Thai Lawyer Needed But Not Really

[scottydel]

Hi,

37-year-old American. My wife and I are applying for a CR-1 visa for her. We're able to file in the Bangkok USCIS in a week or so (still gathering documents), but in four weeks I have to return to America to work. Though I'm getting organized and leaving her with as many of the documents as I can ahead of time, there will still be confusion as she starts to receive the different packets from the embassy and has to follow English instructions and mail the documents without me there to double check things. Here's what I think will make things difficult:

• She is from a small fishing village and this whole process is quite unfamiliar to her
• We'll be 12 time zones apart for most of this process so we're limited to postal mail, skype or email to communicate
• My wife's English and my Thai are not good enough to discuss the intricacies of applying for an immigration visa and all of the procedures that must be followed, to the letter

There is so much help on here and VJ I feel like I have a grasp on the entire process and don't feel like I need to spend $2,000 US on a lawyer to help me fill out forms. But on the other hand, if anything should come up that's unexpected, it could throw us for a loop as we might have a hard time communicating.

Does anyone know a Thai immigration lawyer who will give us a partial rate as I don't need full representation during the process, but just some consulting in Thai to my wife from time to time to explain where in the process we are, what she has to do next, etc? Or do I just need an interpreter? I've already started bucking down on my spoken Thai, but I don't think it will be good enough fast enough to see us through this whole process!

Any thoughts appreciated!

-Scott