mrhazey

7 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

Tell your fiancee to stop listening to the Vietnamese gossip machine.  Most of the people in Vietnam have never been in US Consulate, but they know everything.  One of my relative was a "visa consultant" after one week of training and never been inside the consulate or even applied for a visa.  Good grief.  

The primary reason for a K-1 visa is that the US Consulate believes the relationship to be fraudulent for a green card.  Usually, the couple has only met once to meet the minimum requirement to file for the K-1.  The US Consulate in HCMC guesstimate that 1 in 7 K-1/CR-1 relationship is fraudulent and only for a green card.  That's what you're up against.  

 

Another reason is lying about something - lies on prior tourist or immigration visa applications, omitting prior marriages, Communist Party membership, etc.

 

You have a genuine relationship where you have met on two separate trips and you've travelled together.

 

If you get rejected, of course it makes any further application harder.

 

You have enough to get through the K-1 process.  If your fiancee would rather go for the CR-1, then you've got a long wait.  Of course you will have more relationship evidence.

 

Best of luck.

I chuckled reading the first sentence in your reply because you are correct. She was reading stories from other people's experiences from a Facebook group (in Vietnam) that are all "going" through the process or succeeded/failed. My assumption was that most of the the failed stories were either fraudulent or indeed some sort of lie.

Thanks for the upper!

While I was discussing this with my fiancee, she had heard a lot of stories that it's very easy to get rejected when doing a K-1 visa and that it would be exponentially harder to get approval again. I explained to her that we seemed to meet all the requirements and that as long as we are truthful and honest with our documents/interview that we "should" pass. Does anyone have any experience with this or provide more information on what can potentially cause the denial even if we meet the requirements? Or why it gets harder to get approved after the first rejection?

17 minutes ago, Loren Y said:

As a note to this, if you decide on a cruise ship, they only perform ceremonies while in port, or tied up to a dock, and then the marriage is registered in that country you are at port in. If you are in Mexico, those rules apply, at port in the Bahamas those rules apply, you will have to meet legal requirements at the port you are in. For example, carnival cruise offers marriage packages all the time, and they do most of them before the boat leaves port ( Miami,FL) is a very popular example. Just don't want anyone to think you can get married while " At Sea" in international waters as it won't be a valid marriage. But I agree, you can get married anywhere you can get to to perform a Legal marriage.

That's another option but we opted to not take that route, we don't want to bring the risk back home to others surrounding us and potentially others. The description does help though, thank you!

1 hour ago, Orangesapples said:

I agree, even if they do open up for some countries, the US is unlikely to be one of them. 

Yeah unfortunately I'd have to agree with you there. The US isn't going to be accepted by many countries and some have already prohibited flights to the US.

4 minutes ago, JFH said:

I suggested “imminently” because unless you can get married in the very near future you will not really save any time (if time is your priority) with the CR-1. It takes a good year to process and you can’t do that until you are married. So, if you can‘t get married for another 6 months or so you will be waiting 18+ months for the visa. You can start the K-1 now. 
 

For the CR-1 the marriage can take place anywhere in the world - her country, the USA, a cruise ship, a beach in the Caribbean, your choice. 

Thank you for the clarification!

2 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

Personally, I think the information you provided is enough evidence to get a k1 approved. For the initial petition you only have to show meeting each other within the last 2 years which you have done and have documented. I would suggest to submit all your proof initially- both meetings (passport stamps/flight bookings etc). Heck, I'd even share my canceled flight due to COVID if I still have it in my email. There are some countries where 2 meetings might not be sufficient (high fraud countries- think Morocco, Pakistan etc) but I haven't seen anything about Vietnam being "tough". 

You are definitely asking all the right questions- I wish you luck on your journey whatever one you chose. Keep in mind you can search the Vietnam specific portal on this website to get info specific to your embassy/connect with members/follow their journey, as well as the K1 and CR1 specific threads to get a better understanding of each visa and read others opinion of pros/pitfalls etc.. of each. 

Thank you! I haven't had time to go digging further on this website but I will do so. Appreciate your help and responses!

3 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

The US Consulate in HCMC is processing K-1 visas.  

After 99 days without any cases of community transmission, Danang has had 15 cases of community transmission in the last 3 days.  Tourists are ban from the city and non-essential businesses have been ordered closed.

 

It's extremely unlikely that US citizens will be able to enter in September.  Vietnam is considering opening up only to countries without raging Covid-19 outbreaks.  IMHO, the earliest that US tourists will be able to enter Vietnam is Summer 2021; if not until 2022.  

File for the K-1 if you want to be together by end of 2021.  If you wait for Vietnam to open up to US citizens in 2021 or 2022 so you can get marry there, you are looking at the end of 2022 or 2023 for her to immigrate to the US.  

Is there a link anywhere that states the US Consulate in HCMC is processing K-1 visas? The link provided by Luckycuds above shows that they were only processing CR1s at this current time.

4 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

Hi - so I just googled Vietnam and saw that they ARE processing mission critical visas at this time (not all embassies have announced this) As of July 15, the United States Embassy in Hanoi and Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City have resumed certain nonimmigrant visa services, including: F, M certain J (alien physician, government visitor, international visitor professor, research scholar, short-term research scholar, specialist, secondary school student and college/university student), C1/D, E, I, O, and P visas, and certain immigrant visas including IR1, IR2, CR1, and CR2.  While we aim to process cases as soon as practicable, there is likely to be increased wait times for completing such services due to substantial backlogs.   https://www.ustraveldocs.com/vn/ Unsure if this will sway you as you still have to get married but I'd suggest to book mark this website and check it every so often for updates.

