I think I see a trend

[ThaitoUSA 15]

A crtical factor in adjudication during the interview is entirely intangible: It's the human element. CO's to varying degrees of skill and accuracy are trained to spot dishonesty. It can be manifest in the documentary evidence or it could simply be the way the beneficiary answers questions. Not the content of the answers, rather how they are answered. These subtleties and nuances are usually not detected by most people most of the time (with the exception of those who are particularly intuitive). Of course the CO's judgement may be off, whether it's permitting a fraud through or denying an honest applicant, but isn't that what it all comes down to, the judgement of the CO? i.e. a human attempting to discern whether another human is in fact honest or not.

[Jack & Xuan 0]

A crtical factor in adjudication during the interview is entirely intangible: It's the human element. CO's to varying degrees of skill and accuracy are trained to spot dishonesty. It can be manifest in the documentary evidence or it could simply be the way the beneficiary answers questions. Not the content of the answers, rather how they are answered. These subtleties and nuances are usually not detected by most people most of the time (with the exception of those who are particularly intuitive). Of course the CO's judgement may be off, whether it's permitting a fraud through or denying an honest applicant, but isn't that what it all comes down to, the judgement of the CO? i.e. a human attempting to discern whether another human is in fact honest or not.

Yes I agree with you and I think that is the problem with this entire process. There should not even be an interview. The decision should be made on the evdicene alone OR if an interview is to be used, it should be both at the same time. I think more could be determined by the interaction between the two people then just the the one. After all, it is to determine if the relationship is true or false. If you are going to try to do that they I would think seeing the interaction between the two would be the way to go.

Just a few thoughts.

[J & Q 0]

I feel that an Attorney is beneficial to someone who is not familiar with the process and needs help preparing the paperwork and getting everything that they need in order. I do no feel though that any Attorney has any influence over the consulate whatsoever in persuading them into issuing a visa. It is more of being prepared and the luck of the straw. I have heard that cases are decided ahead of time before the interview taken place. Supposedly, there is a certain number of visas that are allowed to be issued. I do not know if this is true or not though.

[Dau_Que 0]

A crtical factor in adjudication during the interview is entirely intangible: It's the human element. CO's to varying degrees of skill and accuracy are trained to spot dishonesty. It can be manifest in the documentary evidence or it could simply be the way the beneficiary answers questions. Not the content of the answers, rather how they are answered. These subtleties and nuances are usually not detected by most people most of the time (with the exception of those who are particularly intuitive). Of course the CO's judgement may be off, whether it's permitting a fraud through or denying an honest applicant, but isn't that what it all comes down to, the judgement of the CO? i.e. a human attempting to discern whether another human is in fact honest or not.

Yes I agree with you and I think that is the problem with this entire process. There should not even be an interview. The decision should be made on the evidence alone OR if an interview is to be used, it should be both at the same time. I think more could be determined by the interaction between the two people then just the the one. After all, it is to determine if the relationship is true or false. If you are going to try to do that they I would think seeing the interaction between the two would be the way to go.

Just a few thoughts.

The only evidence the CO can rely on is how many trips the Petitioner has made to VN. Almost every other pieces of evidence can be easily "faked", including her "love" for the Petitioner.

Therefore, the CO must rely on her/his instinct as a human being to "sniff" the fake-factor during the interview. And s/he doesn't exactly spell out the methodology either. That's why you and your partner keep saying the same stuff, which many people already said on this forum before "I have so much evidence and we love each other so very much, yet I don't get it why we keep getting anything other than that darn pink slip".

If they sniff a 0.000001% fake-factor in the relationship, they automatically issue anything but the pink slip and use time to test your relationship. Your only and best defense against this testing is "time".

Time is a virtue, my friends.

[dalegg 143]

Hiring an attorney to do this has nothing to do with it. Being prepared has everything to do with it. Eventually the recipient will have to sit down for an interview, and niether an attorney or the petitioner will be there to help.

Perhaps these attorney's are helping out people to be prepared because they don't know how to be prepared--, but you can get much better advice right here from VJ.

4 years ago my fiance and I did everything except file the I-129F ourselves. We hired an attorney for that part and he screwed it up and cost us a couple extra months waiting time. But from then on we have done EVERYTHING ourselves- Pack 3, Pack 4, Green Card, and now Citizenship- which will happen in January.

