Dustin Nila

Hi, u can use internet phone, once the call finished, ask the shop owner to print out call logs...and keep it a safe place...

good lucks!!!

POE--SFO--plane landed 730pm...walked directly to New Immigrant line, Custom Officer marked (A) on our filled custom paper and sent us to Visitor line...got stucked 30 minutes in line...there are mixed race of Custom Officers, asian, black, white...we chose the black CO, he was very nice and friendly. the process took us around around 4minutes...we were directed to (A) line, asian CO scanned and opened one of our luggage, found shrimp paste and dried fish!!! oops! as for the dog, took us about 40 seconds to verified vaccine paperwork.....heading out to the parking lot.....Good Lucks!

Hello,

I'm back in USA now, my wife and dog are here with me....I am very happy!....if u guys need any advise, please let me know.

..

during the interview process, CO only asked basic questions, a few questions about me..ect...process took about 15mins.

we gave them an evidence package, included engagment photos (25 pcs.), 4 pages phone bill, 5 pages email, 6 pages westernunion, 20 phone cards stapled on white paper, engagement certificate...after the interview finished, they returned evidence package to u....visa approved July 5th....Pick up Visa on July 13th..........Good Lucks!!!

July 5th interview passed!!!

only asked a few questions...good lucks to everyone.

passed interview on July 5th.....

Congrats! happy for u both! my fiance will her interview on July 5th....right now im in cambodia with her.

yea, after approval , u have to wait 1 week for visa....

Hi nighttrain, please try to send in ur package3 ASAP, dont wait. after 4 to 6 weeks, call DOS for status.....good lucks..

i'm heading to cambodia this June 30th.

did u try Evaair yet? im pretty sure Evaair has an office in Vietnam....or checking your local travel agents.

Congrats to u!

DS

Hi, this morning i called state dept at 2026631225 ext 100, they told me that my wife is scheduled for Interview on July 5th 7AM....this is good news, becuz finally they updated their database system.

Lace, u should call the state dept to find out.

Dustin

Yes, been months already that the Embassy hired and trained new local staff and transferring the paperwork for more than 6,000 cases from Bangkok to Phnom Penh. This is why most the works are not organized yet. Some gets calls and some received letter. Hopefully things will be much organizes for them soon.

DS

finally, my fiance got a call from the US embassy yesterday, they scheduled for the interview on June 15th 9AM sharp! they asked her to bring all the documents.....our NOA2 will be expired on June 12th, i guess they automately extent it.

DS

Sounds like a busier place then I thought.....Lots Of Khmer girls comin here eh?

cost the embassy 77 millions to built the new building, but all the applicants end up standing in line out the outside the building....so hot and humids!.....i was there last month with my fiance just to glazed at US embassy building.

IOM buidling is way better, ttheir waiting room came with AC and TV, served with free cold water....

DS

Hi Hang & Kevin,

what item did u included with Package3?

..............................

for us, we sent the following items,

1. two photo

2. photocopy of passport

3. form DS 230-completed

4. checklist -I-93 DSL 1076

...........

this afternoon in Phnom Penh time -5-28-2007-, my wife went to IOM to get her vaccine shot again. She did spoke with a few people that already passed their interview and granted visa, they mentioned that her(s) petitioner sent 3 years TAX, pay stubs, employment letter to the embassy in order for them to set up the interview date. so, this is very confusing, under the check list, they only request four items. so i will wait and see.

-Dustin

HI Dustin

For my Packet 3 return to Ho Chi Minh Consulate just DS 230 Part 1 - completed and Check list.

I can't get the vaccine and medical exam things until get Packet 4

About 3 years Tax..... MY fiance should done it before my interview that i will have to bring it at my interview day...

I don't know about there in Cambordia. But i think if they don't request it in your fiance Packet 3. It's fine. You just should done those stuff now, before her interview.

Good luck to All.

--Hang.

