Many legal documents required for submission to the US Embassy for non-immigrant and immigrant visas are unavailable since Vietnam does not have a central recorded database. Moreover, many old documents have been lost in the war or due to inconsistent record keeping. In light of this, required documents for US visas are commonly fabricated and are not verified for authenticity, leaving it open to false identities and fraudulent documents.
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 reasonable 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 Required
For the US Embassy visa requirements, original legal documents such as the marriage certificate, registration, divorce decree, death certificate, and legalization are required to be presented at the US Consulate for the consular officer to examine eventhough only a certified copy is required to be submitted. 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 they were were originally issued. A certificate of death is maintained at the local district office and similar to the certificate of divorce, the office 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 the visa to America and to determine the person’s identity.
Household Registry for Vietnam
For US immigration purposes, 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 on the documents and purely based on the reporting parties statement. In some instances when the US verify the accuracy of these documents have routinely uncovered evidence of misinformation or fraud.
Perhaps the most commonly requested document from the US Embassy for immigration purposes is the household registries. The household registry lists the name of the person in that district and it does not mean that a couple residing together is husband/wife or blood relation or otherwise, but purely states that this household has these people listed. The Public Security Bureau maintain this record. Again, this information is not verified but it is routinely requested to establish one’s residence and last address. For US immigration purposes, it is secondary evidence to establish blood relation and identity.