Finally We Got Our Visa

[sirineou]

Hi Guys.

I like to take this opportunity to Thank the members of this Forum for their support in my time 0f need, in your own way you are all a great ,bunch of guys and words cant express the appreciation for all your kind words.

My fiancé Visa odyssey,is finally over, yesterday we were issued our Visa.

At 50 years old, this was my first involvement with the Bureaucracy of the US government , I naively believed the propaganda I was feed all my life, and was under the impression that this will be easy, I mean, we all know, the US government operates in a reasonable, logical manner.

I am a nice guy, don’t even have a moving violation on my record, involved in the community, Master of my Lodge, economically secure, my fiancé is a good person , no police record , well educated, We love each other , I have being to Thailand many times, meet the Family, bought the gold, own a piece of property in Thailand with my fiancé ,plenty of pictures,,,,, as we say in the USA “ a slam dunk”. Imagine my surprised when after her Embassy interview, she was given a document titled 211g ( administrative process) and was told some one will call her. No reason why, no time table as to when they will call, Nothing!! when we got the document we thought it was a rejection.

I tried to call the embassy , they say “ the Visa department can only be reached via email, and the email has to be in a particular form , containing specific language in the title. It looks to me like the US only want people with internet access to immigrate to the US ( how racist ) and get this, when you send them an email they don’t really answer any of your questions, they reply every time, “ your case is under administrative review , some one will contact you when there is a decision in your case” . I am not even sure if anyone reads the emails maybe the computer looks at the title of the Email. Searches the data base and tells you the status of your case.

After numerous email attempts by me. I contacted , my Congress man and Senator, ( I know both of them, they have both solicited the support of the membership of my lodge when they need votes, and I was sure with their support and congressional inquiries, we would get a timely resolution. ). I was wrong !! 4 months after the interview, the only thing we knew was that the case was “ under administrative review”.

So I take an unpaid leave of absence from my job, pack my bags and go to the Bkk embassy to see what is going on. When I arrive there they don’t want to see me, they say I need an appointment which I can make, you guess it ,my email. Haaaaa

Soo I told them “ if you think that I spend thousand of dollars, and 24 hrs on a plane to come here, that I will turn around and walk out, with out seeing someone from the Visa dept. you are sadly mistaken, unless I see someone from the Visa department the only way I am going out of this embassy is in handcuffs, and if this happens,,,, be prepared to explain it to both Congressman Mica, and Senator Nelson and what ever other congressional oversight committees are available to me” ) . After some back and forth among them, I was granted an interview by the FPU department ,and after the interview was told that “everything checked out , a report will be given to the Visa dept, and we should have our visa soon”, haaaaa soon in embassy terms means 2 months.

I don’t know if it was the pressure I brought to bear upon them, or that they were done laughing at me, but yesterday my fiancé got a call from the embassy and was told to go there with her passport to get her visa. We are extremely happy, and now look forward to fighting in person rather than on MSN instant messenger. Ha ha ha

This visa process raises some serous questions in my mind.

First: the insensitivity of the interviewers , towards Thai nationals. I would think that anyone working in the BKK embassy would have at least taken a cultural sensitivity course . The person contacting my fiancés interview was if not insensitive, certainly ignorant of Thai culture, several time during the interview ( I was told by my insulted fiancé) the interviewer told her that he did not believe her as to how we meet , ( she was telling the truth) , in essence calling her a liar, and causing her to loose face in front of him, my fiancé is a very proud person, I was not there, but I can imagine her reaction. It is his right not to believe her, but it is not his right to call her a liar.

Second: the communications process. Only communicate via Email?? That process raises many troubling questions, are we discriminating towards people with no access to the internet? How can you have a productive, timely, communication via email? Our case could have being quickly resolved with a short telephone conversation.

Third: the unresponsiveness of the embassy, all they had to do was, first explain why the 221g response, and give us an approximate time table for the resolution of the case, we don ask , when, just a ball park Number, It would give people the opportunity to make informed projections with their lives.

And many other questions, but I have already taken much of your time.

