Marriage in VN: possibility to be away during waiting periods

3 months to a year? Only took us a month from application to a done deed. During that month we had a number of appointments etc. Nowadays the process is handled a little differently though, at the community level instead of the federal level. Search the forum for 'marriage' for more recent stories.

You could also consider hiring a lawyer to help make things go smoother and maybe faster. We hired one for $1000 because we were worried about a personal deadline.

But what happens after the marriage? Is she going to move to Canada? I don't know about your country, that is not an easy thing for Americans, where the embassy automatically considers you suspect of immigration fraud unless you can prove otherwise.

It is super hard in Canada.
Congratulations on getting married. I didn't realize things had changed, already in the lifetime of this forum.
Anyone else also have a "quick" (<1 month) turnaround on marriage?
In any case, is it something that I need to be physically present in Vietnam for all the paper work until the final civic marriage ceremony?

cocobipbip wrote:

It is super hard in Canada.
Congratulations on getting married. I didn't realize things had changed, already in the lifetime of this forum.
Anyone else also have a "quick" (<1 month) turnaround on marriage?
In any case, is it something that I need to be physically present in Vietnam for all the paper work until the final civic marriage ceremony?

Let your girlfriend take care of everything.
As far as I remember, you only have to be present for the health check and to pick up the marriage certificate, unless you have to go to an marriage interview (I didn't have to go, although my wife is much younger).

Thanks for the reply. Out of curiosity, how long did it take until you got the final certificate? I am trying to judge whether I should wait in Vietnam to get that, or fly back to Canada and then fly back immediately once the certificate is issued (for which I need to be physically present)

If you have translated and notarized all the documents correctly and you don't have to go to the marriage interview, it can be done in a month. But it depends on the authorities.
It took me six weeks. But I made a mistake with one document and had to wait 2 weeks for the new document from my home country.