Comments on: Visa Rules Widen The Rift Between Vietnam And U.S. Families http://www.saigonnezumi.com/2009/04/23/visa-rules-widen-the-rift-between-vietnam-and-us-families/ Insider's Perspective of Saigon, Vietnam Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:41:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tracy Reed http://www.saigonnezumi.com/2009/04/23/visa-rules-widen-the-rift-between-vietnam-and-us-families/comment-page-1/#comment-33262 Tracy Reed Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:46:39 +0000 http://www.saigonnezumi.com/?p=1557#comment-33262 Getting a visa is like getting a loan: When you don't need it (rich) they will give it to you happily. When you really do need it (poor, need a loan or need a chance to move to the US and start a new life) they won't give it to you. We have been quite lucky in that Trang got her visa easily. Her mom got her visa the first time a year and a half ago. Just two days ago her mom and her brother were both approved for 1 year multi-entry visas. So her mom will come visit us for a second time and her brother for the first time in a month and a half. For both of her mom's visas they never looked at any of her financial paperwork. It seems they look at the person who is sponsoring the visa more. Perhaps it helps if a natural born American citizen is sponsoring instead of a viet kieu, I don't know. But now that she has been here once and went back and her brother will soon come and return they will be able to come and go as they wish having established trust. And I will make sure they do not betray that trust or it will make it more difficult to bring any other relatives over for a temporary visit. It seems to be like getting credit: If you get a small loan at first and then pay it off on time you will more easily get a bigger loan on better terms the next time. Soon our family will have a very good "credit" rating with the US government. Just having money isn't all there is to it. Money can be transferred, moved, etc. You can smuggle money on your person or in gold etc. fairly easily it seems. It seems that people have even walked away from homes or businesses or more likely left them in the semi-permanent care of relatives while they came to the US and overstayed their visas so that doesn't buy you much either. If they started making exceptions for cases where an elder in the US was on their death bed suddenly everyone would show up at the consulate with an alleged infirm elder in the US. The people at the consulate who have to make these decisions are really in a no-win situation. And I don't blame them for not being more specific about why they deny any one particular case. If they released all of their exact criteria people would more easily game the system and fill in all of the required check-boxes to get their visas. Getting a visa is like getting a loan: When you don’t need it (rich) they will give it to you happily. When you really do need it (poor, need a loan or need a chance to move to the US and start a new life) they won’t give it to you.

We have been quite lucky in that Trang got her visa easily. Her mom got her visa the first time a year and a half ago. Just two days ago her mom and her brother were both approved for 1 year multi-entry visas. So her mom will come visit us for a second time and her brother for the first time in a month and a half. For both of her mom’s visas they never looked at any of her financial paperwork. It seems they look at the person who is sponsoring the visa more. Perhaps it helps if a natural born American citizen is sponsoring instead of a viet kieu, I don’t know.

But now that she has been here once and went back and her brother will soon come and return they will be able to come and go as they wish having established trust. And I will make sure they do not betray that trust or it will make it more difficult to bring any other relatives over for a temporary visit. It seems to be like getting credit: If you get a small loan at first and then pay it off on time you will more easily get a bigger loan on better terms the next time. Soon our family will have a very good “credit” rating with the US government.

Just having money isn’t all there is to it. Money can be transferred, moved, etc. You can smuggle money on your person or in gold etc. fairly easily it seems. It seems that people have even walked away from homes or businesses or more likely left them in the semi-permanent care of relatives while they came to the US and overstayed their visas so that doesn’t buy you much either.

If they started making exceptions for cases where an elder in the US was on their death bed suddenly everyone would show up at the consulate with an alleged infirm elder in the US.

The people at the consulate who have to make these decisions are really in a no-win situation. And I don’t blame them for not being more specific about why they deny any one particular case. If they released all of their exact criteria people would more easily game the system and fill in all of the required check-boxes to get their visas.

]]> By: Timen http://www.saigonnezumi.com/2009/04/23/visa-rules-widen-the-rift-between-vietnam-and-us-families/comment-page-1/#comment-33261 Timen Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:50:55 +0000 http://www.saigonnezumi.com/?p=1557#comment-33261 You also have to consider that rich VNese people have more reason to return, whether it is their business or their bank account. You say none of the people you know who received a visa have returned... so maybe it's too easy to get a visa? You also have to consider that rich VNese people have more reason to return, whether it is their business or their bank account. You say none of the people you know who received a visa have returned… so maybe it’s too easy to get a visa?

]]>