Immigration Newsletter – September 2013
Electronic Filing of DS-260 with the National Visa Center – Drastic changes have taken place over the years for immigrant visa processing with the Department of State. I still remember the time when immigrant visa processing was processed with the U.S. Orderly Departure Program (ODP) out of Bangkok, Thailand. At that time, the immigrant visa processing unit was stationed in Bangkok, Thailand, and the adjudicating officers would travel to Saigon, Vietnam to conduct the interviews. After the interviews, it would take at least 3-6 months for the visas to be issued from Bangkok and sent to Saigon. When the relationship between Vietnam and the United States normalized in 1995, the Department of State began to set up and start opening the U.S. Consulate in Saigon. The immigrant visa processing that was once handled by the U.S. Orderly Departure Program slowly transferred to the U.S. Consulate in Saigon. In 2005, all immigrant visa processing was completely handled by the U.S. Consulate in Saigon, and it was the end of the U.S. Orderly Departure Program.