HCMC Interview experience - 12/15/2009

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

First, thanks much to everyone at VJ. The only reason we succeeded was because of what we learned here.

Phuong was only asked 4 questions.

1. Do you speak English? Yes, I speak English, but for interview please Vietnamese.

{everything after this was in Vietnamese}

2. What will you do in the United States? I will go to school. I would like to be a teacher.

3. When will you get married? In January.

4. Did you have Dinh Hon? {gives stack of photos, which CO quickly flips through}

Congratulations. {hands pink slip}

Ok, I talked to Phuong a lot about what to expect, based on what I've read here at VJ. I told her to look at the CO's papers when she got to the window, and that she'd likely see either a blue or pink paper already prepared. I told Phuong's daughter the same thing. Both of them saw the pink paper before the first question was asked. In our case at least, the decision was made before the interview began. This means the decision was made based on the documents submitted - not on any evidence presented at the interview.

Phuong was taken into a private room to submit her documents. I found out about this from another American's fiancee before Phuong and her kids came out. Obviously, this worried me a lot. It turns out they wanted the private room to go over her evidence of a biological relationship with her kids, since we were also applying for two K2's. There were no interview type questions asked in the private room - just presentation of the normal documents, plus photos of her with her kids as they grew up, old Ho Khau's, school records, etc.

The initial packet I sent to USCIS included a thick attachment for question 18. There was a 1.5 page description of each of my three trips (at that time) to Vietnam. There were copies of boarding passes, canceled checks, passports pages with visas and entry/exit stamps, and four photos from each trip. The photos were selected to show Phuong and I having fun together, and also to show me with her family. Two pictures of the Dinh Hon were included - one group photo of the ceremony at the pagoda, and another group photo at the party.

I also included a three page timeline which was organized as a question/answer session - each question from the standard timeline blue slip, followed by two or three paragraph answer.

I also included a list of her relatives in the US, including a description of how the information was compiled. The list included name, address, phone number, relationship to Phuong, and whether they'd met me (when and how). I also made a family tree diagram showing three generations of Phuong's family, with her generation in the middle, and highlighting which family members in the diagram were living in the US.

All of the other documentation submitted was standard stuff for USCIS and the consulate.

Our potential red flags were both being divorced, being introduced by her uncle who lives in the US, her limited English skills, and her being from Hue province (which is apparently a high fraud province). I addressed these things in the timeline. Apparently that was enough, because no questions were asked at the interview.

We also hired Mr. Nam, Marc Ellis' associate in Vietnam, to help organize the documents and do some interview prep. He was very helpful, and I would definitely recommend him. There were a few times I disagreed with his advice (again, based on what I'd learned here), and I let him know we would be doing it my way. He didn't have any problem with that.

One last thing - my income is comfortably above the minimum threshold, so "public charge" would have never been a question.

Hope this helps somebody!

[thongd4me 69]

Great review, congrats!

[kevinbui86 0]

Congrats Jimbo! :dance: :dance: did you get the place all ready and set up for your fiance to come over? I remember you mentioning that its not done yet

[hniHnitsuJ 8]

Congrats Jimbo! :dance: :dance: did you get the place all ready and set up for your fiance to come over? I remember you mentioning that its not done yet

congrats Anh Chim, Best of luck.

Loi and Suong

[Dakine 26]

Congrats Jim

Looks like front loading and photos were a BIG plus. Take a break and gear up for AOS.

How old are your "to be" stepkids?

It would have blown me away if yoiu guys hadn't passed as you are one of the best informed persons on here.

Edited December 16, 2009 by Dakine

[Bob-KhaHan 1]

Gratz! When Kha Han had her interview, they asked her if she could speak English and she said "Just so-so. I would prefer to have the interview in Vietnamese", but they continued to have it in English possibly because they thought her English was pretty good. Luckily, she didn't have any issues with the interview in English.

Kha Han was just asked a few questions, too.

Where do I work?

What do I do for my job?

What do I like to do in my free time?

