Relatives in US?

[BinhJerome 14]

Do I really need to supply the list of relatives in the US? I have some but I do not really know where they are living?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Do I really need to supply the list of relatives in the US? I have some but I do not really know where they are living?

Wait, you're the petitioner, right? The list they ask for are relatives of the beneficiary living in the US. What they're looking for is evidence that the family played a role in setting up the relationship.

If you don't provide the list then there's a pretty good chance they'll give you a blue slip asking for it. This seems to be one of the most requested items on the blue slip.

I supplied the list with the I-129F petition. I worked with my fiancee and her uncle in the US to compile the list. For each person I listed their name, their address (if known), their telephone number (if known), and their relationship to my fiancee. If I had met the relative at any time, then I also listed where and when I'd met them, and the nature of any relationship I had with them (e.g., we met at a family gathering in the summer of 2008, and at a few other family gatherings since then). If neither my fiancee nor her uncle knew where they lived (which was the case with her sister's ex-husband) then I stated that they didn't know where the relative lived, and that I had never met the relative. Neither my fiancee nor her uncle had all of the information for all of the relatives, and both were content to just offer what they had, but I insisted on them making some phone calls and trying to fill in any blanks. I even made a few calls myself.

I used a freebie genealogy program to make a family tree diagram showing the relationship of each relative listed. Not necessary, but I thought it was a nice touch.

For both the list and the diagram, we only went two generations in each direction. We didn't list minor children of any relative. We also didn't list anyone who was never a direct relative by birth or marriage; for example, if someone was a relative by marriage at one time, but got divorced then we didn't list their new spouse.

[calilove 0]

what if your fiancee doesn't have any relatives in the US, and they're asking for it?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

what if your fiancee doesn't have any relatives in the US, and they're asking for it?

There are around 1.5 million first and second generation Vietnamese immigrants in the US. It would be unusual if she didn't have at least one relative living in the US. However, if neither of you know of any relatives she has in the US, then just state that.

[Dau Que 6]

what if your fiancee doesn't have any relatives in the US, and they're asking for it?

Do you understand why they request the relative list? They want to investigate if there has been any other current or past pending immigration cases in that family. If that's true, and now there's a marriage related case via you, they will automatically assume the beneficiary is trying to use a short cut (through the marriage) to shorten the waiting time in order to get into the US.

Furthermore, they also need to investigate if there has been any other family members that utilized the marriage route in the past. And what's the outcome of their marriages (any divorce and if yes, how soon after the beneficiary has obtained the legal immigration status in the States). That will indicate a "pattern" of potential fraud.

If one of her close relative lives in California for example, and you live in Texas and when she comes here, she spends more time there than in Texas, the INS will initiate a fraudulent investigation. They want that list now for that purpose as well.

[BinhJerome 14]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I UNDERSTAND NOW. HOWEVER, I CAN NOT LIST ALL OF THEM. VIETNAMESE PEOPLE ARE ALMOST IN CALIFORNIA, WE MET ONLINE, SO IT IS VERY CLEARLY NO SHORTCUT.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I UNDERSTAND NOW. HOWEVER, I CAN NOT LIST ALL OF THEM. VIETNAMESE PEOPLE ARE ALMOST IN CALIFORNIA, WE MET ONLINE, SO IT IS VERY CLEARLY NO SHORTCUT.

I think he's saying they look into the immigration background of the family to see if there's a possible pattern of fraud. That's an interesting angle that I hadn't considered, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. Anything seems to be possible with the consulate in HCM.

Anyway, the fact that you met your fiancee online wouldn't have anything to do with it. From the consulate's perspective, if she was looking for a quick ticket to the US then it's just as possible she'd do it herself by finding a husband online, rather than having her family in the US help her. It sucks that a suspected fraud in the family would affect your fiancee's visa application, but that's just the way it is. If one family member does it then they think the family would be coaching each other about how to do it. There was a girl in the Philippines not long ago who posted that her visa was denied because they suspected her sister was a fraud (she got a divorce soon after lifting conditions), and they grilled her about her sister at the interview.

