ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
Asia: East and PacificHCM interview date
Thanks for the replies and support. One thing puzzles me, however. I cannot help but notice that both Eric and Peter suggest that I will have to wait another month to get a date set, and yet both of you got interviews in about 2 months after turning in Packet 3. I see others in the same situation, more or less. Are you trying to keep my expectations low, so I am not disappointed?

OK, part of my problem is that I just finished a job out-of-town, I've been away from my home for a long time, I've saved up all the money that I need now (which is why I took that job in the first place), I'm ready to GO! I just can't seem to get relaxed and satisfied adjusting to my new schedule, which is pretty much no schedule. What I need to do is just quit coming to VJ! Haha.

Thanks again, guys.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-03-21 07:30:00
Asia: East and PacificHCM interview date
I just got off the phone with the consulate. We turned in Packet 3 on the 29th of February, and they did receive it there. The lady told me I would have to wait until the end of April to get an interview date set, call back then. They told my fiancee the same thing the couple times she called earlier this week. I asked if we could find out the date any earlier than that so I can make travel plans, and she said no.

I see by others' timelines that this doesn't seem right at all. I think they are feeding me a line. I am thinking we should have the actual interview around the end of April beginning of May.

Am I thinking correctly? Waiting until the end of April to find out the scheduled date seems way too long. Thanks.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-03-20 22:52:00
Asia: East and PacificInterview Techniques
Mai and I have been doing mock interviews. She has the ability and natural propensity to go on, and on, and on, and on about something. That's one reason our phone bills are so high! Is this a good interview technique? Obviously, if a question is direct and narrow, such as, "Have you ever been married before?" the answer can only be "no." But if the question were, "Has your fiance been married before?" many people would answer simply "yes" until prodded further. Mai would tend to answer, "yes" and then go on to explain for five minutes about it. Within reason, do you believe that is a good technique with the HCM consulate? To let them stop you when they've heard enough?
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-21 08:31:00
Asia: East and Pacificjust found a mistake on my 129-f
You got approved right? I wouldn't worry about it too much. You wouldn't believe all the little mistakes in my petition. Actually, I'm kind of pi$$ed about it. For example, they have her province listed as Ka Tay, when it should be Ha Tay. I have a suffix with my name. It has magically become part of my surname. I am referred to in the petition continually as "Mr. [surname] II" Arghhhhh! We still got approved.

When your fiancee shows up at the interview, I'm sure they will recognize her as a woman.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-22 00:40:00
Asia: East and PacificPsychology
How about this color? You can't miss her in this!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-23 19:17:00
Asia: East and PacificPsychology
Yeah, you're right. Maybe I should just trade 'em all in for some nice boring black or brown ones.

Mai will definitely be wearing pink underwear that day, though. Probably pink shoes, also!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-23 18:00:00
Asia: East and PacificPsychology
I recently purchased some expanding, multi-pocket file folders to organize all our documents. They had several colors, but I just grabbed at random off the shelf. Now that I have them in front of me, I realized I bought 2 pink ones and 1 blue one. I think I'm going to return the blue one, hehe. We want them thinking pink!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-23 14:50:00
Asia: East and PacificInterviewed, Blue then Green then Pink.!!
Yes, for sure if it was my interview, I'd get the blue slip for sure, just making wisecracks about the questions.

Trying to inject some humor into this situation, I forwarded Haonie's questions to my fiancee, and she was so worried because she didn't know anything about Kentucky other than KFC either, and she couldn't understand why they would ask her questions about Kentucky. She said that maybe Kentucky was such a famous place in the U.S., but not so famous in Vietnam. I told her, trying to suppress a laugh, that they will not ask her any questions about Kentucky in her interview, but they might ask her questions about Iowa. I guess we're all under a lot of pressure.

And I guess I'd better pick a favorite movie. I don't have one, either.

Edited by Melrose Plant, 26 April 2008 - 03:00 PM.

Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-26 14:58:00
Asia: East and PacificInterviewed, Blue then Green then Pink.!!
OK, so that's a little scary. They ask for things they already have. Typical government, I guess.

Anyway, if I may ask, how do they get what they want at the pre-screen? Do they ask for certain things, or do you just hand over the whole 20 pound stack of documents, and they take what they want and give the rest back to you?
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-26 08:50:00
Asia: East and PacificInterviewed, Blue then Green then Pink.!!
Yes, congratulations to you both! It is very lucky you were able to get all of that resolved in only 1 day! That makes me feel a little bit better about our case.

I am sure you will answer all of our questions after you get some sleep, but I have one big one: Both of the missing items were in your checklist. I should know, because I am using it right now to help me get my own documents together. How did the consulate miss those items the first time?

