K1 Fiance Visa Interviews in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Originally published 3/11/2011

The majority of K1 fiance visa cases which are denied are denied at the U.S. Embassy or consulate at the K1 fiance visa interview. Certain U.S. Embassies or consular posts experience very high rates of visa fraud and the incidence of fraud is especially high with the K1 visa. As a result, those embassies and posts which have problems with fraud carefully scrutinize all of their K1 visa applications and K1 applicants in these countries often undergo intense visa interviews. The K1 interview is also the primary source of stress and anxiety for K1 applicants for many reasons including a lack of information about the interview process and horror stories of K1 interviews gone bad. While I firmly believe that a bona fide K1 visa applicant should be able to withstand even the most intense visa interview, it is helpful for applicant's to have some idea of the types of questions they should expect from the consular officer.

The U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City is widely considered one of the most difficult posts to obtain an approval for a fiance visa. K1 cases in Vietnam are very carefully scrutinized because there is a high incidence of fraud with K1 cases in that country. I recently handled a K1 case that was adjudicated in Ho Chi Minh City and the following is a rough transcript of the questions my client was asked during the interview.

1. What is your name?

2. How old are you?

3. How old is your fiance'?

4. How did you meet your fiance'?

5. When did you meet your fiance'?

5. Please describe in detail what your place of employment looks like? [In this case the K1 couple met at a restaurant where the applicant worked.]

6. Please describe in detail the circumstances in which you and your fiance' met.

7. When after you and your fiance' met did you begin communicating regularly?

8. When you met your fiance' was he alone?

9. Who are your fiance's friends?

10. Is your fiance's friend's girl friend Vietnamese? What is her name? [In this case the U.S. Citizen met the Vietnamese applicant while on a trip to Vietnam and his friend's girlfriend was Vietnamese.]

11. Are any of your fiance's friends Vietnamese?

12. Do any of your fiance's friends work in Vietnam?

13. What is your fiance's friends occupation?

14. Why did your fiance' and his friend choose to travel to Vietnam for Vacation instead of a different country?

15. Did your fiance' travel straight from the United States to Vietnam?

16. How long did your fiance stay in Vietnam during his first trip to Vietnam?

17. If your fiance's friends were traveling in different countries why did they wait to meet your fiance' in Vietnam? Why didn't they meet him in another country? [In this case, the U.S. Citizen's petitioner's friends were traveling around Asia in addition to Vietnam.]

18. Where does your fiance live in the United States? [This questions was asked at least two times during the interview.]

19. Did your fiance' tell you anything about the state he lives in? [This question was also asked twice during the interview.]

20. Did your fiance' tell you anything about the weather in his state? How is the weather? [In this case the U.S. Citizen petitioner lived in the Pacific Northwest.]

21. Who called who first after you and your fiance' first met in Vietnam?

22. Why did you call him first? [The applicant made the first call.]

23. After the first time you called him did he call you back? And how did you keep in contact with him by chat/phone/email?

24. How many times did your husband visit Vietnam? [Apparently, the interviewing officer regularly used the term "husband instead of fiance' to see if the applicant would correct the officer.]

25. What day did your fiance' come to Vietnam on this trip?

26. Did you and your fiance' travel to other countries for vacation while he was visiting you?

27. Where did you and your fiance' go for holiday while he visited you in Vietnam? Did your family go with you? Did you take any pictures? Who took the pictures? [The officer then asked the applicant to show pictures from the trips.]

28. Who paid the expenses for all the trips you took?

29. During your fiance's stay in Vietnam where did both of you stay? Who paid for the hotels?

30. Has your fiance' ever given you and your family any gifts? What type gifts? Do you have any evidence of these gifts?

31. Do you know if your fiance' has had any previous girlfriends? Why did they break up? Tell me in detail about his previous relationships.

32. Does your fiance' have any pets? What type of pets does he have?

33. What kind food does your fiance' like? What kind of food does he dislike?

34. What is your fiance's favorite Vietnamese food?

35. When your fiance' visited your family what kind of food did they cook for him?

36. What does your fiance' like best about Vietnam? What does he dislike?

37. Have you and your fiance' have an engagement party? How much did it cost? Who paid for the party?

38. Did your fiance's family come to the engagement party? [They did not come.] Why didn't they not come?

39. Have you ever met your fiance's parents? [No.] Why not?

40. How many siblings does your fiance' have? Have you ever met them?

41. Do you have any family that lives in the United States? [In this case the applicant had an aunt who used to live in the United States.]What is your aunt's name? What state does she live in? [The applicant did not know what state her aunt used to live in.] Didn't she tell you where she lived? Does your aunt own a nail salon in the United States? [When asked what the applicant intended to do for work when she arrived in the U.S. she stated that she would probably work in a nail salon until she found something better.] 

42. Do you have any cousins in the United States? Do they work with your husband? Have they ever met your husband?

43. Who helped your fiance apply for this visa? Is he a Vietnamese lawyer or a U.S. Lawyer? Is he white or Vietnamese? What is his name?

44. Do you know that this is a special Visa? Tell me how special it is.

45. What is your religion & your fiance's Religion?

46. Tell me about your wedding plans. Where will the wedding be? Why are you getting married in a church if you are not religious? So your marriage in this church will be cheap?

47. What does your fiance' do for a living? Please describe exactly what does he does? When did he start his current job? How long is the drive from his house from his work?

48. How long does it take him to drive from his house to his parents house?

49. Why did your fiance' leave his last job? What did he do at his last job? What did he do between jobs?

50. Your fiance bought a one way ticket to Vietnam this trip? Why did he only buy a one way ticket and not a round trip ticket? Does he plan to stay in Vietnam and not return to the US? [In this case the petitioner traveled to Vietnam for the interview and to help his fiance' with the trip back to the U.S. He didn't buy a return ticket because he did not know when the visa would be issued or how long exactly it would take for his fiancee' to be ready to leave for the U.S. which is not uncommon.]

51. When will your fiance buy his ticket back to the United States? What day? Do you know that it's more expensive to buy one way tickets?

52. What did you and your fiance' do last night? What and where did you eat last night? What time?

53. Does your fiance live alone or who does he live with? [This was asked four times during the interview in different ways.]

54. Does your fiance live in an apartment or in a house? Does he own his own home? Why did he buy that house? When did he buy that house? How long has he lived there? Where did he live before that? Did he live with his parents?

55. What work will you do when you get to the U.S.?

56. What is your fiance's zodiac sign?

57. Has your fiance traveled anywhere else besides Vietnam?

58. When did your fiance' propose to you?

This was a lengthy interview which is very common in Ho Chi Minh City. Some of the questions were a bit ridiculous but the majority of the questions were reasonable and were the kinds of questions that most couples who are engaged and know each other well could answer.

Hopefully this article will help those who are preparing for a K1 fiance visa interview get a better idea of what types of interview questions to expect. While some of these questions are probably asked in every case, many of them are specific to the applicant and therefore cannot easily be prepared for. These questions are designed so that they can't be easily be prepared for to weed out those applicants who do not have a serious relationship with the U.S. Citizen petitioner. Although these questions should give you some idea about the nature of the questions which will be asked, the questions in your interview will certainly be different and there is no way to study other than being certain that you and your fiance know each other very well.