Help! American and Vietnamese Family
Hello All,
I'm from the U.S. and my wife is Vietnamese. I have been married to her since 2008. We have been trying to get a marriage certificate since early 2009. If the Vietnamese government wasn't so difficult about this, we would already be married (officially). We had a ceremonial marriage in Cambodia in October of 2008. I have proof of this.
We now have a child and I have just returned from yet another trip in Vietnam, in which everything should have been completed for me to process their paperwork to come here to Qatar. Sadly, it wasn't
We went to Thailand to try to circumvent dealing with her government, but it turns out we still had to go to them. The Thai government requires only an affidavit of single status and your passport to make a marriage certificate, but her embassy would not provide the necessary document. This is even after we had a document stating she was single for marriage from her home province! Alas, we had to return to Vietnam to attend an appointment for my son's U.S. passport, which is now processing for pick up in the next few weeks.
I want to keep my job here, but I'm done trying to get married in her country. Is there anyway I can bring my family here and then marry her here? Or perhaps another way I can just have them here? If I can't get them here we're just going to process her fiancee visa and go back to the States. This is sad because it will take a long time and I won't get to see my son grow up.
Please help if you can.
I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to provide recommendations. I'm going to look into other options as much as I can, but it looks as though I'm going to have to submit the K-1 Fiancee visa and head back to the U.S. upon completion.
Oh, and when I said married since 2008, I meant ceremonially. We've been trying to register our marriage since 2009. I should have been more specific on that.
Hello my fellow American:
I'm a bit confused about your post. On the first paragraph, you indicated that you've been married to her since 2008, but right after that you said that you'd be married to her if it wasn't for the constraints you're facing from her embassy. Perhaps a little clarification would help.
To answer your questions, you cannot bring her here until you can get her a family visa, which you'd need the marriage certificate to process. I don't suggest that she gets a job here until she gets her family visa, otherwise she will be tied up to that employer until her contract is fulfilled.
If you're not yet married, i'd suggest that you go to another country and try to get married. There are many resorts that do "Destination weddings" (as other posters have indicated. Just do a quick search into those resorts and look up the requirements for marriage.
Good thinking Mandi - I got married in St. Lucia. They didn't even ask if we were both single!
Read your post a little more carefully, sounds like your Cambodian marriage was not legally registered. You can only marry here in Qatar if you both hold RPs. Your best bet is to find a marriage-friendly country that will give her a tourist visa. Places like Jamaica do "destination weddings", at least for Americans. Cyprus requires a several-day wait. Vegas is instant!
Look into which countries will marry you now. Cyprus is a favorite destination as is Las Vegas. In Vegas you won't need all those pesky documents. Hope she can get a visa to the US and you can marry there.
Have you asked at the Vietnamese embassy here?
Have you asked at the US Embassy here if they can marry you?