US B2 Visa for Thai Fiance

[dreamsignals86]

Hi everyone,

So my fiance has her visa interview on Wednesday and I'm a bit nervous. She's tried twice in the past without it being successful, but that was when I was living in the States and didn't have clear plans to return to Thailand. The last time she tried was about 2 years ago.

She has a reservation to go to the States and return on the same flight as me. For documentation, we have a reservation to board our dog at a kennel in Chiang Mai, my acceptance letter and receipt of payment to graduate school at Chulalongkorn (I'm currently on an ED visa and will be getting another one when I'm home for next year), a letter of leave from her work and a receipt for her next semester at her university. We also got a letter of recommendation from the Illinois (where my family is from) senator Dick Durbin and an invite from my parents to stay at their house when we visit. She's saved up over 50,000 baht and has a trust fund from her grandmother. Her parents are paying for her flight and giving her some more spending money and they've given us all their bank account and land information (her father owns a good amount of farmland). We also have our last lease that will be up in June (we plan on flying out June 12th), but we have signed another lease and put down a deposit on a new house that will start when we return from the States. We've traveled together to India, Malaysia, and Singapore and are going to bring pictures of the trip to India and our dogs. We've been together for 3 years. We plan on getting married in December in Thailand, but unfortunately my parents haven't bought their plane tickets yet or we would have brought those along as well. We do want to eventually have a wedding in the States next summer.... which we're not sure if we can do that on another tourist visa since we still won't plan on living in Thailand or if we'll need to do a fiance visa next time.

We don't plan on trying to make up any kind of stories or anything of that nature because it feels like our case is pretty good. I think the one thing that might make it look bad is that I'm 28 and she's 24. She's going to have my passport with her (and I'm going to see if they let me in the interview)- which has student visas and tourist visas over the last 9 years that I've spent in Thailand.

Is there anything I'm leaving out or other documents that might make her case look better? We're a bit nervous as she's been denied twice and hasn't been able to come see my home in the 3 years we've been together. I have a proof of residency document from Thai immigration that I could bring as well.

Thanks for the advice/encouragement.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

First off, " (and I'm going to see if they let me in the interview)," no, she'll be interviewed on her own.

I take it you live here in Thailand, at least for now. That's a plus. And, yes, she should take your original passport with her to the interview and you should flag the page with your ED visa. This should be right on top of whatever documentation you have. Indeed, she should have it in hand and pass over to the interviewing ConOff at the beginning of the interview. Also she should pass over your acceptance letter and receipt for grad school along with the passport.

You should also include the new lease in the package. You mention a "deposit on a new house." To buy?

It's important to show that you are going to return to Thailand after the U.S. visit, and the presumption will hopefully be that she'll return with you.

Re future marriage in the U.S. "... which we're not sure if we can do that on another tourist visa since we still won't plan on living in Thailand or if we'll need to do a fiance visa next time." I'd not raise this issue now, especially in regards to doing so while as a tourist. If the subject comes up, fine to mention the fiance visa option, not tourist.

Good luck, let us know how it comes out.

Mac

[dreamsignals86]

Thanks Mac,

The deposit for the house is for a new rental.

Thanks for the advice on everything else!

[dreamsignals86]

So she just got back from the interview and she got the visa. She said they asked more about me than her. Also asked what we planned to do with our dog and asked for pictures of him. I'm glad she brought them because the visa service said that the American embassy doesn't look at pictures.

Not sure how long her visa is going to be, will find out in 3 days!

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Good!! Congrats!!

And, "She said they asked more about me than her." Kinda like I figured....

Did the interviewing ConOff look at your passport, your Chula grad school papers, etc??

Please let us know how long the visa is good for. My now wife got 6-month validity visas her first two shots, then for the 3rd, got a 10-year special.

Mac

[dreamsignals86]

Yeah, he looked at every document she gave him. Looked at my passport and the visa we marked. He then went through my whole passport (which was a good thing as he saw old Thailand visas as well). The only thing he said he didn't need to see was the reservation for boarding the dog.

She said he was the first nice interviewer she had gotten as well. He flirted with her a bit too. I'm not complaining if it got her the visa! The visa should come Friday or Saturday and I'll update what she got.

Edited June 4, 2014 by dreamsignals86

[dreamsignals86]

Final update. Just got the visa today and she received a 10 year multiple entry visa! Not sure why, but we're sure happy about it.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Wow!! Altho not a totally uncommon outcome to a well prepared application.

Congrats, again, and keep on having fun....

Mac