dreamwarrior

Make sure your A numbers are correct on the NOA!  They gave us the wrong A number for my wife's biometrics appointment.  We overlooked it and they didn't notice it at the biometrics appointment.  They gave us the same wrong number for the interview NOA.  My wife showed up to the interview and they said they're going to have to cancel the interview because my wife's green card A number didn't match with the NOA.  So her biometrics has been rescheduled.  

My wife has already changed her name.  My question is now on Part 2 when they ask if you want to legally change your name, should we check yes or no?  We don't want to delay or have to see a judge for another name change, but we don't want her citizenship papers to have her old name.  So if she's already changed her name legally through the courts and social security and that's the name we'll use to apply for citizenship (but with her old name being the name on the green card, as they request what name is on the green card on the form), will there be any issues?  They don't have an option to select "already changed name".  They need this since not all states allow name changes on form n400 now.  

You've only been in this country for 4 years and you have a car and 10k saved up. My wife has been here for 1.5 years and hasn't been able to land a job yet. So you're doing very well! There's no reason you can't continue being the primary provider for your daughter. However, your ex husband needs to pay child support if he wants to get a divorce. Hire the most expensive lawyer your husband can afford. Just make sure that lawyer is more expensive than his. Have your lawyer request your husband pay for his/her services since you are not financially able to do so and according to his signed AOS he is still responsible for you. I know a poor LPR who got an immediate 50/50 settlement from her rich, freaked out husband (and his slave driving family) that way.

They're all going to cost about the same. Unfortunately I'm not aware of a Vietnamese run shipping service in Chicago. In CA there's plenty and only costs me $4 per lb. I just mailed a 22lb package the other day. Cost me about $85

Congrats Dat!

So I figured out the name issue. It's not really that important as long as all the names are there and spelled correctly. But now the credit card issue. Most international airlines will not accept my Discovercard, even through an online agent since they're billed separately. So my dad has to use his own card, but if he does that, he needs to send in a copy of his card and an authorization form...unless we use priceline, which is $100 more for the 3 of us. That's just too much trouble! Now the last option is to go to a travel agent and pay the bill there. Hopefully they will be able to book a Vietnam airlines flight.

How do I purchase a plane ticket in my wife's vietnamese name? She has the typical name of Nguyen Thi A B. Do I buy it in the name of B Thi A Nguyen? Or A B Thi Nguyen?

Also, will I have to show my credit card (we're flying China airlines) when checking in? My father in the US is the one who's going to be using my credit card to purchase the flight since he just received my new card in the mail and activated it for me, making my card here useless. Can I just show them my old card? I don't think they actually scan the card, only look at it for proof, right? Or can I explain that it's my old card and that my father in the US used my new card to make the purchase?

Thanks ScottThuy. Do you know how long Police Cert. is good for?

Police certificate #2 is valid for 1 year

It is a good idea to have copies of everything you sent USCIS/NVC, including the I130, for the interview. Forms such as the I130, DS230, and AOS should be original/signed. If you don't have them on hand, just redo/reprint them.

It seems that this Dr wants coffee money. You have nothing to worry about, I would just go to Cho Ray hospital

Her medical was already completed and we pick it up tomorrow. I'm hoping that means everything is ok.

I don't know how it's work in VN, but here in the US, it's not a lie when you tell your DR. you do not have any disease. OK, I do not have any disease, it's your job, the Dr's job to find out. But I thought when you go for your medical exam for Visa, you only see Americam Doctors? By the way what is IOM?

There's only Vietnamese dr's here. IOM = INternational center for Migration. Within this center is a place to conduct health checks for visas. The US consulate in HCMC allows two places to conduct medical exams for visas. IOM and Cho Ray Hospital. We picked IOM because it's a lot cleaner since it's not a public hospital

Also, if it's going to be a problem, could we just redo another medical exam this time at Cho Ray instead of IOM? After all we're supposed to bring our results to the consulate since IOM doesn't send them to the consulate themselves. We can simply redo it at Cho Ray and use those results, no? Also, does anyone thing the examiners were looking for coffee money? It seemed they were more interested in threatening my wife than finding out the truth by using common sense (ok, common sense doesn't exist in Vietnam).

