Vietnamese woman needs documents from family for marraige?

Very funny story.
Bellow are Law on Marriage and Family of Vietnam about married condition:
Article 8. Conditions for getting married
1.    A man and a woman wishing to marry each other must satisfy the following conditions:
a/ The man is full 20 years or older, the woman is full 18 years or older;
b/ The marriage is voluntarily decided by the man and woman;
c/ The man and woman do not lose the civil act capacity;
d/ The marriage does not fall into one of the cases prescribed at Points a, b, c and d, Clause 2, Article 5 of this Law.
(a/ Sham marriage or sham divorce;
b/ Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage, obstructing marriage;
c/ A married person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with another person, or an unmarried person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with a married person; d/ Getting married or cohabitating as husband and wife between people of the same direct blood line; relatives within three generations; adoptive parent and adopted child; or former adoptive parent and adopted child, father-in-law and daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law, or stepparent and stepchild;)
2.    The State shall not recognize marriage between persons of the same sex.
Article 9. Marriage registration
1. A marriage shall be registered with a competent state agency in accordance with this Law and the law on civil status. A marriage which is not registered under this Clause is legally invalid. (Need a single cert issued by local government)
2. A divorced couple who wish to re-establish their husband and wife relation shall register their re-marriage.

Businesslawyer wrote:

Very funny story.
Bellow are Law on Marriage and Family of Vietnam about married condition:
Article 8. Conditions for getting married

Useful post Business Lawyer.  I see that after having a post deleted in another thread, you have learned the ropes.  Give good advice freely and the people who need assistance will seek you out through personal messaging.

No you don't need anything from family members. You and your wife need to undergo a psychological test though to ensure you the foreigner are sane enough to marry a Vietnamese women.

At first I thought this test was ridiculous waste of time. But after 3 years of marriage to a Vietnamese wife I can understand the necessity of this test.

My wife got tested and she is certified nuts. Like everything in VN the psych eval was a shame.

I did the psych test(general conversation) in a small clinic in D5. The doctor was a lovely middle aged lady that was more interested about my life in VN, overall it was very easy. I refused to do the medical on the grounds that the hospital we had to go to took two days to do it. The psych test was just so damn easy.

The psych test took few hours. The guy administered a few pages of spatial iQ test. They separated my wife and I in different rooms.

It was fun doing the test. While doing the test the guy kept dropping hints that he wanted a bribe.

'These tests are time waster you'll get your marriage certificate anyways.'

I wanted to see how I'd score anyways. 121 better than average. My wife scored 80ish lol.

khanh44 wrote:

The psych test took few hours. The guy administered a few pages of spatial iQ test. They separated my wife and I in different rooms.

It was fun doing the test. While doing the test the guy kept dropping hints that he wanted a bribe.

'These tests are time waster you'll get your marriage certificate anyways.'

I wanted to see how I'd score anyways. 121 better than average. My wife scored 80ish lol.

Hahaha, mine took ten minutes and my wife sat next to me. As usual there is no uniformity in the process. I asked the government official if we could go to a psych hospital in the next town as the signs and information at the hospital was written in English. The hospital said they don't do foreigners, I then asked why do you have signs in English everywhere, I got the usual blank look and no answer.

What other documents are required for marriage here? What are your legal responsibilities after marriage in Vietnam?. I am sorry if this has been answered elsewhere on the furum, I searched "marriage" and only a few threads popped up. Maybe someone could please send a link to the relevant threads for this newbie?

http://vietnamembassy-usa.org/consular/ … gistration

Slight thread drift - Along the lines of the psych test, my marriage documents are on the way back from the Vietnam consulate in New York on Monday.  I return to Vietnam Saturday.  I have everything needed for the marriage certificate except the mental health exam.  Is there a list of doctors that I can review to find one close to where I live (near VSIP1 in Binh Duong) as I am assuming it doesn't matter where we go so looking for convenience.

SteinNebraska wrote:

Slight thread drift - Along the lines of the psych test, my marriage documents are on the way back from the Vietnam consulate in New York on Monday.  I return to Vietnam Saturday.  I have everything needed for the marriage certificate except the mental health exam.  Is there a list of doctors that I can review to find one close to where I live (near VSIP1 in Binh Duong) as I am assuming it doesn't matter where we go so looking for convenience.

