HCMC: CR1 interview-->blue slip-->AP-->PINK slip.

[Jamaican JNR 2]

sorry for being MIA for a while there.

another one of my novels, enjoy!: (i'm not gonna bothering with the proper english grammar, just gonna rant it all out.)

interviewed on august 26th.

husband was one of the first people in line to enter embassy that morning. got his ticket number. ticket number called. went to the lady at the counter. gave her the documents request: appointment cover letter printed from email, passport style photos, cmdn, household registration book, medical examination results, and passport. sat down to wait. ticket number called again. went to the interview counter.

interview conducted by a dark skinned lady, possibly in her 30s. had a lady translator possibly in her 40s. husband handed the timeline i had prepared to the CO. CO rejected it, saying give me things when i ask for them. conducted the interview. asked a few questions, what kind of question, i'm not so sure about. then CO asked husband, what did you wanted to hand to me earlier? husband handed her the timeline. he saw that she read it very closely the first couple of pages, then skimmed the rest. CO and translator laughed a couple of times reading the timeline. i too feel it was funny when i wrote it. CO continued to ask questions about certain aspects written in the timeline. but mostly, CO asked... whatever she wanted to ask.

some questions i remember from the top of my head and husband's answer:

-when were you married? 07/06/08

-mother and father in law's name? named them

-where does wife go to school? what is she studying? what will she do when she graduates? UT, economics and business administration, 4th year, possible career in the banking system or at the state capital because she is currently interning there for a senator.

-how did you guys meet? wife's aunt introduced

-how do you know wife's aunt? a friend of mother

-did any of wife's relative from the US come the wedding? yes. 13 of them. listed all 13.

-do you have pictures of dam hoi and wedding? husband gave her 2 sets of pictures. one for dam hoi, other for wedding. CO and translator looked at them quickly

-wife doesn't have any income, how does she have money for everyday spending? wife sometimes goes to aunt's nail shop to help answer the phone when wife doesn't have to study on the weekends. aunt gives wife gifts. (husband did a beautiful job not mention money in his answer. he said gifts.)

-why didn't wife make those claims on her I864? wife does not have a permanent position there at aunt's shop. wife comes to help out sometimes once a month. how can working once a month be a claim on tax documents?

-do you have any relatives in the US? yes. has aunts and uncles and grandparents. have a list of all relatives with me, would CO like to see it? CO said no.

-explain where wife lives? wife lives with mother and father and little sister. wife lives in Austin, TX. Austin is really hot right now. sometimes there are tornados. there are no beaches around austin, wife has to go to galveston if she wants to go to the beach.

-what will you do when you get to the US? take english classes and work in wife's uncle's restruant.

-what's the name of this uncle and have you met him? met him when he came to vietnam for the wedding. do not know his name. only know of him as uncle 6.

-when did you confess your love to your wife? after she went back to the states in sept. said i love you on the phone.

..........

..................

there are many more that i just can't remember... but overall, they were questions that were reasonable and could easily be answered if you know what you're talking about.

husband said interview lasted about 50 minutes. he was asked everything as we had expected, he felt it was to the point where the CO couldn't find anything else to ask. he got the feeling that CO had had her doubts about our relationship prior to the interview, but as the interview unfolds, CO became less and less demanding in her questioning. In the end, we received a blue slip. translator said the paperwork my mother filled out was wrong. my mother is the co-sponsor in the case. The attorney i hired for the case filled out an I864 for both my mother and i. that was the mistake. i must fill the I864 and my mother was to fill the I864A. blue slip also asked for list of relatives. husband saw that and asked CO right away. husband said that when asked about his relatives, he had asked CO if CO wanted to see the list, CO said no, so why is CO asking for it now? CO said that it's ok to turn it in when husband returns to turn in the I864A. blue slip dated for sept. 23 rd. Husband thanked CO and translator and left.

Emailed me the blue slip. I got all that was rquested. Fedex costed $75. husband went to turn in list of relatives and I864A on sept. 4th. was told to wait. waited til nearly 5. told to go home with no slip at all. husband extremely pissed and annoyed, but couldn't do anything about it.

i emailed consulate twice a week. only received 1 response saying "we've received your email, we are working on answering your inquire at the earliest possibilty." husband told me an officer from his "xa," village i guess, came to ask him questions about his marriage. the officier happened to be our family friend. he even attended our wedding. but for orderly purposes, he had to do his job and come ask husband about the marriage. husband had to fill out some paper. was told that that paper was ordered by the "tinh." husband and I both thought that this procedure could very likely be the "investigation work" that was rumored to be happening. so, we felt really good that our case was being looked at. it meant that we were going somewhere rather than sitting on someone's desk. in fact, we praise the investigation work. the more they know about us, the less time we'll be in AP.

