Visiting visa for my wife

[Guest]

Can my wife in bkk apply for a visiting visa to come to the U.S while my I130 application is in processing?

[HSTEACH]

Question...Are you legally married in Thailand, as is the marriage registered with an Ampur? I don't know the exact answer, but will check some of the immigration sources on the net and will get back to you. My feeling is probably not. If you check with the embassy in Bangkok and inquire if the K-3/K-4 visas are being issued, you may be able to get her here faster.

[Guest]

Yes we got married in April 01 at the ampur in Phuket. I received a letter from the INS stated that my application will take 815-825 days to complete. I am a U.S citizens. I wont be going back there until mid of next year. If is going to take that long, I would like to get her a visiting visa while our application is being process.

[HSTEACH]

Maybe I found a solution to shorten your wait. The INS Family Life Act has been implemented and the K-3/K-4 visas are now being processed. What is that? It is a visa issued in your wife/husband's home country that allows them to come to the US while their application for the I-130 is pending. Requirements are: Must be legally married, must have applied for the I-130 dependent visa, and must be approved for a I-129F visa. That last requirement seems rather strange in that is the visa to get a fiance into the states, but the INS is using that method of qualification to approve K-3/K-4 visas.What YOU as the US citizen has to do is file a I-129F application with the INS in the states. The major difference is it is filed with the INS office in Chicago instead of with the regional INS offices which are dreadfully backlogged. Posting on the Google Immigration Marriage Visa newsgroup indicate these petitions are being approved in 25-30 days. Once it is approved it will be forwarded to the embassy in BKK where she wll be interviewed by the US State Department's Consular section. Same as a K-1. If her visa (K-3) is approved she may come to the US and apply for permanent residency while in the US instead of waiting in Thailand for the I-130 to be approved. Approximate time line from filing the I-129F to arrival in the US, based on postings in various newsgroups...maybe 2-3 months. Sure as hell beats 2 and a half years. Another note, she may apply for work authorization when she gets here. It's a rather simple process plus a hundred bucks. If you have any further questions about the K-3/K-4 visa, go to: www.ins/usdoj.gov.... hope this has been some help to you.... Good Luck!!

[Grabii]

Nasty,

Since you are legally married and you are living in the USA, chances are virtually nil that your wife can get a B-2 visa to visit the USA. It will take an exceedingly strong show of ties to Thailand to convince the embassy that your wife is not going to the USA to stay with you.

HSTeach gave a good description of the recently implemented K-3 visa process. I think this is the way you want to go.

Regards, JEff

quote:

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Originally posted by Nasty_1:

Yes we got married in April 01 at the ampur in Phuket. I received a letter from the INS stated that my application will take 815-825 days to complete. I am a U.S citizens. I wont be going back there until mid of next year. If is going to take that long, I would like to get her a visiting visa while our application is being process.

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[Guest]

Thanks guys, I was doing some research myself too and find out that the K3 visa must be file where you got married. It sound like my wife have to go apply for K3 visa at U.S embassy in thailand. Is this correct. Than when does I129F come into play.

K3 and K4 Visa Applications:

Applicants for the K3 and K4 visas must apply for those visas in the country where the marriage to the US citizen took place.

[HSTEACH]

You apply for the I-129F in the US first. When it is approved, it is forwarded to the US Embassy in BKK. The approval of your petition (the 129-F) gives your wife the authority to apply for the K-3 visa. That in itself is a separate procedure. She cannot apply until your petition as the sponser is approved. She will have her interview in Bangkok and the visa will be issued in Bangkok. The INS petition is approved by the INS, the decision whether or not to issue her the visa is by the State Department in BKK.

[Guest]

Nasty1,

I will not take 800 days to process your application, it will take more like 90 days for and spousal application. To check on the status of your case check at www.shusterman.com under processing times. To put in my recommendations for you, have your wife go the the US Embassy today and pick up packet three, and complete the forms and get everything together that is required. Once you have the approval notice from the INS you can send the Original approval notice along with copies of all the forms (I-130 etc..) that you sent the INS to your wife. She can then take all of that to the US embassy and they can create a temp file in which they can issue an immigrant visa with, this would be much quicker that via the national visa center. I just found out about this route the other day talking to the genlteman at the Embassy, and plan of giving it a shot it can save at least 4-6 weeks time for me, and I've had the approval notice for a while now.