Just arrived back from Viet Nam this morning.
Whew!
I hate bureaucracy.
Monday: First stop, the U.S. embassy. Found out that I didn’t need a couple of papers that I had prepared. No probs. I was reminded of the quote, “It’s better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.” (No, I’m not an advocate of the NRA.) Basically I just had to make a couple of affidavits - “I’m single and I want to marry the future Mrs. Iceberg because I love her.” Total time at the U.S. embassy - about 45 minutes. Easy enough.
Second stop, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi to have the documents authenticated. The MOFA man asked me what documents I needed authenticated. “I don’t know. You tell me. Whatever is necessary to marry a Vietnamese citizen,” I told him (very politely, of course). He asked me which documents the U.S. embassy told me to have authorized. I said that they didn’t tell me anything, but they did give me a piece of paper that basically said, “You may need to take any affidavits created at the U.S. embassy to the following address…” so he asked for the two affidavits. “Is that it? You don’t need these other documents?” I asked him, showing him my birth certificate and health examination report. He said no. He gave me a slip of paper that said to come back at 10 a.m. on Wednesday to pick up the authenticated documents. Total time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: about an hour.
Tuesday: Had our wedding photographs taken. We were originally going to do it on Friday, but decided to move it up since we had a day to kill. Economizing our time and all. Total time at the photo studio: about four hours.
Wednesday: Back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Naturally, the pick-up window opened at about 10:30. We showed them the slip of paper and they found the documents, then told us to take the slip of paper to the cashier to pay before they gave us the documents. Seems we could have done that from the start, but what do I know? (I should point out that on Monday the man specifically said to come directly to the pick-up window on Wednesday.) Total time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: about two hours.
Authenticated documents in tow, it was off to Bac Giang - the future Mrs. Iceberg’s hometown - which is about 50 kilometers from Hanoi.
Second stop, the Ministry of Justice. We presented all of our documents to the only man working that afternoon. The one man who, of the four regular employees, didn’t know which (of my) documents were necessary for submission. “The other three employees are at a meeting in Hanoi,” he told us, “so you should come back tomorrow morning. Oh, and you should have these (the future Mrs. Iceberg’s) authenticated documents authenticated at the Bac Giang office as well. Oh, and this copy of Mr. Iceberg’s passport (that I can compare side-by-side with the actual passport right here in person) won’t do. You need to take his passport to the Bac Giang office, have a photocopy made there, and have them authenticate it.” For a fee, of course. Total time at Ministry of Justice: about 30 minutes.
Third stop: the Bac Giang Office of Something or Another. Took the future Mrs. Iceberg’s authenticated documents to have them authenticated again. Took my passport as well. Fortunately, there was a cafe located about a five-minute walk from the office where we waited while they authenticated to their heart’s desire. Total time: about an hour.
Thursday: Back to the Ministry of Justice. A brief interview with some representative there. A sample of the questions asked:
“Do you want to marry her?”
“Why?”
“Do you think she is a good person?”
And vice-versa to her, but also this one:
“Why are you able to speak English?”
To which the future Mrs. Iceberg replied that she had learned some English in college. Which led to the following bombshell:
“You went to college? Why didn’t you submit a document representing that fact? You need to get that document and - after having it authenticated - present it to the ministry.”
To which I thought:
“You
have
got
to
be
fucking
kidding
me.”
The future Mrs. Iceberg got on the phone to her cousin in Hanoi and asked her to pick up a copy of her college registration and bring it to Bac Giang. She got right on it and arrived about two hours later. Lovely family the future Mrs. Iceberg has. Lovely family indeed.
The representative at the ministry also informed us that I should have had my health examination document (which was obtained in Korea) authenticated at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (thanks for the heads-up, Mr. MOFA guy), so therefore it was useless.
Ah, but he was wrong. He underestimated the cleverness of the future Mrs. Iceberg. We bolted to the local hospital where - for a fee - we persuaded a doctor to write up a quick evaluation on-the-spot based on the information in the original health evaluation. Since this new document was made in Viet Nam, it wasn’t necessary to travel back to Hanoi and wait two days for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to authenticate it. We only had to go to the Bac Giang Office of Something or Another and wait an hour - at the nearby cafe. Oh yeah, we also had to have her college registration document authenticated.
Total time at the Ministry of Justice, the hospital, and the Office of Something or Another: most of the morning and afternoon.
Meanwhile, I was thinking, “How exactly is her cousin working for the local police department helping us in all of this?”
After our final trip to the Ministry of Justice in the late afternoon to submit ALL of the required documents (finally!), I learned the answer. Apparently, the government does an thorough check of all information provided. Thorough meaning - in this case - getting around to it whenever they feel like it. Thanks to her cousin, that process will be streamlined. Or so I hope.
Long story short less long: The footwork has all been done and now it is time to wait. Barring any surprises, the wedding will be held in July.
2 Comments
