EyesWideOpen

K3 visas are seldom issued these days. Instead, CR1/IR1 (IR1 if you have been married more than two years). No adjustment of status required, green card issued immediately.

Marry her in Thailand, show substantial assets, and a

green card is a slam dunk. Start to finish for myself

and my Thai wife was four months. I did the CR1,

and used cash assets instead of income since I

was living in Thailand when I started the process...

I assume you submitted the I-130 petition to the Bangkok USCIS office after showing them proof of your residence in Thailand. I don't believe the OP can do that.

TH

I can show residence in Thailand I have been there 6 years...

Yes at the time I was living in Thailand. However as part of

the process the government wants to know your proposed

living arrangement in America will be. So as part of my package

I had a friend write a letter that I would be renting his house

when my wife and I arrived in America....

K3 visas are seldom issued these days. Instead, CR1/IR1 (IR1 if you have been married more than two years). No adjustment of status required, green card issued immediately.

Marry her in Thailand, show substantial assets, and a

green card is a slam dunk. Start to finish for myself

and my Thai wife was four months. I did the CR1,

and used cash assets instead of income since I

was living in Thailand when I started the process...

For me it's definitely been harder work and more complicated in a cross-cultural relationship with a Thai partner. That said, it's also been the most rewarding partnership I've ever had.

Having kids (for me at least) adds a whole new dimension to the complexities of cross-cultural relationships. It helps focus me and my wife's priorities, but working out the best options for kids in life, and trying to optimise their happiness now and prepare them for the future, is no easy task.

Cheers

Fletch

Well put. I also have a five year old daughter with my Thai wife.

And in the end, whatever cross-cultural relationship difficulties

( as you delicately put it ) we have, in the end those issues

always fade away in light of what is best for our child.... :-)

 

A study was done in America a number of years ago. They interviewed

and studied people who had been married for 50 years or more.

The general concept was that most marriages only last a few

years, so what was it about these couples that allowed them to be

together so long. The findings were interesting. The couples had

a lot in common. In fact the higher the commonality, the longer the

marriage. So similar socio-economic background, similar education,

similar religion etc. Which makes perfect sense. If you have a master's

degree, grew up in a rich white neighborhood, and make mountains

of money, your marriage to somebody from the hood will probably not

work out.

So all these farangs come to Thailand and marry local girls. They do

not have a SINGLE thing in common. Not religion, not education,

not language, NOTHING. Then later on they wonder why the marriage

did not work out, and the Thai girl just wanted money.....

 

I agree to a certain extent but I can see from your poorly angled aspect that you hang in the same circles as the group of men you cast aspersions on. Either you have no clue to how find educated people in Thailand or just too damn lazy to try. Either way, there is a fallacy in your logic as you clearly base it on your own limited experience. I guess it is as they say, the truth is in the eye of the beholder.

I casted aspersions upon no one, I simply brought up a study in which couples

were married a long time ,and what were the factors that played a part. If you took

offense to that , it must have struck a bit close to home. Unless you are a part

of the seemingly overwhelming majority of men who post on TV that married

a hi-so Chinese Thai girl who parents are wealthy and powerful, who has

relatives who are high ranking policemen, and who said sin sod was not needed

upon your marriage. Then I guess you would have the financial part covered,

but no other cultural factors. Do you speak perfect Thai ? Are you a Buddhist ?

Do you send money to your aging parents ??

A study was done in America a number of years ago. They interviewed

and studied people who had been married for 50 years or more.

The general concept was that most marriages only last a few

years, so what was it about these couples that allowed them to be

together so long. The findings were interesting. The couples had

a lot in common. In fact the higher the commonality, the longer the

marriage. So similar socio-economic background, similar education,

similar religion etc. Which makes perfect sense. If you have a master's

degree, grew up in a rich white neighborhood, and make mountains

of money, your marriage to somebody from the hood will probably not

work out.

So all these farangs come to Thailand and marry local girls. They do

not have a SINGLE thing in common. Not religion, not education,

not language, NOTHING. Then later on they wonder why the marriage

did not work out, and the Thai girl just wanted money.....

You guys are barking up the wrong tree. I did this a few years ago. Thai immigration simply

told me to carry the old passport along with the new one. So they check the old

passport for the visa, and then stamp you in using the new one. Piece of cake.

Odd. I did the exact same process, changing the name of my daughter to having

my last name. It was a piece of cake. I did change the name on her Thai passport

first, and had copies of the documents that proved that. My daughter was with

me at the embassy. My wife was there too, but at no point was she asked to come

to the window for any reason. My name was on her birth certificate, so the issue

seemed to be a slam dunk.........

I'm not really familiar with the practices of so-called hi-so ladies, so let me ask a question in that regard.

When they get tired of a farang husband, do they also have him beaten to death, cut up the body into pieces and then BBQ it?

