Update on my wife...
 

Well after waiting for four long years my wife finally got an interview to come to America. I was so nervous I was sick to my stomach. At 8pm here (10 am in Vietnam) she had her interview and was going to call me one hour later to let me know how it went.

An hour passed by....no call....another hour....no call....another hour...I knew something was wrong....and finally she called sobbing and telling me she didn't pass.

I've been in shock since then. If I must, I'll move to Vietnam to be with her. So I contacted our immigration lawyer and it turns it's not as bad as I thought.

After her fiance interview failed, we were told to give them more evidence. This time I didn't want any mistakes so I printed out 4 years worth of emails, gave them copies of reciepts from money I sent her, I gave them photos of us travelling all over Vietnam, I gave them my tax returns, I gave them our wedding photos, marriage license, wedding video, phone bills, letters, etc.

The interview is only 30 minutes long. They sent my wife away and told her they needed more time to go through all the stuff we gave them. They gave my wife back the wedding photos, reciepts for money, and wedding video but kept the phone bills, the original copy of our marriage license, our travel photos, and all of the printed emails from the year 2001-2002 (pre-wedding)

They kept everything they could verify. I think this will turn out to be ok.

My wife told me there were 20 other couples and out of those 18 failed and only 20 passed. They are turning away record numbers of people. My wife and I are in limbo until they can go through everything. I don't know if this will take a week, a month, or a year.

I'm still very sad because I figured she'd be here in a week or two, but I suppose we could be one of the 18 couples who got all their stuff back and were turned down.

Welcome to Homeland Security, Radar :( I'm so very sorry your case is working out this way. You did better than we did though, the consul in Manila didn't even look at my friends documentation and told her to leave the window in 2 minutes. No explanation, no details, total indifference, pre-decided. I really wish you luck.

Good luck dude.

Bummer. :( Do you think it might have helped if you were there for the interview or would they have told you to wait outside.
Come to think of it, it's probably better you weren't there. ;)


BTW- My offer to buy you a cheesesteak and all the beer you can drink if/when you come to Philly, was made before you became a family man.
What the hell, I'll treat her too.
But you better get here before the kids arrive. :p

Stick with it. Just stick with it. Don't give up. Don't quit. It will happen and it will be worth the effort.

When they review the docs you provided, they will reconsider. How is your wife handling this? Hopefully, she understands that y'all have to work the system and that getting pissed at the interviewer is counterproductive.

Have you considered getting her over here on a work or student visa? Once she's on US soil, it gets a lot easier.

Sorry to hear of your difficulty - it has to be gut wrenching to have government bureaucrats in charge of something so important.

If I had been there, my wife would have been a bit more calm, but they wouldn't have let me inside. If I had been there when they said they needed more time, I'd have made them sit down and read it right now or I wouldn't leave and if they tried to make me leave, it could have gotten very ugly...for them.

I'll be going to Vietnam in 2 months for 2 weeks because I haven't been with my wife since we were married more than a year ago. One of the things the Consul guys wanted to know was why I didn't go to Vietnam for 2 years at one point. I already wrote them a letter explaining that the economy took a hit and the tech jobs just weren't there and I had trouble finding work. They have my tax returns to verify what I've said.

I definately want to hit up Philly sometime and see the sites (liberty bell, independence hall, etc) and I'd like to see Washington D.C. too, though I might get in trouble there.

You see Radar, it'd delusions like this that can make certain aspects of your situation difficult.

You don't make the gov't do anything.

And you certainly don't let them think that you believe that. All it takes is for the paperwork to come to a halt on someone's desktop and you're done.

I hope you two are together soon. That's a bunch of bullshit, when a married couple can't live together in a free country.

Oh dear.

Hopefully it won't be this difficult for Kelove's fiance to come over from Croatia.

Putting out good thoughts for you and Mrs. Radar.

My understanding is that it got a lot harder only after she failed the first test, where she told a conflicting story of how the two of them met because she thought the real story would sound strange.

They are public SERVANTS, and I am their master. I am thier boss. They answer to me, not the other way around.


