AustinJohn

Oops, title should have read "slow" not "slot"....

Hi VJers,

My fiancee's packet 3 was sent from HCMC on June 7th. She hadn't received it by June 28th. I was visiting her during the month of June but had to leave June 29th. Since she hadn't received packet 3, I told her to go by the consulate and pick one up. After she took me to the airport, she went to the consulate, picked up packet 3, filled it out, and returned it to them.

I don't understand why it takes about 10 days for letter to go from Texas, USA to Vietnam over 3 weeks to go from HCMC to Vinh Long (about 3 hours away). A representative from the consulate told me on June 26th that it normally takes about 1 month. This doesn't really make any sense to me.

Anyone have any information on the situation regarding the extremely slow mail within Vietnam?

John

"My fiancee's interview is June 27. We plan to have a wedding ceremony (no paperwork) in August. Assuming all is well she will follow me to the states after the wedding. We had our engagement ceremony last year. The question is, should she disclose the wedding planning as evidence at the interview? That is, the venue booking receipt, money transfer receipt, the invitation, etc.?

How can we best handle this situation, at the upcoming interview, at the port of entry, and at the AOS interview?"

Hi, my fiancee and I haven't gone completely through the process. You are further along than us. However, I can share with you what I know and what we are planning. I am travelling to VN this month (June) and my fiancee and I will be having a wedding ceremony. She has not had the interview yet. I plan on telling her to share the pictures and video of the wedding ceremony with the CO when she has her interview. She understands that we must get marriage certificate in U.S.

I have talked with the consulate office in HCMC and they told me that there is no problem as long as we don't get a marriage certificate. People on these boards argue this matter back and forth because the laws of the country that you have the ceremony are very important. According to the Department of State, a legal marriage in a country other than U.S. is considered a legal marriage for the U.S. Now, speaking of Vietnam, it is a simple matter from what I understand, because the laws are very specific in the requirements for getting a legal marriage in Vietnam. Just having a marriage ceremony in VN does not make you married in Vietnam. Now, in other countries, it may be different.

As far as the point of entry is concerned, my fiancee will tell anyone that inquires about her status as single, because technically, she still is still single.

Please don't just take my word for it. Research it yourself and get comfortable with your decision. Good luck!

Any updates about this case? My fiance also has relatives in america and I dont want to be in this situation. Is there anything I can do to avoid this?

I'm preparing for this issue by making sure my fiancee has all of this information before she goes into interview.

The work certificate from my employer should state weekly, monthly or yearly salary?

It just says "salary paid" under B, #2.

I'm paid hourly so my letter of employment states my hourly wage, full time status, and hire date.

If you're gonna do it, might as well do it right. I had my dam hoi done with a film and camera crew. cost was about $80~100 and WELL WORTH IT. Few hundred pictures and a compiled dvd fully edited with music, slideshows, and videos. Both families loved the video, and mine has watched it at least 5 separate occasions.

I had catering service provide seating and food(cooked on spot)/drinks for 80 people, which cost about $800. The cost of the pig was $70 bux. You can settle for less fancy, but overall, under 1K for dam hoi is a sweet deal.

That's about the same price as mine (<$1000). I was only one from my family there. It was NOT "weird". My fiancee's cousin and husband filled in as representatives of my family (they are the one's who introduced us to each other). In the ceremony, when I first saw my fiancee in her Ao Dai, I remember thinking, "Wow, she is beautiful."

My fiancee was very happy with the whole thing and I found it very interesting. I was very puzzled at times during the ceremony because I didn't know what was going on. I went along with it and let my fiancee and her family guide me through it. All in all, it was great!

I am looking for advice on interview preparation. Please see linked thread.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69225

John

According to the I-134 directions, under supporting evidence:

A. Statement from an officer of the bank or other financial

institutions where you have deposits, identifying the

following details regarding your account:

1. Date account opened;

2. Total amount deposited for the past year;

3. Present balance.

I went to my credit union and had them print out this information on their business stationary. It took about 30 minutes.

