Is it safe to buy airline ticket once consulate gives pink?

[Dan_P 5]

I was wondering if it is safe to buy airline tickets based on the date that the consulate gave on the pink, or is that date subject to delays?

[tuandanh 3]

Delays are possible. Make sure you have the visa in hand before you buy a ticket to avoid risk of delays.

[Dave&Roza 748]

No. Never take their word for granted. Only purchase airline tickets when the visa is in your hot hands and only then. Lots of things could happen or not happen. Do you want the stress of knowing you fly out in 2 days and the visa still has not arrived? In this journey you will discover nothing is assurred accept for the waiting.

Congrats on getting the visa--I hope it arrives when promised.

Dave

[Dan_P 5]

Thanks for the advice.

I didn't get a pink yet, I am just trying to figure out how much vacation to ask for when I go back to Vietnam to be with my wife for the interview. I guess I can take 2 weeks, then if she gets a pink, figure out whether or not I should extend it or just go back and come back again to pick her up.

[VinceN 25]

I'll share my own experience. I actually bought the her ticket as soon as she received pink. When she went to pick up her visa on the scheduled date they gave her a white slip requesting her criminal record even though she had it with her at the interview. We were a bit scared but she got her visa a week after that. So in IMO, if you must buy your ticket give yourself some slack as far as the departure date goes. But i do agree with others, If you can wait till she has the visa in hand before booking that ticket.

[quann 26]

Thanks for the advice.

I didn't get a pink yet, I am just trying to figure out how much vacation to ask for when I go back to Vietnam to be with my wife for the interview. I guess I can take 2 weeks, then if she gets a pink, figure out whether or not I should extend it or just go back and come back again to pick her up.

if she can do everything by herself (vaccines, medical) and have all necessary documents lined up and ready to go...plan your trip 1-2 days before the interview date. that leaves you with 10+ days to wait for the visa if she passes and you can extend a week and bring her along with.

[astrlsrfr 1]

I was wondering if it is safe to buy airline tickets based on the date that the consulate gave on the pink, or is that date subject to delays?

I took 2 weeks off for her interview, visa issuance and return. She is going to be doing her POE next to me when I return.

I arrived 5 days before the interview. It turns out that was more than enough time, although the return scheduling is dicey.

It is a real possibility you could have an issue & get delayed on the visa. I don't know wat % chance, but I'd guess its less than 20% likely you might get delayed. We had no problem & received the visa at the time they promised (yesterday). I took a chance & set up our flights between the PINK & visa issuance times. I have limited time off from my work & was more interested in locking down some flights in advance on the same airline that I had a flexible return already booked on. If we were to have been delayed, the plan was to reschedule... which would have cost $100 in this case.

[quann 26]

$100-$200 is not a big loss if you have limited days off from work. in the risk/reward factor it's worth it imo.

[Dan_P 5]

I'll share my own experience. I actually bought the her ticket as soon as she received pink. When she went to pick up her visa on the scheduled date they gave her a white slip requesting her criminal record even though she had it with her at the interview. We were a bit scared but she got her visa a week after that. So in IMO, if you must buy your ticket give yourself some slack as far as the departure date goes. But i do agree with others, If you can wait till she has the visa in hand before booking that ticket.

Maybe I would be better off taking 3 weeks off, wait for pink, then buy her a ticket. I don't want to use up all my vacation, I want to save some in case she gets a blue, then I can come back next time when she goes back for second interview. Of course I will hope for the best, but I want to plan for the worst.

[tuandanh 3]

Maybe an open ticket is the answer? Youll want to save some days on the U.S. side too. Im going just for the interview week. Saving the rest of my time to show SO around, take care of transition paperwork, wedding and honeymoon.

[Dan_P 5]

Maybe an open ticket is the answer? Youll want to save some days on the U.S. side too. Im going just for the interview week. Saving the rest of my time to show SO around, take care of transition paperwork, wedding and honeymoon.

I'll take a look at the open ended ticket to see how that goes. I have enough vacation, maybe 7 weeks left, I just want to use it wisely and like you said, save some time for when she is here, or in case she gets a blue and I have to come back.

[luckytxn 2,264]

It is always best to wait for the visa as others have said because of an unexpected issue like them all of a sudden finding out they need additional info or paperwork. It has been a couple of years but I remember when the consulate was saying one week come back but then when coming back then they were saying to come back in a week and even two weeks. I forgot the reasons back then were but it was a huge reason that we had given that advice to always wait till the visa is in hand to reserve the flight. Overall now things seem to be moving along better then it used to but still please bear all this in mind just in case.

[ScottThuy 140]

Bernie knows how this can bite you in the butt if you buy the ticket before the visa is in hand.. they can say come back in a week but it could be 3 weeks before the visa is actually handed to her...

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

We rolled the dice and bought the tickets. The cheapest tickets were non-refundable, and couldn't be rescheduled. We paid a little more for tickets that could be rescheduled with 24 hours notice by paying an additional fee. For us, it was a practical consideration. I had an open return ticket, so we were stuck with Eva airlines. We had four passengers to book, so the odds of finding a flight with four vacant seats varied in inverse proportion to the amount of time remaining until the flight. In other words, trying to book four seats two or three days before the flight probably wasn't going to happen. A week or more was more realistic. In addition, they were scheduled to get their visas just a few days before Christmas, so flights back to the western world were already heavily booked. If we'd waited until they actually had their visas then we wouldn't have been coming back until January, which meant missing the entire holiday in the US.

I paid more up front and took a chance. They got the visas on the day they were scheduled to get them, and we left the next day.

[Dan_P 5]

thanks all for your advice, i'll probably buy an open ticket for myself, and just wait until my wife gets the visa in hand, since it'd only be the two of us.