My thai wife and I have been married for 1.5 yrs. I work and have a house in the states but spend a large part of the year with my wife in Thailand. My family has never met her and of course they would like to as I and she also would like this to happen. My problem is that the whole visa process seems fairly complicated and I have been told that if you screw something up and the visa is denied then there is no chance of getting a visa in the future. I dont want to screw it up but at the same time Im hesitant in dropping a big chunk of money with a Thai visa company. I just read some information on the I-130 petition for relative alien. Is anyone familiar with this? Is this a viable option to going through the whole visa process? I would like to hear from anyone who has successfully been through the process as I have more questions.

Yep, got a problem here.

U.S. Embassy's visa page for both tourist and immigrant visas: http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/visas.html

And even more info on both at: www.visajourney.com

I'd think your wife would have difficulties getting a B-2 tourist visa since you are working and living in the U.S. The interviewing visa officer here might come to the conclusion that she will decide to stay in the U.S. rather than returning to Thailand.

Regarding the I-130 route, the IV or Immigrant Visa, this would most likely work. Since you have not been married for minimum of two years, I think she'd be going the "CR-1" route, or "Conditional Resident." Read through the two www sites above on this issue.

Once your wife is in the U.S. and gets a Green Card, then she'd be able to travel back to Thailand for visits. But, and this is a large BUT, is she spends too much time here, U.S. immigration could cancel her Green Card. It is meant for PRAs, or Permanent Resident Aliens, in the U.S., not for people who live mostly outside.

Mac

If the whole purpose is just so that your family can meet your wife in person, then Bermuda offers a visa-exempt entry for up to 6 months for a Thai citizen. Maybe a bit expensive but zero visa complications for your wife.

The flight from BKK to Bermuda would be through London where there would be no visa complications for a connection either.