SAWASDEE 3 (2009 Thai thread restarted)

[Tom and Teaw 1]

@Tom and Teaw, Hey Tom,

I am waiting to hear some good news about Teaw's visit to the Embassy this Monday afternoon Thai time. I will keep my fingers crossed. She'll do fine.

Well, she went to the embassy and dropped off a ton of stuff for them to review showing our relationship...about 500 pages of emails and chats, a few more phone bills,

about 70 pictures of us together and stuff she wanted them to see. They took it all along with her passport, took her phone number and said they would call her real

soon and let her know. So now we have to wait and see what they do. I would think since they kept her passport it is a good sign, but I don't know what goes through

these peoples' minds. It would be real nice if there was some sort of actual guidelines as to exactly what they want so people would know exactly what to send in. So

as soon as I hear something I will let you know. Thanks!!

[dvddvd 0]

It's always a problem for us when the ticket doesn't match the name and we have to produce all kinds of documentation.

Don't you have to take her greencard and her passport when you travel out of the country?? Are you using the name on her passport for the ticket? That's what we do and we've never had to produce any "extra" documentation.

Edited April 5, 2010 by dvddvd

[rsn 135]

Don't you have to take her greencard and her passport when you travel out of the country?? Are you using the name on her passport for the ticket? That's what we do and we've never had to produce any "extra" documentation.

That's exactly what we have done and also haven't had any issues, but had a copy of our marriage cert just in case. I imagine if you bought the tickets in a name other than the one on the passport you might have issues.

[toma1 10]

Don't you have to take her greencard and her passport when you travel?? Are you using the name on her passport for the ticket? That's what we do and we've never had to produce any "extra" documentation.

Within the US we used her married name, because she doesn't carry a passport. Internationally we have to use her Thai passport name. This causes headaches with frequent flier programs. Some countries (Taiwan, Canada, etc.) give preferential visa treatment if you have a US GC, meaning that you end up having to show both a passport and a GC to enter and this has always required further documentation and caused delays.

[dvddvd 0]

Within the US we used her married name, because she doesn't carry a passport. Internationally we have to use her Thai passport name. This causes headaches with frequent flier programs. Some countries (Taiwan, Canada, etc.) give preferential visa treatment if you have a US GC, meaning that you end up having to show both a passport and a GC to enter and this has always required further documentation and caused delays.

Where can you get a list of the countries that give preferential visa treatment if you have a US GC?

[toma1 10]

Where can you get a list of the countries that give preferential visa treatment if you have a US GC?

I'm not aware of a list. You usually have to check each country. For example, Canada says this:

Many people do not require a visa to visit Canada. These include:

"persons lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence who are in possession of their alien registration card (Green card) or can provide other evidence of permanent residence;"

http://www.ci.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp

[daboyz 36]

http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations/plan_flight/international_travel_information/visa_passport_information/index.jsp

[dvddvd 0]

http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations/plan_flight/international_travel_information/visa_passport_information/index.jsp

Thanks. My wife and I are beginning to throw around summer vacation ideas and this will help a lot.

[toma1 10]

http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations/plan_flight/international_travel_information/visa_passport_information/index.jsp

VisaHQ has a similar tool, but I didn't think of that as being a "list" I guess. I just tried the Delta site and found that the resulting explanation is substantially more complicated than the Visa HQ site. Not sure if that's good or bad...

[Audy_Rob 26]

They took it all along with her passport, took her phone number and said they would call her real

soon and let her know.

I was expecting them to spend a few minutes going through the materials and then approve the Visa. I am a little disappointed. I will make sure Audy goes in from the start with everything we have for the relationship.

I think it is a very good sign they took her passport and phone number. I am predicting nothing but the best coming very soon. Good luck.

[Kang Lang 7]

took my husband snowboarding for the first time yesterday...his first time in the snow in fact. oh the hilarity. i just want to say it's spectacularly funny that every thai guy i know must have a picture of himself in the snow with no shirt on. hopefully the ladies don't operate the same way. .

i will post the pic tomorrow for some giggles if he's alright with it!

Edited April 5, 2010 by Kang Lang

[Tom and Teaw 1]

I was expecting them to spend a few minutes going through the materials and then approve the Visa. I am a little disappointed. I will make sure Audy goes in from the start with everything we have for the relationship.

I think it is a very good sign they took her passport and phone number. I am predicting nothing but the best coming very soon. Good luck.