Actually that didn't have anything to do with it. They are turning away 18 out of 20 applicants right now. Ours wasn't turned down. But they do want to look at it more closely. I had a mountain of evidence to support our relationship. I had more than anyone else, including those who passed.

Let's step back from the ideal, which I agree with you about, and look at the actual.

But isn't it marked on the record that she was already denied once? Surely that's got to affect how they look at your case.

They also answer to 293,027,570 other masters.

the org chart is a bitch

She was actually never turned down. They sent her papers back to America because they didn't believe in her, but they were never closed, and never turned down.

Tough org chart, but those 293,027,570 people aren't demanding that my wife be kept out or that our relationship be judged. They only want to make sure she's not a danger.

Um, Radar, this is the point at which you are supposed to be slipping them the bribe. Otherwise, they will be "looking at" your paperwork until the next revolution there.

And you better lose that "public servants work for me" attitude, they chew up and spit out dozens just like you every week. Been there, done that.

I think he's refering to the US consulate. We all know US gumint employees don't take bribes. :lol2:

The thought has crossed my mind. I'd have done it already if the problem was with the Vietnamese government, but many people have lost jobs at the Consulate or their cases when they try to bribe the U.S. workers.

You know that's not true; a very large number of them don't want her in at all.

I guess that depends on who you ask. I see the racist, jingoistic, protectionistic, anti-immigrant types as a very tiny group of whackos compared to overwhelming majority who understand America was built by immigrants and who welcome them.

radar i hope everything works out with your wife. i also hope that your *ahem* strong beliefs haven't rubbed off on her too much yet. if she were too actually believe that the people who were interviewing her actually DID work for you, there isn't a chance in hell of getting here.

it is at this intersection with reality that your strict libertarian beliefs leave you high and dry.

You may have to choose which is more important to you at this stage of your life ... your principles or your wife.

Go kiss your Senator's ass, your wife will be here in two weeks.

If she really wants to come.

You have not been present at any of her interviews.

You do not know precisely what was said.

You have been supporting her and her family for some time.

Yes, as a matter of fact, my glass is half empty. But I'm rarely, if ever, disappointed.

Even libertarians indulge in false hope from time to time. I say move heaven and earth to get past the beauracratic crap, then worry about the other stuff. Too much reality at once is bad for you.

I think it rubs off on them, Radar. It's like, when you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas. Imagine how I felt when I found out that supposedly AMERICAN citizens who are consuls in Manila have special bank accounts set up for laundering the bribes they require? How insufferably arrogant they are with the applicants like us who take a number and get in line while completely uninvestigated people who pay up sail right through. My friend has an aunt who got into an arranged marriage with a man who had been a friend of her father's, just to get out of the Philippines. Every time she leaves to go back to the US for an interview (she doesn't even live there with her new husband) they pay $5,000 for her exit-and-return visa to be approved :mad:

I bought a ticket today to go to Vietnam. I'll be leaving on May 19th and coming back June 4th. Hopefully I'll be able to arrange a meeting with my servants while I'm there. ;)

I'll also travel around a bit with just me and my wife. This is the first time I've gone to Vietnam alone, and it will be the most time we've had alone together. Her family even came with us on our honeymoon.

Tell them you have connections in Philadelphia. ;)

Please take a camera to post some pics here. Good luck.

Probably a stupid question but is living in Vietnam out of the question?

Probably a stupid question but is living in Vietnam out of the question?

Go for it dude !!!!
You think your basic human right are stomped on here ???
Go live in a THIRD WORLD country !!!!!
I FUCKING DARE YOU !!!!!!


Dude ,, just incase you DON'T konw ,,, Life is cheap in the 3'rd world .
I have seen kids shot down on the street just for snagging a dudes wallet , $20US and its all forgotten .
FACT !!!!!!![

Oh, but it's not the third world. It's a shining example of the Communist Worker's Paradise.

