U.S tourist visa for Thai spouse

[jji23]

Hi

 

I am a British citizen. My wife is Thai. We have a son with dual nationality. My son and I will be entering the U.S via the ETSA program. Next June, we plan to fly into San Francisco and out of LA 3 weeks later. She has applied for and successfully attained a U.K tourist visa many times.

 

How strict is a U.S visitor visa for a Thai compared to U.K?

 

Our plan is to rent a car in the U.S. We don't really want any set hotel bookings, except maybe the first 3 nights in SF and last 3 in LA. We are hoping to drive with some freedom and pull into hotels and pay for accommodation upon arrival at each place on our fluid itinerary. Is this a bad idea? Would it greatly increase our chances of being approved if we did have booked accommodation for each location on a set itinerary?

 

Regarding flights, is it better to have them booked and paid for before applying for the visa? That way we can submit the flight confirmation showing return flight. Or, do they not require it?

 

Thanks for any info

[GinBoy2]

This should be fairly easy.

 

You aren't a US citizen, and she has a proven track record of returning to Thailand.

 

At the interview the CO needs to be convinced that she has strong reasons to return to Thailand.

 

What they worry about, is that the Thai lady will either try to marry her US boyfriend in the US, then apply for an adjustment of status...very bad.

 

Or just disappear into the Thai diaspora, remember the US the largest number of Thai expats!

 

You don't tick any of those boxes

 

I would however book tickets, get refundable ones, then after the visa is approved you can look for cheaper ones

[mjnaus]

My wife and myself went through this a few weeks back, and the whole thing was extremely easy and fast.

I am Dutch myself (and have been living in Thailand for about 15 years). My wife holds a multi year Schengen visa and has several other visas in her passport. We filled out the application online and scheduled an appointment at the embassy in Bangkok a few weeks later.

After arriving at the embassy things appeared rather chaotic and a large crowd (consisting mostly of students) was gathering and waiting outside. I waited around for about half an hour or so and then went to grab a coffee. About an hour later, my wife was done and had her visa approved (she received a ten year tourist visa).

During the interview the IO was mostly interested in our relationship and my business interests in the US. Zero interest in the itinerary, hotel bookings, flight tickets, bank accounts, etc. It is my understanding that in similar cases, the IO’s have little interest in supporting documents and simply use the interview to verify the information provided during the online application.

As long as you fill out the application truthfully and have your wife repeat the same during the interview, I’d be surprised if she wouldn’t get the visa.

Good luck!!


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Elkski]

I think it even says on the US visa site not to book airfare first.   Don't book hotel either.   They won't look at itenarary  but have a loose plan in case.     When June travel  it's busy so you better book hotels or air bnb early.  Are you driving down hyway 1?   That is a great 3-5 day trip.  Book tickets for the Hearst castle.   Plan to walk down to the beach.   Oh and plan on a room for 2 being 5000 baht