10 Days 11 Hours 2 minutes

[Michael&Tham 0]

Soon my sweetheart will have her interview and I will be going back to VN. I want to take a trip back, 11 months ago my mother wanted to write letters to the senator's and congress men/women. I told her I have talked with many people and they said why bother you are just wasting your time. Well she said if you don't at least try you will never know what will happen. Well we heard had a couple of responses stating thank you for your letter and good luck but we can not help, then we got a letter from Senator Chuck Hagel of Omaha, Nebraska. The letter stated please let us know your USCIS case number when you get it and we can keep in touch with USCIS. Chuck Hagel served the US Army in 1968 with his brother as Infantry Leaders earning many decorations and honers including two purple hearts. After several many nights waiting for my USCIS wac# I finally received a case number and sent the number to his office via Whitney Rawlings my contact at Chucks office. She then gave the information to Noelle Obermeyer and from then on I have been talking to Noelle. Some time went buy after receiving my wac# and I started getting worried, When is NVC going to get the papers? I contacted Noelle and she contacted NVC and that same day I received and email back stating my NVC case number and that it was sent to HCM that same day, WOW this is great!. Some more waiting. All this time I was worrying about the address I put on the I-129f form, because when I filled it out I put Ho Chi Minh as the state and Binh Chanh as the City, which is wrong Ho Chi Minh is the City and Binh Chanh is a sub district. I was worrying if the Embassy would catch the mistake or if they would send the packet 3 to the wrong address. So I went out on a limb and sent the Embassy in Vietnam an email explaining the mistake and my case number and did not hear a response, so then I sent Noelle an email stating my concerns and the next day I received and email back from Noelle from the Embassy of Vietnam stating the Names and Address on my case number. In the letter from the Embassy they had her name spelled wrong I got worried again thinking I will need to send in a form or something about the misspelling of her name. I sent Noelle and email back stating my concerns and then the next day I received another email back from Noelle from the Embassy stating sorry for the misspelling it was just a typo on the email and the Names and Address on the case were spelled correctly. A couple of weeks go buy then Tham received the packet 3, she filled out the information and sent it back in. Then a few more weeks went buy then she received packet 4 with the interview date, YEAH May 28th 2008. I sent email to everyone I knew, I sent and email to Noelle. She sent me an email back saying congratulations and would you like Chuck Hagel to write letter of interest on Tham's behalf, I wrote her back YES, YES, YES. WOW A few days went buy and I wanted to read the letter that Chuck's office sent to the Embassy, so I sent Noelle an email and she sent me an email back with a copy of the letter.

Dear Consul General

I am writing on behalf of my constituent, Michael Allen Jennings. Mr Jennings fiancé, Tran Thi Hong Tham, will be interviewed for her visa on May 28th (HCM2008551010)

We respectfully request the she be granted every consideration within U.S. Immigration law during her interview.

If you require any additional information, please contact our Omaha office.

Thank You

Sincerely,

Chuck Hagel

The morel of this post is don't be afraid to contact your local Senators and Congress men/women, the great ones are willing to help you with Legal Immigration. I am very happy with Senator Hagel, his office and wonderful caring staff. I want to say Thank You to Hagel, Noelle, Whitney and all the office staff.

Michael Jennings

[KimandRuss 0]

Best of luck to you and yours.

[Sal and Jay 2]

Soon my sweetheart will have her interview and I will be going back to VN. I want to take a trip back, 11 months ago my mother wanted to write letters to the senator's and congress men/women. I told her I have talked with many people and they said why bother you are just wasting your time. Well she said if you don't at least try you will never know what will happen. Well we heard had a couple of responses stating thank you for your letter and good luck but we can not help, then we got a letter from Senator Chuck Hagel of Omaha, Nebraska. The letter stated please let us know your USCIS case number when you get it and we can keep in touch with USCIS. Chuck Hagel served the US Army in 1968 with his brother as Infantry Leaders earning many decorations and honers including two purple hearts. After several many nights waiting for my USCIS wac# I finally received a case number and sent the number to his office via Whitney Rawlings my contact at Chucks office. She then gave the information to Noelle Obermeyer and from then on I have been talking to Noelle. Some time went buy after receiving my wac# and I started getting worried, When is NVC going to get the papers? I contacted Noelle and she contacted NVC and that same day I received and email back stating my NVC case number and that it was sent to HCM that same day, WOW this is great!. Some more waiting. All this time I was worrying about the address I put on the I-129f form, because when I filled it out I put Ho Chi Minh as the state and Binh Chanh as the City, which is wrong Ho Chi Minh is the City and Binh Chanh is a sub district. I was worrying if the Embassy would catch the mistake or if they would send the packet 3 to the wrong address. So I went out on a limb and sent the Embassy in Vietnam an email explaining the mistake and my case number and did not hear a response, so then I sent Noelle an email stating my concerns and the next day I received and email back from Noelle from the Embassy of Vietnam stating the Names and Address on my case number. In the letter from the Embassy they had her name spelled wrong I got worried again thinking I will need to send in a form or something about the misspelling of her name. I sent Noelle and email back stating my concerns and then the next day I received another email back from Noelle from the Embassy stating sorry for the misspelling it was just a typo on the email and the Names and Address on the case were spelled correctly. A couple of weeks go buy then Tham received the packet 3, she filled out the information and sent it back in. Then a few more weeks went buy then she received packet 4 with the interview date, YEAH May 28th 2008. I sent email to everyone I knew, I sent and email to Noelle. She sent me an email back saying congratulations and would you like Chuck Hagel to write letter of interest on Tham's behalf, I wrote her back YES, YES, YES. WOW A few days went buy and I wanted to read the letter that Chuck's office sent to the Embassy, so I sent Noelle an email and she sent me an email back with a copy of the letter.

