Tourist visa from Japan to the USA (questions)

[Jmeyer1987 0]

This is my first post on this forum, as I was told about it from my childhood friend's husband who is from Italy.

I have some questions about a Tourist Visa for my girlfriend who lives in Japan.

The time period she is wanting to visit my family and me is December through March for 8 days (she will leave Japan on Friday morning and arrive in NC, USA on Friday evening; I learned about the this time distance travel after I visited her in Japan last August). She is going to go to the US Embassy in Osaka to schedule a Tourism Visa interview, and I was wanting to ask questions and get some input for what questions she will answer.

I have been told by different people (mostly foreigners from different Asian countries who live in my city) that with some questions, you have to answer either truthfully or downright deny that she knows me during the interview and lie where she's going when she is visiting me.

I will ask, even if she states that she is visiting me, I told her to say this would strictly be only a visit and to see the area where I live in (I plant to take her to historical places around my city, take her to science and art museums, go shopping, go to the zoo, and go to the amusement park called Carowinds. I told her that she is to clearly state that she has a job to come back to in Japan.

So what is it that she should do for the tourist visa? Be truthful or deny/lie?

[Merrytooth 5,748]

Is your gf Japanese Citizen?

Japanese Citizen can travel to US via Visa Waiver Program.

[Jmeyer1987 0]

Oh, I forgot to mention. She is actually Vietnamese and went to Matsuyama's Ehime University for college and she is a marine biology major (she has a bachelors in marine biology). She hasn't told me before, but I am assuming that she is on a student and work visa now.

See after she visits me, we will schedule a vacation trip to meet her family in Saigon, Vietnam. I will be visiting there for 2 weeks so I can spend time with her family, but also ask her parents for their blessings so I can marry her. We will also go to the US Embassy there in Saigon and apply for a fiancée visa there.

[Merrytooth 5,748]

Then answer the CO's questions truthfully.

You think the CO is that stupid to accept the reasons that a young single woman travels to US just to visit zoo, amusement park.

Obviously there must be someone special in US.

Don't play dumb tricks, sure way to get denied.

[Jmeyer1987 0]

So she should say that she knows me and that I am going to show her around North Carolina?

[Chris and ZhiJia 146]

Oh, I forgot to mention. She is actually Vietnamese and went to Matsuyama's Ehime University for college and she is a marine biology major (she has a bachelors in marine biology). She hasn't told me before, but I am assuming that she is on a student and work visa now.

See after she visits me, we will schedule a vacation trip to meet her family in Saigon, Vietnam. I will be visiting there for 2 weeks so I can spend time with her family, but also ask her parents for their blessings so I can marry her. We will also go to the US Embassy there in Saigon and apply for a fiancée visa there.

First and foremost, always be truthful, If you lie or beat around the bush it will make visiting in the future near impossible.

Second. You cannot go to the USE in Saigon and apply for a Fiancee visa. you had to be a resident of Vietnam for a pre-determined amount of time before you were allowed to DCF.

In fact, does the Embassy in Saigon even exist anymore?... I thought it was relocated to HCMC

EDIT.......

The Embassy in Saigon is gone.

https://vn.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/

There is 1 Embassy in Hanoi, and 1 Consulate in HCMC

Edited June 14, 2016 by Chris and ZhiJia

[Jmeyer1987 0]

I thought Ho Chin Minh City was Saigon. I read in my updated Vietnam travel guide that a new US Embassy was opened up there in the city.

[Chris and ZhiJia 146]

I thought Ho Chin Minh City was Saigon. I read in my updated Vietnam travel guide that a new US Embassy was opened up there in the city.

I am unfamiliar with the geographics of Vietnam, I thought they were 2 different places. if HCMC and Saigon are one in the same, that is where the Consulate is.

But it still doesn't get past the residency requirements you must fulfill to DCF

There is a mountain of paperwork that needs to be submitted for a K-1 Visa, that needs to be prepared well in advance. Please make sure you research this process fully.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Chris and ZhiJia

[Jmeyer1987 0]

Yes, my childhood friend's husband told me about the paperwork. I'm going to get stuff printed out after my girlfriend comes to visit me here.

[p-ana 933]

But you can't apply directly at the embassy for the k1 visa.

Please don't instruct her to lie, it can ban her from a tourist and also any other kind of visa.

Get to reading the guides, the forums to go forward in your journey.

Good luck

[EmilyW 1,547]

Just say she denies she knows you and really does want to come to America to see a zoo and an amusement park. Somehow, she gets the visa.

Then, when you file for K1, you'll have to explain how - in a matter of 2-3 months - you met, fell in love, and decided to get married. Because, remember, she didn't know you when she came on her tourist visa. She just wanted to see the zoo and amusement park, nothing more.

If you then decide to revert to the actual truth of how you met, it emerges that she lied on her tourist visa.

TLDR; don't lie or try to outsmart the immigration system. It won't end well. Tell the truth.

[Jmeyer1987 0]

No... I did not say that she should lie. I mentioned before that I have been told by several different people to either tell the truth or lie, and I was unsure if either was true. That is why I asked for someone on here to tell me.

[Chris and ZhiJia 146]

Ignore what I said about DCF Residency requirements. USCIS does not have a field office in Vietnam, without a Field Office, you cannot DCF.

[Merrytooth 5,748]

For going the I-129F / K1 visa route, OP' gf could have her K1 visa interview at the US consulate in Japan if she is still living legally there. No need to return to Vietnam for the visa processing.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Merrytooth

[Jmeyer1987 0]

Really? She can do that in Japan? (I was told that it had to be the country of origin. Still, I do think that I could help her apply for the fiancée visa in Vietnam as I want to properly meet her family and ask for their blessings.) That way they can trust me with her daughter.

Would I have to be present in Japan if we do the K-1 in that country? Sorry, I'm typing on my iPhone and cannot re-read the other comments so that I can add them to this post, so I do apologize for that if I get some things wrong.

EDIT: Oh, you mean if we apply for the K-1 in Vietnam, she can get things processed in Japan?

Edited June 14, 2016 by Jmeyer1987