We got pink! I just want to thank VisaJourney for everything

[Happiness123 0]

Ok I rarely posted anything but I used this website throughout the whole process and it has helped tremendously. We didn't use any lawyers and I just did the whole application myself with the help of this website. THANK YOU VISA JOURNEY!

So here is what happened at the consulate based on what Ny (my fiance) told me. When she was first summoned to submit her paperwork, the lady who processed her documents was a real B. She asked her why we paper clipped documents instead of stapling it. But she has no power in the whole scheme of things so it didn't matter. While she was at the consulate, about 40 people interviewed before her and through the whole group, only about 5 people got pink. That's a damn low percentage! She saw people getting grilled and girls crying after getting their blue slip. Luckily she told me somehow she didn't feel nervous at all.

Once they called her for the interview, she walked up to the window and it was an white male interviewer with a female translator. They were both very pleasant and nice. My fiance heard about how they basically decide whether you pass or not before the actual interview so she was looking at their desk and it's true! The pink slip was already filled out and sitting in plain sight. So after that she was just all smile. The weird thing is that he didn't ask her ANYTHING. The translator ask her 3 questions. What's my name, where do I work, and where do I live. I think those are just being asked for formality sake. Then the interviewer asked her for pictures so Ny gave him 20 photos that includes pictures of us and with her family. He asked if she has more and she pulled out a stack of 500 photos and he smiled and didn't even look at them. He read (without help from translator) the introductory note I wrote to Ny when we first met (I was eating with my family while she ate with her family during last new year and I wrote a note introducing myself). Two workers even came over and looked at it and smiled. Then the translator asked Ny if she is excited that I am coming back to Vietnam soon for the engagement party (actually the wedding party but we figured not to give them any reason for trouble). Then the interviewer said: "You have a pink dress so you get a pink slip" in Vietnamese and that was that!

So I think everything really boils down to the sponsor's financial situation. I met Ny in January of this year and returned to Vietnam in June for over 2 weeks to propose to her. I submitted the paperwork 2 days after returning to the US. My I-129F follows the structure that VisaJourney gives. I included, a half page timeline, only 5 photos, the plane ticket receipts for the June flight (didn't even include the January one), hotel receipts, receipt for engagement ring, history of my phone calls to her, no email, no chat logs. So in retrospect, I could have put more in it. I think what really help me is because I work as an engineer with clearance. It has real implications if I have a fake marriage and the government knows more about me than the average Joe so if they trust me to work for them, they should trust me in this. We have much more evidence in the package Ny took to the consulate but to be honest I don't think they even had the chance to see it. If they trust the sponsor and his financial situation, the relationship is instantly believe to be true and she doesn't get grilled at all.

Oh well I am glad this is all over. While I was waiting for her to finish her interview, I couldn't even breath. I hope everybody that go through this will come out with pink!

Edited December 4, 2009 by Quan24

[abbielovesjeremy 5]

congratulations and good luck!

[jasonandhien 0]

Congratulations!!! :dance: :dance:

[Kevin and 10]

Congratulations!!!

[ladyinpink 1]

Ok I rarely posted anything but I used this website throughout the whole process and it has helped tremendously. We didn't use any lawyers and I just did the whole application myself with the help of this website. THANK YOU VISA JOURNEY!

So here is what happened at the consulate based on what Ny (my fiance) told me. When she was first summoned to submit her paperwork, the lady who processed her documents was a real B. She asked her why we paper clipped documents instead of stapling it. But she has no power in the whole scheme of things so it didn't matter. While she was at the consulate, about 40 people interviewed before her and through the whole group, only about 5 people got pink. That's a damn low percentage! She saw people getting grilled and girls crying after getting their blue slip. Luckily she told me somehow she didn't feel nervous at all.

Once they called her for the interview, she walked up to the window and it was an white male interviewer with a female translator. They were both very pleasant and nice. My fiance heard about how they basically decide whether you pass or not before the actual interview so she was looking at their desk and it's true! The pink slip was already filled out and sitting in plain sight. So after that she was just all smile. The weird thing is that he didn't ask her ANYTHING. The translator ask her 3 questions. What's my name, where do I work, and where do I live. I think those are just being asked for formality sake. Then the interviewer asked her for pictures so Ny gave him 20 photos that includes pictures of us and with her family. He asked if she has more and she pulled out a stack of 500 photos and he smiled and didn't even look at them. He read (without help from translator) the introductory note I wrote to Ny when we first met (I was eating with my family while she ate with her family during last new year and I wrote a note introducing myself). Two workers even came over and looked at it and smiled. Then the translator asked Ny if she is excited that I am coming back to Vietnam soon for the engagement party (actually the wedding party but we figured not to give them any reason for trouble). Then the interviewer said: "You have a pink dress so you get a pink slip" in Vietnamese and that was that!