Hi, any update on ur package3? thanks..DS

Also can go and get medical appointment without anything from the consulate?

Thanks Jeff

Yes, After you received your case number from NVC, you may download the medical forms and questionnaire from the DOS website and go to the designated medical center in Phnom Penh. There is no need to receive materials from the consulate unless if you do not have access to the internet.

I do have a question for those who have received an interview date. How long after the Embassy receive your packet 3 until you get an interview?

im still waiting for the interview date, i ssent a few emails to embassy, no response....taking forever.

sorry for the reply, here what i found out in vietnam..

In May 2006 the Vietnam Army bought mobile telephone monitoring equipment worth half a million US dollars. The spy systems are called P-GSM systems and produced by the English company Silver Bullet. These monitoring systems are being used by the Vietnamese military and police to spy on conversations of Vietnamese citizens who speak to each other inside Vietnam and outside of the country. The Vietnamese military then arrests, tortures and sometimes even kills those arrested for merely speaking to people outside of the country. so this is why sometime phone systems are interrupted! Anyways, good lucks on ur case.

JK--DS

Cambodian K-1 Packet 3's always go to the petitioner. Don't ask me why. That is why you download them and have the applicant fill them out or you fill them out ahead of time and send them to her. It is much faster then wait until it finally gets here via snail mail. Once I found out the embassy (BKK) had her petition We waited 3 days then sent in the checklist and the other things they asked for. We had our interview date before I received packet 3.

Thanks Sam, I guess what I need is a recent checklist so I know specifically what they want..

Jeff

hi, the Consulate sent Package3 via Email to me, if u want i can forward u the attachement.

Sure Dustin go ahead..any specific way you want to?

Thanks

J.

i need ur personal email addresss....Dustin

Cambodian K-1 Packet 3's always go to the petitioner. Don't ask me why. That is why you download them and have the applicant fill them out or you fill them out ahead of time and send them to her. It is much faster then wait until it finally gets here via snail mail. Once I found out the embassy (BKK) had her petition We waited 3 days then sent in the checklist and the other things they asked for. We had our interview date before I received packet 3.

Thanks Sam, I guess what I need is a recent checklist so I know specifically what they want..

Jeff

hi, the Consulate sent Package3 via Email to me, if u want i can forward u the attachement.

Tomorrow Kevin will call Consulate again. We will see if my interview is set yet or not. I will let ya know

Hi Hang & Kevin,

what item did u included with Package3?

..............................

for us, we sent the following items,

1. two photo

2. photocopy of passport

3. form DS 230-completed

4. checklist -I-93 DSL 1076

...........

this afternoon in Phnom Penh time -5-28-2007-, my wife went to IOM to get her vaccine shot again. She did spoke with a few people that already passed their interview and granted visa, they mentioned that her(s) petitioner sent 3 years TAX, pay stubs, employment letter to the embassy in order for them to set up the interview date. so, this is very confusing, under the check list, they only request four items. so i will wait and see.

-Dustin

So Dustin, yr timeline says you got noa 2 on 2-13. Now you are gonna have to get that visa by 6-13? the 4 months USCIS says you got to get it? If not then are they gonna extend it? I am wondering about this cause I still have not heard a thing from P.P.

Thanks

Jeff

yes, i think they the embassy will have to extent my date line....my date line is June 12th....let wait and see.

same here, my case is in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

We still waiting for our Package 4.

sigh we too are waiting for a bkk interview. it's still around the 8 week mark! fingers crossed for a sooner date for all of us.

the embassy has had our packet 3 for a week but i know monday and friday are hols for the consulate so they will be 2 days behind just from next week.

us embassy in pp recieved our Package3 since 4-18-2007 and still waiting for our interview date, this is suck.

http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2007/05/love-...-bridem-us.html

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Love and sorrow for Cambodian bride [-US Embassy in PPenh accused of red tape in denying visa for bride to attend her husband's funeral]

Ronnie and Susan Bouknight look at pictures of their son Steven as they talk about his marriage to Sochea Sam in Cambodia. Steven died in a fall on Upper Table Rock on April 28, and the Bouknights hope to get a visa for Sochea to come live with them in Medford. (Photo: Mail Tribune / Jim Craven)

A photo from Steven and Sochea Bouknight's wedding in Cambodia in March.

