I found out today my 129 was approved! so now...

What?

Heh. I've been reading through the posts about the packet 3 and 4 and I'm curious what I can do ahead of time to cut down on waiting time? I am currently filling out and printing blanks of all the forms I know will be included in the packets so that she knows exactly how to fill them out.

About how long does it take to go from NOA2 to Visa with HCMC? A friend of mine was able to get the 129F done in 5 months and another 3 months from NOA2 to Visa. Is 3 months the average if there are no issues or does it tend to drag out?

First of all, congratulation to you on the big step. Be strong to overcome the bigger steps still ahead of you.

If you read my signature (or search other timelines of similiar cases) you can get some ideas about your own timeline. If everthing goes well without major issue (we all hope so):

- ~2 weeks from NOA2 to Case arrive HCMC Consulate.
- ~6 weeks to get Packet 3
- ~6 weeks to get Packet 4
- ~2 weeks to interview

So I would say you can expect your interview in approximately 16 weeks (or 4 months). That would be sometimes in December. This is considered to be fairly quick timeline.

There's nothing much you can do to speed up the process except preparing for the Packet 3:

- Police record is valid for only 6 months and it should still be valid at the interview. So don't do it too early. Maybe your fiance should do it sometimes in late Sep or early Oct. This is only my guess.
- Vietnamese passport. Do it as soon as you can. Its expiration is in years. So it's not too early to have it.
- Prepare your I-864 (signed and notorized) with tax returns, letter employment, W-2s.
- Prepare your evidence: pictures, chat logs, letters, emails, boarding passes (trips to VN), receipts (in VN), or any evidence that might prove your bonafide relationship.

That's all I remember for now. You can read on other posts of how to prepare Packet 3. I had my wife brought Packet 3 to a Service at 147 Nguyen Kim, in District 10 for help. It costs like 20 USD. Packet 4 might cost more but should be less than 100 USD. Your fiance should bring the packet 3 and handed in herself. Do not let the service do that.

Good luck to you.

Yeah i did more reading around and it sounds like its a blast to get through this part of the journey. I've already started collecting my information (bank letters, work letters, etc). I will hopefully have all that done and sent to her shortly. I'll have her jump on the passport. Her mom is a real estate agent over there and has lots of professional connections. I'll see what she knows about the various services, etc.

I think my biggest three concerns are:
1. the brief history we have prior to getting engaged, less than 5 months, although the relationship will be past a year around oct.
2. I've only been to Vietnam once for a period of 4 weeks.
3. She can read and write english very well, however she is slow with speaking english as she doesn't use it often. I feel she will get frustrated using english in the interview and not do a good job, and i'm afraid that they will look down on her and not approve because she used a translator.
So i know what i need to pray about

Other than that my case seems pretty clear cut. First marriage for both of us, no kids, i make plenty of money at a very stable job, she's trained as a nail tech and will do that for work here, ages are close (23 and 21), she only has 1 uncle in the state and no other family until you go a few states away. She also has a memory like a steel trap and she puts me to shame with all the details about myself and my family and our relationship she knows. I wouldn't be surprised if she talks to my mother more often than i do online hehe.

I guess time will tell.

Congrats

Oh boy here we go. After skimming through about 10 pages of topics and reading into them I am now worrying myself. It looks like from what i can gather that only going 1 time will not look to good for me and the fact i was introduced to her by her uncle here is not good for me.

