Name: Thuy
Birth Date: 1947

Under Case Number 0000 she was approved in 1992, but her husband, Tran Quoc, was not approved. She received an IOM Card, passport, and a date for shots. Because her husband couldn't go he kept all of the papers and sold them to someone else. He started treating her very bad and she got a divorce from him in 1996. She had requested from the courts to get a divorce on 10 January 1995. They could not find her husband and the courts would not give her divorce papers until one year later.

In the meantime she went to Nha Trang and got a marriage certificate on the 5th of July 1995, with her present husband, Phan Be Hoang, who was born in 1965. Also in 1996 she was contacted by the Consulate to come in for an interview under Case Number 0000. She got married in 1995 and at this time she submitted an application with her present husband and two children. She was rejected because of no proof of AmerAsian Status.

Information from mother from a letter:
My name is Nhu Nghia, and I was born 1947. I am living at Tinh An Giang. I am applying for my daughter to go to the US as an AmerAsian. In September 1968 I applied for a job at an American office at Phan Rang. Two or three days later I was accepted and went to work at a shop selling candies, hams, cheese, milk and other things.

After two or three months I got acquainted with an American soldier. He was from a fighting unit wearing a green uniform with to yellow stripes on the shoulder. Sometimes he was dressed like a civilian with white shirt and black pants.

His name is Bill and after a short time we fell in love. Three months after I met him I came to live with him in a rented house. Every month he gave me from $100 to $150. He used to come and see me on Saturday and Sunday. He left his camp around 9 PM or 10PM to come and see me, and would return to his camp about 3 AM so as not to be arrested by the AP. Sometimes he would not come to see me for a whole month.

I am not sure why because I didn't speak English. I do not know very much about him but we were happy together.

I became pregnant in1970 and my daughter was born on 11 April 1971. I named my daughter Bich Thuy. After my daughters birth, Bill kept on seeing me. I took a maternity leave from my job. When my daughter was 7 or 8 months old, Bill kept on seeing us. As my daughter's name was difficult for Bill to say he called her Mi Mi.

At the beginning of 1972, I no longer saw Bill. I don't know why he stopped seeing us, as we were getting along fine. The last day I saw him he said many things to me that I didn't understand. Some days later I went to his camp and asked the AP's where he was, and they told me he had gone home. I was very sad and ashamed to have a daughter without a husband.

I tried my best to take care of my daughter. I played the role of a mother and father at the same time. I cannot get a good job because I am the mother of an AmerAsian child. I can only do manual work. I am eager to see my daughter get a visa to go to the USA so that she can join her father.

I think she has the right to go to America as she is the daughter of an American. After April of 1975 I was so scared by the VC that I burned all of the pictures and letters from Bill, and I even had to hide my daughter. When the interviewer asked me if I still had any pictures, I said no.

History Statement:
Taken by Jon Tinquist and Do Bao Chau
When I was about 15 or 17 months old my father went back to America. I feel my father really loved me and he called me Mi Mi. We lived in Phan Rang at this time. My mother was married with a Vietnamese man and had a daughter before she met my father. After my father left and went back to the US we had a miserable life, because my mother could only find manual work for little pay.

My mother always told me my father really loved me and every time he saw me he would hug me. When I was five years old my mother sent me to kindergarten school and the teachers didn't like me, so I quit. I stayed at home and no one came to ask me to go to school, like they did to other Vietnamese children.

People did not call me by my name, but they called me My Lai, (AmerAsian). When I was 10 years old my mother sent me to a private primary school. My mother didn't have the money to pay so I had to quit after 2 months. My teachers asked me to sit in the last row in school, and they rarely graded my papers.

My classmates would treat me bad and they called me My Lai. They would not let me join in any of the games that they played. They would say "My Lai get away". I am proud to be an AmerAsian and I did not get angry with people when they treated me bad.

I am proud because I have an American father, but sad that my classmates always tried to insult me. After I quit the private school, I went selling fruit at the market. I would walk around and try to sell the fruit and I was always teased, even by the adults. They would say, "Hey, you are AmerAsian, why don't you get out of this country". I kept silent because I didn't know how to answer such a question.

In 1983 my mother did the paperwork for me to apply for the AmerAsian Program, with just my mother and me, Case Number 27 AC 0645. Sometime later we had moved to Long Xuyen and did not get the letter the Consulate sent to us at the old address.

When I was 13 my half sister died, because my mother didn't have money to pay for her treatment. When I was 17 years old I worked as a maid in different houses. I only received 30,000 VND a month and I would stay at the house. Sometimes my employer would slap me for miss doing the housework. I dared not tell my mother about it because I did not want her to be upset.

I had to get up at 4 AM and went to bed at 10 PM every day, 7 days a week, with no days off. I worked for three different places for 18 months. During that time I saved money and used it to buy fruit and sell it in the street again. I had to carry it and try to sell it.

I did this for several months and then my mother and I moved to Long Xuyen. We rented a small piece of land and built a small hut on it to live in, and we worked in the rice fields to make money. I would earn about 15,000 VND a day, but it was very hard work.

People did not openly treat me bad, but they despised me, and I could see it in their looks and people refused to help me anytime I was in need.

My mother became sick and we didn't have money to take her to the doctor. I met Tran Quoc, and he offered to help my mother and pay for the medical the treatment. In return I had to accept him as my husband and let him do all of the paperwork so he could go to the US with me.

He did a wedding party to marry me. I received a new case number 45 AC 0026. I had to move and live with him in his house until September 1992 when I had the interview with the Consulate, and I was approved without my husband. I had an IOM Card, passport, and a date for shots. After the interview, because he knew he was not approved, he started treating me very bad. One time he slapped me so hard that blood came out and I became deaf in one ear for several months.

My husband kept the file and tried to sell it to another person, but the buyer wanted my presence before he would buy it. After this I left him and went back to live with my mother and I sold snacks again. Right after that I found out I was 3 months pregnant. My oldest son was born on 15 April 1993. Shortly after this my husband's family moved to another place to work, but I didn't know where.

When my son was born I would help at a coffee shop selling coffee and also go to the rice fields. At most I could earn about 200,000 VND a month. In 1994 I met Phan Be Hoang, born in 1965, and we got married in May 1995. He is very kind and helps my son and me a lot.

Hoang and I also have two children together. My second son, Phan Thien Long, was born on 20 December 1995. My third son, Phan Le Thien Tai, was born on 9th of October 1999. My husband and I earn a living as porters, carrying items from the truck to the store in the market. Both of us together can earn 50,000 VND a day, at the most.

In 1996 I received a letter for an interview with the Consulate, and then I received a rejection letter for lack of evidence of being an AmerAsian. Every year since then I have gone to the Consulate with my file, and they would just say go home.

Then they would send me a letter saying the last interview showed you are not AmerAsian. In 2002, I met Mrs. Phuong Watts and she said she would help me with my file. I gave her copies of my file but she has not helped me at all and she still keeps my file. I have not heard anything from the Consulate since 2002.

The hardest thing about being AmerAsian is that everyone thinks I am AmerAsian and treats bad because of it, but the American Consulate says I am not AmerAsian. I do not know how to prove to the Consulate that I am AmerAsian.

I am proud to be AmerAsian because I have an American father. I do want to join him in America and to be recognized as his daughter.