About to start fiancee visa process. Can anyone with experience help?

[Golfguy2015]

I've read over the general stuff, and will be sending off to start the paperwork soon. But does anyone have any inside experience with this? For example what kind of questions will they be asking my gf when she goes to the embassy for the interview? I am currently in USA and she is in BKK. Also, I read where I need to have a certain income status, but my w-2's are under that ( I work a tipping job but on paper it's basically minimum wage ), but I have over 6 figures in savings and investments. Thanks a lot and any info is appreciated.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Moved to VISA & MIGRATION TO OTHER COUNTRIES forum.

Mac

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Golf

Start your research here: http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/immigrant_visas.html

Then go to www.visajourney.com and do a search for: fiancee

Lots of valuable info available.

Then, of course, in this ThaiVisa forum on immigration, do a search for: fiancee

Mac

[EyesWideOpen]

Worked out better for me to marry here first. Plus you have to love the

40 baht marriage fee. The US government wants to see you make

125 % of poverty level income, so around 25,000 per year. If your

income is less than that, it can be made up by have cash assets in

a bank account that are three times the difference between the income

stated on your tax return for 2014 . As I recall it becomes five times

if you are not married, This is the route I took, and it worked great.

Visa for my wife is now in hand...... As part of the packet three paperwork

you submit as the final part of the process, you will need to get a letter

from your bank verifying the assets. The entire process here took

three months for me, starting with getting married here.

While it may have looked strange to get married and file for a visa the

week after, it was not an issue. Just had this sense that it looked more

solid to actually be married, rather than applying for a fiancee visa and implying

you may or may not marry the girl when she comes over ........

Would be difficult to do all this from the states. To make things fly faster,

best to do a direct consular filing at the USCIS in Bangkok yourself...

[AaronLV]

Worked out better for me to marry here first. Plus you have to love the

40 baht marriage fee. The US government wants to see you make

125 % of poverty level income, so around 25,000 per year. If your

income is less than that, it can be made up by have cash assets in

a bank account that are three times the difference between the income

stated on your tax return for 2014 . As I recall it becomes five times

if you are not married, This is the route I took, and it worked great.

Visa for my wife is now in hand...... As part of the packet three paperwork

you submit as the final part of the process, you will need to get a letter

from your bank verifying the assets. The entire process here took

three months for me, starting with getting married here.

While it may have looked strange to get married and file for a visa the

week after, it was not an issue. Just had this sense that it looked more

solid to actually be married, rather than applying for a fiancee visa and implying

you may or may not marry the girl when she comes over ........

Would be difficult to do all this from the states. To make things fly faster,

best to do a direct consular filing at the USCIS in Bangkok yourself...

At this juncture for the OP DCF is not an option, must be on a valid visa (not tourist), and living here for 6 months to qualify. K1 will take between 5 to 8 months depending in being on top of the paperwork.

There is no advantage to being married and getting visa, as a matter of fact it takes longer to get a spousal visa then it does a fiancee visa (except in the case of filing DCF) The same scrutiny is applied to both. One exception is that you only need 3x the assets vs 5x assets for the finacee visa.

The current poverty guidelines is 19,912 for the a household of 2 (wife and husband), within the continental US. So provided there are no other dependents a minimum wage job with tips you should be able to qualify, if not you can use your income plus your assets in the case of not being married you will need 5 times the assets to make up for a short fall in your wage.

You are a long way off for worrying about the interview questions. Visajourney has a Thailand specific forum, and people who went through recently can probably give you a better idea of what the current line of question is as it changes with each consular. When we went through all the girls on that day were grilled by the consular.

[VIPinthailand]

with 19912 dollars a year in Thailand you are rich(50'000 bahts per month) . don't get married, just come to Thailand and get a job here.

[Golfguy2015]

Hope I don't seem stupid but what is this "5x the assets" thing? I fall below 19k on my w2's but have 30k liquid in bank, 67k 401k and 19k Roth IRA...is that ok?

[AaronLV]

Hope I don't seem stupid but what is this "5x the assets" thing? I fall below 19k on my w2's but have 30k liquid in bank, 67k 401k and 19k Roth IRA...is that ok?

