Proof of fiancé living in Vietnam.

[popcorn 0]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new Viet member. My fiance lived with me for 10 months in Vietnam. Will that help? We did not hold an engagement party. He proposed to me with a ring. We did not have any picture taken during 10 months living together in Vietnam. Are the leasing contract with my signature in it and the notarized house book with his name in it considered proof of us having met in person? Lawyers told me those evidences are not convincing since our names or signatures do not go together. Can evidences of him living and working in Vietnam be proof our on going relationship?

My English sucks so i will make this short. Thank you all

Edited August 13, 2008 by popcorn

[Matt_Stevens 5]

Uh, no pictures? Why? That is the question they will have and I am afraid you will have a hard time explaining it to them. It makes no sense, especially with how picture crazy Vietnamese people are.

No Dam Hoi? That is a BIG problem. Huge red flag to them.

Good luck. You are going to need it. Don't be angry by my response, please. I am just being honest.

[LuckyDucky 0]

I'm new Viet member. My fiance lived with me for 10 months in Vietnam. Will that help? We did not hold an engagement party. He proposed to me with a ring. We did not have any picture taken during 10 months living together in Vietnam. Are the leasing contract with my signature in it and the notarized house book with his name in it considered proof of us having met in person? Lawyers told me those evidences are not convincing since our names or signatures do not go together. Can evidences of him living and working in Vietnam be proof our on going relationship?

My English sucks so i will make this short. Thank you all

First off, your English is fine.

Like Matt said, this may be difficult. If the leasing contract has only your name, and the house book has his name, but they are the same address, it may be some evidence, but it's not very strong. I do not know anything about a house book, because we do not have them in the United States. Could you put any name in a house book or does he have to show up at an office to put his name in it? If it requires he does it himself, then the evidence is a bit stronger. If anyone can put his name in it, then unfortunately it is pretty weak evidence.

Proof of him living and working in Vietnam is good, but pictures are usually the best evidence. Not having pictures will hurt your case.

If he has evidence of his trip to Vietnam, such as his boarding passes, proof of buying his plane tickets, used visa, this will most likely qualify to have the I-129F approved at USCIS, but this will not necessarily convince the workers at the US Consulate to grant the visa. They are much more difficult to convince.

Edited August 13, 2008 by LuckyDucky

[popcorn 0]

Thank you guys for your responses.

We did have pictures of us taken on his first visit to Vietnam without time stamp, about 60 pictures. Is that enough? We did not plan to move to America untill things went wrong over here and he had to go back there so ... no picture, no evidence created. I guess this does not make sense to CO

Should i have his colleagues in Vietnam make sworn statements of our relationship? I do not have proof of our 10 months cohabitation, but i do have proof of his long stay in Vietnam like monthly balance records, ATM withdrawals records from a local bank and hopefully, a copy of his labor contract with a well known international hospital in Saigon. He has several boarding passes, visa stamps, more than 3 for each of them.

The house book lists both temporary (long stay) and permanent residents in a certain address. For the temporary residence registration, you can have it done by your sponsor without presenting yourself to the local police but the police will check if you are really living in that house before they grant it. So there is no way i can fake the house book. I don't know why they did not put my name in the house book, guess because it's already in the leasing contract.

I know my case is weak but i want to give it a try because i can't not wait for him to come back to Viet, hold an engagement party( we're already engaged),recollect evidences and then start the sponsorship process so i want to ask you guys that if standing in CO's post, would you view my case as a sham when i can prove my fiancé came to Vietnam to live and made only 1/4 of the money he can earn in America. Or should i be more patient?

[PeterFB 0]

Your case isn't as weak as you first discribed it. You have to document your relationship from the time you first met (online, at a family party, an aunt,etc) to when you first met in person to now. The first part of the process is showing the USCIS you actually have met in person within the last two years. That isn't a problem from what you have said. And there's probably more evidence you have that you don't realize. Pictures, boarding passes, bagage claim tickets, receipts from credit cards for the plane tickets, hotel receipts, temporary residency book entries, etc are what is needed to prove that.

For the Consulate and interview, having no pictures is a bit odd for being together so long, the Consulate will want to know why no pictures of any celebrations, birthdays, etc. The time to present your red flags (problems in proving your relatioship is real) is in your I-129f. That is what the Consulate will review before your interview so it's very important to make it as complete, factual and persauive as you can. Most blue slips based on not having a real relationship are because the petitioner didn't present as complete as possible picture of the relationship in the I-129f. If you research some on this forum you will find that to be the case. It's not a guarrantee for a pink slip but most people who get a pink slip make sure their relationship is properly presented so there's no question about their relationship being real or not.

