GinBoy2

Hmm, I get that. I'm an Hispanic only child, of an Hispanic only child mother, extremely rare for the times and our culture, My Mother raised me to be fiercely independant and self sufficient. The result, although I've been married twice and have 3 children I am perfectly OK being alone. I don't have many real friends, actually only one who I started kindergarden with, 60 years ago. I've acquired and forgotten many acquaintances over the decades, that bond that some folks seem to need with people outside of family just doesn't bother me. Strangely both my wife's are extremely social. I can/could do the act of socializing for them but it really means nothing to me

I don't know which home country you are talking about, but I suspect Australia. Better put him through the trauma of quarantine, than the trauma of being put to death. We shipped our cat back to the US, granted no quarantine, but it was a pain in the ass and it was several days in transit. She was traumatized for a week or so, but as I watch her now playing in front of me with our other cats, well worth it. I could never have left her in Thailand. The best I could hope would have someone would feed her, but Thai's in general don't love their pets like Westerners do

Seriously. We all buy stuff which is crazy expensive, because we like it. My wife likes bags, which in my travels across the globe seems to be, along with shoes, a common denominator with women. She's not as you imply trying to demonstrate her 'enormous wealth, she just likes them. I think it's crazy, but equally she thinks my obsession with Hi Tech toys is equally crazy. My wife has her own money, she works for the United States DoD and can afford to buy whatever she wants. But the idea that some pumped up customs guy wants to charge her money, which is what you are suggesting is right, I don't get it

You would be amazed what folks try to blame the airline for to get something for nothing. I work for Delta, and if it's the airlines fault, flight cancelled because of maintenance, crew issues etc we offer meals vouchers, hotels since the airline can control that. But when a flight gets cancelled because of weather, we can't control that, and thats when things get ugly. I had a flight to Chicago today cancelled due to extreme storms. in ORD. The inbound flight came in, but the outbound ferried out to Fort Wayne. I had this guy 6 inches from my face screaming that I was a f****c*king liar. I'd already rebooked him on the next available flight tomorrow, but no matter how much I tried to tell him, we can't control the weather, didn't make a scrap of difference

Providing an affidavit of support won't alter your Mom's tax status, it just means her assets would be on the hook 'if' your wife was to claim government benefits. I don't believe anything would change if your Mom was to die, and in practical terms, USCIS doesn't actually monitor what happens after the green card is issued As for wife working, there is nothing as part of process that requires your wife to work as a condition of holding a green card. Oh I just thought I'll add this. Government benefits means direct payments, food stamps etc, housing subsidy etc You can however apply for health insurance through the ACA. You're on SS, so may well be eligible for Medicare. But when we first landed, neither of us had a job, so we signed up through the ACA and the tax credits handily paid the premium until both of us got employer health insurance

What does that mean exactly? My wife has genuine Luis Vuitton and Gucci bags, and Yes we could afford to pay customs tax, but why? It's her stuff bought and paid for in the US for personal consumption. Are you suggesting that when she visits in a few months she just should be prepared to cough up, just because she can, for a clearly fraudulent scam????

So to answer a couple of these points; You have to demonstrate, the 'intent' to live in the US, so you can use your Mothers address as a transition to residency. Now on the topic of financial support, slightly more thorny. At the time we applied I had no US income, but I had a house in the US and we used the asset route to pass the threshold. You say you cashed out, so that route isn't open to you. You can also get a co-sponser to pass this test. Any family, friends who would be willing to do that? I remember being in our attorneys office in BKK, and there was a guy who sounded like you, and he was getting the paperwork sent over from his son to enable him to pass the threshold test

The problem for graduates in Thailand is that Thai degrees have little to no value in the International market, and Thai employers know that, so they are stuck in Thailand. Which coupled with the workplace nepotism, as you describe means their employment prospects and potential earnings are little better than a HS dropout in the West. Our son went to college in the US and pretty soon he realized that coming back to Thailand after he graduated was pointless, and stayed in the US and has a successful and very lucrative career

It might be mens jealousy decreases with age while female jealousy increases with age. Although I might suggest that get, men and women into you late 50's and 60's we all call it quits

You are right, jealousy isn't just romantic jealousy, but sometimes it eats folks up why someone has more than they do. Another part of jealously I've never really had. I'm happy with what I have, never really worried or thought about what someone else has more than me

Hmm, interesting question. I've never been jealous, it's just not in me. Curiously my lack of jealousy has pis****ed off my ex wife and current wife and driven them insane at times, since they interpret it that I don't love them enough to be jealous!! Human nature and interactions are a curious minefield

Slightly off topic, but may interest some of you. I work for Delta, and I can't tell you how many times I've had to deal with customers who have booked through third parties, like expedia, travelocity, and travel agents etc. Just be aware, if stuff goes wrong we can't help resolve the ticket. If the ticket isn't booked directly with the airline, all bets are off. I have had irate customers and the best I can tell them, you need to call the entity that booked the ticket, we can't help. Case in point. I had a guy who thought he was booking a ticket to Grand Rapids through an online app, actually booked a ticket to my station Rapid City, when he landed in Rapid City, a little distressed shall we say. Thought that we should be the ones to fix his little faux pas. Think again my friend, call the app...if you can!