I'm not sure what you mean about not being able to list "all of them", and "Vietnamese people are almost in California". Does this mean that she does have relatives in the US? If so then you should list them, or at least list the ones your fiancee is aware of. She may not have addresses for any of them, but the odds are good that she's at least got some phone numbers. You or her could call them and get the addresses. I don't recommend you take any chances with this consulate. Always do your best to provide them all the information they ask for.

[calilove 0]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I UNDERSTAND NOW. HOWEVER, I CAN NOT LIST ALL OF THEM. VIETNAMESE PEOPLE ARE ALMOST IN CALIFORNIA, WE MET ONLINE, SO IT IS VERY CLEARLY NO SHORTCUT.

I think he's saying they look into the immigration background of the family to see if there's a possible pattern of fraud. That's an interesting angle that I hadn't considered, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. Anything seems to be possible with the consulate in HCM.

Anyway, the fact that you met your fiancee online wouldn't have anything to do with it. From the consulate's perspective, if she was looking for a quick ticket to the US then it's just as possible she'd do it herself by finding a husband online, rather than having her family in the US help her. It sucks that a suspected fraud in the family would affect your fiancee's visa application, but that's just the way it is. If one family member does it then they think the family would be coaching each other about how to do it. There was a girl in the Philippines not long ago who posted that her visa was denied because they suspected her sister was a fraud (she got a divorce soon after lifting conditions), and they grilled her about her sister at the interview.

I'm not sure what you mean about not being able to list "all of them", and "Vietnamese people are almost in California". Does this mean that she does have relatives in the US? If so then you should list them, or at least list the ones your fiancee is aware of. She may not have addresses for any of them, but the odds are good that she's at least got some phone numbers. You or her could call them and get the addresses. I don't recommend you take any chances with this consulate. Always do your best to provide them all the information they ask for.

does this apply to far cousins too?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I UNDERSTAND NOW. HOWEVER, I CAN NOT LIST ALL OF THEM. VIETNAMESE PEOPLE ARE ALMOST IN CALIFORNIA, WE MET ONLINE, SO IT IS VERY CLEARLY NO SHORTCUT.

I think he's saying they look into the immigration background of the family to see if there's a possible pattern of fraud. That's an interesting angle that I hadn't considered, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. Anything seems to be possible with the consulate in HCM.

Anyway, the fact that you met your fiancee online wouldn't have anything to do with it. From the consulate's perspective, if she was looking for a quick ticket to the US then it's just as possible she'd do it herself by finding a husband online, rather than having her family in the US help her. It sucks that a suspected fraud in the family would affect your fiancee's visa application, but that's just the way it is. If one family member does it then they think the family would be coaching each other about how to do it. There was a girl in the Philippines not long ago who posted that her visa was denied because they suspected her sister was a fraud (she got a divorce soon after lifting conditions), and they grilled her about her sister at the interview.

I'm not sure what you mean about not being able to list "all of them", and "Vietnamese people are almost in California". Does this mean that she does have relatives in the US? If so then you should list them, or at least list the ones your fiancee is aware of. She may not have addresses for any of them, but the odds are good that she's at least got some phone numbers. You or her could call them and get the addresses. I don't recommend you take any chances with this consulate. Always do your best to provide them all the information they ask for.

does this apply to far cousins too?

You don't need to do a full genealogy trace on her entire family tree. Don't make this any more complicated than it needs to be. If she knows a relative that is living in the US, then she should list it. She can ask a few family members if they know of any additional relatives she might not know about. I wouldn't bother researching it any further than that. You don't need to list everyone in the US whose family name is "Nguyen"!

I only listed relatives that my fiancee and her uncle knew about. I added a statement saying we made a reasonable effort to disclose every relative, and there may be additional relatives that my fiancee and her uncle were unaware of, and whom I had never met.

[chuckandkim 0]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I UNDERSTAND NOW. HOWEVER, I CAN NOT LIST ALL OF THEM. VIETNAMESE PEOPLE ARE ALMOST IN CALIFORNIA, WE MET ONLINE, SO IT IS VERY CLEARLY NO SHORTCUT.

I think he's saying they look into the immigration background of the family to see if there's a possible pattern of fraud. That's an interesting angle that I hadn't considered, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. Anything seems to be possible with the consulate in HCM.

