tcTTct

One week for my fiancee, and that included a President's Day holiday.

Like Vince said, it's all symbolic and the organizers will take care of the details anyway. It's been a long time since grooms' families had to pay off the girl's family to take the girl.

Just like "Dam Hoi " which literally means "asking party", nobody actually needs to ask for permission to marry the girl anymore.

VJ Members who made it out of AP & results:

· Lindal24 ________________7/8/2009 - 10/7/2009 - 91 days in AP - APPROVED

CR1 Visa - First blue RFE: Proof of Bona fide Relationship & List of Relatives

· FrednDaoHoney__________1/17/2009 - 10/15/2009 - 271 days in AP - APPROVED

· JohnCali9 _______________8/6/2009 - 10/21/2009 - 76 days in AP - APPROVED

K1 Visa - First blue RFE: Ex-wife's situation & Timeline

· MichaelAndKha___________8/15/2009 - 10/21/2009 - 67 days in AP - Denied

K1 Visa - First blue RFE: Timeline

Reasons for Denial: 1.Inconsistent photos, 2.No engagement ceremony, 3.Lack of marriage ceremony details

· Andy (not a VJ member)____8/17/2009 - 10/23/2009 - 67 days in AP - Denied

K1 Visa - First blue RFE: Proof of Bona fide Relationship & Timeline

· Minh&Nhan (not a VJ member)__09/07/2009 - 10/23/2009 - 46 days in AP - APPROVED

· Huong and Phung_________9/8/2009 - 10/27/2009 - 49 days in AP - Denied

CR1 Visa - First blue RFE: Proof of Bona fide Relationship & Timeline Rebuttal APPROVED over 1 year later.

· JeromeBinh______________8/20/2009 - 10/28/2009 - 69 days in AP - Denied

K1 Visa - First blue RFE: Ex-wife's situation, Timeline & List of Relatives

Reasons for Denial: 1.Inconsistent Photos, 2.Communiciation not credible, 3.One visit, 4.Small engagement, 5.Engagement shortly after meeting, 6.B has 3 relatives in US, but only listed 2; P lived close to B's relatives, 7.Lack of marriage ceremony details

· Ly Trinh _________________8/21/2009 - 10/28/2009 - 68 days in AP - Denied

CR1 Visa - First blue RFE: Timeline

· Ituan__________________8/10/2009 - 09/15/2009 - 36 days in AP - Denied Additional interview granted for 11/11 2nd denial

K1 Visa - First blue RFE: Proof of Bona fide Relationship & Timeline

· ToanTien________________8/20/2009 - 12/18/2009 120 days in AP APPROVED

CR1 Visa - First blue RFE: Proof of Bona fide Relationship & Timeline-- co-sponsor...

· Vi&Art____________________8/5/2009 K1 Visa - First blue RFE: Proof of Bona fide Relationship & Timeline No results reported.

· Robert & Mai_______________03/04/10 - 3/30/2010 no docs required--26 days in AP APPROVED

· ScottThuy__________________03/01/2010 - 9/23/2010 207 days in AP K1- timeline, ex-spouse address,police cert.......... 7/20/10 Phone calls from Consulate to P, P's Ex, B, B's family-- 8/8/10 Investigators visit Thuys Residence. APPROVED

· AnhBob___________________12/07/2009 - 10/08/2010 306 days in AP CR1- proof of bonafide, timeline, info about ex, info about child... Denied

· ViQuoc___________________ 05/26/2010 - 10/22/2010 150 days in AP CR-1- Cosponsor...... APPROVED

· 2X2Y2Z__________________07/12/2010 - 11/12/2010 APPROVED CR1- timeline, medical results......... 123 Days 9/15/10 Investigators visit B's Residence

· Ronnie&Hang______________12/29/2009 - APPROVED

K1- timeline, medical results from Cho Ray (sputum test required)....308 Days

. WeatherEmperor______________06/20/2011 - 03/06/2012. 259 days in AP. Results: APPROVED

K1 Visa. Blue Slip documents: 1)time-line, 2)10 year residency(petitioner), 3)10 year residency(beneficiary), 4)letter of explanation detailing matchmaking agency where we met.

· tcTTct _____________________11/29/2011 - 2/8/2012 69 days - APPROVED K-1

Blue slip: Blank. CO says please give him time to read over our updated timeline which we submitted at the interview. For the next 2 weeks, investigators called me, my ex, my ex's bf. Spoke to my son. Investigators called my fiancee, her ex, her father, her apartment front desk. The investigator was very efficient, not rude at all and was much less impersonal the second time he interviewed me. He said that the truth is the truth and not to worry.

