Stunned...

[Pohtaytoh 0]

I'm not even sure where to begin...

Maybe a little intro is in order. Since Linh's medical exam (April 20th), things have been a nightmare. Linh had TB four years ago when she was 20, but finished taking medication after 6 months. Because there are still scars, they are forcing her to go through a sputum culture. Results would normally take a little over two months which we've found acceptable. But as I mentioned in the previous thread, she has, for the past week, been unable to produce sputum/phlegm for the doctors to even begin testing. If she is unable to produce sputum during tomorrow's attempt, we'll visit the doctor again and beg to have the bronchoscopy (a procedure where they stick a tube down the nose into the lungs to suck out the sputum directly).

Our interview date was today April 28th, but we were still required to go into Cho Ray to attempt to produce a sputum sample. We woke up early this morning to prepare at 5:00am. We were out the door by 5:30am headed to Cho Ray. At Cho Ray, they called out those with interviews scheduled to give samples first. Thanks to that, we were able to finish at 7:00am. We immediately took a taxi to the U.S. Embassy and waited in line.

We ended up getting our number at 7:54am. The waiting area inside was packed! They eventually called everyone up once to submit some of our paperwork. When Linh and I went up the vietnamese lady asked us a couple questions for clarification. My younger brother co-sponsored, so she asked us who that was. She asked if I have a job in the u.s. and if I filed taxes this year. I currently don't have a job in the u.s. anymore and currently do web design work and didn't make enough to file taxes this year. After this, we ended up waiting about 3 hours watching other people's interviews. While watching, we noticed the interviews were quite varied. Some people were up for about 15-20 mins at the least. While others were up for nearly 45mins. It was really putting pressure on us since we could hear the types of questions being asked from where we sat. I did my best to console Linh since she was getting worried.

It was a little past 11:00 by the time our number was called up. By then we were the last couple waiting in the waiting room. There was another couple but they'd already begun their interview. I walked up with Linh to the window carrying our backpack with all the assorted paperwork and evidence. I took out all the paperwork and set it all on the counter, and as I was headed back to the seats they called me back. I was surprised, apparently we were going to be interviewed together since we were both sworn in. They told my wife to walk back to the seats and proceeded to ask me a couple questions in vietnamese I guess because they noticed I was able to speak it fairly well (though not fluently).

They asked where we were currently staying in HCMC. I responded at Linh's Aunt's place.

They asked what the address was. I responded.

Finally they asked how/where I met Linh. I explained that I saw her helping her mom sell noodles nearby while entering my uncle's house when I came to vietnam to visit relatives.

They called Linh up, breezed through a few pictures quickly, and asked her a few questions next:

They asked how many times I came to Vietnam to visit, and what dates.

How did we meet.

When was our engagement ceremony, who from my family attended from the U.S.

If she has any relatives in the U.S.

What address do we currently live together at.

They called me up one last time and asked if I had a U.S. Driver's License which I happened to have on me at the time.

This literally took all of 5 minutes since they asked the questions very quickly and we responded quickly. We ended up getting a white sheet. It said our interview couldn't be complete without the medical results. Linh and I were somewhat confused, so I went back to the window to hail the CO and asked for clarification.

I explained the situation with Linh and the requirement for the sputum culture. I asked that once the culture results were in around 2 months (which I'm fairly certain Linh isn't active since I've been with her for over two years now) if we'd need to come in to continue the interview. She responded "Nope the interview is done, once we get the medical results just come pick up the visa."

We were stunned. We were afraid to believe it was that easy since we'd spent so long preparing for the interview. We'd ask questions and go over any little fact we could remember. They didn't even ask for any of our paperwork we'd prepared (timeline, residency, receipts, records, etc).

Now we only need to worry about getting the sputum culture started and finished...I'm still in shock because this just doesn't feel real

Edit: Our CO was the black lady and tall lanky vietnamese lady.

Edited April 28, 2011 by Pohtaytoh

[luckytxn 2,263]

Wow. This is excellent reading and many thanks for letting us know your experiences and the total interview. This helps many others about to go through and also helps us older hands to see patterns and stuff so we can help others.

I am happy on the one hand for you both as the interview seems to have gone well and a pink is forthcoming but am sad also that the medical is becoming such a chore for y'all. We have seen before a few times where the interview was done and when the medical stuff was done they issued a pink and then visa with that clean bill of health.