Anyway, the fact that you met your fiancee online wouldn't have anything to do with it. From the consulate's perspective, if she was looking for a quick ticket to the US then it's just as possible she'd do it herself by finding a husband online, rather than having her family in the US help her. It sucks that a suspected fraud in the family would affect your fiancee's visa application, but that's just the way it is. If one family member does it then they think the family would be coaching each other about how to do it. There was a girl in the Philippines not long ago who posted that her visa was denied because they suspected her sister was a fraud (she got a divorce soon after lifting conditions), and they grilled her about her sister at the interview.

I'm not sure what you mean about not being able to list "all of them", and "Vietnamese people are almost in California". Does this mean that she does have relatives in the US? If so then you should list them, or at least list the ones your fiancee is aware of. She may not have addresses for any of them, but the odds are good that she's at least got some phone numbers. You or her could call them and get the addresses. I don't recommend you take any chances with this consulate. Always do your best to provide them all the information they ask for.

does this apply to far cousins too?

You don't need to do a full genealogy trace on her entire family tree. Don't make this any more complicated than it needs to be. If she knows a relative that is living in the US, then she should list it. She can ask a few family members if they know of any additional relatives she might not know about. I wouldn't bother researching it any further than that. You don't need to list everyone in the US whose family name is "Nguyen"!

I only listed relatives that my fiancee and her uncle knew about. I added a statement saying we made a reasonable effort to disclose every relative, and there may be additional relatives that my fiancee and her uncle were unaware of, and whom I had never met.

What he said "known relatives".

You can't really list someone's name on the list just because your uncle/mom/dad say "so and so live in the US, but you never met or know them and have absolutely no personal relationship with them"

Remember, you can't give what you don't have, or blindly accept something that you have not fully verify.

[vietazn 1]

For any Viet Kieu, do they also want a list of relatives of petitioner living in Vietnam. And do they want a list of just immediate family (parents, grandparents, siblings) or also "ba con" (uncles, aunts, cousins)?

[luckytxn 2,264]

For our list of relatives we only listed about 6 and if we had listed them all then it would have been tedious and a very long list. We listed their name, address, phone number, and if immigrant or naturalized or a full citizen and then had them make a photocopy of their license of each and sent that and it satisfied them.

The supposed reason for them to ask for a list of relatives is so they know that the beneficienary will not become a burden to the state if it goes sour between you two and the family would be able to help out. Do not make it seem more sinister than it is.

[David-Hien 11]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I UNDERSTAND NOW. HOWEVER, I CAN NOT LIST ALL OF THEM. VIETNAMESE PEOPLE ARE ALMOST IN CALIFORNIA, WE MET ONLINE, SO IT IS VERY CLEARLY NO SHORTCUT.

She only needs to list her direct relatives such as: parents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

For our list of relatives we only listed about 6 and if we had listed them all then it would have been tedious and a very long list. We listed their name, address, phone number, and if immigrant or naturalized or a full citizen and then had them make a photocopy of their license of each and sent that and it satisfied them.

The supposed reason for them to ask for a list of relatives is so they know that the beneficienary will not become a burden to the state if it goes sour between you two and the family would be able to help out. Do not make it seem more sinister than it is.

I think there's more to it than that. Granted that Vietnamese family would be very likely to help out a family member in need, the consulate seems to ask for this list when there are specific red flags. Being introduced by a family member in the US almost always seems to trigger the request, whereas simply mentioning that the beneficiary has family members in the US does not always trigger it. I think there are relatively few people in Vietnam who have absolutely no relatives in the US.

I have a comfortable six figure income, so I'm well qualified on the "public charge" requirements. However, I was introduced to Phuong by her uncle in the US. When M.E. saw this he said to thoroughly address the issue of the uncle, and to submit the list of relatives with the petition. He said it would definitely trigger a blue slip if I didn't include it.

[Haonie 0]

For any Viet Kieu, do they also want a list of relatives of petitioner living in Vietnam. And do they want a list of just immediate family (parents, grandparents, siblings) or also "ba con" (uncles, aunts, cousins)?

I don't think the CO needs a list of relatives of petitioner live in Vietnam, I haven't seen anything about this so far. If you and your fiance were introduced by your relatives (live in Vietnam), you will then name he/she on the timeline.