Guest Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Hello, The last couple of discussions on US visas show there are some people on this board who are wise indeed. I decided to come out of the shadows because of them. This is my first post on Nanaplaza, though I've been registered under a different name for a long time (~4 years). That name gives too much personal information about me, so I've changed to this one. It's quite nice knowing I can finally post. However, I must keep the details a bit sparse so as not to identify myself too clearly. I would like to bring my fiancee, a Thai woman, back to the States to visit my family and to see my hometown. We applied for a tourist visa, but were turned down, though both of us have good jobs here and I tried my best to document our long relationship. Let me assure you that I worked very hard on the application, but that it was rejected. My beginning questions to the old hands here: How best to proceed? We will marry soon--will that help? We don't want to live in the US, but could we apply for an immigrant visa anyway? Wouldn't that be dishonest? The reason I ask this is twice during the tourist visa application process we were asked, "why don't you apply for a non-immigrant visa?" Our reply was "she doesn't want to immigrate" but the fact that they asked the question makes me curious. Thanks in advance, JimmyD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 The fact that they asked you why she doesn't get an immigrant visa shows that you both did not prove your connection to Thailand. They could care less about your relationship with each other, except as it relates to returning to Thailand. When applying for my wife's tourist visa I included a letter from my employer stating I was on indefinite assignment in Thailand and my wife was entitled to accompany me on my yearly home leaves. Do you include proof of your jobs and the intent to return to them? TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Thanks for your reply. I did indeed provide the information you have mentioned. I'd be happy to private message you the details, though I'm reluctant to post them publicly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grabii Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 Jimmy, Stressing your relationship with your fiancee is a double-edge sword, and likely hurt your fiancee more than it helped. If you are an expat, this has been sufficient in the past for many Thai women to get B2 visas for a vacation to the USA with their boyfriends. ThaiHome's experience is typical, and I had the same experience a few years ago. Maybe things are getting more difficult these days. If your fiancee decides to try again, review the documentation that you provide about yourself and your situation as an expat in Thailand - it is essential that the consular official be convinced that you will return to Thailand. Also provide a good itinerary for the visit, detailing when you will go, when you will return, and what you will be doing when in between those dates. You should have a reasonable, credible plan laid out - no big gaps and not 2 months of activity crammed into 2 weeks. Where did your fiancee apply for her visa, by the way? In Chiang Mai, or in Bangkok? Grabii JimmyD said:Hello, ... I would like to bring my fiancee, a Thai woman, back to the States to visit my family and to see my hometown. We applied for a tourist visa, but were turned down, though both of us have good jobs here and I tried my best to document our long relationship. Let me assure you that I worked very hard on the application, but that it was rejected. My beginning questions to the old hands here: How best to proceed? We will marry soon--will that help? We don't want to live in the US, but could we apply for an immigrant visa anyway? Wouldn't that be dishonest? The reason I ask this is twice during the tourist visa application process we were asked, "why don't you apply for a non-immigrant visa?" Our reply was "she doesn't want to immigrate" but the fact that they asked the question makes me curious. Thanks in advance, JimmyD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 Thanks for taking the time to reply Grabii. You wrote: Stressing your relationship with your fiancee is a double-edge sword, and likely hurt your fiancee more than it helped. Perhaps, and it was a consideration. however I believe it is best to be honest with the embassy. We will be dealing with them for years to come. In answer to your questions, we applied in Bangkok and I did provide an itinerary and purpose. As I said in my first post, I worked very hard on the application. It took us many months to investigate what was needed, gather evidence, and prepare a package to present. As in Saduam's excellent "Stoopid " thread, getting information from the embassy is not easy and the application process itself leaves a bit to be desired, as my British colleagues would phrase it. I even visited the embassy prior to applying, thinking that would be helpful (silly me). My original post has a question no one has touched yet, will our impending marriage make it easier? I will ask them when we go through the process as I will have to visit the embassy anyway for documents we will need to get married, but this post is an additional attempt to gather information. The second question is whether application for a non-immigrant visa is possible in our situation. If so, perhaps they should change the name from "non-immigrant!" Anything is possible, however; that's why I'm asking. If any of the old hands feel they might be able to give me some good information if they had more details, let me know and I'll give those details by private message. Thanks in advance, JimmyD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 Perhaps they suspect that you will get married in the US and try to adjust status there. If that is the case, being married and together in Thailand for a while first may indeed help. I was in your situation a couple of years ago. I had a solid job in Bangkok and wanted to take my wife on visits to the US. They granted her a 1 year multiple entry without an interview; my wife and I had not been married for very long at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 Thanks, KhMarried. It's nice to hear that there may be some hope. May I ask if you got the visa before or after the 9/11 disaster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 >>>May I ask if you got the visa before or after the 9/11 disaster?<<<< A very important question here, in this forum. Things can change on a dime, especially relating to the US. The rules can remain the same, but how they are interpreted by the powers that be, can be very erratic, at best. "I brought my girlfriend to US 3 years ago without any problem", has no bearing on today. What a quagmire this all is????? Fustrating as all hell. HT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSTEACH Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 Applying for a non-immigrant visa solely for the purpose of visiting the US would be considered fraud. That would not be within the context of the purpose of the non-immigrant visa. If you did this, which is a fairly long drawn out process these days, it could/would possibly invoke a ban on her traveling to the US in future years. So using that route, the non-immigrant visa , would be a definite no no. As far as being married legally (note: I don't believe the "village" marriage would count as it is NOT considered a binding legal marriage) I'm not qiute sure post 9/11 if that would have any bearing on her receiving a B2 visa. Your best bet will be to convince the consular officer that your feet are planted in concrete in Thailand and you WILL return. anything you can provide to back up your permanancy in LOS would be most helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 Thanks again to everyone who has taken time here to post. This is a very important issue to us. HITHAIED wrote: "I brought my girlfriend to US 3 years ago without any problem", has no bearing on today. What a quagmire this all is????? Frustrating as all hell. Amen, Brother. HSTeach wrote: Applying for a non-immigrant visa solely for the purpose of visiting the US would be considered fraud. That would not be within the context of the purpose of the non-immigrant visa. If you did this, which is a fairly long drawn out process these days, it could/would possibly invoke a ban on her traveling to the US in future years. I think that's the kind of logical, clear-cut conclusion a level-headed, intelligent person would arrive at given the information that is on the Embassy's web site. So, imagine my total confusion when both the intake officer and the consular officer asked why we didn't apply for an immigrant visa, even though it stated clearly on the application that we only wanted to visit for a short time. Their questions prompted my question. HSTeach, are you basing your answer (that applying for a non-immigrant visa would be fraud) solely on good logic, or do you have some other information confirming that it would be fraud? You also wrote: As far as being married legally (note: I don't believe the "village" marriage would count as it is NOT considered a binding legal marriage) I'm not quite sure post 9/11 if that would have any bearing on her receiving a B2 visa. I totally agree with you about legal marriage. I was referring to legal marriage in my previous posts. My fear is that we will be refused again, even though we are legally married. As far as 9/11, my gut feeling and some strong annectdotal evidence lead me to believe that things are stricter now than they were in the past. 9/11 seems a logical reason for this. Finally you wrote: Your best bet will be to convince the consular officer that your feet are planted in concrete in Thailand and you WILL return. anything you can provide to back up your permanancy in LOS would be most helpful. I agree totally. That's what we tried to do the first time. As HITHAIED wrote: "What a quagmire this all is????? Frustrating as all hell." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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