Hi, I am ready to start my I-129F petition and I have a few questions:

1) At the top part of the form where I am to fill-in her name and address, should I use the Vietnamese accent marks? Or should I not use them and then write it properly with accent marks in part 16 (where it says to do it using the native alphabet if not using Roman letters)? But Vietnamese does use Roman letters, it just has a few extra accent marks, right? A little confusing!

2) As far as the photos of us goes, should we use the 3/4 frontal view as described in the I-129F instructions? I saw a website which claimed that they stopped using those and went back to a full frontal passport photo, but that website was 2-3 years old. Did they go back to using the 3/4 format again, or do the I-129F instructions contain incorrect, unupdated information?

Thank you very much!

PS: I went through this whole process back in 2002 for a girl in Thailand, and she came to the US but we never married. Hopefully it won't affect me from getting a K-1 visa for my new Vietnamese fiancee... And the process differences between Thailand and Vietnam may be a little different, so I want to make sure I do it properly.

Hi Scott,

Welcome to VisaJourney!

1). I didn't include any accent marks in our I-129F petition. Part 16 of our I-129F petition, every box was marked NONE.

2). Link: Nonimmigrant Visa Photograph Requirements
Link: US Department of State: Nonimmigrant Visa for a Fiance(e) (K-1)

Best of luck to you both!

STL_HCMC

Scott and Tracy Ann,

Congratulations and Welcome to the Vietnam section of this great forum.
Echo what STL_HCMC said, frontal passport picture is what they want nowadays.

You mentioned, your last K-1 never got married? Did she return to Thailand? USCIS and State Department may ask you where your EX-Beneficiary is now. Just to make sure you have an answer and backup evidence.

Good luck!

Yes, she returned to Thailand a week or two before her visa ended and that is where she is now.


Another question regarding the I-129F form:

I met her through a website, Jewels of the Blue Dragon, an international dating site for Vietnamese girls wishing to meet foreign men. It is run by a Canadian company and they only charge $10 per lady's address to start a correspondance... they do not sell mail-order brides nor do they charge the girls any money to be on the site or any fee if they find you and get married. So does this constitute using an "international marriage broker" as asked in part 19 of form I-129F???

What is the definition of the Law on IMB? I am not sure if this dating service is qualified under this law.

i cant quote specifically the rules on determining "imb" but i read it other day.

im beginning to think that anytime you have spent money in any way to meet your "so" or to chat then that is considered "imb". having said that, if you begin chatting in another forum such as yahoo messenger and all your correspondence is unrelated to where you first connected i dont know how uscis will know.

i met relyn on filipina after i paid over $100 to be able to read the ladies' messages to me or to contact any of the ladies. it is very hard to determine because no where on filipina heart does it claim to be marriage broker. on the other hand some of the ladies arent looking to get married.

relyn and i are still waiting on her annulment so havent done the 129f yet but i will say we met on filipina heart but say also no we didnt meet through "imb". good luck to all!!!!

patrick and relyn,

in deed this IMB law is TBD. Say, people meet and greet on MySpace all day long... doubt it they would be subject to the same condition.