Idinh

Over two years later and it hasn't kicked in for my wife.

Well your wife must have disliked her homelife heh.

My wife has a very loving and closeknit family. Plus her family is quite well to do in VN. There will be quite a few things she will homesick for, I'm sure.

$1300 is about right for a peak season like summer. Other peak seasons are around Tet and Xmas.

Cheapest seasons to travel to Vietnam are after Tet to about the end of April, and between September and November.

Just a quick update that me and my wife have been together in the States since the 26th. Things went smoothly with no hitches at all. Much better than I had expected. It's nice that DFW is now a port of entry.

Wife is happy for now, since I'm sure it's feeling like a "field trip". But I know that eventually the home sickeness will really kick-in.

Me and my wife plan to visit Hanoi for a few days ( a week or less). But neither of us have been there before.

We figure that it would make more sense to go on some sort of guided tour.

Anyone have any experience or advice please?

We don't want to spend a lot but we also do want an enjoyable trip.

A translator will be present.

Well one difference is that "kimi" was doing a fiancee visa and "phong mai" is doing spouse visa like I did.

I think that if your W-2 has sufficient income you shouldn't have a problem with it as evidence.

I can only speak from my experience and that a 2006 W-2 alone was sufficient for my wife's interview. I also included the last paycheck stub of 2006, which has a summary of gross 2006 wages etc to further verify the 2006 W-2. Also included a copy of most recent paycheck stub from 2007 for proof of current employment.

She also had all my tax documents from 2005, but I think they disregarded those since it is now 2007.

I'm not sure how my wife will react to living in the DFW, Texas area.

Weather here ranges from both extremes of hot & cold, wet & dry. You get a little bit of everything at almost any given moment.

I personally like the variety.

It takes some time for them to actually process the case after they receive it. Usually a couple months.

Once they do process the case and set an interview date, they will mail packet 4 to your wife.

Well, look on the bright side. California is very near to you. Which is abundant in nice weather, Vietnamese communities and most importantly, fruit.

Have your hubby take you down there for a trip or convince him to move there hehe. Enjoy your lives.

I don't think your taxes would be finished in time. So I doubt they expect you to have them filed.

More important is that you do give your wife a 2006 W-2 and a most recent check stub would be nice too. That's what I gave to my wife because I had only received my W-2 the week before her interview. Besides, now that she has passed I will file jointly with her and get a tax exemption.

They will want some sort of 2006 tax documentation, since it is now 2007.

When my wife went for her interview...the person at the first window who checks the evidence, was not very keen to US tax documentation. He tried to tell my wife that she didn't have the proper 2006 tax documents. But she obviously had a copy of my 2006 W-2 and my last paycheck stub from 2006. I had already explained fully to her what this all meant. Thankfully the interviewer recognized this as well and the rest, as they say, was history.

Good luck to you and yours!

Well at least you still have your lives. Items and money can be replaced.

But imo any big city you live in will always have big city problems. Learn from your experience and be more wary.

My wife passed her interview in the afternoon. She had to wait all day from about 7AM thru the lunch break before they finally called her number etc.

The only catch is that since it's so close to Tet, her visa won't be ready to pick-up until the 28th. (consulate will be closed on the 16th thru at least the 21st)

But I'm not complaining at all! Pink slip is pink slip.

I can say we are both very relieved and that this is going to be one of the most enjoyable Tet ever.

I'll try to give more details later, as I have to take off for work shortly.

Finally, a quick thanks to everyone here for their support and another thank you to the entire forum/website for the help and advice I was able to find.

Conga-Rats!

Great news!

Grats!

Thank you well wishers!

Grats!

Good luck!

If what goes around, comes around...

Lurker is due for a windfall!

Best wishes!

Pink is our favorite color!

I'd like to accept that dare.

Seems to me that someone here is doing some "score-boarding" on others. There's no need to step on those already down.

Why not just be happy you got what you wanted and wish it for others?

Most of the time this place has been very helpful to me.

Isn't it amazing how nerve racking it was to get the visa journey started? Let's get this show on the road!

Then began the long and painful wait. Step by step, you move along. Things started to settle down...

Then it's all nerve racking again as you count off the days til that fateful day of the interview!

I'm a bundle of nerves these days, but for a good reason.

Good luck!