U.S. perm. residency visa/Thai police certificate?

[dean]

I'm continuing on my own to get U.S. permanent residency visas for my Thai wife and her three kids. I got the kids passports in the mail yesterday and will go to the U.S. on Tuesday for two weeks to beg my brother to sign a co-sponsorship of my wife and kids (actually, we will have a nice discussion with an immigration attorney with practical experience, covering the worst case scenerio of my wife and kids going on welfare, to see if the U.S. government actually goes after the sponsors of immigrants to have them re-pay the government for any expenses). Now, all I need on this end, before applying for the State Department interview, is to get a certificate from a Thai judicial or police department, stating that my wife and her 18 year old daughter have no criminal records. Anyone have any knowledge on exactly what Thai department to go to to get the certificate? I still hope to be out of here by the middle of October, 2008.

[khun_khon_neua]

Hopefully your nice immigration attorney is familiar with the fact that if you live in Thailand you can file the I-130 with USCIS office in Bangkok, shortening the time span by probably a year.

 

For the police certificate, see question #13 on in this FAQ .

 

You have a lot of steps to take before you do the interview at the Consulate. That is the last thing.

 

 

 

[HSTEACH]

When you go to the Royal Thai Police to get her "certificate", a little "tea money" will get the needed paperwork the next day instead of having a two week wait.

[Torneyboy]

2000 for same day!

[dean]

When dealing with the "dragon lady" at Homeland Security, she told me, and I signed off, on having the Bangkok Embassy handle my wife and kids visa application. From everything that I have read and heard, once the interview there is over, the visa is either approved or denied and if approved, they put it in the passport of the Thai applicant. My wife and I went to the Chiang Mai Police Building today and were told that the only place to get the certificate is through Bangkok and he gave us the (hopefully) right phone number to call, which we will do on Monday. My hope is that the application can be taken over the phone, money for the certificate can be mailed and I can pick it up on May 9, the day I get back from the U.S. and land in BKK. I really don't need to make a special trip to Bangkok, along with my wife and oldest daughter, as the entire family will have to go to Bangkok for the interview process. So far, this has been a pain in the ass, having to deal with the "dragon lady," and having my wife tell me that she is not on any terms with her ex-husband and it taking a month to get passports for the kids, since she wasn't going to get permission from her ex for that. She had to get to people to verify that she (and I) are the sole supporter of the 3 children. She did tell me that she has a document (hopefully) in Thai that gives her sole custody of the kids. I will get it translated to English when I get back from the States. The only major hurdle is the sponsorship/co_sponsorship. The U.S. government makes it clear that they leave the sponsors/co-sponsors on the hook for 10 years for any money paid to permanent residents from the government, which I assume would include welfare, hospitalization and government backed loans. The only reason that I am seeing an immigration attorney in the States is to assure (hopefully) my brother that, in practical terms, the U.S. Government is not going to come after his assets in any worst case scenario. I'm still planning on leaving Thailand in October. Like I said before, if I knew two years ago what I know now, I'd take the fiance visa and get my wife and her kids to the U.S. and then apply for permanant residence. It may take longer but they are not going to deport anyone while the process goes on.

[HSTEACH]

The consular officer will keep the passports if approved and give you a special pass to return the following afternoon to pick them up with the visas attached. When you go for the interview, which really is a formality if all the paperwork is in order, you can tell who was or was not approved by who leaves with their passport. No passport..approved...passport in hand...denied.

 

Good luck to you, your wife and kids!

[passingthru69]

Well

I hope you can get the visa's.

But my main question I have is are you already planning on putting them on welfare?

If this is the case go ahead and get mad, but stay in Thailand.....

I and others jump through hoops and provide all the money info showing that we can support our new ladies and we plug along..

Please set me straight if I read this post wrong.

[..]

...the visa is either approved or denied and if approved, they put it in the passport of the Thai applicant...

The stamp the passport if they deny as well. Has info like applied for date and "denied."

 

Cheers,

SD

[HSTEACH]

SD,

Have you ever heard of anyone being denied either a K-1 or K-3? In the time my GF went through a K-1 and years later my Thai wife did the K-3 bit (probably the only fool here that's done both the K-1 and K-3 with two different woman) I used to really keep up with Bangkok consular matters and never once heard anyone being denied.

[dean]

Of course I don't plan on going on welfare on returning to U.S. In 54 years, I have never taken a dime from the U.S. government for anything (welfare, disability, government backed loans or anything) and I would bring my family back to Thailand before that happened in the future. For a family of six persons, the U.S. government requires that you have assets which would cover 125% of the poverty line for 3 years. This works out to around 35,000 per year and so, I need assets to cover $105,000. I have cash of $70,000 and trust money that I receive months of $24,000 (over a 3 year period). I have some timeshares that I can sell for $45,000 but I don't think that the interviewee will count those although I'll take the deeds and letters from re-sale agencies on what they are worth. I have two houses here, in my wife's name, that are worth around 7,000,000 baht that I don't think the interviewee will count. I also have loaned another brother $45,000 that I don't think the interviewee will count. I asked another brother last Movember if he would co-sponsor because it would make things a lot easier and originally, he said yes with no hesitation. I sent him the application and details of the requirements of co-sponsorship and in those details, the U.S. government does state a worst case scenario for co-sponsors. He is afraid he could be on the hook for hundres of thousands of dollars. That is why I 'm seing an immigration attorney while in the U.S. I'm assuming that most of you that have gotten a permanent residency visa for their Thai wifes and possibly children used their job and a letter from their boss as the main source of covering the sponsorship financial requirements. I have never worked for someone in my life, alway been self employeed. I can easily make $50,000 a year in the hardwood flooring business (although it may take me 3-4 months to get it going again when I get back in October) and can make more than that if I push it. I haven't worked in 3-4 years and it shows it on my tax returns. I am going to ask an immigration attorney if I can use the returns of my best years over the last 10 years to fullfil the financial requirements of sponsorship. Co-sponsorship would make it easier. I hope that you are right about the interview being a formality. At that time, I expect to have the sponsorship problem taken care of and there are no other red flags that would come up.