Is there anything we can do now to prevent just in case out case get send back to USCIS?

[huuloimongcam 0]

I was just trying to suprise her and see how her action when she see me again. I wasn't sure if she had any boyfriend or not. I know I could have asked her if she had a boyfriend yet or not, but it could be a lie since I didn't know her that well back then. I thought a good way to find out is to be sneaky and get back to Vietnam when she is not aware I was coming.

[clayr 35]

You can call USCIS and ask to have your Validity date extended. They will tell you we can't but not to worry It has nothing to do with the interview. If she gets denied you will get a letter telling you you will be contacted about what to do if you want to rebut their findings. 5 months after the interview USCIS will send you a letter saying your case is closed because the validity dates have passed at this point you have to start over from the beginning. That is how they do it. I see your timeline and I wish you the best of luck. At the interview she will be asked all kinds of questions like your friends names? what your hobbies are? Describe his city in USA? Written evidence of future wedding( invitations, # of guests, address of location it will be held) Exactly what do you do at your job? Name of coworkers? Previous job where? length of time? Name of supervisor? Do you see how these questions are going? They are designed to fail her if she misses any. I know a guy whose fiance failed because of not enough pictures and none of his family members were present. She was asked 40 questions. I just want to warn you of what to expect. As you can see by others timelines they are at 3 years going through this. If I would have known this before I would not have ever tried.

[ScottThuy 140]

Thuys interview was over an hour and had about 200 questions.... anything and everything was asked including when was the first time you had sex with him.. the only question she had an issue with was the name of where I finished grad school was it university or college... either would have been correct as they went from college to university status while I was attending.. the CO got pissy with her because she knew everything they asked her about me, my ex, my family and our relationship.. one must be prepared to hear any question imaginable... and be comfortable with the response.. they can word the same question different ways to try to trip her up... or confuse her... dont memorize answers to questions.. know your SO...

[huuloimongcam 0]

Thank you all!

I did typed up a list of questions like you listed here. It is about ten pages long with approximately 200 questions for my fiancee to study. I also have wedding plan in place, my timeline and even my ten years residency address which are all notarized.

I am worry now on my for the following red flags on my cases:

1. Lack of evidences to show we met in 2009

2. We did an engagement ceremony without any family member from US attended that could be a red flag there

3. When I submitted I129F application to USCIS, I didn't do frontloading information like others did, even though I got approved at USCIS level, I was more concern at consulate level

---I thought about frontloading information from the beginning as well. But my uncle is an accredited represative at inmmigration service center in Cleveland, who helped me to put all these papers together. He only submitted pictures of me and my fiance before, during engagement and after and my timeline which is not very detail like I put in this forum.

Therefore, I was hoping at the consulate level, they will give us a chance to submit boat load of evidences to support our relationship.

Thanks

[SuperDuper! 230]

Most of what you could have done would need to have been done before you sent the petition. There are a lot of red flags that can cause a visa to be denied and a petition to be returned. Most of those red flags exist at the time the petition is filed, and they aren't adequately addressed in the petition. Attempts to fix those red flags after sending the petition are often not successful, but sometimes they give you a chance to address them at the interview.

Let's look at a few examples...

The number one reason for denying a visa at the consulate in HCMC is they believe the relationship is a sham. They cite a whole lot of reasons for coming to this conclusion. One common reason is that the petitioner has made only one or two trips to Vietnam. The petitioner could make ten more trips after filing the petition, and they could completely ignore it. It wouldn't change the fact that they are accusing the petitioner and beneficiary of jumping into a relationship with very little "face time" together. The best way to fix this red flag is to make more trips before filing the petition. Adequate time to develop the relationship makes a big difference to the CO.

Another reason they frequently cite is the petitioner and beneficiary didn't have a traditional engagement ceremony. Again, planning a Dam Hoi after you send the petition is often not sufficient to address this. Once again, in their eyes the petitioner jumped the gun and filed a petition before they were really engaged. The best way to fix this is to have the Dam Hoi before filing the petition, and don't do it on the first visit to Vietnam.

There are a number of other things that can cause a visa to be denied, but you get the idea. The best way to maximize your chances is to build a strong case before you send the petition. After you've sent the petition the only thing you can do is to determine what red flags still exist, prepare to address them at the interview, and hope the CO gives your fiancee a chance to do so.

