KennyJ

Then what was the point of the G325A, which has 5 years of residence?

I don't understand why they are asking for different things if you already submitted this in the beginning. This is very frustrating because I am about to leave for Vietnam in about a week and I don't want to screw up her interview if I am missing a document.

Why don't they tell you this from the beginning or tell you in the interview letter? Unbelievable.

Let me clarify this 10 years mostly was asked to couples who have prior divorce. A friend of mine had an interview on the 28th and the CO also asked his wife about the 10 years and luckily he has it prepare for her.

Does the "10 years of residence" applies to K1 visas only or does it apply to CR1 too?

Yes it does to CR1 as well.

Hi guys,

So I just received a email from nvc saying that I need to resubmit the following from my wife:

-copy of passport

-certified or original marriage certificate

-certified or original birth certificate

however prior to this email i got from them I had already sent in certified copies with the appropriate stamps so i called them but they told me they need a certified copy similar to the original. I don't quite understand..if anyone can help that would be awesome.

thanks

Did you submit the certified translation for each document as well?

Do you mind sharing the outline or structure of your timeline? I'd be interested to see the format that they are pleased with.

I listed out the numbers of trips I visited VN and in each trip I described what I did and where I went with Thuy. I also described the progression of my feeling to Thuy in each trip.

May I ask what is the deadline that I need to file AOS? Can I file immediately after I marry my fiancée?

Hi guys,

We had an interview today and we passed. The CO kept my fiancee passport and told us that we passed the interview and we can proceed to pay the EMS fee (we don't recall what we gave to the EMS). We went to the EMS windows and paid the fee. We were so happy that we didn't even look at what papers he gave to us. Tonight we checked and only found a pink domestic brochure and a white paper saying our visa has been approved. Did we miss anything else or did the CO forgot to give us the "pink slip"?

They start the pre-processing paperworks at 8:30 AM. I recommend she gets there at 8:00 AM

FINALLY!!!! our 7 months of journey was a success. There are no words to express my feeling right now. Thanks so much VSJ members with all great advises. As few of Vietnamese members here know my situation would have few red flags

1) I know Thuy when I was still married

2) I started a new relationship 1 month after I filed for divorce

3) Thuy and I engaged 1 month after my bifurcation (7 months after I filed for divorce)

4) I filed for K1 Visa 3 months after my bifurcation.

Thuy and I got to the Consulate at 6:30 AM

We lined up at and entered the gate at 7:00 AM. The guard asked us for our invitation letter and my passport. The process was very easy and fast here

Once entered the gate there are 2 lines in the room "Immigrant" line and "Non-Immigrant" visa line. It really doesn't matter which line you are in.

After that the guard send 10 people at a time to another room. This is where you will get your interview # and EMS form. They only allow Thuy here. I have to sit in the waiting area.

Today was a very rough day. I noticed there were more blues than pinks, about 2 pinks (and those pinks are those who have petioners there) for every 8 blues. The CO took average 30-45 mins to interview each CR1 or K1 case. Majority of the blues were relating to timeline and 10 years of residency of the petitioner.

We got 9:30 AM schedule but we were called to the windows 7 at 11:30 am. Thuy and I were both very nervous since NO ONE got pink from this windows. We happened to sit next to that window so we heard all the questions and saw all the results.

Majority of the questions we heard were

How did you meet your fiance?

What is his address there?

Who lives with him?

What time is it overthere right now?

Describe his job and title.

When did he propose?

How many guests at the engagement?

What is his annual salary?

When did he file for divorce?

Why did he file for divorce?

Where did he file for divorce?

How old is his parents?

And he would randomly picked out pictures and ask to describe about those pictures.

When Thuy's # was called to Windows 7 we immediately load all the evidences on the windows, then the CO told us "STOP, we need you to come back later we have to go to lunch"....

We went to lunch, came back and waited for about another hour and our number was called around 2:00 pm. Again I immediately load all the evidences before Thuy and I took the oath.

After the oath I immediately informed the CO that I have the TIMELINE (very very important, I recommend you guys have this prepared) and asked him if he would like to see it. The CO said yes. The CO then read my timeline and started asking me the questions. The CO asked me majority of the questions and asked Thuy only 3 questions about us and 3 questions about her. The CO asked me about 15 questions.

3 questions about us to Thuy

1) How did you meet? (Thuy and I were childhood friend, I have this infomation in TimeLine and in the original form that I sent to USCIS)

2) Describe your relationship from the time you found him via Facebook to the time he propose to you.

We were friends and our relationship became a romance relationship after I file for divorce

3) How many times did he file divorce? (2 times)

3 questions about Thuy to Thuy

1) When did you divorce?

