Apologies for being late to the party. I haven't checked the forums in awhile and came across @daredevil tagging me hehe. I would like to share my experience and hopefully inspire others!
The short version is some friends talked me into downloading Tinder while I was traveling in Japan. When I got back to the US I paid money so that I could Tinder across the world even though I was still in the US. I ended up swiping on a girl living in Vietnam while I was still in the US and we hit it off. We texted, voice chat, and video called every day for 7 months until I decided to visit her in Vietnam for the first time in December 2016. My contract at work had just changed over so I did not have a lot of vacation time and could only go for a week. I took that 20 something hour flight 9,000 miles to Vietnam to meet her not knowing if we would hit it off in person. We had a blast for that week. I got to meet her family, we took a quick trip to Da Nang, and we did all sorts of activities together while I was there. We both cried as I was leaving Vietnam because we didn't really know what the future held. When I got back to the US we continued to talk every day and we started planning my next trip. 4 months later I traveled back to Vietnam in April 2017 and even brought a ring with me to propose (I know crazy right?!?). I started on paperwork to do the whole fiance visa, and traveled back to Vietnam again in August 2017 so that we could attend an interview for the fiance visa. She got approved and flew to America for the first time in September 2017. With the fiance visa we had to marry within 3 months so in December 2017 we were married. Needless to say it's 2021. We have been married now for 3 years and everything is going great.
The path I took I would not recommend for everyone. I definitely realize we took things VERY fast and that can be risky especially when dealing with immigration and trying to bring someone to another country. The typical thought is they may use you to get to America (or wherever you live) and then leave you once they have the green card. It's true, it does happen so anyone ever attempting that should take their time.
Long distance relationships can work, but they are not for everyone and they can only last so long. It takes a lot of work to make the relationship work and in the end someone has to sacrifice leaving their home in order to be with the other. You also need a plan to be together. If you don't have a plan to close the distance it will never work out.
I hope everyone enjoyed the post. If you have any questions feel free to hit me up!
I will leave you with a picture of what my now wife showed up to when she landed in America for the first time in 2017. Over that past year she had gotten to know my friends and family through video calls and chats so they supported me by being there when she arrived for the first time.