Young husband's tragic death shakes Medford family; spouse remains trapped by red tape half a world away

May 27, 2007

By Mark Freeman

Mail Tribune (Oregon, USA)

As Steven Bouknight's loved ones assembled May 5 in a Medford church to grieve the 21-year-old's death together, his bride was sobbing alone halfway across the world.

Sochea Bouknight, Steven's 20-year-old wife for all of seven weeks, remained stuck in her native Cambodia, snarled in red tape.

Steven's parents, Ronnie and Susan Bouknight, had pleaded with the U.S. Embassy to grant Sochea an emergency visa so she could be at the funeral with the in-laws she'd never met.

Steven's body even laid in cold storage for two weeks as the Bouknights begged to get Sochea on a plane to Medford, where the young couple had planned to settle in a guest house behind the Bouknights' west Medford home.

But U.S. officials in Phnom Penh said no, without any explanation, family members said.

"It was appalling," Susan Bouknight said.

The Bouknights had no choice but to cremate Steven's body May 10, 12 days after he fell to his death while hiking Upper Table Rock outside of White City.

Sochea missed her last chance to see the man she married in a lavish Cambodian wedding.

"This wasn't some mail-order bride thing," Susan Bouknight said. "It was one of those really special loves.

"And she couldn't even come touch him to say goodbye."

Now the Bouknights hope to salvage what's left of the couple's short union.

They want a permanent visa for Sochea to live in Medford with her in-laws, and Susan Bouknight is putting her pit-bull-like personality at work to make that happen.

She's solicited the help of U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, whose staff has made inquiries on behalf of the family. She's peppered the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia with requests, documents and even letters and poems Steven wrote to Sochea to prove this was love and not some opportunistic girl's meal-ticket to America.

"We're trying to do things legally, the right way, but we just don't understand the embassy's logic," Susan Bouknight said.

"I don't think we're ever going to put up with it," she said. "We'll fight it until our last breath."

The marriage between Sochea and Steven cemented a 27-year-old relationship of depth and breadth between two families from opposite ends of the globe.

It started in 1980, when Susan Bouknight met and befriended Chhorn Non, a Cambodian immigrant who lived around the corner from her family's apartment on Columbus Avenue.

Non taught English to new immigrants and was a frequent traveler to Cambodia, where he tried to set up schools. He then married another Cambodian native and brought her to Medford three years later.

Chhorn and Linda Non's daughter, Chandvattei, and Steven were born two weeks apart in 1986.

While the kids played together, the parents kicked a Hacky Sack around. They took turns baby-sitting.

Steven over time came to call Chhorn and Linda "Lopok" and "Nana," words of reverence in Cambodia.

"Our families have always been intertwined," Susan Bouknight said.

Through his years, Steven developed into a sensitive and complex young man who exuded charm and charisma, family members said.

He regularly watched professional wrestling with an 80-year-old, housebound neighbor, just so she could have a little company. He sang in the South Medford High School choir, and wanted one day to join the U.S. Army despite a bum knee.

Steven longed to have a family of his own in recent years, but dating was a series of relationships that always crashed and burned.

In 2006, Steven had a serious girlfriend with two young children. He acted like a father around them, Susan Bouknight said.

Steven later hocked his pickup truck to lend money to the girlfriend, who later dumped him.

"Like women who find butt-head guys, he just couldn't find a good girl," Susan Bouknight said.

As Steven brooded over this failed romance, Linda Non had an idea.

"I say, 'Why don't you meet my niece?' " she said.