These are all good points Jim makes, but one factor is glaringly omitted: The couple must have a common language. From the CO's perspective, if a couple can't communicate, they cannot have a real relationship. Effective Communication is the lifeblood of all relationships. So get your girl enrolled in English classes if she is not fluent, and the man can study VN and really impress the CO with that effort. A common religiophilosophical belief system is also important to the CO. Also get some friends and family to write letters on your behalf stating their belief that your relationship is genuine, and how they already embrace your wife-to-be as part of the family circle. Anything that also shows how she can integrate and assimilate into your US community is also a plus. You will do just fine, and good luck!

[SuperDuper! 230]

Most of what you could have done would need to have been done before you sent the petition. There are a lot of red flags that can cause a visa to be denied and a petition to be returned. Most of those red flags exist at the time the petition is filed, and they aren't adequately addressed in the petition. Attempts to fix those red flags after sending the petition are often not successful, but sometimes they give you a chance to address them at the interview.

Let's look at a few examples...

The number one reason for denying a visa at the consulate in HCMC is they believe the relationship is a sham. They cite a whole lot of reasons for coming to this conclusion. One common reason is that the petitioner has made only one or two trips to Vietnam. The petitioner could make ten more trips after filing the petition, and they could completely ignore it. It wouldn't change the fact that they are accusing the petitioner and beneficiary of jumping into a relationship with very little "face time" together. The best way to fix this red flag is to make more trips before filing the petition. Adequate time to develop the relationship makes a big difference to the CO.

Another reason they frequently cite is the petitioner and beneficiary didn't have a traditional engagement ceremony. Again, planning a Dam Hoi after you send the petition is often not sufficient to address this. Once again, in their eyes the petitioner jumped the gun and filed a petition before they were really engaged. The best way to fix this is to have the Dam Hoi before filing the petition, and don't do it on the first visit to Vietnam.

There are a number of other things that can cause a visa to be denied, but you get the idea. The best way to maximize your chances is to build a strong case before you send the petition. After you've sent the petition the only thing you can do is to determine what red flags still exist, prepare to address them at the interview, and hope the CO gives your fiancee a chance to do so.

These are all good points Jim makes, but one factor is glaringly omitted: The couple must have a common language. From the CO's perspective, if a couple can't communicate, they cannot have a real relationship. Effective Communication is the lifeblood of all relationships. So get your girl enrolled in English classes if she is not fluent, and the man can study VN and really impress the CO with that effort. A common religiophilosophical belief system is also important to the CO. Also get some friends and family to write letters on your behalf stating their belief that your relationship is genuine, and how they already embrace your wife-to-be as part of the family circle. Anything that also shows how she can integrate and assimilate into your US community is also a plus. You will do just fine, and good luck!

[hniHnitsuJ 8]

Sorry I meant to do this way:

Explanation Letter of How My Fiancée and I Met

1. Description of detailed chronology of relationship between my fiancée, Cam Mong Thi Nguyen and me from November 2009 to present.

On 11/22/2009, I returned to Vietnam. I lived temporary at 54 Nguyen Tai Hoc, Phuong My Binh, Thanh Pho Long Xuyen.

On 11/25/2009, I met my fiancée for the first time at Coopmart Super Market in Long Xuyen city, where she worked as a saleslady. After a short conversation with her, I asked for her phone number. We started to be in touch by phone and going out for drinks and dinner, while I was in Vietnam. After I returned to U.S, we were talking through phone and internet connection using Skype.

On 3/24/2010, I returned to Vietnam again, but I didn’t let her know about my trip.

On 3/31/ 2010, I visited my fiancée at the guest house at An Giang University in area B to surprise her. Luckily, she didn’t have to work that day and she didn’t go back to her hometown in Thot Not. From her hometown to Long Xuyen city is pretty far. Instead of driving that far to work every day, she lived with her aunt temporary. Her aunt works at the guest house at An Giang University in area B for many years. During her free times or on her off day, she often helped her aunt to work.

This time we met, we were very excited and we talked a lot more than we used to. After a month and a half in Vietnam at Long Xuyen city, we have a lot of dates going on. I came to visit her at work and at her home. Her friends and families really like me. I started to fall in love with her.

On 5/13/2010, I proposed to marry her by 7:00 PM at Diamond café while we were dining. She accepted my proposal.