Any way

again, Thank you all!!!!!, your compassion was a great source of strength, in my time of need. And I truly appreciate it.

[moe666]

Have not read your case befoore, what kind of visa did you apply for and was the interviewer an american or Thai I have heard that the Thais who interview can be rather harsh.

[sirineou]

Have not read your case befoore, what kind of visa did you apply for and was the interviewer an american or Thai I have heard that the Thais who interview can be rather harsh.

the interviewer was an American and it was for a fiancé visa

[Lopburi99]

The fiance visa process is excruciatingly slow, been there done that. Hearing nothing for months and months. People start to come apart at the seams, as you did (Wow) by finally traveling to BKK! . It borders on being cruel and unusual treatment by our government ... well not really but you get my drift.

Glad it all worked out. It usually does, but the hoops we jump through and the waiting, waiting, waiting. Enough to drive anybody nuts.

Edited July 18, 2009 by Lopburi99

[j0hnga1t]

I am going through the process now.  I submitted my forms to the USCIS processing center in Laguna Nigel, Ca.  Now for the long wait....

I work for the federal government and I am ashamed at the treatment I received at the US Embassy when I tried to has a sit down/reasonable conversation with someone about a tourist visa.  I never stated I worked for the US Gov't.  That would have been inappropriate.  I was basically told there is nothing they can do for me.  I thought about demanding to talk to his supervisor but I just let it go.  All I wanted was a reasonable person to speak with and have them "help" me...but I guess at the embassy, "help" is a 4 letter word.  If they can't help me, then so be it BUT show a little respect and common courtesy...

I spoke went to Nancy Pelosi's office  to complain..they didn't care  (I won't be voting for her again).

I am VERY happy for you Sirineou.  The paperwork is still a pain once she gets here, but at least she will be here 

[Lopburi99]

I am going through the process now. I submitted my forms to the USCIS processing center in Laguna Nigel, Ca. Now for the long wait....

I work for the federal government and I am ashamed at the treatment I received at the US Embassy when I tried to has a sit down/reasonable conversation with someone about a tourist visa. I never stated I worked for the US Gov't. That would have been inappropriate. I was basically told there is nothing they can do for me. I thought about demanding to talk to his supervisor but I just let it go. All I wanted was a reasonable person to speak with and have them "help" me...but I guess at the embassy, "help" is a 4 letter word. If they can't help me, then so be it BUT show a little respect and common courtesy...

I spoke went to Nancy Pelosi's office to complain..they didn't care (I won't be voting for her again).

I am VERY happy for you Sirineou. The paperwork is still a pain once she gets here, but at least she will be here

I hired a BKK Immigration Law firm to prepare all the paperwork and do all the B.S. for us to get our Fiance visa back in 2005. Not sure if the 100k was well spent or not, as it didn't speed anything up but at least I knew everything was submitted properly. Ermm, maybe, maybe not.

I remember my then fiance (now ex-wife) was thrilled I hired the firm and I wasn't quite sure why. I thought she just thought I wasn't smart enough to do everything myself. Anyway, some number of months later it all became evident. I remember my fiance was talking seriously to one of the firm's partners about our case, and I remember seeing him gesture, no problem...no problem, don't worry. Turns out she was worried about the many lies she had on her visa application - unmentioned children, another fiance visa application currently in process with a different farang , and Lord knows what else. I know she lied to some degree about her marital record in Thailand.

Now I know why she was so happy. He put her at ease regarding her lies not being a problem. Not sure if he fudged the docs somehow or whether there truly was no problem due to the depth of her web of deception and lies.

Sorry for being somewhat off topic, but others can learn from these experiences. I know for a fact, my ex had at least two children she was hiding from me.

I thought I saw some red flags early during our relationship but I chose to ignore them. Little lies, strange little lies. Beware fellow farangs, where there is smoke there is fire !! My ex was nowhere near being the person I thought she was. That all came out millions of baht later.