Or, do they have their own special hi-so approach to dealing with those kinds of situations???

Yeah that was a harsh end for that poor guy. Chained to a post and beaten to death..... :-( I would hope that the hiso Thai woman would chose a more human death such as a qualified hit man. That is the standard way business contracts are terminated here, I assume that a marriage to an actual hiso would take the form of a business contract.

It is sort of bizarre that the USCIS has a requirement for you to be a long term

resident of Thailand, between 6 months and 1 year according to what I just

read, in order for you to do a DCF at the USCIS office here in Bangkok. Yet

at the same time, they want you to show proof of domicile in America as well

as a tax return showing you made at least $ 20,000 working in America.....

So I guess they think when you left America to live in Thailand, you left your

house empty, and are able to make money online in America and then pay

taxes on it...... Pretty sure that is why so many people use a friend

or relative to fill out a I-864 affidavit of financial support.......

When I filled out the I-130 form, I certainly do not recall be asked how long

I had stayed in Thailand on any form. But perhaps they thumb through the

passport and checked the stamps, then raise it as a question if the time period

is too short.

For the visa for my wife, I only worked part time in the states for 2014

on a sort of vacation. So I only showed income on my tax return of $ 6,000.

I showed I had $ 65,000 in the bank. So no employee letters, and no pay

stubs. Just a tax return attached with the I-864 form. The entire process

from start to finish was 3 months when done here with direct consular filing.

Not sure about the fiancee process, but when already married here the

process seemed to fly......

Sappy nonsense. I lived that life for 10 years , and what this documentary fails to address

is how hard some of these girls are. The ones being exploited are the farangs. If this guy

really wanted to do a documentary on exploited girls, he should have done one on the

Laos girls who are basically enslaved in karaoke bars all over Thailand. Funny part

in the video when he say he is worried when she is gone for two days..... I deduced in

1 second she was off with a customer.

I totally agree.

Most of these girls are institutionalised within the Thai sex industry and can become so mentally damaged that there are no ways to coax them away from it.

Sex workers in Thailand are mostly in it voluntary and their living and working conditions are fairly good in comparison to their counterparts in other third world countries, although it`s probably the one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, exposed to diseases, possible violence and abuse.

I often wonder what happens to these women once they get passed their prime, 40s, 50s, 60s and older? they become quite desperate I would think.

They marry foreigners in their 60's 70's 80's etc

I asked a bar girl once if she liked old farang or young farang.

She told me that the old farang was better, because if they

married the old farang would die soon. Also she did not like

young men because they wanted " boom boom too much ."

You have to admire the logic......

Worked out better for me to marry here first. Plus you have to love the

40 baht marriage fee. The US government wants to see you make

125 % of poverty level income, so around 25,000 per year. If your

income is less than that, it can be made up by have cash assets in

a bank account that are three times the difference between the income

stated on your tax return for 2014 . As I recall it becomes five times

if you are not married, This is the route I took, and it worked great.

Visa for my wife is now in hand...... As part of the packet three paperwork

you submit as the final part of the process, you will need to get a letter

from your bank verifying the assets. The entire process here took

three months for me, starting with getting married here.

While it may have looked strange to get married and file for a visa the

week after, it was not an issue. Just had this sense that it looked more

solid to actually be married, rather than applying for a fiancee visa and implying

you may or may not marry the girl when she comes over ........

Would be difficult to do all this from the states. To make things fly faster,

best to do a direct consular filing at the USCIS in Bangkok yourself...

Maybe a job waiting for you at Disney World:

Thanks for the idea, but at 6 ' 7" I think I am too tall for any Grumpy work at

Disney World....

Remaxtony. Email them and ask if there is any way to change the interview online in an appt becomes open. I know it was a tussle getting appt for my wifes b2 online.

Very good idea....because my work is waiting for me.

Also, your wife does not need to change her name. I know this for a fact, you can be married and she can keep her Thai name. It does not affect anything.

Just received her passport today with the visa. It comes with sealed forms that CANNOT

be opened except by immigration in America. It also shows the request for the green card

fee of $ 165. It must be paid online before you travel to America. The website is here:

http://www.uscis.gov/online-filing

The forms they send with the passport have two numbers, the alien number and the case

number which you already have. So I just paid this fee right now, so should be all set until

two years are up, and I need to remove the conditions on her green card.....

Thanks for the info. Please keep this in mind, if you have the 2 year conditional visa, you must keep some good records while in the USA to be ready at the 2 yr mark to get the conditions removed. It is not automatic.

You will be required to "PROVE" that your 2 yr marriage has been "together" in the USA. Meaning, you must prove with at least 2 friends verifying your marriage is legit, and co-mingled funds and accounts and utilities and the whole 9 yards. Some people aren't aware and they get to the 2 yr mark and didn't get proof of them living together because the US citizen puts all of the bills in his name only and so forth.

