Labour Government’s Bold Claim to “honesty with voters” Has Unraveled Quickly

[paulfr]

There is a waiver that one can file when applying for a US Immigrant Visa for a woman that was at anytime a bar girl.

US Imm law/guidelines can deny this Visa on grounds of past undesireable activity such as being a bar girl. So there is some sort of waiver that one must file first.

Does anyone have any experience with this ??

Any information is appreciated.

Thank you.

[britmaveric]

Cashier or Waitress - not a BG.

[RDN]

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Having said that, let's have some constructive responses!

My only comment is that you should never, ever, use the words "bar" and "girl" in any visa application. Never!

But I have never heard of a "waiver".

[paulfr]

If an 'alien' applying for a US Visa is inadmissible for any reason in the law, there is a provision to apply for and recieve a waiver of that part of the law. This allows someone to attempt to be completely honest and be granted an exception to the written law.

See ...

http://uscis.gov/lpBin/lpext.dll/inserts/s...f=templates&2.0

I was wondering if anyone had any experience applying for a waiver or had any information on the advisibility of pursueing that strategic path to obtain a US Immigrant Visa for a wife with minor 'bargirl' experience in her bio.

[Dr. Burrito]

I think you're pretty much looking at the long list of reasons a person CANNOT get a visa, certainly not an Immigrant Visa to the U.S. Seems to be pretty clear that the possibility of a waiver is even less than winning the lottery too, but that's just my take.

[RDN]

Extract from your link, paulfr:

(a) Classes of Aliens Ineligible for Visas or Admission...

(A) In general.-Any alien-....

(B ) Waiver authorized.-For provision authorizing waiver of certain clauses of subparagraph (A), see subsection (g).

....

(g) 24/ The Attorney General may waive the application of-

(1) subsection (a)(1)(A)(i) in the case of any alien who-

(A) is the spouse ... of a United States citizen

So I reckon any spouse of a US citiizen should get a waiver from the health and drugs clauses, and so get a visa. So where does the bar work come into this issue? (Since the waiver is for the health and drugs clauses, not for the previous occupation of the applicant).

[easyb]

Question number 34 or 35 on the US visa form asks if the applicant has ever worked as a prostitute. I looked into this and my conclusion was that “Yes” is grounds for denying the visa but not a defacto rejection. My understanding from reading as much as I could was that you file for the waiver after the visa has been declined. So far I haven’t heard from anyone on TV who knows of anyone who answered ‘yes” and got a visa. (or someone who answered “yes” and was declined for that matter) I just don’t know how to how far the officers will accept a “no” when they are 80% sure how you two met. Or if a “yes” could be OK if everything else looked in order, there was current proper gainful employment, etc. and maybe the honesty would help. I don’t have a <deleted>’ clue. Net with my gf was she wanted to answer “yes” and see how it went. Interview in a few weeks.

[Dakhar]

5 baht says if you answer yes = no visa

[paulfr]

So I reckon any spouse of a US citiizen should get a waiver from the health and drugs clauses, and so get a visa. So where does the bar work come into this issue? (Since the waiver is for the health and drugs clauses, not for the previous occupation of the applicant).

Bar girl comes into it because it is one of the clauses in the law that justifies a rejection. So technically, one needs a waiver of this clause to be legal. The bureaucrats cannot simply ignor the law (in principle) and the waiver makes it legal for them to bypass that one part of the law.

easyb

So you are presently planning on going with the truth by answering "yes" to the prostitute clause ? That is what we want to do as long as I can be sure one or a few bureaucrats afraid to lose their job CANNOT keep my wife from going with me to the US indefinitely when I want or need to.

Sure would help if someone knew a member of the US Embassy staff who knew unwritten policy on this issue. It has to come up almost every day I would think as so many happily married couples met in the 'naughty life' scene and unlike other parts of the world, there are so many otherwise very good, honorable ladies of excellent character (honest, hard working, generous, courageous) to be found there.

[Totster]

As far as I see it, checking into this part of her past is going to be near impossible, what I mean is for the US government to prove what she once did for a job briefly... I'm not sure why you are causing yourself all this extra hassle, when just omiting some of the truth would suffice.

totster

[easyb]

Totster you may be right.

My GF has an application in the embassy now that says "yes" to the question. The interview is in a few weeks. There is one complication to this being a good data point for our collective wisdom. Our plans may change and she may not come to the US right now (I may come the other way). I was confused enough before now who knows. She has to go in to get her passport so will go for the appointment. Should / can she withdrawn the visa app? Should she say what the heck and see what happens by going through the interview? If it's a no then that's a factor for refusal another day? Is the app always on record now? I'm into four dimensional chess in terms of trying to grok the path forward at this point.

To be honest I don't know why there aren't posts with more experience here. I can understand people being afraid but seems you could always say "I hear of someone that did X" ;-) I'm guessing everyone is lying but I've no data to base that on. I suppose I might lie but my GF says she doesn't want to and more power to her. She's an amazing and proud woman who has really turned her life around and just wants to be honest about her life and let the chips fall where they may. Through everything she's become someone I really look up to and respect so maybe that's the meaning beneath the maddess.

[britmaveric]

Said "Yes"?? . I think regardless it doesnt matter, but not so sure about those govt types. BTW there is no way they can ever prove she worked in such employment.

[paulfr]

Said "Yes"?? . I think regardless it doesnt matter, but not so sure about those govt types. BTW there is no way they can ever prove she worked in such employment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Probably not. Totster and you have a point.

But it is foolish to underestimate the skills of a professional. The Visa staff is like a judge who hears lies all day long. I suspect they know how to uncover someone not being truthful as that is their job and they have lots of practice with the situation, we applicants do not.

I am just as unsure about what to do as easyb.

That is why we need to keep pressing for someone that has some direct experience or knows some inside information about Embassy/USCIS policy.

As easyb said, it is hard to believe no one has any info here. My guess is that at least half the US-Thai marriages in Thailand involve a woman with some 'naughty nite life' experience.

Anyone ??

Anyone know anyone ?

Thanks

[IMA_FARANG]

5 baht says if you answer yes = no visa

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're probably right. However, I know for a fact that age and length of time since a person worked as a hostess (see, I didn't use the bar + girl word) makes a difference. For example a 25 year old hostess who hasn't worked for 2 years probably won't get a visa even if she is married to an american. A 45 year old woman who once worked but hasn't worked for 15 years, might be able to get that visa. Maybe that isn't fair, but it is how it works.

[Dr. Burrito]

My guess is that after they say no this time, and that's abotu a 99.5% certainty, you will have to toss the passport and go in at some future point with a clean passport. They will mark the refusal fact in this one, so they will always know she was refused if she submits this one again. Sad part is, they might know anyway, as she will have also listed her Thai ID number. That might become part of some permanent record, but that's hard to say.

Outstanding that she was honest on her application, but they aren't going take that honesty as a factor I fear.

[easyb]

Said "Yes"?? . I think regardless it doesnt matter, but not so sure about those govt types. BTW there is no way they can ever prove she worked in such employment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They don't have to prove it. They just have to decide that they think she is lying and make their decision. And they can make the decision on a broad number of factors, of which risk of return is a big one.

For me the question seems to hinge on something different. Does the case officer trust the applicant? Past work in this line might be an indication of behavior that might make the person unsuitable or indicate a predilection for willingness to overstay visas for instance. That's a factor for them to consider along with employment, ties to Thailand, relationship and other things. What I don't know here, and for me the nut of the question, is all things being equal does honesty improve trust or does the officer prefer to ignore what he knows is a probable lie if he otherwise trusts the applicant?