Noticed something

[b_weeks 6]

I know if I were a CO I'd do a double check on someone who just barely meets the minimum poverty guidelines, doesn't have many assets and has a shaky job. Red flags fly even tho they qualify.

Compare to someone who makes well above the guidelines , owns property and has been employed in a established company for years.

They'd be a "shoe in".

Also take a look at the beneficiary. If they don't speak good English and don't have much education. They will have a difficult time getting a decent job and stand a good chance of ending up with the US paying for their "nursing home".

Compare with a bene who speaks excellent English and is a certified nurse and will end up taking care of the above example in a nursing home at $40 an hour.

You tell me which one is a asset to the our country.

Get's back to! "Money talks and Bullsh!t walks"!!

I really think money has alot to do with the decision, BUT, I also think you have to present a loving, truthful relationship inside a few pages of paper, pictures, and other evidence.

When you submit a cover letter stating "We are going to get married when she goes to the US" just doesn't cut it. You need to be taking the few mintes you have in front of that CO painting a picture not only in what your Fiance says, but how your documents read!!! It's like condensing a "Harlequin Romance Novel" in a couple of paragraphs.

Some people concentrate too much on the forms, or the evidence, or too many pictures, but dont know how to describe their relationship in a way that makes a CO say "That's Love"!!!

This is not intended to insult anyone but for those of you reading this who HAVE NOT filed their papers, or who HAVE NOT had their interview at the embassy, PLEASE put yourself in the CO's shoes, read through your papers and see if it paints the right picture. BETTER YET, give them to someone else that doesn't know about your relationship to read, and see what they say.

PAINT A PICTURE!!!

Edited March 30, 2009 by b_weeks

[dalegg 143]

When you submit a cover letter stating "We are going to get married when she goes to the US" just doesn't cut it. You need to be taking the few mintes you have in front of that CO painting a picture not only in what your Fiance says, but how your documents read!!! It's like condensing a "Harlequin Romance Novel" in a couple of paragraphs.

Some people concentrate too much on the forms, or the evidence, or too many pictures, but dont know how to describe their relationship in a way that makes a CO say "That's Love"!!!

This is not intended to insult anyone but for those of you reading this who HAVE NOT filed their papers, or who HAVE NOT had their interview at the embassy, PLEASE put yourself in the CO's shoes, read through your papers and see if it paints the right picture. BETTER YET, give them to someone else that doesn't know about your relationship to read, and see what they say.

PAINT A PICTURE!!!

Actually, you are dead on. In our case, as far as evidence goes we had everything I had been to Vietnam 4 times before her interview and it was like 18 months so we had amassed many phone records, E-mails, photos, you name it. What impressed them the most was the letters. We would write eachother actual letters once a week, so when she went to the interview she had about 120 letters in her bag. 60 from her and 60 from me. The interview didn't take that long. They asked my wife to show them a couple letters, and one of the letters she gave them was a semi-erotic letter that was pretty personal. She read it and it impressed them because it showed we had already established intimacy. When it comes to the interview, you can't be shy about that sort of thing unfortunately. Just remember the person in front of you is someone that you hopefully will never see again in your life.

[bryonm4 0]

the sterotype of people that get forign brides are older men that are rich and marry women 10 to 20 years younger than them. I don't have to go to another country to get a beautifull women 10 to 20 years younger then myself I can get that here. Its not about sex or arm candy for me its about love. Google the phrase "twin flame" and you will know what im talking about. My wife and I are the same age and its like we can communicate telepathically. I cant live without her I have spent almost every penny I have saved the last 10 years for us to be together and have taken a second job I work 67 hours every week. I will fight for her with my last breath even if I have to give up my country to be with her. Neither of us have done anything wrong besides loving each other neither of us have been married or engaged before so we are starting our own love story. There are very few people that would go threw what Her and I have gone threw to be together and in my heart I truely believe she will get her visa because if she doesn't then nobody deserves a visa.

[Melrose Plant 1]

Bryon, I disagree with your original assertion that it's all about the money. I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination. I went out of town, left my son for long periods of time, worked (and mostly froze) my a$$ off to make enough money to have all this happen.

Don't worry, she will have her visa in the end if you don't give up. You will eventually prevail, it's just a question of when.

