US Consulate in Hochiminh sucks

[sweetiewynn 0]

I've actually considered taking them to court and try to force them to do their jobs rather than try to dissuade people from getting married. There is a case which could be used as precedence where a guy had waited almost 8 years for his family to get their visas and join him in the states. They were having doubts about the guy's genuity and were trying to wear him down because he had presented some conflicting information in error. Anyway, the guy's family was in "additional processing" and had been there for 8 years and was able to successfully force the consulate to review his case.

Hmm... maybe I will try to find that case and ya, take them to court. This is ridiculous and makes me really mad because I feel like we are being unfairly victimized.

I believe the case you are talking about involves a "writ of mandamus". Mandamus action compels an officer or employee of the US government to perform a duty owed to the plaintiff. It does not force a decision in favor of the plaintiff, but merely compels the officer to make some sort of decision. Often, the decision is to deny after such a court action. But, at least it's a decision. Mandamus action is pursued in the Federal District Court of the plaintiff.

There is a lot of good information avaliable on the web about this. If you go to Google and type in "writ of mandamus and visa cases" you will get a good list of sites to visit where you can read more.

In brief, there are certain procedures that you must exhaust before seeking a writ of mandamus. One lawyer suggests that a writ should be pursued after one year of no answer from the Consulate. The procedure involves documenting the case and contacting the particular department with notification that a mandamus is being pursued. Most cases never make it to court as the matter is often settled during the initial contact. Bringing a case against the government involves suing the Attorney General and he doesn't like being sued for a department/agency not responding to a case.

Of course all this requires a lawyer, so it will take some money if your case actually goes to court. However, if it's solved in the early stages it may be worth the money.

That's great info., wait4ever but what I am most curious about right now is have you tried this yet or why not? I think I will give it a shot and working with some Catholic Community Services here in the states. I'll be sure to get all the information and advice I can out of them concerning this idea as well. Maybe it will force a denial but that's one step closer to starting over too, and if it forces the decision as a "ya we believe you because you've totally lost your mind in the process of waiting" that's just as well too, hehehe.