I was PMed by BKKStan asking if I would relate my experiences in obtaining visas for my wife and kids. Good idea, here we go:

So, you've decided you want to get a visa to the US for your Thai wife... what you can expect to go through.

Let me first tell you, it's not a simple process as indicated on the US Embassy website. I'll attempt to go through the process as it was presented to me these past few months:

1. You must determine what type of visa you wish to obtain - there are many to choose from. On reading as much as i could gather from the website, I decided I would try for the K1/K2 Non-immigrant visa for my wife and 2 boys. My reason for choosing this type visa was, it would allow me to take my family to the US as non-immigrants and continue processing their immigrant visa after they have landed. It seemed the easiest and quickest way to get them there... when I presented my paperwork (extensive) to the 'powers that be', I was informed that this visa was not available for me because I am living in Thailand and this visa is only open to US Citizens who live in the States but their family or fiancee are in Thailand. This little bit of information was not shown on the website... so back to square one. I was told that the only immigrant visa I could apply for was the R-1 Immigrant Visa which would result in them obtaining a Green Card. OK, here we go.

2. It's not obvious but, after much searching I found that you must pass a qualification test via the Office of Homeland Security in the building across the street from the embassy in Bangkok. On the top floor of tower 2 (15th floor) is the Office of the United States Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS) previously known as NIS (Naturalization and Immigration Services). There are a series of documents that must be presented which can all be found on their website (once you realize you need to go to that office). The cost of the USCIS document research is $375 per individual, in my case $1125, which of course is not refundable if found ineligible to go. I'm not sure of the amount of time it takes for your documents to go from USCIS to the Visa Section of the Embassy but in an attempt to speed things up, I included a handwritten letter indicating the job I was scheduled to take and the need for speed on their part. My documents were forwarded to the Visa Section the next day. Once you turn your papers over to USCIS there is nothing else you can do and they will notify you via postal mail at your home address. We submitted our papers on a Thursday and received our notice that they had been sent to the Visa Section the following Wednesday.

Now you just have to wait. There's nothing you can do and no one you can call or email. They WILL NOT RESPOND.

3. About 12-14 days later we received three large envelopes in the mail from the Embassy. Each one was addressed to each of the members requesting visas. The envelopes contained a series of documents which need to be completed and it also contained a letter indicating the number which identifies them for their 'interview'. When attending the interview, ALL paperwork MUST be completed. Some of the documents required were quite obvious - marriage contract, divorce papers, passports, name change papers, adoption papers (I had adopted both boys effective 30 Dec 08), employment letters, bank books, house papers (Blue Book/Yellow Book), Police clearance for anyone over 16 years old, etc. Everything you need will be identified but keep in mind - ANYTHING written in Thai must be translated and properly stamped by an acceptable translating agency. A FEW of the papers/documents identified in the large envelope(s) must be forwarded to the embassy via mail (we used EMS) and you are not supposed to forward these papers until you have collected ALL the other documents identified.

After submitting the papers, all you can do is WAIT... again.

4. Finally, you'll be notified by mail of your interview time and date and to bring everything you've already completed PLUS you will received some more papers which must be filled in and brought with you. In our case with 3 people, the size of the total package was considerable and my wife was more than overcompensating by bringing anything/everything she felt might be needed. When we arrived for the interview I was surprised to find out that I WAS NOT PERMITTED TO BE PRESENT DURING THE INTERVIEW. I had to find someplace to sit and have a coffee. I was allow to go in and pay the required fees for the visas though, $400 each for a total of $1200, again non-refundable if not granted. So, after paying the bucks, I found a coffee shop and waited from 9 to 11:30 when my wife called me over. The interviewer wanted to ask me a couple of questions. a. Why did I adopt the kids? b. Where were we going to stay in the States since I had no permanent address there? After the interview my wife was told she could pick up the visas some 7 days later - she just got them TODAY.

Total time involved for the process, approximately 16-18 weeks total (remember they sped it up for me); total costs for everything including four trips to Bangkok, fees for document translations, etc. - $2900; interviews were simple (for me) but were the cause of anxiety for the family; problems - only getting started and trying to interpret the websites, both USCIS and Embassy; suggestions - I cannot emphasize this enough, START EARLY and BE PATIENT.

GOOD LUCK

Brian let me be first to thank you for this post it is very informative to us who might want to bring our wives to the USA now after reading your post if I choose to do that I will just get her a tourist visa and when in the USA I will decide
if we want to stay if we should want to then just stay screw the rules do what every illegal does and wait for the amnesty program it bound to come

Not trying to throw ice on your parade but getting a tourist visa for a Thai female (wife or not) is not an easy thing. The reason you stated above is why they are not issued very easy.

Congrats on getting everything and thank you for the post!

Congrats Brain. Hope to see you on Monday and wish you all the best.

Galee wrote:Congrats Brain. Hope to see you on Monday and wish you all the best.

What are you a genus or is that your call sign on the green? Anyway, congratulations on a successful outcome.