Also, and forgive me for hijacking the thread a little bit, why do I need to have my parents' birth certificates? I can get them if need be (and soon, I leave in less than 4 days), but I don't understand why I would need them.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-25 12:22:00
Asia: East and Pacificour wedding
Congratulations, Peter and Best Wishes to Thi!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-27 08:55:00
Asia: East and PacificWhat can you say with your ASIAN features?
I don't think this poll has anything to do with hating yourself. I mean, we're all in love and working hard to make our dreams come true! This is not a divorce support forum, after all.

This is about trying to look our best for our loves, and we are curious about who thinks what looks good. That is not a given. Different things look good for different cultures, and it is good to share information. My fiancee, for example, likes to keep her skin pale if she can. There is no harm in that, and in fact that is good, because we all know that sun is bad for your skin. If she wanted to get plastic surgery on her nose, I would never agree to that, because she is very beautiful the way she is, and surgery has great risk to one's health.

I think this poll is light-hearted, and hasn't got deeper or more sinister meaning than what you read.

And now, I already broke my promise to myself. No most posts until I am ready to travel tomorrow! I leave tomorrow for Vietnam to be with my sweetie!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-28 08:52:00
Asia: East and PacificWhat can you say with your ASIAN features?
I voted for my fiancee, to broaden the SE Asia base a little bit. So many women in Hanoi are getting their hair highlighted these days. I guess I'm like the rest of the men on this thread. I don't really like it. But I don't like it on white women or black women, either.

Also, everyone is Hanoi seems to be obsessed with remaining pale, to the extent that everyone wears long sleeves, pants, hats, masks, and sometimes even gloves when they go outside and the temperature is over 100 F (near 40 C). Even underarm deodorant has "whitening agents" in it there. My fiancee is no exception. She says a tan looks good on white women, but not on Asian women.

And I should point out that all of these biases are mostly for women. The men don't seem to care. I guess some things are the same the world over. smile.gif
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-26 08:36:00
Asia: East and PacificGetting the bad luck out of the way
All right folks, I made it here OK, and boy am I tired. I've spent a lot of time travelling around the metro area visting family, and the rest of the time eating (for I am far too thin, you see).

We're flying to HCM Monday. I hope everything goes well. It's been nice not to think about the case for a few days. We'll keep you posted.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-03 08:34:00
Asia: East and PacificGetting the bad luck out of the way
Well friends, I'm in Incheon Airport in Korea now. By all rights, I should have arrived in Hanoi three hours ago. But I didn't.

My first flight out of Des Moines was delayed by 1 1/2 hours, and despite SPRINTING all the way to the International terminal in Chicago, I missed my flight to Korea. There is only one per day. To complicate matters further, the flight on the next day was oversold, and they could only put me on standby. After making several trips back and forth between several terminals to talk with different airlines, the best I could do was fly to JFK in New York and fly to Korea from there.

Now, I've got a 16 hour layover here in Korea, and I will arrive in Hanoi 24 hours late anyway, but at least I will get there.

I knew something would go wrong on this trip, and it happened very early. I hope the bad luck is over with now, and there will be none left over for the interview. On a brighter note, Mai received Packet 4 in the mail yesterday, so there won't be any problem with that.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-30 14:36:00
Asia: East and PacificI leave tomorrow
My electronic friends,

Tomorrow at this time I will be at the airport checking in. I promise myself now that I will not spend a lot of time today cruising VJ, because I really don't have the time. I need to take care of so many things today, things I should have done last week, but didn't. I really hope I am not forgetting anything important.

Thank you all for your support and your advice. I honestly don't think our case would be successful without your help. Now, I think we have a chance. We will post again after I get to Vietnam, and for sure after the interview.

My first day's itinerary is evidently planned. We will go to lunch with the family at a very special restaurant, where I will get to try goat meat. The new experiences never end. Then at dinner time, a big party is planned with the extended family. Maybe my Vietnamese will get a lot better in one day! For sure, I will have to talk with anh Nguyen, chi Huong, anh Huynh, chi Tram, cau Khoi, co Oanh, co An, co Khang, Bac Hung, chi Do and of course, Bo and Me. That's the short list. No pressure. Ah, well, they all love me, and I them, but it does tax the brain after a long journey. The Visa Journey!

Thank you again.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-28 08:24:00
Asia: East and PacificBefore interview Nerves
OK, I though we'd have WAY more time to relax before this interview, but we've been busy, busy, busy, trying to mop of the last of the details. I've got big-time gastro-intestinal problems, and Mai fell dead asleep yesterday in the waiting room of Cho Ray hospital, where we had to wait over 3 hours for the medical results.