Since I didn’t expect to get marry in Vietnam, I didn’t prepare documents required by Vietnamese authority to get married legally. Also, most of my relatives live in United States and they were too busy to travel thousand miles away. For those reasons, my fiancée and I decided to get married in United States within 90 days of her arrival, so my relatives can witness that I finally get married.

On 6/13/2010, my fiancée and I officially celebrated our engagement party conforming the Vietnamese traditional culture at my fiancée home, following a reception at Thang Loi 1 restaurant located at 1 Le Hong Phong, Phuong My Binh, Thanh Pho Long Xuyen city with approximately 320 guests. Although my relatives were not able to attend our engagement party, we turned on Skype with webcam and a large screen projector to allow them to virtually attend our engagement party. I was really excited to see my family on the screen that day.

Sincerely yours,

Loi Huu Nguyen

Loi,

Hope this help you more about your timeline.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/209481-hcmc-timeline-resource/

My wedding back in 2008, none of my family member were there. So, don't worry. Only my friends from US attended my wedding.

Good luck.

Loi

[huuloimongcam 0]

These are all good points Jim makes, but one factor is glaringly omitted: The couple must have a common language. From the CO's perspective, if a couple can't communicate, they cannot have a real relationship. Effective Communication is the lifeblood of all relationships. So get your girl enrolled in English classes if she is not fluent, and the man can study VN and really impress the CO with that effort. A common religiophilosophical belief system is also important to the CO. Also get some friends and family to write letters on your behalf stating their belief that your relationship is genuine, and how they already embrace your wife-to-be as part of the family circle. Anything that also shows how she can integrate and assimilate into your US community is also a plus. You will do just fine, and good luck!

Thank you for your advice! I dont think my fiancee need to enroll in English, since I can speak, read and write fluent Vietnamese like her. We can communicate in Vietnamese really well. We have text messages on our phones which are all in Vietnamese. Does the text messages need to be translate into English as well? I can get my brother and my sister in law to write a letter on my behalf stating their belief that my relationship is genuine, since they have a visit to Vietnam in August and they did met my fiancee. They also took pictures and hang out with my fiancee at alot of place.

[huuloimongcam 0]

Loi,

Hope this help you more about your timeline.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/209481-hcmc-timeline-resource/

My wedding back in 2008, none of my family member were there. So, don't worry. Only my friends from US attended my wedding.

Good luck.

Loi

Thank you hniHnitsuJ! This is really helpful. I didn't how to do my timeline until I read your link and follow it to the other forum.

Thanks again!

[luckytxn 2,264]

Now that we learn more about you and the relationship progress it looks better. Before I was left with the impression that the only pictures you had were ones of her and you and with some of her co workers. Now I know that you had more and have sent some so that should be no problem. You had at a relative come to your engagement party and that is more than others and more than I had. Face it though the consulate and co probably will look at you differently than I as I am a white Texan so having not relatives come to mine would not seem unusual and since you are also Vietnamese they may expect you to have someone. They may expect you to more follow the customs there than I.

It seems so far that you have done pretty good but still need to keep gathering relationship proof such as emails, call logs and such as that. Have you saved the plane tickets and boarding passes? Any other expenses you incurred while there did you save receipts?

The timeline had me scratching my head a bit and just needs tweaked is all. I did cringe also at the mention of you going to Vietnam and not telling the fiancee. It made it sound like you never saw her while there at that time. Now when you explain it sounds deceitful so maybe explain it in a way where you do not sound like you are trying to be that way. Like maybe as an example that you came to Vietnam and never said to your not YET fiancee and went to see her and during that trip you decided to pursue her. Or something like that anyway. No need to lie or anything but you can simply say you went and saw her, which is what you did. Why need to say that you wanted to spy on her or anything like that?

As Boing said. It is that you too have a common language which is Vietnamese and they want that but they may like that she is TRYING to learn English in the hopes of her new life when the visa comes. Just start her learning a little English a day like one or two new words. Soon it becomes easier.

Apologize for being long but if we can help here feel free to ask. You are on the right track it seems but do not let up and keep the relationship proof going. The more we know about you two the better we can help such as are you divorced? Is she? Age difference?

[What's next 1]

the paperwork portion is overrated. you can have volumns and volumns of paperwork and pics and still be asked for more evedience. When my wife did had her interview, we gave them everything we had and they still asked for more. We sumitted the exact same package to them again and we got pink. it's important but not that important. Documents can be created by anyone. Phone logs/bills, chat sessions, emails can all be generated by anyone, therefore thay have little weight.

