Can my debt (USA) affect my non-immigrant VISA application?

[subiewrx]

Oh well thank God for the British NHS.

I don't quite understand what you are planning to do? Do a runner and try to default on all your debts?

What on earth are you going to do in Thailand, it's a good place to live for Expats on an excellent package or wealthy retirees.

How are you going to support yourself and even obtain the correct visa for a long term stay?

Sounds better to use your expensive education at home or somewhere else in the world to sort out your debts and start building a career- then you can look forward to spending time here in paradise ( joke)

"Do a runner and try to default on all your debts?"

Pretty Much lol

"What on earth are you going to do in Thailand, it's a good place to live for Expats on an excellent package or wealthy retirees."

Teach English, until I can do something with my programming/web design background... Perhaps make money via the internet (websites/blogging/vlogging etc etc) or get hired as a programmer/web-designer or do free-lance work.

"Sounds better to use your expensive education at home or somewhere else in the world to sort out your debts and start building a career"

I wanted to move to Thailand ANYWAY, I've been there several times, my uncle has lived there for over 20 years. I speak/read/write basic Thai, and as a young Korean guy... I found it to be a very very pleasant place to live. I was planning to stay through my student loans, I mean all my friends have student loans too. Once my mom accrued that $30,000 medical bill in one day when she collapsed, that's when the proverbial straw broke the camel's back.

[ClutchClark]

My mom is coming WITH me, once she sells her dry-cleaner, my uncle (her brother) has lived in Thailand for over 20 years.

I'm planning to get a ED non-immigrant VISA. I will just have to get accepted to an international university over there, which is extremely easy and cheap.

Subie, your circumstances are somewhat unique since you have solid connections in thailand and appear to possibly have the goal/opportunity to gain residency.

On the other hand, If you intend to rely on your US citizenship and passport in the future or possibly return to the US and take advantage of all the opportunities of employment, etc the US offers, then allowing your student loan debt to default WILL be very problematic for you. So will the credit card debt since its getting to the point in the US that ones credit rating is the standard metric used by landlords, employers, lenders, insurance providers, etc..

I wonder how a US employer that has Thai offices will look upon your US credit record if you were to seek employment at their Thailand subsidiary?

Even after the issuing banks consider your debt a "charge off", they will sell that debt to collection agencies and the debt can actually remain on your credit reports beyond 7 years as new agencies acquire the debt.

If you are quite certain you do not intend to return to the US and do not intend to take advantage of the benefits US citizenship brings at some point in your remaining 40+ years of life, then taking no further action on your debts will not be problematic.

Personally, I have never met a Korean-American who has not excelled in the US and I would think your earning potential and quality of life would be far better in the US than in Thailand (but you would know the facts and I only guess).

I would hate to see an educated and talented young man like yourself close doors unnecessarily because of these debts. I completely understand how overwhelming your situation must be to you but please realize that people with far worse debt problems eventually sort them out by working with the lenders. The main thing is to get it sorted early and not wait until you default. At that point, no lender will attempt to work with you. The student loan debt will haunt you forever.

Your student loan debt can be spread out over 20-years. These lenders want to work with borrowers but after you default they want to serve your cajones for breakfast. Now would be the time to work with them. Consolidate what can be consolidated. Request forbearance. They will grant you minimum monthly payments until you are on your feet.

The credit card debt is different. You can declare bankrupcy if you absolutely need to. They know it and so they will work with you as well regardless what they pretend.

I am sorry the hospital got you to pay with your credit card. They screwed you.

Best wishes to you and your mom.

Edited October 15, 2014 by ClutchClark

[subiewrx]

My mom is coming WITH me, once she sells her dry-cleaner, my uncle (her brother) has lived in Thailand for over 20 years.

I'm planning to get a ED non-immigrant VISA. I will just have to get accepted to an international university over there, which is extremely easy and cheap.

Subie, your circumstances are somewhat unique since you have solid connections in thailand and appear to possibly have the goal/opportunity to gain residency.

