K1 Visa (USA), BKK Embassy, Packet #3 questions

[oneday]

I'm looking for anyone with recent or not so recent experience with the US Embassy process here in Thailand on a couple of specific points.

Currently, our application is at the NVC (National Visa Center) in California; next step will be to send the package to BKK.

Does anyone know the validity period of the medical? Packet #3 instructions say this is tied to the Visa Validity period once it is issued, so this is something we’d like to know ahead of time. What I take this to mean is if your visa is issued and it's good for 6 months, but the validity of the medical ends before the expiration of the visa, that you should travel to the US before the medical expires and don't use the visa expiration as your limiting factor.

Packet #3 instructions say to get requested documents that are in Thai translated to English. How sticky is the Embassy on these translations? Do they look for some official stamp by someone who has been certified? I think I’ve read before there are acceptable translation services close to the embassy. If so, does anyone know of a service near the embassy or even one in Pattaya they used and had no problems with at the Embassy?

Thanks

Edited May 30, 2015 by oneday

[AaronLV]

The medical report is valid for 1 year from the date of the medical. Normally the Visa is valid for 6 months, but they will make it shorter if your medical is about to expire.

The medical takes 1/2 a day so you can do it when you are close to sending in your documents. On a K1 you are not going to run into the medical expiring before you get the visa.

There are plenty of translators all over, basically it needs to be attached together with translator signing it saying it is correct. I know some people who have done it themselves.

[oneday]

You answered with such authority in your response that I pretty much took it as fact. I also found mention of one year somewhere else so I thought…OK…1 year.

NOPE, the US Embassy actually got back to me with a response to my email…6 MONTHS validity for the medical and that was in two separate answers by two different people from the embassy.

This means anyone applying for a K1 fiancé visa in Bangkok needs to schedule their medical JUST BEFORE the interview because the validity of the visa will be limited by the validity of the medical. At least that’s how I see it. Only time will tell. I will try to remember to get back and update this thread when we get the visa.

The embassy also was emphatic that any translation must be a CERTIFIED translation which is exactly what it states in their Packet #3 instructions. Now it's very possible other individuals actual experiences differ from the strictness of the instructions, but we will not know that until we go for the interview.

I also want a good certified translation of the Birth Certificate and Marital Status from the Amphur to take with us to the US for the Adjustment of Status filing.

[ubonjoe]

Here is list of translators from the embassy website. http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/root/pdfs/translators_photographers.pdf

I suggest you have the translations certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The translation service you use can get it done for you.

I would use a copy of the MFA certified translations with the application and keep the original for future use.

[oneday]

The more I read up on the validity of the medical the more it seems the US Embassy in Bangkok, as opposed to what the USCIS accepts...a 1 year validity, has chosen to do their own thing and shorten what is normally a 1 year validity to 6 months. They put the start date of the visa as the date of your medical and 6 months after that the visa expires.

It is clearly stated here in the Embassy's packet #3 instructions:

"MEDICAL EXAMINATION: The IV unit will send you detailed information about Medical Examination Instructions in your Fiancé(e) (K) Visa Appointment Packet (Packet 4) once your Packet 3 is processed. Because the validity period of your visa is tied to the medical exam’s expiration date, applicants are cautioned not to schedule appointments too soon resulting in the medical exam expiring before the applicant’s desired travel period."

As further proof, why would there be any need to say that if the validity of the medical was 1 year?...there wouldn't be.