US Visa Requirements at US Consulate in Vietnam
Applying for a US visa from Vietnam requires legal documents that are routinely unavailable in Vietnam simply because the government does not have a central recorded database and many old documents have been lost due to poor storage. Therefore, documents are commonly fabricated, unverified, and leaving it open to false identities and document fraud.
Legal and Certified Certificates of Marriage, Registration, and Birth
Immigration documents such as a valid marriage certificate, household registration, or birth certificate may be extracted if the original was initially registered at that office. Administrative fees for this service is nominal if the requesting party has detailed information and a local Vietnamese resident to make the request in person. Requests from abroad requires a power of attorney or a relative and months of processing to complete.
Original Documents for US Visa Requirements
For the US Embassy visa requirements, original documents such as a Vietnam marriage certificate, registration, divorce decree, death certificate, and legalization are required to be presented at the US Consulate for the consular officer to examine even though only a certified copy is required at the time of submission. Normally originals are returned to the visa applicant after the consular officer examine whether the translation is complete and conduct a due diligence of the information in the documents.
Divorce Decree in Vietnam
As for records of divorce and death, the Vietnamese courts maintain the certificate of divorce where it was originally issued. A certificate of death is maintained at the local district office and similar to the certificate of divorce, the Vietnam agency that issued it will be able to provide a certified copy. Keep in mind that the US Embassy requests these documents to establish the person’s eligibility for a visa to America and to determine the person’s identity. As such the consular officers are trained to detect fake Vietnamese documents and routinely investigate further if they suspect the authenticity of documents are less than legitimate.
Household Registry for Vietnamese Family
At the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, marriage documents submitted should be verified by the issuing authority, unless they are independently verified by a US official in Vietnam. However, most issuing officials do not verify the information they certify and rely on the reporting parties statements as facts. When a US consular officer verify documents in Vietnam, a common occurrence is that the documents are fraudulent or inconsistent with information at hand.
For US immigration purposes, the most commonly requested document is the household registry. The household registry lists the name of the people that reside in that residence at a particular time along with their date of birth and national identification number. The Public Security Bureau maintains this record, however, the information enclosed is not verified by any Vietnamese reporting agency. Saying that though, the US Consulate accepts the household registry as evidence of residence and family relationship since this is an acceptable method of identification in Vietnam.
Banking Services Denied to Americans Abroad
U.S. law, policies and regulations are resulting in Americans being denied access to basic banking services, in the U.S. and overseas.
As a direct result of existing and newly proposed U.S. regulations, many U.S. and overseas banks have closed accounts held by U.S. citizens living outside of the U.S., and many banking institutions outside the U.S. now refuse to open any new accounts for Americans.
The newly reinforced QI regulations are so burdensome that banks overseas are simply closing the accounts of American clients rather than implement complex and expensive new compliance and reporting requirements. Requiring non-U.S. banks to open their files to U.S. auditors in order to verify that U.S. citizens’ accounts had been properly declared is not only a very heavy administrative burden, it is an attempt to infringe on the sovereignty of other nations, and hence many have judged these new regulations unacceptable. Banking associations from several countries have indicated their intention to simply bar U.S. citizens from doing business with them rather than attempt to comply, and indeed numerous banks have already taken steps to close U.S. citizen accounts.
Read more here.
Form I-129, Petition for Fiance(e) – Filing Location Change
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a change in filing location instructions and addresses for the Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) (Form I-129F). The new instructions, dated 6/14/10, are part of an overall effort to transition the intake of forms from Service Centers to USCIS Lockbox facilities. Centralizing form and fee intake to a Lockbox environment allows USCIS to provide customers with more efficient and effective initial processing of applications/petitions and fees.
Beginning Aug. 3, 2010 all Form I-129F petitions being filed by a U.S. citizen on behalf of a fiancé(e) or spouse must be submitted to the USCIS Dallas Lockbox facility.
For U.S. Postal Service:
USCIS PO Box 660151 Dallas, TX 75266For Express mail and courier deliveries:
USCIS Attn: I-129F 2501 South State Highway 121 Business Suite 400 Lewisville, TX 75067Detailed guidance can be found in the updated Form I-129F instructions online at www.uscis.gov (click on the Forms tab).
