Chris & Trinh

Hello VJers,

I was wondering if anyone can help me out with some tips about where to rent wedding tux and dresses. My wife knows a few places, but seems like her info is limited to people she knows (her friend's recommendations for example). I'm just hoping if anyone knows any locations that she can check out too. Also, if you guys know/recommend any photographers who specialize in weddings.

Just wondering what the average costs of those things are if you guys don't mind sharing.

My wife is in Saigon, so if you guys knows any place/person there please let me know.

Thank you very much

Well to answer your questions I need to ask a few questions first....lol With the wedding traditions and such in Vietnam, there are the pre-wedding pics taken to make an album BEFORE the wedding, also the BIG picture is made that is on display AT the wedding. If you are wanting info about renting dresses and tux, photographer etc for this then I can answer that now. However, if you are wanting clothing to rent and a photographer for the actual event, I will need to ask my wife as I have forgotten the names of the places. I do have some recommendations below.

For our wedding we used Milan studio. They had many dresses, suites, tuxes and photographers that did our wedding pics and albums and the BIG picture that was on display AT the wedding. Here is their website. (http://www.milan.com.vn/en/about-us.aspx). I believe you can rent their clothing to wear AT the wedding also but if I remember correctly it was a bit pricey so I think we got ours elsewhere. We also used a different photography service that came to the actual wedding to take photos of the event. If you would like that information I can ask my wife and get that info for you.

I also know of a good friend who also does the Pre-wedding album, the wedding photos etc....but I don't think they haveclothing to rent but I could be wrong. You can check out their website too (http://www.shellystudio.net/#)

I don't represent any of these companies. Just some that I have had personal experience with. I am sure others here can give you some more recommendations.

Here's my take on this. The tourist visa application takes 20 minutes to fill out and costs $160. This visa is soley based on the information in the application, requested documents and interview that last 5 minutes. There is no law that you can't apply for your spouse or you can't apply with an petition for an I-130 on file.

Apply for it! If denied you're only out $160 and it is a dry run for your CR-1 or K-1 interview. Don't lie; if they ask if you have an I-130 on file tell them and make sure your spouse is prepared to show why your they will leave the US once the visa is up.

I would like my wife and my new son to visit my family while we are waiting for the I-130 petition approval. I plan on applying on a tourist visa for the wife next month. If I get denied I'm out $160. I've lost more money on worse stuff than that and it will make me feel better having tried. I don't know why people on here keep saying You Can't Do That! when it's not illegal to try. I see it here a lot on the posts. The worst they can say is denied, have a nice day.

Does your son have his American citizenship? Birth abroad and all that? If so, it will make it that much harder for your wife to visit the US with him. They will say your husband is American, your son is American why would you go there, then return to Vietnam?

Not going to happen here in Vietnam.It's a high fraud country and MANY overstay their visa in the US. I Can tell you from first hand experience in almost the exact situation you are. However, like you said you will only be out $160, so might as well try. Let us know if it was successful.

I am filing a CR-1 for my wife and I noticed in the example of a time line it has a place for a case number, my question is do I send time line with the petition or wait till later to send that. I will sending as much evidence as a can with the petition but after doing some checking I am wondering if its really a good idea to send all now or wait till the interview?

If you're talking about a timeline that shows the progression of your relationship, this should be taken to the interview.

Interviews are most times schedules at the END of each month. So you should get a letter or email with your interview date at the end or very beginning of the next month MOST times.

My wife had her interview today and was approved. They asked her a few questions and gave her the pink paper. Thanks to everyone here for their help.

Could you write up a Embassy/Consulate review for those of us in Vietnam? My wife has her interview soon and would like to read some updated reviews of how the process went. Did she interview in HCMC?

Congrats by the way!!!

Have Fun Tightfield! and Best of luck!

If you have time, and in the area of Vung Tau, get some Banh Khot, Extremely great crispy snack/meal - far better than any in the US.

Chris, Congraluations on everything. Wishing you and Trinh all the best. In your 4 1/2 years, I'm assuming you picked up a lot of Vietnamese on the way?

Sad to say that I know more Spanish from when I studied it my freshman year of highschool (You don't even want to know how long ago that was) than I know Vietnamese from living here 4 1/2 years. Actually that is not true but close. I honestly can not have a conversation in Vietnamese. I can understand the main topic if I listen to a conversation. I can buy or order something from a store or restaurant. That is about it. Vietnamese is pretty difficult and I have never taken a class. Honestly, anyone could get by without Vietnamese living in Saigon. I guess a lot of it is being American, or I am sure the same in Europe, in our thinking that why should we learn another language when everyone is learning to speak English. Everyone learns English because it has a value for their lives. Vietnamese don't have much value for me to be honest. I know that sounds bad.