Look into this ahead of time so you get the proper documentation as time goes along.

My email is: [email protected]

Yes you are exactly correct. This happened to a friend of mine. He was not aware of this, and did not really put anything in her name as there was no need for it. At the two year mark he had a lot of trouble getting his wife's conditions removed. And all of the issues were financial where they wanted to see the name of his wife on different documents, no joint interviews where you are asked the favorite toothpaste of your spouse....

Hello remaxtony: I tried to send you an PM but it returned the message

that you cannot receive PMs. So please send me a PM and I will send

you my email address. Thanks.....

Just received her passport today with the visa. It comes with sealed forms that CANNOT

be opened except by immigration in America. It also shows the request for the green card

fee of $ 165. It must be paid online before you travel to America. The website is here:

http://www.uscis.gov/online-filing

The forms they send with the passport have two numbers, the alien number and the case

number which you already have. So I just paid this fee right now, so should be all set until

two years are up, and I need to remove the conditions on her green card.....

Wow, just now received the email for the Interview date, June 24. Longer than I expected. I had noticed on other posters that they got interviews 2-3 weeks after embassy rec'd the packet 3.

My packet was received May 16th at embassy and I got June 24, a full 5 weeks later. They must have gotten backed up.

So now with a copy of the interview email from the embassy in your hand, you

can go to Bumrungrad hospital and have the medical certificate done. About

four hours and 4300 baht. No appointment needed, just go there early. We

went at 7:00 and were done by 11;00

Wonder why the delay for you ? Maybe the rich Thais are getting tourist

visas for America in the summer..... :-)

I am headed to the states next month. My wife will be there with a two year

green card. So shortly before the two years is up, I need to file the I-571 form

to extend her green card to ten years.This is to show that you really are married,

and that the relationship is real. In the eyes of the government, this is done not

by knowing the favorite toothpaste of your spouse, but rather financial documents.

A friend of mine who is very well off just went through this process and had a hard

time. His wife had opened her own bank account, and he simply paid for everything

directly himself, so her name did not show up in any documents. So his wife was

initially declined, and was only accepted later after a verbal interview. And the whole

issue was financial documents......

So what I am going to do is put my wife's name on everything, and also open up

a joint bank account. Also put the lease in her name as well, and anything else

I can think of. Then the I-571 should be smooth sailing. I would have not thought

about this issue other then my friend bringing it to my attention.

Eyes

More info at VisaJourney, I'd expect. You need to factor the timelines of filing DCF here, which at least would sure cut down the time with the USCIS, then look at filing in the U.S. after your wife gets a Green Card. Makes a whole lot of difference which USCIS office you're filing with, a lot.

http://www.visajourney.com/content/times

My gut feeling is that DCF would be better.

Mac

So I guess with a DCF , you would have to do it in person. I wonder if the I-130 could

be mailed to Bangkok from the states...... :-)

Received the Police Report in the mail. The wife takes this to the interview......are we allowed to open this?

I know we cannot open the Medical Report.....what about the police report? For some reason I thought I read somewhere that we cannot. But I just read the website and I don't see it mentioned anywhere.

The medical report CANNOT opened. If it is, then it become invalid and the embassy

will request another one. I seem to recall that they give another copy of the information

with the sealed one so there are no surprises. I also believe that if something is wrong

they will tell your wife at the time of the examination. The police report can be opened,

it is just a single page document.

I did contact the US embassy. They said I needed to file another I-130

form for him. But maybe me sponsoring him through that form is not

really the right path. It would make more sense for my wife to apply

for him once she has her green card. Can see I need more research......

Oh man I am screwed. Here I am moving back to the states with my

Thai family, and I have no job waiting for me. And at 61, a job is not likely.

( Beat it grandpa, we don't want old grumpy guys on this job ). Oh wait

a minute, I am a building contractor with the skill set to build a complete

house by myself. So pretty sure I can find something... Guess will know

next month. :-)

I think attempting to bribe US officials would result in a quick trip to

the cross bar hotel.... Am wondering if I can do a direct consular

filing of the I-130 at Bangkok before I leave if that is the correct

form. Things here seemed to move along pretty fast, whereas

in America I think the system is simply swamped with the

endless Hispanic applicants. And thus very very slow...

Well I have received a CR-1 visa for my wife, and we will be leaving for the states

in two weeks along with our daughter who already has a US passport. However

my wife has a son from a previous relationship, who is now living the standard

life in the village while being raised by his grandmother . So I would like to do the

right thing, and also bring him over to America to go to school. I started some

research, but the options are somewhat confusing. Has anybody done this ?

If so would like a few pointers to speed me up.

I will be in the states for this process. As near as I can figure out the I-130 form

is filed in the states, and while that process is grinding along a K-4 form is filed

which allows him to come to the states while the I-130 is being approved ??

Appreciate any information...