Thai wife obtained US Citizenship

[doontp]

Below is a timeline of my Thai wife's pathway to US Citizenship.  I thought others might find this helpful.

 

Summary:  total time from submission of application to obtaining US Citizenship was about 20 months.  It would have been about 15 months had my wife attended the initial appointment for the citizenship interview, English and civics test.

 

April 13, 2015 – wife arrived in USA.

 

April 15, 2018 - submitted application for US Citizenship online.  A letter arrived in the mail about 2 weeks later indicating the date for the Biometric Screening.

 

May 28, 2018 – completed the Biometric Screening at our local office of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  This took less than 30 minutes.

 

May 2019 - A letter arrived in the mail indicating the date for the citizenship interview, English and civics test at our local USCIS office.

 

June 6, 2019 - This was the date of the citizenship interview, English and civics test.  My wife was unable to attend on this date because she was in Thailand.  A new date was set for November 15, 2019.

 

November 15, 2019  - wife attended and completed the citizenship interview, English and civics test at our local USCIS office.  This took less than 30 minutes.  A letter arrived in the mail about 2 weeks later indicating a date for the Oath of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony to be held at our local USCIS office.

 

December 5, 2019 – wife attended the Oath of Allegiance naturalization ceremony.  This was the final step making her US Citizenship official.  The ceremony lasted about one hour.

[featography]

Good to know Doontp. Thanks for posting. We will be going thru the process ourselves. 

[VocalNeal]

Now she has to pay taxes?

[yankee99]

So just shy of 5 years shorter than thai citizenship congratulations 

Edited December 10, 2019 by yankee99

[bkk6060]

 

I certainly hope it works out.

I know a few guys who have done this waited similar months.

They were bargirls so no need or hurry to go back to Thailand to a real job.

Of course, they had kids and a family waiting in Thailand.  Just terrible mothers in my opinion.

Sure, hope you have a good lady and your future is bright.

 

[doontp]

27 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

 

I certainly hope it works out.

I know a few guys who have done this waited similar months.

They were bargirls so no need or hurry to go back to Thailand to a real job.

Of course, they had kids and a family waiting in Thailand.  Just terrible mothers in my opinion.

Sure, hope you have a good lady and your future is bright.

 

Thanks.  Fortunately, my wife comes from a regular working family.  She wants to bring her little sister to the US, but I read about a 10 year backlog regarding relatives, with an annual limit of 226,000.

 

The time frame for a spouse vs relatives is much different, according to what I read.

[angloirishaussie]

all the best mate 

[theoldgit]

Reported troll post, and response, removed.

[Skallywag]

2 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Now she has to pay taxes?

Her husband will take care of the taxes, otherwise she can just go back to Thailand if she wants.

Sorry am so cynical on this issue, took my thai wife to the U.S. many years ago and all went south

Hopeful you are young and still in love and all is hunky dory in the U.S. for you both.

[Proboscis]

Before everyone gets excited, there are many factors that go into how quickly you can get US citizenship. The type of job that the sponsor/spouse has. The more permanent the job, the better. I heard about a guy working for Amtrak whose wife got citizenship double quick (like within 20 months) while a better off self-employed guy's wife took longer.

[doontp]

5 minutes ago, Proboscis said:

Before everyone gets excited, there are many factors that go into how quickly you can get US citizenship. The type of job that the sponsor/spouse has. The more permanent the job, the better. I heard about a guy working for Amtrak whose wife got citizenship double quick (like within 20 months) while a better off self-employed guy's wife took longer.

"I heard about a guy" should be taken with a grain of salt.  

 

They only request the three most recent tax returns.

 

The main factor is having the paperwork in precise and meticulous order.  The tiniest mistake can result in months of delay, e.g. forgetting to sign a form and filling in a single blank.

[statman78]

Congrats to your wife and you.  Best of luck!

 

My wife came to the US on a fiancé visa in 2005. After we got married she applied and got her green card.  3 years after getting her green card she was eligible for citizenship which she now has.  Now we live in Thailand but it is much easier for her to travel with her US passport.

[doontp]

50 minutes ago, Skallywag said:

Her husband will take care of the taxes, otherwise she can just go back to Thailand if she wants.

Sorry am so cynical on this issue, took my thai wife to the U.S. many years ago and all went south

Hopeful you are young and still in love and all is hunky dory in the U.S. for you both.

I can understand being cynical.  We file our taxes jointly and it's not a big deal.

[mackayae]

April 13, 2015 – wife arrived in USA.

What kind of visa?

Does anyone know if this can this be done on a tourist visa?

[doontp]

12 minutes ago, mackayae said:

April 13, 2015 – wife arrived in USA.

What kind of visa?

Does anyone know if this can this be done on a tourist visa?

My wife arrived on an IR1 Visa.  IR means Immediate Relative.

[doontp]

24 minutes ago, statman78 said:

Congrats to your wife and you.  Best of luck!

 

My wife came to the US on a fiancé visa in 2005. After we got married she applied and got her green card.  3 years after getting her green card she was eligible for citizenship which she now has.  Now we live in Thailand but it is much easier for her to travel with her US passport.

Thank you.  The travel aspect was important to us, along with the ease of entering the US.

 

We will be moving back to LOS in a few years.  I miss it so much.

[Guest]

So, subtracting the 5 month delay because she did not make the June appointment ... about 3 months ... that is actually a short time!  

[DrPhibes]

Where in the US?  We ended up moving to CO for the short term and moving our case to Denver due to Los Angeles being so impacted and dysfunctional.  Worked out very well overall.  They were not busy at all and it shaved a good chunk of the admin time.  So well in fact, that we stayed in Fort Collins another 6 years before moving to CM.  Sad to say that after the younger daughter graduates in another 2 years (due to her social contacts) we are gone.  Probably head to Europe for a few years where the college kids can visit and reap the benefits of crashing at the parents pad and Eurail Europe.  Only so many heartbeats...

[doontp]

2 minutes ago, DrPhibes said:

Where in the US?  We ended up moving to CO for the short term and moving our case to Denver due to Los Angeles being so impacted and dysfunctional.  Worked out very well overall.  They were not busy at all and it shaved a good chunk of the admin time.  So well in fact, that we stayed in Fort Collins another 6 years before moving to CM.  Sad to say that after the younger daughter graduates in another 2 years (due to her social contacts) we are gone.  Probably head to Europe for a few years where the college kids can visit and reap the benefits of crashing at the parents pad and Eurail Europe.  Only so many heartbeats...

UT

[thailand49]

12 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Now she has to pay taxes?

Nothing is free!????????

[sirineou]

11 hours ago, doontp said:

Thanks.  Fortunately, my wife comes from a regular working family.  She wants to bring her little sister to the US, but I read about a 10 year backlog regarding relatives, with an annual limit of 226,000.

 

The time frame for a spouse vs relatives is much different, according to what I read.

Congratulations on your wife's Citizenship.

10 years ago we went through the same process with the same timeline. My now wife came over on a K1 visa (fiance) . got married immediately , did a change of status, and got temp. green cars , two years later we got permanent green card and applied for citizenship, In five years from arrival she was a US citizen.  

A move we have never regretted.   

A couple of her Thai friends were here for a long time and were not citizens yet, once they saw my wife's process they got jealous, and we helped them with the paperwork and walked them through the process. now they ate also proud US citizens.  If only Thailand was that easy.

[Hanuman2547]

8 hours ago, doontp said:

UT

Trapped behind the Zion Curtain? 555!