pookiki

On 5/1/2021 at 9:08 AM, Elkski said:

If your ok in Thailand it would be best to marry then apply for CR1 visa.  It takes longer than the ,k1 but they arrive with green card and work visa and can travel immediately. 

Based on one of the posts here, the waiting time for a CR1 or an IR1 was possibly shorter than the K1.   It would be a huge hassle for me to do the K1 because I could not process it from Thailand. I would have to be in the USA - at least that is what a friend told me who is an immigration lawyer. I'm OK in Thailand.  I just need to get the ball rolling. Thanks for your reply!

20 hours ago, Elkski said:

I sent ???? in k1 Feb 26 2020, at that time it was taking 250 days total,  trump and covid delayed us so 400 days later we still waiting for interview.  Now covid spike in Thailand threatens to add 2 more months.  It's a big backlog so expect 400 days+.  I filled out the forms.  

Based on the advice of others who responded here, I'm thinking the best option is for me to marry my g/f in Thailand and then apply for her admission on an 'immediate relative' visa.  Not sure if this will result in the more expedient processing of the visa but I don't want to return to the US to process the K-1 visa.  I want to stay in Thailand to see the process through.  Thank you for your information!

On 4/19/2021 at 3:45 AM, oceanbreeze851 said:

I agree with Sirineou, even with the visajourney.com website. We started our journey in 2011 and my wife is now a USA citizen. We are returning to Thailand as soon as 7 May 2021. I am trying to arrange my visa as I am writing this. Good Luck

Thanks so much!

26 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Same here. Though it has been 14 years now, we did it all on our own.  Lawyers will do nothing that you cant easily do yourself. 

The process is straight forward.

I Made the application from the US which included a fee and evidence of relationship (more about that later) , a package was send to Bangkok American Embassy. Bangkok embassy send a letter to my then fiancé, requesting a number of things such as Doctors health letter, vaccinations, Police report etc. Fiancé returned required documents to embassy and waited, a couple of weeks later they scheduled and appointment for interview . , after the interview she was issued a K1 visa. 

Evidence of relationship: very important!!  keep receipts of hotels you stayed together showing both names and dates, Domestic and or international airplane tickets of places you might have traveled together, Records of telephone conversations, Skype, Facebook etc.  Pictures of you,  fiancé and her family, as much as evidence of relationship as possible. 

Once she arrives in the US, you have three months to get married, I suggest you get married at a civil ceremony immediately to get the ball rolling towards a Green Card.  If you want to have a formal wedding you can do so later on. 

  Once married, file for a change of Status. Then she will be issued a temporary Green card, 

Once married for two years the gets her Permanent Green Card. 

Three years Later (because she already had two years) Citizenship. 

     A very helpful website where you can download forms and ask for help from others who are going through the process right now,   https://www.visajourney.com/forums/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/61405522650

 

PS: have your fiancé look for FB group from Thailand, I am sure there must be a bunch of Thai ladies  going through the process right now, and your fiancé might feel more comfortable talking to them in Thai

 

Good lock

Thank you so much!!

8 hours ago, Maha Sarakham said:

I did not use a law firm in Thailand, but I'd recommend just doing it yourself if you can, it is super easy and will save you a lot of money.  I don't really understand why people hire lawyers for K1, it is a very basic set of forms that is black and white as to what to put in the boxes.  Anyways, sorry I don't have a contact for you, just thought I'd mention my experience with it was really not bad at all.  Good luck.

May I send a PM to you?

Does anyone have any experience in using a law firm in Thailand to process a K-1 (fiance) visa or a K-3 (marriage in Thailand) visa to the USA?  If you do, I would greatly appreciate your experience and recommendation of finding a reputable law firm and the expenses you incurred in processing either one of these visa types.

6 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

If they were included in yesterday's number it doesn't match up.

It is confusing.  Two announcements on many days or more and it is difficult to understand a true count.  It would also be interesting to know the percentage of people entering quarantine who test positive.  I still don't quite understand how so many people test positive in quarantine given the strict procedures and tests that are 'supposed' administered before these individuals arrive.

Despite the fact that the rules for entering and the time for quarantine is less and less, one thing in the requirements for entering Thailand as a 'vaccinated' tourist seems to have been overlooked or will not be enforced.  That item being that a person has to be from a country where there has not been and incidence of a COVID variant.  Will the countries with COVID variants be published and updated on the MOPH website?

14 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

They are not going to bypass government requirements.  Any imported jab will have to get FDA approval here.  Not an easy process.

I think you missed the point - I'm talking about oversight of the administration of an approved vaccine. I know that the SINOVAC vaccine has been approved by the Thai FDA.