My son is 2 and he knows Vietnamese better than I do. I learn as he learns really. It is a fun process to see how quickly he picks up 2 languages.

Anyway, thanks for your well wishes.

My trip to Vietnam gets closer and closer. It'll be my first time meeting my girlfriend face to face. But recently I have been reading up on the country and finding a lot of bad things. Scary things. I know everyone has their own experiences, good and bad. I told myself a hundred times that they're just stories. Stories about mafia girls or if you do not spend a lot of money, you will be treated badly. Am I just freaking myself out? Maybe I am just nervous because this is my overseas relationship? *sigh* I just needed a place to vent and this is the first place I thought of. Everyone seems so relaxed about travelling. Whereas I have no experience.

I remember coming to Vietnam 4 1/2 years ago. It was my first time leaving the USA. I was so excited but a little scared too. There are a lot of unknowns for you. 1st time to Vietnam, first time meeting your girl etc.... Just relax. Vietnam is awesome. You will be a little overwhelmed with the experience at first. Everything here is opposite of what you know and are use to in the US. Just be respectful, enjoy the experience, and DON"T flash money around. Know one expects you to spend lots of money. Really they lose respect and think you are stupid for trying to spend a lot of money and show off. Now, with the family, if you go out to dinner or something with the whole family, don't be surprised if they expect you to pay the bill. Maybe that is what some of stories you have read might be meaning.

As I stated I came to Vietnam 4 1/2 years ago.....AND...I am still here!!! I love Vietnam. I have had many great experiences here and life lessons. I am now married and have a child. I will be taking my wife and son back to the US soon. It will be exciting sharing that experience with them.

Stop freaking out....just stick to your insticts, be smart, and be respectful and you will be just fine.

Should I fill out form DS-3032 and ask my parents to sign it? I will take time for them to mail it back to me. On the top of form DS-3032, it said "Please case the barcode strip here before mailing to NVC". What does that mean? Does it mean I have to wait for the NVC to send me DS-3032 with the barcode or should I do it now? Thank you for your help.

The police report should NOT be done too far ahead of time. It is time sensitive. It is only good for 6months Who knows how long your case will be at the USCIS office. What we did was wait for our approval at USCIS then went to get the police report. There is 2-4 weeks for your case to be transfered between USCIS and NVC. SO this is a good time to get the report done then can send it to NVC after your fees have been paid and they are ready for you to mail them your paperwork.

Howdy all,

Just registered today and this is my first post. Did some googling looking for information and came across this site. Seems to be a treasure trove for sure, but a bit daunting initially.

I've been living Vietnam since July, dating my fiance since August and hoping to bring her to Los Angeles as soon as possible. We've made plans for getting married here in February. I'm starting to think I should dump the whole thing and just go for a K-1 fiance visa vs the K-3 spouse visa. Still move forward with the ceremony and all that here, but do the legal documents in the US. I figure I'll save the money I have to pay 500 middle men here on the way up through the local ministry of law and pay that to a lawyer for the visa process.

Can anyone tell me if this is a great/horrible idea?

-Blake

There is no K-3 visa any longer. It is RARELY used. AFTER you marry you would be applying for a CR-1 visa for your spouse which will give her a conditional green card upon her arrival in the US. The other option as you stated is NOT to get married and apply for the K-1 visa. Both have their advantages and dis-advantages. At this point in time, the K-1 visa is actually moving along faster from time of applying until entering the US. However, process times and personal situations always are subject to change very rapidly.

I also live in Vietnam and was married here. Have lived here 4 1/2 years. Will be taking myw ife and son to the US soon. We are nearing the end of our visa process. I am not sure why you would have to pay 500 to any middle man for any service regarding marriage or a visa. That is not needed. Everything you need to do your wife and yourself can do yourselves. I know, as I have done it and know many others who have too.

I think the thing you need to research and decide upon is how soon you want to go to the US with your fiance/wife and decide on the visa you want to apply for. Then get married or not based on the decision of the visa you want to apply for. For a rough estimate the CR-1 visa is taking about a year from start to finish and the K-1 I believe (not 100% sure) is taking around 8-9 months. Of course these times are specific for Vietnam.

Anyway....just some points to think about. Best of luck with your situation.

I will be moving back to the US soon along with my wife and son. We know a few people who have moved to the US with their BA degree from Vietnam and in the US it is not worth the paper it was written on. If they want to further their education they will take an entrance like assetment exam at a university in the US and many times will have to take many highschool level classes just to be able to begin at the University.

With that said, improving their English should be priority. After that I think an associates degree or even a certified program would be a good choice. I was thinking something in the health field as well and it seems many go this route after moving to the US if they desire a higher position than doing nails, working in a restaurant, or some type of sales associate at a clothing store.