sept. 23 rd approachs. husband took a photocopy of the blue ship and went to the embassay. got a ticket number, waited, ticket number called, told counter lady he had turned in the requested documents already and have not received a response. this is his day stated on the blue slip. please help him. he was told to wait. waited again until nearly 5. named called. pink slip handed. husband said there was about 10 people getting the pink. he guessed it was their assigned day too.

want to know what's ironic? i received an email response from the consulate on the morning of sept. 23rd which was evening of HCM's 23rd saying "we've received your email, we are working on answering your inquire at the earliest possibilty." i had a good chuckle. better be working on that visa instead.

ordered to pick up visa on sept. 30th. hoping to fly out on the 1st!

grinning from ear to ear.

good luck to everyone else. oh... who do i owe cupcakes to?

I am so happy for both of you. The put your husband through hell tho. All is well thats ends well. Congrats

[luckytxn 2,264]

Many congrats and God bless.

[Kevin&Loan 0]

I go smoke myself a victory cigar now. Congratulations. I am glad to see someone comes out of AP successfully. Let be many more to come.

[Ronnie&Hang 12]

Chuc mung that nhieu nhe, Anh&Tien...I want my cupcake

[Kevin and 10]

Congratulations!

[BinhJerome 14]

congrats

[lindal24 1]

I'm coming forward for a cupcake even though I don't remember why I'm supposed to get one...lol.

[qqquaker 0]

sorry for being MIA for a while there.

another one of my novels, enjoy!: (i'm not gonna bothering with the proper english grammar, just gonna rant it all out.)

interviewed on august 26th.

husband was one of the first people in line to enter embassy that morning. got his ticket number. ticket number called. went to the lady at the counter. gave her the documents request: appointment cover letter printed from email, passport style photos, cmdn, household registration book, medical examination results, and passport. sat down to wait. ticket number called again. went to the interview counter.

interview conducted by a dark skinned lady, possibly in her 30s. had a lady translator possibly in her 40s. husband handed the timeline i had prepared to the CO. CO rejected it, saying give me things when i ask for them. conducted the interview. asked a few questions, what kind of question, i'm not so sure about. then CO asked husband, what did you wanted to hand to me earlier? husband handed her the timeline. he saw that she read it very closely the first couple of pages, then skimmed the rest. CO and translator laughed a couple of times reading the timeline. i too feel it was funny when i wrote it. CO continued to ask questions about certain aspects written in the timeline. but mostly, CO asked... whatever she wanted to ask.

some questions i remember from the top of my head and husband's answer:

-when were you married? 07/06/08

-mother and father in law's name? named them

-where does wife go to school? what is she studying? what will she do when she graduates? UT, economics and business administration, 4th year, possible career in the banking system or at the state capital because she is currently interning there for a senator.

-how did you guys meet? wife's aunt introduced

-how do you know wife's aunt? a friend of mother

-did any of wife's relative from the US come the wedding? yes. 13 of them. listed all 13.

-do you have pictures of dam hoi and wedding? husband gave her 2 sets of pictures. one for dam hoi, other for wedding. CO and translator looked at them quickly

-wife doesn't have any income, how does she have money for everyday spending? wife sometimes goes to aunt's nail shop to help answer the phone when wife doesn't have to study on the weekends. aunt gives wife gifts. (husband did a beautiful job not mention money in his answer. he said gifts.)

-why didn't wife make those claims on her I864? wife does not have a permanent position there at aunt's shop. wife comes to help out sometimes once a month. how can working once a month be a claim on tax documents?

-do you have any relatives in the US? yes. has aunts and uncles and grandparents. have a list of all relatives with me, would CO like to see it? CO said no.

-explain where wife lives? wife lives with mother and father and little sister. wife lives in Austin, TX. Austin is really hot right now. sometimes there are tornados. there are no beaches around austin, wife has to go to galveston if she wants to go to the beach.

-what will you do when you get to the US? take english classes and work in wife's uncle's restruant.

-what's the name of this uncle and have you met him? met him when he came to vietnam for the wedding. do not know his name. only know of him as uncle 6.

-when did you confess your love to your wife? after she went back to the states in sept. said i love you on the phone.

..........