You need to ask the office that is doing the marriage,you cant just pick one yourself.

Like SteinNebraska let me drift slightly off as well.  I don't know if this is still the case or even if it was required by law then, but our interviewer, who spoke no English, brought in a translator to evaluate whether my wife spoke enough English to ensure valid communication.  This was in Ben Tre and back when marriages were handled in the Dept. of Justice.

I took my psych test with my personal doctor in the US and had it certified at the Embassy in DC which is on net a much more expensive route to take.  colinoscapee's advice is solid.  Let them pick the provider.  I don't think my wife took a psych test but she is surely saner than I am.   

When we did the test, both of us had to travel all the way to Saigon.

There is a mental health facility only about 45 mins from my house. The singage there is done in both English and Vietnamese, we thought great, we can save some time and get it done there. Nope, didn't happen, even though the signage at the hospital was in English, they don't test anyone but Vietnamese, go figure that out.

This is the type of thing you may come up against when dealing with government agencies here.

colinoscapee wrote:

You need to ask the office that is doing the marriage,you cant just pick one yourself.

Perfect, thanks for the response.  I guess we will just go to hometown then.  Phuoc Long, Binh Phuoc is hometown.

SteinNebraska wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

You need to ask the office that is doing the marriage,you cant just pick one yourself.

Perfect, thanks for the response.  I guess we will just go to hometown then.  Phuoc Long, Binh Phuoc is hometown.

The biggest town and head of government in Binh Phuoc is Dong Xoai, not sure if they will do it there. You may need to travel to Saigon to get it done.

saigonx wrote:

Can someone help me understand what documents are needed for a Vietnamese to Vietnamese marriage?

Does the woman need notarized documents with signatures from all family members to "leave the family" or something similar?

I just noticed that like many threads here, we have drifted away from the OP's question.    (Sorry)  For most contributors, this is maybe a result of an interest bias in favor of expat/Viet marriage. 

However, the answer should be readily available to the two Vietnamese parties simply by going in to their local district People's Committee office (UBND).  I believe that is where the authority has been moved from the offices of the Dept of Justice.  There certainly shouldn't be any linguistic obstacle.  Even if they both live apart from their formal hometowns, the information should be available.  If they come from deep in the country, siblings or others should be easily able to find out for them.

I think there may be a prohibition of a certain level of consanguinity (relatedness) which is assumed to not be a problem in expat marriage. There may be a document or affidavit required for that.   I can't imagine that there is any need to prove family acceptance or permission in this day and age, unless one of the parties has been declared legally incompetent.  I did note that when we went in for our interview there were other couples there for interviews as well.  One was a Viet Kieu/local couple and the others were simply locals.  They still had to go through an interview process and a waiting period.

Again, unless you just proposed the question as a hypothetical, why not just recommend to the parties that they just go in to the appropriate office and ask?

colinoscapee wrote:

The biggest town and head of government in Binh Phuoc is Dong Xoai, not sure if they will do it there. You may need to travel to Saigon to get it done.

Oh well, I guess that doesn't matter, we will go to the local government, ask them and if they we need to go to Saigon we go back (basically) home and do it.  Just means another trip out there to file.  I guess we will find out in a couple of weeks.  Engagement pictures in Da Lat the weekend of March 8th then go back home the weekend of the 15th.  We will see what happens.  There's really no major rush.  The ceremony isn't until April 28th.  I know we don't have to get it done before that but I'd like to at least get started on the CR-1 Visa.

She doesn't want to move to the US but she does want to visit and meet my family.  My mom is getting up there and we want to do that ASAP.

SteinNebraska wrote:

I know we don't have to get it done before that but I'd like to at least get started on the CR-1 Visa.

She doesn't want to move to the US but she does want to visit and meet my family.  My mom is getting up there and we want to do that ASAP.

The CR-1 visa takes at least two years and more likely three to obtain, if you are an optimist, hardly ASAP.  It also has substantial fees and proof of financial means for the sponsor, presumably you.  It is a lot of trouble to go through if you do not intend to stay in the US the additional 3 or so years to obtain citizenship.  She can leave the US and return if she has a green card but if she stays away too long it expires.