The names of my parents and siblings

[Julian_Hien 0]

congrats, we are just about to start our journey, and you have already been a great help, i wish you both great happieness

[Icarus 0]

Big congrats to you Jim! Another successful member (and contributor!)! We wish you all the best taking the next steps on your journey

[ScottThuy 140]

Congrats Jimbo! :dance: :dance: did you get the place all ready and set up for your fiance to come over? I remember you mentioning that its not done yet

I am thinking the carpet didnt get replaced yet...

Congrats Jim!.. we really need to get a VN how to guide together to show how to front load and what to front load.... I really think it helps if the case is well organized and detailed when first submitted... all questions that they may have already addressed before the interview. I am a wreck between being nervous about the upcoming interview and the recent attack on my son, so it will be some time before I could really contribute to a guide but I would really like for all of us to get one together.. I cant remember if it was Bill that posted a revised PDF of a PI Guide as our VN Guide but I know that someone has already started a VN guide in PDF...

[Mike n Huong 1]

Congrats!!!! It is a great feeling to know that you will now be living together and sharing your lives together.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I forgot to mention - the CO was described by Phuong and Bernie's fiancee as an American who is "very handsome". Both also said they saw a lot of pinks that day, as well as blues.

Phuong's kids are 17 (18 in January) and 19.

Obviously, without getting the CO to tell us firsthand, we'll never know for sure if frontloading helped our case. As I've said in the past, the arguments in favor of frontloading make a lot of sense to me. Since we know our case was decided before the interview, I have to conclude that the decision was based at least in part on the evidence I submitted with the petition. I don't think that frontloading by itself is the magic bullet, though. You can load the petition with tons of evidence of a legitimate relationship, but if that evidence doesn't address the red flags in your case then I doubt it will help much at the interview. I spent a few months lurking here and reading everything I could before we filed. I also met Marc Ellis on my 3rd trip to Vietnam, about a month before filing. I had a pretty good idea what the potential problems were in our case, and I focused on addressing those problems with the evidence I included with the petition. If I had just piled on a bunch of photos and written text which demonstrated how much Phuong and I love each other, but never addressed (for example) how I originally met and became friends with her uncle who eventually introduced us, then I believe that still could have been a show stopper. I'd known her uncle for years before he introduced me to Phuong, and he only offered to introduce me to her because we were talking about my divorce (3 years prior, at the time) and why I hadn't been dating anyone since then. If I hadn't covered this in the timeline I submitted, I'm sure it would have raised suspicions with the CO.

It was also because of what I'd read here that I avoided making some potentially serious mistakes that could have sunk our case. For example, I was very tempted to ask Phuong to marry me on my second trip to Vietnam, and to have the engagement ceremony during that trip. Bear in mind that my second trip was only a month after my first trip. My first trip was very short. We'd been pen pals for about a year, and I wanted to meet Phuong in person to see if there was any real potential for a serious relationship. That first trip kicked our relationship into high gear, and I promised Phuong I'd come back the following month and spend more time with her. In the interim I decided to begin investigating what it was eventually going to take to get Phuong to the US to be with me permanently, and that's how I found VJ. What I read on this site was an eye opener. I found out that a whirlwind romance doesn't go over well a the consulate in HCM, and if I really wanted to spend my life with Phuong I was going to have to be patient. We spent months planning our engagement, as is customary in VN.

About the house, no - I didn't finish everything I'd hoped to finish. I ran out of time and money. When I became too overwhelmed with everything, and my time was rapidly running out, I began paying people I knew to help me. I hired my daughter's boyfriend to clean rooms and carpets. He worked very hard, and was cheap compared to hiring professionals. After trying just about everything to remove the stains from the carpets, including a thorough dousing with Oxy Clean, we were about ready to give up. He suggested we try Dawn dishwashing liquid. He thought the worst stains were primarily grease based, and that Dawn would break them up. I told him to go ahead, and it worked great!

Phuong's uncle used his construction skills (and tools) to build a wall to close off the family room and convert it into a bedroom for Phuong and I, so my 3-bedroom house is a now a 4-bedroom house. He also installed a pocket door in the wall instead of conventional swinging door, since the space is limited. There are already several other pocket doors in the house, so it fits well.