As for English lessons in you city. Many local Universities, Community Colleges and Language schools offer cheap or even have free programs for recent immigrants. If you are not happy with your wife's English lessons look around your city for other programs she might be able to join.

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Hi, Mine is on the way to NVC now.... not sure when will we get updates from NVC . They set up the date for interview or we can choose the date we want?? If you dont mind then can I ask why your interview is in Feb,2014? I thought it would me in January

NVC schedules the interviews. You can NOT schedule your own interview. At the end of every month the completed cases are scheduled for interviews at the embassies. It will depend on each embassy's work load when the interview is available to be scheduled. In my case, my case complete was mid Dec. and the interview was scheduled at the end of Dec. The available time for my interview wasn't until the end of Feb. at the embassy we will be interviewing at (HCMC, Vietnam).

To get an idea about the wait time for a scheduled interview at the embassy you will have the interview at I would search for people from your area and see when their case was complete, interview scheduled, and how long they had to wait from the time it was scheduled until the actual interview. Again, for my location a 2-3 month wait for an interview after it is scheduled is normal.

are you taking all those wedding and "together" pictures printed or is it ok to take any Tablet or ipad with you on interview ?

my case is on way to embassy, and i'm waiting for interview date and getting ready for it too.

P.S. Is usually embassy calls you or emails you about date or i need to call them and ask when i interview ?

Thanks

No electronic devices are allowed into the embassies, including cel phones etc...

NVC schedules the interview usually at the end of every month. Then will email you when the interview date is set. Of course you can always call and ask about it.

Hi everybody,

I have received this few days ago:

1. How long does it take for Frankfurt embassy to schedule my interview?
2. Can I do my medical examination now or I have to wait for the interview email?
3. Does the doctor ask for any letter or email from NVC/Embassy to do my examinations?

Thanks,

Every Embassy is different as far as interview schedules depending on country. However, NVC usually schedules at the end of every month. My case was complete on Dec 14 and Dec 31 my interview was scheduled. So took 17 days.

You have you wait to receive your Interview letter before you can schdule a medical examination. You will have to take this letter to your medical exam.

I emailed the embassy in VN and they sent me the form. Now I just have to have it notorized here or over there. If anyone planning on getting married and did their paperwork here, you will most likely to be missing this, just PM me and I'll send it to you.

You might want to have it notorized in the US. I got married here in VN and did the old form before the change. However, it had to be notorized also and the only place to do it was the US consulate who charges $50usd per document.

Hi - I called NVC - and not the consulate. It took just under a month to get an interview date, which is about what I expected. Supposedly interviews are scheduled the last week of the month and the first week of the month following. Not sure if that is true but in any event ours was scheduled during that time. If I had to guess (always risky) I would expect you will have a February interview...maybe March...depends upon how busy they are in HCM.

Good luck!

JRF you were correct. We got notice this week that our interview date has been scheduled for Feb 25th. Exciting!

Case cleared NVC on 5 November, called NVC today (was calling weekly) and learned my wife's interview is 28 January - a year and 6 days after NOA1. Although I'm a bit bummed we aren't together for our anniversary in late December I'm happy this is moving along and eager to see her thru customs at LAX.

Best of luck to all on your journey.

Hi JRF. Congrats on getting an interview date. I do have a question for you. You said you called NVC weekly to ask about the interview date. Just to clarify because I have heard of people calling NVC and calling the US Consulate here in HCMC. Which one did you call weekly? We just cleared out case at NVC today and I was thinking it would be a couple months to get an interview date. Maybe I should call weekly like you.

FInallly..our case cleared NVC. Two month wait to get to NVC and then three months to clear (one of those was my fault for incorrectly completing the AOS). Can anyone provide a sense for when our interview might be scheduled and when the interview might occur (i.e. any hope for December or are we looking at January/February)?

Thanks!

It goes without saying that every case is different. However, it seems that on average that most cases are looking at an interview date of 2 months after approval at NVC. Just my observations here for Vietnam. I would look for an interview date of Jan/Feb. Who knows though, could always be sooner.

@ Christ: So I only need to get my mental heath check done. Do I also need to check for contagious disease, HIV, and syphilis.

I am pretty sure it was just a mental health check that was done if i remember correctly. I had to do a lot of other stuff also because I am living in Vietnam. Like proof of my residence, police report etc... Since you don't live here you wont need that. Also like kevinbui86 said in the above post, rules do vary by province. All together it took 5 weeks to get our marriage cert. here in HCMC.