My son has both an American passport and Vietnamese passport. So you are saying to use the VN pp to exit Vietnam and use the US pp to enter the US?

Yes, that is all you will need

My wife had her medical exam two days ago. The dr asked if she had any prior illnesses which she replied no because she has no infectious diseases. However, we have been treating her for an overactive thyroid for a little over a month. Her thyroid is noticeably large and so the dr asked if she knew she had a thyroid problem. She replied yes. The dr immediately chastised her for lying when asked if she had any illnesses. She did not lie. It just slipped her mind. The size of her thyroid isn't exactly something she can or had any intention of hiding. My wife replied that she thought only spreadable diseases were any issue so that is why she said she had no illnesses. She had nothing to hide because a thyroid issue isnt going to prevent her from entering the us. The dr however insisted she lied to cover up a sickness and claimed she would write in the report that my wife lied and could possibly have a fake marriage to enter the us. The dr asked why she didn't bring any medical reports. We didn't bring any of her past medical reports because I had not heard of anyone advising us to do so on here or anywhere else. She accused my wife of lying about the fact that she's currently under treatment.

The next day, my wife returned with her thyroid test results which showed that she is suffering from minor hyperthyroidism, which is an improvement from moderate hyperthyroidism that was on our tests back home (we are 8 hours away from the consulate and medical examiner). Before the dr (different one from yesterday) looked at the results, she asked if my wife brought her medical with her. She wasn't asked to bring her medication with her, so she did not. The dr called my wife a liar. She did not believe that my wife was currently on medication. The dr then threatened my wife saying that lying to a medical examiner is a big deal and that she would write in my wife's report that she lied to a medical examiner and that she lied to get into the us. That was option 1. Option 2 is to bar my wife from entering the us until her thyroid treatment is complete in 6 months. In reality, based on the test results, her thyroid will be at normal levels in 2 weeks or less. My wife cried and insisted she did nothing wrong. It was a minor slight on her part. She is quite intelligent but sometimes an airhead. Plus she only completed education to grade 9. And also, her memory has been quite terrible since the day she got pregnant and even worse after coming down with hyperthyroidism. Forgetfulness is a symptom of hyperthyroidism.

Can the dr really do this? Will it become an issue at the interview? My wifes medical came back all clear btw. I just don't see how the dr can accuse my wife of such a thing when she clearly admitted to having hyperthyroidism when asked specifically about it. If she had any intention to lie she would've kept on saying no. It honestly did not even cross her mind that she is currently battling a disease. This disease is also technically a genetic defect and not necessarily a disease. It runs in her family and is very common in Vietnam. The dr claimed she would not write on the report that my wife is lying, but my wife is afraid that she would do it anyway, and is afraid that it's already on her report from the dr the day before. Is there anything we can do? We've been together physically for 4 years and have a daughter together. She's studied our timeline and paperwork so thoroughly she knows it better than I do even though I'm the one who filled out all of the paperwork. It seems absolutely unfair if my wife is denied a visa based on honestly forgetting to mention an illness that isn't even an infection disease. She did not lie. Aren't you allowed to be forgetful? She forgot that she had an illness when asked "have you ever had any illnesses or diseases?" so she answered "no." But she did not forget she had hyperthyroidism when she was asked "did you know that you have hyperthyroidism?" so she answered "yes".

My wife had her exam at Iom yesterday. The dr asked if she had any prior illnesses which she replied no because she has no infectious diseases. However, we have been treating her for an overactive thyroid for a little over a month. Her thyroid is noticably large and so the dr asked if she knew she had a thyroid problem. She replied yes. The dr immediately chastised her for lying when asked if she had any illnesses. My wife replied that she thought only spreadable diseases were any issue so that is why she said no. She had nothing to hide because a thyroid issue isnt going to prevent her from entering the us. The dr however insisted she lied to cover up a sickness and claimed she would write in the report that my wife lied and could possibly have a fake marriage to enter the us. After some insisting and crying from my wife, the dr said that she would not make the report, but could instead suggest barring my wife from entering the us until her thyroid treatment is complete in 6 months. In reality, based on the test results, her thyroid will be at normal levels in 2 weeks or less.