Edited March 31, 2009 by Melrose Plant

[Jack & Xuan 0]

the sterotype of people that get forign brides are older men that are rich and marry women 10 to 20 years younger than them. I don't have to go to another country to get a beautifull women 10 to 20 years younger then myself I can get that here. Its not about sex or arm candy for me its about love. Google the phrase "twin flame" and you will know what im talking about. My wife and I are the same age and its like we can communicate telepathically. I cant live without her I have spent almost every penny I have saved the last 10 years for us to be together and have taken a second job I work 67 hours every week. I will fight for her with my last breath even if I have to give up my country to be with her. Neither of us have done anything wrong besides loving each other neither of us have been married or engaged before so we are starting our own love story. There are very few people that would go threw what Her and I have gone threw to be together and in my heart I truely believe she will get her visa because if she doesn't then nobody deserves a visa.

I think you are WAY off when you say "There are very few people that would go threw what Her and I have gone threw to be together". Do you really think you are the only person that feels they have gone through a tough time? Read my time line and the time line of many others on this site for the matter. It seems to me that EVERY one of us on this site have had to jump through hoops. Granted some less then others, though they still had to do some jumping. People here are here becaus of the tough time and are trying to help each other out with advice and most of all SUPPORT.

Please try to understand that you are not the ONLY one.

Just some thoughts.

[bryonm4 0]

If it wasnt' for this site and the support I recived I would already be in Vietnam. My relatives, this board, and the people at work have been so supportive.

Tran's brother that lives in NY lost his job a few months ago he wants to move here and get a job but I tried to tell her if her brother moves in with me that will look suspicous even if he doesnt live with me just by moving to the same town could hurt our case.

so right now I'm one of her familys main source of income most of the money I send Tran goes toward her family to pay bills and buy food the thought of them denying my visa because they think im getting paid off (which they do quit often without any proof) is enough to push me off the deep end. I don't enjoy working 67 hours per week actually I'm working 72 hours up untill the time I leave for my trip then when I come back I will be back down to 67 hours.

It's a known fact that most people give up after a denial I have never given up on anybody in my life and I'm not about to start now. Money does play a big part in this I do know that but it is also possible to get the visa without having allot of money. I keep trying to make excuses to justfy there denial to make sense of all this but thats getting harder and harder when I hear cases that were approved that had the same red flags as mine. Maybe my case was weak since we only had about 10 pictures maybe we should have been kissing in some of them but she is shy about kissing in front of a camera. We had allot of evedence however most of it we didn't have untill the lawyer asked us to start saving it wich was after when we got engaged. Maybe that hurt our case. Will we be able to recover from it I don't know but I'm sure going to try.

[AnhSau 0]

My My My...

All this fuss over bureaucracy. Tis tis..

My Wife picked up her visa today in HCM. Travel arrangements are being made as we speak.

As to the qualifications and red flags...

I made one trip to Vietnam that lasted two weeks. I married her in Vung Tau. Returned to the states, remained in touch while processing the paperwork myself.

She has an 18 year old son that also received a visa. My income is modest. Not high, not low.

I believe it is how you present yourself. In person and in documentation. Nothing more.

I know people in high income brackets that if I were a CO I would deny, no matter how well they are meeting the standard requirements.

You must be a salesman and present a solid game plan. That is the key.

Ta Ta

[SuperDuper! 230]

When you submit a cover letter stating "We are going to get married when she goes to the US" just doesn't cut it. You need to be taking the few mintes you have in front of that CO painting a picture not only in what your Fiance says, but how your documents read!!! It's like condensing a "Harlequin Romance Novel" in a couple of paragraphs.

Some people concentrate too much on the forms, or the evidence, or too many pictures, but dont know how to describe their relationship in a way that makes a CO say "That's Love"!!!

This is not intended to insult anyone but for those of you reading this who HAVE NOT filed their papers, or who HAVE NOT had their interview at the embassy, PLEASE put yourself in the CO's shoes, read through your papers and see if it paints the right picture. BETTER YET, give them to someone else that doesn't know about your relationship to read, and see what they say.

PAINT A PICTURE!!!

one of the letters she gave them was a semi-erotic letter that was pretty personal. She read it and it impressed them because it showed we had already established intimacy. When it comes to the interview, you can't be shy about that sort of thing unfortunately. Just remember the person in front of you is someone that you hopefully will never see again in your life.

