Attorney Open House at the US Consulate in Saigon – Part 2

Attorney Open House at the US Consulate in Saigon – Part 2 

At the end of March, the US Consulate in Saigon organized an Attorney Open House, for the benefit of American immigration lawyers working in Southeast Asia. The Consulate invited Robert Mullins to attend because of the very high volume of cases that RMI has at the Consulate.

The tour began with a walk through the various sections of the Consulate. After that, the group moved to the conference room of the American Center at Diamond Plaza, and heard talks by the Chiefs of the Immigrant Visa Section, the American Citizens Services, and the Non-Immigrant Visa Section.

Today’s show will report on information provided by the Chiefs of the Non-Immigrant Visa section and the American Citizen Services section.

NON-IMMIGRANT VISAS

· The NIV section of the Consulate processes about 60,000 non-immigrant visas each year. This is considered a medium number compared to Consulates in countries like China and Brazil. About two-thirds are B1-B2 visas and about one-fourth are student visas.
· Persons who have visited the US less than 12 months ago do not need to have another visa interview, but they must apply for the visa online.
· New policy: In the past, the Consulate said they would not issue visas to people who wanted to go to the US to visit a dying relative. That has changed. Now such visas are possible, if the Consulate can be reasonably sure that the applicant will return to Vietnam after visiting the relative. In such cases, the visa might have a validity of only one month.
· What kind of evidence does the Consulate require from Visitor Visa applicants? The NIV Chief also said that he NEVER pays attention to Bank Statements, Title Deeds for Land or house, Car Title, etc. He said that all of these documents can be purchased from the agents that sit around the streets opposite the Consulate, so they are not reliable. Even bank statements are not reliable because the source of the funds cannot be verified.
· The NIV Chief said he only pays attention to two things: The information contained in the DS-160 visa application, and the answers he gets when he questions the applicant. He is looking for a “solid situation”, mainly focusing on the applicant’s employment. He is looking for economic and family ties to Vietnam. An invitation letter from the sponsor may be helpful just to clarify the relationship to the applicants, but that is all. The promise to provide all support to the visitor is not relevant.
· I-134 Affidavit of Support: The NIV Chief said very clearly that the Consulate does NOT want I-134’s for NIV cases.

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ACS (American Citizen Services)
· When an American citizen dies in Vietnam, ACS will assist US relatives by locating funeral service providers for burial or cremation or shipment of remains to the US, and will provide 20 original copies of the CRDA (Consular Report of Death Abroad).
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Q.1. Did the Consular officers say anything about adoptions from Vietnam?
A.1. The US Embassy is still working with the Vietnamese government on a new Adoption agreement. This is moving very slowly. In future, the US government wants to concentrate on adoption of “special needs” children, focusing on those with physical disabilities and also on older children who are usually not chosen for adoption because of their age.

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Q.2. Are there any jobs available at the Consulate for American citizens who want to return to Vietnam for a year or two?
A.2. Most of the locally hired employees at the Consulate are Vietnamese. There are a small number of jobs available for US citizens, but these jobs go to family members of consular officers.

ROBERT MULLINS INTERNATIONAL www.rmiodp.com
Immigration Support Services-Tham Van Di Tru

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