Gumballl

I received this information below from a trustworthy source (my cousin). She is an immigration lawyer in NYC. Anyhow, apparently the US Consulates have been ordered to reject any pending I-130 forms that have not been filed via the USCIS.

Hopefully this post will serve as a "heads-up" for anyone wishing to petition for a visa for their spouse or fiance.

Here's the info:

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: CVIS, CMGT

SUBJECT: REFERRAL OF ALL I-130 PETITIONS TO USCIS SERVICE

OFFICES FOR ADJUDICATION

REF: 03 STATE 146632

1. Summary: CA and USCIS have completed a thorough

analysis of the Adam Walsh Protection act and come to the

conclusion that posts must cease accepting or adjudicating

any I-130 petition for family-based immigrant status that

was not adjudicated by USCIS, and inform any individual

wishing to file such a petition that it is necessary to

file it with the appropriate USCIS office and refrain from

assisting further. This change is effective immediately.

In any case in which a post has already accepted an I-130

from a petitioner but has not yet issued a visa, post must

forward the petition to the appropriate USCIS overseas

office as "not clearly approvable." We are working with

USCIS and will provide subsequent guidance on processing

I-600 petitions and previously approved I-130 petitions.

CA recognizes that this change may cause difficulties and

encourages posts to advise their resident American citizen

communities that new procedures are in place so that they

may plan ahead. End summary.

2. On July 27, 2006, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and

Safety Act (Adam Walsh Act), Pub. L. No. 109-248, became

law. Section 402 of that Act amends INA 204(a)(1) and

101(a)(15)(K), rendering ineligible to file a petition for

immigrant status under INA 203(a) (I-130 or I-600), or for

nonimmigrant K status (I-129F), any petitioner who has

been convicted of a "specified offense against a minor,"

defined in section 111 of the Adam Walsh Act as an offense

involving any of the following:

BEGIN QUOTE

A) An offense (unless committed by a parent or guardian)

involving kidnapping.

B ) An offense (unless committed by a parent or guardian)

involving false imprisonment.

C) Solicitation to engage in sexual conduct.

D) Use in a sexual performance.

E) Solicitation to practice prostitution.

F) Video voyeurism as described in section 1801 of title

18, United States Code.

G) Possession, production, or distribution of child

pornography.

H) Criminal sexual conduct involving a minor, or the use

of the Internet to facilitate or attempt such conduct.

I) Any conduct that by its nature is a sex offense against

a minor.

END QUOTE

Section 402 of the Adam Walsh Act provides that the bar

against filing a petition because of such a conviction

will not apply if the Secretary of Homeland Security, in

his sole and unreviewable discretion, determines that the

petitioner poses no risk to the beneficiary.

3. USCIS has provided interim guidance to its

adjudicators to search its IBIS database for criminal

history record information regarding USPER petitioners in

family-based immigrant status cases and K nonimmigrant

status cases. If there is an IBIS hit for one of the

specified offenses against a minor, the USCIS field office

must issue a Request for Evidence for all police arrest

records and court disposition documents, and must schedule

the petitioner for fingerprinting.

4. Consular officers do not have access to criminal

history record information regarding USPER petitioners and

therefore are unable to determine whether a petitioner has

a conviction for a specified offense against a minor that

renders the petitioner ineligible under INA

204(a)(1)(A)(viii) or 204(a)(1)(B )(i)(II) to file a

petition. The limited extract information in CLASS

downloaded from the FBI's National Crime Information

Center relates solely to aliens, and INA 105 provides for

the use of such information "for the purpose of

determining whether or not a visa applicant or applicant

for admission has a criminal history record indexed in any

such file."

5. In the absence of access to information that is

essential to the determination of whether a petitioner is

eligible to file a petition for immigrant status in a

family-based classification, consular officers are unable

to take any action on an unadjudicated I-130 petition.

Rather, posts must advise individuals who seek to file

such a petition that they should submit it directly to the

appropriate USCIS office. USCIS maintains an office

locator page, based on place of residence, on its website

at

https://egov.immigration.gov/crisgwi/go?action=offices.typ

e&OfficeLocator.office_type=OS. In cases in which a post

has already accepted an I-130 for filing but has not yet

issued an immigrant visa, the consular officer must

consider the petition "not clearly approvable" because of

the inability to fulfill INA 204(a)(1)'s requirement for a

determination of the petitioner's eligibility to file.

