jerezblack

I had my wife's biometrics done in feb 27, 17.  The wac number for the i751 noted the case was received on feb 28, 18.  Now I look it says June 5th when they received it.  I read in some places that when someone touches the file, the date changes.  Hopefully the wait isn't that much longer as it looks like I may have to request another i551 extension again...

You are better off getting a fiance visa to bring her over and get married on document in the states. You can do the private ceremony for the engagement and wedding there, but it will be quicker and not as painful to go through the whole process of getting married there. When you get married in Vietnam, get ready to open up your wallet with open arms to get that marriage certificate.

The payment can be made at any HSBC bank that accepts payments. Just make sure it is a bank branch. Bring your slip and within 24 hours you will get an email that you can make your appointment.

Oh wow, they did sell off the laptop division..eekkk!! I heard about the TV division selling off, but I didn't know they sold off the VAIO also. My buddy works in the playstation division and even he is on his toes right now. You should look at Yahoo! as they are located in Carlsbad which isn't that bad of a drive, but there is alot of tech firms in the area and look at Qualcomm, they have been pretty solid from the past to present. No lay offs, but no raises either but better to have money than no money at all. I know AT&T has been growing like crazy fast in San Diego.

Have you looked a little more south of escondido, like scripps ranch, mira mesa, rancho penasquitos, and those areas. You can always get a fast trak and hop on that to Sony as well as it would be in an area where there is some viet people so your fiance won't feel outcasted per say. Have you consider renting for a bit until you get settled in than jumping into a mortgage? I wouldn't stretch the money if you can rent and be more happy. Unemployment is at 3 months until they contact you as they are way behind, so think of that also. Friend of mine is laid off also and depressed as heck.

I am waiting until Apr 2 until I hear mine....uuggghhh.

I would be careful on short sales. Sometimes the houses has 2-3 banks and it ends up being a really long stretched out process. A short sale per say is better than a foreclosure just bc the owners don't damage much at all and they get money to move out.

Look at www.sdlookup.com for homes in your area you want to live in to see the options you have. Most agents just give you a list with the criteria and it goes on auto pilot without really looking through them.

You survived the lay offs thus far with Sony, I don't think you are in trouble.

I'm Condo shopping right now and i'm trying to bid for this one place which is really close to a community college. Basically she could walk there which would take 5 minutes. I am thinking to get her a scooter since she already knows how to drive that until she gets her Associate degree. Once she gets her AA degree then I'll get her a mercedes as a present. =)

Are you sure getting her a scooter is a good idea in the states? Half the people in Cali can't drive and don't pay attention to things around them. All of the motorcycles are loud as well and those guys even get hit. Get her the new 6x6 G wagon whenever the states ever approve that beast, definitely safe and bullet proof from danger.

Congrats on the approval.

Honestly, you should get your marriage certs and everything done here in the states. If you decide to get the marriage certs in Vietnam, get ready to open up your wallet as wide as possible. Everything will cost you alot of money bc they know you are foreign and you will pay no matter what the cost is regardless if you think you should or not. You should do a fiance visa as it is much easier and less time consuming.

How many sets of shots will the fiance end up getting?

Everything in Vietnam I question, there isn't anything I see that is a regular practice, but everything is out of the ordinary.

Is it possible to get the shots first as the directions says to get the exam first and then the shots. My interview date is the 2nd of April. I wanted more time so she can take her time and not rush/stress on anything. We end up getting booked for the 21st on March at IOM. Cho Ray seems to be booked to the brim. I am sure if you come in and pass over some money, they will squeeze you in, but thankfully we dont' have to do it. Courtesy goes a long ways anywhere around the world.

Thanks for the tip on the exam. I will make sure she knows about that.

Does the exam place take a copy of each of the items that needs to be brought?

Do you have to make an appointment to get the medical examination done at Cho Ray Hospital (CRH), Visa Medical Unit? My fiance called them and they said it is completely booked for March and the soonest date is April. I think they are trying to make money than help if any.

What I did was after I got the case status in ready status was I just went and emailed the embassy what else I needed to get things ready. They will come back and tell that you need the ds-160 and couple other things and fill the sd-230 part 1 for you and say, wait 1-3 months but it may be differnt now since they have the new system

Up. I would email them and see what changes you need done after the instruction package as I am sure the verbiage has changed on there.

Actually for my situation I don't use the new system.

"Thank you for your inquiry.

Please be informed that the new system will not affect the scheduling of your interview appointment. Your case is still being scheduled for a visa interview. Our office will schedule an appointment at the earliest opportunity. "

Just make sure you email the embassy you don't fall in bay category also or all the work you done is a complete waste of time.

The website updated more. We are still at the mercy of the embassy until they give us the okay.

http://hochiminh.usconsulate.gov/faqs-on-new-visa-services.html

14. Question: I am applying for an immigrant visa. How do I make an appointment for an immigrant visa within the new system? How do I pay my visa application fee?

Answer: Most immigrant visa applications will continue to be handled either by the National Visa Center or by the U.S. Consulate and will not be affected by the new system. The visa application fee will be paid either through the National Visa Center or at the U.S. Consulate.