..................

there are many more that i just can't remember... but overall, they were questions that were reasonable and could easily be answered if you know what you're talking about.

husband said interview lasted about 50 minutes. he was asked everything as we had expected, he felt it was to the point where the CO couldn't find anything else to ask. he got the feeling that CO had had her doubts about our relationship prior to the interview, but as the interview unfolds, CO became less and less demanding in her questioning. In the end, we received a blue slip. translator said the paperwork my mother filled out was wrong. my mother is the co-sponsor in the case. The attorney i hired for the case filled out an I864 for both my mother and i. that was the mistake. i must fill the I864 and my mother was to fill the I864A. blue slip also asked for list of relatives. husband saw that and asked CO right away. husband said that when asked about his relatives, he had asked CO if CO wanted to see the list, CO said no, so why is CO asking for it now? CO said that it's ok to turn it in when husband returns to turn in the I864A. blue slip dated for sept. 23 rd. Husband thanked CO and translator and left.

Emailed me the blue slip. I got all that was rquested. Fedex costed $75. husband went to turn in list of relatives and I864A on sept. 4th. was told to wait. waited til nearly 5. told to go home with no slip at all. husband extremely pissed and annoyed, but couldn't do anything about it.

i emailed consulate twice a week. only received 1 response saying "we've received your email, we are working on answering your inquire at the earliest possibilty." husband told me an officer from his "xa," village i guess, came to ask him questions about his marriage. the officier happened to be our family friend. he even attended our wedding. but for orderly purposes, he had to do his job and come ask husband about the marriage. husband had to fill out some paper. was told that that paper was ordered by the "tinh." husband and I both thought that this procedure could very likely be the "investigation work" that was rumored to be happening. so, we felt really good that our case was being looked at. it meant that we were going somewhere rather than sitting on someone's desk. in fact, we praise the investigation work. the more they know about us, the less time we'll be in AP.

sept. 23 rd approachs. husband took a photocopy of the blue ship and went to the embassay. got a ticket number, waited, ticket number called, told counter lady he had turned in the requested documents already and have not received a response. this is his day stated on the blue slip. please help him. he was told to wait. waited again until nearly 5. named called. pink slip handed. husband said there was about 10 people getting the pink. he guessed it was their assigned day too.

want to know what's ironic? i received an email response from the consulate on the morning of sept. 23rd which was evening of HCM's 23rd saying "we've received your email, we are working on answering your inquire at the earliest possibilty." i had a good chuckle. better be working on that visa instead.

ordered to pick up visa on sept. 30th. hoping to fly out on the 1st!

grinning from ear to ear.

good luck to everyone else. oh... who do i owe cupcakes to?

Great info. Thanh you :thumbs:

[luckytxn 2,264]

Many thanks too for coming and telling us about the interview and everything else. We ask over and over but many do not but they have no problem coming in and whining about what to do and stuff and read the few that do bother to post their experiences and using that to help themselves. It helps us all a lot when they do as you did for us and gain many thanks. Any other info you remember please come back and post it.

[lindal24 1]

Many thanks too for coming and telling us about the interview and everything else. We ask over and over but many do not but they have no problem coming in and whining about what to do and stuff and read the few that do bother to post their experiences and using that to help themselves. It helps us all a lot when they do as you did for us and gain many thanks. Any other info you remember please come back and post it.

I agree!

Edited September 24, 2009 by lindal24

[BinhJerome 14]

Many thanks too for coming and telling us about the interview and everything else. We ask over and over but many do not but they have no problem coming in and whining about what to do and stuff and read the few that do bother to post their experiences and using that to help themselves. It helps us all a lot when they do as you did for us and gain many thanks. Any other info you remember please come back and post it.

No joke! Some things on here make no sense and when you get people posting complaints without real evidence it just makes it bad for everyone that has to read the posts. I wish that when people would say something they would have real facts. I hate it when people say that 99% get denied or "no more visa's" Each day is different, and before I would ever say that 99% or even 50% get denied I would want to do actual research, not just that days research or what people say here. There are countless people that do not use this site at all or any site, and the people that do usually have problems or are just worried and want to make sure they know what is going on. When binh was there there were many people that got pink, and when I came back and we were at the consulate I saw many pink as well as many blue. I would say that day it was about 50/50 on pink or blue, but that was only one day, not a week, or not a month, so for me to tell everyone that it is 50/50 chance to get a visa would be false. I like true facts, not " my friend said that bla bla bla" in any case, we need the input and the constructive help not just the bad stories or mis information.

Jerome

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Many thanks too for coming and telling us about the interview and everything else. We ask over and over but many do not but they have no problem coming in and whining about what to do and stuff and read the few that do bother to post their experiences and using that to help themselves. It helps us all a lot when they do as you did for us and gain many thanks. Any other info you remember please come back and post it.

