We got pink! (June 5th, 2008)

[kitty loves moudi 0]

Congratulations to both of you on your visa!!! Finally this part of the journey is over.. u get to begin your life together in one place. Thanks for posting step by step of your wife's interview !

[Tyrobe 1]

My wife and I went to HCMC at 2 pm to pick up her visa as scheduled on the pink slip. She waited until almost 5 pm when there were only five people left in the room. Then she asked the staff there to look up the visa for her. For some reason, they said my wife's visa is not ready yet! They have a week since June 5th when my wife passed her interview to print the visa. Anyway, my wife is very devastated right now.

What pissed me off was that while she checked in her bag with the cell phone, the staff(s) there took it out and played with it. They even changed the theme on the phone. Keep in mind that we also keep some personal materials on the phone. Well, we suppose to have a visa party tonight and a 3-day trip to Da Lat starting tomorrow. This event is a big turn off. I'll give the Consulate a call tomorrow to find out why. They also said they'll call us for update on the visa. Hopefully, we'll receive the visa before my return trip on June 18th. I already threw away my scheduled flight on June 16th and bought two brand new one-way ticket so my wife can accompany me on the same trip. Air China + Continental don't refund the ticket; there's an inside story but I'll tell it other time. It would suck if I've to delay my return trip to US even further. I'm an optimist so I hope for the best.

[Dave_Thao 0]

Sorry to hear that Tyrobe. I ran into the same problem. We drove to Saigon from Ben Tre to pick up the visa and they said they could not issue it to Thao. We were on our way to Da Lat,so we just continued on for the weekend. A week later, on Friday morning, I called them and they said they are ready to print the visa but they didn't know if it would be finished that day. We took a chance and rented a car to go to HCMC to pick it up. Just as we got there, they called and said come pick it up next Tuesday. That left us with only one day to have our celebration before our flight. Sometimes I think the consulate enjoys messing around with our head. Once you think everything is fine, they do something to like this to make you worry. Keep calling the consulate. It could be as simple as they couldn't print it out on Friday because hey were too busy. You may get it early next week.

Do your best to enjoy Da Lat! We stayed at Ngoc Lan Hotel, in a deluxe suite with a nice belcony facing the lake. It was a little expensive, $95 a night, but what the heck.

Good Luck!

Think Positive!

Dave

[CoolHand2x2y2z 0]

I'm so sorry, Tyrobe.

Hang in there.

[Tyrobe 1]

Sorry to hear that Tyrobe. I ran into the same problem. We drove to Saigon from Ben Tre to pick up the visa and they said they could not issue it to Thao. We were on our way to Da Lat,so we just continued on for the weekend. A week later, on Friday morning, I called them and they said they are ready to print the visa but they didn't know if it would be finished that day. We took a chance and rented a car to go to HCMC to pick it up. Just as we got there, they called and said come pick it up next Tuesday. That left us with only one day to have our celebration before our flight. Sometimes I think the consulate enjoys messing around with our head. Once you think everything is fine, they do something to like this to make you worry. Keep calling the consulate. It could be as simple as they couldn't print it out on Friday because hey were too busy. You may get it early next week.

Do your best to enjoy Da Lat! We stayed at Ngoc Lan Hotel, in a deluxe suite with a nice belcony facing the lake. It was a little expensive, $95 a night, but what the heck.

Good Luck!

Think Positive!

Dave

I called HCMC daily and all I got was canned answers. The operator couldn't tell me the real reason why the visa can't be printed out yet. I don't understand why the staffs there just say "I don't know", instead of making non-sense statements. Anyway, I called the U.S. Department of States and they were able to tell me why. Currently, my wife is under the process of Security Check. It's a standard of procedure for everyone before the visa can be issued. Usually, the Security Check is completed before the interview has been taken place. However, for our case, we didn't have enough time before the interview for them to have Security Check done. NVC completed the case and sent to HCMC in mid May, and my wife passed her interview in half a month after the physcial file got to HCMC. Therefore, my wife's Security Check is currently taking place after the interview.

By the way, we also stayed at Ngoc Lan Hotel during part of our honeymoon last year. The view of the lake directly from the room was awesome. I would love to stay there again. Well, I was planning to have a family trip to Da Lat, but my father-in-law and my wife just got into a traffic accident right before Friday the 13th. The traffic in Vietnam is notoriously dangerous as any visitors can attest to it. Fortunately, both my father-in-law and my wife wore helmets. My wife is okay, but my father-in-law is really bad. We rushed him immediately to the hospital. I ended up cancelling the trip.

Now, the visa issue takes a back seat. Sometimes important life event puts thing into perspective. Anyway, I have to call Continental again to delay my flights yet again and have to use up my last two-weeks of vacation to stay with my wife and her family.

[Teacher Mark 53]

Sorry to hear about the accident. I'll keep him in my prayers. Please keep us posted.