Edited July 18, 2009 by Lopburi99

[Brigante7]

Congatulations on getting the visa, but can you please explain what is racist about needing internet access to contact immigration? Stupid and a pain in the ass yes but I can't see how it's racist.

Brigante7.

[moe666]

It took my friend 2 years to get a marriage visa for his wife she is Philipina. There was a constant losing of files and delays. The problem is that the Embassy only deals with the last part of the process. After her interview it was only a couple of weeks for the visa to be awarded.

[sirineou]

The fiance visa process is excruciatingly slow, been there done that. Hearing nothing for months and months. People start to come apart at the seams, as you did (Wow) by finally traveling to BKK! . It borders on being cruel and unusual treatment by our government ... well not really but you get my drift.

Glad it all worked out. It usually does, but the hoops we jump through and the waiting, waiting, waiting. Enough to drive anybody nuts.

You are absolutely right, "enough to drive someone nuts", what is more exasperating is that, with out any additional effort in the part of the embassy, it could be a lot more easy, instead of answering 100 emails with limited info, just answer one explaining the presses and we all fell a lot better.

[sirineou]

Congatulations on getting the visa, but can you please explain what is racist about needing internet access to contact immigration? Stupid and a pain in the ass yes but I can't see how it's racist.

Brigante7.

Racism? Maybe I exaggerate , I am sure it is not a conscious decision of the US government to discriminate but it seems to me that an affluent person in the west would have more accesses to internet cervices, and thus a better opportunity to obtain a visa under the current system, than a Person of color in Africa or some other underprivileged place,, so even though racism it is not the intent, it is certainly the result. Or I should have said discrimination.

[NovaBlue05]

Try to get a simple tourist visa for a family member from Isaan to visit the USA and they expect her to have a half a million baht in the bank before they look at the application.

It's probably easier just to have them fly to Mexico and then walk into the US across the southern border.

[sirineou]

I am going through the process now.  I submitted my forms to the USCIS processing center in Laguna Nigel, Ca.  Now for the long wait....

I work for the federal government and I am ashamed at the treatment I received at the US Embassy when I tried to has a sit down/reasonable conversation with someone about a tourist visa.  I never stated I worked for the US Gov't.  That would have been inappropriate.  I was basically told there is nothing they can do for me.  I thought about demanding to talk to his supervisor but I just let it go.  All I wanted was a reasonable person to speak with and have them "help" me...but I guess at the embassy, "help" is a 4 letter word.  If they can't help me, then so be it BUT show a little respect and common courtesy...

I spoke went to Nancy Pelosi's office  to complain..they didn't care  (I won't be voting for her again).

I am VERY happy for you Sirineou.  The paperwork is still a pain once she gets here, but at least she will be here 

Thank you for your kind words

I agree with you totally, just a little respect and common courtesy , nothing annoys me more than when people do a bad job when it would not require any additional effort to do a good job. Would it be so hard to just take few minutes to explain what is going on? Any way soon all this will be a bad memory and hopefully we will not have to deal with this any more.

With a new administration in the USA, I think Eric G. John days in Thailand are numbered , a new ambassador might bring some positive changes to the BKK embassy, we hope .

[sirineou]

I am going through the process now.  I submitted my forms to the USCIS processing center in Laguna Nigel, Ca.  Now for the long wait....

I work for the federal government and I am ashamed at the treatment I received at the US Embassy when I tried to has a sit down/reasonable conversation with someone about a tourist visa.  I never stated I worked for the US Gov't.  That would have been inappropriate.  I was basically told there is nothing they can do for me.  I thought about demanding to talk to his supervisor but I just let it go.  All I wanted was a reasonable person to speak with and have them "help" me...but I guess at the embassy, "help" is a 4 letter word.  If they can't help me, then so be it BUT show a little respect and common courtesy...

I spoke went to Nancy Pelosi's office  to complain..they didn't care  (I won't be voting for her again).

I am VERY happy for you Sirineou.  The paperwork is still a pain once she gets here, but at least she will be here 

Sorry on my previous reply I forgot to wish you the best of luck luck on your application

Good Luck

[sirineou]

Try to get a simple tourist visa for a family member from Isaan to visit the USA and they expect her to have a half a million baht in the bank before they look at the application.

