Jerry & Fiona

I called DoS today. They told me that my SO should receive P4 in about 2 weeks and that the interview date is scheduled for May 18th at 9:30am! Also, started my new job today and got moved into my new apartment. Things have surely turned around in the passed week.

My brand new one year visa!

Aside from everything relevant to this post, I loved MC Hammer. Great dancing.

I enjoy Vietnam vacation videos with aquatic

Good to hear Quann. Looks like we are just slightly behind you. I think I will call DoS on Monday to see if there is any news for us. I suspect our interview may happen in the first week of June.

My internet has been down. I read about your Pink last night. I am so happy for you both.

Hi Everyone!

My affidavit of support form dates back to September 2, 2010, however, our interview will be on April 20, 2011, it's passed the 6 month mark already, so do you know if I would have to fill out a new affidavit of support? or can I just white out the old date, and just write the new date on it?

I'm not sure how strict is HCMC in enforcing all paperwork must be perfect, because I'm afraid they might see a white out mark on our form and tell us, we have to submit a new one with no mistakes being corrected?

Also, on the form that the immigration service had filled out for us it said expired 5/31/2010....

Good luck on the interview tomorrow (HCM time, I mean).

<- handy smiley, just run these together : time :

haha.

(off topic) Hey Charles, is that Norm McDonald in your avatar? [edit] A quick google search tells me no.

What stats are you lookin for J?

From day to day and post to post, I like to look at the relationships of timelines dependent on people's various situations. I then take that information and it gives me a general idea when comparing to my own situation.

I want to be sensitive because I know everyone has their own thing going and it may not always be easy to maintain their timeline. But sometimes I'll see that someone has passed the interview process. I'm excited for them and want to look at their timeline for comparison and the information may have only been updated to their NOA2 or Consulate Received.

I enjoy looking at the amount of time that has passed between each phase. Without the holes filled, it is difficult to gain an understanding of the times between ('Consulate Received'-'P3 Received'; 'P3'-'P4'; 'P4'-'Interview'). My way around this has been to look at the members recent posts to maybe see if they have mentioned it but just haven't got around to updating their timeline. Which works sometimes, but is kind of the long way of doing it.

I am respectful and understanding about it all though. I just wanted to make a plea and I hope I'm not coming across as being pushy. I find the timeline feature very helpful as well as your thread with relevant VJ-er interview dates. That's a really cool thread.

Speaking of that thread. I was thinking the other day: I wonder if there is a way to use a calendar here on the forum that is data driven. If so, it may be more efficient for you in regards to maintenance. Just an idea.

Thanks,

Jerry & Fiona

I am so pleased to hear about the positive news from so many recent member interviews. I hope the trend continues.

I have searched through 50+ pages in the VN threads and couldn't find an appropriate place to make a member's timeline update request. So, I thought I would politely do so here. It's easy to overlook when things are moving along. I know at least for me, the updates give me something to measure by when things are not moving so fast.

I am very interested in the stats, as I'm sure many on here are. It is much appreciated. A big salute to those who contribute to this wonderful feature here on VJ.

Respectfully,

Jerry & Fiona

Awesome, Vince. Are you excited? I know you must be.

Interesting. All online sources I find state that it means 'premarital sex'. I haven't found anywhere where it says 'no premarital sex'.

A Viet Kieu is not any more free to voice their opinions in the US than they are in Vietnam. All of those people you see on TV protesting in front of the VN consulates in the US will never be able to return to Vietnam. They've cut off their ties with their family and friends just to make a political statement in the US. What's more, the VN government doesn't care what those Viet Kieu say in the US because nobody in VN will ever see those protests, and those Viet Kieu will never see their families again. Vietnam won't change until the people who live in Vietnam decide to change it.

There's a helluva lot more to life than worrying about what the government is doing. For the vast majority of people in Vietnam, the government has very little effect on their daily lives. They work, go home, and spend time with their family and friends. They also get a lot more pleasure from simple things than most Americans do, and generally are pretty happy people. When they do have to interact with the government then they play the game in order to make it as fast and painless as possible, and then they get on with their lives.

Most of the Viet Kieu I know are not happy with the VN government, but most of the Americans I know are not happy with the American government either. The difference is that in America you can complain loudly about it to your heart's content, but the net result is the same - nothing really changes. You can let it eat you up, or you can focus on what's the most important. One of the Viet Kieu I know spent two years in a re-education camp after the war. He still goes back to VN every year to spend time with his family, and he's one of the happiest people I know. I've asked him how he can go back and face the same government that beat him daily in that camp. He says the government didn't beat him - individual people did that. The guy checking his passport at the airport might work for that same government, but that guy didn't do anything to him personally, and there's no reason he should hold a grudge against him for what someone else did.

Do you know the serenity prayer? It goes like this...

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I've never seen a better roadmap for a happy life.

Amen!

