Tony_H

Happy arrival and just in time for Tet in America. I hope you will have a chance to take her to some Vietnamese community in your area so she does not have to miss home so much. Good luck and may God bless you both with happiness and good health.

I am wishing and praying that tomorrow's interview will go smoothly and PINK is the color. Good luck and may God bless you two with a happy life together, full of blessings and good health.

Happy Tet - Cung Chu'c Ta^n Xua^n - Chu'c Mu*`ng Na(m Mo*'i to everybody here.

Where's my Li` Xi`....? (red envelope with money) Ha ha...

Have lots of rice cakes with pickles, gambling, drinking, and maybe some firecrackers.

In San Jose, it is quite an event, not like Saigon but also a pretty big celebration with 2 Tet fairs at the fairground ad downtown, a parade downtown, firecrackers on Tet's eve, and lots of partying.

I also totally agree. It's the normal adaptation process of an immigrant into this society for every aspect of her life (language, food, custom, culture, weather, idealogy, politics, transportation, housing, money, way of life, work, friends, environment, clothing, fashion, etc...), throwing on top of that, adjustment to a new husband, married life, and maybe his family. I believe the biggest challenge is the adjustment of her expectation in all of those above; especially when homesick starts to set in.

I think this is where our true love, patience, understanding for better or for worse, really count.

I think one thing can really help is for us to try to learn her language, culture, custom, to make sure she can get her type of food, to find her music, and find some Vietnamese friends (however this is a two-edge sword). My mother went through it with my father 32 years ago with one exception, they were already married for 13 years before moving to the states. And he used to tell how that he was the luckiest man alive and he loved her dearly until the day he died. The matter of fact, he got very unhappy when I brought home an American girlfriend from Wisconsin in 1988. He did not talk to her for 2 years until he was on his death bed.

Good luck to us all.

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.

You think that's nerve racking? Wait until she's here!

I can't confirm or deny what Matt said, however, if you read my interview report carefully, you would see that I prepared the evidence stack very carefully with just about everything I could think of, to the Nth degree of completeness; but only very little was looked at. ( http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51362 )

However, what were looked at very carefully: pictures of my 3 trips, my engagement party pictures, and a stack of my background pictures. When I submitted my I-129F, I did say that I will return to visit her at least 1 more time and then once more for my engagement party. That was exactly what I did.

So it appeared that they put quite a bit of weight on the fact that I met her multiple times in my case. Right or wrong, your call?

Like Chuck said earlier, it's really not one thing but the totality of the entire relationship. I also believe that each interviewer has his/her own bias at picking on certain things that he/she thinks that can prove it is to be a genuine relationship.

It's not a science but quite a bit of an art... Looking at it from their viewpoint. How can I detect that it is a fraud or what can't be fake?

I hope this helps somehow.

I pray that you will get the visa and God will bless you both with lots of happiness and good health.

Congratulation to your successful interview. I pray and wish that you both with lots of happiness, good health, and God's blessings.

Tony

I pray that your interview will go smoothly with no issues whatsoever and that God will bless you both with happiness and good health.

Tony

Kimi,

It's wonderful. Thanks God for his blessing. Congratulation to you both. It appears to me that thet wanted to verify your 1040 for some reasons. No matter what, you got it now. I wish you both a wonderful and happy life together.

Tony

Tony,

this is beneficiary. we did the same, now they keeping employment letter stated salary over 43k, the letter from his school HR confirm he is working there permanently since 2000, tax W-2, 1040, letter of banks of confirmation of bank amounts of checking, deposit, pay-stubs for several months, all Dave portfolios of retirement plan and requested for form 1722. i think we submit the income good enough.

Hi Kimi,

A few things that are different in my case: my fiance submitted her bank verification of her own funds which is substantial in the Vietnamese standard, but they did not keep her statement, however, she showed that she worked for an American insurance company for 5 years and currently with a British insurance company; which means she can continue her same line of work quite easily and quickly in the states if she wishes. I don't know if these factors would have made a difference or not.

I just don't understand their financial metrics at all.

To me a 1722 means a transcript of tax returns of the past 3 or several years, and form 4506 requests the actual copy of the tax return for 1 or multiple years. So why was your 1040 for 2005 not sufficient? Why do they want to see other years? Maybe some other members can shed some lights on this situation. I am stumped.

