U.S. Consulate General Hosts “Open House” Event

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The busiest section of the U.S. Consulate General is the Non-Immigrant Visa Division. The number of visa applications for travel, business, and study in the U.S. is substantial. Each working day, this division handles 200 to 500 applicants, with 2 to 6 officers conducting interviews and 15 Vietnamese staff members assisting in the process.

The Fraud Prevention Unit is located next to the Immigrant Visa Section at the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City.

Online visa applications using the new DS-160 form have been implemented since April 16.

In 2009, a total of 65,000 non-immigrant visa applications were processed, of which 30% were for student visas.

Each year, between 20,000 and 25,000 immigrant visas are issued out of approximately 50,000 applications received.

The number of immigrant visa applications increases by 3% to 4% annually.

Around 400,000 U.S. citizens visit Vietnam each year.

(Data provided by the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City).

The visa process has been streamlined. Previously, applicants needed to fill out two or three forms (DS-156 and supplementary forms DS-157 and DS-158). Now, they only need to complete the DS-160 form online. Even applicant photos are submitted electronically.

Mr. Charles Bennett, Head of the Consular Section, admitted that even he faced difficulties uploading photos to the new DS-160 system at first. As a result, the U.S. Consulate General offers flexibility. If applicants are unable to upload their photos online, they can still submit printed photos during their visa interview.

While photography of the visa process is prohibited, consular officers provide detailed explanations of the steps involved in screening, evaluating, and deciding whether to approve or deny non-immigrant visas. Paper applications have largely been replaced by digital systems.

All applicant information is tightly controlled, including:

Full name and date of birth
Photo and fingerprints of all 10 fingers
School admission in the U.S.
Parental information and financial background

The system cross-references applicant data with U.S. databases to check:

Past U.S. travel history
Instances of falsified documents
Criminal records or FBI warrants

Mr. Bennett mentioned that the visa section recently uncovered numerous fraudulent online appointment printouts created by third-party services to secure early interview slots. These fraudulent printouts resulted in applicants being denied interviews.

Mr. Bennett advised applicants to be cautious when using third-party services to complete online forms.

He also confirmed that students studying in the U.S. whose visas have expired can renew their visas by mail (via EMS express service) without needing to visit the U.S. Consulate or Embassy for a new visa interview.

Conditions for visa renewal include:

The new visa must be of the same type as the expired one.
The expired visa must be no more than one year old.
There must be no change in the applicant's academic program.

At the Fraud Prevention Unit, reporters were shown various falsified documents detected during the screening process, including:

Passports (Vietnamese and foreign)
Bank passbooks
High school diplomas and transcripts
Business registration certificates
Envelopes and wedding photos

U.S. consular officers stated that applicants submitting fraudulent documents will be denied visas and may be barred from obtaining a U.S. visa in the future.

U.S. Consulate General Hosts “Open House” Event

Please note that the Embassy reserves the right to require an in-person interview and request additional information if there are doubts about the applicant's eligibility for a non-immigrant visa before issuing any visa. The designated service provider for submitting applications to the Embassy is EMS, a company with offices in all provinces and cities across the country.

Starting June 4, the U.S. Department of State will increase the application fees for non-immigrant visas. The new fee for B-1/B-2, F, J visas, and Border Crossing Cards for adults will rise to 140 USD. The new fee for H, L, O, P, Q, and R visas will increase to 150 USD.

Mr. Lê Thành Ân, 56 years old, left Vietnam 45 years ago and is the first Vietnamese-American official to serve as the U.S. Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City. His term will begin at the end of this month. He is also the highest-ranking Vietnamese-American in the U.S. diplomatic corps today. Before coming to Vietnam, Mr. Ân worked in Singapore, South Korea, and most recently in France. Speaking to the audience in both English and Vietnamese, Mr. Ân emphasized, "We all hope for a bright future in U.S.-Vietnam relations, and I will contribute my efforts to building an increasingly strong and positive relationship." (TNO)

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U.S. Consulate General Hosts “Open House” Event

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