Tags: fiancee visa, spousal visa

Getting Fiancee or spousal visas for Vietnam is much harder than from most other countries.

The consular officers in Ho Chi Minh City apply a higher standard before they accept that a relationship is genuine.

Like the consulate in China,  see my blog http://www.expertfianceevisas.com/?p=26 they expect a petitioner to have made multiple trips, to have had a long engagement, and to be able to communicate well with his fiancee (English no problem).

In addition they expect each petitioner to have celebrated a large, formal engagement party and banquet called “Dinh Hong” (but not on the first trip).

Some of their “official” reasons for denial are:

Photographs submitted as evidence of the relationship indicate that Petitioner and Fiancee have spent only four or five days together.

(This is their “code” what it really means is “only one trip = no visa”. If only one trip, it doesn’t matter how many photos you give)

It does not appear that the claimed relationship is continuous and on going. For example, Petitioner has not returned to visit Fiancee for one year.

Fiancee and-or Petitioner submitted evidence of only a small, inconsequential engagement ceremony without any US guest. This contradicts local social and cultural norms in which many family members and friends, including those in the US, are invited to engagement celebrations numbering in the hundreds of guests for families of even modest means.

In contrast to Vietnamese social and cultural norms which mandate a lengthy and careful period of pre-nuptial arrangements, Petitioner and Fiancee became engaged before meeting in person.

The decision to approve or deny is generally made by the consular officer before he meets with the Fiancee, before the interview. This is why taking the extra effort to make a complete and convincing petition at the start is essential to your success. If the officer has decided to deny, he will ask her detailed questions about the “proposal, the petitioners home town or the future wedding plans”. Any answer the Fiancee gives will not be “credible”.

Beneficiary’s chronology of the claimed relationship is not credible. For example, Fiancee can not recalled when Petitioner proposed to her.

Fiancee is unaware of basic facts regarding Petitioners location and or hometown (features, characteristics, etc). For example Fiancee was unaware of where Petitioner has lived for the past two years.

Fiancee is unaware of the exact wedding plans, what church, or venue, when the marriage would take place.

If these issues apply to you, to be successful you MUST remedy them prior to submitting your Petition.  And you MUST provide the supporting documents to irrefutably prove the remedies have occurred.  Many petitioners have their multiple trips and engagement party after the fiancee visa petition has been submitted, then bring proof of the trips, etc to the Fiancee’s consulate interview. They leave dumbfounded when finding that their Fiancee who attended the interview alone, but with all the documents, was not allowed to show the proof, instead was asked a few questions and left, denied due to the weak initial petition documentation.

Submit a stronger petition with more “proof of a genuine relationship”, UP FRONT.  Contrary to official statements, decisions to accept or deny a petition are often made early, prior to the interview, while the consular officer is reviewing your petition. The officer then asks pointed questions during the interview in order to justify the decision he has ALREADY made. Be sure to provide all proof of your genuine relationship “up front” in the petition.

See my youtube on proving a Genuine Relationship at

http://fianceevisaservices.com/youtubegenuinerelationship.html

Strategy to successfully petition:  Immediately take extra care to ensure that your “paper trail” is solid, and put at least two trips to meet her into your plans,  sign her up for English lessons if her conversational English is not good,  and celebrate your “Dinh Hong” during one of your trips.

If you are using a prepaid phone card make sure it provides you with itemized call records. These are the best proof that you are making regular and frequent contact. If your current phone card does not give you an itemized call logs
see http://fianceevisaservices.com/international-prepaid-long-distance.html

My petitions generally get approved faster than average. This is due to the professional way I assemble your petition package, including extensive, but very necessary efforts needed when applying for  a Vietnam fiancee, to prove the “bona fides” of your genuine committed relationship.

Click for Fiancee Visa Preparation Help

Tags: visa denial

I just did a review of a I-129F petition for Alien Fiancee. The sponsor in trying to describe the relationship between himself and his fiancee, went into great detail about each and every gift, and each payment he sent her to support rent, tuition, internet access, and so on. He felt he was demonstrating what a good provider he was, and how serious he was to support his future wife. The problem is, when she IS your wife and you are doing all that, well, it is expected. But while she is your girl friend / fiancée, then the visa officer has a tendency to wonder, ” is this is a genuine committed relationship, or  sugar-daddy meets gold digger.?”

When dealing with immigration, you can NOT afford to send the wrong signals. I counseled him to rewrite his essay, and stick to personal topics of compatibility, relationships, romance, man to woman, partner to partner, plans for the future and so on. To read the full text of the review I conducted go to I-129F Petition Review

A lot of men go it alone, doing their own petitions.  They save thousands of dollars avoiding high attorneys fees. But it is easy for them to “shoot themselves in the foot” by writing or saying the wrong thing in front of immigration officials.

The instructions that accompany most of the forms for your petition seem relatively simple. What they do not tell you, is what the visa officer is really looking for, and what his agenda is when he reviews your forms. That is where the trouble occurs. Everyone understands simple errors and omissions. Very few understand what will satisfy the visa officer when he determines in his mind whether your relationship is “genuine” or not.

Having a second set of expert eyeballs, check out your work, and head off potential landmines is PRICELESS insurance. When you are doing the petition yourself, obtaining an expert review is the cheapest and best way to avoid problems and delays, to avoid rejection and heartache. For more details visit Fiancee Visa Services.com and review samples of the recent I-129F Petition reviews we have conducted.

Tags: visa petition review, visa preparation

I get a lot of calls asking for advice on how to apply for a Fiancee Visa.  I put together these videos to walk through the I-129F petition process.

Click Play to view the video.

Tags: fiance visa, fiancee visa, I 129F, I129F, immigration, K-1, K1, uscis

My Fiancee is from Colombia and the birth certificate is in Spanish. Can I simply write the English words above the Spanish words in the form?

from: Brian

Every foreign language document that accompanies a Fiancee Visa Petitions I-129F must be accompanied by a Certified Translation.  See the “Certification of Translations” page in the Fiancee Visa Secrets eBook.

If I were you I would not mark up the original birth certificate, but provide a separate typed page, in English that is an accurate  translation.  Attached to this translation should be another page written and signed by a professional translator attesting that he is a competent translator, and certifying that the translation is accurate.

If you are a professional Spanish to English  translator, you could do the translation yourself, and certify the translation. However even if you are a professional translator, I would not recommend that you do it yourself.  Instead use an independent third party.

In submitting your petition, you want it to be as clean, and straightforward as possible. You should provide USCIS and State with exactly what they ask for, in exactly the format they prefer. This avoids questions, and avoiding questions helps to speed processing of the petition.

Best

Fred Wahl
Matchmaker

Tags: Certified Translation, fiancee visa, I 129F, I129F, K-1, K1, spousal visa, uscis