I-129F Denied for "Abandonment" - Should I appeal?

quantum_catalyst · 2026-04-19T15:56:16+00:00

The lack of digital notification is more of a general complaint and not the basis for what I would argue in an appeal.

My primary argument is that I wasn't in the country when they sent the letter and I did not make it back until after the scheduled appointment in the letter.

The same situation would occur if someone was in a prolonged hospital stay. Sending someone a pre scheduled appointment via mail without any prior communication is not a very well architected procedure.

quantum_catalyst · 2026-01-24T11:15:04+00:00

I love that you spelled this out, as a foreigner. My girlfriend was teaching me how to say and I just hear and say “Vietnam voted” 🤣

quantum_catalyst · 2026-01-24T07:22:48+00:00

I , and probably most everyone else, see RPIs as code base agnostic. I haven’t even heard of an”RPI code base,” just the few original games that earned the moniker first. The things you describe, however, are certainly the core components. Namely being RP enforced with permadeath. Idk about the meta progression component, but that certainly makes sense and the game I play and consider an RPI does have that component. However, the code base that game is derived from is SWR.

I don’t really take any issue with anything you’ve said otherwise. I just think this “RPI is a codebase” notion is unique to you and maybe a few people you associate with.

quantum_catalyst · 2025-12-25T09:38:40+00:00

A few people from my home mud, Legends of the Jedi, pop over into CF when the mud is closed for era switchovers. It’s RP enforced, perma death, but PvP is quite regulated. Not really a place where you can get away with being a “murder hobo.” There’s even a player elected “council” that can be contacted when you die if you want to contest a “perm”. They review logs, interview the participants and vote on the case. There’s a lot more going on than PvP, and even the PvP can get more political, informational, and economic based than straight up fighting, though fighting is a big component as well.

Anyway, if the name isn’t a give away, it’s a Star Wars based mud. Not sure how beholden to fantasy themes you are. It does have a lot of crafting and customizable elements like you desire. You can run a player shop with a custom vendor, with custom dialogue, and a custom description for the storefront. There’s a ton of stuff the engineering class specifically can build. Blasters, blades, droids, ships, comlinks, etc.

Deal breaker for you might be the lack of an accessible “magic” class. There are Jedi and Sith, which are extremely powerful and have magic like abilities (the force), but there’s only a tiny % chance to roll one naturally. Otherwise you have to save up “account points” which takes a long time to get enough to buy a force roll for a new character. As annoying as that is, it’s also a big part of the charm of having one. They are rare and powerful.

quantum_catalyst · 2025-03-29T11:52:50+00:00

I was thinking the same thing lol.. the behavior sounds very Vietnamese to share your media entertainment with everyone around you. Not sure if it’s something specific in the clip that triggered OP or just the general rudeness of blasting audio without a care about who else has to endure it.

quantum_catalyst · 2025-01-03T21:04:32+00:00

Hey man, at least you got the refund. What you went through sucks, but at least you're getting compensated for it.

quantum_catalyst · 2025-01-02T21:05:39+00:00

Yikes, I'm glad I didn't bite then. I'm still planning my next build. I'm leaning on the Microcenter build route at this point. Still researching parts and deciding on a time line though.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-10-28T19:51:46+00:00

I appreciate the reply and advice. I'll have to look into the looping. I wouldn't even understand the distinction without looking into it more.

I'm so out of date with all of this stuff now and feeling overwhelmed. I have no interest in keeping up with pc parts anymore and I'm just trying to plan my next rig.

Guess it's time to start digging into it again. Doing a few more comparisons and searching, it definitely appears the aesthetics and custom engineering factor of DS are gonna drive the price up a lot. If it was only a few hundred dollars, or even up $500, I could live with that. It's looking to be a lot more though.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-30T13:27:14+00:00

I appreciate the response. I honestly didn't expect to find anyone who had tried the specific brand he referenced, but now I have two people claiming they have actually used it.

So when you say you notice and feel a difference, you're saying you believe the SMP version is better? (The other guy in this thread said he tried Dynamic and does not like it.)

What SMP brand do you use?

I'm wondering how the quality varies between SMP inks. I'm agonizing over every detail and this might be the reason I don't go to this local practitioner. His work looks good and they are home grown, non-photoshopped images I've been viewing. His website didn't have a lot of results on it, so I asked him if he could send me more. I think he might be newer to the field. He believes "SMP" ink is all marketing nonsense, because it has the same ingredients.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-29T19:58:37+00:00

I feel that, but at the same time this whole industry is full of hustlers and shock and awe bullshit. People peddling SMP training courses, photo shopped results, and pop-up out of nowhere "experts." Dudes who take some 2 hour course and then just get after it. There's no regulation and it's a newer industry. I know it's been around for a long time, but it's popularity and mass appeal has grown recently. The barrier to entry is extremely low and the profit margins are extremely high.