It's probably easier just to have them fly to Mexico and then walk into the US across the southern border.

Isn’t exasperating, I read that there are 12 ,000,000 illegal aliens in the USA ,and here we are, trying to do things the legal way , and we are obstructed on every step. I don’t get it.

All I hear from everyone that ever went through this presses id frustration, there got to be a better way, we used to be the “ can do country” when and how did we become the cant do anything country???

[Lopburi99]

Try to get a simple tourist visa for a family member from Isaan to visit the USA and they expect her to have a half a million baht in the bank before they look at the application.

It's probably easier just to have them fly to Mexico and then walk into the US across the southern border.

Isn't exasperating, I read that there are 12 ,000,000 illegal aliens in the USA ,and here we are, trying to do things the legal way , and we are obstructed on every step. I don't get it.

All I hear from everyone that ever went through this presses id frustration, there got to be a better way, we used to be the " can do country" when and how did we become the cant do anything country???

Exactly siri. It's the U.S. government showing off how it can (and always does) create huge bureaucracies which are appallingly inefficient and unresponsive. Then further, all these hoops we are forced to jump through and comply with often don't catch the bad guys anyway, as cited in my previous post with my ex-wife.

[sirineou]

Try to get a simple tourist visa for a family member from Isaan to visit the USA and they expect her to have a half a million baht in the bank before they look at the application.

It's probably easier just to have them fly to Mexico and then walk into the US across the southern border.

Isn't exasperating, I read that there are 12 ,000,000 illegal aliens in the USA ,and here we are, trying to do things the legal way , and we are obstructed on every step. I don't get it.

All I hear from everyone that ever went through this presses id frustration, there got to be a better way, we used to be the " can do country" when and how did we become the cant do anything country???

Exactly siri. It's the U.S. government showing off how it can (and always does) create huge bureaucracies which are appallingly inefficient and unresponsive. Then further, all these hoops we are forced to jump through and comply with often don't catch the bad guys anyway, as cited in my previous post with my ex-wife.

Sorry to hear about your situation with your ex-wife, I hope you are in a better relationship now?

I know I an going off subject but maybe not.

The entrenched bureaucracy syndrome, seems to be the down fault of all civilizations. We look back at the Roman empire and we say “ could they not see this or that coming? And the answer is,,,, individually they could , but collectively they could not react, because of the entranced bureaucracies defending their individual interests.

I see the same thing happening here in the USA now. I am a licensed real estate broker in Florida, and I worked with the Century 21 franchise, most of as could see what was happening with the real-estate market, but if we did not close the sale, there was some one in the next cubicle that would, so like lemmings off the cliff we went.

I don’t know what the answer is , but America is a great country with strengths not inherent in other countries, we are coherent as a country not because of our National ethnic identity, like lets say the French or The Germans , but by our institutions and our Constitution.

I believe, the danger to our country lays in the hands of those who abuse our institutions and our Constitution and not in the Hands of foreign “terrorists” , after all, at the time, according to the British, George Washington was a Terrorist

[Lopburi99]

Sorry to hear about your situation with your ex-wife, I hope you are in a better relationship now?

I know I an going off subject but maybe not.

The entrenched bureaucracy syndrome, seems to be the down fault of all civilizations. We look back at the Roman empire and we say " could they not see this or that coming? And the answer is,,,, individually they could , but collectively they could not react, because of the entranced bureaucracies defending their individual interests.

I see the same thing happening here in the USA now. I am a licensed real estate broker in Florida, and I worked with the Century 21 franchise, most of as could see what was happening with the real-estate market, but if we did not close the sale, there was some one in the next cubicle that would, so like lemmings off the cliff we went.

I don't know what the answer is , but America is a great country with strengths not inherent in other countries, we are coherent as a country not because of our National ethnic identity, like lets say the French or The Germans , but by our institutions and our Constitution.

