Interview Feb 13 2020

[bombdefuzer 1]

After a denial in Aug 2019 for a tourist visa to visit me while working in Guam, we were successful in obtaining a IR-1 marriage based Visa on 13 Feb. My wife and I have been married 26 months and we lived together in Vietnam for 18 months and in Laos for 4 months. 

Some of the details on the interview which I accompanied her on. We arrived at 0615 and when the guards allowed everyone to come across the street, I sprinted over and was 2nd in line. Once the greeter saw my USA passport he moved me to the first position along with my wife. Once inside the embassy, we spent about 30 minutes before getting called up to a window. They looked at our original documents, asked my wife if she was married previously and then we sat down and waited. 

About 45 minutes later we were called up again. The American interviewer and Vietnamese woman translated the questions. She asked again was my wife previously married, how many times I visited Vietnam and asked for photos of us together. My wife had prepared a 4 inch high stack of about 200 photos. A few moments later they handed everything back and said your visa has been approved. Welcome to the USA. By 0900 we were done and out of the embassy. 

I hired a lawyer to represent us. He prepared everything. We had 80 pages in our application package. The cost was 5000 USD and worth every penny. 

Edited February 14, 2020 by bombdefuzer

[SmallTownPA 72]

Congrats.  I just left Siagon on the 13th but you were still a ways away.

 

Its amazing that some decisions are 30 seconds APPROVED and other are 30 seconds DENIED. 

 

How many times were you asked if you were in China?  I actually had to report to the local police hut and talk to them.  I had about 20 China visa stamps.. the last one from Sept 2019.   Questions galore!  

 

Zombie Virus outbreak LPT:  having a copy of your boarding passes on your phone saves a lot of grief as to weather or not you were in the 'hot zone'

[WandY 430]

Wow! You waited only 30 minutes! It seems like we waited a long, long time. We had similar experiences as you, but our interview lasted about 20-30 minutes. My VN wife speaks English, so no translating was needed. We had a lot of info, but they didn't seem to care about our thick package. I'm 20 years older and had some interesting things to explain (government worker and own a business = strange tax issues). I had a lot of recent travels in China and Cambodia, but they never asked about it. They didn't seem to care about our age difference too much, but they did note it. It was a good and interesting experience. I'm convinced that just being there makes a difference. We saw a lot of denials, but not one which included an American male. They even thanked me for being there. Congrats!

Edited February 15, 2020 by WandY

[URMYE 1]

Is there a general consensus (based on history & experience) of approximately what time I can expect to be done with the interview process/day?  Or is it too difficult to expect to be done by a certain time?  Thank you!

[SmallTownPA 72]

20 hours ago, URMYE said:

Is there a general consensus (based on history & experience) of approximately what time I can expect to be done with the interview process/day?  Or is it too difficult to expect to be done by a certain time?  Thank you!

Most seem to be done in 4 hours or so.  You have an appointment so you almost always should be seen. 

 

 

[bombdefuzer 1]

On 2/14/2020 at 6:38 PM, SmallTownPA said:

Congrats.  I just left Siagon on the 13th but you were still a ways away.

 

Its amazing that some decisions are 30 seconds APPROVED and other are 30 seconds DENIED. 

 

How many times were you asked if you were in China?  I actually had to report to the local police hut and talk to them.  I had about 20 China visa stamps.. the last one from Sept 2019.   Questions galore!  

 

Zombie Virus outbreak LPT:  having a copy of your boarding passes on your phone saves a lot of grief as to weather or not you were in the 'hot zone'

I got no questions about China but I'm sure they had already checked my passport and saw I had no travel there. 

On 2/17/2020 at 2:15 AM, URMYE said:

Is there a general consensus (based on history & experience) of approximately what time I can expect to be done with the interview process/day?  Or is it too difficult to expect to be done by a certain time?  Thank you!

I would think about 1 Pm you should definitely be out of there. 

[WandY 430]

On 2/16/2020 at 1:15 PM, URMYE said:

Is there a general consensus (based on history & experience) of approximately what time I can expect to be done with the interview process/day?  Or is it too difficult to expect to be done by a certain time?  Thank you!

No. The place is chaotic and the numbers on the "numbers board" are seemingly random. It's not like being at the deli and having a number. The number they give you seems worthless. We were there early, but saw people going to the window after waiting only a short time. Maybe it depends on the type of visa - I don't know. We waited a long time, but were out of there within 2-3 hours. The interviews are pretty short. It's the damn waiting that will drive you crazy. Don't look nervous. Sit there and talk with each other, smile. Be positive.