This is too terrible. Mai and I have actually been snapping at each other a little bit, which we NEVER do. I hope everything turns out well, not only for us, but for all of you.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-07 19:29:00
Asia: East and PacificDouble Whammy Pink Slips!
Haha, Dave_Thao beat me by about 10 minutes! Yes, it was a tense but wonderful day. Afterwards, we met up with Haonie and his wife and all of us went to lunch. It was nice to meet all of you.

Mai's questions, and there were only 5:

1) Can you speak English?--yes, I can speak English.
2) Where did you study English?--at university.
3) What university was that?--(gave the name of the university)
4) How many times did your fiance visit you in Vietnam?--3 times (started to give dates, CO cut her off)
5) What places did you visit with him?--the first day I and him came back my house because I want to introduce him with my family, and then next day we go to train to visit Sapa, and then we visit Halong Bay, and fly to HCM city to visit James' friends who live in here.

Then she offered to show other evidence, but he waved it off, saying no need. Today is a happy and lucky day for you. Come back on the 16th to pick up your visa.

And that's all. Kind of anti-climatic for a change. Thanks for everyone's support!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-09 04:05:00
Asia: East and PacificYouTube Videos For Learning Vietnamese with a Southern Dialect
I haven't watched the You Tube videos yet, because the computer I've got here is TOO SLOW, but I can imagine some foreigner saying hello Three. Hahaha. That is funny. I can't wait to watch these. BTW, at least in the north, somebody has to be pretty damned old before you get to call them ong and ba (from our age range, anyway).

We have three more weeks here. For the remainder of this week, I'm living with an Englishman, my wife, and his non-English speaking housekeeper. We're going to have non English speaking hours of the day, and we're going to learn Vietnamese, dammit. We'll see how this goes.

After Friday, I go back to Hanoi, where Mai and I are the only English speakers in the family (pretty much). This should be easy, right? Noi cham, xin noi cham! (Please speak slowly)
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-13 06:05:00
Asia: East and PacificMarc Ellis is the man!!!
QUOTE (chuckandkim @ Apr 11 2008, 10:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (Melrose Plant @ Apr 7 2008, 11:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
There is really NO reason why this process has to be as difficult and oftentimes arbitrary as it is.


Think: Marriage Frauds!


I am sorry if I disagree with you, but although marriage fraud seems to be rampant in Vietnam, that still doesn't explain why the process seems to be so arbitrary. Sometimes you see somebody get the pink slip easily when you think, "No way." And sometimes you see somebody get the blue slip when you think they will have no problems. It seems to me that your success, at least the first time around, has so much to do with luck--who you get for an interviewer, and if they're in a good mood. Luck should have nothing to do with it in a perfect world, or even in a reasonable world.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-11 12:48:00
Asia: East and PacificMarc Ellis is the man!!!
?es, ?'m glad to hear you're another satisfied client--our case is coming up soon?

?hat ? really wanted to say, however, is that it is too bad it has to be that way. ?here is really ?? reason why this process has to be as difficult and oftentimes arbitrary as it is.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-04-07 22:13:00
Asia: East and PacificWhat do we need to keep?
What have people been doing with that freakin' huge chest x-ray? Does it have any remaining official use? Can we roll it up somehow?
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-15 05:14:00
Asia: East and PacificWhat do we need to keep?
Mai and I will be returning to Hanoi on Friday evening, and I'm looking at this HUGE stack of paper taking up space in our lives. I know there are some things we need to keep, but do we really need to save the 20 lbs. of chats, emails, text message records and all that stuff? I was thinking of having a bonfire in front of the apartment building before we leave..............
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-13 02:21:00
Asia: East and PacificHCMC May Interviews
Good luck Bill & Trang! And better luck than I had getting to Vietnam smoothly, Bill..........
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-15 05:11:00
Asia: East and PacificAnother Pink Slip
Hello all, I just received a telephone call from VJ member Cuong, who is a fellow Iowan. His wife passed her interview today. Theirs was a CR-1 petition. I didn't get any details yet. It didn't sound like he'd been online since coming to Vietnam, so I'm posting this for him. Congratulations!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-15 05:06:00
Asia: East and PacificOne more day
Good luck Violet and others who are coming up soon!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-11 22:17:00
Asia: East and PacificQuestion about notarizing the timeline for interview
There has been a lot of talk lately about do you notarize the timeline or not? Some say you MUST have it notarized, some say not. They didn't even look at ours. The best I can come up with is, if you are in VN in person for the interview, you don't need to have the timeline notarized. If you are not, then it needs to be notarized. But none of this stuff makes any logical sense to me anyway.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-10 20:48:00
Asia: East and PacificATM machines in VIETNAM
My advice is when in Rome......just carry the cash. Your lady will know which jewelry shop or whatever hole in the wall place to exchange it. Vietnamese banks are useless. There's a reason why everybody has bars on their windows and broken glass embedded in the concrete. Every home is a bank.

