possible receipting delays and cell phone, travel to vietnam info

[Guy&Hoa 0]

Hello all,

I went to the USCIS website today (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis) and they had a link about receipting delays due to the high volume of people trying to beat the deadline for the new filing fees.

I wonder if this is having a "trickle-down" effect on people awaiting their NOA2's and NVC's. I receipted my NOA1 on the tail end of May and I have not heard a peep from CSC since. I did notice that CSC says in their monthly updates that the process takes (6) months, but I always thought that was "boiler-plate" language and not to be taken literally. Also, the statistical data have shown less than 6 months for NOA2.

Oh well, wait it out if need be, what can we do?

I will be traveling to see my fiancee for the (4th) time, I want to take some more pictures of us together. I also want to show that the gap between our visits has been consistent and not too long (6 months at the most). I also intend to drill her with interview questions ...(never too late for preparation).

One mistake I made is that I did not save any of my e-ticket boarding passes from previous trips, so I will make sure I do that this time. ( I did save my expedia itineraries, don't know how that will fly with them)

I also, will go with my fiancee and see if I can pay for some English training or tutoring for her, something like a couple of times a week, (3) months, for an hour or so...I think total immersion is best as the human mind will eventually catch on in geometric fashion.

She communicates well with me because I can understand her halted English, and I see where her thoughts are going due to our intimacy, but I fear rapid interrogation by a CO might spook her, so I want to give her some English classes for her confidence.

As far as flights, I found China Air to be reasonably inexpensive, ($1k and some change) I like their flight times which are 13 hours to Taipei from SFO, a 2 hour wait time and then get on a flight from Taipei to HCMC for 3+ hours arriving there in the morning. I like leaving SFO at 1:05am, it makes the long flight less miserable because you can sleep most of the hours away and then when you arrive in Taipei, there is hardly any crowd there because you arrive early in the morning. I enjoy the Airbus 300 from Taipei to HCMC, because they have an LCD TV in your seat and you can watch fairly recent movies on the flight which make the 3+ hours go fast and then before you know it, you have already landed at Tan Son Nhat airport. The whole trip under 20 hours. I can't complain compared to other airlines. (There were other carriers that had round trip fares in the $900 range, but their flight times were 20+ hours. No thanks.)

I did some research early on and found it invaluable to have mobile phone access in Vietnam. Who wants to get raped by $6.00 a minute charges to call back to US? No way.

I own a GSM phone, I can't speak for CDMA phones.

The first thing I did was unlock my razr phone from Cingular (now AT&T). You can do it (2) ways, you can have AT&T unlock it, you need to tell them you are going to take it overseas, be persistent and assertive and they will unlock it for you. (won't work for the iphone, sorry).

The second way is to download a program from the internet, however, you need to make sure they are dependable and not some scam artist making a quick buck. Unless you are tech savvy, I recommend getting it unlocked by AT&T.

Now that you have it unlocked, you can buy a Vietnam SIM card and put it inside your phone. I use MobiFone SIM cards and I have had good success. Calls from USA are free to your mobile, and when you call to USA, they charge you a $1.00 a minute. For my use, checking my voice mail at home and work, calling my kids to let them know I am ok, it had great value for me.

If you don't want to wait to buy a SIM card in Vietnam, you can buy one from this vendor in San Diego: www.telestial.com

Anyway, I just wanted to pass on my ideas to all my friends here...I'm excited to see my fiancee in (2) weeks..

I hope the NOA2's get sent out soon for all of us May filers...

All the best,

-Guy&Hoa

[Dan J 277]

Hello all,

I went to the USCIS website today (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis) and they had a link about receipting delays due to the high volume of people trying to beat the deadline for the new filing fees.

I wonder if this is having a "trickle-down" effect on people awaiting their NOA2's and NVC's. I receipted my NOA1 on the tail end of May and I have not heard a peep from CSC since. I did notice that CSC says in their monthly updates that the process takes (6) months, but I always thought that was "boiler-plate" language and not to be taken literally. Also, the statistical data have shown less than 6 months for NOA2.

Oh well, wait it out if need be, what can we do?

I will be traveling to see my fiancee for the (4th) time, I want to take some more pictures of us together. I also want to show that the gap between our visits has been consistent and not too long (6 months at the most). I also intend to drill her with interview questions ...(never too late for preparation).

One mistake I made is that I did not save any of my e-ticket boarding passes from previous trips, so I will make sure I do that this time. ( I did save my expedia itineraries, don't know how that will fly with them)

I also, will go with my fiancee and see if I can pay for some English training or tutoring for her, something like a couple of times a week, (3) months, for an hour or so...I think total immersion is best as the human mind will eventually catch on in geometric fashion.

She communicates well with me because I can understand her halted English, and I see where her thoughts are going due to our intimacy, but I fear rapid interrogation by a CO might spook her, so I want to give her some English classes for her confidence.

As far as flights, I found China Air to be reasonably inexpensive, ($1k and some change) I like their flight times which are 13 hours to Taipei from SFO, a 2 hour wait time and then get on a flight from Taipei to HCMC for 3+ hours arriving there in the morning. I like leaving SFO at 1:05am, it makes the long flight less miserable because you can sleep most of the hours away and then when you arrive in Taipei, there is hardly any crowd there because you arrive early in the morning. I enjoy the Airbus 300 from Taipei to HCMC, because they have an LCD TV in your seat and you can watch fairly recent movies on the flight which make the 3+ hours go fast and then before you know it, you have already landed at Tan Son Nhat airport. The whole trip under 20 hours. I can't complain compared to other airlines. (There were other carriers that had round trip fares in the $900 range, but their flight times were 20+ hours. No thanks.)

I did some research early on and found it invaluable to have mobile phone access in Vietnam. Who wants to get raped by $6.00 a minute charges to call back to US? No way.