Congratulations!

Now go clean that house of yours to get ready for her - I haven't started yet...

Thit cho is so much more common in Hanoi. I'm from Saigon and was shocked to see it how available it was.

But people shouldn't worry about accidentally consuming it. It's a delicacy and costs more so nobody will serve it to you without you paying for it.

How the heck do you remember this much detail??? I can barely remember what I had for lunch!

That is exactly what Thu wanted to do...but I wasn't sure. If she does bring her passport, do you think I should also bring the EMS fee? How much is the EMS fee anyways and do they accept cash in VN Dong or is it Check only?

EMS fee is just 70000 vnd which is approx $3.50. Pay in vnd.

JonnyX. Haven't you been asking the same questions over and over for the last few months? Just spend more time reading this forum.

I don't get the dating your yoga teacher reference. Care to elaborate?

I think you need to start taking a lot more photos together and make sure you have the date stamp on your camera set to print on the photo. I can't believe a 20 yo Vietnamese girl doesn't like to take photos.

I think your big issue is that you have to prove domicile in the US. The affidavits of support can be done by someone else such as your parents of they are willing.

Hand it over to the officer at POE

If you are both Vietnamese then it is almost a 100% requirement.

Now, once she submits the police and medical paper what happens next? Will she get the pink slip in the mail or will she receive another letter asking her to pick up the pink at the Consulate?

After she submits the papers she will receive a letter from the consulate asking her to submit her passport to the consulate and to pay the EMS fee.

Congratulations. You're in the home stretch now.

I actually kind of appreciate the fact that the investigators do all they can to weed out the fraudulent cases. Once you win them over with the facts you can actually notice their attitudes change.

I also believe that the COs have different standards for Caucasian/Vietnamese couples and Vietnamese/Vietnamese couples.

My Dam Hoi was not traditional. It was held poolside at a hotel and my fiancée was in a western style gown. But we made sure the signage says Le Dinh Hon and the same thing was on the cake. The hotel receipt said Wedding Package but we made them change it to Engagement Party.

My CO paid attention to both the photos and the receipts.

We didn't plan to have Dam Hoi but did so because of the collective experience here on VJ, and to me, it was definitely necessary.

It took me 3 months to learn English at the age of 9. If you're lucky enough to start learning before the age of 14 there's a high likelihood that you'll speak with no accent.

The problem is that it's much more than $10k and she has to send it all before she leaves her country.

How did your beneficiary transfer money to the US before she/he came over to the USA after K1 approval?

Did she/he transfer money into your bank account?

Was he/she able to open a US account?

Were you able to add his/her name to your bank account?

Will the IRS have issues?

Need advice from thise who have gone before me.

My fiancée sold a house in 2010 will be transferring a large sum of money over. HSBC says that the sale is too long ago and they cannot transfer the money unless she is able to provide some kind of proof that it is her money, conveniently ignoring the fact that she deposited the money into her own HSBC account immediately after the sale.

Provided that she finds a way to transfer the money, what will be the Fed/IRS implications if she transfers it to my bank account? Am I able to add her as a joint account holder? How would I be able to prove that my fiancée transferred her monetary assets to my account?

It's a real PITA...

Ok thanks. Why do they even bother to print the petition expiration date on the visa itself when it's obvious that they've already issued the visa.

Either way she plans to be here before either dates. I'm just curious as to why they put it on there and whether it's significant. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I had her kids on the original petition but didn't follow through with it and need to do something before the petition expiration date if I were to change my mind...

In the annotation section at the bottom of the visa, they printed the petitioner's name and expiration date of the petition.

The visa expiration date is 6 months less one day from the date of the medical, not 6 months from the date the visa was issued. We were interviewed in late November 2011 and was in AP for 2.5 months, and the visa expiration date is early May because the medical was done early November.

On the K1 visa that's attached to the beneficiary's passport there are 2 dates:

1 - The visa expiration date

And

2 - The petition expiration date

The petition expiration date is earlier than the visa expiration date. Is it correct to assume that she needs to arrive at the POE before the visa expiration date?

What is the purpose of the petition expiration date?

On the K1 visa that's attached to the beneficiary's passport there are 2 dates:

1 - The visa expiration date

And

2 - The petition expiration date

The petition expiration date is earlier than the visa expiration date. Is it correct to assume that she needs to arrive at the POE before the visa expiration date?

What is the purpose of the petition expiration date?

They allow you to be in the interview now. I was standing next to my fiancée the whole time. The CO even ribbed me about proposing on Yahoo Messenger. After I told him it was YM video and not regular YM chat he was like "Well in that case it's OK then"