Total New By With A Few Questions

[Kangaroo89]

ok i'm new to this so please bear with me as i know i am a newbie..i am 30 years old and am from the united states..Ive been dating a thai women for 2 years now..well after 2 years of a long distance relationship we are both now pondering marriage..my questions are these..we are not sure yet as to where we will live..i've thought about going there and staying with her for 6 months on a visitors visa to find out how i would find living there as opposed to here..my question regarding this is how hard will it be for me to get a 6 months visitors visa and what are the requirements for me to do so..my other question is ..my girlfriend has never been to the states..ive lived the last 5 years prior to now in australia where she would visit 3 times a year she is 24 years old so i know there would be no restriction upon her coming to the U.S.i'm wondering how hard it would be for her to attain a visa to come to the U.S so we could possibly marry here..what requirements does she need to have to get a visa here and what stipulations would her visa entitle..would marrying here be best then go there for the 6 months visit or does it not really matter as to what happens when we are there..i know i can get alot of the U.S side of the question from my embassy but i was just looking around and found this forum and figured i might ask to save me some time and cinfusion before going to the consulate in my area..thank you any answers would be much appreciated..thx

[astral]

You should have no problem getting a Tourist visa (double entry) which

will allow you to stay the best part of 6 month, with a border hop in the middle.

Then you take it from there.

Getting married on that visa will not be a problem.

You will need to ask in the Visa & Migration section of the forum about the rules for entry to the USA.

They are very unlikely to be the same as Australia.

Also for the US she will be asking for a visa as your wife, not just as a tourist. Quite a different kettle of fish.

[sriracha john]

Getting married in Thailand and then getting her a visa to the USA with a spousal visa based on that will take 10 - 18 months for approval. It's a looong wait.

[Kangaroo89]

k sorry like i said i am quite new to all this..what is a border hop ..i know it has something to do with going over a border and coming back but why is this neeeded ..am just curious?

[sas_cars]

explaining need for a border hop....

Usually you get a tourist visa which gives you an entry of 60 days/entry,after that,you can extend your stay for 1 more month at local immigration office-and after that,you need to exit the country.Say You get a double entry tourist visa,u use up your first entry of 60 days+30 days=90 days.After that,in order to utilise your second entry,you need to exit the country and re enter in order to utilise.THe best and cheapest way to do is to go for a visa run.Thailand borders Cambodia,Burma,Malaysia and Laos.So u just need to enter any of the country by the border and come back.You will be able to utilise your 2nd entry resulting getting another 60 days+30 days,so equalling your 6 month stay.

[Kangaroo89]

thank you everyone you have been greatly appreciated and have been muc help....