For proof of relationship i have a lot of stuff from my I129F (originals and copies of all) but i also have a TON more if i use wedding stuff... we did the traditional Buddhist wedding with a 100+ person after party but did not file the papers to have a legal marriage. i have TONS of receipts for all the pictures and studio work and etc,etc. would i be okay to use all that? will they be concerned that i am really married to her? I'm talking hundreds of pictures from the party, both professional and amature as well as receipts for every last ting bought that had to do with the wedding. some things have my name on it, some don't. credit card statements, money advances while in HCMC, etc. will also be included.

also to help with the ongoing, asides from our emails, text messages, letters, etc, i've been sending $100+ to her each month to help support her while she is training for nails and going to English school. I have a copy of the receipts some handwritten, some printed both on the stores letterhead showing the money is going from me to her.

also for reading enjoyment and insight into our not so normal love story (that started last Oct....)
after about 3 or 4 months into the relationship of emails, letters, chat, im, phone, etc we started talking about getting married to each other and decided it is what we wanted to do. we planned for me to be there from march 9-30 with the wedding on march 17th. we decided that when we met if the relationship continued as it did before we met in person then we would go ahead with it. Not only did i feel like i knew her for my whole life from the first time we were together, but over the time we were together our relationship developed so much and was so amazing. I know she is the girl of my dreams and it was meant to be and only by God could it have ever happened.

i just hope that the CO can believe we truly love each other like we do with everything we present to them. I'm assuming it would be best for Tram to tell them "we talked about being married on the internet and after we met we decided it was right and got engaged and had a bhuddist wedding" iif she is asked about how we got engaged. and be completely honest about our unusual love story. ARHGHGH! is how i feel about it. Its so much to explain for her in english, i know in Vietnamese she'd be fine though.

I just hope and pray that the government believes this is an honest and true relationship.




Okay enough of my worrying seeping out. (more like flood gating out) i feel a little better typing all of this even if no one ends up having any advice. I'm so glad this site is here heh. MAN and its only day 2 for me. 4 more months to go.

First: Congratulations on your NOA2. Big step!



Seem normal and traditional, doesn’t it? Not with HCMC, this is the typical route for marriage frauds to bring people here via K-1 Visa. I’m glad you got your work cut out in the early stage. Being worry is fine, you should be for this is NOT a walk in the park by all means. Get yourself ready for the journey. I see you were being very optimistic about the over-time of completion (3-4 months), I would say, you’re not far off, but there are cases never approved and must move on to K-3 (getting married in VN). I say, rather be doom and groom, give it 6 months  for the overall turn around time.



This is good, very good. Organize according the order of the events (think scrap-book). But also, keep in mind, NOT ONE SINGLE item will make or break your case. You just need to read up on VJ and make your best decision on what to be included and what is unnecessary. Note: Your case is NOT the their (HCMC) first , they’ve seen it all, mounts of evidence and all the photos, to HCMC, these can all be doctored up for a minimal fee (in Vietnam of course) 


Helpful but not much of evidence, at least a strong, supportive evidence. We had a long discussion on this matter last week. Ask Jonh.Austin. Sending money monthly is NOT an evidence of relationship. Receipt again, can be doctored up, so you will need to prove beyond the reasonable of the doubt these receipts are REAL  tough huh? I know!


And by BUHDA!


I like your way of thinking, but hoping and convincing the CO to approve your fiance’s K-1 Visa is two different things. No matter what happens during this journey, your ultimate goal is to get the PINK. Being honest is the core success of the whole thing, if you lie, they’ll find out. If you hide, they’ll go to your house. If you try something funny, they’ll delay and Deny! Last but not least, you will face the toughest emotional struggle you’ve never had, and feel hopeless sometimes (think: you’re here in the US, she’s over there in VN, can’t get there quick enough to hug her)


The government? Which one? Commies or Cheney’s? Don’t worry about the Govt, any govt, think: how can I tell my love story that CO will believe?


That’s all good, there are many veterrants who have been down this road before you, with worst case scenarios, and look where they are now… happy and wouldn’t think twice if they have to do it all over again. I know I would for Kim. The Vietnamese community here is strong and knowledgeable, sometimes giving you the shoulder to cry on, sometimes they just give you the “tough love” to get you back in focus and remember why you are doing this and you are here on VJ 

Be well,

Chuck and Kim

Well said Chuck and Kim.

congratulations to your approval!!!

Congrats to you and me on the NOA2 .... Thanks ChuckandKim

Congrats on the approval!!!

