ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
Vietnamvisa fees increased

It would have to be in the evening some time, I usually work 6 days a week and then on Sunday, I try to relax before I start preparing next weeks work. Busy life working for Samsung the only nice thing is that I work both here and in the States.


Sounds good. Maybe we can give Ralph some business over at The Big Grill. I'll send you a PM.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-05-30 09:19:00
Vietnamvisa fees increased

If you are talking to me, no. I had heard that I could file a DCF with a K1 visa, and have found out that this info was not true. I am simply engaged. I will be starting the paperwork for the Vietnamese marriage license next week


Jake, you sound like a great guy. We should meet for coffee some time.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-05-30 07:30:00
VietnamDCF

I think you are right he should have to buy the beer. Thanks guys and gals for the links. I am going to start the wedding license Monday


I think USCIS has a 6 month minimum for residency, but it's not listed on their site. You may want to check with them and see how they would handle your case, since you leave every 6 months.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-05-28 21:56:00
VietnamDCF
They don't do traditional DCF's in HCMC. What you can do (if you're married) is file directly at the USCIS field office, located in Diamond Plaza.

https://egov.uscis.g...atecode=Bangkok


Here's a discussion on another board. It's on British Expats, but it is about the American Consulate.

http://britishexpats...ad.php?t=285200

Edited by Mr. Saigon, 28 May 2010 - 08:02 PM.

Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-05-28 20:01:00
VietnamDid You Know?
http://hochiminh.usc...gories.html#EBI

Employment Third Preference (E3)

Skilled Workers, Professionals Holding Baccalaureate Degrees and Other Workers receive 28.6 percent of the yearly worldwide limit, plus any unused Employment First and Second Preference visas. All Third Preference applicants require an approved I-140 petition filed by the prospective employer. All such workers require a labor certification, or Schedule A designation, or evidence that they qualify for one of the shortage occupations in the Labor Market Information Pilot Program. There are three subgroups within this category:

1. Skilled workers are persons capable of performing a job requiring at least two years'' training or experience;
2. Professionals with a baccalaureate degree are members of a profession with at least a university bachelor's degree; and
3. Other workers are those persons capable of filling positions requiring less than two years'' training or experience.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-07 06:57:00
VietnamDid You Know?

Whoever petitioned for her must have done a helluva job with the petition. Vietnam is specifically NOT on the list of approved countries, so the Secretary of DHS has to make a determination that it's in the best interests of the United States for the alien to get a visa. What would you have to write to convince DHS that it's in the best interest of the US for a specific Vietnamese girl to be a hostess in a restaurant? :blink:

Come to think of it, I know a few Vietnamese coffee shops in San Jose that require VN girls with very specific talents. :innocent:


I'll find out the specific visa. She's a university student studying hospitality and management, so that may have something to do with it.

You know these coffee shops because you solicite them I assume.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-07 06:02:00
VietnamDid You Know?

I presume this visa requires an employer sponsor. I doubt it's an H2B because Vietnam is not on the approved list of eligible countries. What is the visa category?


She said it was H2B.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-06 03:00:00
VietnamDid You Know?

I'm a little confused...

Are you saying that your Vietnamese friend is a VN National and got a working visa to the US and their current job title is hostess?? And that she has a USC/PR boyfriend in the US that will marry her so that she can adjust status??


Yes about the hostess job. No on the B/F. Sorry about that. It seems like they would ask that question though, for that exact reason.

Edited by Mr. Saigon, 06 June 2010 - 03:01 AM.

Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-06 02:58:00
VietnamDid You Know?
Around a year ago I had a Vietnamese friend tell me that she was going to apply for a guest worker visa. She claimed to have friends that had done it already and they told her it was easy to get the visa, as long as you had $5K to spend. I laughed and told her there was no way. Guess what...it's true. The job is at a restaurant and she'll be a hostess. The consulate even prepared a list of questions they would be asked, which did not include "Do you have a boyfriend in the US?". Just when I thought I'd heard it all.

Edited by Mr. Saigon, 06 June 2010 - 01:49 AM.

Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-06 01:47:00
VietnamDoing Nails as a living.

Ooops, my short memory! Your wife is the one with the silver spoon in her mouth! She's driving a brand new Lexus (you even showed a pictured in here in the past to brag) and a 3,000 plus squarefeet NEW built house.

