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| Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam |  Review on January 4, 2013: |
David A
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Our interview date was a long time coming, but we finally had it yesterday and everything went pretty smoothly. Our interview time was set for 9:30 and we arrived at the consulate around 7:30. Entry was a little convoluted, but it worked out nicely. Rather than waiting in line on the street, where one might be subject to the vagaries of street traffic or weather we waited in an entry hall, this was divided broadly into two lines; one for immigrant applicants and one for visitors. In spite of the odd USCIS designation the K1 is an immigrant visa for the consulate's purposes, so we stood in line for perhaps five minutes before being ushered back out of the consulate and into the immigration section proper.
Like virtually everything else in southern Vietnam this was half in doors and half out, somewhat more pavilion than building in the western sense. You are first directed into line for the biometrics. I was waiting in line with Mai Hong at first, but a consular employee directed me to take a seat in a waiting area just around the corner. (The lines sometimes get a little long and they probably wanted to save space.)
When her fingerprints were taken Mai Hong was issued her first number and we went down a hall past the first waiting area to a larger waiting area with a large number of windows on the left. There are two LED displays that read ticket numbers and booth numbers. When your number is scheduled for a booth an automated system announces your number and directs you to your booth. I picked up the larger of Mai Hong's two bags and carried it over for her for the sake of making my presence known to the staff at the window, and proceeded to a nearby seat across the aisle in the waiting area. They took Mai Hong's paperwork and gave her a second number, so it was back to the waiting area for both of us.
Perhaps it should be no great surprise that they called her number a second time at about 9:30. This was, after all, our appointment time. So perhaps we didn't need to go to the consulate early, but it was probably useful so we could get all of the preliminary items taken care of.
As Murphy would have it I had gone to the restroom just before they called her number, so on my way back I tapped her shoulder and smiled in front of the officer saying "I knew this would happen," again, to make my presence known. The new officer questioned Mai Hong for perhaps five minutes. (Perhaps somewhat less.) At the end of this he asked her to pick the evidence from the two bags that she wanted to share. She picked our Skype transcripts, which he glanced at a little before asking her to call me over. Next he asked me a few questions, mostly verifying what she had said. After he was satisfied he said he could grant our visa and congratulated us. I thanked him (in Vietnamese) and wished him a happy New Year.
The Ho Chi Minh City consulate has gotten very mixed reviews over the years, but our experience was quite positive. We were treated courteously. The staff was polite and professional. We both seem to agree: the system seemed pretty well organized.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #11196