Hmmm, so i'm letting tram know its not going to be as easy as we have hoped. her only concern is that she can not fully explain anything in English. she can only give basic answers and may not answer the right question heheh. she wants to only talk in Vietnamese so that she can explain things better.

Also, i asked her what she thinks about me coming there for a week in Oct. to make everything seem more convincing. she is absolutely against me taking more time off from work and buying another $1300+ ticket. work would allow me 1 week (i currently have 2 weeks paid available) but i doubt much more as i already exhausted a weeks vacation and took a 2 week leave of absence to come the first time.

Thanks for the congrats all.

Neverseen,
One reason our visa was denied was because I made only 1 trip. It stated that in the green slip. I made a second trip after we were denied. I am planning a third trip when she has her interview in Feb-April time frame. I was also thinking about going during our mandatory Christmas Break at work. That gets to be very expensive. I'm not saying they deny every case for only 1 trip but they sometimes do. I would consider a second trip.
Good Luck to you!
Dave

Congratulations and Good Luck with the rest of your journey

Okay, I talked to her and some family/friends and decided that even if it doesn't help the process (i don't see why it wouldn't) it will help the relationship to see each other again (coming up quick on 6 months apart).

Now the tricky stuff....

I only have 2 weeks paid vacation right now.

Should I exhaust both weeks and go there around Oct. and then when she comes here just take a couple personal days to get her settled or should I take a week now and a week when she gets here? Will they look down on the fact that I am not able to stay there longer than 1 or 2 weeks do to work? Like I said before I already used another week and a couple weeks of leave to go the first time. I could also do like a week and a half and keep a few days vacation and then use a couple day personal for when she comes here. Does the length of stay really matter or does it just matter that I am there??

I assume any evidence of me being there in Oct. would be presented during the interview when they ask for it? Right now my 129F only shows i've been there once.

I think that i'm finally calming down and coming back down to Earth eheh. Knowing that I'll see her again in a couple months will make the packet waiting time fly and then hopefuly after i leave we can have some info on the interview and i can look forward to that date and time will fly again.

Thanks for more congrats all!

ohhh and another thing that will hopfully help me out.

We did a traditional wedding ceromony with the family and then had a 100+ person party following it that included all of her family and friends and even... the "mayor" (i guess that what he is) of District 2. hehe. I got there on a Sunday and the wedding/party was the following Saturday and then we had our honeymoon in DaLat the following monday - thursday. I should have the receipts from Saigon Tourist showing we went there together too, if not i could send Tram there to see if they have record of it.

Congratulations to you both, NeverSeen. Stay focused and big picture. Keep asking questions, until you're comfortable. There is a wealth of knowledge on the Vietnam side of VJ, evidenced from the replies you've received thus far from other members, as well as the pages and pages of previous topics/posts.

Best of luck to you both...

STL_HCMC

okay, i started a new post addressing my concerns so they don't get lost with all the congrats . I did a LOT more research andd think my concerns are legit. so thats why i posted them all in a nice easy to read post

Thanks again to all the congrats! it sure was a rough four months of waiting and not knowing anything!!! at least now there is more of a set time line with the DOS.

You should definitely take the remainder of your vacation time and go spend 2 weeks with her. A couple of personal days to help her get settled at the end of the year will be fine for you. It usually takes around 4 months after your NOA2 before the interview- so you are looking at December for interview. Worst case you could let her wait until the new year and use 2008 vacation to take her to Disneyland or whatever you need to do.

No reason to assume any evidence of you being there in October would be presented during the interview. Make sure of it Dammit! Your fiance is in control of that. Make sure she has a copy of all evidence submitted with your I-129F. They are going to want it again at the interview.

Great thought, Vietnam. As of the time that we went through HCMC, my wife's K-1 visa was valid for 6 months after the date of issuance after her interview. In our case, she was approved in July, but due to my employment in Vietnam, we did not return to the United States until Oct 2006.

STL_HCMC