No joke! Some things on here make no sense and when you get people posting complaints without real evidence it just makes it bad for everyone that has to read the posts. I wish that when people would say something they would have real facts. I hate it when people say that 99% get denied or "no more visa's" Each day is different, and before I would ever say that 99% or even 50% get denied I would want to do actual research, not just that days research or what people say here. There are countless people that do not use this site at all or any site, and the people that do usually have problems or are just worried and want to make sure they know what is going on. When binh was there there were many people that got pink, and when I came back and we were at the consulate I saw many pink as well as many blue. I would say that day it was about 50/50 on pink or blue, but that was only one day, not a week, or not a month, so for me to tell everyone that it is 50/50 chance to get a visa would be false. I like true facts, not " my friend said that bla bla bla" in any case, we need the input and the constructive help not just the bad stories or mis information.

Jerome

I'm still trying to find a way to accurately collate this information. DoS publishes visa statistics, and they do give visa issuance statistics by country. However, they only give ineligibility totals by category. This means it's possible to determine what the TOTAL average approval rate is worldwide, but I still haven't figured out a way to determine it solely for Vietnam.

Anyway, in 2008 the consulate in HCM issued 1918 "K" visas, 1086 IR1 visas, and 1875 CR1 visas. That's about 19.5 pink slips per working day just for fiance/spousal visas.

Anecdotal statistics from attorneys are probably more useful, since they see the results of a lot more visa applications than we do here. On the other, a lousy attorney is probably going to see a higher percentage of denials since some of those denials are going to be his/her fault, to some degree. If you take their word for it, you'd think the overall denial rate was worse than it really is.

[lindal24 1]

When binh was there there were many people that got pink, and when I came back and we were at the consulate I saw many pink as well as many blue. I would say that day it was about 50/50 on pink or blue, but that was only one day, not a week, or not a month, so for me to tell everyone that it is 50/50 chance to get a visa would be false. I like true facts, not " my friend said that bla bla bla" in any case, we need the input and the constructive help not just the bad stories or mis information.

Jerome

TECHNICALLY...there is a 50/50 chance that EVERYONE gets either a blue or a pink.

I haven't seen of any other colors coming out, but I've heard of white and green...now if that's the case and there are in fact 4 different color slips with 4 different results, then there's a 1/4 or 25% chance that you'll get a pink (success) or a blue (delay) or white (unknown) or green (unknown).

Now the percentages of people coming out with pink or blue on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis is a different case.

...just stating the obvious.

Edited September 24, 2009 by lindal24

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

When binh was there there were many people that got pink, and when I came back and we were at the consulate I saw many pink as well as many blue. I would say that day it was about 50/50 on pink or blue, but that was only one day, not a week, or not a month, so for me to tell everyone that it is 50/50 chance to get a visa would be false. I like true facts, not " my friend said that bla bla bla" in any case, we need the input and the constructive help not just the bad stories or mis information.

Jerome

TECHNICALLY...there is a 50/50 chance that EVERYONE gets either a blue or a pink.

I haven't seen of any other colors coming out, but I've heard of white and green...now if that's the case and there are in fact 4 different color slips with 4 different results, then there's a 1/4 or 25% chance that you'll get a pink (success) or a blue (delay) or white (unknown) or green (unknown).

Now the percentages of people coming out with pink or blue on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis is a different case.

...just stating the obvious.

That would be true if this were a game of roulette. In reality, statistics are everything in this game. It's distinctly possible for everyone to get pink, or for everyone to get blue. If the odds were based purely on random chance, then the odds against only one color coming out of the consulate would be astronomical, just like the odds of the same number coming up repeatedly on a roulette wheel.

Frankly, we don't know what the odds are based on, nor do we know precisely what the statistics are. Does the consulate operate on a quota system, presuming that a certain percentage of the applications are going to be fraudulent? We simply don't know. If they did, it would explain why someone with a relatively weak case gets approved one day, while someone with a relatively strong case gets denied on a different day. This could also be explained by different CO's with radically standards of judgment.

If we knew, for example, that the percentage of pinks were 15%, then we could say that in general your chances of getting pink were 15%. In reality, even this would not be true, since it's a safe presumption that some of the 85% who aren't approved were inadequately prepared, or had monumental red flags to overcome. Someone who used the guidance found on VJ to prepare themselves and adequately address their red flags could be presumed to have a much better chance of ending up in that 15% category than would a "noob" who had no clue what they were doing.

[hniHnitsuJ 8]

wow. i haven't hear a pink for a while. congrats.. good luck on both in your future.

Loi and Suong