Bryan and An

Boston here but ours is the same way, the marriage license photocopied onto fancy paper with seal.

The certificate usually has her maiden name on it. You then use the certificate to justify the name change with the SSA and with USCIS. The first place you will probably enter her "new" name is on the AOS application. As for the name options now, the place to fight it was at the county clerk's office. They insist the name has to be the same as the passport, but with persistence, you might have been able to find someone to listen about the ordering of the name. You can still list it the way you want on the AOS application, and if you get the GC with the name listed the way you want, you can then use that as support to get the SS card changed. Once she has the GC in hand, that plays a primary role in establishing what her name will be in the U.S.
 
We photocopied the DS3025 and sent it in as it is; you have to either submit a valid, complete DS3025 or a 693. You don't need to send the chest x-ray.

This is different from state to state. Mine just has the Maiden name and no notation that I'm choosing his name. That is simply up to me to start using. Sounds like it is the same in OP's state. The marriage certificate shows you are married and then it is up to the spouse to use the name they wish, showing their right to the name by providing evidence of marriage to the person carrying the name.

For the DS-3025, send along a photocopy. The idea is to send a "gentle reminder" that the vaccination requirements have been met. Yes the original is in the sealed packet given at POE and this should be connected to your A-file. Sometimes this isn't done in time or at all, and the DS-3025 you send along with your application would then show the IO that it exists and would/could prompt them to look for it as opposed to sending the applicant an RFE for missing vacc. req.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you wrote, but once the marriage license is filed after marriage, the certificate is the legal name change.  You then just have to use that certificate to change the name on everything else.  
(My two cents: if I had known what a pain in the ### it would be with literally everything, I would have just left my name as it was before marriage.  I mean taking your husbands surname isn't a new thing - I don't know why processes aren't smoother for this.  Even non-immigrants have an issue with this)
 
Changing the order will likely be some other kind of battle for you guys.  If she's okay with leaving it backwards for a while, I would worry about it down the road.  Besides she can just go by her preferred name in the things that will matter (your family, future employer etc). A name is just a legal identifier, the people she interacts with can call her what she feels comfortable with. 
 
If if you have the ds3025, it wouldn't hurt to send it in as long as it is marked "complete", though read the instructions (not sure if they changed since I file) if it's not a required necessity, leave it out. 
 
9 years in legal offices has taught me you provide only exactly what is asked for - nothing more and nothing less :-)
 
I hope your special day is amazing!  I really get so excited and happy for everyone on VJ when they finally make it through the various USCIS hurdles!

Hey Bryan, good to see you again.
 
A couple of these things sound exactly like what we went through. Tu also had her DS3025 marked as all US vaccinations requirements complete, but also was missing the TDAP (which is basically chicken pox). She and I debated what to do, and we eventually rolled the dice and sent in the DS3025 as is. We figured that the worst-case scenario was that we'd get an RFE requiring another medical exam, but since doctors can basically charge whatever they want for a transcription of the original medical exam, we didn't want to spend the extra money unless necessary. We never got an RFE (GC is now in hand), so my recommendation would be to follow the same course of action and skip the 693 (and its attendant doctor's fees) unless USCIS demands it.
 
We also had the same issue with the name. In our case, we were able to get the Social Security office to list her name properly on her first card. They just listed the name on her I-94 as a "known alias" for their own records. The only other time we had problems with the name was in getting the marriage license. Frankly, the county clerk's office was a bit difficult, but we were able to persuade the person at the clerk's office to operate off of her passport rather than the I-94. Then, once we had her name correct on both the social security card and the marriage license, we filed it that way with the 485, and now we have enough documents with her name as it should be that it's no longer a big deal.
 
We went back after the green card was in hand and updated her social security card with her married name.

It's better to just apply for it in the name that appears on her visa. At times getting it in married name first causes issues. Some offices refuse to do it as they think getting married voids the i94. Other times  trying to get it in married name before filling for AOS causes issues trying to verify the name. Since no AOS has been started their records only show her maiden name some ppl have issues. 

I can answer part of this:
with the i485- you just send in the ds3025 as long as it says complete. 
 
Not sure how it works with the vac not being available though.  I was confused on this as well and just decided to send what I had and wait for an rfe if they needed anything more.  That never came though
 
Worst case: send in what you have and if they need something further, let them request it.  Just to save time and money for you trying to guess now and maybe needing something further later. 
 
Congrats and good luck with the rest of the process!

If she has a copy of the DS3025 from the panel physician and it is marked complete (little box in the bottom quarter of the page) she needs to include a copy of that with the AOS paperwork.  If she doesn't have that or the DS3025 isn't naked as complete, she will need to see a civil surgeon.
 
TDAP is required and should be available at most clinics as it is a standard vaccination.
 
Hep B is not required.  I was erring on the side of caution and got a whole bunch of the vaccinations (plus healthcare is free in Canada), so I had the first hep shot before my medical.  The panel physician went ahead and didn't even note that.  He filled out the dates for all the absolutely necessary ones and asked for a waiver for the rest as "not medically appropriate."
 
Yes, have a little break, but more
work to come, especially if you want to file AOS/EAD/AP as soon as possible.... but then, life will normalize :-)
 
Congrats and best wishes.

Hmm... that's weird that the panel physician didn't include a copy of the DS3025 for her records.  But perhaps bc she wasn't completed, it didn't make sense as the I693 would be required for AOS.
 
But yes, you'll take that immunization record and the proof  of TDAP to the civil surgeon.  Not
entirely sure if they'll re-do anything from the original medical (in terms of examination) but all that's required is the vaccination supplement. 
 
I'd double check the fees of the civil surgeon bc $50 seems unbelievably reasonable.  I hope that's correct for you, but when I was looking the cheapest I could find was $250.00, but then I found the 3025 so I didn't have to go.  
 
But definitely dont have her spend an exorbitant amount of time on a bus cause she can do that here. 

When your get married, your wife can legally change her name. I live in San Francisco and the marriage license application has a section for desired new name. The marriage license application will be filled out matching name on passport but you can specify new name as described above. Go to SSN office and apply for SSN number using the marriage certificate (your wife has a new name now) and passport as passport is her only document showing her identity. Wait a few days until all systems are updated then go to DMV and apply for her ID card. Depending where you live, some DMV offices, won't issue the id unless you provide a 2 year green card. Fortunately we didn't have this issue. My wife only had 1 1/2 months left on her entry stamp but got an ID for a year. Take marriage certificate to VN consulate and have a annotation of your wife's new name on passport. Lot's of running around but well worth it. I hope this helps!

It is interesting how the visa varies country by country. I have heard same thing about two dates on it, as well as sometimes it stating "Fiance of: (insert petitioner name)".
 
My partner has nothing under the annotation on the visa, and experienced now problems at all upon entry (minus the wait time in Dallas).
 
I would say her worry is to be understood; but as you said, the story you read about denied entry was awhile back, I think the immigrations now is much more informed about these things.
 
Unless someone else has some specific referencing materials to share, I definately would just try to continue to calm her and make sure she knows everything will be fine at her POE.

I don't have an answer for you, but you mentioned not seeing a contact form. After the last website update, the contact forms are here:
NIV https://vn.usembassy.gov/visas/nonimmigrant-visas/non-immigrant-visa-inquiry-form/
IV https://vn.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/immigrant-visa-inquiry-form/
 
I used the IV form before my wife's interview and got a response back in a few days.
 
My wife's visa also has a separate IV Expiration (different visa, CR-1), but she entered before that date as well.
 
As an aside, did they happen to issue your fiancee's visa with the correct name order? I'm trying to gather documentation on how many times they screw this up in HCMC because of the hassle it causes. If they screwed it up, I highly recommend trying to get it fixed before she leaves for the US. For my wife, fixing it in Vietnam would have meant another 24 hours on a bus, finding another temporary place to stay, etc. So we left it alone. Now we are feeling the pain. Her social security card came with the wrong name order and so did her green card. We're still waiting for USCIS to process her I-90 to fix it. In HCMC, they work with Vietnamese names for a living and this still happens all the time according to our local social security and USCIS offices.

Your case sounds very similar to ours in a lot of ways. I also had only 1 trip before the interview (although it was for 30 days); we didn't have an engagement party, and I hadn't even bought her a ring prior to sending in the I-129F. I officially proposed to her on the last day of my trip, and started compiling documents for the I-129F as soon as I got home. I really loaded up the I-129F packet, with everything you mention, as well as copies of the postcards/Christmas/birthday cards we had sent each other, and also signed statements from each of my parents, my brother, and one sister supporting our relationship and talking about how excited they are to welcome An into the family. I also typed up a brief 1-page description of our tentative wedding plans, with pictures of the two venues we are considering. And for the question about how we met in person within the past 2 years, I typed up a 1-page description of our month together.
 
Actually, one thing you have that we didn't include is the timeline; I created one for the interview and had it notarized, but they didn't even look at it. Probably helps your case to have it included with the I-129F packet. 
 
The two biggest things I was worried about were 1) no engagement party, and 2) none of our pictures included any of her family or friends - just us. I did meet her mom, sister, and brother on my first trip, but in a mental lapse, failed to get any pictures. For my second visit (just days before the interview), we had a big lunch at her parents' house with about 15 relatives there and got lots of pictures. We arranged these nicely in a 20 or so page Word document with descriptions, printed it, and had it bound with a plastic ring to bring to the interview. We also did this with the old pictures as well, and labeled each package "Pictures before engagement" and "Pictures after engagement." The CO did flip through them briefly. 
 
We had an explanation ready for not having an engagement party; An's father is a fisherman, and is almost always out at sea. He hasn't been able to come home yet when I've been there, so to this day, I haven't met him in person. However, I'm going back in April to bring An home, and we will have a formal engagement party then. However, they didn't ask about it at all. It never came up during her 5-minute interview. 
 
Forgot to mention, one other thing I did include in the I-129F packet was screenshots of us talking on Skype - including some with my parents and her parents. So even though I never met her dad in person, they could see that we've talked to each others' parents (and our parents to each other). 
 
By the way, it may be a long shot, but don't rule out the possibility that she could interview during your visit in April, depending on how soon you send in the I-129F. Our case moved very quickly - I mailed the I-129F on Oct. 3, we had NOA 2 on Nov. 8, and our case number from NVC before the end of November. When An checked the interview calendar, February was the first month with openings, but then openings in December popped up with surprising frequency until we were able to get the perfect date during my upcoming trip. So it can happen. I can't stress enough the importance of you being at the interview. I feel it was a big difference maker despite some weaknesses in our case. As I mentioned in another thread, I was thrilled with how easily we passed; it was obvious the decision was made before we stepped up to the interview window. I think this was due to the bulk of our I-129F packet and my presence at the interview. 
 
I emailed you the short video I mentioned showing our chat logs. If you want, I can also send you a link showing our entire I-129F packet. Just let me know. 
 

UPDATE - Approved! And very easily I would say, based on the length of the interview and the softball nature of the questions. More on that later; first, back to the beginning, for anyone interested in the whole process. 
We were (are) staying at the Sofitel, so we just walked over to the consulate - it was a 5 minute walk, if that. Arrived around 6:45, and there were maybe 100 people lined up outside. By the time they let us in, I would estimate around 150 people total. I was a little surprised that other than me, there appeared to only be one other person of non-Asian ethnicity present. Anyway, they came by and checked for the appointment confirmation letter and passport, then did a hand-held wand security screening thing before letting us in to a building where we lined up in 3 columns. (As others have mentioned, the "Immigrant" and "Non-immigrant" signs are meaningless; you'll just file in where they tell you to.) In there, they give you the form where you write your name, case number, passport number, etc. for filling out the EMS paperwork after you're approved. 
From these three columns, they let small groups cross the street for the full airport-style x-ray and security screening. After than, we checked in at a desk and lined up again, at which time they told me to have a seat in the waiting area. My fiancee waited in this line for a while before being fingerprinted and receiving a number. Then, she came over and sat with me while we watched the screens for her number to pop up. When that happened, we both went to the window indicated for the initial submission of paperwork. They kept what they needed and gave the rest back; I think they kept her Ho Khau, passport, medical check forms, birth certificate, copies of my passport and birth certificate, I-134 and financial documents (I had 3 years of tax transcripts and W-2s but they only kept the latest year)...I don't remember what else because this woman worked extremely quickly. After that, we sat back down and waited for our number to come up again. 
Watching some of the other interviews (and listening, when possible) was pretty interesting; we only had a good view of 3 of the windows from where we were sitting, but there was one officer in particular that I was kind of hoping we would get. His interviews seemed to be short and mostly successful, from what I could tell. When the numbers started getting close to ours (despite what some reviews say, it's certainly not completely random; they somewhat seemed to go in order, though not exactly), I watched a little more closely, and at one point was almost sure I recognized one of our pictures as he was flipping through our I-129F packet. Sure enough, a minute later our number popped up and directed us to his window. We both walked up there, and he had both of us raise our right hands and swear to tell the truth. He then checked An's fingerprints again on an electronic pad thing. He started by asking me a few questions; when had I arrived in Vietnam, where was I staying, how long was I staying. Then he said I could take a seat and he would call me back up if he needed me. 
I was able to sit close enough to hear all of his questions; there were only 7 or 8. Best I can remember, they were:
Did you bring any pictures today?
How did you meet your fiance?
When did you first meet in person? 
Is this his only visit since the first one?
Where does your fiance live? 
What does he do in the US?
Have you made any wedding plans?
Do you have any relatives in the US?
Have either of you been married before?
Your visa has been approved; congratulations. 
She answered each question succinctly and to the point, and he just nodded and typed something after each one. There's no way the interview lasted longer than five minutes; I think it was literally the shortest one I noticed all day. I do think me being there made a huge difference, along with all of the work we put into the I-129F packet. There seemed to be very few petitioners there at all, from what I could tell, but the ones I noticed all seemed to have success. I noticed a lot of blue slips throughout the day, but I didn't keep count or anything. We were finished by 10 or so. 
Anyway, sorry for the long post, but we were so relieved and excited, and the whole process really couldn't have been any easier or smoother. Thanks to all of the help from VJ'ers! You guys know what you're talking about. 

Good luck to you both!

Hello everyone!
First of all, what a wonderful website. I want to say thanks to everyone who puts time and effort into helping people with their situations. There is so much valuable information here, and it has been incredibly helpful and useful to me.
That being said, there are still some things I'm not sure about, and since everybody's situation is different, I'm hoping to get some advice on my specific case. I'll start by providing information about our relationship, then detail what I feel our best options are at this point. It may be kind of a long post, so special thanks to anyone who reads it all and offers any kind of advice .
I am an American man, and she is a Vietnamese woman (guess you can see that from my picture). We met just over a year ago, August 2015, on Vietnamese cupid. We really hit it off right away, mainly due to our similarities (both Buddhist, both vegetarians, both love children and animals). But beyond that, there just seemed to be an incredible connection and a flow to our conversations (she speaks very good English - her college major was tourism and she works at a popular resort in Phu Quoc). We have chatted every single day for the past year, usually for at least a couple of hours. We've also talked through Skype, Viber, and Facebook (audio and video), thought not nearly as often as the chats. If I printed out our Facebook chat logs alone, it would be about 4,000 pages.
I visited her in Vietnam this July. I was there exactly 1 month - July 1 to August 1. During this time, we were together basically 24/7. We traveled all over Vietnam - Saigon, Can Tho, Rach Gia, Danang, Hoi An, Hanoi, and Phu Quoc. I met her mom, sister, and brother; unfortunately, I wasn't able to meet her dad, as he is a fisherman and is out at sea for months at a time. This visit really confirmed our love for each other, and our feelings grew stronger by the day. On the last day of my visit, I officially asked her to marry me, although we had discussed it on occasion before this. She immediately said yes.
We didn't have an engagement party, for two reasons. One, since her dad couldn't be there, we didn't think it would be as meaningful or even "official". And two, our plan at the time was to marry in Vietnam next summer, so we were just going to have the engagement party a week or so before the wedding. This was our plan until a few days ago, when it hit a snag. I had already booked a plane ticket for next summer, for a 4 week stay (28 days). We figured this would be plenty of time for the engagement ceremony and wedding. However, stupidly, I hadn't looked into all of the requirements for getting a marriage certificate in Vietnam, and from what I'm now reading, it looks like it will take longer than a month for that whole process. Is that correct? Is it in anyway possible to be done in 4 weeks, if we do everything we can ahead of time?
Assuming not, then as I see it, we're looking at 3 possible options. What I would really like are opinions on which one you think is the best option, solely in terms of her visa being approved. We have our own personal pluses and minuses for each option, but want to go with the one that gives us the best chance to be together.
Option 1: Go ahead with the wedding in Vietnam next summer, then start an IR1 visa application. I can change my flight itinerary to 6 weeks instead of 4, although it may be costly; would 6 weeks be certain to be enough for the official marriage process?
Option 2: Start a K1 visa application now. If her interview is scheduled before July, or in July, we would do the interview and then have a ceremonial Buddhist wedding and reception after that with NO wedding certificate. I would bring her back to the US and we would have a wedding here. (My concern about this option is that we would have the interview with no evidence of an engagement party, and only 1 prior visit. I'm afraid this would be our weakest chance.) If the interview was scheduled after July, we would have a big engagement party in July, and have 2 month-long visits under my belt.
Option 3: Similar to option 2, but wait awhile to start the K1 process to ensure that the interview would be after July. Either way, I should be able to arrange to fly back to Vietnam to be with her for the interview. I think that is important.
Her family really, really wants her to have a Vietnamese wedding, so with either option 2 or 3, we would go back to Vietnam the next year to have a ceremonial wedding. I have a feeling, though, that her family would be much happier with an official wedding in Vietnam before she ever comes to America. But again, at this point we're just looking at which option gives us the best chance at approval.
Side note: Our plan as of yesterday was to start the K1 process, then have a ceremonial wedding in July while waiting for the interview. But I'm reading that's a bad idea, right? That they look suspiciously at anything that remotely resembles a wedding. So I'm thinking a big engagement party would be much better.
As far as our evidence so far, we have daily chat logs as I mentioned, my boarding passes showing my one month stay, hotel receipts for all of our hotels, a few letters and postcards we've sent through mail (we will increase these), no phone bills because we do it all free through Skype, Viber, etc., receipts for flowers and other gifts I've sent her, over 1,300 pictures from my visit...anything major I'm missing? Unfortunately, I didn't keep the boarding passes for our flights within Vietnam, or receipts from restaurants - although we have plenty of pictures of us clearly in different cities and eating. I've read that it's good to have receipts of money sent, but she's pretty adamant about not wanting me to send her any money. I had to practically force her to take the couple million VND I wanted to leave her when I left Vietnam
Sorry for the length - I just wanted to give a complete picture. Any and all advice is graciously welcomed and appreciated.
Bryan