Again congrats and God bless y'all.

[Dau Que 6]

Congrats! I wish you two having happy married life many years ahead!

You two are still single and within reasonable age of each other. Piece of cake case for them.

[Kevin and 10]

Congratulations!

Thanks for the details of your Consulate experience.

[BinhJerome 14]

Congrats!! Just now wait for the test and you are home free!!

[quann 26]

lots of PINK recently...VJ is doing its job! congrats bro~!

[hniHnitsuJ 8]

Congrats for both interview, and good luck for your future.

I have 1 question for you, do you allow to go in and interview with your wife for CR1 visa?

[Jerry & Fiona 1]

COngrats and amazing story. It will work out. WIsh I could be there for my SO's interview.

[Ronnie&Hang 12]

Well done on your interview!!! Be glad that huddle is over, enjoy that good news, relax and prepare for the sputum tests.

Will see you guys back here with the PINK and visa in a couple months..hope the rest will go well for both of you

Edited April 29, 2011 by Ronnie&Hang

[Pohtaytoh 0]

Congrats for both interview, and good luck for your future.

I have 1 question for you, do you allow to go in and interview with your wife for CR1 visa?

Yes, they changed it recently I believe. The USC is now allowed to go into the embassy together with their spouse. Interviewing together isn't normal though. I think we were the only couple they interviewed together the entire day from our observation. Usually, we saw that USC's were allowed to assist in carrying paperwork and babies/children while the SO proceeded with the interview. In some cases, the USC wasn't even allowed within viewing distance of the CO's window while the interview was taking place (this was only a problem with the white blonde lady and korean looking vietnamese lady).

Basically, when standing in line, when they call the next person to enter the building you can enter together. They'll hold up two fingers to ask if you're together. We just nodded as we entered the embassy and went through security. They'd ask us a few questions like who was being interviewed and such. You have to leave your phones and cameras with them here. They give you a small plaque with a number on it to pick up when you finish your interview. Just exit the building normally and walk back over to the entrance after you are done.

Once past security through the door, the interview area for immigrant visas is on the right (there's a sign above you when you go down the hall). At the end of this short hall the path splits, you'll see the exit on your right and the only path is to go around the corner on the left. When you go around the corner, you'll immediately see the waiting around with a long hall of seats and two windows. We approached the window and gave our appointment form with our scheduled interview date. They gave is a ticket with a 4 digit number. I notice is was usually either 50XX, 60XX, 70XX, where XX is your number. Ours was 6041. When you walk down the hall to take a seat you'll see the seats on the right side and numbers on the wall on the left side. The numbers go from 1-15, one for each window. In the center hanging from the ceiling are a bunch of black boxes that show which number was called.

They looked like this:

XXXX - YY

XXXX - YY

XXXX - YY

XXXX is the ticket number called, and YY is the window you need to go to. The number and what window to approach is announced by an automated vietnamese voice followed by an english voice. There are water coolers on each end of the long room, and a bathroom back the way you came in. Linh needed the bathroom since she wasn't able to brush before the sputum sample. She also took the time to reapply her make-up .

I think that's everything I can remember from the whole process.

[Pohtaytoh 0]

Yes, they changed it recently I believe. The USC is now allowed to go into the embassy together with their spouse. Interviewing together isn't normal though. I think we were the only couple they interviewed together the entire day from our observation. Usually, we saw that USC's were allowed to assist in carrying paperwork and babies/children while the SO proceeded with the interview. In some cases, the USC wasn't even allowed within viewing distance of the CO's window while the interview was taking place (this was only a problem with the white blonde lady and korean looking vietnamese lady). Usually, the USC would sit behind the SO in the chairs on the other side of the room. Occasionally, a USC was called back up to the window just to clarify something or more commonly to inquire about missing paperwork.

Couldn't edit this in in time :/

[SupastarsaM 7]

Congrats...

[tcTTct 37]

Great information. Thank you for taking the time to report it. Congratulations.

[jac_chappin 24]

Congratulations!

It's awesome to read that you had a good experience.

Best of luck on test!

[Pohtaytoh 0]

Thanks everyone! We really appreciate it!

I thought it only fair to give back since we got so much help while preparing