Phone Calls

[BurningFinger 5]

Trang and I barely talked over the phone. In fact most of our communication is through Yahoo chats. We also use the Yahoo Messenger Phone Call feature which is kinda like Skype. We use this alot as well. So basically we make phone calls to each other over the internet. I made screen shots on the webcam of both of us wearing our headseats as well as the call durations for our conversations on the headsets. Will the CO think this is strange or will they want copies of actual phone bills instead?

-Travis & Trang

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Trang and I barely talked over the phone. In fact most of our communication is through Yahoo chats. We also use the Yahoo Messenger Phone Call feature which is kinda like Skype. We use this alot as well. So basically we make phone calls to each other over the internet. I made screen shots on the webcam of both of us wearing our headseats as well as the call durations for our conversations on the headsets. Will the CO think this is strange or will they want copies of actual phone bills instead?

-Travis & Trang

This is the 21st century. I'm sure the consulate will forgive you if you don't use regular phone calls very much. Yahoo chat, Skype, and other VoIP services are virtually free, and someone would have to be practically insane not to take advantage of that. The downside is that you can get spoiled by having free voice communications available, and not be prepared on the occasion you might need conventional phone services. I called Phuong for a total of about 3 hours during Typhoon Ketsana, and I just got my phone bill yesterday - $522. I've got a calling card now, but I don't know if I'll need it before her interview.

Have copies of your Yahoo call and chat logs available at the interview and you should be ok. I think webcam pics are also nice, but I haven't heard much about whether they were specifically helpful at the interview. I have more than 2000 webcam pics of Phuong. I collect more almost every day.

[lindal24 1]

JereomeBinh was denied because their "communication not creditable, our phone records show only short calls, 1 to 3 minutes in length"

If you use the yahoo phone feature, try to find a way to printout the phone log...I'm not sure if you can, but if it's possible, definately do it!

[BurningFinger 5]

Linda,

Just to be safe I can just purchase a few cheap phone cards and call her. She uses a pre-paid cell phone in Vietnam so she does not get a phone bill. I guess if I keep copies of the phone cards and my own phone bills it would be enough. would i need copies of her phone bills as well?

-Travis & Trang

JereomeBinh was denied because their "communication not creditable, our phone records show only short calls, 1 to 3 minutes in length"

If you use the yahoo phone feature, try to find a way to printout the phone log...I'm not sure if you can, but if it's possible, definately do it!

[wratran 0]

some phone card does not have call record.

100% of our phone conversation is thru Skype. It add up somewhere between 60-90 hrs every month. I did the same thing you did...take a lot of screen shot w/ her.

I have the iphone with skype on it...so i basically get free phone call to my SO. Its handy specially during my day time (when i'm at work) and her night time (when she's at home)....i can talk to her between meeting and on the road.

I just hope the consulate accept Skype video call as evidence. All VOIP list the duration and date of the call....so i dont see why this is any difference.

[toddandhien 2]

Trang and I barely talked over the phone. In fact most of our communication is through Yahoo chats. We also use the Yahoo Messenger Phone Call feature which is kinda like Skype. We use this alot as well. So basically we make phone calls to each other over the internet. I made screen shots on the webcam of both of us wearing our headseats as well as the call durations for our conversations on the headsets. Will the CO think this is strange or will they want copies of actual phone bills instead?

-Travis & Trang

This is the 21st century. I'm sure the consulate will forgive you if you don't use regular phone calls very much. Yahoo chat, Skype, and other VoIP services are virtually free, and someone would have to be practically insane not to take advantage of that. The downside is that you can get spoiled by having free voice communications available, and not be prepared on the occasion you might need conventional phone services. I called Phuong for a total of about 3 hours during Typhoon Ketsana, and I just got my phone bill yesterday - $522. I've got a calling card now, but I don't know if I'll need it before her interview.

Have copies of your Yahoo call and chat logs available at the interview and you should be ok. I think webcam pics are also nice, but I haven't heard much about whether they were specifically helpful at the interview. I have more than 2000 webcam pics of Phuong. I collect more almost every day.

