Melrose Plant

I'd do the snake blood or heart in vodka. The booze will kill anything that might hurt you. If figure all the moonshine that I drank in college from the hills of North Carolina and Virginia had worse mixed in.

I've done this. Actually, I've eaten all the "exotic" foods mentioned here, plus a few that aren't listed here.

The snake blood tastes a lot more like wine, and I just swallowed the heart, so I couldn't really tell you what it tastes like. Feeling the thing still beating in your stomach is a curious sensation, however.

Coincidentally, I'm from North Carolina also, though not from the 'hills.'

We husbands had better mind our Ps and Qs.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?cati...mp;newsid=48173

Man, it either took some serious naivete or something to post this on a public forum. Everybody knows you have to report everything as income. Now some of that income might not get taxed, but you still have to report it anyhow. Not to be a jerk, but I would really be careful with this guy. Something's not right here.

You know, that's how they eventually got Al Capone--not for all the people he'd killed (or had killed), or all the illegal schemes he had going--they eventually got him for income tax evasion.

you have to be spycho and machiavellic and nasty to be able to report that someone who is eanring 24K$$$ per year is not declaring all his income.

Good grief, I think we're in the K-1 section, not the Off-Topic!

Anyhow, I don't know where that came from, I never suggested that anyone turn him in, I'm suggesting that the OP step back and take a look at a guy who would claim to be ignorant and unintentional about his income tax cheating, when that can't possibly be the case. I'm not really that fussed about the actual crime, but I'd be awfully pissed if my wife did something like that (she has, and she understands what is and is not acceptable in America), but lied to me about it (she hasn't).

You need a copy of the divorce decree with an official court seal or stamp. A photocopy is not the same.

He will need to request another certified copy from the court where his divorce was granted.

Thanks, i knew this would be happen , it take to much time to get certified copy from the court?

The answer to your question depends SO MUCH on where he got divorced. In my case, we filed in a very small town where my ex-wife did a lot of court appointed work (she's a lawyer). When I went in to get a certified copy of our decree, the clerk of court gave me about half a dozen certified copies while I waited (about five minutes), and didn't even charge me for them. On the other hand, if your fiance is unlucky enough to have got divorced in say, Orange County, California, they don't exactly give those certified copies away. And you'll have to wait a LOT longer than five minutes for them. But, getting an additional certified copy is not the difficult in any case. Good luck!

I was always advised to get tax transcripts as well as providing the returns. A tax transcript is basically just a receipt from Uncle Sam showing that you actually paid X number of dollars into the system. However, I really don't see how that's any better than the return/W-2 combination. Maybe it's more important if you're self-employed and need to prove you paid your taxes? Anyway, it's really easy to get the transcripts. You just call (800) 829-1040 and go through their automated system and request transcripts for whatever year(s) you want. Then they just show up in the mail about a week later. Maybe not necessary, but if you want to do it, it's really easy.

Oh yeah, and one more thing. I had a letter from my bank that I am an account holder in good standing, and deposited X number of dollars into account number such-and-such in the last year. Again, if you're way over the minimum income requirements and you've got a normal enough job (unlike me), then you probably don't need that, either.

Man, it either took some serious naivete or something to post this on a public forum. Everybody knows you have to report everything as income. Now some of that income might not get taxed, but you still have to report it anyhow. Not to be a jerk, but I would really be careful with this guy. Something's not right here.

You know, that's how they eventually got Al Capone--not for all the people he'd killed (or had killed), or all the illegal schemes he had going--they eventually got him for income tax evasion.

Hey Peter, good to hear from you.

Come to think of it, now that I've read Peter's post, I guess we did have to wait until the visa was issued one week later before we could buy the ticket. It's all a blur now, but it's coming back. Now I remember that the Consulate completely screwed up our plans of travelling to China or Singapore because Mai didn't have her passport for an entire week. As a result, we hung around Saigon the whole week, doing essentially nothing except having dinner every night at yet another stranger's house.

After Mai got the pink slip, we just went down to the Korean Air office and convinced them that in fact they COULD sell us a ticket like we wanted. We even convinced them they could sell us a ticket with a seat next to mine. Amazing, sometimes, their "can't do" attitudes. Almost reminds me of the U.S.

Jack, I'd just call Mark. He will know where it's at. I went there once, but I couldn't begin to tell you how to get there. Just so you know, I wasn't terribly impressed by the place. It's just a bunch of white people eating overpriced, mediocre barbecue.

But don't let me discourage you. I didn't think it was THAT bad that I'd tell everyone to stay away.

Congratulations again to you and Xuan on your apparent success.

Wow, it was a little twisted, but you're almost there! Congratulations!

We had no surprises at our POE (which was Chicago). The Immigration Officer did remark on Mai's high blood pressure (which Cho Ray hospital imagineered), but it was just a comment. Nothing bad happened at all. It was very easy and remarkably speedy.

Gray huh? Well, I don't know about my wife with gray hair. We're way too young to think about that for now.

We are not too young to have gray hair. Sometimes I forget I'm dangerously close to being an old fart.

You'll probably wait about a week.

