Evidence of a relationship and of financial support?

[HungNhi 9]

Hello everyone. I just registered and am hoping to start the k1 process soon. I have a few questions and probably will have plenty more when i begin the process (once im back in the US) that i hope ya'll would be willing to help me with.

A little back story: I (24) met Nhi (23) back in july of 2013 while visiting my family here in VN and continued to hang out with her for about 1 month before going back home. At this point, we were head over heals for each other. After 7 months of long distance talking to her on average of 4-5 hours a day, i finally saved enough money from work (~7k) to go back to VN and visit her at which point, we decided to get engaged (pretty fast, i know). Ive been here for 4 months now and am now getting ready to go back home to start the process of hopefully bringing her to the US within the next year or so.

My questions:

1) My parents as well as hers decided to proceed with a wedding (dam cuoi) instead of just letting us get engaged (dinh hon) however we have not filled out any paper work to actually be married here in vietnam. I was wondering if the pictures taken from this ceremony could/should be included in the proof of a bonafide relationship? Would these pictures jeopardize me being able to sponsor her as my fiance since they are of a dam cuoi?

2) In all of our conversations/texts/chats, we refer to eachother as "chong" and "vo." Would this cause a problem since the meaning of these words are "husband" and "wife" respectively? They are more like pet names and most younger couples go by these pet names instead of the traditional "anh" and "em."

3) I dont think i'll be able to make the 100% poverty level in terms of income by tax time this year since ive been here for 4 months and thus would only have ~6 months of income on my tax forms. Last year, i only made ~9k since i visited VN for 2 months, worked part time and went to school. I just completed my bachelors in Mathematics and Economics and will be returning to the US with a job making ~30k/ year or so. If i get an affidavit of support, will this make it better or are they pretty strict on evidence of financial support and meeting the minimum requirement? I hope I wont have to wait until 2016 until she is able to come over.

Thank you for all the help. I can provide more information if needed and can clear up anything that i left ambiguous. Thanks again

-Hung

[Anonymous885 44]

1) I would not recommend to do wedding party even though you guys will not register for marriage certificate. The picture of this wedding party will do more harmful than helpful. If they believe that you guys get married, then you guys are not eligible for K-1 visa. Overall, I would not recommend to do so. You just need to have a big engagement party but I recommend not to wear a Western dress style. Also, you have to make sure her family not putting the sign that has the word" married" or in the invitation card too.

2) She can explain to the interviewer why you guys use " chong ", and " vo". These words are most common used for young couples including me lol. They did not even look at chat/ text or letter from my wife and I.

3) You need to know that HCM Consulate is hardly to accept co-sponsor. They did say that " the officer will determine whether accepting co-sponsor or not at the interview day". You have to be at least making above poverty lines from earning through your employer or your money.

Good luck.

[Jyr457 1]

Hello everyone. I just registered and am hoping to start the k1 process soon. I have a few questions and probably will have plenty more when i begin the process (once im back in the US) that i hope ya'll would be willing to help me with.

A little back story: I (24) met Nhi (23) back in july of 2013 while visiting my family here in VN and continued to hang out with her for about 1 month before going back home. At this point, we were head over heals for each other. After 7 months of long distance talking to her on average of 4-5 hours a day, i finally saved enough money from work (~7k) to go back to VN and visit her at which point, we decided to get engaged (pretty fast, i know). Ive been here for 4 months now and am now getting ready to go back home to start the process of hopefully bringing her to the US within the next year or so.

My questions:

1) My parents as well as hers decided to proceed with a wedding (dam cuoi) instead of just letting us get engaged (dinh hon) however we have not filled out any paper work to actually be married here in vietnam. I was wondering if the pictures taken from this ceremony could/should be included in the proof of a bonafide relationship? Would these pictures jeopardize me being able to sponsor her as my fiance since they are of a dam cuoi?

2) In all of our conversations/texts/chats, we refer to eachother as "chong" and "vo." Would this cause a problem since the meaning of these words are "husband" and "wife" respectively? They are more like pet names and most younger couples go by these pet names instead of the traditional "anh" and "em."

3) I dont think i'll be able to make the 100% poverty level in terms of income by tax time this year since ive been here for 4 months and thus would only have ~6 months of income on my tax forms. Last year, i only made ~9k since i visited VN for 2 months, worked part time and went to school. I just completed my bachelors in Mathematics and Economics and will be returning to the US with a job making ~30k/ year or so. If i get an affidavit of support, will this make it better or are they pretty strict on evidence of financial support and meeting the minimum requirement? I hope I wont have to wait until 2016 until she is able to come over.

Thank you for all the help. I can provide more information if needed and can clear up anything that i left ambiguous. Thanks again

-Hung

Forget about the US Consulate and its practice on requesting an "engagement ceremony" for K-1 petitions, the Vietnamese gov't authority REQUIRES a couple to have a valid MARRIAGE LICENSE before having a marriage ceremony/party.

The local VNese police has the legal authority to come to any wedding party/ceremony (indicated by the marriage sign/poster (Vu Quy for the bride or Tan Hon for the groom) and ask for the marriage certificate/paperwork. If you can't show them the requested document, they will shut down that marriage party.

The US Consulate understands well (and will most likely address this issue at the interview) that for VNese custom, it's expected that people should ALWAYS have an engagement ceremony before the wedding ceremony or filing for the marriage certicate/license.

You should be very CAREFUL on which step to take next in regards to filing petition for your wife. You have violated a serious Vietnamese marriage law!

