Fiance Visa vs Spousal Visa: USA Sponsor

You are not making any sense, you say you are coming to Vietnam to get married and now you are talking about getting married in the US, so which is it???????

    Which is more preferred these days and faster for the other party in vietnam to come to US?  What are the process? Do you use a lawyer?
        -@tracydinh1988

If the intention of your marriage is to facilitate the VN citizen's emigrating to the United States, then I suggest you check with your own country's immigration offices for specific details/requirements.

You might also want to post your question(s) on the expat.com "USA Forum", here. (Link)

The purpose of this forum is to assist expats (from the world over)  with questions related to their expatriation in to Vietnam, not their expatriation out of Vietnam.

Also, the majority of members of the expat.com Vietnam forum are not American.

I spent 2.5 years on a fiance visa. They rejected us. "Failed to prove a bonified relationship "!.  So a year ago I flew to Vietnam and got married.  Going for the marriage visa. Hire an American lawyer!

It used to be much quicker (6 months vs 12+)  to get the Fiance visa but since COVID they are both running around 16 months.  So that negates the previous main benefit.  So CR-1 is the better choice now.

Some cut and paste from the visajourney visa forum below.

K-1

  More expensive than CR-1

  Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)

  Spouse can not leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 6-8 months)

  Spouse can not work until she/he receives EAD (approx 6-8 months)

  Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period

  Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed.

  A K-1 might be a better choice when 18-21 year old children are immigrating also

  In some situations, marriage can affect certain Home country benefits, making a K-1 a better choice

  A denied K-1 is sent back to USCIS to expire

  K-1 entrant cannot file for citizenship until after having Green Card for 3 years.

  Once an I-129F has been approved, delaying the case is difficult to impossible if the need arises.

CR-1/IR-1

  Less expensive than K-1

  No Adjustment of Status(I-485, I-131, I-765) required.

  Spouse can immediately travel outside the US

  Spouse is authorized to work immediately upon arrival.

  Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card within 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US

  Opening a bank account, getting a driver's license, etc. are very easily accomplished with GC, SS card, and passport.

  Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US.

  The clock for citizenship filing starts immediately upon entry to the US.

  A CR-1/IR-1 case can be delayed indefinitely at NVC if the need arises.

Which is more preferred these days and faster for the other party in vietnam to come to US?  What are the process? Do you use a lawyer? - @tracydinh1988

~~~

I spent 2.5 years on a fiance visa. They rejected us. "Failed to prove a bonified relationship "!.  So a year ago I flew to Vietnam and got married.  Going for the marriage visa. Hire an American lawyer! - @johnhank1

~~~

It used to be much quicker (6 months vs 12+)  to get the Fiance visa but since COVID they are both running around 16 months.  So that negates the previous main benefit.  So CR-1 is the better choice now.

Some cut and paste from the visajourney visa forum below.

K-1
 

More expensive than CR-1

  Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)

  Spouse can not leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 6-8 months)

  Spouse can not work until she/he receives EAD (approx 6-8 months)

  Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period

  Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed.

  A K-1 might be a better choice when 18-21 year old children are immigrating also

  In some situations, marriage can affect certain Home country benefits, making a K-1 a better choice

  A denied K-1 is sent back to USCIS to expire

  K-1 entrant cannot file for citizenship until after having Green Card for 3 years.

  Once an I-129F has been approved, delaying the case is difficult to impossible if the need arises.

CR-1/IR-1

  Less expensive than K-1

  No Adjustment of Status(I-485, I-131, I-765) required.

  Spouse can immediately travel outside the US

  Spouse is authorized to work immediately upon arrival.

  Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card within 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US

  Opening a bank account, getting a driver's license, etc. are very easily accomplished with GC, SS card, and passport.

  Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US.

  The clock for citizenship filing starts immediately upon entry to the US.

  A CR-1/IR-1 case can be delayed indefinitely at NVC if the need arises.