It doesn't say anything about bank statements.

This whole topic of communication is a concern for me as well. My fiancee is studying English and I'm studying Vietnamese. Neither of us is fluent in both but we manage to communicate through a Tieng Viet / English mixture. If most people saw us talk, they would probably just scratch their head in confusion. I share your concern. I wonder what the CO will say in the interview as well regarding communication or lack there of.

For your petition to be approved, you only need to prove that you have met within the last year....

*It's actually 2 years.

You can go to the interview with your fiance - I did.

"Going to the interview" or "sitting in on the interview". In Vietnam, you can show up at the place where they have the interviews with your fiancee, but from my understanding, the petitioner can not actually go into the interview itself with the beneficiary. Like another poster said, some consulates allow both to be in the interview together, some don't.

While you're at it how about a guest list? Or have everyone sign a guest book? Include the vendors and try getting their business card. It would be much easier now than to wait untill after the ceromonial wedding is over. Take a couple of pictures of how many people are attending it. If you can, save the memory card off your digital camera ( I did from our engagement). My guest list for our engagement was over 300+ people. I'm sure it'll make a good impression on the CO. This is most likely more than needed but it's better to have the CO ask about the engagement/wedding ceromonial than other questions. Good luck and have a great time!

Thanks for the input. A guest sign-in book is a good idea. I'm not sure how that will go over but I'll check into it.

I'm actually not positive my daughter is going. She needs a passport and passport agencies are completely overwhelmed. A rep told me today that they are not even responding to internal dept of state emails. By the way, her application has been in for 12 weeks.

John

Hello VJers,

I'm getting ready for my second trip to VN to see my fiancee. This time I'm taking my 9-year old daughter with me so that she can meet her future step mom.

While I'm there, I plan on preparing my fiancee as much as I can for her interview (K1 visa). We don't have interview date yet. We got NOA-2 May 2nd. We're also having a marriage ceremony on June 9th. I'm staying in VN for 3 weeks.

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So, in preparation for the interview, right now, she has the following 3 items:

+ engagement ceremony pictures

+ receipt for engagement ring and earrings

+ letters that I've sent to her over the past 5 months ( ~15 letters and cards )

When I go to VN in June, I plan on taking the following items to her:

+ copy of original I-129 petition (including engagement pictures and video of engagement ceremony 12/06)

+ I-134 affidavit of support form, notarized and with evidence ( tax transcripts, bank and employer letters )

+ screenshots and logs of our weekly Yahoo IM meeting from January to May ( we don't do emails )

+ phone records (to/from) for December 06 - May 07

+ originals of Western Union receipts

+ all immigration information and proof of citizenship of her cousin who lives in U.S. and introduced us to each other

+ receipt for wedding dress which my mother (her future mother-in-law) picked out and payed for and then shipped to me

While I'm there or after I get back, I'll add:

+ pictures and video of our wedding ceremony June 9th

+ copy of my plane boarding passes for June trip

+ copies of stamped visas for me and my daughter

+ dated pictures with my daughter, fiancee, and me

+ 5 minute video of my fiancee and me speaking our Viet/Anh lingo or maybe just me speaking my limited/borderline functional Vietnamese

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I'm trying to give my fiancee everything that I can possibly dream that they might ask of her.

Any VJer's have any advice on further evidence that I can provide for her? I'm really trying to maximize preparation. I plan on going over all of this with her when I am with her for the three weeks in June.

Thanks,

John

I talked to my fiancee this morning. I asked her if there would be a problem with the police and a marriage ceremony without the paperwork. She said, "No, the police here aren't difficult." She lives south of HCM city.

WOO HOOO!! Got packet 4 yesterday - Interview is scheduled for June 11th! :) :)

Wow, 3 months from sending petition to interview. I've never heard of one so fast.