You need 5x the difference between your amount below 19K. For instance say you have 15K then you need 20K in assets which looks like you do.

I would suggest trying to get a 2nd job and make up the difference between now and when you get to the embassy for the interview, as you will need current paystubs, and a letter from your employer. You also need to meet the income requirements for her to get her green card once she is in the US and you are married.

[EyesWideOpen]

For the visa for my wife, I only worked part time in the states for 2014

on a sort of vacation. So I only showed income on my tax return of $ 6,000.

I showed I had $ 65,000 in the bank. So no employee letters, and no pay

stubs. Just a tax return attached with the I-864 form. The entire process

from start to finish was 3 months when done here with direct consular filing.

Not sure about the fiancee process, but when already married here the

process seemed to fly......

[Thanyaburi Mac]

A friend in Pennsylvania filed a for a K1 Fiancee visa for his soon-to-be wife in May 2014, she arrived in PA May 2015.

Hopefully your case won't follow the same pathway. Depends a lot on which USCIS service office you're dealing with, some have huge backlogs of immigration work.

Mac

[EyesWideOpen]

It is sort of bizarre that the USCIS has a requirement for you to be a long term

resident of Thailand, between 6 months and 1 year according to what I just

read, in order for you to do a DCF at the USCIS office here in Bangkok. Yet

at the same time, they want you to show proof of domicile in America as well

as a tax return showing you made at least $ 20,000 working in America.....

So I guess they think when you left America to live in Thailand, you left your

house empty, and are able to make money online in America and then pay

taxes on it...... Pretty sure that is why so many people use a friend

or relative to fill out a I-864 affidavit of financial support.......

When I filled out the I-130 form, I certainly do not recall be asked how long

I had stayed in Thailand on any form. But perhaps they thumb through the

passport and checked the stamps, then raise it as a question if the time period

is too short.

[AaronLV]

A friend in Pennsylvania filed a for a K1 Fiancee visa for his soon-to-be wife in May 2014, she arrived in PA May 2015.

Hopefully your case won't follow the same pathway. Depends a lot on which USCIS service office you're dealing with, some have huge backlogs of immigration work.

Mac

That amount of time is probably the exception and not the norm. A lot of the process is also how quickly you react when you move to the next step, and getting the paperwork correct on the first mail in. For instance getting packet 3 as soon as soon as you receive the NOA2 you can start on it before the embassy mails you the letter, we were finished with the interview by the time our packet 3 letter showed up (1 1/2 month after getting the NOA2). It is all about being proactive, which is why using an attorney normally slows the process down.

Most of the people I have helped in the past couple of years have finished around 6 months.

[AaronLV]

It is sort of bizarre that the USCIS has a requirement for you to be a long term

resident of Thailand, between 6 months and 1 year according to what I just

read, in order for you to do a DCF at the USCIS office here in Bangkok. Yet

at the same time, they want you to show proof of domicile in America as well

as a tax return showing you made at least $ 20,000 working in America.....

So I guess they think when you left America to live in Thailand, you left your

house empty, and are able to make money online in America and then pay

taxes on it...... Pretty sure that is why so many people use a friend

or relative to fill out a I-864 affidavit of financial support.......

When I filled out the I-130 form, I certainly do not recall be asked how long

I had stayed in Thailand on any form. But perhaps they thumb through the

passport and checked the stamps, then raise it as a question if the time period

is too short.

Many people live overseas and work at foreign companies, which is what DCF is mainly for those who have setup a life and want to return to the US when their work is finished or moving on. Yes they require a tax return, because as a US Citizen you are required to file taxes on your world wide income. If you didn't make enough money to file a tax return you can put an explanation letter with the I864 of why you did not file taxes.

The domicile issue is fairly straight forward as I think most people who move overseas to work will keep some ties to the US (ie bank accounts, driver license, etc). They are making sure your intent is to move back.

When you turned in your paperwork at the USCIS office I am confident they checked your passport to see what type of visa or extension you were on here in Thailand, as I know a few people who were denied filing DCF because they hadn't been here long enough on the correct visa.