We arrived around 06h45 and the line was already from the door nearly to the end of the building. The orange shirt greeters checked for appointment letters and identification. They checked my passport as the petitioner and verified it against the appointment letter.
Around 07h00 they opened the door and we filed inside the first room where instructions were given. There is drinking water in this room, but no WC.
Next small groups were allowed to cross into the other building where you go through security, similar to airport security. We had to check in my wife's phone and we were given a metal number card to later retrieve the phone on the way out.
I was directed to the seating area while my wife waited in line for fingerprints. We then waited for her number to be called for the first window where her documents were checked. We waited several more hours for the actual interview at the second window. We went to the interview window together. I was asked when I arrived in town, when I was leaving and where I was staying. I was asked to sit down while my wife was asked where and how we met. I think she was asked a lot about our communication because my wife does not speak English yet, and could only do the interview in Vietnamese. I was asked to come back to the window and the officer didn't seem to believe that we communicate only in Vietnamese. Eventually she was satisfied and called my wife back to the window to congratulate us.
Each interview window had a native speaker interpreter with the consular officer. It seemed like the officers could understand the responses given in Vietnamese, but they generally did not speak Vietnamese with the applicants. We saw a lot of blue slips that day, but we don't know why people were failing.
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #20820
Review on November 6, 2016:
