JasonGG

It's a pretty straight forward process following the instruction posted earlier (https://vietnamembassy-usa.org/page/how-get-vietnamese-passport-renewed-expired-or-soon-be-expired-passports-or-replaced-lost-or). They do not care about her U.S. green card. That link is to the embassy in Washington, DC. You should contact them to ask about the fee. We paid $165 a few years ago for my daughter and wife during COVID. Also send a self-addressed, postage paid priority mail envelope for them to send it back to you. You can track it's return that way, but DC is really quick and passports and visas have always taken a week or less. Jason

My wife also got the Vietnamese exemption stamp in her US passport. Her Vietnamese passport was still valid, but the instructions also allow for expired ones as proof of citizenship.

I just got mine from the embassy in DC last month. Filled out the application, sent my passport, a copy of the info page in my US passport, info page of my wife's Vietnamese passport, original marriage certificate, 2 passport photos, money order ($70), and a prepaid priority mail envelope. Had my passport with visa exemption and marriage certificate back in less than a week. - Jason https://vietnamembassy-usa.org/consular/visa-exemption Application (Word doc) is at the bottom of the page.

Our experience was at Dulles, not San Francisco. I was asked the normal entry questions about food and where I had traveled. There were no K-1/K-2 specific questions. I don't recall my wife saying anything except "thank you" when the officer welcomed her to the U.S. There was no secondary inspection upon entry for my wife or her son when he arrived later in the year. She won't have to speak much, if at all. If you are not with her, just tell her to have documents ready and hand them to the officer when called to the counter. He will review the passport/visa, stamp it, and welcome her to the U.S. It took maybe 5 minutes for the officer to stamp and review my passport, K1 fiance, and K2 daughter. So, assuming your fiance isn't carrying anything that flags her luggage, port of entry is pretty easy. Worry about her missing a flight, not being denied entry.😄 Best of luck - Jason

Congratulations! Best of luck on bringing your fiance to the U.S. Now you can start stressing about applying for the 2-year green card! 😅 Enjoy your time in Vietnam and have a safe trip back - Jason

Sorry for all my typos! You’re going to be fine. I will look forward to hearing good news from you soon. 😀

Keep the required documents separate from the relationship evidence. From my own experience, the huge pile of relationship evidence is just for show, they won’t actually look at it, but we walked i. With two clear totes bags of paper and were ready to bury them with relationship evidence if asked! They will notice if you walk I. With LOTS of paper. When you arrive at the consulate, they are going to tear through all your required documents and hand you back a pile of jumbled papers. Don’t stress another, though. You’ll have time to sort ever While you wait. Just pay attention to the announcements as they were not always synced with the TV sceeens. So, go with lots of paper, but prepare to shred most of it after the interview. We had 1000 pages and shredded most of it the evening at the hotel’s business center. Keep the important documents for adjusting status. your are just a couple weeks fro your interview. Telax, enjoy your time together. You will be fine! Let us know how it goes. 😀

Check Fridays around 12-1pm Vietnam time. That’s when they seemed to post them in 2018. Others may have more recent suggestions, though. Jason

I just logged into our Moneygram account and saw that it is only debit card, credit card, or "cash at location." I noticed you mentioned Xoom earlier. They have never allowed me to send money to Vietnam. I tried twice years ago. Each time, the transfer was reviewed, I had to have a telephone interview, and it was denied because they thought I was being scammed . . . by my wife and mother-in-law! 😆 Jason

MoneyGram. It’s $1.99 to transfer from bank account or debit card to a bank account in Vietnam. We sent money 2 days ago and it was deposited in the Vietnamese bank account before we even got the confirmation email! Exchange rate was $1=25,400+. Jason

If I remember correctly, you said earlier that you front loaded you application. You'll want to bring new letters of intent for each of you to the interview. Prepare a "family tree" as some couples are asked for it including a VJ member fairly recently in this forum. We provided one that included grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents, and siblings with birth and death dates, addresses, and phone numbers. When we applied (2017) and interviewed (2018) there were several VJ members in the Vietnam forum who had difficulty and received blue slips, home visits, and extended administrative processing. We corresponded with many of them and even though they had a difficult time getting their K1 or CR1 in Vietnam, everyone we talked to at that time eventually got approved. When I attended the interview with my fiance, we brought a LOT of paper in two 6 inch, clear folders that included emails, receipts, chat logs, photos, travel itineraries, airline tickets, etc. for the time between our application and interview. I had no expectation that anyone wanted to see it. We brought that paper to give the appearance that we were ready to provide them with anything they could possibly ask for. The evening after the interview, we shredded it all at our hotel's business center. Don't bother with the translation of your chats. If they really want to read them, they have the expertise nearby to read them in Vietnamese. I found that some of the best advice came from the HCM City consulate reviews. I can only share my experience from 2017-18, but you will get the most up-to-date advice and recommendations from these reviews - https://www.visajourney.com/reviews/index.php?cnty=Vietnam&page=1&dfilter=5&topic= Jason

Just wanted to provide an update . . . USCIS tier 2 called this morning. She confirmed that yes, we need to hold on to my son's 10-year green card even though he has a U.S. passport now. The passport proves that he is a U.S. citizen to the State Dept. and most federal agencies, BUT it does not prove legal entry into the United States. The State Dept. computers have recorded him as a citizen, but the USCIS system has not. She recommended he carry the green card in his passport until he receives the certificate of citizenship. The certificate "may be needed" when applying for financial aid or dealing with social security. Ugh . . . just when we though USCIS was behind us and now we have another step to complete! Thanks everyone for you responses. They were very helpful. - Jason

No, he does not have a naturalization certificate. Just his US passport.

