Em yeu called consulate...

[Lurker 0]

Maybe we are impatient, but she called consulate in HCMC and ask them if they can send the packet via currier, but they said they can have her cousin in HCMC get it for her, and then her cousin can send it to Hanoi. YAY!!!

[MTDTD 0]

how long was your wait before your "em yeu" called the consulate?

[Lurker 0]

how long was your wait before your "em yeu" called the consulate?

3 weeks

[chuckandkim 0]

Maybe we are impatient, but she called consulate in HCMC and ask them if they can send the packet via currier, but they said they can have her cousin in HCMC get it for her, and then her cousin can send it to Hanoi. YAY!!!

Lurker

Double check with HCMC!

Maybe it's just me, but i'm paranoia when it comes to deal with HCMC. It allows anyone who claimed to be a "cousin" of the Beneficiary to pick up packet 3? Double check if this is a new practice which HCMC is doing... How do they know her cousin is who he/she claims to be? If HCMC is doing this, it would be very unprofessional and seems like they are not doing their job! Anyone can claims to be someone's cousin and pick up Pack3, Pack4 or any document which intended for the Beneficiary.

I'm worried.

[Lurker 0]

Maybe we are impatient, but she called consulate in HCMC and ask them if they can send the packet via currier, but they said they can have her cousin in HCMC get it for her, and then her cousin can send it to Hanoi. YAY!!!

Lurker

Double check with HCMC!

Maybe it's just me, but i'm paranoia when it comes to deal with HCMC. It allows anyone who claimed to be a "cousin" of the Beneficiary to pick up packet 3? Double check if this is a new practice which HCMC is doing... How do they know her cousin is who he/she claims to be? If HCMC is doing this, it would be very unprofessional and seems like they are not doing their job! Anyone can claims to be someone's cousin and pick up Pack3, Pack4 or any document which intended for the Beneficiary.

I'm worried.

Her cousin did get the packet and mailed it to her via DHL. She should get it tomorrow. The last person she talked to (Who was nice) told her that she can have her cousin get the paperwork. I don't think the packet 3 consists of any personal information on it, am I wrong on this? I think it is just an application with no reference to anything...just generic. Now maybe packet 4 might contain personal information...then I can see how this would be wrong. Anyone have experience to know if the packet 3, 4 contain specific information regarding the case?

On another note, she initially called the consulate 3 times...the first 2 times she got someone very rude on the phone. The 3rd time was a charm and she got a nice well spoken lady on the phone. She kept this from me until this morning when she let it slip that these 2 ladies were nasty to her. Naturally I flipped out and was very angry. So I wrote a letter and printed it out to several copies and mailed it around today.

Now, I have instructed for her whenever she talks to anybody at the consulate (via phone, interview anything..etc) she is to get thier name first and record that. I won't waste anytime next time I am in HCMC to go visit the consulate there and break my foot off up in their #######!!!

[chuckandkim 0]

Maybe we are impatient, but she called consulate in HCMC and ask them if they can send the packet via currier, but they said they can have her cousin in HCMC get it for her, and then her cousin can send it to Hanoi. YAY!!!

Lurker

Double check with HCMC!

Maybe it's just me, but i'm paranoia when it comes to deal with HCMC. It allows anyone who claimed to be a "cousin" of the Beneficiary to pick up packet 3? Double check if this is a new practice which HCMC is doing... How do they know her cousin is who he/she claims to be? If HCMC is doing this, it would be very unprofessional and seems like they are not doing their job! Anyone can claims to be someone's cousin and pick up Pack3, Pack4 or any document which intended for the Beneficiary.

I'm worried.

Her cousin did get the packet and mailed it to her via DHL. She should get it tomorrow. The last person she talked to (Who was nice) told her that she can have her cousin get the paperwork. I don't think the packet 3 consists of any personal information on it, am I wrong on this? I think it is just an application with no reference to anything...just generic. Now maybe packet 4 might contain personal information...then I can see how this would be wrong. Anyone have experience to know if the packet 3, 4 contain specific information regarding the case?

On another note, she initially called the consulate 3 times...the first 2 times she got someone very rude on the phone. The 3rd time was a charm and she got a nice well spoken lady on the phone. She kept this from me until this morning when she let it slip that these 2 ladies were nasty to her. Naturally I flipped out and was very angry. So I wrote a letter and printed it out to several copies and mailed it around today.

Now, I have instructed for her whenever she talks to anybody at the consulate (via phone, interview anything..etc) she is to get thier name first and record that. I won't waste anytime next time I am in HCMC to go visit the consulate there and break my foot off up in their #######!!!

