K-1 Visa Process for Non-Vietnamese national in Vietnam

[LTHCJL 0]

Hi everyone,

I am new to this website, but am very excited about all the advice I can potentially receive or give!

I was wondering if anyone else is in the same situation as my fiance and I...

My fiance is Australian, living and working in Vietnam. We both were living and working in Vietnam when we met and decided to get engaged. I recently moved back to the US to get things prepared for our life here. Because he continues to live and work in Vietnam, we decided to go through the K-1 Visa process at the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.

Is anyone else currently in the same situation where their fiance is not a Vietnamese national but they are going through going through the Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City for the visa?

If you are, I would love to share stories!!

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

The consulate in Ho Chi Minh is one of the most difficult consulates in the world to get a visa from. It's right up there with Guangzhou, Lagos, and Islamabad. I can't imagine why anyone would voluntarily go through that consulate if they have the option of going somewhere else. There's a good chance they may not treat an English speaking foreigner the same way they treat a Vietnamese national, but it's probably a safe bet your fiance will have an easier time if he can go back to Australia for the interview. I'm just not sure the consular officers in HCM have any idea how to conduct an interview with someone whom they don't strongly suspect to be a green card scammer.

I don't recall any recent cases on VJ where a non-Vietnamese foreign national went through HCM, so I can't offer any specific help on that. There was a case not long ago involving a Vietnamese national from a remote village where the primary language was Chinese. She had a really tough time because she didn't speak Vietnamese nor English well, and those are the only two languages the consulate in HCM is trained to deal with. In that respect, you're lucky because all of the CO's speak English, though for many of them it isn't their first language.

Anyway, if I were in your shoes I'd tried to find some way to get my fiance back to Australia for the interview. If that's just not possible, then I wish you the best of luck.

[Carlawarla 1]

I certainly concur with JimVaPhuong. When is your fiance's contract up in Vietnam? At the very least, put in your information that the Embassy he will be interviewed at is Australia, and even if he has to leave his teaching job just to fly to Australia for the interview and then back again to Vietnam, I'd do that. If say you just sent in the petition now, it might be another 6 months before he gets an interview in Australia, so maybe he'll be finished up his work in Vietnam before then. Does he have an address or family or friends he can use for delivery of paperwork to Australia when the time comes? Some things to look into anyway.

Best of luck!