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| Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam |  Review on February 14, 2020: |
michael7oanh
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Our appointment was for 7:30am but we got there at 6:30am. I'd advise everyone to ask your taxi driver to drop you off at a street around the corner from the consulate because the street vendors there are VERY aggressive. My wife was bullied into buying a drink from them after they practically forced our taxi to pull to their side of the road to drop us off near their chairs-for-rent.
Anyway, they didn't let people form a line in front of the consulate's side entrance until a little after 7am so getting there early didn't help at all. We stood in line outside for about 35 minutes while the staff helpers went along the line asking to see appointment letters and passports. They seemed to arrange a separate priority line of people with children and elderly that would enter the building first. Eventually my wife and I made our way through an initial door security checkpoint and then into the building where we stood in line again to pass through the main security checkpoint (where bags are run through the scanner). This was the most exhausting part because our own line was neither under the cooling fans nor next to the chairs so we just had to stand there in the sweltering heat for a little over 30 minutes.
Eventually we got into the main building after checking in our phones and proceeded to a window where my wife was given a waiting number. They didn't do any of the fingerprinting that the consulate website instructed us about. We found a seat and waited for about 35 minutes before our number was called to present original docs like Birth Certificate, Household book, Marriage Certificate and Passport. Surprisingly, they didn't ask for anything from me (The Petitioner).
My wife was told a week earlier that she would have to wait 3 months for the final results of her health exam as they wanted to check her lungs a bit more. The clerk still allowed us to proceed with the interview so we sat back down to wait again. The document processing windows seemed to be the first 9 window numbers while the interview windows seemed to be #11 and above. Window/Door #10 seemed to be a special room in the middle.
Anyway, after waiting for about 40 more minutes, we were called to the interview window. He asked me (Petitioner) where I lived, what I did for work and why I waited a long time after our marriage before filing a petition. This was our 2nd attempt to get a visa after our failed fiance visa petition years ago so we wanted to make sure we gathered a good number of years of evidence. We had years of photos, money transfer receipts, Skype session records, emails, etc. but the interviewer never asked to look at any of it.
He then asked me to sit down for a bit so he could talk to my wife privately. He asked her if she could speak English. She replied yes so he then dismissed the translator and asked her where she lived and again why we waited about 8 years before filing a visa petition. After her brief answers, he waved me to come back and told us that we had passed the interview and that the only hold up is in passing the extended health exam. So my wife will wait a few months and return to the consulate with those results.
The overall process was okay but the worst part is standing in the heat of the security checkpoint lines both outside and inside the building. Here's a brief timeline:
7:10am: Formed a line outside the consulate. Have your passport and appointment letter handy to be inspected by the staff helpers.
7:45am: Proceeded into the building to form another line for the main security checkpoint. Scanned bags and checked in any phones and electronic devices.
8:15am: Proceeded to the initial window to show our appointment letter and receive a queue number.
8:50am: Had our queue number called and presented our original documents to the filing clerk.
9:40am: Proceeded to the Interview window for a brief 7-10 minute interview.
MY ADVICE (Learned the hard way):
1. Make sure you have at least 3 visits and at least 2-3 years worth of relationship evidence before filing a petition. Don't rush into the initial petition until you can prove your relationship to their so-called "reasonable person" standard.
2. You can save yourself money by doing the documents yourself and simply have an immigration lawyer look over your docs before you submit them for both the petition stage and the NVC stage. Take advantage of their initial legal consultation fee and you can avoid the huge expense of hiring an immigration lawyer to file your docs.
3. Lastly, practice common interview questions with your spouse/fiancee to make sure you're both at ease about being asked to explain certain facts about your relationship. Looking over your timeline together can help jog your memory and ensure you're both on the same page about details.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #28007