decker

Ho Khao (spelling?) every family has one.

I don't know the other thing.

http://www.lunextelecom.com

Anybody hear of or use these folks?

If your child is born overseas, make sure you do a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. It will get the little one a passport, SSN and his American citizenship. It is very easy to do and if you go to the Consulate with her and the child it makes it go faster, 4 hours for us. You will be "interviewed" by the staff but it is nothing super detailed, but be able to spout off all your travellings. They were interested in all the stuff I did for the Army for some reason.

If the child is born out of legal wedlock, VN guvmint will not permit an English name nor will your name be anywhere on the birth certificate. Just get Zen with that, you can fix later.

Congratulations.

Thank you for the link lindal, that is very good to know. I am sure we will return sometime in the future.

Linh went to Cho Ray for her exam and had a good experience. She also went to IOM for the DNA dealio and also had a good experince. Guess she hit on good days.

I used to send via Western Union from my bank. It is cheaper if you do it at your bank than at a WU branch. Save all the receipts and you can use as evidence if you want to. The pick -up in VN is a little challenging. She needs to have the number and her name and your name need to be exact matches. Linh and I learned the hard way on that.

You can also bank transfer. ACB and Vietcombank can do this if she has an account.

Perhaps you could set up a joint account with Citibank? Just a thought.

Asian food on Cushman is long gone. Little Saigon is for all intents and purposes gone. The local supermarket is it unless you go to a restaurant. I'll keep trying I suppose. I have a year to do it now.

We cooked and had a bunch of friends over. I learned a lot more details about the offering of food and such. I was slacking on trying to find a moon cake for her but she said "no problem". Friends really enjoyed Linh's most excellent cooking. Everyone is now looking forward to Tet.

No nothing local. Fairbanks is not a exactly a must see destination for SE Asians. Japanaese tourists like it though.

The really pungent incense like the pagodas use...red stick,yellow top. you know the stuff. The local hippie shop only has 2$ per stick high falootin' incense.

Moon cakes, can't find that anywhere. My searches on the interweb are not panning out very well.

You don't need a lawyer to do a I-129. That is the easy part. The Consulate is the tough part. We had some interesting goings-on with these folks but eventually it panned out. Make as many trips as you can in the meantime and enjoy a country not many people see. Learn her culture. Save all your boarding passes and itineraries for each time you go and submit as evidence when she goes for the interview. Take pictures as well, especially with her parents. Oh yeah.......MAKE COPIES of everything! Tell her to as well. I am dealing lost papers now.

The next how ever many months are going to be frustrating and sometimes will piss you off like no other, but you can get through it. The guide section here is very helpful and enough folks have been there to help you out.

Enjoy the ride!

Thank you very much ToddandHien for the re-direct.

I went and looked and found that form I-824 will get back a NOA-2. After the fee of course.

Wait...

Wait.....

$340

I love the US Guvmint.

Ahnmap made me think of my brother's fiasco. My sister in law is from Singapore. He met her while stationed in Hawaii (25th ID). She was then on a student visa. My brother joined me in Ft Campbell KY where she came on a tourist visa, married my brother, never filed anything and stayed. They had 2 kids, bought a house, SSN's all around, bought several cars and filed 10 years of joint taxes together. Her mother visited twice. My brothers security clearance came due for renewal and they found her,otherwise the guvmint would still be in the dark. So I don't really worry too much, but the thought is still in the back of my head sometimes.

So the consulate at HCM strikes again. Linh gave the NOA2 to the CO when she went to get her visa and CO did not return it. Linh did not know she would need it later. This form is supposed to accompany the green card application. I emailed the consulate and the reply said We don't maintain records like that. Once the beneficiary is gone, thats it.

Very nice.

Also I look around at some other folks on this and their problems here and I see that my "evidence" is lacking. The only thing we have together is a son (to me that is the biggest evidence needed) and a joint bank account.

So the question of the day is "Will the guvmint really come and get her over this?"

I used RS and like Josephs said it is using the Northern dialect so Linh looked at me all stupid-like. My complaint with RS is that you don't get the translation with it. You are basically parroting sentences associated to a picture.

She also refused to teach me while I came to visit her because "Then all pretty ladies be talking to you!" She is pretty territorial. Her daughter My is teaching me some.

And of course the only thing france ever did well for Vietnam, bahn mi. With real butter and a cup of steaming tea in the morning before the sun comes up.

There was a nice little mi shop in Phu Nhuan around the corner from Linh's place and right across the street very good cam suon. I felt bad going to one place or the other because I felt like the other owner was staring at me for the betrayal. Weird I know, but good food. I miss it.

Linh's mom cooks awesome bahn cahn.

I will miss going over there even if it is two feet from the sun hot.

Well done! Very nice story.

Email was always a good thing for me. Pretty reasonable response time, 3-4 days. Be nice to them.

Western Union would sometimes deny Linh getting money because I had spelled her name wrong, or put them in "American order" instead of Vietnamese order, or the number didn't match. It's all fraud protection.

At 1027 am, 24 July 09 Linh, MyMy and Charlie arrived at Anchorage airport to begin new lives in the US. I am very happy.

No.

The older folks that I have been around pick their own birthdays any way. 25 December and 1 January are favorites for some reason. The VN guvmint even picked Linhs birthday for her and picked her sisters birth country.

So, happy news first. Linh has been granted a visa We had to continue the hoop dance when she went to do her part of the DNA. The consulate changed the requirement of all of us to just her and her daughter. That set me off but she talked me down. When it was returned to the consulate, she went to her new processing appointment and don't you know the VN staff chick that originated all this DNA foolishness several months ago (the back story is a real gas) was there and glaring at her the entire time. This time Linh went to an American and all was good.

So she will fly around 24 July and then we can start a whole new process! Awesome.

Good luck to you all, I can't say this has been enjoyable but it is worth it.

So to continue the saga of HCMC Consulate... I contacted a DNA testing company called GENELEX, a comany on the consualtes approved list. Gathered my cheek swab sample no problem. They sent a kit to HCM on the 27 of April and Linh was not notified until yesterday. Her appointment is on 8 July. Only a government agency can turn a 15 minute procedure into a 2 1/2 month exercise in patience. I can hardly wait for Act Three!!!!

Enjoy.

THIS IS THE BACKGROUND STORY OR AS I LIKE TO CALL IT, ACT ONE.

my last posting was generally happy. Linh was about to get her visa. All was good. Here is the background and the rest of the story.

17 March we got to the Consulate in HCM to do a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. Everything went well and no mention of a DNA test.

23 March we go back to the consulate for her interview. We had to bring our newborn son and Linhs daughter from a previous marriage. She had to return with our son's passport when it arrived and a picture of her with her daugther. Fine. Again no mention of DNA.

16 April she goes back to the consulate to pick up the CRBA and passport. She tries to turn this in and trouble starts. The VN CO tells her that the window is closed, she is late, go home. Linh tries to explain the whole infant son thing but it aint working. VN chick goes away, Linh spies and American and asks him who agrees to help. VN chick returns and she is having none of this. Starts going off on American dude and Linh. Linh is sent packing.

17 April. Linh returns and don't you know she gets VN chick. VN chick does not say anything, just hands her a instruction packet to get DNA done not only on our son, but on her daughter as well. Swell.

So the lesson here kids is do what you are told the first time. Enjoy your day.

I have returned to US through SEA and ANC and sometimes the US does not stamp unless I ask them to. On the occasions they have stamped it they did it on a random page. It is hard to find the right one apparently. The VN stamps are always in and out and in the right place, even when I did a multiple entry to VN and Cambodia. Save all boarding passes and itineraries and the airline may be able to get a manifest showing you actually being on the flight. Worth a try.

VN chick said go home and Linh should have gone home and not involved American dude.

I have heard a lot of negative comments about the VN staff at the HCM consulate. Even when I did the CRBA, the VN staff was interrogating me pretty hard, but the American was very nice and relaxed. Even the American that initially interviewed Linh was very nice about everything.

As a follow up, I contacted a lab in Seattle that routinely does this DNA. The lady I spoke to said that they handle at least 2 a week from HCM alone. There are about twenty other labs on the list so how many more people are being directed to do this.

It is a pretty easy process in theory anyway, but it is costing me almost 1100 dollars to establish the relationship between Linh, me and our son and the relationship between Linh and her daughter. Awesome.

Hopefully VN chick regains face and leaves us alone after this.