Consider the CO's like doctors who exam patients all day long. Can you imagine an OB/GYN? He is looking at HooHaas all day, and then the wife wants his attention on hers at night. When you seen one couple madly in love with passionate letters, you seen them all, and it all becomes sterile and non-titillating. DOnt be shy to have passionate communications. Then the CO will know you are bonafide.

Edited March 31, 2009 by itzallgood

[hniHnitsuJ 8]

When you seen one couple madly in love with passionate letters, you seen them all, and it all becomes sterile and non-titillating. DOnt be shy to have passionate communications. Then the CO will know you are bonafide.

I totally agreed with this. is not all about money, is all about love.

[b_weeks 6]

If it wasnt' for this site and the support I recived I would already be in Vietnam. My relatives, this board, and the people at work have been so supportive.

Tran's brother that lives in NY lost his job a few months ago he wants to move here and get a job but I tried to tell her if her brother moves in with me that will look suspicous even if he doesnt live with me just by moving to the same town could hurt our case.

so right now I'm one of her familys main source of income most of the money I send Tran goes toward her family to pay bills and buy food the thought of them denying my visa because they think im getting paid off (which they do quit often without any proof) is enough to push me off the deep end. I don't enjoy working 67 hours per week actually I'm working 72 hours up untill the time I leave for my trip then when I come back I will be back down to 67 hours.

It's a known fact that most people give up after a denial I have never given up on anybody in my life and I'm not about to start now. Money does play a big part in this I do know that but it is also possible to get the visa without having allot of money. I keep trying to make excuses to justfy there denial to make sense of all this but thats getting harder and harder when I hear cases that were approved that had the same red flags as mine. Maybe my case was weak since we only had about 10 pictures maybe we should have been kissing in some of them but she is shy about kissing in front of a camera. We had allot of evedence however most of it we didn't have untill the lawyer asked us to start saving it wich was after when we got engaged. Maybe that hurt our case. Will we be able to recover from it I don't know but I'm sure going to try.

Kepp your head on straight and don't give up. None of us would be here if we did. I know sometimes people are very forward on these boards. I know I am. Some people don't discover this board until 1/2 way throught the process.

Do what your lawyer says. Get together as much evidence as possible. Try and get your girl over her shyness for a couple of pictures (we're not saying make a porno).

I was fortunate enough to find VJ before I filed , and have a cople friends that have done the same, so I knew somewhat, what I was getting myself into.

Stay strong, keep the faith, and ever give up if this is what you truly believe in....

Edited April 1, 2009 by b_weeks

[bryonm4 0]

well if I look at it from this point of view

Last Time

Relationship is Legit never lied or forged documents this alone should be enough to get the visa

Made 1 trip it was the minumum

No denial on file that is a good thing

Wife english level is that of a 4 year old

Had about 50 letters saved

Had about 10 emails saved

Had 200 screen prints from Yahoo messinger

Have less than 10 pictures none of them kissing however they said we looked good together so I don't think that hurt us

Filed K1 that is a harder visa to get

Had phone records for about 1 year showing about 3 or 4 calls a week threw 3rd party vendor

Had a few money transfers about 1k worth

Had gifts delievered for all important holidays

Never found Visa Journey

Had bad attorny should have never used attorny but im stupid when it comes to legal stuff and this is very important to me

She was nervous during the interview

This Time

Relationship is Legit never lied or forged documents this alone should be enough to get the visa

Will have made 5 trips counting the interview trip with one trip where we travel outside the country to china or thialand

Denial on file that will hurt our case this could get us denied a second time

Wife english level is that of a 6 year old

Have over 100 letters

Have over 300 emails showing we can communicate

Have over 400 screen prints from Yahoo messinger

Have saved log files and have her typing more instead of just talking to show we can communicate

Have more than 100 pictures at least 10 of them kissing however they said we looked good together so I don't think that hurt us. When I look at our faces in the pictures you can see how much in love we are

Filed CR1 that visa has the best chance

Had phone records for about 2 year showing about 3 or 4 calls a week for first year and showing calls every day starting in december of 2008.Calls are still threw 3rd party vendor where I only pay 4.5 cents a minute

Have many money transfers about 15k worth

Had gifts delievered for all important holidays

Found Visa Journey

Have good attorny that comes recommended

Have marriage certificate

Wedding reception had over 200 people with many pictures of the people

Have her singed up for my health insurance, dental, vision, benificiary on my life insurance, 401k benificiary, and have her on my taxes returns w9

have about 20 congradulation letters from famly and friends on wedding also picture is in our weekly work news letter