If your GF seriously does not want to reside in the US, why not apply for a tourist or business visa now?  Unfortunately, unlike AU, NZ and most EU countries, the US will not allow a foreign spouse of a citizen to enter with a tourist visa.  This is because the combination of being married and inside the US will allow the spouse to apply for a change of status, in effect jumping the immigration line. 

Tourist visas are difficult but not impossible to obtain.  I know a young lady (she is in her mid 40's now) who made four trips to the US to visit her fiance before getting married to another fellow.  On maybe the third trip, immigration grilled her asking how did they know that she would not just get married.  She replied that if she planned to do that she could have done it on trip one or two.

THIGV wrote:

If your GF seriously does not want to reside in the US, why not apply for a tourist or business visa now?  Unfortunately, unlike AU, NZ and most EU countries, the US will not allow a foreign spouse of a citizen to enter with a tourist visa.  This is because the combination of being married and inside the US will allow the spouse to apply for a change of status, in effect jumping the immigration line.

I was wondering about this and we discussed it last night.  I was doing some reading on the CR1 visa.  We really don't intend to live the majority of the time in the US for the foreseeable future.  I don't want to apply for it and then have it later cancelled for abandonment for not staying at least 7 months a year in the US.  In a few years we plan to retire and then can spend 6 months in each country but for now I'll be here most of the time.  That was going to be my question for the day - why not trying for a tourist visa again?

She did apply for one in June but it was denied.  That one didn't surprise me.  I honestly thought about waiting a year after marriage and then applying for a tourist visa with the argument "had we intended to immigrate we would have just applied for the CR1 right after marriage.  We don't want to move there now and burn the green card with limited visits to see family so no, we aren't trying to jump the immigration line" We really just want to visit and then return to Vietnam.   We will own two houses here, I own a business here, daughter and family are here.  Maybe they will listen the second time.

Maybe business visa.  I can make her an accountant in the company.  She has her accounting degree.  My business partner has traveled to the US several times already under a business visa.

SteinNebraska wrote:

Maybe business visa.  I can make her an accountant in the company.  She has her accounting degree.  My business partner has traveled to the US several times already under a business visa.

I don't know but that sounds like it could work.  Best of luck and best wishes on your marriage.  It sounds like it will be a good one.

THIGV wrote:

... the US will not allow a foreign spouse of a citizen to enter with a tourist visa.

I don't think you meant to say that, but just so others understand, that is false. My wife got a tourist visa (1 year multiple entry) in January for her first trip to the US. We just got back. Consulate guy asked a lot of questions, but we're married 3 years, she has a solid job here to return to, she stated we have no desire to move to the US (no lie), and they made her drag me in for show-and-tell.

gobot wrote:

I don't think you meant to say that, but just so others understand, that is false. My wife got a tourist visa (1 year multiple entry) in January for her first trip to the US. We just got back. Consulate guy asked a lot of questions, but we're married 3 years, she has a solid job here to return to, she stated we have no desire to move to the US (no lie), and they made her drag me in for show-and-tell.

This is what I was hoping for on a tourist visa.  I'd like the opportunity to be drug in there and explain that we really don't want to move to the US otherwise we would have gone that route for visa application.  I figured we would need to wait a year after marriage to even apply for the tourist visa.

gobot wrote:

THIGV wrote:

... the US will not allow a foreign spouse of a citizen to enter with a tourist visa.

I don't think you meant to say that, but just so others understand, that is false.

I of course must concede to reality.  I perhaps should have said the tourist visas for spouses are exceedingly rare particularly compared to other countries which grant them routinely.  It still goes back to the ability to apply for change in status that I mentioned.  I don't recall whether you mentioned your wife's age but I doubt that she is a child bride.  So 45 is likely better than 25, and just as with single people, ownership of a business and property is a factor.  It sounds as though SteinNebraska is emotionally committed to his marriage which is great,  and backing out now could be very negative, so hopefully he has the same experience with US immigration that you have had.

Yeah nonsensical for my country to put up walls and hurdles to block its US citizen from bringing in a legal spouse. Regardless of age. Spouse is coming in as my responsibility. They have the tools to track citizens and laws to punish. Government fails so miserably at land borders that they overprotect the airport borders.