Usa Immigrant Visa Issued

[scottydel]

Happy to say my wife passed her CR-1 interview this week and will receive an Immigrant Visa. We are married and have a 5-year-old child together. She was asked questions mainly pertaining to us, when we met and our son. We had loads of documentation/evidence to provide.

We were denied a tourist visa twice, so it feels great to finally pass.

[MCR2k1]

Congratulations.

My wife and I will be filing an I-130 very soon so I have a couple of quick questions;

1.Were you able to file directly with USCIS in Bangkok (DCF)? If so how did you prove residency in Thailand? Or did you file it with one of the US lockboxes?

2. How long did the full process take, from filing your petition to the visa interview? How long did it take to get approval on the I-130?

I'm confident that we'll be fine - we have lots of evidence for our relationship and she has been to the US on two different visas, once before I met her in 2007 on a J-1 and then again with me last year on a B1 tourist visa issued here in BKK. My only concern is that I have not been working for a few years so I cannot show means of support but my parents will be a co-sponsor and their funds/assets will be plenty. We will also be living in the same household as them when we first relocate to the US.

I would love to file directly with USCIS in BKK to shorten the wait time, but from what I can tell thus far that won't be possible with a multi-entry Non Immigrant O visa and a condo lease in my/our name.

Thanks!

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Hmmm, MCR, i'd have thought that if you have a semi long term status here, even if on a Non-O, you'd be covered for local filing.

I was on a year long Non-O for five years before I switched over to a "retirement" extension, just got tired of traveling every 90 days on my passport's demand rather than my own schedule.

At least give it a shot, or wander down to Wireless Road and ask:

Contact Information

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Address: Sindhorn Building

Tower 2, 15th Floor

130-132 Wireless Road

Bangkok 10330, THAILAND

Tel.: 02-205-5352/5382 (within Thailand)

Tel.: 011-662-205-5352 (from the United States)

Email:

BKKCIS.Inquiries

@dhs.gov

The Bangkok Office is located next door to the U.S. Embassy, Tower 2, 15th Floor, Sindhorn Tower Building. Pay parking and access for individuals with special needs is available.

The office is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 12:00 noon. We are closed on Thai and American holidays.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Mac

[MCR2k1]

Yeah Mac I sent them an email and they said to call or to come in to the office to discuss local filing eligibility.

I think I read somewhere that you need a one-year extension of stay to be able to do a DCF/local filing (not a multi-entry); I don't have this as I don't have the funds nor a work permit. Also I'm 31 years old, so obviously retirement status is out of the question. Multi-entry Non-O is really the only option for me and honestly I don't mind flying to somewhere else in the region for a quick sojourn every few months (Air Asia makes this affordable and I cannot stand border runs via bus or even my own car to Poipet).

Anyway I plan on going down to USCIS in the coming days. It's important to figure out if local filing is possible because we plan to travel a year from now, so if we have to do a US filing we'll be submitting the I-130 it in the next couple of weeks whereas if we're able to do it locally we can wait until early next year.

Cheers,

T

[Nisa]

How long was the process? As I understand it once the Bangkok Office approves they send the info to the NVC where you needs to submit other forms and then you get the letter from the embassy for the interview. Just curious how long each step took.

[theoldgit]

Off topic question removed, this thread is in respect of an Immigrant Visa that was granted, not tourist that wasn't.

The question has been asked in its own thread, please don't post the same question in multiple threads.