching a PDF document that you can review. This is the same document that the Packet 3 letter will instruct her to go to.
http://photos.state.gov/libraries/hochiminh/231771/PDFs/K-INSTRUCTION.pdf
When your fiancee receives the Packet 3, she should follow the instructions on the Packet 3 letter to mail back the required documents (DS-160, 2 visa photos, and a copy of her valid Vietnamese passport). To fill out the DS-160 form online, go to https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/. She will need to print out the Confirmation Page of DS-160 to submit with her documents to mail back to the consulate. It is the last page of the DS-160 form where she signs it electronically. The DS-160 confirmation number is also required for the next step.
Next, she will need to go to ustraveldocs.com site (link here: https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/SiteRegister?country=&language=) and create an online account. She will need her Vietnamese passport number and the DS-160 confirmation number from the previous step for this. After she has filled in all of the required information, she will need to print a deposit slip (from the same site) to take to any HSBC branch or local Post Office to pay for her Visa fee (which is $240 for each person). Within 24 hours after she pays the Visa fee, she will get an email saying that she is ready to book her interview appointment. If, for some reason, she doesn't receive this email, she can go to the ustraveldocs.com site to schedule the interview. After she books the interview appt, make sure she prints the Appointment Confirmation letter for the next step.
Next, she will schedule her medical exam and vaccinations in HCMC. She will need to bring the Appointment Confirmation letter, the Packet 3 letter, and a few other pieces of document (see Packet 3 instructions for the list) to the medical exam and vaccination. Make sure she schedules her medical exam well in advance so she'll have enough time to pick up the completed medical exam package before the interview. She will need this medical exam package for the interview.
One thing to keep in mind that, sometimes, the Packet 3 letter will never arrive, as it happened to our case. We waited and waited and after a month it is still no where to be found. Should that happen, you might want to fill out an inquiry on the consulate website and they will email you a copy of the Packet 3 letter. Your fiancee will need this letter for her medical exam and vaccinations. Here's the link to fill out an online inquiry with the consulate.
http://hochiminh.usconsulate.gov/contact/ivinquiries.html
We waited for 2 weeks and decided to inquire. The consulate emailed us a copy of the letter and my fiancee took it to her medical exam & vaccinations.
It is important to note that if you have any questions for the consulate, fill out the online inquiry and they will get back to you within 24 hours, usually by 6 AM your time in the U.S. In my case, it has usually been around 2:30 A.M. ET.
We have just gone through this so send me a PM if you want to discuss it in more details. Or just post your questions in this thread and I will try to help answer as much as I can.
Oh, almost forgot. Tell your fiancee to use EMS for mailing documents to the consulate. It costs very little (about $1 USD at most) and the consulate usually gets it the next day (depends on where she lives). My fiancee lives near central Vietnam and it takes a day for the consulate to get it. A list of EMS locations is attached below.
K-INSTRUCTION.pdf
EMS Drop-Off Locations.pdf

Right now, it shows the earliest appt available is Sept 18. I've seen it change from time to time. Someone must have cancelled their appt recently because about a week ago, the earliest appt available was October 20 or something like that.
Once you have created an account on ustraveldocs.com site and filled out your profile info (you'll need the case # and DS-160 # for this), it'll show you the earliest appt available.
With regards to the Packet 3, you should not attempt to fill out the DS-160 or schedule the interview appt until you have received the Packet 3 letter. You can contact the consulate via their website inquiry form if you want to know whether they have sent you the letter. There is a list of questions that you can select from the drop-down list and one of them is "I have not received my immigrant/fiance's visa instruction package". They will get back with you within a day (usually less than 24 hrs). If it has been a while since the consulate received your case, send them another inquiry and they will email you a copy of the Packet 3 letter so you can start working on the DS-160/pay Visa fees/schedule appt and take it to the medical exam/vaccination.

It is the same. Should start with HCM 2014 XXX XXX. That case number will stay with your fiance/fiancee until he/she arrives in the U.S.