However, K1 (fiancé) visa applicants will now be required to schedule their appointments and pay the visa application fee per the instructions on www.ustraveldocs.com/vn. K1 (fiancé) applicants should not schedule their appointment until after they have received an Instruction Package from the Consulate.

Why would you pick united states???? Is your finance in the united states? I would assume no and that your finance is in Vietnam. Pick asia then pick Vietnam my friend.

Also, your finance needs to perform package #3 1st before you start the above process.

Were you able to pick a date for your interview?

Once it gets to the embassy and you know they have it there as the status says ready. Dont' wait for packet #3 to come in the mail, just email them after you fill out the DS-160. Email them and ask them if you are missing anything and they will tell you that they need pictures and all the various other things. Gather all that information they want and send the info to them via email through their website instead of mailing it in. You will get faster results as mailing it in takes couple of days and longer wait time. Plus you get proof via email aka the papertrail for proof things are all good to go.

Picabu,

Wait just about 10 days to start seeing appointments come out. From reading and researching they schedule at the end of the month. Around March 7th is when I think you should inquiry to see if there is any progress update.

I would email and ask them Dave. They are pretty quick with their emails. Just make sure you select other questions before your interview on the pull down menu or else you will get a copy and paste response. You can literally see it also where they type thank you for blah blah in black and the rest is in blue text. I just know for Bill his date was before mine so I know my situation and email from the embassy would pertain to him as well. I just hope for everyone that has been waiting doesn't get screwed out and have to start over like the new visas that was just applied.

I am playing the waiting game since nov 14. Today is 3 months or basically 90 days for me so I figure I have about another 10-15 days to get a letter since the avg is about 111 days right now.

I called dos as well and they told me the same thing.

603-334-0700 is the number I used to ask also.

Really nice for those just getting to this point sucks for us who have been waiting for months, Start a new order...

Thanks for the Update just the same Daniel!

Bill

Update for you.

"Thank you for your inquiry.

Please be informed that the new system will not affect the scheduling of your interview appointment. Your case is still being scheduled for a visa interview. Our office will schedule an appointment at the earliest opportunity. "

This is going to be another mess within itself. uuuuuggggghhhhh...

One more thing is that if we can setup up interview date after the consulate has received our package #3 then we should be able to utilize the print out of the appointment to perform the medical exam and pay for the app fee but it is my understanding that this paper work will not be accepted by the medical exam place nor will the citi bank accept it to pay for the $240 fee as well. I assume that package #4 has the key paperwork that will allow us to perform those last steps that I just mention.

can anyone correct me if i'm wrong?

because if i'm wrong, then I would freaking schedule my fiancée interview end of this month now and have her go do the medical and pay the app fee this week.

the website indicates that non-immigrant can schedule online however if you check your status for k1, you have to choose immigrant on the drop down. So really, is it non-immigrant or immigrant visa? technically I would consider k1 visa as non-immigrant according to all the website that I've read which would be great because then we can schedule the interview ourselves and we can skip waiting for package #4 which right now appears to be a 3 month waiting period which is way toooo long.

hmmmmm soo confusing....

You can't schedule anything at all for the K1 visa. The part where you schedule yourself is if you wanting to apply to go to the states here on a tourist visa or for school then those you can schedule yourself. You have to wait for the appointment pkg which is pkg#4. Since your pkg #3 was noted on Jan 22 of this year, you will have to wait at least until Apr 22, but as of late it has been just 110 days or so until you get confirmation that you will be getting an interview. We are all in the same boat and playing the waiting game thus far.

Still waiting...it will be 3 months on the 17th of Feb...

We all are the same boat waiting. I believe this month, yourself, picabu and I will have good news with our fiances where they get a letter for an interview next month as they usually schedule them out for the coming month. I would wait until the end of the month to hear something. Back last month it was just about 100 days to get any good news, with the 1 week off from the embassy, I think it may pull out to 110 days, but all of us is at the end of the road now and you just have to wait just a tad longer. It has been a very long journey, but it will be an epic ending when the time comes.

On Feb 14 is my 3 month waiting period.

Picabu is Feb 15 is his 3 month waiting period.

The embassy has the power to extend it as they need more time. You don't need to worry about the approval being expired as their paperwork supersedes the ones here.
From the looks and tracking of the latest interviews, it is from the time they get packet 3, it will be roughly 90-100 days to get an appointment. It may be a little longer now and delayed since new years is coming up and pretty much everyone is on vacation mode for 10 days to 14 days. I am not sure if the embassy will be open during those times and acknowledge the holiday or not. Lets hope they don't take the days off and work through it to keep things chugging along faster for us.

I read that many of you guys are still waiting on the interview date where it will take just about 2-3 months from the time P3 is turned in. If the interview date is past the valid dates that are on the I-797C would it matter or the US embassy in Ho Chi Minh will supersede that letter we got and we should just forget about that letter and look forward to the interview date whenever that may be.

Thanks

http://hochiminh.usconsulate.gov/contact/ivinquiries.html

I used that and they responded within 24 hours or the same day.