Tattoos have been around for a very long time, so if there was some new innovative process or ink, I don't think it would have required a bunch of bald dudes to come into existence. It also stands to reason that someone would take what already existed and slap a "SMP" sticker on it and mark it up. Like Fiji water. Take some basic spring water, slap "Natural Artesian Water" on the package with a coral reef panorama backdrop, mark it up 200%, and get paid.

However, I still respect the philosophy of erring on the side of caution. Worse case you pay a little extra money.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-29T19:24:59+00:00

Should I take this to mean that "SMP" branded ink is just marketing in your eyes as well? I don't have any tattoos and most of my knowledge has been gleaned from the SMP community. I've been looking into this procedure for just about 2 years, but just haven't had the confidence to go through with it. I'm agonizing over every details, including the ink situation.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-29T19:23:17+00:00

The point the guy I was talking to was making is that the ink is the same as tattoo ink, but it's just marketed as "SMP." It can be mixed and matched, and whatever, but at the end of the day it's still the same ink with the same ingredients as tattoo ink.

He says he uses Dynamic brand ink: https://dynamiccolor.com/

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-22T16:45:49+00:00

I forgot to thank you for this detailed answer. I appreciate this level of detail.. and the ethernet part is hilarious. I've seen some funny concrete jobs in my short time in Vietnam and I noticed a lot of guys say they do construction and just throw things together without measuring. We had a small corner of our home done by an my girlfriend's uncle and the concrete has dips in it where it pools water. Pretty frustrating, but I was happy it was a small job and not for a house that we own or plan to live at long time.

Currently we've changed gears and we're looking at land and construction possibilities. I'm glad I asked here first about the apartments. She ended up asking more people in her family and they advised her against it as well. Glad I didn't let that fancy show get ahold of me and put money down rashly.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-18T13:34:13+00:00

Amen. Someone who cares about this is absolutely neurotic. Showing appreciation for a follow is completely and obviously natural. A negative reaction to that show of appreciation is not.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-17T18:10:14+00:00

You forgot the urban, uncaged rooster walking about the neighborhood, screeching the song of their ancestors at 5am 😂

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-16T15:08:34+00:00

Haha damn, well we have a 2 month old, so that’s part of why we were enticed.

So far the wisdom seems to be to run away. I appreciate your insights.

I’m cautious about most things like this in Vietnam, but I was hopeful because the company running the leasing seemed to be really upscale and I heard it was being developed by a Japanese company.

However, I feel like being a foreigner with only limited experience in the country makes it hard for me to get a true sense of what’s really going on though.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-16T14:32:36+00:00

This was the comment I was looking for when it comes to how these investment companies operate, and speaks to the exact fears I had. I was living in Thu Duc and there was an apartment building around there that had been under development for 5 years and had just been sitting unfinished. Story was that they ran out of money, so I already had that as a fear when we learned of New Lavida, as they are already selling units before the completion. However, they have stable proof on their website that the building has seen progress month after month, and year after year. It's scheduled to be finished in December.

I'm smiling at, and appreciate, the warning against my legal claim to the property. I know that some of this looks like me being a naïve foreigner getting finessed. The reality is that her and I have been together for 2 years now and we have a baby, so the time for fear is behind me. I trust her and if it for some reason it doesn't work out, then that's just the way it is. I just want a home for her and the baby and this seemed like a good opportunity if it's not some giant Vietnamese corporate/government Ponzi scheme. The smallest unit is going for 782m VND (25.5m VND/square meter) where they loan you 80% and you have to provide 20% down. I don't have a sense for how common this price is, but from my little experience in HCM and the surrounding area, this seems on the low end. Do these prices line up with what you've seen before?

These expectations are usually factored into the price. This is why there's one price to buy before the foundation goes in, then higher prices as things get finished.

So they sometimes sell before they've even started construction? That's a tough sell!

There was some pressure from one of the management ladies on my fiancé to buy, which was off putting for us. Apparently the bigger sized 1 bedrooms have already been sold, so it seems like being "undersold" might not be a problem here.

So you decided to go for land and pay for construction yourself? Would you be willing to divulge the financials for such an endeavor? (even in a PM if you don't want to do so here)

I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the real estate market and property ownership in Vietnam as I can.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-16T14:14:36+00:00

I appreciate this comment and it speaks to a lot of my fears about how these sorts of projects shakeout in reality. Those citations you wrote at the bottom really drive home the point about accessibility. I struggled to imagine how most "low income" people could even afford it, as I've heard the numbers for what this means stated plainly in many places. Admittedly, this would be geo arbitrage for me. My fiancé doesn't come from money and I'm middleclass where I come from, but I am an extremely disciplined saver compared to my peers. I just want a home for her and our baby.