So I think everything really boils down to the sponsor's financial situation. I met Ny in January of this year and returned to Vietnam in June for over 2 weeks to propose to her. I submitted the paperwork 2 days after returning to the US. My I-129F follows the structure that VisaJourney gives. I included, a half page timeline, only 5 photos, the plane ticket receipts for the June flight (didn't even include the January one), hotel receipts, receipt for engagement ring, history of my phone calls to her, no email, no chat logs. So in retrospect, I could have put more in it. I think what really help me is because I work as an engineer with clearance. It has real implications if I have a fake marriage and the government knows more about me than the average Joe so if they trust me to work for them, they should trust me in this. We have much more evidence in the package Ny took to the consulate but to be honest I don't think they even had the chance to see it. If they trust the sponsor and his financial situation, the relationship is instantly believe to be true and she doesn't get grilled at all.

Oh well I am glad this is all over. While I was waiting for her to finish her interview, I couldn't even breath. I hope everybody that go through this will come out with pink!

sweet good luck

[hniHnitsuJ 8]

congrats.. and good luck to both

[Dau Que 6]

As they often say "No money, no honey!". Obviously, those who aren't financially well, aka annual income is at or around the minimum poverty line requirement, will be subjected to more scrutiny from the C/O. If you can't even earn enough income to support yourself, you can't bring another "potential" burden to the States. And that hasn't taken into consideration more potential motivation to commit immigration frauds for personal financial gain.

[wratran 0]

When we turn in our 129F, we only submit 10 photos with a short timeline of our first trip together. I did also send all of the receipt for the trip. I dont think i FRONT LOADED my petition.

I do agree with the Happiness123 that if you are well off on your annual income, the consulate will likely questioned your relationship. They would not assume that you are doing a marriage scam since you are making enough money.

I only made 2 trips to visit my SO...1 for week and the 2nd for the interview. We met in March and got approve in November. I think my salary contribute a great deal to the success of visa approval.

[lindal24 1]

What salary range do you make that causes you to come to this conclusion???

I bring home a decent salary--enough to pay my mortgage, bills, living expenses, but my cost of living (COL) is also very low. That's probably something that the COs don't think about when looking at how much one makes and approving/denying a petition.

[wratran 0]

i am right at the 6 figure salary. Dallas is not very expensive to live...but they really dont ask for living expense. It seem like they only look at the AGI number on your income tax.

Our time frame is similar to HAPPINESS123, i think his is around 11 months when first met till PINK.... Ours is 9 months....

It sad that they put a price tag on love.

[meowmeowmeow 1]

congratulations!

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

i am right at the 6 figure salary. Dallas is not very expensive to live...but they really dont ask for living expense. It seem like they only look at the AGI number on your income tax.

Our time frame is similar to HAPPINESS123, i think his is around 11 months when first met till PINK.... Ours is 9 months....

It sad that they put a price tag on love.

There might be some truth to this. There are some common visa scams that become a lot less likely when the petitioner has a relatively high income.

Someone earning near the poverty level could be in deep financial doo doo where only a few thousand dollars would be enough to dig them out. It's within the realm of possibility that a family member of the beneficiary could pay someone like that to help the beneficiary immigrate.

On the other hand, someone with a six figure income would have to be in trouble to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars before they could be persuaded to go through all of the effort needed to pull off a visa scam. It's highly unlikely anyone is going to pay THAT much money to buy off a potential petitioner. If they had that much cash to spend they could just send it to the beneficiary. They'd live like royalty in Vietnam on that kind of cash.

[SuperDuper! 230]

Ok I rarely posted anything but I used this website throughout the whole process and it has helped tremendously. We didn't use any lawyers and I just did the whole application myself with the help of this website. THANK YOU VISA JOURNEY!

So here is what happened at the consulate based on what Ny (my fiance) told me. When she was first summoned to submit her paperwork, the lady who processed her documents was a real B. She asked her why we paper clipped documents instead of stapling it. But she has no power in the whole scheme of things so it didn't matter. While she was at the consulate, about 40 people interviewed before her and through the whole group, only about 5 people got pink. That's a damn low percentage! She saw people getting grilled and girls crying after getting their blue slip. Luckily she told me somehow she didn't feel nervous at all.

Once they called her for the interview, she walked up to the window and it was an white male interviewer with a female translator. They were both very pleasant and nice. My fiance heard about how they basically decide whether you pass or not before the actual interview so she was looking at their desk and it's true! The pink slip was already filled out and sitting in plain sight. So after that she was just all smile. The weird thing is that he didn't ask her ANYTHING. The translator ask her 3 questions. What's my name, where do I work, and where do I live. I think those are just being asked for formality sake. Then the interviewer asked her for pictures so Ny gave him 20 photos that includes pictures of us and with her family. He asked if she has more and she pulled out a stack of 500 photos and he smiled and didn't even look at them. He read (without help from translator) the introductory note I wrote to Ny when we first met (I was eating with my family while she ate with her family during last new year and I wrote a note introducing myself). Two workers even came over and looked at it and smiled. Then the translator asked Ny if she is excited that I am coming back to Vietnam soon for the engagement party (actually the wedding party but we figured not to give them any reason for trouble). Then the interviewer said: "You have a pink dress so you get a pink slip" in Vietnamese and that was that!