My wife, on the hand, took Metro bus to her ESL class and when she asked me for a new car, I told her to go work at a local Asian supermarket as a cashier at minimum wage and when her credit is good enough, I'll help her to purchase a "runable" car.

Dai, some people have no other choice but to choose the hair salon biz to make a living due to their limited skill. They all wish to be born with a silver spoon, but reality is much different.


Better be careful Cowboy, if you don't spoil her someone else might. Ever hear of Jodie?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVFlolrA7Wo

Edited by Mr. Saigon, 13 June 2010 - 06:53 PM.

Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-13 18:53:00
VietnamDoing Nails as a living.

Sorry - that creeps me out. The old salon I went to seemed to have some husbands or boyfriends hanging around a lot and then one day they gave me a guy to do my pedicure. Creepy. I asked for a woman the next time and eventually stopped going there.


I have a Vietnamese friend in West Virginia who is a nail tech and he has one customer who insists on him. Apparently she becomes borderline orgasmic every time he touches her feet. It embarrasses him to no end, but everyone else seems to get a kick out of it.

The nail techs I know there make very good money. He said he regularly makes $1000 a week.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-07 13:19:00
VietnamVN problem connecting to yahoo
All good here. meebo.com is another alternative.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-16 06:42:00
VietnamHi guys, I need help on how should my wife answer to my job history.
Anyone who tells you to lie at the interview is giving you the worst possible advice imaginable.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-08 10:53:00
VietnamBlue Sheet requesting I-864

Thanks Mr.Saigon, but I prefer one stop :). My wife doesn't speak English, it's better for her to get least connection and least flight time. Anyways, thanks for looking for us. :)


No problem, I understand now.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-26 17:44:00
VietnamBlue Sheet requesting I-864
I didn't get anything, I looked it up for you. You're getting ripped off at that price.

Posted Image

Edited by Mr. Saigon, 26 June 2010 - 03:32 PM.

Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-26 15:31:00
VietnamBlue Sheet requesting I-864

@everybody: Thanks again. :blush:
I just checked the ticket for her, but the travel agents told me that the tickets were sold out for July and August (economy class :wacko: ).


:blink: Get a new agent, or use kayak.com. I ran HCMC to Chicago for July 3rd and came up with a price of $986.

Congrats on the pink.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-25 16:40:00
VietnamVAT on Laptop

Thank you Mr Saigon and Scott, I appreciate the information. Your searching skills are second to none :thumbs:


Frank


You're welcome.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-28 23:54:00
VietnamVAT on Laptop
This is the best information I have found on the Internet regarding imports to Vietnam.

Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:36 pm
Unfortunately import duty tax varies from item to item. Seems that they have 2 catagories: regular and luxary. The regular is like 30% of the items value (which if items are used you should show receipts of the purchase price new and the date so you can devalue accordingly). The luxary applies to electronics, jewerly, cars, motorbikes etc. It is around 60%. Same rules apply if they are used. As an example on those Blu-Ray movies I ordered I paid NO tax but I was lucky, apparently DHL who delivered them somehow got by the tax man. I had a Onkyo receiver sent from USA (used). I paid $450 for it 3 years ago. When it got here I got a notice from VNPT to go to their airport facility to pick it up. Once there they opened the box and like 10 people looked at it. They tried to tax me 60% on the $500 declared value. First I tried to bribe the head guy who spoke English very well. Did not work. Next I said that the shipping (EMS) was $200 and that the receiver was worth $300 (I showed him original receipt). We baragined for about 10 minutes and he said he would charge me the 30% tax on $300 so I paid my 1.9 million dong and away I went. Like everything else here it pays to at least try to bargain

http://forums.eslcaf...pic.php?t=81553
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-27 17:20:00
VietnamAmerica's Best Hot Dog...

Did you ever have one of those burgers at Lotteria? Not that bad IMO... not a great deal of meat in the patty... seemed to be more soy than beef... I met Mark one night when he was eating mexican food in HCMC, but we had already eaten so we didnt try VN mexican food...


Their Mexican isn't bad at that place, but I wouldn't recommend flying to Vietnam to try it!
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-28 17:34:00
VietnamAmerica's Best Hot Dog...

I would love to eat a HotDog while strolling the streets of VN. Is there ANY American Cafes there? C'mon, guys, help a brother out!