In order to avoid confusion on legal documents, the best way to write your name is in the following format:

Last name, first name.......then middle name

Nguyen, Nuoc Nam

If her name has 4 words, which is quite common, then it's IMPORTANT to immediately put whatever she wants as her first name right after the "comma"

Nguyen, Lu Thi Cai......>>in Vnese, her name would be Nguyen Thi Cai Lu. Thi and Cai are considered noth middle names.

I find this quite interesting. My SO's name adapts both her father's last name and her mother's last name, giving her 4 names excluding her adapted English name. To protect her name I'll use made up names. Father's last name Nguyen, Mother's last name Pham, middle name Van, first name Quyen.

So she writes it Nguyen Pham, Van Quyen. On the paperwork it has appeared like this but it has also been written as Nguyen, Van Quyen Pham and also Nguyen, Van Quyen P.

First, I want to congratulate you. That is so awesome. I'm sure you are totally excited.

I find the following questions interesting.

9. Which brother or sister that you think love you the most?

17. Do you have religious? If so what church will you have your ceremony and where?

18. From your fiance's home to the church is how far?

27. Did you file for a marriage license yet?

Comments, anyone?

First off before I go into details, I would like to thank everyone here for all their advices, support, encouragements, jokes, and help with the morale of this crazy experience.

And I have to tell ya I used to hate the color pink, but now I'm going to buy me a pink boxer brief.

On my wife's blue slip it stated we have to turn in the documents on March 30. But yesterday she decided the heck with it she's gonna go 7 days early. She arrived and was in line around 12:50 pm. When she handed the documents in window B she sat back down and waited. She observed about 20 something people got PINK, and 2 got blue. She was next to the last person, so she thought they were gonna run out of pink slip and give her a blue. But fortunately she was called back up to the window and they handed her the pink slip. she said everything became blur. She also noticed that they prepare the pink slip ahead of time. They didn't ask her any more questions but she noticed they question 1 lady, they gave her a pink slip afterward. there a lady that was accompanied by her husband. they didn't allow him in. however, after they interviewed her, her husband was called in for questioning. they got a pink slip as well. I just want to share this information because others after us might be curious.

btw, on the pink slip they had her name in the wrong order. they wrote her first name as her middle name. next week, March 30 when she pick up her visa (hopefully they will have it ready by then) , she will see if they can correct her name.

good luck and happy journey to others before us and after!

oh LUCKYTXN, i bought a ####### load of hangers!

Again, congratulations AJ. I know it has been an emotional passed 2 weeks for you both. Such good news. I told you it would work out.

Awesome news.

Very happy for you. So happy to hear about people getting pinks. Can someone direct me to the list of upcoming member interviews? Thanks.

call the 202 DoS number in this thread and ask for update.

i filed the i-129f petition myself w/o an attorney's help back last september. i googled and did the best i could (didn't find this forum until a few days ago). i met my fiancee back in 2006 and have seen her a total of 5 times. didn't save alot of receipts or much proof as i never thought about this. we do have alot of pictures and hopefully that's enough? so far so good we're just waiting for packet 4 from HCM with an interview date. this forum has been invaluable and i plan to be as prepared as possible from now on.

Cool. Keep us updated on your P4/Interview date status when you find out. I'm about a week behind you. Hand delivered our P3 on the 16th March, just a few days ago.

Buy hangars.

lol. Classic! That took me a minute to figure out. I'll have to start using that.

It seemed like Jerry & Fiona time line is after me, but my fiance (live in Saigon) still haven't receive package 3 yet! Something must be wrong. So hard to contact them! I emailed twice!

Have you confirmed with NVC that the consulate received your paperwork and mailed the P3? Even if they cannot confirm dates, it would be good to know that the process has begun.

If you have confirmed this already, why not have your fiancee go to the information booth at the consulate to inquire.

Awesome news Vince. So happy for you both.

You don't need to include the DS-156 and DS-156K in the P3. Just email DS-230 Part I and DS-2001 and email and mail to HCMC. We recently did this and we had P4 in less than a month from the receipt of P3.

Excellent news. My fiancee turned in the P3 today in person at the consulate. I'm so thrilled now.

You don't need to include the DS-156 and DS-156K in the P3. Just email DS-230 Part I and DS-2001 and email and mail to HCMC. We recently did this and we had P4 in less than a month from the receipt of P3.

Ok. That makes sense to me. I think my attorney may not have understood clearly. Curious when do we do these DS-156 and DS-156K forms?

P3 arrived at my SO address today while she was at work. They did not leave it because the neighbor could not verify my SO's name. Consulate is telling her she cannot hand deliver to the consulate and she cannot enter the consulate. Attorney advised us to complete DS-156 and DS-156K along with the DS-230 (Part I) and DS-2001 and mail it to the consulate via Certified mail.

I have passed on all of the information to my SO that you all have advised here but in the end the consulate is being difficult about going down there in person. Emailing them is pretty useless. So, hope certified mail will do the job.

Wouldn't it be great if we had an iPhone App (or similar) for stats? That would really rock. Ok, developers, get to work on it.