Get your MED EXAM DONE, PAY YOUR FEE so when they give you interview your not walking around like a headless chicken!

Regardless of the warning, he will, like all of us, running around like headless chicken when it comes to HCMC. Don't spoil the fun in it for all of us who have been through the journey, looking back... it was FUN!!!!!!!!! scary fun! actually!

Ummmm, no it wasn't. Not even a little bit. I don't remember even one single aspect of it being anywhere close to fun. Afterwards, it was fun! Especially since there were 3 VJers celebrating together at that time.

Good luck Dai, just focus brother! Think Big Picture: GET me that Visa!

And me, too. Forget about your wife, do it for US!

I really just don't understand about all this hair color business. What's wrong with gray? The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness......

Can't go wrong with "anh," nhe? "Bro" does sound a little bit familiar for someone you don't know, and to be quite frank, makes a person sound a little bit low class. I may get myself into trouble with that one, oh well.

Congratulations on the interview date she can keep. I'm glad you got that whole mess sorted without extreme delays. Good luck!

did the CO speak vietnamese to your husband or was there a translator?

The COs speak English and always have translators unless the petitioners are not Vietnamese. He/She will interviews your spouse in English.

Good luck

H&H

First, congratulations to you. I always say this to everyone, because I know from personal experience--now the easy part is over, good luck with the hard part, that is, actually making a life with each other. I'm sure you are up to meeting the challenges of the hard part.

Second, your statement is not correct 100% of the time. My wife was interviewed in Vietnamese by the CO himself. He was an older white guy, and my wife says he spoke very clearly. There was no translator. From what I've gathered, this guy is the only one who does this, and maybe not for every interviewee.

I cannot speak to what happens at IOM. I don't really understand about having to go three different places to complete the exam and immunizations. I don't know whether that is true or not.

Cho Ray will get the job done, but it's a nasty place. It is also a rather unfriendly place. This was true for us despite knowing the vice general director of the hospital personally. Of course, none of the staff were aware of this, so I guess our contacts weren't worth much, hehe.

Anyway, I don't like the place, and based solely upon that, I would recommend IOM, even knowing nothing about IOM.

ok...but is there any way to contact these people directly, email them, phone or make an appointment to meet with them if you have overwhelming proof of illegal actions on the part of the CO's?

Very funny.

The problem is, there is very little actual oversight of what we're dealing with. Or I should say for myself, what I've dealt with. I'm glad that part of the journey is over.

And there probably won't be a lot of oversight in the future because, from your average citizen's point of view, there ain't nothing wrong. Let's face it, there's a lot of visa fraud out there, and the consulate makes it hard to pass the interview. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The most important thing for us to do here is to make sure that you make it through this process without having a heart attack or something, Jonas.

I sure wouldn't bring a full size stroller to take to Saigon. Can you imagine maneuvering that thing on the street? I'd do an umbrella stroller at most. I really, really love my Baby Bjorn (see photo), but depending on the size of your baby and the relative sturdiness of your back, that may not be the best choice, either.

We'll be doing the same thing in a matter of months, let us know how it went.

Hey there Jonas, I'm glad to see your case is progressing normally. Isn't the DS-156 just plain weird? I thought so too. It just seems downright silly in places. After doing a little digging, I found out why it seems weird, and more importantly, why you don't need to worry that it seems weird.

You see, the DS-156 is the general information form that goes along with a non-immigrant visa. Technically, the K-1 (and K-3) visas are non-immigrant visas. Trouble is, every person who applies for one of these visas is really an intending immigrant. Now, suddenly some of the questions seem funny: Where do you intend to work? How long do you intend to stay in the U.S.? Questions like that. If you look at them in the context of say, a work or business visa (which was what the 156 was intended for), the questions don't seem nearly as bizarre.

Since you've already submitted it, it's really a moot point, but someone did point out that there is a sample for this form filled out in the context of a K-1. I didn't follow it. I just put N/A for all the questions like you're having trouble with. Good luck!

I am unclear as to whether you are man or woman. You call your honey "him, " but refer to "him" as your "fiancee." Anyway, I'll assume you are a woman, as that is the most usual.

You are very lucky that some of his family came to your Lễ Ăn Hỏi. Yes, by all means, get copies of their airplane tickets and passport stamps/visas. Believe me, they won't mind the intrusion if they went to all the trouble to come to Vietnam just to meet you. I believe our own case went through easily because I had such evidence.

Theoretically speaking, the CO in question should definitely recuse himself from the case. To interview a former girlfriend would definitely be unethical.

Yet another example of the mystery. As you say, there is no culture of changing the surname in Asia, yet, to a woman, every one of them wants to change their name when they come here. Even my own wife. I don't understand why.

Anyway, to answer your question, I believe at this late date, your wife is going to have to do a name change in the District Court (State, not Federal) where you live. It's not a big deal. Go down and ask the Clerk of Court the procedures for your State. I can only tell you what you need to do in Iowa. Other States will be slightly different, I'm sure.

After that, then you'll have to get everything else changed. It will be time consuming, but straightforward. If it were me, I just wouldn't bother with any of it. What's in a name? To each his own.