This may be the 21st century but I would not expect that the Consulate will have adopted every modern way of thinking. Many of the things that they look for are conventional in nature. I would strongly recommend to anyone to get a calling card that tracks all of your call records and has them available to you on-line. The records need to show the phone number called from and to and the duration. Then you can show that the phone numbers called are yours and your SO's. Use this card to call at least once a week for 20-30 minutes or so. At 8 cents/min that's $10/month. Then make all of your other, longer calls on skype or other VOIP.

Remember the onus is on YOU to prove the bona fides, not for the CO to interpret it. Make it easy for them. There is something very familiar in being able to look at a phone "bill" that lists numbers and durations and is from a credible source.

[CK&Tydi 0]

Try savingcall dot com - it costs around 3.7cents to land line. They are really good and you can print detail call logs from their website. I used them since 2006 till now. Give it a shot. I used to have a $750 phone bill in one month before

Other method to save money. Get vonage and bring the device back to VN. Now your cost will be lower.

Good Luck!

Edited November 5, 2009 by CK&Tydi

[lindal24 1]

You can choose to do whatever you like. I like the person's recommendation to buy a phone card to use 1-2xs a week for at least 20-30+ minutes. I would think that copies of the phone card LOGS and phone bills would be enough--you've got to satisfy a CO though, not me.

In our case, my husband and I called each other and spent hours on the phone. In the end, we only submitted my calling card evidence to them. When he called me from the VOIP line at the house, that didn't record phone numbers, and of course with the cell phones those don't keep a record either.

If you can find a way to get the phone logs from skype or yahoo or whatever service you use, that should be good...I don't know about screenshots unless you plan on bringing in a tree with you!

Linda,

Just to be safe I can just purchase a few cheap phone cards and call her. She uses a pre-paid cell phone in Vietnam so she does not get a phone bill. I guess if I keep copies of the phone cards and my own phone bills it would be enough. would i need copies of her phone bills as well?

-Travis & Trang

JereomeBinh was denied because their "communication not creditable, our phone records show only short calls, 1 to 3 minutes in length"

If you use the yahoo phone feature, try to find a way to printout the phone log...I'm not sure if you can, but if it's possible, definately do it!

[dnxt 0]

I agree with CK&Tydi on SavingCall for convenience and competitive pricing.

You can export Skype call records by downloading the utility tool at: Skype Call Exporter

[BinhJerome 14]

Trang and I barely talked over the phone. In fact most of our communication is through Yahoo chats. We also use the Yahoo Messenger Phone Call feature which is kinda like Skype. We use this alot as well. So basically we make phone calls to each other over the internet. I made screen shots on the webcam of both of us wearing our headseats as well as the call durations for our conversations on the headsets. Will the CO think this is strange or will they want copies of actual phone bills instead?

-Travis & Trang

The CO will not look at them, I even said in our time line that is what we did, Binh also had screen shots as well with us both in the picture. They should, but what you will have to do is MAKE them take them, they will not do it on their own. I suggest doing what you are doing, and keep taking screen shots, and just stress to your fiancée that she try to give them to the CO at the interview over and over and over again, and to stress to them that you use Yahoo and Skype, not the phone. If this does not work, and they give you a blue slip, when you get what they want turn in all of those as well. At this point they will have them no matter what, and I do not know if it is possible to do this or not, but ask for some sort of paper that shows you submitted "blank number of pages" this way if the CO lies as they did in our case you can say "Hey where did all those papers go? DID you file them in the trash receptacle??" but as I said I am not sure they will give you any type of receipt, but if you turn it in they have to accept it. Good luck Jerome and Binh

[TerriandEric 4]

We are filing the K1 at the end of the month as we are waiting on my final divorce papers...we have started exporting all our calls from Skype, downloading phone bills & highlighting the relevant ones and blacking out the rest. Our chat logs have been printed in advance & as we are going to print off at the end of each week now & add them to the file. The phone calls are going to be harder to prove as I call him more as it is much cheaper for me to call him then the other way around and we use video chats all the time..but msn keeps a log of when the clal starts & when it finishes..I turned on the time stamp feature too to make it easier to see the timing.

