Hi,

Has anyone applied for a US nonimmigrant (B = tourist) visa online for a Thai, and wired the 6,000 baht MRV (application fee) from a US bank?

They state that the MRV must be transferred (to a Bank of America branch in Bangkok) in Thai baht only...no problem there, I can do it easily online via my US bank's website. However, my bank warns that when you send money internationally, they cannot guarantee the recipient will receive the full amount, due to possible fees on the receiving end.

So my question is, will Bank of America in Bangkok take any fees out of the 6,000 baht before the US embassy gets it? If so, I need to know how much so I can send more than 6,000 baht to cover it. I fear that if the embassy receives one satang less than 6k, they'll void the application, keep the money, and I'll have to start over.

Please only answer if you've had direct experience with this process (paying the US visa MRV via a bank transfer from the US to Thailand). And yes, I sent an e-mail to the US embassy in Thailand asking for clarification, but I thought I'd try here, too.

Thank you!

Update: the US embassy responded to my e-mail by simply copying and pasting information about paying the MRV in cash at Ayudhya Bank in Thailand from their website...nobody even seems to have read my e-mail. Sigh.

Postscript, for those who might have this question in the future: since I couldn't get a definitive answer from anyone (including Bank of America in the US) as to whether or not a service charge would be levied on the Thailand end, and since I didn't trust that my bank's exchange rate would be the same as BoA's exchange rate in Thailand, I overpaid...I sent 7,000 baht instead of the required 5,920 for the visa application (MRV) fee. Better too much than too little, right?

Well, after I noticed it was taking a bit long for my payment to show up in my profile on the US Embassy website, I wrote them, and they responded that since I overpaid by 1,080, they needed me to confirm that I accepted the fact that I wouldn't get a refund for the overage. Once I did that, they accepted my payment and I was able to schedule the in-person visa interview online.