I own a GSM phone, I can't speak for CDMA phones.

The first thing I did was unlock my razr phone from Cingular (now AT&T). You can do it (2) ways, you can have AT&T unlock it, you need to tell them you are going to take it overseas, be persistent and assertive and they will unlock it for you. (won't work for the iphone, sorry).

The second way is to download a program from the internet, however, you need to make sure they are dependable and not some scam artist making a quick buck. Unless you are tech savvy, I recommend getting it unlocked by AT&T.

Now that you have it unlocked, you can buy a Vietnam SIM card and put it inside your phone. I use MobiFone SIM cards and I have had good success. Calls from USA are free to your mobile, and when you call to USA, they charge you a $1.00 a minute. For my use, checking my voice mail at home and work, calling my kids to let them know I am ok, it had great value for me.

If you don't want to wait to buy a SIM card in Vietnam, you can buy one from this vendor in San Diego: www.telestial.com

Anyway, I just wanted to pass on my ideas to all my friends here...I'm excited to see my fiancee in (2) weeks..

I hope the NOA2's get sent out soon for all of us May filers...

All the best,

-Guy&Hoa

I do the same thing in regards to unlocking. T-mobile makes it pretty easy as long as you meet their conditions.

I recommend flying on EVA or China Air. Prices are about the same, but EVA has a much better safety record. They also offer a premium economy service which is only a couple hundred dollars more for a round trip. Eva usually has some low season fare specials on their site.

[Lucas 0]

I'm also curious what the Consulate thinks about not having ticket stubs and having an itinerary instead. Has anyone had experience with this? My other issue is that my Passport doesn't have any stamps (been to Viet Nam 7 times) because I've always had a loose Visa that the Vietnamese Customs keep upon exit.

[NeverSeen 0]

I'm also curious what the Consulate thinks about not having ticket stubs and having an itinerary instead. Has anyone had experience with this? My other issue is that my Passport doesn't have any stamps (been to Viet Nam 7 times) because I've always had a loose Visa that the Vietnamese Customs keep upon exit.

Same here for the visa.

I used China last time and it was a good flight... you complain about 20+ hours? Heheh, I come from FL so i get to tack on an additional 2-3 hour layover and 5 hour flight. I think this time around my total travel time is nearly 30 hours do to a longer layover in Japan. This time around i'm going to try out AA, which uses japan airlines. I figure i might as well try a few places as i will be going back to vietnam many times over the years. I'll be heading over in about 3 weeks myself . maybe we will bump into each other

PS. my first flight ever was from FL to HCMC in march... my second flight ever? Here to HCMC in oct. hehehe

Edited October 3, 2007 by NeverSeen

[sealedkiss 1]

Guy&Hoa,

Welcome to the forum. Almost 5 months since your NOA1 - that is kind of long. Your speculation is a good point. Maybe they are a little short-handed from dealing with the AOS rush filing. You seem very thorough with paperwork and writing - I'm sure that will help you in this process. You shared a lot of good information too. Keep it up.

Regarding the loose VN visa, make sure you make a photocopy of it (front and back) WHILE you are in VN. Otherwise customs collects it when you exit the country. If you happened not to save the boarding passes, don't lose sleep over it. A single piece of evidence won't make or break your case. Think of other items that could subtitute - your credit card statement showing the ticket purchase, your itinerary, receipts from hotels, purchases, tailor, bus/tour/airplane (VN domestic) tickets that you might have kept from your VN trips. And of course, photos!

What I realized was, if you make the CO believe the genuineness in your relationship, then a little bit of imperfection here and there won't matter. How to do that? A lot of it depends on your whole story: how you met, your life status (education, career, past and current relationships), your effort and commitment (visits, communication, engagement ceremony, length of relationship), etc. Evidence will help build your story, block by block. Writing (filling out forms, explanation, etc.) will help build your story. Presentation (how you put together your package) will also help build your story.

sealedkiss.

[2007K1 0]

Hello all,

I went to the USCIS website today (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis) and they had a link about receipting delays due to the high volume of people trying to beat the deadline for the new filing fees.

I wonder if this is having a "trickle-down" effect on people awaiting their NOA2's and NVC's. I receipted my NOA1 on the tail end of May and I have not heard a peep from CSC since. I did notice that CSC says in their monthly updates that the process takes (6) months, but I always thought that was "boiler-plate" language and not to be taken literally. Also, the statistical data have shown less than 6 months for NOA2.

Oh well, wait it out if need be, what can we do?

I will be traveling to see my fiancee for the (4th) time, I want to take some more pictures of us together. I also want to show that the gap between our visits has been consistent and not too long (6 months at the most). I also intend to drill her with interview questions ...(never too late for preparation).

-Guy&Hoa

Wow!!!! It was a lot of useful info you provided. Thanks!

My NOA1 (Recieved date) was one week before yours. I got my NOA2 yesterday Oct. 2nd by email. So your NOA2 should by around the corner now.

I am also planning a trip to Vietnam in mid of Dec.. Can you recommend some nice places? Thanks a lot in advance.

Have a nice trip to VietNam!!!! and please keep us updated.

2007K1

[chuckandkim 0]

Guy&Hoa,

A single piece of evidence won't make or break your case.

What I realized was, if you make the CO believe the genuineness in your relationship, then a little bit of imperfection here and there won't matter. How to do that? A lot of it depends on your whole story: how you met, your life status (education, career, past and current relationships), your effort and commitment (visits, communication, engagement ceremony, length of relationship), etc. Evidence will help build your story, block by block. Writing (filling out forms, explanation, etc.) will help build your story. Presentation (how you put together your package) will also help build your story.

sealedkiss.

I'm with you 100%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!