I sure wouldn't rely on the ATM system to get you your money when you want it, how you want it 100%.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-17 07:03:00
Asia: East and Pacificmail in VN
If time is important to you, have her make the all-day run. Mail in VN is very dodgy. Mai had it DHL'ed from Hanoi at great expense.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-17 06:37:00
Asia: East and PacificReceived visa
Mai and I went down to the consulate yesterday and picked up her visa, no problem. However, they turned a lot of people away, saying their visa wasn't ready yet, including em Thao (Dave_Thao). She is to wait for the consulate to call her. That's a bunch of ####### if you ask me. We had the same interview date and the same pickup date. I guess Mai and I just got lucky. No chance for Dave to question anybody at the consulate as to why, either, as it was 4:30, and they shuttered their doors for the week-end.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-17 06:25:00
Asia: East and PacificYah, pink slip after one week
Yes, congratulations! That must be a load off. And yes, you are right to wonder if they read Marc Ellis's cover letter. The intake/screening lady in our case refused to turn that in to the CO, saying that wasn't on the Packet 4 list, so we KNOW ours didn't get read.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-24 10:50:00
Asia: East and Pacificcase on its way to USCIS.. decide to get a lawyer in VN good or bad?
$2300 sounds a bit steep for someone making promises they KNOW they don't have the power to keep. No one has the power to guarantee anything with this process.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-22 20:46:00
Asia: East and PacificTo KISS and tell ... or NOT???
We also had to narrow it down to 6. Remember, these people are looking at you in a rather clinical way, and they have a million other cases. They're not going to look at 50 pictures.

Yes, one of our pictures was of us kissing. Another was of her sitting on my lap.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-06-01 12:23:00
Asia: East and PacificGood news! Good news!
QUOTE (Dave_Thao @ Jun 1 2008, 09:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
We had 3 boxes and 1 suitcase. One box was full of food items for Thao's Aunt in the USA. The suitcase was delivered to my house yesterday with everything inside. Even my Johnnie Walker Blue! It was a heavy case!
Have a safe trip home James and Mai.

We're glad to hear the loss wasn't permanent. We have 5 suitcases + 1 box. This will cost us an extra $280 ($140 per extra checked item), but that's pretty cheap compared to mailing it. All our parcels are maxed out at the 23 kg allowed.

We'll be leaving here in a few hours, so I thought I'd check in one more time to see what's happening.
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-06-02 04:51:00
Asia: East and PacificGood news! Good news!
QUOTE (Dave_Thao @ May 30 2008, 09:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Thanks for the well wishes everyone. Thao and I are at my home in Minnesota now. We arrived yesterday. We got the visa 2 days before I was leaving. It was a very stressful trip my from the time I arrived in Vietnam to the time we landed in Minneapolis. To top everything off, the airline lost on of my suitcases. It contained all my clothes, all of Thao's shoes and some clothes and a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue. She alo put her Vietnam ID in the case for some reason. I hope this won't cause a problem down the road.
Thanks again everyone!

You mean lost, as in lost permanently?

And you managed to fit all that stuff PLUS all of Thao's shoes in one suitcase?
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-06-01 12:17:00
Asia: East and PacificGood news! Good news!
We were out at a Bia Hoi with a couple of friends and received a phone call from Dave & Thao. They received the visa today from the consulate, just in time to fly back to the U.S. without expensive changes in travel plans.

Mai and I were truly thrilled to hear this news, we've been praying for them since we came back to Hanoi.

Dave told me to post this for him because they don't have a great internet connection where they are living now.

Congratulations Dave & Thao, you deserve the best after all this waiting. We hope to meet you soon in the U.S! Best wishes!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-05-27 11:12:00
Asia: East and PacificPink slip
Congratulations!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-06-02 04:55:00
Asia: East and PacificFinally home!
Mai and I are at home in Iowa in our apartment at last. But it wasn't without drama to the very end. No, not immigration or customs. Just more plane delays. We were more than 2 hours late getting home. United was 2 hours late at the beginning of my journey, and 2 hours late at the end. Bilateral symmetry, I guess. At least all our luggage arrived with us, although 1 brand new suitcase is trashed. Oh, well.

We're going to sleep now. See you in a couple days! Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-06-03 21:35:00
Asia: East and Pacific15 minutes interviewed
Congratulations! Hope to see you soon!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-06-04 13:36:00
Asia: East and PacificInterview Passed
Congratulations!
Melrose PlantMaleVietnam2008-06-05 10:56:00