Pursuant to 9 FAM 42.41 N4.2-3(d) and 8 CFR 204.1(e)(3),

posts must forward all such I-130 petitions that petioners

filed at post, with all supporting documents, to the

appropriate USCIS office. To reiterate, consular officers

are no longer authorized to accept or adjudicate I-130

petitions at post under any circumstances. 9 FAM Appendix

N 200 is being revised accordingly. We are preparing

press guidance, which posts will be able to access at

http://intranet.ca.state.gov/PPAffairs/ppaffairs.htm.

6. We are requesting clarification from USCIS regarding

the validity, for Adam Walsh Act criminal record check

purposes, of the fingerprint clearance procedures at the

time of I-600 processing that are specified in Reftel

(SOP-21) and 9 FAM 42.21 N13.3(d), as well as the

applicability of section 402 of the Adam Walsh Act to

petitions for family-based immigrant status or K

nonimmigrant status that were approved prior to the act's

effective date. Further guidance will follow our receipt

of the USCIS clarification.

7. Minimize considered.

RICE

BT

#7956

Has anyone's spouse recently had a visa interview at the US Embassy (in BKK)? My wife has her interview scheduled for next month, and I would like for her to be prepared for whatever might come her way.

Also, my wife's interview is scheduled for 8am. At what time should we arrive at the Embassy so that we can be assured of entering on time? There always seems to be a large queue of people waiting outside each morning. It normally would not be a problem for my wife and I to stand in line for hours, however my wife is currently 4 months pregnant and thus standing up for a long time might not be a wise option.

Lastly, can the visa costs be paid by credit card at the cashier's window? I have been notified that the cost is $380 ($335 + $45), payable in either US dollars or Thai baht.

If your wife intends to marry another, she will in theory have to get a divorce from you. In her case, the Thai authorities will require her to sign an affidavit at the US Embassy that she is free to marry. If she is married already, and she lies to the US Embassy, she can be charged (with perjury?).

Anyhow, I suggest you dump/divorce her and move on.

You may also be able to put "stupidity" in a jar and sell that too.

Gumballl,

In all due respect I don't thik you understand engrish, reread my post. The old landlady will never go for that, she's tight! I've already suggested paying for it and taking it off the rent, and the idea was turned down.

-O

My English comprehension (and spelling!) is quite good. What I probably lack is knowledge of renter's rights in Thailand. If a similar problem such as your were to occur in my country, the owner would have to fix it, or I would pay someone to fix it or replace it, and then deduct the cost from my rent payment(s). If the owner does not like it, then they can take me to court. I would win the case, especially if I had documented proof from third-party professionals that the a/c unit is defective/broke.

The alternative is to purchase a new a/c unit, have it installed and the old one thrown outside. When the day comes that you move, take your purchased product with you. The landlady can reinstall the old one if she wishes.

I think people own these dogs because they are stupid.

Discussions of vandalism. Gotta love it. Let's see how long this thread stays open if this continues.

Why don't you contact another serviceman (or two or three for that fact) and ask them to provide you with evidence that the A/C unit should be replaced. Then take this to your landlady. Tell her to replace it or tell her that you will hire one of the servicemen to do it, and then deduct your expense from the rent payment.

Bill, if you do not mind me asking, how much did you have to pay for the airfare for your wife and kids?

My wife is scheduled for her visa interview in a couple of months, and I was thinking of buying a ticket for her and my daughter about a month later, but I am concerned about the cost of booking travel only weeks in advance of the actual travel.

Drummer - click on this link. Then click on "Want to Register?" to setup an account.

I believe you will need a case number, which you will not get until the USCIS replies back that they received your I-130.

Btw, if you are using Firefox, and you see an error on the USCIS webpage that your browser is not compatible, just ignore it. I use Firefox and everything works out fine.

Also, many of the forms you need to complete are available online, and permit you to enter the information using your PC, thus obviating the need to do everything in handwriting.

These guys never heard of PGPfone? (Or now I guess it's Zfone.)

Then again, maybe these were open-source projects and we all know how these guys feel about that kind of thing.

How does PGPfone work if the foot soldier is in the middle of the jungle with no internet access??

It's a given that any radio transmission can be intercepted, whether it is going up or down to/from a satellite. But can the middle-man interpret the signal, given that it is encrypted (INFOSEC) and frequency hopping (COMSEC) is used? Probably not. Does the current Thai satellite support these features? Probably not. Do most communication satellites offer these features. Nope.