-@SteinNebraska   

~~~

(reply to @tracydinh1988)

Pay close attention to the outstanding feedback from @johnhank1 & @SteinNebraska.

Also, what's "preferred" by both parties is not necessarily what's "fastest".

I have two US citizen expat friends who were married & successfully brought their Vietnamese wife with them to the United States within the past two years, and they both choose to first get legally married here AND then provide their beloved bride and her family with a traditional wedding ceremony witnessed by family & friends of the bride (and groom, if he had friends here).

They both then followed good advice and took their original provincial marriage certificates to the closest office of the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Foreign Service - mofa.gov.vn ) in Hanoi or HCMC.

Their original marriage certificates were then certified and officially translated by the MOFA office.

They then took their certified dossier to the US Embassy or Consulate for official notarization by the US foreign service officer there, who certified that the MOFA certification is indeed genuine.

Many expats will tell you they skipped this process, but it's highly recommended (personally to me and my wife by Vietnam forum expert emeritus @Ciambella) as an additional safeguard for my wife should anything ever happen to me. 

They both eventually received positive comments from embassy/consulate staff about including the certifications when they submitted their CR-1 applications.

Both men believe that it helped avoid any significant question re: the genuine nature of their relationship with their wife.

It's definitely not the "fastest" way, but my friends and I are 3 US citizen expats who prefer this way.

@johnhank1 what all did you need to get documentation wise?

@OceanBeach92107 im am a US expat too! Can you tell me what documents I need peior to traveling to VN to get married? did you hire a lawyer for anything? show me the way please

@tracydinh1988

I'm in san Diego at the moment.  Email me at [link moderated]

    @OceanBeach92107 im am a US expat too! Can you tell me what documents I need peior to traveling to VN to get married? did you hire a lawyer for anything? show me the way please -@tracydinh1988

no I cannot because you are totally ignoring the lengthy post I made on just this subject in response to a post you made.

please don't ask me any questions until you have a list of the documents required from your fiance.

FYI, I charge for private consultations by private message so it's best for you to ask all of your questions publicly in the forum.

    @tracydinh1988
Email me at [link under review]
   

    -@johnhank1

Stop trying to share your email address in public.

Admin will always block contact info in a post.

Better to encourage someone to send you a private message OR send them a private massage and alert them to look for it through your public post.

Welcome to the forum, 921XX dude 😎

@tracydinh1988

I must ask, is the reason for your wanting to expedite this marriage due to your being an anxious bride, or is there perhaps some sort of time-dependent financial incentive coming into play?

Why (it seems) the apparent rush? I'm genuinely curious.

Email me at [link under review]        -@johnhank1

Stop trying to share your email address in public.
Admin will always block contact info in a post.
Better to encourage someone to send you a private message OR send them a private massage (mmmmm... private massage, lol) and alert them to look for it through your public post.
Welcome to the forum, 921XX dude 😎 
    -@OceanBeach92107

It's certainly not, as OceanBeach92107  has indicated, a way for admin to stymie private contact between members. Rather, it is a security protocol strictly enforced for the personal protection of our members.

@Aidan in HCMC not anxious its just nice to learn and know all the steps. i dont get muxh time off so its only a 2 week vaca. lol

    @Aidan in HCMC not anxious its just nice to learn and know all the steps. i dont get muxh time off so its only a 2 week vaca. lol
   

    -@tracydinh1988

There is essentially zero way you can get a marriage totally completed here in 2 weeks.

What province is the permanent address of your fiance?

Where will you be arriving (which airport).

Even if your fiance has her permanent address in Hanoi or HCMC or any other international arrival city, you would have to have every document fully certified when your feet hit the ground (early in the morning) and go immediately to the provincial committee office to file.

The law gives the provincial committee 10 working days (not including Saturdays) to approve your application, so if you arrive on a Tuesday (example) the committee will have

Tues, Weds, Thurs, Fri

Mon, Tues, Weds, Thurs, Fri AND

Mon to process the application.

So the very earliest you could pick up your approved certificate of marriage would be on day 15.

However, the law also allows the committee 5 additional days if necessary for some reason.

So no one expects the certificate to be ready for pickup in 15 days.

It's much more common to wait 18 or 19 or even 22 days.

If you refuse to ask your fiance for necessary information, I can only recommend 1 other option while you are in the USA:

Contact the San Francisco Consulate of Vietnam (or the embassy or another consulate) and fulfill their generic list which includes all possible documents you will need:

https://vietnamconsulate-sf.org/en/2017/05/11/documents-for-marriage-registration-in-viet-nam/

It's probably more costly that way, but they will allow you to submit all documents as one dossier.

You can also pay them extra for official translations, and you won't need to have anything notarized or translated when you get here.

But you might run into problems having your psych/health exam certified, so be prepared to do that with your fiance in Vietnam.

Once they approve your entire dossier they will return it to you to bring to Vietnam.

Sorry.  Thought I was sending private message.  Hire a lawyer!