Tourist visa from Japan to the USA (questions)

[WandY 430]

Saigon and HCMC same same. Name changed after end of Vietnam/American War, April 1975. Most people in the north call it HCMC, but much of the world still say Saigon (even the airport code is SGN, river is Saigon River, etc.). My wife is from Hanoi area and she always says HCMC - I always say Saigon. She says I should say HCMC because the North won and renamed it. Ha! Ha! That stings a little. U.S. Consulate is in HCMC, and that's where the interviews take place. The embassy is in Hanoi, but only for diplomatic/official state business. Difficult for Vietnamese to get to U.S., regardless of where they are coming from. If she is denied, it could lead to future problems. Be honest. Good luck! Vietnamese people are awesome!

[Pennycat 880]

Hi OP, So first things first. Generally, things besides the forum are best read on a computer here, especially the guides, which it sounds like you'll eventually need. So at some point, make a plan to get to a PC and spend some time with the guides.

That said, you've got two different things going on right now and it's best to focus on one at a time.

First-- tourist visa.

Don't lie to the US government. Period. Not only will they know, but it could complicate your next step-- the fiance visa. You need to understand that the countries that need tourist visas (rather than just being allowed to travel on their passports like Americans can do in most of the world) need tourist visas for a reason. And that reason is that the assumption is that they will stay in the US if allowed in. There's lots of evidence to support this assumption, and that's why most countries need tourist visas-- to give the government time to weed out who may choose to stay. A reason that they're extra careful with people who have US boyfriends/girlfriends is that there's nothing stopping you getting married while she's here on a tourist visa and that is very frequently used as an (illegal) way around the fiance or spouse visa process.

They will definitely ask her why she's going, who she is visiting, where she is staying etc. They will very likely ask point-blank if she has an American boyfriend. Lying about this or calling yourselves "just friends" would be a big problem-- it is incredibly transparent. It's probably the most common claim the counselor officers see-- that a young single person from a developing country just happens to have "just a friend" that they are going to spend thousands of dollars visiting, or who that "friend" is willing to spend the money on them. Or some kind of solo adventure (very uncommon). It makes no sense. Maybe for you and me, yes. I have definitely just upped and went to a foreign country alone (which is when I met my now-husband) and I have made a stopover abroad (on my way back from Vietnam, as it happens) to visit a friend. But that kind of travel is far, FAR more common for a US citizen (or European, or Australian etc) than it is for people from Vietnam, Costa Rica, Mexico etc, and counselor officers know this.

So, go to the interview, tell the total truth and let the chips fall where they may. They very well may deny her, but that's something that many if not most people in international relationships with people from less developed countries has gone through.

The people telling you to lie are more than likely of the mindset of "get the visa at all costs". I don't want to accuse anyone of anything, but to you happen to know what type of visa they immigrated on? Because tourist visas are relatively easy to get ("relative" meaning much easier to get than to a work or student visa-- remember not everyone has an American boy/girlfriend), a huge portion of this world sees the tourist visa as their legal way to the US. They enter legally, and then just stay. Probably half of illegal immigrants are here on tourist visas. It sounds like people giving you this advice to lie may be of the mindset of "just get the visa". But that is not only wrong and illegal, it could mess up your fiance visa-- which is an option that none of them likely had for themselves and aren't taking it into account.

Second-- fiance visa.

This is where you need the guides. If she's still a legal resident of Japan, she can choose to process through either embassy. BUT FIRST-- you don't just go to the embassy and ask for a visa. It's a whooolllle other process, with two major steps.

Step 1-- you start the process by sending a petition to Homeland Security (USCIS, specifically) asking if she can apply for a fiance visa through you. They need to check a few major things-- that you guys meet the baseline eligibility and that neither of you are criminals, terrorists, domestic abusers, human traffickers etc. The big stuff. Then they pass you off to Step 2-- the State Department (the US embassy abroad). Quick note on Step 1-- there's a line. Just like at the DMV-- where getting your new licence takes 5 minutes but you're in line for 2 hours-- Yes, it probably only takes them under an hour to deal with your file, but there's thousands of people in line ahead of you. You need to plan for up to 5 months for this part to be complete (right now they're taking 3 months, it can change ALL the time. If you see people's timelines, this is the time between NOA1 and NOA2).

Step 2-- the embassy. Your file takes a few weeks to be sent to the embassy, then they get it, contact you with a list of things you need to do (medical appointments, translate birth certificate, proof that you're both single etc) and once you do that, she can have an interview. It is at the interview that you will be expected to prove that you have a real and genuine relationship. The visa will be the result of this interview.

So, when making your plans, don't expect to meet her family and get her a visa all in one trip. It doesn't work that way. Note of caution on any sort of formal engagement ceremony: this can look very much like a marriage to the US embassy and married people aren't eligible for fiance visas. Meet her family, but avoid ceremonies.

But still, back to that tourist visa. Don't lie. Because they will definitely strongly suspect that she's hiding a boyfriend, and very probably deny her, and then she's established her reputation as a liar and that will be difficult to overcome. And then you'll *prove* that she's a liar by petitioning for a fiance visa just a few months later (so she *did* have a boyfriend after all) and if anything seems even a little bit fishy to them during the fiance visa interview, with her being a proven liar once, they could deny that, too. The bad advice you're getting very well could be coming from people who didn't have anything to lose. You do.