Have 2 affidavids one from her brother and one from my friends saying our relationship is legit

Possible help from congressman

She will have more confidence durning the interview because of past experience

The import thing is we are legit and never lied or forged documents so I believe she will be here it might take 5 years but she will be here. The only thing that could come back to bite us is that we didn't start collecting our evendince until I hired an attorny and he told us to that was feb of 2008 but we got engaged in december of 2007. So very little evedince saved prior to feb of 2008. I used pennytalk and they only go back 90 days so my phone records only went back to november of 2007. Didn't start saving screen pritns form yahoo messinger until feb of 2008 also. The important thing is keep telling the trueth and prove we are legit

[Hiep & Thao 0]

I don't disagree with any comments here, I was sweating with my case as well after reading and hearing too many horror story. However, my fiancee talked to many people on her interview date, and thought that many fiancees/wifes/husbands in the interview room did not know the paperwork and the petitioners' lives that well. Quite a few women in the room had no idea how much the guys really make, how much saving do they have, what kind of paperwork they're holding in their hand (ie. no idea which one is income statements). I think if a couple plan for the future they must have talked about these things w/o anybody asking. You can argue that Love is all we need, but I'm sure the Consulate has seen too many divorces.

So... wish you all lots of luck, and DON'T LET YOUR LOVED ONES HAVE TO STUDY ABOUT YOU ON A SHEET OF PAPER WHILE WAITING FOR THEIR INTERVIEWS

[Teacher Mark 53]

I don't disagree with any comments here, I was sweating with my case as well after reading and hearing too many horror story. However, my fiancee talked to many people on her interview date, and thought that many fiancees/wifes/husbands in the interview room did not know the paperwork and the petitioners' lives that well. Quite a few women in the room had no idea how much the guys really make, how much saving do they have, what kind of paperwork they're holding in their hand (ie. no idea which one is income statements). I think if a couple plan for the future they must have talked about these things w/o anybody asking. You can argue that Love is all we need, but I'm sure the Consulate has seen too many divorces.

So... wish you all lots of luck, and DON'T LET YOUR LOVED ONES HAVE TO STUDY ABOUT YOU ON A SHEET OF PAPER WHILE WAITING FOR THEIR INTERVIEWS

Very interesting point. I have never thought about that.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Have to agree that the wife/fiancee should know everything about you. My wife and I chatted a lot about my whole life from birth to the now. Every age and facet of my life. I even made sure she could pronounce the names of people and places properly. We went over everything and I was impressed by her remembering so much. She probably knew me better than anyone by the time of her interview.

Her interview was tough and she was nervous but very well prepared for any questions asked about anything. She even asked to do it in Vietnamese as she said her English was still not too good.

[bryonm4 0]

Have to agree that the wife/fiancee should know everything about you. My wife and I chatted a lot about my whole life from birth to the now. Every age and facet of my life. I even made sure she could pronounce the names of people and places properly. We went over everything and I was impressed by her remembering so much. She probably knew me better than anyone by the time of her interview.

Her interview was tough and she was nervous but very well prepared for any questions asked about anything. She even asked to do it in Vietnamese as she said her English was still not too good.

My fiancee is very smart however she has had only 4 years of schooling then another 2 years at a refugee camp. She has a hard time understanding certain concepts and most of the stuff she will not understand until she is over here. Most of the people I have met in Vietnam seem to think most americans are rich. When I told her I couldn't afford 200$ for a new pair of shoes she was shocked.

I personally think 99.99% of the people that post here are all legit. Some have more passion than others but that doesnt make them any more or less legit. If everything is equal 2 people both hire the same attorny both are prepaired equally for the interview both are legit both have the same red flags both have the same interviewer all the variables are the same and 1 person is denied while one person gets the visa. There are 2 ways to look at this

1. People that get approved are luck

2, People that get denied are unlucky

Does the consulate say after they see you trying for 5 years to bring your wife over

1. He must love her he has been trying for 5 years lets give him the visa

2. This is fraud because he has been getting denied for 5 years

What constitues fraud? What counts against the consulate? If a person gets married then devorced after a year and his wife starts living on welfare is that a ding against them?

Maybe most of the cases that the consulate denys has nothing to do with suspected fraud maybe they are acting like marrage consulars and making a decsion off of if they think a marriage will last or not last and they are basing there approvals off of that.

Just something to think about