Besides, the new rule only requires the last year's tax return. It's quite odd.

I submitted my 2005 1040 and an employment letter for 2006. My income for 2005 was low and I did not have a W2 since my income came from other sources for 2005. However, I showed that I own a house with a good size equity along with plenty of savings, mutuals, and life insurance. So I am not sure which of these items got me over the hump.

Dalegg, I don't think they changed their procedure recently. I think we just don't understand their metrics.

Please review the following visajourney thread of earlier this year:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/lofivers....php/t9303.html

I don't know if tt3 ever even got the visa finally. They just kind of disappeared. Tony, did they ask you for this tax transcript or did you just provide the 1040 and W-2s?

Hi dalegg,

It's Kimi who is asking this question. I believe that he provided them with 1040 and W2. It sounds like they feel that the income was not sufficient. I am just guessing from reading all the other threads.

Kimi, can you clarify your situation?

Tony

Dear all,

we got blue with request of form IRS 1722 while we submitted W-2 and 1040. Any experience for this case?

Kimi

Hi Kimi,

Here are some links that might help you:

http://www.grayson.edu/pdffiles/fa_IRS_form_request_info.pdf

https://www.owens.edu/financial_aid/irs_instructions.pdf

http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=93928

Please review the following visajourney thread of earlier this year:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/lofivers....php/t9303.html

hanh wants to get me a ring in vietnam i know the size she told me to get her was to big .if i am size 9 does any one know what size that is in vietnam ring sizes??? thanks

I used this chart to figure out what to do. Even if you know the ring numbering, it is still wrong. My fiance measured her finger and I still got her ring size too big. It is typical for a Vietnamese woman to be size 5 (U.S.). If you are getting a ring for her in Vietnam, it is best to have her there to measure her finger. I had to resize her ring when I brought her the ring from here. It only cost about 1-2 USD and 15 minutes to do it while I waited.

http://www.overstock.com/ringsize.html

http://www.original-diamonds.com/jewelry_ring.php

Dear Kimi,

We were here last week preparing for our interview as you are now, going over every document, every piece of evidence, checking the order of doc., trying to anticipate every possible scenario that may happen at the interview, looking for any thing that we might overlooked, talking about my background, organizing photos in certain order, reminding her to try to speak English, etc... and etc... And right after waking her up to get ready for the interview, I prayed for her calmness, patience, wisdom, blessings and strength from God. She almost cried before she left. And I was patiently and anxiously awaiting the outcome.

I can guess what you are feeling now in anticipation for this interview.

My prayer is with you both. So the end of this process is near and just a little bit more. So get that pink slip!

May God bless you both.

Here is a copy of the Pink Slip for your information.

Hi Hien,

I just checked with my fiance and she did not fast before the blood test because they only tested her for AIDS and VD (Venereal Diseases). You should double check with them before going in just to make sure. However she overheard them asking the examiner if she had any food before the blood test. And in her case, she did have breakfast but no coffee before her medical exam.

I guess it is customary for one to fast before any blood test, especially no coffee. Usually I had to fast for 12 hours with no food nor water before the blood test.

Tony

Dear Tony,

Please help me to check with your fiance if she didn't have the breakfast to come to IOM early morning for medical check??

If I'm not wrong, they will give us the blood test, and the requirement for the blood test is no food before the test, only can drink water.

About the fee, we have to pay $75 (the instruction said so).

I came there but I have to register for the date before the medical check. So, I must wait one week later. It's lucky as I still have enough time.

Hien.

I think you are right about the blood test, but let me confirm with her and I will let you know. That's correct, it's $75, not $60 as I said because I was looking at the an older Pack 4 instruction.

Tony

Hi David and Xuan,

We wish you the easiest interview and that pink will await you. I pray that God will bless your interview and both of you will have a wonderful life together soon.

Tony

My fiance said the IOM's personnel were very nice, good services, and professional. The only thing is that she had to pay them $60 in US dollars. The address for it is:

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM)

1B Pham Ngoc Thach St.

District 1, HCMC

Tel: 822-2058; 822-2057; 822-2061; 822-7511

Here's a copy of the interview letter for your reference.