2) Will your son travel with you?

3) Did you know you have to marry him within 90days once you enter the U.S?

Questions to me

1) How many times did I divorce? years of divorce?.

I divorced 1 time and the other time is pending however I got the bifurcation. He looked at my court paper to verify my bifurcation date.

2) How did I migrate to the U.S? I told him the year, and told him it was my dad who petitioned me and my mom and then he typed something in the computer to verify my answer. (They have all your information).

3) How did my dad migrate to the US? I told him he was one of those boat people

4) Years I married first time and second time. And why did I divorce?

5) are those ex-wives Vietnamese? or Vietnamese-American? Were they on student visas? I told him the answers and again he typed in the computer and nodded his head

6) Why you decided to travel back to VN 2nd times? I told him for investment. He followed up with another question, were you still married that time? I told him yes

7) What did you invest? Explored real estate investment

8) Were Thuy in real estate? I told him she is a sales/marketer

9) Did you invest any in the U.S? Yes I bought 2 houses

10)He asked me the addresses of those 2 houses and what happened to them?. After I gave him the answer he again typed something in the computer and nodded his head again.

11)He asked me about my current residence whether I am the owner or renter. I told him I am renting it.

12)He asked me why did you choose to live in that city since not many singles want to live there. I told him I love my city and to me it is the best. He nodded and then he told me "I know where you live exactly. I grew up there and my house was not far from where you live and I love that city too". He and I then have a good chat and laughs about how great is the city I am currently residing.

13)He asked about my salary

14)He asked about my profession

15)And last question, so are you sure about this 3rd one (3rd relationship)?. I told him yes and Thuy is my soulmate and have deep connection with her. He then told me "Well we have a saying, 3rd time is the charm. Good luck to both of you. You have passed"

He DID NOT look at our pictures. We have over 1000 pictures.

He DID NOT look at our phone bills, chat, hotel or gift receipts. We have over 2000 pages

We brought a suite case with all evidences. And he didn't ask any; however, he did ask other people ahead of us for pictures, chat logs, phone bills, hotel reciepts. He asked us NONE of that. I think he noticed the amount of evidences I have up on the wall.

My advice to everyone

1) Create a Timeline and 10 years residence

2) Immediately frontload all your evidences up on the wall before anything

3) After the oath immediately inform them about your timeline.

4) Be there for your fiancee/fiance.

Evidences we prepared

1) Pictures, we have them in chronological order according to the # of trips I visited VN and pictures of me and Thuy when we were young

2) Phone bills, hotel receipts, airplane tickets/boarding passes, 5 Western Unions receipts

3) Chat logs

4) Timeline (VERY VERY VERY important)

5) 10 years of residence (he didn't ask me for this but many other people were asked for this and they got blues for that)

I don't think six month time is a federal law since some other state do not have this waiting time period.

So a question out of context: When i file my 2012 taxes how am i supposed to define my status?

Single, Married or Divorced? In theory, if any of these status are recognized by the IRS then it should be recognized by USCIS. Just a thought, i could be wrong.

You are right. The link below has wait time for each state.

http://www.totaldivorce.com/process/requirements/divorce-decree-waiting-period.aspx

She can still apply and get a GC even you haven't filed AOS for her. You might have to pay for spouse (but look like you haven't married her yet) and child support (18 years).

I believe, the six months time is federal law actually. What that means the judge won't grant you divorce or bifurcation (single status) until 6 months (count from the date you serve your ex divorce paper) time. It doesn't mean you can marry or file any K1 or K3 papwerwork after 6 months. You are technically still married to your ex unless you have a divorce decreed or bifurcation status judgement.

Hello everyone I just stumbled upon this website in the last week and decided that after reading a lot of entries and stories of success I decided to post my situation. I was just in Vietnam for a 5 week trip at the beginning of October. I went home to get married but I did not do paper work for a marriage license. When I met with a lawyer he told me not to get married when I first went home as it may be a problem for me later on. I had the ceremony and took pictures without dates on them, afraid of this at first. I have some family members who told me it wouldn't be a problem. After finding this website I am more confident about doing all the paperwork myself. So my problem is since I am married but not technically married over there with a license do I apply for the fiancé status or just go ahead and go back there to do the paper work for the marriage license and then file for the IR-1/CR-1? We only had the traditional ceremony but no paper work has been done for a marriage license over there. Thank you all ahead of time for your responses.

No you are not married. You will have to present the marriage certificate which you don't have. As for the dates as long as the background of the picture have some dates in there you should be fine. It is like a must to have the marriage/engagement dates stickers on the bride/groom or even restaurant's walls. If you don't have them you might have to explain.