It's not just when they are in Thailand. We live in the US, and Mrs G works a full time job. Yet she still seems capable of spending inordinate amounts of time either on the phone, or messenger talking about God knows what. It gets worse on Wednesdays, when all the local Thai ladies take turns on hosting their weekly get together. I usually hunker down in the bedroom to escape the non stop chatter/bitching/gossip I speak Thai and Lao, but have learned to filter it out while I watch TV. So, if you are in Thailand don't worry, it's just in their DNA to talk incessantly, and if they don't work, all the more so

This is slightly off topic but... Do you really need to make financial guarantees for a tourist visa to the UK? I'm a US citizen, Mrs G is a US Permanent Resident, and we are thinking of a European vacation later this summer. Obviously I'm visa exempt, but we still have to get her a Schengen and UK visa. I'm reliably told as a married US permanent resident it's not the same issue you run into with female Thai residents, but surely I'm not going to have to somehow provide a financial guarantee for Gods sake, that would be insane

I actually disagree. I'm a rare duck. An hispanic only child of an only child hispanic Mother. We kinda buck the stereotype, I've always been fine being by myself, but thats different to being loved. I can very happily spend time by myself, yet I still crave affection/love in all it's forms, when I want it Maybe it's why I'm a cat guy. My cats love me, but on their terms. If they want me to pet them they tell me, but woe betide I try to ever force my desires on them!

Well since poets have been writing about for centuries love certainly does exist. Comes in various forms of course. I love my children in a visceral way it's hard to describe, but I know I'd die to protect them I love them so much. I love my pets, I've cried too many times over the years when they died. Sexual love, way more complicated. We all start off with physical lust, thats just a given. But if it's going to last you develop that curious thing called love, where sex or no sex you just want to be with the other person. I'm sitting with my wife right now, she's watching TV, we don't need to talk it's a feeling of just being comfortable with each other after 25+ years together

The 'single entry visa' is what is stamped in the passport before they enter with the sealed packet, which allows them to travel to the US. When you get to the port of entry, they will take the sealed packet and after review their passport is stamped with an I-551 which serves as a temporary green card After they receive their green card, which takes a couple of weeks they are free to travel normally. But, be aware that she will need to reside in the US for the majority of the year, or the green card will be revoked. Regular vacation trips are fine. My wife has, and does do a four week trip every year

The world, especially Thailand is littered with kids abandoned ignored by their biological fathers. This is hardly unique, as immoral as it is

Without watermark

If I recall, you have 90 days to enter the US with the sealed packet. The visa that is stamped in the passport is a single entry visa @bbkosince you've been married >2 years I'm assuming your wife will be an IR1. We only got legally married when we decided to move to the US. Pain in the ass since it was a CR-1 then we needed to do an I-751 to remove conditions to the 2 year green card. Just be conscious that USCIS is totally <deleted> up after Trump basically tried to stop all immigration, legal or otherwise. The backlog is horrendous. We were lucky, we filed an I-130 when the USCIS office in BKK was still open. Took us exactly 100 days from start to finish. The I-751 however, that was a nightmare. My wife's 2 year green card expired in 2020. We got several extension letters, finally I contacted my local Senators office and they did their best to pressure these people to actually do their job. The National Benefits Center(MSC) had approved the I-751 in March 2021, yet the simple act of sending the file the local Omaha office took over a year. Finally after my Senators office help the file was sent to Omaha, they approved it within 2 days with no additional interview, and my wife now has her bright shiny 10 year green card

Transit rules can be tricky, although the OP doesn't say if they are transiting I'm an airline supervisor for Delta. I just spent a crazy amount of time with a counter agent trying to decipher the rules and documentation for a tour group going to Oslo transiting through AMS. We read through the rules over and over and every time you could interpret it a different way. Multiple uses of AND and OR littered the instructions. I ended up just printing off every 'declaration' I could find on the NL Government website. Get them vaccinated then scour the relevant airline and collect as much paper as you can. And think about this. The counter agent when you check in is responsible for ensuring that the passenger has the correct documentation for the destination, and/or transit point, before they can issue a boarding pass! So do as much homework as you can

This just isn't how the system works. You don't apply for a green card, 'in case', you decide to relocate to the US. When you go through the process, once approved you enter the US with a sealed packet and will receive a green card a few weeks later in the mail, along with a SSN. But as part of that process you need to demonstrate that you intend to live in the US, either through already having a residence or plans to have a residence, plus all the evidence of financial support etc. After that if you don't reside within the US for the majority of the year the green card will be revoked. Unless I'm missing something from the OP this is a non starter. If he thinks this is some kind of possible, super travel tourist visa, what if, kind of thing, think again on your plans.

I think Thailand is a great country for the 50 something year old man. But get into your 60's and thing start to change. We all think we're immortal, but stuff starts to happen. You'll see your medical insurance go exponential as you move through your 60's and into your 70's, if that is you can actually get insurance. In the West, even in the US with our f****cked up health insurance system, get to 65 and you get security through Medicare. The kind of opposite happens in Thailand where health insecurity gets worse as you age. So for me at least. Enjoy the fun times in Thailand, but then go home to sit out the inevitable

You can be 'bored' for multiple reasons. I retired when I was 50 when we were living in Singapore. I decided against my wife's better judgment that we move to Thailand. First few years of doing f@@ck all was great. But it ended up there are only so many books to read, so much TV to watch. I was bored outta my skull. I would have loved to be able to go volunteer at the local school to teach English, Math, Physics or anything. I am a Material Scientist by education, so probably more qualified that any of the local educators, but of course i couldn't. It forced our hand to move back to the US. My wife restarted her career, and I got a part time job with an airline. Now at least I have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. When my wife gets home we can have the 'how was your day' conversation. I know that sounds terribly boring, but for some of us, work is sorta part of life, which I only discovered after giving it up too early

Noooo, she would have waited the two weeks until her green card and social security card showed up in the mail!