quann

hmm that's the sentiment of the vietnamese people, i wouldn't call it "hate". can you be prejudiced against your own people...if it's true? this viewpoint was not born overnight....

yes the middle part have harsh condition so the people are wired a certain way. the south used to call the northerners "jungle people" who would unknowingly wash vegetables in a toilet because they didn't know what it was used for. all in good fun, right?

hey good to see some familiar names. my wife just got her 10yr residency card recently....and i also love hue and its history. not a flame or anything but the south hates the north and the north hates the south...but both the south and the north hates hue and the middle . ok hate is a strong word but probably "strong prejudice". it's always said the middle part of the country suffers from the yearly floodings and poor conditions so the people there are known for their frugality and cheapness. they are "short and cheap" is how most vietnamese classify them....khong sa`i duoc.

funny, i see DQ troll accounts still live and active. guess nothing's changed in 4 years here

DQ--see where that fresh US passport gets you when you try to exit Vietnam. stick to what you know...fauxing outrage over usa/vietnam relations, screaming scam at every relationship in the vietnam subforum, and generalizing the viewpoints of both USC viet kieu and Vietnam nationals like you actually know what you're talking about.

p.s.thx for the concern of our child safety, if it was so hazardous i'm sure Eva Air, or China Air, or Delta, or AA, or Alaska Air, Air France, Istanbul, Turkey Air, etc etc etc and every other airlines on the globe wouldn't allow this practice...but guess what, they do!

i went thru this. my son was crba but we got him a vietnam passport to go through HCM airport, it was that or paying the fees. we thought it was cooler just to get him the passport, cost was 400k but it takes 1-2weeks to get. he also sat on his mom's lap for the duration of the flight. he was 13 months when he came over to the USA.

hey jim,

first time i've popped back in a while. my wife is filing for ROC, not sure if 2011 is an old-timer hehe. we just had our 2nd child in december. i wonder how the other people are doing?

yes you can. they asked my wife minimally when we said she can't speak english well. interviewer asked her a few questions like spell out our home address etc

congrats txn! the little vietnam subsection just isn't the same w/o you and i soon lost interest also. glad to hear the good news! wishing you guys keep truckin' along in that journey...

We had family dinner with about 15 family members. Took few pictures and we labeled them "engagement ceremony" for evidence. We didn't get any problem with that at the interview.

I think that's the least you can do if you can't have the traditional engagement ceremony.

did you marry your first cousin?

You're right. I should have at least some sort of ceremony to celebrate the engagement. I just hope enough people will show up.

you should "front-load" alot of history and background to address this BLINKING RED FLAG. be sure all your i's are dotted and t's crossed on everything so they can't just find an excuse to deny your case right away.

No red flags other than I only have 1 tax return from 2011 for about $25k for a family of 3. I'll be bringing an updated AOS with my free and clear $250k home as an additional asset. Other than that we have a perfect case.

no front-loading needed then, that's just extra weight that you'll have to pay the shipping. don't send 100s of photos with your petition, nobody will want to see that.

good help from jim in this thread...he's the man! i'll be waiting for the result of this case, would be kind of unprecedented for HCM CO to accept a joint sponsor for K1. just going over it briefly i don't think the parents would qualify to support anyway.

i agree with the post earlier that said you can't tell the IRS you're breaking even for the year then turn around and tell the CO hey i got this money every month to support the fiance. be prepared to go the marriage route or wait for new tax return to resubmit.

Only reason I can see that you would not want to be there is if you dont know enough about her to have a conversation about it. If that is the case neither should be there.

ha, and +1.

there's no co-sponsor for k-1 in vietnam. also with his child that adds to the total you need to make to sponsor 2 people. expect questions about your relationship with his parents in USA.

from your screen name i take it you're a woman and petitioning your vietnamese male fiance? that in itself is not the norm, not sure if it's a red flag.

how much is airfare now? xmas and tet are usually 1.5x over the slow season.

unless your case is unusual or you have some red flags a lawyer is very unnecessary. VJ is all you need, the info is all there if you want to take a hands-on approach.

jim, that sounds infinitely better than my situation. you guys have family and relatives over there to keep busy, plus hue is a beautiful laid back region (if you can withstand the constant flooding every year). my only family back there now are the uncles from my mom's side, and they're getting up there in age. all my dad's side are over here. in 20-30 years when it's retiring time no one would be left.

my wife has alot of family and relatives up north, but it's a bunk out-in-the-nowhere region. we do have a nice big house with AC that i had put in but i just can't see it, i'm still a city boy. my idea of fun is riding the moped around saigon at night catching the cool breeze with all the lights and trying out a new food place. maybe i'll mellow out as i get older.

it's a glitch with the GC, most everyone get that North Vietnam. What difference does it make if it's on a passport or naturalization cert? the poe officers are not combing through these docs with a fine-tooth comb. i stand by my original statement.

so is it a case of the more people apply, the worse the chances are anybody will go? or do the CO judge each case on its own merits? at first only the father, his wife, and their child would apply. now it's turned into the other 2 uncles would also like a shot. if we can't do anything over here on our side, i guess i could tell them to go to a dich vu over there and apply the paperworks.

i guess vn people are more sensitive to this issue, but really who cares. you probably look at your GC 2-3x/year? i'm just happy we got the GC and didn't get denied. north, south, east, west...i'm drawing the line at "100% Viet Cong", then i make appointment at infopass!

my cousin has a wedding next year up in san jose. her father is in Vietnam and has very strong ties back there and should have no problem getting the visa. my question is what about his two alot less well-off brothers' chances? i don't mind filing the paperworks and getting them through the process, but are there any realistic chances of them being approved? also, her father remarried...any chance for the stepmom and half-sister?

caucasian families are more detached so probably a better plan for them...for me it's a terrible idea. the idea of my wife and i being old and by ourselves in vietnam doesn't sound like fun at all. vietnam is fun when you're young and can do things and go to places, it sucks being old with the noise and smog and cramp space. being out in the countryside don't sound ideal either. i wanna be near my relatives and kids and being able to annoy and piss them off, perks of being old and putting up with all their ####### for so many years. the ideal situation would be working in vietnam for the next 10-15 years then move back over here, that would be nice.

my wife might have other ideas tho as she has more roots over there.

seems messy either way. if you delay it now and restart it up again, the CO will want paperworks or DNA test for the baby before they even think about issuing her a visa. i would go through the process now, birth out the kid and go through that process after the interview. the visa is good for up to 6 months, and that's best case scenario since they can still blue her for the pregnancy.

i dropped my son as a k-3 to CRBA after our paperworks was already in HCM and the process was smooth.

not to sound harsh but most of the nightmares were self-induce. seems like you guys weren't prepared for anything. hope you do better at the interview.

do you have a plan for after marriage and she comes over? or you guys gonna live happily ever after, like the books. at least make sure your parents give you enough allowance for 2 people...

must be a height thing. it's true white people get alot more respect over there. they would spit at a vk but act diff with caucasians (you can see this at immigration entry point)