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I applied for a K-1 visa to bring my Vietnamese fiance to US. At her interview yesterday, the HCM consulate officer questioned her regarding the nature of the relationship. She requested the following from me:
"Please submit a 10 minute, non-scripted videotape of you speaking non-scripted (no written words or coaching from others) Vietnamese . There can be no tape stops during the video .
Please provide a notarized letter of explanation detailing the timeline of your relationship. Please give dates and details for significant events ( 1-2 pages only)".
This request was was made because my fiancee said that I speak little Vietnamese and she speaks little English. I do not have the level of fluency to fulfill the request.
Since we didn't get the name of the officer, I sent a request for reconsideration to the information e-mail address on the consulate website.
I politely stated that SOP-61 provides little authority to readjudicate the petition, and that a K-1 Visa should not be conditioned on the fluency of a US citizen in the language of his fiance. I posed rhetorically that if I conceded a lack of fluency would the visa be denied, ignoring the other evidence provided.
I asked that the petition be evaluated based on the documents provided:
Original air ticket receipts for 4 trips to VN in the last 2 ½ years.
Original air tickets for our 6 intercity flights within the country on these trips.
Color copies of 2 visas to VN I retained
About 40 clearly labeled photos of us in each of these cities, some of them with her family, some with her kids.
150 pages of newsprint font webchat from our daily 2 ½ year instant messaging webcam sessions.
Original receipts from the company I use to send send her $100 per month for 2 ½ years plus $3,500 for 3 airline tickets and expenses to the US for her and her 2 kids.
I asked that the 150 pages of webchat transcript be used to evaluate our ability to communicate. I asked them to forego the request for notarized time line since it was clearly described within all of the documents and verbally described by my fiance.
What should I have done? What will their response be?
"Please submit a 10 minute, non-scripted videotape of you speaking non-scripted (no written words or coaching from others) Vietnamese . There can be no tape stops during the video .
Please provide a notarized letter of explanation detailing the timeline of your relationship. Please give dates and details for significant events ( 1-2 pages only)".
This request was was made because my fiancee said that I speak little Vietnamese and she speaks little English. I do not have the level of fluency to fulfill the request.
Since we didn't get the name of the officer, I sent a request for reconsideration to the information e-mail address on the consulate website.
I politely stated that SOP-61 provides little authority to readjudicate the petition, and that a K-1 Visa should not be conditioned on the fluency of a US citizen in the language of his fiance. I posed rhetorically that if I conceded a lack of fluency would the visa be denied, ignoring the other evidence provided.
I asked that the petition be evaluated based on the documents provided:
Original air ticket receipts for 4 trips to VN in the last 2 ½ years.
Original air tickets for our 6 intercity flights within the country on these trips.
Color copies of 2 visas to VN I retained
About 40 clearly labeled photos of us in each of these cities, some of them with her family, some with her kids.
150 pages of newsprint font webchat from our daily 2 ½ year instant messaging webcam sessions.
Original receipts from the company I use to send send her $100 per month for 2 ½ years plus $3,500 for 3 airline tickets and expenses to the US for her and her 2 kids.
I asked that the 150 pages of webchat transcript be used to evaluate our ability to communicate. I asked them to forego the request for notarized time line since it was clearly described within all of the documents and verbally described by my fiance.
What should I have done? What will their response be?
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