I don't quite understand how private businesses,  other that healthcare facilities, can bypass government requirements on the safe storage, proper certification from the producers, and the proper oversight of the vaccine process. And some of these measures should apply to private hospitals as well.  Moreover, allowing a hodgepodge of business groups to buy various vaccines from 'wherever' makes the government's efforts to vaccinate its own citizens look less than adequate.  But, overall, I'm not surprised at this development.

Based on my experience while living in Thailand, I would say that the vast majority of factory workers earn the minimum daily wage for his/her province and work six days a week/eight hours per day.  Some factory workers may work 10 hour days, six or seven days a week. Where the factory is operating on a 24/7 schedule, this means that only two shifts of workers are needed. Migrant workers are often paid less or have 'illegal' deductions made from their wages for broker fees, etc. Since the beginning of the COVID crisis, it has been a very common practice for employers to request employees to work for about 50% of the minimum daily wage just so they can stay employed. The magnitude of economic suffering because of COVID has been enormous.

If a factory worker is making 12,000 baht/month,  it is because of overtime pay that has, hopefully, been properly calculated.

I've contacted some friends I have in Hawaii about this news and none of it has made it into the press in Hawaii or other US media. Hawaii has had an increasing number of cases but none of the cases was reported as being among soldiers stationed in the islands.  I'm not questioning whether the Thai soldiers have COVID-19 but has Thailand notified the military authorities in Hawaii about the situation? Were all the US military who participated in the exercises from Hawaii or were others flown to the islands as well. It certainly seems that the US military has had is share of problems with the spread of COVID-19.

Sorry -- there have been some press reports in Hawaii and in 'Stars and Stripes'

https://www.civilbeat.org/beat/eight-thai-soldiers-test-positive-for-covid-19-after-training-in-hawaii/

https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/eight-thai-soldiers-test-positive-for-coronavirus-after-training-in-hawaii-with-us-soldiers-1.639188

I started my insurance on February 1 of this year through an 'approved' insurer and used an agent. My agent is aware of when my extension of stay expires and when I intend to go to CW another extension of stay.  I believe that may agent will 'amend' my current insurance policy to expire on the same day as (or day after) my extension of stay with a new policy to be effective for full year thereafter. Ubon Joe, what is your experience on 'overlapping' policies as this? I don't see how it can be a problem.

Were you seeking an extension of stay for an 'O' visa or an "O-A' visa?  With respect to the bank documents, you only had to make a copy of your bank book for the last year?  Nothing from the bank? All in all, very good news and the new system seems very efficient.  Thank you for your  report.

Interesting that 'Rohingya' are noted as a nationality.  Maybe Thai PBS could inform them of the country to which they belong!  Very curious that there are no Cambodians or Lao given their numbers in the Thai migrant worker population. I'm sure that there will be many unknowns about COVID infections for a wide range of issues - from testing to people treating their illness at home.

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

Perhaps he thought you were fit enough already?

Fit to be tied! ????

Chatuchak is reopening -- but the local park where I go has been open since last Sunday and I was using the exercise equipment since that time UNTIL TODAY!  The park officer couldn't tell me why! 

I'm not sure what exactly is 'common sense' these days. In the past, I used to wear an N95 mask during aerobics classes at a nearby park when the PM2.5 levels were high. Uncomfortable, but I never felt a lack of oxygen.  No aerobics at the moment but I'm sure the pollution levels will return as Bangkok returns to 'normal'. I'm wearing a cloth mask at the park after it reopened on Sunday but I'm not running or jogging. No problem for me.  To each their own but if you don't have a mask, don't get too close to me!

15 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

And who would those be? 

 

Professor Raoult, the highest authority in the world (check the rankings... for Fauci, look at the bottom of the list) supports what these two doctors say. 

 

There is complete disagreement between those who are actually trying to cure patients on the frontlines, and those who pontificate from the comfort of their office, before going to lunch with their big pharma buddies... 

You quote one expert among how many? Who is Raoult, for what organization does he work and what are his credentials. If one were to 'poll' the doctors on the 'frontline' as you say, I doubt that this would be the majority view by any extent. I also believe that if a person had the time to review the stats presented in the interview, one would find them very suspect.  Buy hey, go out and get infected, I won't stop you.  Break the curfew in a demonstration of your beliefs.  Get thrown into jail where you will stand a good chance of being infected.  Then refuse treatment in the name of herd immunity. Where your orange sticker with pride wherever you go. Just make sure you don't infect others who are innocent bystanders.

What I don't understand in a lot of these arguments is a comparison to the 'normal' flu for which there is a vaccination. In such circumstances, in most developed countries a person can choose to be vaccinated or not. There are vaccinations for a host of other diseases that are usually given to infants after they are born.  Vaccinations not only protect the person who is vaccinated but society at large because it limits the spread.

I am also amazed and dismayed with the number of people who dismiss the experts in their field at respected organizations and prefer to promote 'minority' opinions of doctors with far less experience than those who know much more.