[HungNhi 9]

So the very first thing i should do is bring this up to her parents as well as mines that we should NOT do the wedding ceremony yet (and likely not at all). Can we call it a different ceremony (Tea ceremony) and proceed with the traditions or should we just avoid this all together? As for the dinh hon, that was done already as well as taking the scenery pictures. In these, i wore a suit and she wore a western style dress since it was included in the scenery picture package we bought. Would this cause a problem if these pictures were sent as evidence of our engagement party?

Thank you for the replies! I just want everything to go as smoothly as possible so we can close the distance on our relationship.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Have it but do not correspond about it in chats that will be submitted to the consulate for review of an ongoing relationship. The Consulate does know that this happens so the family can have their traditions. The Consulate will understand. If asked about be honest and say that y'all but had a small ceremony to satisfy the families as y'all were marrying in the states and they could not attend.

Need to have a small engagement ceremony though and make sure this is prominent in chats and get pics to show the Consulate.

So the very first thing i should do is bring this up to her parents as well as mines that we should NOT do the wedding ceremony yet (and likely not at all). Can we call it a different ceremony (Tea ceremony) and proceed with the traditions or should we just avoid this all together? As for the dinh hon, that was done already as well as taking the scenery pictures. In these, i wore a suit and she wore a western style dress since it was included in the scenery picture package we bought. Would this cause a problem if these pictures were sent as evidence of our engagement party?

Thank you for the replies! I just want everything to go as smoothly as possible so we can close the distance on our relationship.

[siennaslammer 8]

HungNhi:

last year, i started going down that path of getting officially married in VN, with getting local & state signatures and approval from VN embassy in the US. and even started the forms in Vn with mental health checks..so after about $700-800 USD.... then, after speaking to my immigration lawyer friend here in the US. I stopped all of that and went with this K1 VISA route. less paperwork and stress, so far. and i do believe it is faster and cost less as well.

After 1 year of getting to know each other & visited 2x (very short visits compare to yours), we got engaged in VN - with all the traditional VN 'dam hoi' fanfares - it was great!!

currently, in the process for K1 - fiancee VISA (I-129F) now, see my timeline - she just got her letter yesterday to officially apply for US K1 VISA !!

hoping for a late Summer arrival to the US :-)

will get married here once she arrives (and of course within 90 days) then submit change of status to permanent resident

then will head back to VN within 2 years to have a VN wedding there.

These are my suggestions - mere suggestions:

IMO, I would suggest to slow down just a tad... you are going 60mph in a 30mph zone. Trust me, I know.

since it looks like it can take 8 - 12 months to get a K1 VISA once you start

since you are a Math and Economic guy, map out the next 12 months...starting now

look, review, print = all the available resources on here and on official US VISA websites

since you already got engaged, then you can begin the process with I-129F (K1 VISA)

- Work - SAVE $ - put it in the bank = since you will need to show this later

- Save everything from the very begining!!!

1) communications: tele call records emails, text & chat history (download now & save it for later)

2) Pictures

3) receipts: airplane, hotels, food, gifts, engagement ring

4) as far as "evidence of support", the poverty level = ANNUAL salary, not what you made up to now from your new job.

if you don't have adequate evidence of financial support, you ask someone to be a sponsor, in addition to you, like one of your relatives; like, "a co-signer when you buy a car or house"

BTW, go and search and/or ask on here for all your questions = its all here.

best -

[HungNhi 9]

siennaslammer:

We've gotten to know eachother for over a year now. I accidentally put met instead of "started dating exclusively" and even then, my flight left in july. We really met eachother in May. We had no intentions of getting a full blown marriage and were actually just excited to see eachother after the long distance, but with her parents being old fashioned, she was not allowed to hang out with me unless our parents met and mine officially asked for permission for us to start dating. Something about being prejudged by people in the neighborhood. Thats when our parents talked about it and announced to us what their intentions were. Believe me, both of us believed it was WAY too early to get married, but if youre familiar with vietnamese culture, you do NOT want to argue with "adults" (nguoi lon). Especially when their revelation of intention is actually presented as a mapped out schedule. lol. Anyways, after seeking a good date from a monk, we had our engagement ceremony (dam hoi) and had our marriage ceremony scheduled (which is on hold for now).

I want the opportunity to be with her as soon as possible, which is why I want to go back to the US to start the k1 process immediately, regardless of whether we are moving fast or not because love doesn't have to be logical. I appreciate your advice for us to slow down, but she is all i think about when i am back in the states, while im working, eating, from dust to dawn, shes always on my mind and i dont want us to be 10k+ miles apart anymore. Furthermore, I discussed with her and planned for the k1 process to take a year (if not more) for her to get approved (anything earlier would be a bonus) and we agreed that she would stay in vietnam for another few months until i am approved for a few weeks vacation and come back to pick her up. That would put us at 2.5 years in our relationship. Overall, im just hoping she will be by my side without us worrying that time is going by too quickly by 2016.

I will sit down with her tonight and map out our next 12 months as this sounds like a great idea. I already saved as much of our texts, chats, ect from when we first met, but i wasn't able to save everything since that was almost a year ago. As for pictures, we only have ~50. We didn't take plenty of picture daily like we should have, but we did take 1 or 2 every few days. We were just busy enjoying being by eachothers side and so we didn't even think about taking too many pictures.

Thanks for the clarification on the Annual income as well! that was what i was really concerned about, but it seems that i should be fine. I have a salaried position lined up for when i come back starting at 30k + bonuses (~42hrs/week including 1hr lunch) and also have a part time job lined up that i can make my own hours at, but that will only pay 10$ or so which means i will make the poverty level just fine.

Thanks again everyone for the replies! Ive been reading everyones stories and advice and its been very helpful.

Hopefully this reply doesnt sound rushed, but Nhi and I are hungry and i told her we would go eat about 10 minutes ago, right after i finish this one post