I’m a US citizen and my Thai wife and I are currently living in Saudi Arabia. My wife wants to immigrate to the US. We have been married for more than 2 years. My university teaching contract is up in August of this year and we will travel to Thailand at that time.

Right now our plan is to go for the IR-1 by submitting the Form I-130 to the Chicago lockbox. We’ll complete the rest of the paperwork along the way, travel to Thailand in August, and go for the interview in Bangkok at the US embassy. When the visa is approved, we’ll fly on to the US to finalize immigration.

Questions:

1. Does anyone know if it is okay to initiate the IR-1, that is send in the Form I-130 to Chicago, while we are in Saudi Arabia or do we have to wait until physically present in Thailand to initiate the IR-1 petition? This is not clear on the US Embassy website. And the US embassy in Riyadh are not answering immigration questions.
   

1. Does this plan seem realistic or is there an overlooked option for US immigration given our situation as described? I understand the K-1/K-3 is a dead issue.
   

I am hoping that we can start the ball rolling now with I-130 and shave some time off waiting in Thailand for the interview. Otherwise it seems we would have to wait months or even up to a year in Thailand for a visa. We do not want to be separated during the visa process.

Hope someone out there could share information based on a similar situation. Thank you in advance.

The first step is to send the proper forms to USCIS (is this the lockbox you mention?). You can send it to them after they determine that your wife is not a terrorist (for $420) They will forward your application to the Consulate in Bangkok and everything else will have to happen there. It takes a a few months for this to happen. I think 4 for us but I understand it takes longer if you apply in the the States first. How much I do not know.