nhatquynhle

Yes, absolutely. I’ll remember the questions they asked that day until the day I die. But before we get to that, let me tell you, my mom’s background is much more complicated. My grandfather (her Dad) was a very high ranking official in the old South Vietnamese Government. She has 5 siblings, and three of them went to the US to study before 1975. Then 1975 happened, and they got “stuck” in the US. So by the 1980s, my mom’s whole family (her Dad, Mom, her brothers) were issued immigrant visas under the HO program. They refused to go. She met and married my Dad, had two children (including me). My Dad died in a car accident. She remarried a Vietnamese US citizen, went through the K3 process, only to get a denial on the visa. Then she ultimately divorced the guy. Meanwhile, her Dad (my grandfather) got a second immigrant visa through another refugee program in 2008 (thanks to John McCain), this time actually went to the US, got a green card, hated the US, lasted about 1.5 years and returned to Vietnam. While all that was happening, I was in the US under student visa, got my Master’s, got my H1B and eventually became a US citizen.  
 
Anyway, all of that to say that my Mom basically got an immigrant visa, refused to go, got a tourist visa in 1998, went to the US for 4 months and returned. Got denied a K3, then denied tourist visa 3 other times between 2009 and 2015, before finally got her immigrant visa again in 2018 when I sponsored her.
 
Now to actually answer your questions, they asked a grand total of two (2) questions:
 
1. What does your son do for a living?
2. How did your son get to the US? 
 
Then he said “Congratulations! Welcome to the United States!” And all I was thinking was: “that’s it? I took 10 days off work, traveled 10,000 miles, put on a suits and tie and waited 3 hours in an extremely hot waiting room (those cheapskates don’t have AC out in the waiting area of the Consulate) FOR THIS?”
 
Anyway, relax, you’re gonna be fine.
 
For the lunch celebration after the interview, highly recommend the sushi place (Hokkaido I think) on the top floor of Takashimaya downtown HCM. Great food, and AC is cold. 
 
Best of luck!
 
 

On my wife's I-129f packet, her father's exact birthdate is unknown.  We just made up a month and day, and then in the back of the application added an explanation.  

Both. When submitting to the NVC, you have to include a certified translation. They bring the originals with them to the interview. 
 
Yes. Get it done and out of the way. I told my mom to start getting stuff done as soon as the I-130 was approved, anything that needs translation, get it done and out of the way. The police report has no expiration date that I can see. The I-130 was approved Mar 1st and she got the police certificate Mar 22nd. She was interviewed Oct and they didn't say anything. I don't know if there is a time frame. Obviously if it was 5 years ago, they probably need new ones. But if they go and get one in the next month or so, probably no problem. 
 
Some people have lots of papers, some don't. Like for me, my Dad died long time ago, so I had to get the death certificate. My mom remarried and then divorced, so there's a divorce decree, ...
If somebody was in prison, convicted, in the military, ... They want those records... 
 
If you're fluent in English (which you are) and feel confident to do it, don't hire a service. All they're gonna do is take your money and ask you/your parents all in the info.
 
Here's the link for the process from NVC to Embassy from the State Department: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/after-petition-approved.html
 
Here is step by step instruction, it's for a CR1/IR1 process but essentially the same for IR5: https://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/LingChe_NVC_ShortCut
The only change is, I think you don't mail or email anything in anymore. You will be able to upload everything directly onto CEAC.
 
Good Luck! Do post back if you have any specific questions.

This one they set it up. So unlike K-1, with this one, you have to submit a lot of documents at the NVC. After you receive your case number, the first thing you will do is to log into CEAC and fill in form Ds-261, which is to choose the beneficiary’s representative, which 99% of people will choose the petitioner (you). That way, you get everything they will get. Then you pay 1 fee. Then you wait a few days or week, then you pay another fee, and then fill in the DS-260 which is the main form. At this point, you also have to send in all the documents like I mentioned above (police certificate, birth certificate, copies of passport, your affidavit of support I-864, tax transcripts, all that good  stuff...). The NVC will have to review all that and when they say everything is good, then they will schedule the interview in Saigon. They won’t review until you have completed the DS-260 AND sent in all the documents. Then they say it takes 4-8 weeks to review, could be faster. So you save time if you start having all those documents ready now and ready to go. The other thing is try to send everything in and not miss something, because if you miss something, they will ask you to submit or resubmit, then it will take them another 4-8 weeks to review. Good luck!
 

^You need to book in your US Passport name.