What better way to set an example for the rest of the artful dodgers? :p

I have a few tales about this BS. I married a lady in Sumatra. BTW! If your going to hit on my spelling, don't read the damn post.
I had no trouble getting her out of there, just getting her here.
Someone told me to go to Kula Lumpra, that it was easy at embassy there. Maybe, but some asshole tried to jump the line on me. Got any idea now many Marines work in the embassy? More than 1 oil field hand can handle :dead:
So back to Medan, Sumatra. I got her a 30 day visia. Then after stops in Singapore, Bangkok. We got to Honolulu, She can't go have no return ticket for her. I told them we were going out the other side to mid. east to work so I could beat my income tax. Anyway after being home for a few weeks a letter comes saying have her out of country by such a date or she'll be deported.
Next stop, INS. "N'awlins" LA. Boy what a nightmare. I had a few bloddymarys, then went to their office. They took all our paper work in an office, 4 hrs. later I went into the office, some asshole said this doesn’t concern you get out. Well things went down hilll fast from that point.
Next time I went I had a lawyer I use the word loosely. He had to drag me down the hall to keep me off the above AH.
But in back ground, my Mom & others are talking to the congress man.
We had to appear before a judge at their office. My lawyer was off somewhere with shit up his nose. I had to get his 1/2 assed files and wing it. They had an translater that couldn't read the damn papers, so I had to send them to DC for translation.
Next Time I went I saw the guy who once ran the milk truck route, who now works for INS. He told me no one likes the AH so I never saw him again.
Weeks later I was going to Nigeria. A few days before I get a letter telling me to bring passport sized photos & finger prints of my wife to office. Right in this small town, just get that done anywhere. Anyway I showed up at office the day before I'm to leave w/the photos. A lady tells me no good not in color. So I show her the letter, she says oh that's outdated. So in my best manner I asked her why the fuck ya'll send the sob to me then? I show her my passport & ticket & tell her I'm leaving next morning. She tells me I can't. I said be at airport in morning and watch me. So someone said the photos were ok. Now all my X's live it texas. I'm not going to read this before posting. Now I off to work on a guys computer, eat fish, froglegs & whatever and drink beer!
Then tomorrow off to the land of OZ, at va to see what wonders they can do about my drinking :lol:

*blink*

Excellent Buster, I can picture Radar all though that story. ;)

BTW. The fing lawyer billed me for 1200 bucks.

your coming to Australia??

wonder if youll find another future texas resident then?

Hello?

Of course my Senator was useless. I contacted her staff to say I wanted them to help me talk to the Consulate and their answer was...."...they need more time. Sorry we can't help you." I'm so happy to get so much service for the billions of dollars they get.

I bought my ticket to Vietnam, and I contacted the U.S. Consulate to tell them I am on my way and will stop by the office. I requested an appointment to talk to them.

I'll be arriving in Vietnam on May 20th and leaving on June 4th

Try the other one and tell them the first senator wouldn't help.

Let partisan politics work for you!

Anyone else catch the irony that Radar is in California and can't get an immigrant in legally?

you couldn't just leave that can of worms alone?

maybe, just maybe - if they weren't providing services for all of the illegals flowing in, they could actually help the folks who are following the actual legal process. that is why the legal immigrants i know are the most malicious and hateful people to the illegals - they hate their very existence.

but remember, illegals are a boon to our society.

*grumbles and already made her opinion clear, so slinks off grumpy*

The irony was not lost on me, being another resident of California. I've even had Mexican friends of mine offer to smuggle my friend in, once she gets to Mexico! Of course, that was before the Minutemen, but even so, it's plain that only for people trying to do things legally are there endless roadblocks. The Filipino lawyer that we want to hire posted another of his "success stories" on his website yesterday. He got a visa restored for a Filipino singer who had been convicted of smuggling other immigrants and her father was convicted of trafficking in fake visas and other documents. THESE people, and all their relatives no doubt, are happily back in the good ol' USA while my friend rots in Manila, unable to get an education and a future because she didn't have the money or the lawyer to "fix" things.

Do you really think you'll last till the 4th after you talk to them? Reread Buster's story, please. At least try sucking up first.
After sticking to my principles my whole life I've come to believe it's caused me more money and grief than it was worth.
I drowned while the scum enjoys the sunshine on the top of the pond. Try to fake it for as long as you can.....you can laugh about it later. :cool: