The Department of State's Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently published an Inspection Report of the US Embassy in Hanoi and the US Consulate General in Saigon . Here are some of the main points of the report, in the area of visa processing at the Consulate:
(1) The report recommended that American consulate staff and local Vietnamese staff of the consulate should not contact the Immigrant Visa Unit about pending cases. For instance, in the past, they might ask the Immigrant Visa Unit to review a case, or tell why they believe an applicant is qualified, or ask the consular chief or another manager to conduct a second interview. These practices violate State Department policy.
(2) In October 2010, the consulate general allowed certain visa cases to have expedited appointments at the request of the Consulate’s executive office, or at the request of local Vietnamese employees. As a result of the OIG report, this practice was stopped.
(3) The consulate general’s immigrant visa section is led by a unit chief and a deputy unit chief. There are also 6 entry-level American consular officers and 25 local employees working in the unit.
(4) Between 50 and 60 percent of all immigrant visa applicants are refused under Section 221(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, because they lack required documents at the time of the interview. The OIG report said that the consulate general’s Web site contains information about required visa documents, but it is confusing and not well presented. The Web site does not emphasize the importance of having all documents available for the interview.
(5) The report said that the immigrant visa unit did not enforce appointment times. For instance, an applicant with a 10:00 a.m. appointment may be seen before an applicant with an 8:00 a.m. appointment. This arrangement is inefficient and can cause significant delays; some applicants wait up to 4 hours for an interview. Immigrant visa applicants should be admitted only at the time of their appointment at Consulate General.
(6) Consular Officers have differing views on which immigrant visa cases should be approved immediately and which should be returned to US CIS for revocation. Since US CIS approves all petitions before they are sent to a post for issuance, only CIS can revoke a petition. At the consulate, a manager should review all cases that have been marked for return to US CIS.
(7) Vietnamese is an extremely difficult language. The Foreign Service Institute in Washington , in coordination with the Bureau of Consular Affairs, should revise the Vietnamese language training curriculum to meet the needs of consular officers who are conducting visa interviews.
(8) Recommendation #12: The Embassy should ask the Bureau of Consular Affairs to update the reciprocity table for Vietnam , to reflect a maximum 3-month, single-entry validity for B1/B2 visas.
(9) If a visa applicant’s case is denied but he presents evidence which could overcome the denial within one year of the date of refusal, consular officers have a duty to reconsider the denial.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q.1. Is there a clear set of guidelines about sending denied cases back to US CIS for review and possible revocation?
A.1. The OIG report appears to say that consular officers should receive more training in this area and that a manager should review all cases before they are returned to CIS in America .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q.2. Some denied cases are returned to CIS in America less than one year after the interview. Does this conflict with State Department policy?
A.2. It is true that some denied cases are returned to the US less than one year after the interview. If your case is denied and if you have additional evidence that could overturn the denial, you must contact the consulate as soon as possible after the denial.
ROBERT MULLINS INTERNATIONAL www.rmiodp.com
Immigration Support Services-Tham Van Di Tru
9070 Bolsa Avenue, Westminster CA 92683 (714) 890-9933
779 Story Road, Ste. 70, San Jose, CA 95122 (408) 294-3888
6930 65th St. Ste. #105, Sacramento CA 95823 (916) 393-3388
42 Dang Thi Nhu, P. Nguyen Thai Binh, Q1, HCM (848) 3914-7638