Posted Image


The only place I've seen a hot dog here was over in District 7 at an Enlish club. It was actually a polish sausage though. There's a Carl's Jr. down in Vincom Center now. They may have them.

http://www.saigonnez...-vincom-center/
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-28 17:29:00
VietnamReasons to Hate Vietnam

Nobody forces you to live there, short or long term. If for whatever reason you don't like, feel free to leave.

The reason most of you were/are there is because you can't afford to have a "normal" wife here in the States, because of your age/look/financial status/social ranking, so on so forth. The rest of the pack (tourists) want CHEAP vacations. You get what you paid for. When your vacation is over and time for you to leave, do you even care the daily suffering (in your case, your whining, without the cheese of course) the VNese people have to face? I doubt it.

The ladies over there need to get outta the hell hole. Both sides benefit. Simple and straight forward.


You paid so cheaply for everything and you want quality standard? Ever heard of the expression "You get what you paid for?"


The expession is "You get what you pay for" idiot.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-07-03 16:49:00
VietnamReasons to Hate Vietnam

I agree with most the things he hates about Vietnam. I lived in Vietnam for more than 2 years with a good Job and going through the whole visa process with my wife while I was there and I was fortunate enough to have my wife there with me but almost all the same things in this blog annoyed me. I made a thread on a similar topic as this one about a year ago expressing the things I hate about living in Vietnam and some of the same people here posting in that thread expressing similar hatred (same as the article) that they have in Vietnam .

Link to that thread: I've been living in Vietnam for little over a year. I am really home sick!

I'm glad I don't have to live in that country anymore and there is no place like home. I am fortunate to have my wife and baby here with me and loving life so much. We still want to go back to Vietnam in the near future because my wife's family is still there. I don't mind staying there on Vacation for 2-3 weeks but If I had a chance to stay there longer, it is most undesirable for me and I would not do it again.

I LOVE AMERICA - and so does my wife also.


:D I was thinking about you when I posted this. My posts reflect a newbie in Vietnam. I dislike a lot of the same things these days but have tried to accept them. I generally keep my business here confined to the same group of vendors/businesses, so I know what to expect (most of the time).

The biggest irks I still have are the lies and the reckless motorbike drivers.
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2010-06-30 08:30:00
VietnamMy Vietnamese Brother - Inability to Follow Directions
QUOTE (ScottThuy @ Aug 7 2009, 05:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (NQT1976 @ Aug 7 2009, 03:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (chuckandkim @ Aug 7 2009, 03:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Wow! Bit angry there NQT? I love VC, Uncle Ho and the current political system.
If it wasn't for all of them, I wouldn't be here in Philly, kicking back with a few beers and watching CNN on my 50" Plasma, in nice comfy leather couch and driving around in my choice of SUV or Lexus. If it wasn't for VC, the US wouldn't let millions of Viet people immigrate here and claim a piece of this American Dream (or nightmares as the current economic condition/market smile.gif )
So, I say: I love VC. (If you are VC, please be gentle to me when I come back to VN next year for Vacation)


and your father pay for several years in prision ( readucation camp) ? or your sister beeing rapped by sea-robber ? your grandfather properties beeing robbed by VC ?
now you enjoyed yourself

Tread lightly my friend.. my wifes family all VC and I lost friends in the conflict... VJ is not the right place to attack any group of people regardless of what happened long ago...


You are definitely the voice of reason in this forum, like PeterFB and Melrose Plant used to be. Keep up the good work Scott! good.gif

QUOTE (luckytxn @ Aug 7 2009, 05:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
They and us have normalized relations now and it is better that way then no relations allowed so I say good for that. Do I like their government? No. Am I glad we at least try to be able to have dialogue and allowed to travel there and here? Yes.


good.gif
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2009-08-07 20:18:00
Vietnamvisa-vietnam.org
I was referring to the standard visa exemption for a spouse of a Vieetnamese national. I know there was a dual citizenship law that kicked in a while back, but I haven't heard of anyone applying for it. I won't because my wife and I split about a month after I got here.


Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2009-11-16 08:36:00
Vietnamvisa-vietnam.org
Talk about a blast from the past!
Teacher MarkMaleVietnam (no flag)2009-11-16 07:20:00