I believe, the danger to our country lays in the hands of those who abuse our institutions and our Constitution and not in the Hands of foreign "terrorists" , after all, at the time, according to the British, George Washington was a Terrorist

Thanks sirineou, yes the woman in my life is the diametric opposite of my first Thai wife. This time I did it right, took my time and found a honest, sincere and stable woman. Only about 13 years my junior, previously a widow, pleasantly attractive. Perfect. But wish I were able to bring more to the table financially than I am now though. SSA, that's it, courtesy of the ex.

About a national ethic identity, America doesn't have one and this is a big problem. I believe greed is at the root of all facets of decline, individually and collectively. Ethnic identity and tradition are very important because this helps contain greed. Without this as somewhat a means of control, greed runs rampant. Especially in a capitalist system where greed helps fuel business profitability. Don't get me wrong, I am strongly pro-capitalism but I believe it does foster a nurturing environment for greed.

Actually I don't see much greed in Thailand (in the villages that is) on a daily basis. I am surprised how the Thai share and take care of others. This is cultural and supports my point I believe.

Edited July 19, 2009 by Lopburi99

[DirectorIntegrityLegal]

I'm sorry to hear that your experience was so negative. Unfortunately, having one's file put into Administrative Processing can be a real pain. Recently, I have been retained to deal with a number of 221g matters. Technically administrative processing is the same thing as a 221g, but the case usually is only considered in Administrative Processing for practical purposes if the letter the Consular officer gives the Beneficiary at the BKK Embassy says "administrative processing," in the bottom box. Otherwise, the application remains in the normal visa queue awaiting 221 g follow-up documentation. Either way, this phase of the process can cause frustration because the American Citizen is usually not present in Thailand to deal with the situation.

Usually, the case will go into administrative processing if red flags are raised either in the mind of the consular officer (usually regarding the bona fides of the relationship) or in the computer system (pending warrants, prior overstay, deportation, unauthorized employment, etc). To avoid having one's application moved into Administrative Processing applicants ought to make sure all of their "ducks are in a row" as early as possible.

Further, lying or falsifying documentation is one of the best ways to ensure that a case will go into Administrative Processing. Worse than administrative processing is the fact that it can have critical ramifications upon a Thai's ability to immigrate, adjust status, or naturalize. Beware of any "lawyer," "visa agent," or other fly-by-night operator who advises lying to the consular officer. If there is a legal ground of inadmissibility, then it should be dealt with truthfully and honestly. Otherwise, one's entire Immigration status could later be unraveled. I have seen cases involving De-Naturalization because the applicant lied about material facts in the original visa petition which nullified all subsequent status. Zealously advocating on behalf of a client should never entail lying to the government. Not trying to unduly scare anyone, but being informed can keep these types of legal situations from arising in the first place.

That being said, Consular officials, like anyone else, have good days and bad. Further, their caseload is quite large particularly when one takes into account the fact that a great number of non-immigrant visas (J-1, F-1, B-1, B-2) process through the Embassy daily. Luckily for me, thus far I have not had any negative interactions with any of the staff at the Embassy and, in fact, I have found most of them to be quite helpful when I go there (and it seems like I've been living there recently), but it does take a while to talk to one of them because the lines are usually quite long.

My Best to all of the Readers of this Forum,

Ben Hart

US Immigration Attorney

Integrity Legal

[sirineou]

I'm sorry to hear that your experience was so negative. Unfortunately, having one's file put into Administrative Processing can be a real pain. Recently, I have been retained to deal with a number of 221g matters. Technically administrative processing is the same thing as a 221g, but the case usually is only considered in Administrative Processing for practical purposes if the letter the Consular officer gives the Beneficiary at the BKK Embassy says "administrative processing," in the bottom box. Otherwise, the application remains in the normal visa queue awaiting 221 g follow-up documentation. Either way, this phase of the process can cause frustration because the American Citizen is usually not present in Thailand to deal with the situation.