My wife and her son were permanent residents, but when my wife became a U.S. citizen, her son acquired citizenship through her and received his U.S. passport 6 months ago. Last week, his long-overdue 10-year green card arrived. I called USCIS today to ask what we do with the card and the representative only scheduled me for a "non-urgent" return email or call in 30 days. She added that I may have to call back and submit a new 30-day request when the deadline passes. I found a couple very old posts saying that USCIS "should be dead to us" now that my wife and her son are citizens. Since USCIS was very strict about having the cards returned at the citizenship swearing in ceremony, do we need to return this to someone or simply throw it out? Thanks - Jason

Congratulations to you and your wife. Glad you were able to find someone to watch the baby. Good luck on the rest of your journey - Jason

You’ll be fine. Bring it to the interview. The ceremony doesn’t seem to be as important now as it was years ago. - Jason

Congratulations! Best of luck to both of you - Jason

My son got a new blue passport in March and it only shows the province also. - Jason

Yes, you can - and you are encouraged - to accompany your fiance to the appointment in Vietnam. There were lots of couples and families having visa interviews with infants when I attended with my fiance. Most were pretty unhappy and noisy after a few hours in that waiting room. Best of luck to you - Jason

Great! You have nothing to worry about.

Good luck to you and your fiancé. Just making sure . . . Did you file any official papers with the government? If not, you are fine. You are definitely only engaged. We submitted dam hoi photos when we applied for our K1 and the consulate expected to see them in 2017/18. If it comes up , just say that was the florist’s andfotion and you did not have a wedding ceremony after the engagement ceremony. They can confirm you didn’t submit papers for a marriage if they want. Best of luck to you. It is a long and stressful process. Be patient, visit each other again if you can, and continue to collect as much documentation as possible. Jason

Oh, my wife just said that means engagement AND wedding ceremony on the same day. I don’t think you should resubmit, but prepare to explain it at the interview.

The sign is good. It confirms that it’s your engagement ceremony and not a wedding.

When I was scheduling for my wife and later her son, we checked Friday 12-1:00am U. S. Eastern time (noon to 1pm embassy time). In 2018, the embassy seemed to load new dates every Friday around that time and they were gone in 1-2 hours. Jason

I wanted to share my wife's experience getting a driver's license in Maryland while adjusting status from a K-1 visa. Our experience is Maryland specific, so other states may have different rules. From our experience and talking to others in Maryland, it is a difficult process in Maryland and not everyone will have the same outcome. Just be persistent! My wife has a Vietnamese license, so she skipped the learner's permit step. Still had to take a 3-hour drug and alcohol course and exam. After submitting paperwork, paying $120 for MVA-approved translation of her Vietnamese license, passing the written test, and then passing the driving skills test . . . a 2 week process . . . we met with a supervisor for photo and final review to print the license. When he handed her the temporary paper license, it had an expiration date that was the same day as her I-94 in just 5 weeks! I asked about a longer license and he said that we could come back before Sept. 30. Once we are "in the system" we "might" be able to request an 8-month license. Since my wife wanted to take classes this fall she needed a driver's license beyond Sept 30. She couldn't register and pay tuition hoping that she "might" be able to drive to school after October 1. He shrugged his shoulders. He said if I didn't like it, I was welcome to get another ticket and ask someone else. I did just that. Three hours later, the MVA was closed and my wife, daughter, and I were the only people waiting. We saw several people talking about us and wondering what we were doing. A supervisor walked over and asked what we were waiting for and if we had a number. Apparently, our number was never entered into the queue! I explained the situation and she asked if we could come back tomorrow. I said no. We have waited 3 hours to be seen now. That evening, we spoke to 3 additional supervisors before we got one who knew what to do. We were there for an 1 1/2 hours after the MVA branch closed. They re-scanned all her paperwork (SSN, I-797, marriage license, utility bills, etc). However, they were unable to delete the "erroneous" 5-week license without the original supervisor who had already gone home or the help of headquarters staff. We still had to return the following morning to complete the process. The next morning, I got another number, waited about 15 minutes, and the supervisor we worked with the night before saw us and called us to an empty window. An hour later, my wife had a new temporary paper license with an April 2019 expiration date. The supervisor waived the fee for the 8-month license and it should arrive next week. The 5-week license arrived in the mail today and is valid until the other arrives. We can return with her EAD (December hopefully) for a 1-year extension that should get us to the green card and the 8-year duration license. So . . . I can certainly understand why so many people are having trouble in Maryland. Three supervisors insisted she was only eligible for a license valid until her I-94 expired. If my wife had gone alone or if I had not been persistent, she would not have gotten the 8-month license. We'd been to the MVA 8 times since July, so many of the staff recognized us and a couple were sympathetic and I think tried to help a little more than normal. For most MVA employees, we were just a number, though. Several were very abrupt and rude until the last supervisor explained that they were mistaken. Only then were they kinder to us. A very long and frustrating process! You really are at their mercy regardless of whether you are right or wrong. Just be persistent and know that there is at least one person in Annapolis who can help in this situation. Jason