I picked up my diploma from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today with the service agent’s assistant. They really did not need me but I wanted to make sure they did their job. There was hardly anybody there so it took less than one minute to get my documents. The MFA placed a stamped in the back of the US Consulate’s affidavit form.
From there, the service agent’s assistant will get it translated. All English forms have to be translated into Vietnamese for obvious reasons by an authorized translator. I am not sure where they are going but if you need your documents translated, I recommend the Hanoi Translation Company on the corner of Pasteur and and Nguyen Du in District 1. Ask for Mr. Quoc. He can also help process work permits (5 million VND), visas and temporary resident cards. I should have used him for my work permit processing in the beginning but I do use him for my visa renewals.
For me, I told the service I want to see the forms after they are translated and properly stamped. I also want to visit DoLISA with them when they drop off my application so I can see that everything is okay. According to the service, everything will be done by March 19th but that is a full two weeks later than they told me last time and a full 4 four months later than the original date they gave me. Got to keep on them…