On the other hand, If you intend to rely on your US citizenship and passport in the future or possibly return to the US and take advantage of all the opportunities of employment, etc the US offers, then allowing your student loan debt to default WILL be very problematic for you. So will the credit card debt since its getting to the point in the US that ones credit rating is the standard metric used by landlords, employers, lenders, insurance providers, etc..

I wonder how a US employer that has Thai offices will look upon your US credit record if you were to seek employment at their Thailand subsidiary?

Even after the issuing banks consider your debt a "charge off", they will sell that debt to collection agencies and the debt can actually remain on your credit reports beyond 7 years as new agencies acquire the debt.

If you are quite certain you do not intend to return to the US and do not intend to take advantage of the benefits US citizenship brings at some point in your remaining 40+ years of life, then taking no further action on your debts will not be problematic.

Personally, I have never met a Korean-American who has not excelled in the US and I would think your earning potential and quality of life would be far better in the US than in Thailand (but you would know the facts and I only guess).

I would hate to see an educated and talented young man like yourself close doors unnecessarily because of these debts. I completely understand how overwhelming your situation must be to you but please realize that people with far worse debt problems eventually sort them out by working with the lenders. The main thing is to get it sorted early and not wait until you default. At that point, no lender will attempt to work with you. The student loan debt will haunt you forever.

Your student loan debt can be spread out over 20-years. These lenders want to work with borrowers but after you default they want to serve your cajones for breakfast. Now would be the time to work with them. Consolidate what can be consolidated. Request forbearance. They will grant you minimum monthly payments until you are on your feet.

The credit card debt is different. You can declare bankrupcy if you absolutely need to. They know it and so they will work with you as well regardless what they pretend.

I am sorry the hospital got you to pay with your credit card. They screwed you.

Best wishes to you and your mom.

Thank you for the sincere message and advice ClutchClark. Truly. Yeah, the hospital definitely screwed us, my mom barely speaks English and I was basically a kid when it happened.

I do plan to not come back to the states, as my father is living in Seoul, Korea, so that is also an option. I'm just choosing Thailand because pretty much everything is so much cheaper there. Maybe I'm young and naive to say I'll never come back to the states, and I'm sure there will be times when I miss the states. I mean I love having a hotdog at Dodger stadium and having a cold one at a Laker vs Celtics game, like any other American guy.

However, I also have a growing resentment towards the USA... I have buddies that served in the US Marines and Army and have seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have a buddy that lost his life, one that is crippled for life, and one that is severely traumatized. All for the US Government's conquest to quell terrorism and destroy weapons of mass destruction AKA to jack the shit out of their oil. My friend that is crippled severely injured his neck in a truck accident (he was a convoy driver.) Our government's answer to that is to jack him up on Hydrocodone (basically heroine), it's funny because my military buddies told me that we have platoons watching foreign country's poppy fields (heroine fields.) There are also documented photos of US soldiers guarding poppy fields in foreign lands. The biggest drug dealer on Earth is the US government. On top of that they want to slap us with a $30,000 medical bill because of dog-shit medicare, versus probably a bill under $1,000 if my mom collapsed in Korea or pretty much any other country on Earth.

[RTH10260]

Very good advise. BTW how is the person planning to pay his bills in Thailand?

He is almost definitely a troll.

But with five credit cards he could run up a bit more debt.

How am I a troll?

I maxed my credit cards to pay my mom's medical bill... L2read before you respond.

Just for personal interest cause I also hang out on an American forum elsewhere, and only if you wish to reveal some background:

Did this all happen before introduction of the Obamacare insurance setup, or was there some snag along the way?

[Friendly Stranger]

Very good advise. BTW how is the person planning to pay his bills in Thailand?

He is almost definitely a troll.

But with five credit cards he could run up a bit more debt.

How am I a troll?

I maxed my credit cards to pay my mom's medical bill... L2read before you respond.

Just for personal interest cause I also hang out on an American forum elsewhere, and only if you wish to reveal some background:

Did this all happen before introduction of the Obamacare insurance setup, or was there some snag along the way?

I read he mentioned this happened when he was a child.

To the OP, feel for you man, it's too bad they have a system set up as such that one has to think about finances instead of healing/providing and so forth.