I rechecked my files and apparently I did not send in the translation! But after removing the translation from its stapled photocopy, there is now a small 2x4mm tear on the top left of the original translation. Is it still ok to submit it or do I need to make a new translation?

I would just do another translation. To be safe than sorry.

Finaly!!!!

Your interview date is: 12-27-2012

OMG 19 DAYS!!!! and Hoa has not even recieved the paperwork yet.

After all the OT I work this summer to save enough for the plane trip, they schedual the interview 2 days after Christmas...

Any flight not booked is $2000-$3000 or more than I could save, I spend 3 hours a day looking for tickets and its a bust.

At this point all I can do is hope and pray I have enough evidence and proof to show our love is real.

At the best and we are approved then we have more money for our wedding and honeymoon.

At worst...more time...more...time...

Merry Christmas NVC...

My agency still has ticket to VN and it will cost $2000. Fly on 18. Let me know if you still want to book

No, dont worry about it. You likely wrote it in as if he was included.. A good thing should she decide to bring him later... he can FTJ within a year at minimal cost.

Thanks Scott. The thing is his dad doesn't allow his son to travel with us so we didn't write in his name on the form. We just listed his name as he is my fiancée's son.

Did she receive an Email or did she get an actual letter? My wife so far has not received a single letter from NVC/USCIS, only e-mails. Is this normal?

We received by letter.

My fiancee will do the medical exam this week. Can you please give me any suggestions or tips of what to bring to satisfy the requirement + later for AOS?

Should I present money transferred receipts? I sent money to Thuy almost every month for the last 12 months. I read in K1 forum that it could be a red flag and it is a bad idea. Please advise, our interview is in 3 weeks.

Are you flying from the West Coast? Seems like it's always more expensive from the East Coast where I live. Just a couple days difference in departure made big difference too. If I could leave a week earlier, would have saved $100's. Oh well, all paid for and started packing already! Wooooo!

Yes I fly from West Coast. I think you guys (east coast) will have to fly across the U.S to Asia, which is why it cost more.

The end of Dec. OMG omg omg. I am so happy!!!!

On the letter it listed my fiancée and her son name; however, only my fiancée travels to the U.S. Her son stays with his dad. Should I call/write to the consulate to correct that?

My fiancée finally got the schedule for interviewing but we are a bit confused. On the letter it listed my fiancée and her son name; however, we have specified that her son will not travel to the U.S (his dad won't let he go with us). Should we write/call the consulate to correct that?

BTW we are very happy. We have been waiting for the schedule letter for 3 months.

The end of Dec. OMG omg omg. I am so happy!!!!

Hi all! It's an old friend needed help. Please give me your inputs.

I guess the title says it all. After almost two years here in the US, we finally decide to have our first baby. It's even better when we found out that we are gonna get two of them at the same time. I guess we weren't ready for two so now we gonna need some help from the mother in law. So my questions are:

What do I need to do as of how to prepare for the paperwork and what is it?

What does my mother in law need to do or have?

How long does it takes?

Those are some questions I have right now. If you know more things that I need to be aware of, please feel free to comment.

Thank you so much in advance.

Congrats!!!! you can have your mother in law to travel here. I believe she can stay up to 6 months. Also your wife can petition her mom to come over as an immigrant. I believe it takes about 2-3 years.

Before we make any accusation remember we only hear one side of the story

My suggestion is you wait. You have waited 5 years to be with her so lets wait for another 6 months. Eventually they (police or lawyers) will have to contact you. Don't make any decisions that you might regret later.

Huge problem that you met when you were still married. It will depend on how fast you rush things and was she married before too?

I don't think it is a huge problem. I know your case had some obstacles regarding that. I also know plenty other couples who met during their divorces and their cases passed without any issues. I think the issue is less dramatic if he file as K1 instead of K3. Tell your fiancee to be prepared to answer questions such as: did you know he was married when you met him? Why did you decide to love a married man? My friend's fiancee did get this question "Don't you think it is a shameful thing? (to have a relationship with a married man)" and her answer was "It is not shameful to be in love". She thought the CO paid more attention to how she responded to the question than the answer itself.

Just wanted to share with everyone that I am traveling again to Vietnam over the holidays! Very excited and much looking forward to seeing Hanh Anh, Family and Friends! Hanh Anh and I will be traveling to Saigon, DaNang & Hoi An! New Years in Hoi Anh with the one I love! Can't wait!

Thank you for everyone's support on our journey!

Steve

Hoi An is a very nice place to visit; however, this month is the midst of heavy rain and possible flood. Check the weather first. I will also travel to VN this month. Will spend Christmas & New year with Thuy. I can't wait.

My round trip ticket is $1800. :-(