[What's next 1]

I don't think we consider the vnese female perspective. again, i don't want to be callous nor to over generalize. i believe if we change the way our wives thought this process, there would be a higher sucess rate.

your wife probably comes from a poor to modest family, income-wise. She probably has little to no education. she has probably never worked in her life. the highlight of her day was going to the market and preparing the meals for the day. my point is that she has no perspective, she knows the street she lives on and that's it, pretty much.

your wife does not have a clue about the visa process. all she knows is that you fill out paperwork, gather evidence, go to the interview and answer some questions. they don't know anything about income requirements and tax issues. Their only concern is what they are going to be asked at the interview. They have heard about ppl who failed the interview because the they couldn't answer a paticular question. Interview questions consume them and all thier focus is on answering those questions right.

She feels that if she doesn't get the visa, she's a disgrace to her family. maybe disgrace is too harsh, disappointed instead. she feels that her family is conting on her to pass the interview. She feels that she's her family ticket to a better life. she feels that if she doesn't pass, your relationship will be over. she's afraid that you will leave her. she feels that when you leave her, she's gonna be used goods and no one decent will want her. she's going to be the outcast of her neighborhood, she's going to be the one the american/viet kieu dumped.

So while we're trying to push the paperwork, finding out case status, finding out interview dates this is what your wife is probably thinking. we don't get the emotional distress unless we get the green/blue denial. i think if we can do something to alievate some of the pressures your wife is going through, she can transfer that energy to preparation for the interview.

[RalphandHanh 1]

I don't think we consider the vnese female perspective. again, i don't want to be callous nor to over generalize. i believe if we change the way our wives thought this process, there would be a higher sucess rate.

your wife probably comes from a poor to modest family, income-wise. She probably has little to no education. she has probably never worked in her life. the highlight of her day was going to the market and preparing the meals for the day. my point is that she has no perspective, she knows the street she lives on and that's it, pretty much.

your wife does not have a clue about the visa process. all she knows is that you fill out paperwork, gather evidence, go to the interview and answer some questions. they don't know anything about income requirements and tax issues. Their only concern is what they are going to be asked at the interview. They have heard about ppl who failed the interview because the they couldn't answer a paticular question. Interview questions consume them and all thier focus is on answering those questions right.

She feels that if she doesn't get the visa, she's a disgrace to her family. maybe disgrace is too harsh, disappointed instead. she feels that her family is conting on her to pass the interview. She feels that she's her family ticket to a better life. she feels that if she doesn't pass, your relationship will be over. she's afraid that you will leave her. she feels that when you leave her, she's gonna be used goods and no one decent will want her. she's going to be the outcast of her neighborhood, she's going to be the one the american/viet kieu dumped.

So while we're trying to push the paperwork, finding out case status, finding out interview dates this is what your wife is probably thinking. we don't get the emotional distress unless we get the green/blue denial. i think if we can do something to alievate some of the pressures your wife is going through, she can transfer that energy to preparation for the interview.

Not too sure whom this is directed at. But in my case, all your assumptions are totally wrong.

As for as the attorney, I think it really depends on their experience in dealing with this type of situation. I don't think that a lawyer in, let's say Ohio, would be as effective as one in San Fransisco. Considering the VN population in this area. There are good and bad, you have to do your homework before hiring someone. Yes, there are many variables. However, I think the embassy takes a little more consideration when you are Well represented by a good attorney. One, because you spent the money... and lets face it... the VN embassy seems to want to see that you are willing to spend money (I.E. two or more trips to VN etc) and Two, because it seems that the people that are more fraudulent are doing things themselves... from what I'm told.

[Jack & Xuan 0]

I do not understand why this process has to be so hard. You do a back groud check on both people and if the American is willing to support the person and meets the minimum requirements that should be it. Then once a year on a random date a person from the government "inspects" to see that the couple are still married and living together or the American has a divorce decree and a reciept for the other persons trip back to where they came from. If not the American is taken to jail for 5 years, and the other person has a warrent out for their arrest and deprotation. That should stream line the process and deal with fraud.

There problem solved

[RalphandHanh 1]

I do not understand why this process has to be so hard. You do a back groud check on both people and if the American is willing to support the person and meets the minimum requirements that should be it. Then once a year on a random date a person from the government "inspects" to see that the couple are still married and living together or the American has a divorce decree and a reciept for the other persons trip back to where they came from. If not the American is taken to jail for 5 years, and the other person has a warrent out for their arrest and deprotation. That should stream line the process and deal with fraud.

There problem solved

I like the way you think

[Melrose Plant 1]

I do not understand why this process has to be so hard. You do a back groud check on both people and if the American is willing to support the person and meets the minimum requirements that should be it. Then once a year on a random date a person from the government "inspects" to see that the couple are still married and living together or the American has a divorce decree and a reciept for the other persons trip back to where they came from. If not the American is taken to jail for 5 years, and the other person has a warrent out for their arrest and deprotation. That should stream line the process and deal with fraud.