Good job with the packet 3 Lurker! On the other note, it is very NORMAL and EXPECTED for Beneficiary to be treated as ####### and begger when they deal with the Vietnamese staffs at HCMC. Nothing new, and nobody ever succeed in breaking a foot up thers... You'd be too happy to get a Visa, you'd not even care what happened 6 months before... but maybe you would....

[Lurker 0]

Maybe we are impatient, but she called consulate in HCMC and ask them if they can send the packet via currier, but they said they can have her cousin in HCMC get it for her, and then her cousin can send it to Hanoi. YAY!!!

Lurker

Double check with HCMC!

Maybe it's just me, but i'm paranoia when it comes to deal with HCMC. It allows anyone who claimed to be a "cousin" of the Beneficiary to pick up packet 3? Double check if this is a new practice which HCMC is doing... How do they know her cousin is who he/she claims to be? If HCMC is doing this, it would be very unprofessional and seems like they are not doing their job! Anyone can claims to be someone's cousin and pick up Pack3, Pack4 or any document which intended for the Beneficiary.

I'm worried.

Her cousin did get the packet and mailed it to her via DHL. She should get it tomorrow. The last person she talked to (Who was nice) told her that she can have her cousin get the paperwork. I don't think the packet 3 consists of any personal information on it, am I wrong on this? I think it is just an application with no reference to anything...just generic. Now maybe packet 4 might contain personal information...then I can see how this would be wrong. Anyone have experience to know if the packet 3, 4 contain specific information regarding the case?

On another note, she initially called the consulate 3 times...the first 2 times she got someone very rude on the phone. The 3rd time was a charm and she got a nice well spoken lady on the phone. She kept this from me until this morning when she let it slip that these 2 ladies were nasty to her. Naturally I flipped out and was very angry. So I wrote a letter and printed it out to several copies and mailed it around today.

Now, I have instructed for her whenever she talks to anybody at the consulate (via phone, interview anything..etc) she is to get thier name first and record that. I won't waste anytime next time I am in HCMC to go visit the consulate there and break my foot off up in their #######!!!

Good job with the packet 3 Lurker! On the other note, it is very NORMAL and EXPECTED for Beneficiary to be treated as ####### and begger when they deal with the Vietnamese staffs at HCMC. Nothing new, and nobody ever succeed in breaking a foot up thers... You'd be too happy to get a Visa, you'd not even care what happened 6 months before... but maybe you would....

I vow to track this rude attitude down even after. I am not a quitter when it comes to this #######...especially when disrespect is of the order. I served my country (Vet of First Iraq war) and pay my taxes (40k+ in taxes) every year for these people to treat someone that I love and who represents me like shite. My attitude is I pay their salary...and I won't stand for someone misrepresenting the U.S. in another country. As for the rest of the Viet folks out there....GET NAMES...I WANT NAMES!!! Tell your loved one to make sure they get the names of these rude ####### folk. I will be damned if some half-baked rude ####### big-head is going to disrespect me.

American pride....gotta love it...to be continued....

Edited November 9, 2006 by Lurker

[GREEN/TRAN 0]

Maybe we are impatient, but she called consulate in HCMC and ask them if they can send the packet via currier, but they said they can have her cousin in HCMC get it for her, and then her cousin can send it to Hanoi. YAY!!!

Lurker

Double check with HCMC!

Maybe it's just me, but i'm paranoia when it comes to deal with HCMC. It allows anyone who claimed to be a "cousin" of the Beneficiary to pick up packet 3? Double check if this is a new practice which HCMC is doing... How do they know her cousin is who he/she claims to be? If HCMC is doing this, it would be very unprofessional and seems like they are not doing their job! Anyone can claims to be someone's cousin and pick up Pack3, Pack4 or any document which intended for the Beneficiary.

I'm worried.

have her get the pink and then give them the bird on the way out

Her cousin did get the packet and mailed it to her via DHL. She should get it tomorrow. The last person she talked to (Who was nice) told her that she can have her cousin get the paperwork. I don't think the packet 3 consists of any personal information on it, am I wrong on this? I think it is just an application with no reference to anything...just generic. Now maybe packet 4 might contain personal information...then I can see how this would be wrong. Anyone have experience to know if the packet 3, 4 contain specific information regarding the case?

On another note, she initially called the consulate 3 times...the first 2 times she got someone very rude on the phone. The 3rd time was a charm and she got a nice well spoken lady on the phone. She kept this from me until this morning when she let it slip that these 2 ladies were nasty to her. Naturally I flipped out and was very angry. So I wrote a letter and printed it out to several copies and mailed it around today.