For every problem you find about your relationship, ie no evidence of living together, you need to truthfully present it and why you don't have it and submitt as much other evidence to show how your relationship is real. In this case you should have write a statement about how the temporary residency book, leasing contract, reciepts for the lease, statement from the leasser, etc can prove he and you were living there together.

The Consulate is concerned about making sure your relationship is real, they feel it is your job to convince them it is. Do that and you will be successful.

Good luck.

Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26

I-129F NOA1 : 2007-06-11

I-129F RFE(s) :

RFE Reply(s) :

I-129F NOA2 : 2007-10-26

Touched: 2007-11-02

NVC Recieved: 2007-11-16

Consulate recieved ??????

Packet 3 sent 2007-12-11

Packet 3 received 2007-12-24

Packet 3 returned 2007-12-28

Packet 4 sent 2008-1-14

Email Reply with Interview Date 2008-1-23

Interview Date 2008-2-27

Passed Interview 2008-02-27

Visa Pick Up Date 2008-3-05

Received Visa 2008-2-29 (called to pick up earlier)

POE 2008-3-05 Los Angeles

Wedding 2008-4-26

Your case isn't as weak as you first discribed it. You have to document your relationship from the time you first met (online, at a family party, an aunt,etc) to when you first met in person to now. The first part of the process is showing the USCIS you actually have met in person within the last two years. That isn't a problem from what you have said. And there's probably more evidence you have that you don't realize. Pictures, boarding passes, bagage claim tickets, receipts from credit cards for the plane tickets, hotel receipts, temporary residency book entries, etc are what is needed to prove that.

For the Consulate and interview, having no pictures is a bit odd for being together so long, the Consulate will want to know why no pictures of any celebrations, birthdays, etc. The time to present your red flags (problems in proving your relatioship is real) is in your I-129f. That is what the Consulate will review before your interview so it's very important to make it as complete, factual and persauive as you can. Most blue slips based on not having a real relationship are because the petitioner didn't present as complete as possible picture of the relationship in the I-129f. If you research some on this forum you will find that to be the case. It's not a guarrantee for a pink slip but most people who get a pink slip make sure their relationship is properly presented so there's no question about their relationship being real or not.

For every problem you find about your relationship, ie no evidence of living together, you need to truthfully present it and why you don't have it and submitt as much other evidence to show how your relationship is real. In this case you should have write a statement about how the temporary residency book, leasing contract, reciepts for the lease, statement from the leasser, etc can prove he and you were living there together.

The Consulate is concerned about making sure your relationship is real, they feel it is your job to convince them it is. Do that and you will be successful.

Good luck.

Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26

I-129F NOA1 : 2007-06-11

I-129F RFE(s) :

RFE Reply(s) :

I-129F NOA2 : 2007-10-26

Touched: 2007-11-02

NVC Recieved: 2007-11-16

Consulate recieved ??????

Packet 3 sent 2007-12-11

Packet 3 received 2007-12-24

Packet 3 returned 2007-12-28

Packet 4 sent 2008-1-14

Email Reply with Interview Date 2008-1-23

Interview Date 2008-2-27

Passed Interview 2008-02-27

Visa Pick Up Date 2008-3-05

Received Visa 2008-2-29 (called to pick up earlier)

POE 2008-3-05 Los Angeles

Wedding 2008-4-26

[popcorn 0]

Thank you Peter for your encouraging response.

Another problem i have is that i deleted all of the emails i sent to him of 6 months prior to his first visit from my mail box. So did he. But he cut and pasted the emails' content in a *.doc file. Are they considered evidences of on going relationship if presented in a sheet printed out from Winword file?

For his labor contract, i doubt that they will give me a copy of it or an employment statement since they determinated his contract and...hated him.

Is engagement party mandatory for the K1 file? My sister had a reg flag for K1. Does that affect my case?

[LuckyDucky 0]

Ahhh, well, having some pictures is much, much better than having none. (I initially thought you had absolutely no pictures together.) The ATM receipts and bank records, are good, too. Since one can not fake a house book, then that is a really good piece of evidence, as well!