[Dave_Thao 0]

Sorry to hear that Tyrobe. I hope your father-in-law comes out of it alright.

Edited June 17, 2008 by Dave_Thao

[LuckyDucky 0]

I hope your father-in-law is recovering quickly!

[Tyrobe 1]

I hope your father-in-law is recovering quickly!

Thanks all for the well wishes. My father-in-law's condition has stabilized and he has checked out of the hospital.

On Tuesday, June 17th, a day before my supposed flight to US, a staff at US Consulate in HCMC called me. When I answered she didn't even ask to speak to my wife, as a main visa applicant. She even knew my full name as soon as we talked. During the coversation, she specifically mentioned about my email and explained that we can come to the Consulate to pick up the visa!

This time the lady on the phone was very courteous. I truly believed that someone at the Consulate conscientiously took the initiative to process the visa before my flight on June 18th as I've explained in the email. Another staff at the Consulate also gave us a second call later on about the visa.

My wife and I went to Saigon to pick up the visa the same day. We could have gotten on the plane late that night, but I decided to postpone our flights anyway. We'll be at Newark PoE on Wednesday, June 25th.

[Dave_Thao 0]

That's great to hear Tyrobe. Nothing like a little stress to make your hair fall out and give you an ulcer. I hope you have a nice relaxing trip home and enjoy the rest of your time in Vietnam!

Good Luck!

Edited June 19, 2008 by Dave_Thao

[Teacher Mark 53]

Good news on both counts. Congratulations!

[voitall 0]

Congrats!

[tpi008 0]

Chuc Mung!

Congrat Tyrone!

well done!. Thanks for the heads up. My interview will be soon and I'm going to Vietnam soon. I will be receiving the rest of items being sent over from my wife regarding the DS-230 package. I will send it first thing Monday morning over night Express delivery. Based on your (Tyrone) account time line. It said 1 month from sending DS-230 or NVC receiving DS-230 will be the interview date. So I expect my interview date to be late July. I also received a check list requesting docs from NVC. which is the DS-230. In the letter I received also had a PRIORITY DATE for the 20th of July. Would anyone know what this means in this particular event? Other than that everything is going good. NVC has already received my I864 and seems they don't need anything from me regarding I864

Edited June 21, 2008 by tpi008

[tpi008 0]

Very sorry to hear that. I hope everything will turn out for the better for you and your family.

Sorry to hear that Tyrobe. I ran into the same problem. We drove to Saigon from Ben Tre to pick up the visa and they said they could not issue it to Thao. We were on our way to Da Lat,so we just continued on for the weekend. A week later, on Friday morning, I called them and they said they are ready to print the visa but they didn't know if it would be finished that day. We took a chance and rented a car to go to HCMC to pick it up. Just as we got there, they called and said come pick it up next Tuesday. That left us with only one day to have our celebration before our flight. Sometimes I think the consulate enjoys messing around with our head. Once you think everything is fine, they do something to like this to make you worry. Keep calling the consulate. It could be as simple as they couldn't print it out on Friday because hey were too busy. You may get it early next week.

Do your best to enjoy Da Lat! We stayed at Ngoc Lan Hotel, in a deluxe suite with a nice belcony facing the lake. It was a little expensive, $95 a night, but what the heck.

Good Luck!

Think Positive!

Dave

I called HCMC daily and all I got was canned answers. The operator couldn't tell me the real reason why the visa can't be printed out yet. I don't understand why the staffs there just say "I don't know", instead of making non-sense statements. Anyway, I called the U.S. Department of States and they were able to tell me why. Currently, my wife is under the process of Security Check. It's a standard of procedure for everyone before the visa can be issued. Usually, the Security Check is completed before the interview has been taken place. However, for our case, we didn't have enough time before the interview for them to have Security Check done. NVC completed the case and sent to HCMC in mid May, and my wife passed her interview in half a month after the physcial file got to HCMC. Therefore, my wife's Security Check is currently taking place after the interview.

By the way, we also stayed at Ngoc Lan Hotel during part of our honeymoon last year. The view of the lake directly from the room was awesome. I would love to stay there again. Well, I was planning to have a family trip to Da Lat, but my father-in-law and my wife just got into a traffic accident right before Friday the 13th. The traffic in Vietnam is notoriously dangerous as any visitors can attest to it. Fortunately, both my father-in-law and my wife wore helmets. My wife is okay, but my father-in-law is really bad. We rushed him immediately to the hospital. I ended up cancelling the trip.

Now, the visa issue takes a back seat. Sometimes important life event puts thing into perspective. Anyway, I have to call Continental again to delay my flights yet again and have to use up my last two-weeks of vacation to stay with my wife and her family.

[Huanyen 0]

Tyrobe,

Congrats on your rapid approval. I hope my case can be as fast. I just submitted ds230 and I864 this week. Hopefullly, my case can be completed at the NVC after 2 weeks.

Now it's time for me to write the timeline. I hope my wife's interview goes smoothly as your wife's.