I was hoping I'd hear something Tuesday but it turns out that it's a friggin Thai holiday...one of millions they seem to have...and it appears the embassy is closed that day!!! And then they are closed for 3-4 days next

week for Songkran. I know on the 24th the lady urged her to get her stuff in quick as they wanted to clear everything out before Songkran so I am expecting to hear something Wed (my Tuesday night) and I told her to call as

soon as she heard. I have been watching flight prices and I can still get over there by Sunday for the same price and I am going to check at work about taking off right away. Thanks for your support. I do think considering what has happened that you send all that you can for her to take to the interview. Teaw said there was another lady there from her interview day with the same thing...bring more proof of relationship. She said the girl's bf was some Thai guy who is a citizen here in the US and she only had about 30 pages of stuff and didn't have much on the interview day.

[Audy_Rob 26]

I was hoping I'd hear something Tuesday but it turns out that it's a friggin Thai holiday

And then they are closed for 3-4 days next week for Songkran.

I knew about Songkran but I did not know about today. Audy works for the Public Health Center and she has to work the holidays that occur during the weekdays. So she is working Tuesday in Thailand. She also is working all of Songkran by herself.

Our packet is on the way to the Embassy as of today according to NVC. I hope it gets to the Embassy OK with Songkran happening next week and the Embassy closed. I think Audy said Songkran is from the 13th to the 16th but I am not sure what days the Embassy are closed. They have it good at the Embassy because they take off American Holidays and Thai Holidays.

I hope Teaw gets her Visa Wednesday as I am sure you are right, they will want to clear out many pending matters before Songkran.

[Tom and Teaw 1]

You can go to the embassy website and type in embassy holidays and find a list of all the holidays it looks like they take...22 I counted. What

a great deal that is!!! DHL told me it takes 3 business days to get to the embassy and figure one day to log it in before they will say it's there.

That's what it was for us. I wrote the duty officer an email, gave him the BNK number and our names and they notified me that it was there but said it arrived on day 4....that is why I suspect they get several packages and then it takes a day to log them all in and process them to work on Packet 3.

I am assuming they are not working tomorrow but I don't see why the American employees can't still work!!! What the heck, that's their damn job!!!

If it ain't an American national holiday they should be in there working!!!

[TheBears 9]

Just popping in to meddle with the Thai K-1 kids. Really, though, I hope all of your cases go well. Here's some things I've gathered about the US Embassy in Bangkok.

Calendar of Holidays: http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/holidays.html

Evidence is the usual stuff. Money, pictures, and proof of consistent communication hold top seats. So if you sent her money, show it. If you paid sin sot, show it. Have her bring ALL the pictures. Two or three albums, if you have them. Submit one at the beginning and keep the other two as backup. Consistent communication would be cards, letters, chats, e-mail, phone history from the day you started talking up through the day of the interview.

There are usually less than 10 questions asked, with most girls getting 4 or 5. When/how did you meet? How many times has he visited you? When was the first/what did you do? When was the most recent/what did you do? When do you plan on getting married. If you've been divorced or have kids, she can expect a few extras about that.

From what I hear, there's a new CO. A man. He's brought a new question to the mix. What is you fiancee's name? What do you call him? Like... if she calls you Khun Chris or P' Chris when your name is Christopher. I like it. It's simple and cute.

Problems:

1. Not enough evidence.

Bring it ALL. Submit as much as the intake receptionist will allow and keep the rest as backup. If you get 221(g), they won't review the new documents right away. On average, it takes 10 calendar days. If you have the extra backup right there at the interview, then the will review it and approve it at the interview.

2. No visit within the past year.

Don't ask me why. I don't know why this is a problem. I would think that the CO would be understanding. But I've seen a lot of girls get 221(g) for this. It comes in the form of "we want to see more evidence" but the reason is because there hasn't been a visit in the past year and there isn't a record of consistent communication since the last visit.

3. No family and friends know about the Farang fiancee.

Cultural. Thai girls don't take casual boys home to Mom and Dad. So... if she's serious about you, she'll have taken you home and you'll have pics of that. Or letters from her friends/family saying that you've met. Although, I haven't had anyone tell me about this one for a year or so now. Since when we were deciding to go K-1 or CR-1.

Oh! If you speak to her in English, she can expect to interview in English. If you speak to her in Thai, she can expect to interview in Thai. But I'm sure you knew that already.

That's all I can think of. Enough meddling for one day.

I wish N'Teaw and N'Audy the best of luck! If they haven't yet, have them start poking around at usvisa4thai.com. The girls there are really nice and full of info.