The CO's are not interviewers, your SO is not applying for a job. The CO's are interogaters. They want to find out if your relationship is genuine. your SO is already paranoid coming into the interview. They have heard horror stories from their friends and neighbors, what questions are they going to ask? They are afraid of getting something wrong. They have never had an interview in their lives. They don't know how to act, nor react.

That's why interview peparation ins the most part of the interview. if you can get her to relax and be confident, this will be a huge plus, better than any part of your paper package.

Another tip would be to have some green flags. We know all about red flags. sometimes things are beyond our control.

My green flags: have your family (parents/siblings) at your engagement/wedding. Why? Because no one is going to fly their family to VN for a fake ceremony. I would rather make one trip, with my parents being there, than make 5 trips by myself.

Another green flag: take pictures with her friends. Why? Because she is not going to introduce her real friends to her fake husband.

Good luck man.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

the paperwork portion is overrated. you can have volumns and volumns of paperwork and pics and still be asked for more evedience. When my wife did had her interview, we gave them everything we had and they still asked for more. We sumitted the exact same package to them again and we got pink. it's important but not that important. Documents can be created by anyone. Phone logs/bills, chat sessions, emails can all be generated by anyone, therefore thay have little weight.

The CO's are not interviewers, your SO is not applying for a job. The CO's are interogaters. They want to find out if your relationship is genuine. your SO is already paranoid coming into the interview. They have heard horror stories from their friends and neighbors, what questions are they going to ask? They are afraid of getting something wrong. They have never had an interview in their lives. They don't know how to act, nor react.

That's why interview peparation ins the most part of the interview. if you can get her to relax and be confident, this will be a huge plus, better than any part of your paper package.

Another tip would be to have some green flags. We know all about red flags. sometimes things are beyond our control.

My green flags: have your family (parents/siblings) at your engagement/wedding. Why? Because no one is going to fly their family to VN for a fake ceremony. I would rather make one trip, with my parents being there, than make 5 trips by myself.

Another green flag: take pictures with her friends. Why? Because she is not going to introduce her real friends to her fake husband.

Good luck man.

Excellent point about the green flags!

My sister and her husband came to Vietnam for our engagement ceremony, and my sister's husband was the proxy for my father. He even ate the bitter fruit!

I agree that interview prep is important, but I don't agree that it's more important than the documentation. There's just too much evidence that they make the initial decision before the interview starts, based solely on the documentation they see in the file. More often than not, the interview simply confirms the decision they've already made.

My wife and I practiced interview questions for countless hours over Yahoo Messenger. She had an additional six hours of "professional" interview prep by Mr. Nam in HCMC. In the end, they asked her only four questions, and the first was "Do you speak English?". The pink slip was already filled out and sitting on the table in front of the CO when the interview began.

[huuloimongcam 0]

Excellent point about the green flags!

My sister and her husband came to Vietnam for our engagement ceremony, and my sister's husband was the proxy for my father. He even ate the bitter fruit!

I agree that interview prep is important, but I don't agree that it's more important than the documentation. There's just too much evidence that they make the initial decision before the interview starts, based solely on the documentation they see in the file. More often than not, the interview simply confirms the decision they've already made.

My wife and I practiced interview questions for countless hours over Yahoo Messenger. She had an additional six hours of "professional" interview prep by Mr. Nam in HCMC. In the end, they asked her only four questions, and the first was "Do you speak English?". The pink slip was already filled out and sitting on the table in front of the CO when the interview began.

Hi JimVaPhuong,

Do you still have contact information of Mr. Nam in HCM. I would like to contact for interview preparation as well.

Thanks

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Hi JimVaPhuong,

Do you still have contact information of Mr. Nam in HCM. I would like to contact for interview preparation as well.

Thanks

Yeah. He's an associate of Marc Ellis. Look at the phone numbers listed under "Tieng Viet" on this page:

http://www.marcellislaw.com/contact.html

The second number in the list is the one that's written in my notebook, so I think that's the one we called to talk to Mr. Nam.

[Tuanv 2]

Yeah. He's an associate of Marc Ellis. Look at the phone numbers listed under "Tieng Viet" on this page:

http://www.marcellislaw.com/contact.html

The second number in the list is the one that's written in my notebook, so I think that's the one we called to talk to Mr. Nam.

Jim,

How much did you pay for Mr. Nam's service?