Can the dr really do this? Will it become an issue at the interview? My wifes medical came back all clear btw. And she really had no intention of lying to the dr.

Any update to this? I am curious too since I'm in the same situation. I really didn't think about it until I read your post.

Apparently there is no exit-only visa in Vietnam. The vn visa is an entry/exit visa and costs $50. It requires a stamped Tam Tru form. However, you may or may not be hassled by airport authorities because if the baby was born in Vietnam and registered as Vietnamese on the bc, they will require the child to have a vn passport to travel. It may be possible to get away with just a US passport and visa. A lawyer told me that the baby doesnt even need a visa. But a vn pp is not much hassle and only $10. We were trying to avoid entering our child into my wifes ho khau which is required to obtain a vn pp, but the vn pp is the most surefire way to leave the country, so we are now in the process of obtaining a vn pp.

Normally you would have to be here on at least a worker's visa in order to file for DCF in Vietnam. They no longer officially allow DCF, but can make an exception in some cases. I'm not sure of the rules for Thailand but you can go over to thaivisa.com to ask.

I sympathize with you. The system is quite flawed. The new immigration reform that they're proposing basically decriminalizes illegal immigration for those who entered US borders illegally. If they're going to do that then it's only fair to completely decriminalize all forms of illegal immigration. Let's go back to the 70's when any spouse of a US citizen may be entitled to citizenship/PR status, regardless of their intents. It would make the process a lot smoother for all the real couples who undeservedly need to have their finances and relationship scrutinized for 1-2 years and then even getting interrogated before being given a letter of temporary intent to issue a visa.

Is Obama's 2012 immigration proposal already in effect? The one that allows spouses of US citizens to remain in the country while waiting to obtain legal status? If so you can get married, file a CR1 and legally stay in the country. Perhaps you should contact an immigration lawyer for advice.

US passport. She doesn't have a VN passport

Does anyone know the process of obtaining an exit visa for a baby born in Vietnam? We have a 2 year old who's got her passport and CRBA, but no visa stamps on the passport. We were planning on getting the exit visa when we go to do my wife's medical on the 7th. Our interview is on the 19th. How long does it take to get the exit visa and how much does it cost? Will they hold her passport in the meantime? Because we were planning two trips to HCMC. One for the medical and then we will come back to our town immediately that night. Then we will go back to HCMC the day before the interview. That way we won't have to spend 2 weeks in a hotel while at the same time still paying for our apartment back in Nha Trang.

You can email your DS-3032 after NVC has received your case. Read the links above. USCIS/NVC will contact you through e-mail for everything (in addition to snail mail) so there's no need to wait for snail mail. Using your foreign address was correct in that it may speed up receiving NOA2. The only thing is that you will need to prove your docimile (did you send proof with the I130?) in the US. It's a good thing to have a place to live set up before coming to the US. The last issue you will deal with is AOS/I864 where you would want 1-3 years of tax returns. If you had not paid taxes since you were living overseas it'd be a good idea to file back taxes immediately. Depending on how picky your consulate is, 1 year of returns (2012-2013) will be good enough.

Did you label the police certificate for them and did you include a translation? They're supposed to accept original untranslated police certificates in the consulate country's native language, but sometimes they won't know what paper is the PC unless it's properly labeled. What they could be wanting from you is a translation. I forgot to include my translation and did not label my pc so I got a checklist for that.

I feel bad for the people who filed in June like me and at CSC yet still not approved. I did file from abroad but I did not use my international address like others who got autoexpedited in 2-4 weeks, 8 weeks the longest. My 3 month wait seemed fairly normal at the time but I guess it was semi-expedited.

Looks like you already sent in your I130 with your own translation. Be sure to keep both translations on file for the interview as they may or may not accept a translation from the petitioner (depends on the CO).

The purpose of the birth certificate is to prove your citizenship and secondary, prove you are who you say you are. They want this in addition to a copy of your passport. Since you're the petitioner with a foreign birth certificate, it's preferable to send your "original" certificate of naturalization in its place. All they need is the original and a photocopy.