Usually, the case will go into administrative processing if red flags are raised either in the mind of the consular officer (usually regarding the bona fides of the relationship) or in the computer system (pending warrants, prior overstay, deportation, unauthorized employment, etc). To avoid having one's application moved into Administrative Processing applicants ought to make sure all of their "ducks are in a row" as early as possible.

Further, lying or falsifying documentation is one of the best ways to ensure that a case will go into Administrative Processing. Worse than administrative processing is the fact that it can have critical ramifications upon a Thai's ability to immigrate, adjust status, or naturalize. Beware of any "lawyer," "visa agent," or other fly-by-night operator who advises lying to the consular officer. If there is a legal ground of inadmissibility, then it should be dealt with truthfully and honestly. Otherwise, one's entire Immigration status could later be unraveled. I have seen cases involving De-Naturalization because the applicant lied about material facts in the original visa petition which nullified all subsequent status. Zealously advocating on behalf of a client should never entail lying to the government. Not trying to unduly scare anyone, but being informed can keep these types of legal situations from arising in the first place.

That being said, Consular officials, like anyone else, have good days and bad. Further, their caseload is quite large particularly when one takes into account the fact that a great number of non-immigrant visas (J-1, F-1, B-1, B-2) process through the Embassy daily. Luckily for me, thus far I have not had any negative interactions with any of the staff at the Embassy and, in fact, I have found most of them to be quite helpful when I go there (and it seems like I've been living there recently), but it does take a while to talk to one of them because the lines are usually quite long.

My Best to all of the Readers of this Forum,

Ben Hart

US Immigration Attorney

Integrity Legal

Thank you for the very informative reply to my post. if I had to do it again I would have used a lawyer ,I believe it would have helped expedite the case , and would have saved me Thousands of dollars in travel fees. Even though the presses for a fiancé is relatively simple, the poor communication skills (or policy) of the embassy has made it very frustrating. I realize that the embassy workers must be overworked. But part of the problem is their own fault; if they communicated their needs more clearly they would be able to expedite the cases faster and more affectively, I send them many emails, trying to find out what the problem was, all I got from them was “your case is under administrative presses , we will call you when a decision is made” both my Congressman and senator tried to get info, they got the same answer, by law they are supposed to keep them up to date as to the progress of the case, yet when I called my congressman to inform him that a visa was approve, he knew nothing about it, he was not Happy, to say the least. and there will be something more to be said about that.

All I wanted was some information, I am reasonable person, I understand it take time,it takes time at my job also but i make sure to communicate the proses to my clients, understanding changes fear to respect. but I had to Google 221g to find out what it was, and at that, I read many conflicting accounts.

To the embassy employees this could be just a case of heavy work load, but to the people waiting for visas it can some times be a case of life and death.

[NovaBlue05]

Whether it be tax policy...immigration policy...you name it. The US Government has found one thing that it is efficient at.....that would be creating more work for lawyers

[sirineou]

Whether it be tax policy...immigration policy...you name it. The US Government has found one thing that it is efficient at.....that would be creating more work for lawyers

isn't that the truth/ You said it NovaBlue,

I remember in 2008 while I was doing my 2007 tax return i received the economic stimulus check that Buch was sending out, it was $ 300,00 and at the same day, i received the bill from the accountant for my tax returns , you guess it,it was for $ 300.00,

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, it might not have stimulated the economy, but art least I got a good laugh.

[DirectorIntegrityLegal]

Whether it be tax policy...immigration policy...you name it. The US Government has found one thing that it is efficient at.....that would be creating more work for lawyers

Well put sir, I laughed for 15 minutes after reading this

All the Best,

Ben

[redfish44]

Congratulation sirineo.

And thanks for making me feel a lot better about dealing with the Australian embassy. I thought they were difficult when my boyfriend went for a tourist visa to meet my parents, but are no where near as painful as that, seems quite efficient in comparison to that...

A bad experience like that in getting the darn visa certainly takes the gloss and fun out of taking the other half back to the home country though.

[sirineou]

Congratulation sirineo.

And thanks for making me feel a lot better about dealing with the Australian embassy. I thought they were difficult when my boyfriend went for a tourist visa to meet my parents, but are no where near as painful as that, seems quite efficient in comparison to that...