Now, I have instructed for her whenever she talks to anybody at the consulate (via phone, interview anything..etc) she is to get thier name first and record that. I won't waste anytime next time I am in HCMC to go visit the consulate there and break my foot off up in their #######!!!

Good job with the packet 3 Lurker! On the other note, it is very NORMAL and EXPECTED for Beneficiary to be treated as ####### and begger when they deal with the Vietnamese staffs at HCMC. Nothing new, and nobody ever succeed in breaking a foot up thers... You'd be too happy to get a Visa, you'd not even care what happened 6 months before... but maybe you would....

I vow to track this rude attitude down even after. I am not a quitter when it comes to this #######...especially when disrespect is of the order. I served my country (Vet of First Iraq war) and pay my taxes (40k+ in taxes) every year for these people to treat someone that I love and who represents me like shite. My attitude is I pay their salary...and I won't stand for someone misrepresenting the U.S. in another country. As for the rest of the Viet folks out there....GET NAMES...I WANT NAMES!!! Tell your loved one to make sure they get the names of these rude ####### folk. I will be damned if some half-baked rude ####### big-head is going to disrespect me.

American pride....gotta love it...to be continued....

[Icarus 0]

Thought I'd chime in on this one too...

Over the last several months, I've contacted the embassy (in person, by email, and by phone) and was treated to a range of emotions by the different consulate employees. I've been talked to sympathetically, nicely, and informatively..BUT I've also had conversations where they talked down to me, lectured me, treated me as a child, and provided misinformation or conjecture. And every time I was treated poorly, it was given to me voluntarily as I never asked for more information, just "Can you please tell me what the status is of our case?". Even the email response I got was canned, almost identical to the letter sent to the congressman in a previous VN VJ post I came across.

At one point, I was lectured by a seemingly frustrated clerk for foolishly spending my money to make weekly calls to the embassy, and ended it by saying "Sir, I don't know why you call the information unit, we have no information for you." In previous posts, I related how I was given estimates of how many cases are ahead of us (each one fluctuating wildly between 1000-3000 and a couple months to over a year) and on subsequent phone calls have been told there is no way to know how long this process will take. So why will one employee attempt to 'help' us and another refuse....I guess thats just human nature when mixed with bureaucracy.

Today marks 3 months since the interview and re-submitting evidences. On sunday night, I plan on calling the embassy and asking the status and to find out what of our original signed documents has an expiration date and will need to be resubmitted (ie. letter of intent, shot record, police records???). What are my chances of getting a detailed, specific answer??

Edited November 10, 2006 by Icarus

[chuckandkim 0]

"Sir, I don't know why you call the information unit, we have no information for you."

I love this one.... Quote of the day

[Lurker 0]

"Sir, I don't know why you call the information unit, we have no information for you."

I love this one.... Quote of the day

I agree chuckandkim LOL

I have never called them, but I am wondering those who have, have you ever asked to speak to an American there? or a supervisor? or a manager? or someone other than them?

[chuckandkim 0]

We tried all those... I personally never called, but I emailed. Turn-around-time is somewhere 24-48 hours. Unless it's the weekend.

[Icarus 0]

We tried all those... I personally never called, but I emailed. Turn-around-time is somewhere 24-48 hours. Unless it's the weekend.

It was 1 week turnaround for my email. I've never tried asking to speak to a supervisor or but have asked to speak to a consulate officer and have been told they are not allowed to accept calls from petioners. However, and if I'm wrong someone please correct me, but I think you CAN make an appointment to talk with a consulate officer in person at the embassy.

[Kevin&Loan 0]

Icarus, you can make an appointment to talk to the Chief of the Information Unit, not the CO.

[Lurker 0]

Maybe we are impatient, but she called consulate in HCMC and ask them if they can send the packet via currier, but they said they can have her cousin in HCMC get it for her, and then her cousin can send it to Hanoi. YAY!!!

Well, turns out that the consulate lied (No surprise there) that they mailed out the packet 3 11/23. Em got the packet today and it was post marked 11/02. Doesn't matter anyways because she already submitted the packet 3 paperwork already and sent it via dhl.

Just confirms that the staff at HCMC consulate are lacking in quality service. However, this has been noted and entered into my log as more evidence and such to submit to the consular general when I get there in HCMC and make an appointment with him.

I am also going to find a way to make an appointment with the ambassador there in Hanoi as well.

I am not one to sit idle by and let things just be broken. I want to help fix this ####### that occurs here for future fellow VJers.