I called the U.S. Consulate in HCM city in regards to this matter of "marriage ceremony" before the K1 visa. The consulate representative quickly told me that a marriage ceremony is not a problem unless you get a marriage certificate. By the way she replied to me, it seemed to me that it was a common question for her to answer.

I have also planned a marriage ceremony before my fiancee gets her visa. What's this about a fine for not filing?!? I think my finacee's uncle works with the police so if that's true, I hope it's not an issue for us.

I was planning on telling my fiancee to share the pictures with the U.S. consulate officer when she has her interview. I was thinking about trying to hide it but changed my mind. My fiancee will be nervous enough and under enough pressure without having to worry about hiding something. I also thought it best that she be completely honest with them.

My fiance was given the blue slip at her interview today. What happens now? What can I do?

Any suggestions would help us immensly!

Aaron

You are in Texas now?? Marc Ellis' office also is in Texas - Houston. You can check with Martindart for information about Marc.

Any other friends, who was introduced to your fiance by her Vietnamese American relatives, please pay attention and should ask for an Attorney to help before she goes to the interview. They always give the blue sheet for these cases.

Good luck to you,

Hien

Hien,

Please explain what a lawyer can do to help before interview. Let's assume that I can collect required supporting evidence and submit everything correctly. What will a lawyer do for me at this point? I'm not being arguementative. I'm honestly trying to decide whether I need one yet.

Reading this post got me worried. I was introduced to my fiancee through a relative also. They also went to Vietnam with me the first time that I met her in person. I actually included a signed letter from them that they witnessed our meeting online. How ironic that you say it is a red flag. haha

I wonder if the consulate understands that this is a part of the culture? From what I understand, it is common for Vietnamese people to introduce their family member to a potential spouse. Marriages used to be arranged but now they are more informal but still have ties to that past. Now, they usually ask the relative if she/he is interested in pursuing it further.

Now I'm seriously considering hiring a lawyer before her interview. We just got NOA-2 May 2.

Great post. Thanks Alien for taking the time to do it!

Does anyone on the board know if the package is mostly the same for the different consulates?

I think it depends on the laws in Brazil. I'm going to have a ceremony with my fiancee in her country but in our case, the guidelines are very strict about what is considered a marriage in Vietnam. Since we will NOT be getting a marriage certificate, our marriage won't be considered a Vietnamese legal marriage and won't be a problem for the K1 visa. However, I don't think that this is the same in every country. According to the Department of State website, a "legal" marriage in the beneficiaries country is considered a legal marriage for the United States consulate. You need to be familiar with the laws of Brazil. If you're not sure, it's probably best to be safe and don't mention it.

I was also wondering what is going on. The CSC update says that as of April 18, they are processing I-129F dated October 2006. At this rate, it'll be months before my February 07 is processed. I thought the average NOA1 to NOA2 time was about 3 months. Anyone know what is happening?

Well, I made a mistake on the birthdate on the I-129F and G-325A for my beneficiary. Instead of 11/9/84, I incorrectly filled in 4/9/84. My NOA1 was Feb. 15th. I plan on calling USCIS. What should I expect and how do I fix this? Thanks.

Thanks for the input. I am worried now a little bit but at least maybe I can be more prepared. I just mailed the I-129F yesterday so we still have at least 7 months to prepare for interview.

My fiancee is Vietnamese. Her English is poor and my Vietnamese is also poor yet we manage to have 1.5 hour telephone calls. I personally do a lot of thumbing through my Vietnamese-English dictionary when I'm talking to her. Our conversations are not very complex but we are communicating. I talked to a USCIS immigration officer about her poor english skills and he told me that it would have no bearing on whether she was granted a K1 Visa because she could request a translator. I understand that the consulate officer may bring up the question about how we communicate. We talk to each other in a English/Vietnamese mix. I included a screenshot of such a conversation via Yahoo IM with my petition. She continues to study English and I continue to study Vietnamese. Should I worry?