U.s. Consulate In Saigon Nears Second Anniversary

On 04 August 1999, the new American Consulate General in Saigon opened for business. With that, the 20 year history of the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) came to an end.

All files that were at the ODP office in Bangkok were transferred to the new Consulate General. There was no interruption of processing. No active files were destroyed. The Consulate in Saigon continues to work on current immigrant visa cases.

Non-current petitions which are now stored at the National Visa Center (NVC), will eventually be sent to the Consulate in Saigon for processing. Sponsors may be confused about their file numbers, because the file numbers beginning with "ODP" are being replaced with numbers starting with "HCM". A change in file numbers will not be a problem, because the computer records contain both the old and new numbers.

Approved applicants are receiving their US entry visas within 48 hours after the visa interview. Review of rejected cases is now taking 5-8 months.

The Consulate accepts applications for Student Visas and Business/Visitors Visas. The percentage of rejected student visa applicants is high, mainly because of the difficulty in providing evidence of financial resources in Vietnam.

The processing of Refugee and McCain cases will soon end. No new applications are being accepted. Refugee cases that were denied can only be appealed through the INS office in Bangkok.

Amerasian cases are also handled by the RRU in Saigon. Eligible applicants can still apply. Amerasian cases that were denied and have been inactive for more than two years, have been destroyed. They can be re-opened with an appeal, but a complete set of papers must be submitted with the appeal.

There are now two new types of visas:

V Visa

: available to spouse and minor children of permanent residents whose petitions were filed with INS before 22 December 2000 and who have been waiting for more than three years for the petitions to become current. This program is now active.

K-3 Visa: Available to spouse and minor children of US Citizen whose petitions have been submitted to US INS in the States, but have not been approved yet. INS is developing application forms for this type of visa but the start date is not yet known.

Benefit: Beneficiary can go to US to wait for the approval of the petition by INS and then adjust status in the US.

US Consulate General – Saigon	US Embassy – Ha Noi
Consular Information Unit) (848) 822-9433 x 2167 FAX: (848) 824-5572,-74	Tel: (844) 843-1500 FAX: (844) 835-0484 (844)843-1510
(Refugee Resettlement Unit) (848) 822-9433 x 2269 FAX: (848) 822-9434
Mailing address:	Mailing address:
AmConGen-HCMC PSC 461, Box 400 FPO AP 96521-0002 Local: 4 Le Duyan Q.1, T/P HCM	American Embassy PSC 461, Box 400 FPO AP 96521-0002 Q. 7 Lang Ha Rd. P. Ba Dinh, T/P Ha Noi
E-mail: visainfo@hcm.vnn.vn

I.N.S. in Saigon: 65 Le Loi, 9th Floor, 8-12, 1-3pm (848) 821-6237