I'd like my Thai ladyboy girlfriend (postop) of the last 2 years to visit me in the U.S. on a tourist visa (since INS doesn't recognize same-sex marriage for purposes of (fiancee) F1 or F3 visas). I'm thinking of us visiting other Western countries first to backup the proof that she won't stay in the U.S., including the UK, Australia, or Canada.... so would getting married in South Africa (a visa-free country for Thais that allows same-sex marriage) before applying to those countries improve our chances of getting their tourist visas? She's already been to every country is East and Southeast Asia except for Mongolia and East Timor....

thanks

That's a tough one- being married would probably help for the countries your not a citizen of (UK, Australia, Canada, etc.) since it shows that both of you probably won't stay there. But it would most definitely hurt to be married for the US tourist visa application, since they'll assume she'll stay with you. Then again if you don't say your married, the US people are definitely gonna wonder where she got the money to go to all those other countries ("he's just a friend"?). I actually don't know if ladyboys have ever gotten a visa from the US embassy, I wouldn't expect them to be intelligent or open-minded enough for that. good luck