HI Guys & Brian Congrats to you and your family and Welcome to America! I have had several dealings with USCIS/Homeland Security and gov. here in the last 3 years or so and Yes the Wheels turn very slowly both with U.S. gov. and the especially the Thai Gov. My wife being a former school teacher from NonbuaLamphu and the adventures of getting her here into the U.S. with first a tourist visa and marrying and clearing her debts with the Thai Gov. as they more or less own you when you work for the Gov. there.My wife had many Thai teacher friends who applied for Visitor Visas to the U.S. and were granted 10 year visas -6 months total per year of visits(thats quite a bit for a visitor!).When my wife applied she got only 30 day Visitor Visa,(but in reality is good for 6 months when I found a good lawyer here).Good thing it is good for that long also as it took about 1 year and 2 months to get her permanent residency(green card)here.I have friends that got their wives permanent residency's in about 5 months when they applied for K-1 visas (fiance visas) from Thailand and made there applications much quicker once they were here in the U.S. and got married.I also have friends that were married in Thailand and applied for K-3 visas (married to Thai woman in thailand and applying for your wife to enter the U.S.).That takes a little longer to get but when you do finally get it your wife can travel in and out of the U.S. multiple times thru/out the year without any problems but not so easily with a fiance visa or married to wife in the U.S. and waiting for permanent residency or even after you get it and have conditional residency for 2 years after you receive the green card.I also have applied and gotten sister in law a Visitor Visa to the U.S. and she got a 10 year Visitor Visa first try and is on her 3rd time here now.The most important thing I may suggest is "Don't be in a Hurry!" as you will just get frustrated and P.O'd as I am not a Patient Man by any means but one thing I have learned is just that "PATIENCE".The gov. works very slowly (doesn't matter who's gov.) and they really don't care how much you are in a hurry !!!You can't usually talk to anyone who knows anything via telephone unless you are willing to try various 20 times to find the right telephone # and or finally speak to someone who really does give a ****!!Then those people you need to for sure THank Them Profusely and NEVER LOSE THEIR ph#!!!!!!If anyone has any questions and I might be able to answer them I'd be glad to offer suggestions as much I my knowledge goes.If you just want to visit the U.S. with your Thai wife I suggest only to apply for Visitor Visas for her its much simpler though!SammyG

What can I say... it must be how I affect some folks.

Yeah, that sounds about right...I know the whole Homeland Security debacle has added layers of nonsense, but all in all, when my wife and I went through the same thing, it was mostly a matter of being thorough, reading everything three or four times, paying for a lot of translation, and waiting. It took us about three months back in '95.

US red tape isn't impossible, as the immigration lawyers would have you believe, but it is annoying.

DB the key was you did it in 95 six years before 9/11 lot of things changed for the worse not better
freedom was lost and so much security you head spins not knowing were to begin but I do want to congratulate PAK for going through that ordeal and enlightening us

I had an agency in BK do all the paperwork for my wifes K3 and for the green card. She arrived here in Oct 2007 and finally May 12 we go for interview and hopefully the green card. A lot of money and a long wait. But it was good for her to find Thai friends here and get to know the US, and now wife wants to stay here and go for citezenship. We are still planning on retiring to Udon where she has many friends and relatives.

snowman wrote:I had an agency in BK do all the paperwork for my wifes K3 and for the green card. She arrived here in Oct 2007 and finally May 12 we go for interview and hopefully the green card. A lot of money and a long wait. But it was good for her to find Thai friends here and get to know the US, and now wife wants to stay here and go for citezenship. We are still planning on retiring to Udon where she has many friends and relatives.

Would you be willing to post your timeline of events and your costs involved?

Sorry about the delay. Took a while to get rid of some bugs and then dig out the paperwork. So we started the visa process in Oct. of 2006.It started out at 3000 dollars for wife and daughter.later daughter decided she wanted to go live with aunt in New Zealand so bought the cost down to 2500 for wife only. Please note this was almost 3 years ago so dollar to baht was quite different. There was also a fee at the US embassy at that time think it was 20 bucks,don't remember what for. The company I used wa TSL& Associate Thailand Co.,Ltd.. Yes it would be much cheaper to try and do it yourself but if you have not looked at the red tape good luck. TSL did all the paperwork crossed all the t's dotted all the i's. They helped my wife get to all the places she needed to go and toook us to places we needed to go to get pictures etc.There were some other costs I think xrays for wife and police report but at the time wasn't to much. It is the waiting for the immigration department that took the time, about 1 year. other application fees were charged by immigration in the US 190 and 170 dollars , might have gone up to by now but anyone can look on the US immigration site. It cost a bundle but after looking at all the paperwork and documents needed I am very happy I hire TSL .
Also for the green card paperwork about 1200 dollars and less that a year ,I could have got it sooner but dragged my feet so I sent in the paperwork ,done by the company in April 2008 had only one problem that delayed it which added another month but I would think 7 to 9 months would be normal for the green card.
Hope this can be of some help I am not much for listing things the right way. If I can answer anymore questions feel free to ask I will do my best to help.

snowman

Thanks for the effort and info snowman!!