Thank You To The Us Embassy...They Gave My Wife A 10 Year Visa

[streetlite]

Here are our facts:

We've been together for 7 years and married for 2 years.

We live in a small Village in Central Thailand.

My wife has a 17 year old daughter.

She is 39 years old. I am 64 years old.

We live on my pension. We are not wealthy but live reasonably comfortable.

She has never been out of the Country. I've lived here permanently for 3 years.

Here's my story:

I sort of gave up hope after reading and hearing about the horror stories of others applying for a US Visa and being rejected or taking forever to process. Also the expense involved by using an agency. So I just forgot about the whole issue until just by chance after speaking with an agency they steered my toward applying for a Tourist Visa. They said the chances weren't good but it was worth a shot.

In late April, 2012 I decided to give the application a try.

Here are the steps:

1. Download form DS-160 from the Embassy site. This is for instructional purposes and is nice to have in front of you before going online to fill out the formal application. I printed a copy and read it many many times before I attempted the real thing.

2. Go to the Embassy website again to access DS-160 and start the process. It times out quickly so save after every page. Have all information (parents names, birthdates, etc) available before you start. Also have a digital pic ready for uploading. At the beginning they will ask if you want to upload your pic to make sure it meets the standards. Do that. Fill out every line of the app honestly and completely, including the "does not apply" boxes. You will be sent an "Application Successfully Submitted" e-mail with a bar code.

3. You must now set an interview date and for this you need a PIN number to access their calendar. You can apply for a PIN number from the same site using a credit card for the $15 fee. Get your access code via e-mail and this gives you the calendar of available dates and times. In our case the month of may was booked but they had a block of 7 days available in June. We chose June 12 for a 9 AM appointment.

4. You must pay an application fee before your interview and bring the receipt along with your acceptance page (with barcode) to the interview. The fee must be paid at an approved Thai post office. My Village post office could not do it so on a visit to Pattaya we went to the post office on Soi 13/2 and they knew immediately want needed to be done. It cost 5000+ Thai Baht, the rough equivelent to $160 USD. They gave us a receipt for the interview.

5. Now the nerve racking part begins. The Embassy only requires that you bring your interview confirmation, your bar coded application confirmation, and receipt of payment for the fee. So what else do you bring having no idea what they will ask or look for?

This is what we did:

1. We only wanted a 2 month Visa so I wrote a personal letter to the Embassy staff indicating as such and the fact that I wasn't sure if I would last a full 2 months in America. Told them how long we were together (7 years), how long we've been married (2 years) , where we lived (remote Village), my retirement status, etc. A letter with candor and some light hearted sentiments. I also had my brother and a friend send a letter to my wife via e-mail. I wrote the text, e-mailed to them and they in turn sent it back to her. I tried to make it easy for them. So, 3 letters.

2. We had many pictures together throughout relationship. My wife selected about 10 pictures and put them in a small flip book (4x6). Pics were of us, 17 year old daughter, our house, our pets, etc..

3. Our marriage certificates.

4 Her passport. my passport, her housebook, my yellow book.

Day of the Interview:

1. Went to Bangkok the day before (Monday) and stayed within walking distance of the Embassy.

2. Indicating that you must arrive 1/2 hour before your appointment we arrived an hour before the appointment only to fine the queue line almost a block long. The Embassy wasn't even open at that point. So get there early.

3. I was Not allowed to go into the Embassy waiting room with her. I was allowed to sit in an outside area but elected to return to the hotel.

4. Around 11 AM my wife calls me and says she is walking back to the hotel.

5. She said there were about 20 others waiting for interviews when she arrived. Eventually she was called to her station (she commented on how cute the young American interviewer was . Asked her basic question in Thai, where she lived, how long we lived here, about her daughter (17 yrs. old), where she was staying in America (she said New York even though we drilled New Jersey for a week prior), etc. She had a small photo album with her which he never asked to see. What they kept were her passport, marriage certificate, and the three letters written by my brother, a friend and myself.

She saw that some of the other women were handed back there passports after their interview. So we didn't know what to expect. We came back to the Village on Wednesday and on Saturday, in the mail, was her marriage certificate, letters and passport with a 10 year VISA stamp.

My wife stated how polite and helpful the Embassy staff was toward her. She speaks very little English and when they recognized this the interviewer switched to Thai.

Richard Smith

Edited July 9, 2012 by 7by7
Font and colour normalised as per forum netiquette.

[edwinclapham]

Congratulations . always a great feeling.

[steelepulse]

Congrats to you and the Mrs. My mrs just got her 2nd 10 year visa and before she got it I was looking at another site, visa journey I believe, and they showed the breakdown of each country the percentage of approved tourist visas, and believe it or not, around 8 out of 10 visas were approved for Thais wishing to visit the US.

[thaigold]

In spite of all the criticism embassies get, if you are up-front and legal, a visa for your wife is not a problem. The United States does not make your wife take a language test, like a certain English speaking embassy up on Wireless Road. We Americans thrive on diversity, not status.

[slowlyman]

Well done sir. I hope I can be as succesful. Thanks for posting.

[dekestone]

Congratulations! Nice to hear a positive story about the experience for once. Especially about the US embassy.

Edited July 9, 2012 by dekestone

[gudtymchuk]

Congratulations and a big thank you for your comprehensive post.