The Vermont and California Service Centers will forward incorrectly filed petitions to the USCIS Dallas Lockbox for a period of 45 days until Sept. 17, 2010. After Sept. 17, 2010, petitions and fees submitted at the Service Centers will be returned to the applicant, with a note advising them of the correct filing location.
Applicants filing a form at a USCIS Lockbox facility may elect to receive an e-mail and/or text message notifying them that their petition has been accepted by completing Form G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance, and attaching it to the first page of their application.
US Visa for Maid
Obtaining a domestic employee visa (B1 visa) for a maid or nanny is an arduous task because the documentary evidence required is stringent, however, it does not mean that it is impossible to obtain a US visa for your maid or nanny!
Permanent Visa or Temporary Visa
Keep in mind that if you are moving back to the US permanently then you can’t bring your domestic employee with you. Requesting a B1 Tourist Visa for a maid or for a nanny has to be for a temporary stay in the US. By regulation, neither domestic employees of U.S. citizens who permanently reside in or are resuming permanent residence in the United States, nor domestic employees of U.S. Legal Permanent Residents, can obtain non-immigrant domestic employee visas. If the employer of the domestic servant is a U.S. citizen who is moving back to the U.S. on a permanent basis, the employer cannot bring a domestic employee back to the U.S. Therefore, if the employer is moving back on a temporary basis then the employer can qualify to petition the maid or nanny back to the U.S.
US Citizens Applying for Maid or Nanny
Both spouses have to be eligible employers, meaning both have to be US citizens or you’re entering the US on the B, E, F, H, I, J, L, M, O, P, or Q non-immigrant status. If only one spouse is a US citizen then may not be eligible to assist your maid or nanny with her temporary visa.
Wage for Maid
The employer must be able to show that the maid will be paid the market rate for the average maid in the U.S. The most likely scenario is the prevailing wage the entire time the worker is in the U.S. Additionally, you may have to withhold from your domestic employee’s wages the amount due for federal and state taxes. At the end of the year, you should give her a W-2 form and help her file income taxes as required.
Health and Medical Insurance for your Maid
You will need to obtain health and medical insurance for your maid. Some states require workmen’s compensation for employees. You may also be liable for unemployment compensation taxes. You must fulfill the terms of the employment contract presented to the Embassy at the time of the visa application.
Visa Denial for your Maid
A common reason for visa denial is the legal presumption that each person applying for a visa to enter the United States is an intending immigrant or that the person is coming for an impermissible or illegal purpose. In order to overcome this legal presumption, maid visa applicants must prove to the satisfaction of the Consular Officer that the domestic employee has a residence abroad which she has no intention of abandoning. Please bear in mind that this presumption is a difficult one to overcome. Normally this is referred to as “strong ties” to the home country or residence.
New Consular Fees in Effect on July 13, 2010
On June 28, 2010, the Department of State published its Schedule of Fees for Consular Services in the Federal Register. The schedule includes fees for passports, immigrant visas and other consular services. The changes will take effect on July 13, 15 days after publication in the Federal Register.
The 27 adjusted fees are based on a Cost of Service Study completed by the Bureau of Consular Affairs in June 2009. The study, which was the most detailed and exhaustive ever conducted by the Department of State, established the true cost of providing these consular services, which by law must be recovered through collection of fees.
Non-immigrant visa application such as the tourist visa and student visa will now be $140
K Visa will cost $350 a major increase from the previous $131
Passport book for an adult wil be $135
Consular Report of Birth Abroad will increase from the current $65 to $100
Renunciation of US Citizenship will be $450
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against State Department For Arbitrarily Returning K1 Fiance Visa at Consular Processing
A class action lawsuit has been filed in Oregon charging the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security with unlawfully and arbitrarily returning U.S. petitioner’s Fiance(e) K1 visa at the U.S. Consulate. Plaintiffs are deprived of due process of law and petition approval denied withheld contrary to constitutional right contrary to procedure required by law.
Thousands of families across the country and around the world have been separated due to a colossal sparring match between the defendant agencies, and because of internal dissent within each agency.
Read more here.