So I think everything really boils down to the sponsor's financial situation. I met Ny in January of this year and returned to Vietnam in June for over 2 weeks to propose to her. I submitted the paperwork 2 days after returning to the US. My I-129F follows the structure that VisaJourney gives. I included, a half page timeline, only 5 photos, the plane ticket receipts for the June flight (didn't even include the January one), hotel receipts, receipt for engagement ring, history of my phone calls to her, no email, no chat logs. So in retrospect, I could have put more in it. I think what really help me is because I work as an engineer with clearance. It has real implications if I have a fake marriage and the government knows more about me than the average Joe so if they trust me to work for them, they should trust me in this. We have much more evidence in the package Ny took to the consulate but to be honest I don't think they even had the chance to see it. If they trust the sponsor and his financial situation, the relationship is instantly believe to be true and she doesn't get grilled at all.

Oh well I am glad this is all over. While I was waiting for her to finish her interview, I couldn't even breath. I hope everybody that go through this will come out with pink!

Wow, so thanks for cracking the code at HCMC Really, Congrats, and have a happy life together!

[Happiness123 0]

Oh after talking to Ny some more, she told me that she proactively showed them the note that I wrote to her when I first met her at the restaurant without waiting for them to ask for it. I included a copy of it in my original application. She said the interviewer got a real kick out of it smiling while reading it. So they definitely like it better when you meet sponstaneously.

Actually on the trip I first met my fiance, I did encounter someone who wanted me to enter a scam marriage to the tune of 35k. From what I heard that's typical and not hard to find. That's a pretty outrageous amount for anybody and you can see why many people would take up on that offer. If you think carefully though, you are giving up years of your life and put any chance of a real relationship on hold for a few years for this and afterward it's in the record that you have already been married once. I actually know someone who did it halfway through the application process and then he met his real love. Now he can't even sponsor her over because they question why he submitted an application recently and now trying to sponsor a different woman.

It's not just within the realm of possibility that relatives find people to enter into fake marriage to help their family emigrate. It happens ALL the time. It's sad that they have to do this just to unite with their family. I can understand their desperation but it really hurts those who try to get their real fiance over.

So if you can somehow prove to them definitively that you are not that type of person then no matter how short your relationship is they would still give you the visa. Remember they don't care about how much you are in love as long as you can prove it's real. For me I have to submit to lie detector tests just to do my job so a fake marriage won't be able to be hidden for long. If it's discovered then I would be blacklisted from all government related jobs and that's a huge chunk of the engineering market. So when there is a huge backlash against commiting the scam then they believe the legitimacy of your relationship. I know not many is in my situation and I am lucky because of it. Last year I did months of traveling for work and all the bonuses really help to make the numbers on my tax transcript look big.

But I agree to front load as much as possible. It certainly doesn't hurt and you don't want to take any chances. At that point in the application I didn't know they would just decide to give you the pink slip before the actual interview. I thought you only need to show enough to get the application sent to Vietnam and that is where you give all the proofs. If I knew otherwise I would have front loaded it.

[Dau Que 6]

Oh after talking to Ny some more, she told me that she proactively showed them the note that I wrote to her when I first met her at the restaurant without waiting for them to ask for it. I included a copy of it in my original application. She said the interviewer got a real kick out of it smiling while reading it. So they definitely like it better when you meet sponstaneously.

Actually on the trip I first met my fiance, I did encounter someone who wanted me to enter a scam marriage to the tune of 35k. From what I heard that's typical and not hard to find. That's a pretty outrageous amount for anybody and you can see why many people would take up on that offer. If you think carefully though, you are giving up years of your life and put any chance of a real relationship on hold for a few years for this and afterward it's in the record that you have already been married once. I actually know someone who did it halfway through the application process and then he met his real love. Now he can't even sponsor her over because they question why he submitted an application recently and now trying to sponsor a different woman.

It's not just within the realm of possibility that relatives find people to enter into fake marriage to help their family emigrate. It happens ALL the time. It's sad that they have to do this just to unite with their family. I can understand their desperation but it really hurts those who try to get their real fiance over.

So if you can somehow prove to them definitively that you are not that type of person then no matter how short your relationship is they would still give you the visa. Remember they don't care about how much you are in love as long as you can prove it's real. For me I have to submit to lie detector tests just to do my job so a fake marriage won't be able to be hidden for long. If it's discovered then I would be blacklisted from all government related jobs and that's a huge chunk of the engineering market. So when there is a huge backlash against commiting the scam then they believe the legitimacy of your relationship. I know not many is in my situation and I am lucky because of it. Last year I did months of traveling for work and all the bonuses really help to make the numbers on my tax transcript look big.

But I agree to front load as much as possible. It certainly doesn't hurt and you don't want to take any chances. At that point in the application I didn't know they would just decide to give you the pink slip before the actual interview. I thought you only need to show enough to get the application sent to Vietnam and that is where you give all the proofs. If I knew otherwise I would have front loaded it.

To lots of Vnese ladies, it's a win-win situation for them. They're willing to take a "gamble" to start their lives over in America, with anyone. Then after they got their hands on that Green card, they will NOT hesitate to move on with another partners, if need be, in the event the original relationship didn't work out.

So don't you be so sure you're genuinely loved. Only time will tell. For now, just simply enjoy that pink slip.