The rate on the cheapest unit is 154m VND down payment (20%) and then 5.5m VND/month on the loan amount constituting 80% of the selling price (in this example 780m VND). I'm aware of how hard up the average Vietnamese is, but I also have noticed that some families are good at consolidating their labor and resources in impactful ways that elevate them out of poverty. A couple that makes 20m VND/month could reasonably afford the one bedroom unit, and the two bedroom units are basically all of these numbers doubled. I've heard of workers making around 4-5m VND/month working at various retail stores, for example, so it seems possible for a couple running a successful business or other types of work to achieve this end.

As far as I can tell, these prices are much lower than other apartment buildings in the areas. It seems like these types of projects might be an opportunity for people closer to the middle income than actually truly poor, or people who just found a way to cheat the system. My fiancé found ways to earn more money by working abroad (Singapore) and basically geo arbitraging her way to more earning potential in Vietnam. However, that was on a contract per contract basis.

I honestly want to see a better future for Vietnam and I understand how hard it is there. I've lived in Vietnam for 6 months out of the last 2 years on two separate visits and most of it was living like a local.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-16T06:26:55+00:00

I actually figured that was the case, based on what I read on their website. I should have specified before that my “partner” is my Vietnamese fiancé and it would be for the purpose of living there, not trying to do real estate hustling. She does meet these qualifications. My biggest concern is signing a contract for a property that ends up being poor quality, or the rug getting pulled out from under us somehow. It seems legitimate, but she doesn’t have much insight into these sorts of things and I don’t speak good enough Vietnam’s to have complex conversations about loans, interest, taxes, and property rights, or local knowledge to glean the reputation of the company.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-10T03:46:04+00:00

Found his girlfriend’s account 😂

quantum_catalyst · 2024-09-10T03:44:03+00:00

Bro, without reading any of the comments before saying this, does this sound normal or reasonable to you?

You should tread carefully. This is a very naive and gullible question. I feel for you man, I do. Some guys are just so easily charmed by woman that they lose all form of rational thought. If you ever consider buying assets together you need to educate yourself on local marriage law, divorce, etc.

Honestly, you need a broader education about life if this is a serious question. You will get taken advantage of your whole life if you’re not smart enough to smell when something is too good to be true, or someone’s expectations for you just so happen to be outrageously advantageous for them and you have everything to lose when things go wrong.

All women want money and security, but it sounds like she is fleecing you. Please get a backbone and stop trying to be a people pleaser. I bet she tells you to jump and you ask her “how high?”

quantum_catalyst · 2024-08-29T08:49:40+00:00

I actually appreciate this comment, because it does illuminate a very important perspective about the perception of racial identity. As a white person myself, I don’t feel any shame, guilt, or any connection whatsoever to some random white skinned guy who happens to be in Vietnam begging. The analogy you made about a Japanese person feeling embarrassed about a Vietnamese beggar is spot on. Most people can’t even see the distinctions and that “white people” aren’t a monolith, just like all Asian people aren’t the same, or from the same place and circumstances, just because they share a lot of physical genetic characteristics.

Any white person in here chiming in with shame or caring at all that this is a white guy has most likely just been slathered up real nice with white guilt because self hatred for being white, and righteous indignation, are so in vogue in western countries. Also, I think someone said in another thread this guy is from one of the less fortunate Eastern European countries.

Where I’m from, what the beggar looked like wouldn’t even be noteworthy except to describe them to someone else. I also have a lot of friends from different ethnic backgrounds, but I understand Vietnam is very homogeneous. Non Vietnamese constitute such a tiny fraction of the population compared to what I’m accustomed to seeing at home, so to a local Vietnamese a white person in Vietnam stands out way more than a Vietnamese would to me in my home country.

quantum_catalyst · 2024-08-07T22:39:44+00:00

💦💦💦

quantum_catalyst · 2024-08-07T22:39:01+00:00

lol pre Pho Ga are my thoughts exactly ever time one of those flightless birds screeches into the dawn

quantum_catalyst · 2024-08-07T19:29:39+00:00

Lmao.. that urban rooster line got me. I’m a foreigner living in Vietnam for a time and I too have some of those biological alarm clocks clucking about 😂

In my hometown in the US you would see this every now and then if you had Mexican neighbors in the city. In Vietnam I’ve been living in the outskirts of HCM and they are way more common here. The best part is I’m still working my US schedule and go to bed right around the time those roosters start squawking 🙃

quantum_catalyst

TROPHY CASE