I wish I could have done more cleaning and decorating. I also wish I could have bought more household items to prepare for Phuong's arrival. I guess we're going to go shopping after she arrives. We still need a rice cooker, some kitchen utensils, rice bowls, and some good quality "dua" for everyday use. We'll probably pick up some bowls and dua while were still in Vietnam, but I'm not going to lug a rice cooker in my luggage.

Phuong also want to learn how to cook western food, so she's going to have to learn how to use an oven.

[wratran 0]

I agree with Jim regarding the whirlwind type relationship. But for us, it was the opposite. We met online in March. Visit her for the first time in April and also ask her mom for marriage during my first visit. I made a 2nd visit for the interview in November. The whole process is about 9 months.

Our relationship did not have much red flags to begin with. That's the reason i brought up the time issue. Short time span was our only redflag.

1) both single

2) no relatives in the US

3) was not introduce by family members

4) both speak english and vietnamese

5) both have good paying job and held a college degree

6) no kids, no previous marriage

[dnxt 0]

First off - Congrats! How much did Mr Nam's services set you back? and What advice did you disagree with?

[Doug and Jessie 0]

Congrats!!!!

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

First off - Congrats! How much did Mr Nam's services set you back? and What advice did you disagree with?

It wouldn't be appropriate to discuss the cost of his services on an open forum. Mr. Nam doesn't run a "paper mill" document prep service with one fixed price for everyone. He quotes a price according to the services you ask for, and your particular situation. Considering the quality of his service, I thought the price he quoted me was very fair.

One of the things I disagreed with was that he suggested that I should prepare also, in case I would have to talk to the CO. This means he wanted to have mock interviews with me to see if I knew as much about Phuong as she knew about me. I disagreed because I know the odds of me actually being interviewed by the CO were slim to none. Also, we had less than a week until the interview, and I didn't want to waste any of that time on a scenario that was very unlikely to happen. He described to me a couple of cases where the petitioner was questioned by the CO when they went to submit evidence in response to a blue slip. Based on what I'd read here, I know that rarely happens. He also told me about a recent case where a Stokes interview was conducted. I know that a Stokes interview is extremely rare in HCM (I've only read about two cases where this has happened), and only happens in spousal visa cases. He understood my reasons for not wanting to follow his advice on this, and accepted them.

The second time I disagreed was when he asked Phuong a question about sex during the mock interview. I stopped him and told him not to ask any more questions of that nature. I also told Phuong that if the CO asked her questions that were overly embarassing or humiliating then she should refuse to answer them. He told me about recent cases where questions like this were asked. I pressed him, and discovered these were spousal visa cases, and these questions started coming up after more than 30 minutes of intense questioning. My reasons for objecting were that this was a fiancee visa case, and there is no requirement that a petitioner and beneficiary have sex in order to prove a bona fide relationship. Also, if the CO begins asking questions like this then he is fishing for the reason to write on the denial slip - the visa has effectively already been denied, and there's no point in humiliating yourself when you've already lost.

I had a long talk with Phuong after that meeting, and explained her rights as an applicant. She has the right to refuse to answer any question she finds inappropriate, humiliating, embarrassing, or intrusively personal. The consulate does not have the authority to keep her there against her will. She has the right to terminate the interview at any time, and leave the consulate. The consulate officials are diplomatic guests in HER country, and they have absolutely no authority over her beyond approval or denial of her visa application. Until she enters the US, she is not subject to the authority of the US government. I didn't seriously think there was any chance she'd need to exercise any of these rights, but it made her feel more comfortable knowing she had them.

To his credit Mr. Nam was just trying to be thorough based on his extensive experience with cases at the consulate in HCM. I believe that you have to be proactive when dealing with any attorney or legal service. They have a very short time to become familiar with your case, and they're never going to know your particular situation as well as you do. If you do your homework, then you'll have the knowledge to help your attorney do his job, and also to correct him when he makes a mistake.