Rick Bechard

The Thai grapevine says he is/was paying 1M Baht per month for the residence. In Switzerland he had only been a security guard. Questions are being asked about how he derives the income to support his lifestyle. Hardly conceivable that an elephant park would do it. There are a couple of ways that come to mind. 

I had no luck getting a tourist visa for my wife. We were married in late August 2017. Three weeks later she had a bridging visa to join me in Australia pending a spouse visa application. I am a dual citizen. She lived there until I retired at the end of 2018, when we moved to Thailand. She has applied 3 times for a visitor visa to the US and been denied. She applied a 4th time to accompany me on medical grounds, while I undergo eye surgery at the VA. That application was also denied. The basic reason for denial is "You failed to convince the official you have strong reasons to return". That means, unless she has a job, a letter giving permission for leave of absence, and strong ties requiring her to return, they will deny it. As someone else mentioned. the decision has pretty much been made before the interview, based on what is submitted in the application. There is a huge burden to change the official's mind at the interview. In my wife's case for instance, the questions asked are such that they have no relevance to intent. For instance, "How many cars do you have and where will you park them while you are gone"? 

At the conclusion of the interview, the applicant is merely told "sorry" and handed a form letter stating that you failed to convince the official you had strong reasons to return. The letter also states, "You may reapply anytime when your circumstances change". But they will not discuss what circumstances need to change. 

My wife's 4th application was in October. The waiting time for an interview was 1 year. The website does allow for a request to expedite for a family member to accompany for medical treatments. I supplied a letter from the Thai hospital ophthalmology department referring me to the VA for surgery. The official in Chiang Mai refused to even read the letter or look at any documents my wife carried. When she pushed them through the window, he said "I did not ask for those" and pushed them back. Then said sorry and walked away. There was no interview.

We are now 14 months into the CR1 Immigrant visa, with no action from the USCIS since April. 

12 hours ago, topt said:

You have to click around on the calendar headings, year, month etc and you will find that you can get to it without so many clicks. But yes it is not intuitive.

Thanks for that. Registered. I am in Khon Kaen, so see how it goes.

Just had a look at the website for expatvac. Might just be an oddity, but the DOB selection does not allow you to enter a date manually. You have to open the calendar and click back one month at a time, in my case 65 years worth, to enter your birth date. I don't like websites that have strange anomalies like this.

https://expatvac.consular.go.th/

On 7/31/2021 at 9:08 PM, EricTh said:

Oz is a good place, why is it hard for him?

 

 

Oz has some pluses. Affordability isn't one of them. A friend in Melbourne told me the median house price is now 1 million. One of the biggest pluses is health care. I had a number of hospital visits, surgeries, including cancer and never got a bill. But as I understand it, the government is looking at bringing in co-payments and increased Medicare levies. Might be able to access the pension in a year, but it would be offset to some extent by my US social security. I am a dual citizen.

On 5/30/2021 at 11:49 AM, bwpage3 said:

It's not just the US. Living in any country will such paltry means is a foolish idea. 

 

She can only collect social security when she reaches the US social security age, unless she has already paid 10 years into the US social security system.

 

If you have a huge age difference, she may not get anything for quite a while.

Trying to establish a new life in the US or any similar country after retirement without some serious funds and income is foolish. Now if we divested here, all good. But I shipped my entire garage including my 1980 Harley here from Australia 2 years ago. Not about to go shipping it all again to the US. You have to ask yourself to what end? Here we holiday on the various islands. Can't do that in the states. I have experienced the old saying   "You can never go back. What you left behind is no longer there". 

Not a huge difference in age. She will likely be retirement age about the time I fall off the perch.

1 hour ago, JerseytoBKK said:

To an outside observer, it appears that after you both decided you didn't want to live in Australia anymore, you tried living in Thailand for 2 years. Now you both want to live in the US. 

 

Both of your statuses are big red flags. She left a government job and went to live in Australia for over a year soon after being married. With only living in Thailand for just 2 years, I doubt that your wife will be able to show any compelling reason to return to Thailand. In addition, you're retired and can easily decide to live in the US and have no compelling reason to return to Thailand. Looks like your best bet to have your wife "visit" the US is to apply for an immigrant visa.

Honestly, I would say there isn't much reasoning going on at the embassy. The first application only mentioned that she had travelled to Australia and was married to a US citizen. There was no mention of my Australian citizenship in that application. I kept it pretty simple. In the second application I sent her with a cover letter to explain our being settled here, that my mother who I have not seen since 2003 had been hospitalized and I wished to take my wife for a visit. 

Frankly, if we wanted to leave Thailand we could be back in Australia within a month. That is actually the better option because Australia has an excellent public health system. I have had multiple surgeries including cancer and never paid anything. There is also a government pension for retirees if your income is insufficient to support yourself. If we had stayed, my wife would have had citizenship and an Australian passport at the end of this year. Then she could have travelled freely to the US. What my wife found in Australia is exactly what I told her about there and the US. You will make more money than in Thailand, but you will spend it all on living and you will find you have less free time and money than in Thailand.

Living in the US is not really a practical idea. Especially trying to restart there when you are retired. I have a friend who went back with his wife 14 months ago. They are already planning to ditch the green card and come back by the end of the year. The minimum income last year to qualify to sponsor was ($19,000) 125% of the poverty level. That is $300 a month above poverty. My retirement income would be in the range of $500 a month above poverty. Not even a comfortable lifestyle compared to Thailand.

But, yes, I started the immigrant visa process after the second denial. Then gave the visitor visa one last shot to try to avoid the cost of the immigrant. Not going to play the "reapply when your circumstances change" game again. See how we go there, but I expect it to be a hard go. Buying or renting will easily take half my income. 

There are a few upsides. I have 3 grandkids I have not met and a couple of kids I have not seen in 5 or more years. If we make the 3 years to get her citizenship OK, but no big benefit other than she can travel more freely. If she accumulates 5 years with me there, she qualifies for surviving spouse benefits under social security in the future.

Location tracking by your phones unique IP address. This how you can be fed advertising for local businesses as you travel from cell tower to cell tower. Smart phones weren't really invented for your needs. Well, they were, to get you to pay for the service. But they do provide services to other entities.

There was a case in Australia in which a woman was missing off the street at night. They tracked her phone to a cell tower on a highway in the middle of the night. They then looked for any other phone that pinged that same tower at the same time. Got one, arrested the guy. He took them to the body.

I got this yesterday.

There is a Samui Health Pass app you can download to your phone. Once you register, when you arrive at the airport or ferry, you scan the QR code there. 

http://www.samuiairport.com/index.php?route=content/content&path=5&content_id=248

You can also call 1672 from your mobile to get information on this. I am planning to head down after next week from Khon Kaen. I was told no quarantine, but need to be able to scan the QR code.