Sochea Sam was 19, freshly moved from her village to live with her grandmother and attend school in Cambodia's capital city of Phnom Penh. She, too, was bubbly and sensitive and a family-oriented kid who liked to joke and "ham it up," much like Steven, Susan Bouknight said.

The Bouknights and Nons decided it was worth a shot, so they had Steven and Sochea exchange photographs.

Steven was enamored with Sochea's porcelain skin, her long black hair and engaging smile. Sochea, too, took to Steven's red curls, tall frame and soft grin.

With their mutual attraction instant, Steven and Sochea put the whirl in whirlwind.

"All the giggles on the phone, everything," Susan Bouknight said.

After six months of e-mails, phone calls and pictures, the couple decided to wed.

"They had the same ideas," said Linda Non, 50, of Medford. "That's how people fall in love."

Steven flew to Cambodia in late February. He was soon followed by the Nons, who were on a long-planned extended trip to visit family there.

The Bouknights, both in their 50s and on disability, couldn't afford the flight. So the Nons stood in for the Bouknights during their traditional Cambodian wedding March 10.

The ceremony lasted three days and drew 300 people. Nine hundred attended the reception. Bright traditional dress and swords gave way to western suits, tuxedoes and white gowns like costume changes.

"Everyone who saw them together said it was magical," Susan Bouknight said. "Even the photographer who took their pictures was so impressed by them. The photographer even cried."

So did Steven two weeks later when he flew home to Medford alone, eager to clear the route for his bride to follow.

Working two jobs and still holding onto his military dream, Steven began a workout regimen that included regular hikes up Upper Table Rock. There, on April 28, the worlds of two families on two continents fell apart.

As Steven peered over a ledge, rocks gave way under his feet. He fell 30 feet and died from injuries while in the arms of his brother, Billy Simmonds.

That night, the loss spread across the International Dateline.

Linda Non, still in Cambodia, became physically ill when Susan Bouknight called with the news.

A group of family members told Sochea. She collapsed in a pile of sobs that still have yet to subside.

"I can't talk long with her because she's still crying," Non said. "I don't know what to say.

"This broke my heart," she said.

Immediately, Susan Bouknight began telephoning the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, seeking an emergency visa so Sochea could attend the funeral. Embassy officials asked for a death certificate, but Steven's body was still at the state medical examiner's office.

The family sent a news clipping about the accident instead.

Sochea went to the embassy, asking for the visa. Officials said no and sent her home.

The Bouknights then faxed the embassy copies of Steven's death certificate, the couple's shared e-mails, letters about other family members in the United States, and an affidavit vowing the Bouknights' financial support for Sochea.

This time, embassy staff called Sochea "a silly girl," told her to stop crying and go home, Susan Bouknight said.

One time, embassy officials asked for a letter from Steven detailing how he wanted Sochea to move to the United States. Steven can't write one, the Bouknights responded. He's dead.

Two e-mail inquiries on the family's behalf from Smith's staff in Washington, D.C., have gone unanswered, Smith spokesman R.C. Hammond said.

"We're trying to help the family to the best of our abilities," Hammond said. "We've yet to hear back from them."

In an e-mail response to the Mail Tribune, J. Jeff Daigle, the embassy's public-affairs officer in Phnom Penh, said visa applications are protected by privacy laws and cannot be discussed with the media.

"Therefore, I am unable to confirm or deny that a visa application was made in this case," Daigle wrote.

The Bouknights said they are tired of what they consider to be perpetual snubs from the embassy.

They just want the government to get out of the way and let their daughter-in-law come to Medford.

"It's hard. It tests your faith," Susan Bouknight said. "But all these people from all around the world came together for Steven and Sochea.

"I just have to remind myself that it's part of a bigger picture," she said.

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com.

Labels: Red tape, Steven and Sokchea Bouknight, US embassy, Visa denial

Congrats!