If you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who is marrying someone from Vietnam, and you would like to sponsor your new husband or wife for a U.S. green card (lawful permanent residence), you will find some important legal and practical guidance below.

(Warning: This is a general overview of how the U.S. immigration process works for most people. Your situation may present complications or qualify for exceptions; see an experienced attorney for a full analysis.)

Immigration Eligibility Based on Engagement or Marriage

Let’s start with a bit of background on U.S. immigration law. Marriage to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident gives foreign-born persons a direct path to U.S. immigration. Contrary to popular rumor, however, the foreign national does not immediately or automatically receive a green card or U.S. citizenship.

If you are a U.S. citizen and already married or about to be, your new spouse becomes your "immediate relative," and may receive a green card as soon as the two of you successfully complete the application process. This can take several months.

If you are not yet married and your fiancé is still in Vietnam, you can, if you are a U.S. citizen, petition for him or her to enter the U.S. as a fiancé in order to get married in the United States. After the wedding, your new spouse can apply for a green card. You can also choose to get married first in Vietnam or another country, and then apply for an immigrant visa with which to enter the U.S; the equivalent of a green card.

If you are a lawful permanent resident, your foreign-born spouse is considered a "preference relative," in category 2A of the visa preference system. Your spouse can complete the process of applying for a green card (and enter the U.S.) only after a visa number has become available. Annual limits on the number of visas given out in category 2A can create years-long waits. The waiting time changes periodically, which makes it difficult to predict just how long you will need to wait for your spouse to immigrate.  The application process itself adds more months to the process.

U.S. permanent residents cannot petition for fiancés.

Application Process for Getting a Green Card Based on Marriage

The application process for a marriage- based green card involves multiple steps, most notably submitting forms and documents and attending an interview with U.S. immigration authorities. The purpose of all this is to prove that:

• the U.S. petitioner is a citizen or permanent resident
• a valid marriage has occurred (or will occur, in the case of a fiancé visa)
• the marriage is bona fide (not a sham to get a green card), and
• the immigrant is not inadmissible to the U.S. for medical, criminal, financial, or other reasons. (See Inadmissibility: When the U.S. Can Keep You Out  for details.)

You may, however, have more than one option as to where and exactly how you apply, as described below.

Procedures When Applying for a K-1 Fiancé Visa

If you and your intended spouse  (who lives outside the U.S.) have not yet married--or have held an informal ceremony that does not count as an official marriage in the location where it was held--you can apply for a temporary (90-day) visa with which your fiancé can enter the U.S. and hold the wedding.

The U.S. citizen starts this process by filing a visa petition on Form I-129F with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). After USCIS approves the I-129F, it will transfer the case to the  National Visa Center in New Hampshire, which eventually will send the case to the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Your fiancé will apply for a K-1 visa through the consulate. This involves submitting forms and documents and attending an interview with a consular official. You, the petitioner, are allowed to attend this interview, though it is not required.

After your marriage in the U.S., your new spouse applies to USCIS for a green card, through a process called adjustment of status. The two of you will attend a green card interview at a local USCIS office.

Procedures for Your Spouse to Come From Vietnam on an Immigrant Visa

If you and your loved one are already married, and your spouse is currently in Vietnam, you will start the green-card application process by filing Form I-130 with USCIS. After USCIS approves the I-130, spouses of U.S. citizens can continue on with visa processing, while spouses of permanent residents must wait (an average of up to two years, as of 2016) until a visa is available in category 2A.

After paying various fees and submitting documents to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire, the next step is for your spouse to go through consular processing for an immigrant visa. This means your spouse submits additional  paperwork to, and attends an interview at, a U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. (The U.S. petitioner may attend, but is not required to.)

Upon approval, your spouse enters the U.S. on an immigrant visa, at which time he or she becomes a lawful permanent resident.

At Which U.S. Consulate in Vietnam the Interview Will Be Held

The U.S. currently has only one consulate  in Vietnam, which is located in Ho Chi Minh City and handles immigrant visas. There also is a consular section at the U.S. embassy in Hanoi that processes nonimmigrant visas.