Hello everyone!
First of all, what a wonderful website. I want to say thanks to everyone who puts time and effort into helping people with their situations. There is so much valuable information here, and it has been incredibly helpful and useful to me.
That being said, there are still some things I'm not sure about, and since everybody's situation is different, I'm hoping to get some advice on my specific case. I'll start by providing information about our relationship, then detail what I feel our best options are at this point. It may be kind of a long post, so special thanks to anyone who reads it all and offers any kind of advice .
I am an American man, and she is a Vietnamese woman (guess you can see that from my picture). We met just over a year ago, August 2015, on Vietnamese cupid. We really hit it off right away, mainly due to our similarities (both Buddhist, both vegetarians, both love children and animals). But beyond that, there just seemed to be an incredible connection and a flow to our conversations (she speaks very good English - her college major was tourism and she works at a popular resort in Phu Quoc). We have chatted every single day for the past year, usually for at least a couple of hours. We've also talked through Skype, Viber, and Facebook (audio and video), thought not nearly as often as the chats. If I printed out our Facebook chat logs alone, it would be about 4,000 pages.
I visited her in Vietnam this July. I was there exactly 1 month - July 1 to August 1. During this time, we were together basically 24/7. We traveled all over Vietnam - Saigon, Can Tho, Rach Gia, Danang, Hoi An, Hanoi, and Phu Quoc. I met her mom, sister, and brother; unfortunately, I wasn't able to meet her dad, as he is a fisherman and is out at sea for months at a time. This visit really confirmed our love for each other, and our feelings grew stronger by the day. On the last day of my visit, I officially asked her to marry me, although we had discussed it on occasion before this. She immediately said yes.
We didn't have an engagement party, for two reasons. One, since her dad couldn't be there, we didn't think it would be as meaningful or even "official". And two, our plan at the time was to marry in Vietnam next summer, so we were just going to have the engagement party a week or so before the wedding. This was our plan until a few days ago, when it hit a snag. I had already booked a plane ticket for next summer, for a 4 week stay (28 days). We figured this would be plenty of time for the engagement ceremony and wedding. However, stupidly, I hadn't looked into all of the requirements for getting a marriage certificate in Vietnam, and from what I'm now reading, it looks like it will take longer than a month for that whole process. Is that correct? Is it in anyway possible to be done in 4 weeks, if we do everything we can ahead of time?
Assuming not, then as I see it, we're looking at 3 possible options. What I would really like are opinions on which one you think is the best option, solely in terms of her visa being approved. We have our own personal pluses and minuses for each option, but want to go with the one that gives us the best chance to be together.
Option 1: Go ahead with the wedding in Vietnam next summer, then start an IR1 visa application. I can change my flight itinerary to 6 weeks instead of 4, although it may be costly; would 6 weeks be certain to be enough for the official marriage process?
Option 2: Start a K1 visa application now. If her interview is scheduled before July, or in July, we would do the interview and then have a ceremonial Buddhist wedding and reception after that with NO wedding certificate. I would bring her back to the US and we would have a wedding here. (My concern about this option is that we would have the interview with no evidence of an engagement party, and only 1 prior visit. I'm afraid this would be our weakest chance.) If the interview was scheduled after July, we would have a big engagement party in July, and have 2 month-long visits under my belt.
Option 3: Similar to option 2, but wait awhile to start the K1 process to ensure that the interview would be after July. Either way, I should be able to arrange to fly back to Vietnam to be with her for the interview. I think that is important.
Her family really, really wants her to have a Vietnamese wedding, so with either option 2 or 3, we would go back to Vietnam the next year to have a ceremonial wedding. I have a feeling, though, that her family would be much happier with an official wedding in Vietnam before she ever comes to America. But again, at this point we're just looking at which option gives us the best chance at approval.
Side note: Our plan as of yesterday was to start the K1 process, then have a ceremonial wedding in July while waiting for the interview. But I'm reading that's a bad idea, right? That they look suspiciously at anything that remotely resembles a wedding. So I'm thinking a big engagement party would be much better.
As far as our evidence so far, we have daily chat logs as I mentioned, my boarding passes showing my one month stay, hotel receipts for all of our hotels, a few letters and postcards we've sent through mail (we will increase these), no phone bills because we do it all free through Skype, Viber, etc., receipts for flowers and other gifts I've sent her, over 1,300 pictures from my visit...anything major I'm missing? Unfortunately, I didn't keep the boarding passes for our flights within Vietnam, or receipts from restaurants - although we have plenty of pictures of us clearly in different cities and eating. I've read that it's good to have receipts of money sent, but she's pretty adamant about not wanting me to send her any money. I had to practically force her to take the couple million VND I wanted to leave her when I left Vietnam
Sorry for the length - I just wanted to give a complete picture. Any and all advice is graciously welcomed and appreciated.
Bryan