Waiting for Interview at HCM consulate

[Roulette 0]

Hello,

My fiance and I are waiting 90 days now for the letter for our interview date at the US consulate in HCM, Vietnam.

Of course we are tired of waiting for the date to come made more frustrating by not being able to get even a scrap of information from the consulate through their web based inquiry system. Only that our case is in the queue...continue to wait.

Some info i have seen here is that someone claims to know that the consulate is running about 100 days for the interviews letters to come. Meaning we have about 10 more days.

Looks like in the past the average was 1 or 2 months. But we surmise that because of the recent scandal and arrest of several US visa officers including the head, that things are going slower there due to more checks and scrutiny and perhaps more trainees on board.

Anybod have something about any of this?

Thanks!

Mike Roulette

[Pitaya 2,577]

~Moved from Introducing our Members to Vietnam Regional Forum~

~Inquiry is embassy-specific~

[xgrnberet1 19]

Hello,

My fiance and I are waiting 90 days now for the letter for our interview date at the US consulate in HCM, Vietnam.

Of course we are tired of waiting for the date to come made more frustrating by not being able to get even a scrap of information from the consulate through their web based inquiry system. Only that our case is in the queue...continue to wait.

Some info i have seen here is that someone claims to know that the consulate is running about 100 days for the interviews letters to come. Meaning we have about 10 more days.

Looks like in the past the average was 1 or 2 months. But we surmise that because of the recent scandal and arrest of several US visa officers including the head, that things are going slower there due to more checks and scrutiny and perhaps more trainees on board.

Anybod have something about any of this?

Thanks!

Mike Roulette

Yes, the wait may go up to 4-5 months or may be longer, and not necessarily due to scandal, but rather than back logs.

[Roulette 0]

xgrnberet, where did you get that information?

Thanks!

[Roulette 0]

I did just find out that there was a visa officers labor strike at the HCM consulate that lasted 5 months and ended on September 27th, 2013. This strike caused a backlog of visa applications. This must be why it is taking so long. Combine this with the Sestak scandal fallout and whatever delays that may be causing We submitted interview papers Aug. 24, still waiting.

http://www.expat-blog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=304836&p=2

Sure would like to know where exgrnberet got his information about taking 4-5 months!!!

exgrnberet ?????

Thanks,

Mike

I did just find out that there was a visa officers labor strike at the HCM consulate that lasted 5 months and ended on September 27th, 2013. This strike caused a backlog of visa applications. This must be why it is taking so long. Combine this with the Sestak scandal fallout and whatever delays that may be causing We submitted interview papers Aug. 24, still waiting.

http://www.expat-blog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=304836&p=2

Sure would like to know where exgrnberet got his information about taking 4-5 months!!!

exgrnberet ?????

Thanks,

Mike

[GatorG 0]

I know of a couple people who've gotten visas recently at the consulate in HCMC, including one fiancee. (Sorry, don't know their wait times.) To set the record straight:

1. There was no "strike of visa officers at the consulate in HCMC". Such a thing did not exist. Otherwise I would have read about it on-line. In fact, I don't think that American consular officers can even "go on strike". (Besides, the poster that you were referring to was Canadian and was discussing Canadian rules earlier in the same thread.)

2. The Sestak scandal did not result in the "arrest of several US visa officers". The scandal concerned ONE officer only, that being Mike Sestak who, according to the news reports that I read, was working in non-immigrant visas. The one person I know of who got a fiancee visa was interviewed by the immigrant visa section in HCMC.

Sorry to sound pedantic, lots of people rely on this site for information.

Edited December 1, 2013 by GatorG

[Roulette 0]

If you could ask your friends how long they waited for an interview that would satisfy the entire point of this thread and be most helpful :-)

So maybe rumors spread about a strike for some reason. Anyway i hope it is not true.

I dont see in this thread anyone saying other officers were arrested. However there were 5 accomplices arrested.

Thanks,

Mike