You will be given instructions (and eventually, an appointment notice) when your case is transferred to the consulate  in Ho Chi Minh City, and can also check the consulate's website for information.

If your spouse happens to be living in a country other than Vietnam, the consulate there would likely be the one to handle the case.

Procedures If Your Spouse Is Already in the U.S.

If your spouse initially came to the U.S. on a nonimmigrant (such as on a fiancé, student, or tourist visa), and you are a U.S. citizen, he or she can most likely apply to adjust status in the United States. The main form for this is an I-485. The two of you will attend an interview at one of USCIS’s field offices.

Information about USCIS locations or service centers can be found at its website, www.uscis.gov.

Just be sure your spouse didn’t commit visa fraud by using the nonimmigrant visa specifically to enter the U.S. and apply for a green card--see Risks of Entering the U.S. as a Tourist, Then Applying for Marriage- Based Green Card  for details.)

If, however, your spouse entered the U.S. without inspection or by using a fake visa, or you are a U.S. permanent resident rather than a citizen, your situation is more complicated than this article can address. You may have difficulty obtaining a green card for your spouse, though it is not necessarily impossible. See an immigration attorney for details or if you have any questions about whether you qualify to adjust status.

Entering Into a Legally Valid Marriage

No matter where you marry, you will need to obtain a certificate that convinces the U.S. immigration authorities that it was legally recognized in the state or country where it took place. Below are some tips on doing that.

Obtaining Documentation of a Valid Marriage in Vietnam

If you have married, or plan to get married in your fiancé or spouse’s home country, you will first need to look into Vietnam’s requirements for legal marriage.

According to information provided by the U.S. consulate, Vietnamese marriages require that you, the U.S. citizen, prepare the following (with a certified translation into Vietnamese of any documents from the U.S., done by either the Vietnamese embassy in the U.S. or a Vietnamese notary public).

• Marriage registration dossiers (obtained from the Vietnamese District Justice Offices).
• Official copy of the U.S. citizen's passport.
• Written certification granted by a Vietnamese or foreign competent health organization within 6 months to the date of the dossiers is submitted, certifying that you do not suffer from mental diseases that render you incapable of being aware of and controlling your acts. Contact the District Justice Offices for specific instructions.
• Affidavit of Single Status. This can be obtained from your home state’s civil registry or created by completing an affidavit at the U.S. Consulate. The affidavit must be signed within six months of applying for a marriage certificate. If you’ve been married before, you’ll need to present an authenticated copy of the divorce decree or death certificate for your previous spouse.
• A letter by your local vital statistics office certifying that you don’t have a marriage license or marriage certificate on file within the state where you live. The search period must cover all the time between your turning 18 and the date of issuance. If you were divorced, or your spouse died, you’ll need to obtain a certified photocopy of the divorce decree or death certificate. This requirement varies from province to province.
• Processing fee.

The time limit for marriage registration is 15 days from when the District Justice Office receives your dossiers. If police verification is required, it can take another 10 days. After receiving the dossiers, the District Justice Office conducts in-person interviews to ensure the marriage is voluntary and that both parties can communicate and understand each other. It’s recommended for the Vietnamese citizen to check with local authorities to be sure of requirements for the U.S. citizen.

Obtaining a valid certificate of your marriage is critical for purposes of U.S. immigration. The U.S. government keeps track of what documents are considered legally valid from each country, Vietnam included, and will reject yours if it doesn't come from the proper source. Check the State Department’s "Country Reciprocity Schedule" to get further details on what documents from Vietnam it considers valid. (Enter "Vietnam," then scroll down the page to the section on “Marriage Certificates.”)

Obtaining Documentation of a Valid Marriage in the United States

If you will hold your wedding in the U.S., you need to follow the laws of the state where you marry. For a summary, see Marriage Laws in Your State. You will need to obtain a marriage certificate from a local government office. A church certificate, for example, is not enough.

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