Same here buddy. I re-do my DS-156 for the fifth times. One thing did do wrong were putting the None in section 8 and 9. also one part of the address i can't put a / in the address box. they dont' allow it on the forms so i have to put a hyphen ( - ) instead. gosh.. I called them yesterday and they told me to call back in the middle of Feb for the interview date. I guess i will call them again next week to see i will get an interview date.

Quick question for who got their Package 4? What did they said on the Letter of interview? Can you go and get the Vacinnation before getting the package or they require you have to have the Interview Letter then you can get the vacination?

I am not sure about the vaccination, but you must have your interview letter to get the medical exam because they asked for hers when she came to IOM for her exam.

Tony

2 quick questions - ( maybe quick )

Chronological order can be ascending or descending, for the evidence presented, do they mean most recent first or oldest ?

In VJ so far I may have noticed reference to IOM for the medical. Is that coincidence or is their some reason to prefer there as opposed to Cho Ray ?

Thanks Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I did not see any precise instruction on the ordering issue. I assumed that it's up to you because you organize them for yourself to present when asked. As far as the pictures, we arranged the pictures with the oldest date on top, and group the pictures by oldest trip on top as well.

My fiance went to IOM because it was not so busy and the service personnel seem to be nicer. However, I believe she had to pay in dollars. I understand Cho Ray hospital is like a zoo most of the time.

Tony

thanks for this tony it helps alot,did they look at ur tax information?

The lady interviewer did not look at my tax return or any of the required INS documents, however, the first man interviewer did. For the I-134, he first took the tax return only and gave back all the I-134 supporting documents but since my income for 2005 was low, he then wanted the info on my bank accounts, mortgage, mutual funds schedule, employment letter. He looked at the house valuation, life insurance statements but returned them shortly after along with her Single Status document. Basically, at that time, he took almost everything from the required list in pack 4 except for those I mentioned in the last sentence during this part of the interview.

After her second interview, some of the originals were returned as I mentioned in the previous post.

On the pink slip, there is a checklist for 2 types of documents: Visa Docs and Financial Docs; that got checked off depending on our situation of I-129F or I-130.

Thanks, Tony. There's something curious: picture of college diploma. I got one. Maybe I ought to send it to her.

I sent many pictures to her at the beginning of our relationship and she brought the following with her to the interview which were viewed: my Calif driver license, copy of my most recent business cards, my 2 college diplomas, pictures w/friends in high school, high school graduation, college graduation, graduate school graduation, a few pictures of my mom and dad over the years, a couple of pics of my family altogether, a picture of me in my room with her picture on my laptop as the wallpaper, my picture as a best man at a friend's wedding, many pics of mine at work with other people, lots of my travelling pics in Moscow, Brussells, Paris, Amsterdam, Hawaii, San Francisco, Arkansas, etc... with friends or alone, and various other miscellaneous pics over the years of my life. She believe that it helped the interviewer get a good perspective of me during the interview and gave a good impression of our relationship.

For the 3 trips' pics, we had several pictures of us hugging and kissing each other, somewhat intimate but not too much. Also there were lots of pics of us with other people that we went out with, and all with date stamps. We believe it also helped her see that our relationship is real.

For the engagement, we had several pics that showed the 2 of us with the background of the entire party room with all the tables and people. There were pictures of me talking to the guest with a microphone on stage standing with her and our families, dancing with the guests, cutting the cakes, pouring the champaign, our names and the event name on the backdrop, and our visits at every table, and of course lots of pictures with guests and the entire family with lots of people.

The last thing but not least was during the second interview, my fiance made sure that the interviewer saw our very organized large binder of proofs laid out on the counter as she was being asked for them. That gave the interviewer the impression that we are very organized and ready to show her anything that she wanted to see.

And one other observation about her interview, because she arrived at 8:24am, her interview time was almost at the end of the morning at 11:15am with her number being A036 for fiance/marriage cases. There were more people left for interviews but not that many. So arrive as early as possible to get done earlier. The B numbers were probably for family sponsorship cases, and C numbers were in the next room probably or business, tourists, students, and etc... cases.

I hope that all this will help you somehow.

Tony