A bad experience like that in getting the darn visa certainly takes the gloss and fun out of taking the other half back to the home country though.

Thank you Redfish

Both me and my fiancé love each other very much, talk to each other every single day for the past 2 years on MSN via web-cam for hours, and I visited her at least twice a year( 23 hrs on a plane from here I live ) , but very time I had to come home and leave her there it broke my heart, we usually spend the night before my departures holding each other and, crying.

I was a little more confident about the outcome of the Visa, because I understand the American system, and I knew that it was a mater of time, but my fiancé was not at all certain that we will ever be together in the USA , and it created a certain amount of conflict in our relationship. We are both very happy to have this behind us, and look forward to our life together as husband and wife ( with all it’s challenges and rewards).

When we first started chatting, my fiancé did not have an internet connection in her house, so she will go to an Internet Café to chat with me, there she met an other girl , who eventually became a good friend to both me and my fiancé , Her BF is from Australia, and we got to know them pretty well. They started the process of getting their fiancé visa to Aus. at the same time we did. While they were granted their visa , lived in Australia , and were expecting their first baby, ( due next month ) we were still trying to find out what was wrong with our case, There were many times that I wished I was Australian.

We hope to be able to come to your beautiful country as soon as we are settled in the USA and able to travel abroad, and there is always an open invitation for them to come and visit us in the USA, though we realize that it will be a little difficult for them now that they have a baby.

Best wishes to you and your Boyfriend.

[redfish44]

...

I was a little more confident about the outcome of the Visa, because I understand the American system, and I knew that it was a mater of time, but my fiancé was not at all certain that we will ever be together in the USA , and it created a certain amount of conflict in our relationship. We are both very happy to have this behind us, and look forward to our life together as husband and wife ( with all it's challenges and rewards).

...

We hope to be able to come to your beautiful country as soon as we are settled in the USA and able to travel abroad, and there is always an open invitation for them to come and visit us in the USA, though we realize that it will be a little difficult for them now that they have a baby.

Best wishes to you and your Boyfriend.

Hi again sirineou,

I hope you are together in the same country now, wherever that is!

I have even more sympathy for you now, as over Christmas/New Year I had to apply for a US business visa for me and decided to apply for another Aus visa for the bf. Aus was vertainly an easier process, although way more documentation nedded, but if you have it all was a breeze.

I was quite stunned at having to queue up 'in' the US embassy in BKK by the fishpond for 3 hours (ha!). After 4 hours and speaking to a real American though, they accepted it all ok. Unfortunately, the collecting it from the post office thing was bad as when I got my passport back they had given me the wrong type of visa (check!) and that was where the email only contact was a nightmare, as no phone numbers (the website one doesn't work). I emailed from 3 different ways and eventually they called me and I spent another 4 hours there and then they stuffed it up again, so told me to go home and they'd call me when they fixed it and I actually picked it up from window 13 at the embassy.

In contrast, we went for the bf Aus visa at eh TCC building, and apparently were 10 minutes to late as they had closed for applications. I made a pouty face and bf begged in Thai as we had to fly home to Krabi the next day, and they stunned me senseless by saying 'ok we''ll take one more today" so they let us put it all in!

I had asked for multiple entry for him again (only got single last time), and was quite shocked when his passport was ready 2 days later with a multiple entry one year tourist visa: woo-hoo!.

Further contrast though: applied for a Thai visa in Perth, they wanted hardly any paperwork, the bf was with me so asked me if I wanted B or O class as could have either with the docs I had.

US visa paperwork: ~30 pages

Aus tourist visa paperwork: ~120 pages (in addition the that they already have 'on file' from previous applications)

Thai visa paperwork: ~4 pages + some pages in Sqiggles I couldn't read anyway, but was told to stick in at application time

So bf wants to live in Aus now, and I want to live in Thailand - haha!

happy new year wherever you are

redfish

[moe666]

I can understand your flustration, but start focusing on the positive she is in the states now, leave the past behind