So after reading a bit more and understanding the house book, I don't think it is as bad as when I first read it, too. I hope it wasn't too discouraging!

I believe my friend put all his emails in a Word document and printed it out and it was accepted. Realistically, someone can create a fake email just as easy as a Word document, so I think it's reasonable to have it in a WinWord document.

I think Peter pretty much covered what needs to be done and I can vouch for the fact that he gives great and sound advice!

Best of luck!

Edited August 14, 2008 by LuckyDucky

[chuckandkim 0]

Expect an uphill battle with HCMC!

A Picture speaks a thousand words.... or ATM Receipts, HouseBook, Boardingpasses, Lease contracts, cut-paste emails, sworn letters etc.

What's the problem with him coming back to have an engagement ceremony, think of it as an picture ops!

Frankly, I don't see how you could get by a 10 months relationship in Vietnam without going to a party where friends and relatives would show off their new Digital camera and taking 1000's of photos of everyone and including you in it.... Maybe you personally don't have your own photos/pictures of yourself together... ask around, maybe friends and relatives have some pictures of you two.

Good luck and let us know what you got...

[popcorn 0]

Expect an uphill battle with HCMC!

A Picture speaks a thousand words.... or ATM Receipts, HouseBook, Boardingpasses, Lease contracts, cut-paste emails, sworn letters etc.

What's the problem with him coming back to have an engagement ceremony, think of it as an picture ops!

Frankly, I don't see how you could get by a 10 months relationship in Vietnam without going to a party where friends and relatives would show off their new Digital camera and taking 1000's of photos of everyone and including you in it.... Maybe you personally don't have your own photos/pictures of yourself together... ask around, maybe friends and relatives have some pictures of you two.

Good luck and let us know what you got...

We both don't like camera, never went to a party or hung out with friends and relatives are the last people we would want to see. Plus we did not plan on moving to America so did not think about having pictures taken to show the CO. I do have some of his pictures taken in our apartment, and in local areas, and hope he can find the only self timing picture of us taken in front of out apartment.

There's no problem for him to come back for an engagement ceremony. But is it ok if we have the engagement party after he sends the I-129? If the engagement has to be held before USIC received the all the files than it will takes me months and months to be with him since he just came back to America in July and has not been settled yet. I guess it will takes at least 4 months before he can make it back here. So i want to know if the engagement party is compulsory.

[Teacher Mark 53]

Expect an uphill battle with HCMC!

A Picture speaks a thousand words.... or ATM Receipts, HouseBook, Boardingpasses, Lease contracts, cut-paste emails, sworn letters etc.

What's the problem with him coming back to have an engagement ceremony, think of it as an picture ops!

Frankly, I don't see how you could get by a 10 months relationship in Vietnam without going to a party where friends and relatives would show off their new Digital camera and taking 1000's of photos of everyone and including you in it.... Maybe you personally don't have your own photos/pictures of yourself together... ask around, maybe friends and relatives have some pictures of you two.

Good luck and let us know what you got...

We both don't like camera, never went to a party or hung out with friends and relatives are the last people we would want to see. Plus we did not plan on moving to America so did not think about having pictures taken to show the CO. I do have some of his pictures taken in our apartment, and in local areas, and hope he can find the only self timing picture of us taken in front of out apartment.

There's no problem for him to come back for an engagement ceremony. But is it ok if we have the engagement party after he sends the I-129? If the engagement has to be held before USIC received the all the files than it will takes me months and months to be with him since he just came back to America in July and has not been settled yet. I guess it will takes at least 4 months before he can make it back here. So i want to know if the engagement party is compulsory.

USCIS only requires that you have met within the past 2 years. You should clear them with the evidence you have. It's at HCMC Consulate where things get sticky and the engagement party could come into question.

[Teacher Mark 53]

I'd like to add that if it were me I would have him come back, have the engagement party and take lots of pictures. One thing that I rarely see mentioned on here is the fact that if USCIS is aware of something that HCMC may consider a problem, then HCMC cannot deny the visa based on that problem. Your job is to try to foresee anything they could object to and make USCIS aware of it. Making USCIS aware of the fact that you didn't have one might work, but I wouldn't chance it.

Be patient and do it the right way. It may end up getting the 2 of you together quicker than if you hastily submit the I-129f.

Edited August 16, 2008 by WideAwakeInTheUSA