Have your wife go to the government office that takes care of the marriage certificates and get a list/packet that tells all of the documents you guys will need.

hi guys, i need your help for the good answer if the consulat will ask me on the cr1 visa interview. so here is the issue:

We got married on july 28, 2012 for church and civil. When we submit the form i-130, we put the date of our marriage was july 31, 2012. why?? bcause our church marriage certificate IS NOT in english (on the time we submitted form i-130) but the date of marriage mention july 28, 2012. And our civil marriage certificate is in dual language (english & bahasa) but the date of marriage mention july 31, 2012. When we wanted to start processing our CR1 visa and submitted the i-130, we didnt have much time to translate the church marriage certificate into english which had same date mention with our real marriage time. So..we decided to submit the marriage certificate of civil. i hope this wont make you feel confuse.

We input the date of our marriage to all the form of i-130; i-864; ds 230 & ds 260 online, is july 31, 2012.

My question now: what should i answer when they will ask me: when is your marriage?

answer 1: july 31, 2012 based from civil certificate mentioned there. But we dont have a picture to show that we sign the certificate or getting married on that date.

answer 2: july 28, 2012, based from church certificate and already translated in english now, and we have picture showed us our marriage and sign the certificate as well. then i can give some explanation to the interviewer like i gave the explanation on this forum.

we are now waiting for the case complete answer from nvc. but i want to be ready for the answer before the interview day coming. Please give us some good advice.

Thanks lots guys, all your suggestions will be meaning a lots to us!

My wife and I were married in Vietnam and had this same issue. I put the date on all of our papers of our religious ceremony that we concider our wedding date. However, I failed to realize that the date on our wedding certificate (civil) was different. We got an RFE asking why 2 different dates. I had to send a letter explaining that one date was the religious ceremony and the other was when the civil document was issued. After they they approved but we lost a lot of time due to the dates being different. Hopefully you will not have the same problem.

Dear VJ,

I am a US citizen. I am preparing to apply for spousal visa for my girl friend in Viet Nam. I have applied for my single status affidavit. Do I need to get a physical exam and mental exam? What other document do I need in order to send them overseas to apply for a marriage certificate with my girl friend in Vietnam? Can I send a copy of all documents or original one? Thank you so much!

Sincerely,

Michael

To get a marriage cert. you will need proof of relationship and most times have your wedding ceremony BEFORE you will be approved for the marriage certificate. To get the certificate you will need a mental health check done (to make sure you are not crazy). Ha ha fun right? Anyways, then you will have to go through an interview process as well. They also take into account age difference. The bigger the age difference the more proof of bona fide relationship.

I Have done dinh hon with wife on September 25th, 2013 after spending 10/30/12-1/21/2013 & 4/19/2013-10/17/2013 living in Vietnam. I have a leased apartment for the next year in Vietnam from 10/1/2013-10/1/2014. I plan to return to Vietnam 2/15/2015 (post TET). We are planning to get married in Vietnam in March, and then apply for a DCF in August in the hopes that we can get her a spousal visa by October. is that possible? From what I've read, getting a DCF filed visa is MUCH faster than filing through the United States. Is that true? Has anyone done a DCF in Vietnam?

As been said. Vietnam does not have DCF. Going through the spousal visa with my wife now, I live in Vietnam with her. We are at the 8 month mark and counting in the process. However, we are a ways ahead of others who filed at the same time and the petitioner lived in the US. So it is faster living abroad but still takes a LONG time in my opinion.

Here is a pic of the shop that sells all foreign products. Many US and UK products. There are a couple of these stores next to each other. I know by the pic they don't look like much, but i can always find what I am looking for there. They do have Ensure.

If you can't see the info in the pic the details are:

Name: Phuong Ha

Address: 58 Ham Nghi street, district 1, HCMC, VN

Phone: 0839141318

*as it states on the sign. Hopefully correct.

Is there a store that has this service? If so do you have their name/number?

Or do I hire a service to buy it from the store to pick it up?

Sorry, I am not very familiar with how things work there.

I'll look for the name of the couple shops I know that carry it. They carry many foreign products.Then your family can contact them and see if it can be sent to NT and negotiate the price etc...

My wife's family is in Nha Trang. They don't know where to buy it locally there.

Yes I see your point. Living in a smaller city it might be harder to find. My wife's family sent some to my mother in law from the US to Vietnam. It was just sent in the normal mail with some other things as well. All shipped in a box. Since then, we realized it can be bought here. Maybe finding a service would be cheaper depending on how much you are wanting to send. Sorry I can't really help you too much with this.

Is there any service that could deliver Ensure powder (US made) to Vietnam quick (within a day or two)? Hopefully some place has a warehouse in Vietnam? Anyone have experience with this?

Why not buy Ensure that is already here in Vietnam? I know it can be found here. I know you said US made. There are a handful of small grocery shops in district 1 area of HCMC that sell mostly ALL US products. I guess this would only apply if you live in a big city like HCMC or Hanoi perhaps where you want to send it is different?