[BinhJerome 14]

We are filing the K1 at the end of the month as we are waiting on my final divorce papers...we have started exporting all our calls from Skype, downloading phone bills & highlighting the relevant ones and blacking out the rest. Our chat logs have been printed in advance & as we are going to print off at the end of each week now & add them to the file. The phone calls are going to be harder to prove as I call him more as it is much cheaper for me to call him then the other way around and we use video chats all the time..but msn keeps a log of when the clal starts & when it finishes..I turned on the time stamp feature too to make it easier to see the timing.

Good luck with your visa application, just be thankful you are not going through HCMC, with you "Waiting" for a divorce to be finalized they would probably think your relationship was a sham. I am not sure how your consulate will feel about you already being engaged before you are divorced, but I would make sure that you try to address this issue and address it early. Jerome

[toddandhien 2]

Trang and I barely talked over the phone. In fact most of our communication is through Yahoo chats. We also use the Yahoo Messenger Phone Call feature which is kinda like Skype. We use this alot as well. So basically we make phone calls to each other over the internet. I made screen shots on the webcam of both of us wearing our headseats as well as the call durations for our conversations on the headsets. Will the CO think this is strange or will they want copies of actual phone bills instead?

-Travis & Trang

The CO will not look at them, I even said in our time line that is what we did, Binh also had screen shots as well with us both in the picture. They should, but what you will have to do is MAKE them take them, they will not do it on their own. I suggest doing what you are doing, and keep taking screen shots, and just stress to your fiancée that she try to give them to the CO at the interview over and over and over again, and to stress to them that you use Yahoo and Skype, not the phone. If this does not work, and they give you a blue slip, when you get what they want turn in all of those as well. At this point they will have them no matter what, and I do not know if it is possible to do this or not, but ask for some sort of paper that shows you submitted "blank number of pages" this way if the CO lies as they did in our case you can say "Hey where did all those papers go? DID you file them in the trash receptacle??" but as I said I am not sure they will give you any type of receipt, but if you turn it in they have to accept it. Good luck Jerome and Binh

The issue at hand is not what we all feel that we want to do or what SHOULD be acceptable. The issue is that you have to convince a third party (the CO) who is highly skeptical at best. Think about it. Every day, they see fraudulent cases and people trying to rip them off with scams that are elaborate. How hard do you think it is to create a speadsheet that looks like the Skype Call Exporter? I used it, too, but only as one tiny piece of a mountain of evidence. The best proof is something that is irrefutable. You can fake chat call logs. You can fake the screenshots because you could change clothes 50 times on one session. With a green card at stake, these are small prices to pay.

Consider this. We all know that cell phones in VN are pay as you go. Don't have the VN person do the calling. US petitioner, you make the calls. Call from a land line that gets a monthly bill or a cell phone that gets a monthly bill. Don't use pre-paid cell phones, unlimited services or calling cards as your PRIMARY call evidence because you will not have documentation. As I mentioned before, call with some verifiable method once or twice a week for 20-30 minutes. Now, you have irrefutable evidence because the bill you get from Verizon or ATT has your calls from YOUR number to the VN number (just be sure that the number you are calling in VN is the same number that the applicant will use on the DS-156 and other submitted forms).

After you have established this PRIMARY evidence, build your SECONDARY evidence with chat logs, screenshots, etc, etc.

[wratran 0]

toddandhien...

cellular or land line call log can also be faked..no different than skype or yahoo. It's depend on the interviewer.

[toddandhien 2]

toddandhien...

cellular or land line call log can also be faked..no different than skype or yahoo. It's depend on the interviewer.

I am not talking about a call log. I am talking about a bill that comes in the mail.