Funny I was just looking that up at the same time as I got your reply. I'll discuss it with my fiancee but I think if we'll both agree that if in September Vietnam still will not open up their borders, we may file for K1 instead. You were correct in them prioritizing critical visas and my guess is they will eventually get to the non-critical ones such as K1 in due time. Unfortunately I do not have high hopes for Covid calming down until next year and the already extended time frames for getting everyone's visas processed, I think going K1 will still take a shorter time frame over CR-1 currently for my situation.

Side question; With the information that I posted in my original comment, even though after our initial meet I did travel back to see her one time and we also traveled together, with photos and travel documentation evidence, text history and etc; in your opinion do you think that would be sufficient to get approved? I have not read the other topics that were posted yet so I don't really have anything to compare against as far as our interactions and evidencing.

3 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

Thank you for clarifying; it was helpful. As of today both K1 and CR 1 are both valid options. There is speculation that once embassies open they may only process what is deemed "mission critical" visas; in which CR1 falls into but K1 does not. Therefore; it is thought that K1's will be put on hold and CR1s will be processed. So again, it is up to you which ever visa you choose; as the information I provided is speculation AND can change (heck, change multiple times). Unfortunately you (along with a whole bunch of others) are in a tough situation as to which to chose  

Thank you! That information about the embassies was definitely helpful to know about. I'm going to discuss it with my partner but so far I think I may lean towards K1 as of now unless Vietnam opens up in September as rumored. I can only guess that even if CR1s will be processed first, with the amount of time until I am allowed to enter Vietnam again, get married and start filing for CR1 the embassies will probably have sufficient time to get to K1 processing  that's only wishful thinking but who knows!

3 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

Hi,

 

You can't switch from a K1 to a CR-1.  You would have to start over.

 

For the K-1, she must arrive in the US as a single woman and you must marry in the US.  Then, she can adjust her status for a green card.  Once she files to adjust, there will be a period of 6-8 months where she can not work or travel outside the US.  You can start this now by filing the I-129F.

 

For the CR-1 spousal visa, you must be married when you file the I-130.  Doesn't matter where you get marry.  She would arrive in the US and immediately get a green card which authorizes her to work and she can freely travel internationally.

 

Please look up the pros and cons of the K-1 and CR-1.  

 

 

We have not filed anything yet. I have looked up the pros and cons between the two but I wasn't sure if Covid or the immigration bans have any affect on K-1.

Just now, Luckycuds said:

Can you clarify a bit; have you applied anything at this point?

 

It is completely up to you guys if you want to go the k1 - assuming you are not yet married. If you go the k1 you can file now. If you go the Cr1 you have to meet up and get married before you can file. I am not sure of the requirements to get married in Vietnam; do you have to stay there for a certain amount of days before you can marry, etc. Are Americans allowed in Vietnam currently? Or is your only concern exposing yourself and others to COVID (which is very valid in my opinion)? If that is your concern- there is no time frame you can put on when it will be safe to travel.

 

I want to point out You do not need a ceremony for a marriage; you basically just need the marriage certificate signed and then you can start applying for the CR1. Completely understand if you want a ceremony though. 

 

There are benefits to both visas so it really comes down to what you two are comfortable with; as far as timeline- no one can really give you an estimate on what would be "faster" due to the uncertainty in the entire world. 

We have not filed for anything yet. The only documents I have are official records confirming that I am not married and am single.

As of now only nationals, diplomats and etc are allowed to enter into Vietnam with a two week mandatory quarantine in a hospital. There is no set date as to when they will begin opening up their borders again for foreign travelers. You can get married any time when you enter Vietnam. No foreign travelers are allowed to enter Vietnam until the restriction has been lifted. The ceremony was not required but we wanted to do it for our family members + obtain more evidence of the relationship.

We had planned to get married legally in Vietnam back in May 2020, but as you know Covid happened   Which to my question was with Covid and the immigration ban, is K1 still valid and would that still work? I would prefer to go the CR-1 route as well but due to the uncertainty of Covid timelines I am not sure on which direction. Despite us both wanting it to happen, even if travel restrictions were lifted she doesn't want me to fly immediately for Covid reasons.

We can probably travel somewhere to get it done, but we opted not to due to Covid and we don't want to pose that risk to other people surrounding us. Just for my understanding when you said 'unless I can get married imminently', can you elaborate on that? It was my understanding that the marriage would have to happen in her country if we did the CR-1 or within 90 days in the US if it was K1.

Hello,

I am pretty new at this and both my fiancee have done some research. She currently lives in Vietnam and we have been dating for almost 11 months now. I met her initially through a friend while we (my friend and I) were traveling in Vietnam in June 2019. We showed some interest in each other and officially started dating in Sept 2019 and I came back in Dec 2019 to see her and we traveled together to Singapore (also flew to another city in Vietnam) during that same visit. We kept all of our physical and digital travel documents (Flight stubs and etc) as evidence. We had planned (my flight was purchased) to get married in Vietnam back in May 2020 to start the paperwork process until Covid hit. We text and facetime everyday while also having photos of us being together from Dec 2019 and the initial meet in June 2019. We wanted to go through the K1 route while even though it would take longer, it was a safer approach. Unknown as to when I would be able to travel back there or if we could travel anywhere together at this point in time, is there any sense of changing to use the IR1/C1 method at this point? Considering who knows how long until I am able to travel back there again so that we can get married and have a ceremony, does the Covid situation and the US immigration ban have any impact if we did IR1/C1?

I can certainly provide more info it it may help.

Adding some more supplementary info:

• I do have screenshots of our parents talking together to each other.
• She does have her engagement ring and we both have our wedding rings