Although 6 billion (6,000,000,000) baht does seem a bit steep for a satellite, bear in mind that this figure probably includes the cost of developing the satellite, launching it and maintaining it over many years. As far as building and launching satellites, well Thailand is not quite there yet, and quite possibly will never be.

I presume you running Windows... therefore open a command (DOS) shell. Type in ipconfig. Post to this thread what your "DNS Suffix" and "Gateway" are.

Also try pinging the other systems on your network. If you need to know another system's IP address, simply run ipconfig on that particular workstation.

You can get email responses concerning your case if you setup an account with the USCIS at their website.

It appears like you have everything in order. Later if the I-130 and supporting docs/pics are approved, the USCIS (or National Visa Center) will send you an Affidavit of Support form, which they will not do until you send in some more money. And then there is another form (the DS-230), which to get it, requires even more money... and of course time. The DS-230 requires your wife's signature (it is basically something like the G-325A, but different).

The ###### USCIS does not permit a sponsor to complete all of the forms at one time... which is utterly stupid.

It took almost a year for the USCIS to process all of my forms and to forward the case to the US Embassy in BKK. Then it took only a month for the Embassy to send my wife notice that she has her interview/appointment this March.

According to the USCIS, my wife needs to present 3-years of my IRS tax forms for the embassy to verify my income. She also needs to get a medical examination at Bumrumgrad Hospital and a Thai police report.

Good luck with everything. And most importantly, be patient... your case is competing for USCIS attention with 10's (if not 100's) of thousand other cases. And everyone says the US is an undesirable place... ha ha ha. Makes you wonder why so many people want to immigrate here.

... you've grown accustomed to walking 30m from the house to go to the toilet room.

... driving 1/2 km past your destination, just so you can make a U-turn to come back, seems perfectly normal

... having a few beers starting at 7:30am is ok

... waking up everyday at 5:30am becomes second nature; and then retiring in the evening around 7pm.

I use DvdShrink 3.2 and Nero 6 Ultra Edition to make archive (backup) copies of my commercial DVDs onto DVD-Rs. I was unaware that the newer versions of DvdShrink has a built-in app to burn DVDs. Does anyone know what version includes this feature?

Another misleading Tv pun/title.

Article in it's entirety from Bangkok Post 17 Jan 07

ROAD SAFETY / LAND TRAFFIC ACT AMENDMENTS

Penalties stiffen for drunk drivers

The cabinet yesterday approved harsher punishment for motorists convicted of drunk driving, including losing their licence. Amendments to the Land Traffic Act, which since 1979 has dealt with drink-driving offences, were approved to impose fines up to 200,000 baht and jail terms up to 10 years for violators who had caused road accidents.

The existing law had proven ''inappropriate and inconsistent'' to properly deal with the current situation, said government spokesman Yongyuth Maiyalarp.

The amended law will give officials more power to deal with the rising number of drunk drivers by empowering courts to more easily suspend or cancel drivers' licences, he said.

''If motorists kill someone, they will be sent to jail for three to 10 years, be fined between 60,000 and 200,000 baht, and their driving licences will be cancelled,'' Mr Yongyuth said.

If a drunk driver seriously injures someone, their licence will be suspended for at least one year, Mr Yongyuth said.

The law also imposes heavier penalties on motorcyclists who do not wear helmets.

Motorcyclists without helmets will be fined 500 baht. The fine will be doubled if their passengers also have no helmet, Mr Yongyuth said.

Great. Now they need to add a law that requires passengers within a vehicle to wear seatbelts. A mandatory air-bag on the driver side would also be nice.

That's the reason why I am using Firefox.

With No-script and Coockie-safe, Firefox is safer and faster.

Even my spelling got better when version 2 came out! : )

How do you get Firefox??

Thanks, KK-mike

Go here to get Firefox.

What's going to happen next in LOS? Well, I am going to wager that the Thai gov't will try to match or beat any proprosition coming out of Venezuela. Thus the next order of business probably will be to nationalize all telecom enterprises. Or perhaps they will be subtle and declare all westerners as "imperialist devils".

International criminal background checks shouldn't be that difficult. Especially with Interpol in place. If the UK authorities knew that this limp-d*ck left the country, they should have issued an international warrant for his arrest. Each and everytime this person applied for a visa at a port-of-entry (into whatever country), a simple check could have been made against the Interpol database. If the Thai authorities failed to do this, then just boils down mere negligence... for which I am not surprised.