There problem solved

I like the way you think

It sounds good, but like most simple solutions, it doesn't really take into account the very normal complexities of life. Such a draconian system would never fly, and probably shouldn't. Heck, in some extreme cases, it might even run afoul of the 13th Amendment.

[Melrose Plant 1]

I don't think we consider the vnese female perspective. again, i don't want to be callous nor to over generalize. i believe if we change the way our wives thought this process, there would be a higher sucess rate.

your wife probably comes from a poor to modest family, income-wise. She probably has little to no education. she has probably never worked in her life. the highlight of her day was going to the market and preparing the meals for the day. my point is that she has no perspective, she knows the street she lives on and that's it, pretty much.

your wife does not have a clue about the visa process. all she knows is that you fill out paperwork, gather evidence, go to the interview and answer some questions. they don't know anything about income requirements and tax issues. Their only concern is what they are going to be asked at the interview. They have heard about ppl who failed the interview because the they couldn't answer a paticular question. Interview questions consume them and all thier focus is on answering those questions right.

She feels that if she doesn't get the visa, she's a disgrace to her family. maybe disgrace is too harsh, disappointed instead. she feels that her family is conting on her to pass the interview. She feels that she's her family ticket to a better life. she feels that if she doesn't pass, your relationship will be over. she's afraid that you will leave her. she feels that when you leave her, she's gonna be used goods and no one decent will want her. she's going to be the outcast of her neighborhood, she's going to be the one the american/viet kieu dumped.

So while we're trying to push the paperwork, finding out case status, finding out interview dates this is what your wife is probably thinking. we don't get the emotional distress unless we get the green/blue denial. i think if we can do something to alievate some of the pressures your wife is going through, she can transfer that energy to preparation for the interview.

That is just really bizarre. So what do you guys talk about, anyway?

[don2008 0]

i took care of mine on my own. i paid the consultation fee to ME to look over my case and they told me for $1400 they would get my wife the pink. that was after her first blue slip. i decided to study up and do it on my own. i learned ALOT from people right here in VJ. i think hiring an attorney is not really needed on the most part, im sure there is some cases that might need thembut im pretty confident now that i can take can of any of my wifes immigration needs. as of now we are still waiting for the GC, i dont think we will have any problems..

Edited November 30, 2008 by don2008

[David-Hien 11]

Use attorney or not?

This is my experience for your reference.

When my husband file I-129F, he hired one lawyer in USA, fee was USD1,500. The lawyer did the completed paperwork, what was necessary for the approval from USCIS. But their office was in USA, when I came to the time of packet 3 and 4, I did double check with them by email. However, they replied me very late and incorrectly.

I felt it was not so sure if I only waited for them. I searched and studied on www.visajourney.com and from M.E. I did packet 3 and 4 by myself in VN. Then, M.E. helped me to check one more time our evidence to submit to US Consulate.

M.E. advised me to add more "time line" in our evidence but my husband discussed with me and said that we should not use it because my husband filed I-129F only one month after his divorce. I was not sure what to do, I did the time line but I just kept it in my hand. I thought that if they required I would give it to them immediately at the interview. Finally, they didn't ask me for "time line" and I passed.

When I arrived USA, I studied on www.visajourney.com and we applied for GC by ourselves.

My son was stucked in VN because my ex-husband didn't want to let him go. After one year of fighting with him and persuading the ex-monther in law, I got my ex-husband's agreement for my son to leave VN. My husband applied documents for my son after I arrived USA 6 months, we didn't hire any attorney for my son's case. My son is in USA now.

So, if you want to make sure, you should use a lawyer, who is experienced and located in VN. Otherwise, the attorney in USA only works for you in the period of waiting for USCIS' approval. Your wife in VN would be very confused and wouldn't know what to do in the period of packet 3, packet 4 and interview.

Edited December 2, 2008 by Hien

[Teacher Mark 53]

i took care of mine on my own. i paid the consultation fee to ME to look over my case and they told me for $1400 they would get my wife the pink. that was after her first blue slip. i decided to study up and do it on my own. i learned ALOT from people right here in VJ. i think hiring an attorney is not really needed on the most part, im sure there is some cases that might need thembut im pretty confident now that i can take can of any of my wifes immigration needs. as of now we are still waiting for the GC, i dont think we will have any problems..

I seriously doubt ME guaranteed a pink. I know he never guaranteed us one. In fact he told me what I know he has told others here. "You've got a 50/50 shot initially".