ThaiHome Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 One of the things the Consulates in China do is an "American " only time in the Visa section. A couple of times a week for an hour or so, only people with US Passports are allowed in and they can discuss the visa cases of people near and dear to them directly with the visa officer. The one time I went, the visa guy was very helpful, to the point of scheduling an interview for my wife (getting a tourist visa) the next day. (By the way they gave her a multi-year multi-entry visa, total time invested over 2 days was about 3 hours) He told me, they have some 600 Chinese in there every day trying to get visas, and the least they can do is jump the ones with American connections to the front. I told him they need to transfer some people with that attitude to Bangkok. He laughed and said he would volunteer. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCgringo Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 I am always amazed how badly American citizens are treated by their goverment when we travel, I never had to go to the Embassy for a visa , but the US Customs and Immigration when returning to the USA always seem to have a chip on their shoulder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 Grabii said:Kh, KhMarried said: In order for your wife to get into the US legally she had to get a visa of some kind (unless you were in the military and there's another route available to her that way?). Did she get a visa through a consulate in some other country? Grabii Hmmm...I'm kinda confuse. Does this mean if u r in the US military u can more easily bring ur GF to the US? Is there a special program to speed up the VISA process for the military? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 I have known 3 thai women who went for a tourist visa at the US embassy in the past 4 months. All got a 10 year multiple entry visa even though they only wanted a quick tourist visa. Thumbs up Americans on that one!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 >>>>>I have known 3 thai women who went for a tourist visa at the US embassy in the past 4 months. All got a 10 year multiple entry visa even though they only wanted a quick tourist visa. Thumbs up Americans on that one!!!!!! <<<<< Could you explain their circumstances? Sounds pretty unreal to me. HT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 "Thumbs up Americans on that one!!!!!! " Well, let's not get carried away. The ten year was probably given to avoid having to do the interview again as it must have been obvious that they could afford regular trips. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khun_Kong Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 My experience in BKK: Took what I thought would be one day to file everything. Drove up from Pattaya early AM, thought I would drive back in PM. Bwa ha ha ha haaa! Day 1: Arrived late morning. Sorry- too late. Forms only given out until some point in the morning (I can't remember when now). Cannot even get forms. Told come back in afternoon. Go back in afternoon, get forms. Must fill out forms and pay fee. Can only pay fee at Thai Post Office! Must bring receipt of payment to embassy. No problem- PO at Nana minutes from embassy. Go to PO. Sorry- closed for the day. Day 2: Go to post office early AM. Sorry- Thai holiday, PO closed. Have to return the next day. Day 3: Go to PO early, wait for it to open. Pay fee, get receipt. Go to embassy before morning closure time (see Day 1). Sorry- too late. Line forms early, cut-off point at 100 people that day. Now out of clean clothes. Have to go shopping to buy new clothes for both GF and self. Day 4: Go to embassy early, get on line. Get admitted. Get forms. Told to fill out forms and come back in afternoon. Go back. Given appointment for interview about 2 weeks down the road. So, had to stay the whole friggin' day just to hand in the goddamn papers (do you detect KK starting to lose his cool now?). Return late afternoon to PTY About 2 weeks later: Return for appointment. Wait in line to be told which window. Wait in line to go to window. This window checks forms and tells you to wait to be called. Stand for about 1.5 hours because not enough chairs. Cannot see any pattern of when I am to be called- electronic board with A21, then C47, B16, A22, etc.... The whole time, there are 2-3 windows that have somebody sitting there, apparently living, breathing, showing signs of life, whose sole raison d'etre seemed to be to chase away people who went to that window. Eventually get called to another window. With GF, talk to Thai employee for 2-3 minutes. He smiles, tells me to sit. 5 minutes later, GF comes back, with stamp "No valid reason to return" or some such crap. Gave up. Probably their desired outcome. Let's do the math: 100 applications/day at $100 USD = $10,000 USD/day = about 2.5 million USD/year. Wonder what that works out to for every APPROVED visa.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 We were travelling to the US together with her on visitor visas. I was living in Thailand and working for a Thai company at the time. One time we just kinda decided not to go back, and so ended up pursuing her green card from within the US. So it wasn't a matter of getting away with anything, since we had in fact intended to return to Thailand when we entered the US that time when we eventually decided to stay. So I guess saying "rearranged" is easy to say in retrospect, but not really accurate! The notion of having to deal with the bullshit at the US embassy in Bangkok was so repellent that I guess it's colored the way I think about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Suadum- I have been to the embassy a few times and know of your frustration. I especially like how they do not have an informational booth. Just a bunch of windows that take ages to get to. Day 1 Girlfriend got to the embassy nice and early today to turn in the DS-230 part I and the security told her they were not accepting visa forms today. Only performing interviews?? Funny thing is that the form has an expiration date of 5/31(holiday) and my girlfriend thinks they will not accept the form on Monday or Tuesday. Let the frustrations begin!!! Lets see how long this supposedly easy process will take. Bologna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Petchburi Pete Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Thanks for this post, Are you saying that you're going through the application process for a K-3 Visa ? ... if so, I didn't know it could be done from over here. I've got a friend who will be going through the K-3 Visa process from New England. Is the waiting period really up to 2 years when applied for from the States ? ... any knowledge of regional office variations like with the fiancee visa ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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