Am I missing something here? I've been to Suvarnabhumi twice (once with Thail Airlines, the other time with JAL/Cathay Pacific). In both times, I never saw an issue with overcrowding, unreasonable delays etc. I could also say the same for Don Muang when it was open. But the bottom line, where is the problem?

If you travel to LAX, then you will understand perhaps that the description of "overcrowded" is better suited there. If you want to find a complex airport, with unhelpful signage, then go to Hong Kong. Gatwick in the UK is also no picnic.

But the new airport in BKK, I have zero trouble arriving and departing. My only soft-complaint is that Sang Som is not available in the duty free shops. This libation is a party-pleaser in the US where it is not available.

Out of curiousity, where do all of the city folks who own 4WD vehicles go that requires 4WD? Does Thailand have a lot of muddy roads in the city, perhaps covered with heaps of snow during the brief winter period (this is a joke for those lacking a sense of humour)?

4 is a bigger number than 2, and a 4x4 emblem probably looks impressive on the back of vehicle. But is this the only reason why the 4WD are popular in Thailand?

I drive a 2WD SUV, with rear-wheel drive, here in the US. I have never had a problem, other than once, when the road surface was covered with ice and snow. Under such conditions, maybe even a 4WD wouldn't have helped. I have gone off-road in the desert of New Mexico and never required the need for 4x4 power.

Thailand puts panda on low-carb sex diet

CHIANG MAI: -- A male panda in Thailand has been put on a low-carb diet because he is too heavy to mate with his partner, his caretakers said Sunday.

Chuang Chuang weighs 150 kilos (330 pounds), while his partner Lin Hui is a lithe 115 kilos (253 pounds), said Kannika Nimtragol, a veterinarian at the Chiang Mai zoo in northern Thailand.

"We think Chuang Chuang should not weigh over 140 kilogrammes. Otherwise Lin Hui will carry too much weight while mating," she told AFP.

To help Chuang Chuang slim down, zookeepers are feeding him fewer bread loaves and more bamboo branches to cut back on the amount of carbohydrate he consumes, she added.

The diet program is under the careful supervision of Chinese panda experts. Six-year-old Chuang Chuang and his five-year-old partner Lin Hui arrived at the zoo in 2003 on a 10-year loan from China.

Giant pandas, notorious for their low sex drive, are among the world's most endangered animals.

Cutting out carbs is only the latest tactic used by the zoo in the hope of giving Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui a more loving feeling.

The two have been separated since December, in the hope absence will make their hearts grow fonder, Kannika said.

A plan to show them "panda porn" videos to coach them in mating techniques has been put on hold after research indicated that not all pandas learn from such videos.

Chiang Mai held an elaborate, traditional Chinese wedding for the couple in 2005 in the hope of encouraging them to procreate, and is considering bringing in a snow machine to help recreate a mountainous habitat.

But with the annual panda mating season due to begin within weeks, the zoo is preparing to try artificial insemination if the natural method does not work, Kannika said.

--AFP 2007-01-14

LOS should require all farang tourist to go on the same diet before being allowed to enter LOS.

Are there no mobile phone providers in Thailand that provide the "walkie-talkie" service? In the US, there is Nextel. Here's a link to one of their example products (click here). I would inquire with 1-2-Call, DTAC, or Orange if there is a phone device similar to Nextel's. It would be a nice tool to have in Thailand, especially for businesses where employees/bosses are always out of the office.

I cannot be certain of this figure, but I bet 90%+ homes in Thailand do not have hot-water in the showers at all, and yet the people are just fine. No Legionnaire disease to speak of, much less any other problems.

I'm hedging my bets that a Finns/Nordics may have contracted the illness during their journey to Thailand, or by interacting with each other.

There should be designated jet ski areas. Preferably away from swimming spots.

Here we go again... I agree, a great suggestion, however remember this incident occurred in Thailand. There is no room for logical reasoning in Thailand.

And have police arrested the jetski operator for renting it to a minor? I bet not!!

Simon

The jetski was probably rented to the parents... um, you know, the ones with the money to pay for it. The stupid father probably just handed the key over to his kid. Accidents happen, and unfortunately this one resulted in a fatality.

Anyhow what surprises me is that the police did not file charges of involuntary manslaughter against the teenager. The report only states the Chinese family filed charges (which implies some kind of lawsuit seeking compensation).