Dear Consul General

I am writing on behalf of my constituent, Michael Allen Jennings. Mr Jennings fiancé, Tran Thi Hong Tham, will be interviewed for her visa on May 28th (HCM2008551010)

We respectfully request the she be granted every consideration within U.S. Immigration law during her interview.

If you require any additional information, please contact our Omaha office.

Thank You

Sincerely,

Chuck Hagel

The morel of this post is don't be afraid to contact your local Senators and Congress men/women, the great ones are willing to help you with Legal Immigration. I am very happy with Senator Hagel, his office and wonderful caring staff. I want to say Thank You to Hagel, Noelle, Whitney and all the office staff.

Michael Jennings

Wow you have been waiting so long, good luck with the interview

[BexandAlan 0]

I think that pestering every kind of representation you can find is only going to yield positive results. Even if in the end they only help you because you have written to them every day for the last 200 days and they want to save a tree.

Good luck with the rest of your journey.

Bex xxx

[Mina76 0]

Have a safe trip and Good Luck on the interview!

[KimandRuss 0]

I think that pestering every kind of representation you can find is only going to yield positive results. Even if in the end they only help you because you have written to them every day for the last 200 days and they want to save a tree.

Good luck with the rest of your journey.

Bex xxx

Bex!

I think it's most important to at least contact your reps because it brings more light to the immigration issue. Representatives I talked to weren't even aware of how arduous the process can be or the disparity in the centers. I'm not looking for a hand out but I did want them aware in case we faced any issues and most importantly, I wanted to have a voice so that when they are facing any immigration issues they will hear me in their heads and know that their constituents to care about how they vote in congress.

[BexandAlan 0]

Bex!

I think it's most important to at least contact your reps because it brings more light to the immigration issue. Representatives I talked to weren't even aware of how arduous the process can be or the disparity in the centers. I'm not looking for a hand out but I did want them aware in case we faced any issues and most importantly, I wanted to have a voice so that when they are facing any immigration issues they will hear me in their heads and know that their constituents to care about how they vote in congress.

Ok ok ... and what Kim said!

I'm quite politically active and use my representatives here in the UK quite often. I'm not going to change the world on my own but I agree at least I am making them aware and that is important. One of them came to me recently for my help on some planning issues and I loved the fact that they had thought to ask for my advice plus it gave me great leverage for encouraging them to act on the things I want! Hmmm ####### for tat I say! They are OUR representatives but they can't represent if we don't bring our grievances to the public forum.

They will however take on individual cases purely for PR too (and in many cases to save that tree and free up their in-boxes.) Think about the impact it would have if everyone going through this process wrote one letter to their rep, never underestimate the power of your vote.

[Teacher Mark 53]

Michael&Tham,

Good luck! Please let us hear the good news as soon as possible. I was thinking of you and Senator Hagle earlier. Here is a statement from him that I ran across this morning:

Chuck Hagel

Hagel, 58, now a U.S. Republican senator from Nebraska, was an infantryman in Vietnam from December 1967 to December 1968.

"We certainly learned a lot from Vietnam," he says. "One of the lessons ... is that it's easy to get into war. But no matter how noble the purpose, (it's) not always easy to get out. You can get yourself into a lot of trouble pretty quick," says Hagel, whose tour included battle during the chaos of the Tet Offensive.

"We should not ever allow that bad experience in Vietnam to paralyze America," he says.

But those who fought there are mindful that "war is full of unintended consequences. War is a very uncertain process. The only constant of war is that there's a tremendous amount of suffering. "If we can keep this all in a certain balance and perspective as we work ... then we would have gained from that experience.

The article was in USA Today in 2005. I just posted it. Here is the link:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=128308

Once again, Good Luck. I predict "PINK"!

[Zee Bee 61]

Good luck to you

[Tyrobe 1]

Good luck!!!

[greeneyedgirlfl 0]

Good luck!!!

[stevi1123 0]

You are in my prayers. And good luck too

[PeterFB 0]

We hope you both are together soon and happily enjoying your success in getting a pink slip. It's always good to hear that our elected officals do listen and try to help us, the ones who elect them.

Good Luck!!

Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26

I-129F NOA1 : 2007-06-11

I-129F RFE(s) :

RFE Reply(s) :

I-129F NOA2 : 2007-10-26

Touched: 2007-11-02

NVC Recieved: 2007-11-16

Consulate recieved ??????

Packet 3 sent 2007-12-11

Packet 3 received 2007-12-24

Packet 3 returned 2007-12-28

Packet 4 sent 2008-1-14

Email Reply with Interview Date 2008-1-23

Interview Date 2008-2-27

Passed Interview 2008-02-27

Visa Pick Up Date 2008-3-05

Received Visa 2008-2-29 (called to pick up earlier)

POE 2008-3-05 Los Angeles

Wedding 2008-4-26

[o0pink0o 3]

good luck

PiNk