SAWASDEE 3 (2009 Thai thread restarted)

[scandal 951]

I just noticed something on the new Packet 3 checklist that has me a little concerned.

For the I-134 Affidavit of support, it asks for a copy of the Petitioner's Passport. I did include a copy of my biographical page and Thai entry stamps with the I-129F petition copy I gave my fiancée. However, I did not include the cover nor every single page. Would what she have ben sufficient, or should I be rushing her a copy of every page of my passport? Would scanned and printed copies be sufficient? Boy, as prepared as we've been, can always have a wrench thrown in the gears.

Any advice, especially from recent interviewees would be most appreciated.

I did photocopy all pages of my passport. I'm not sure if that is strictly necessary, but as usual, prefer to err on side of safety. Since it's only a copy, I think that scanning/emailing to your fiancee should be fine if you want to go that route.

My dilemma right now is how to handle my address change.

We got our NOA2 in January, and I expected that we'd get our Packet 3 very quickly after that. So I filled out all the forms (DS-156, DS-230 etc in Jan). However we were delayed 7 weeks at NVC and expect to get our Packet 3 any day now. In the meanwhile, I moved in Feb. So the US address on all the forms is the old address. I'm debating whether to do them all again and resend them to her with new address, or just let it slide and use the Jan forms. In particular, the DS156 EVAF form that has the electronic barcode - if I do it again, it will generate another barcode. I'm worried about complicating things by havnig two barcodes in the system for our file.

[ThaitoUSA 15]

Since the first DS-156 was never submitted, there is no barcode in the system. Though it's done online, it's not stored. People have made mistakes on their first DS-156 and just started over with no problems.

However, regarding your concern of whether to let the old address slide or use the new address, I would check what protocol should be followed. Whether you should contact NVC to let them know of the change and/or contact the consulate. On one of the forms it asks where your fiancée intends to live, so I would recommend using the new address.

Thank you for the advice about the scanned images. I did include that form from USCIS that states "I understand that photocopies are allowed and I may be asked to submit the original copies of any evidence." That is signed and dated this month. Perhaps that along with the printed out passport copies shall suffice. I'll do the whole thing just to be sure as well.

[mommymeow 0]

Wish I could go for K-1 or K-3 since it is faster to get an interview date for USEM in Bangkok. Our case was completed at NVC since Feb 3 and still waiting for an interview date. It has been such a long waiting.....9 months...

We don't get the interview date for April due to how busy the USEM in Bagnkok is. So I guess I will have to wait to see if i get any luck for May Interview date.

[daboyz 36]

Wish I could go for K-1 or K-3 since it is faster to get an interview date for USEM in Bangkok. Our case was completed at NVC since Feb 3 and still waiting for an interview date. It has been such a long waiting.....9 months...

We don't get the interview date for April due to how busy the USEM in Bagnkok is. So I guess I will have to wait to see if i get any luck for May Interview date.

You say that now, but once you get to the US you have no worries. You are done. No AOS etc. I-551 stamp with a green card. SS card in the mail. I know it sucks now, but you made the right decision.

[ThaitoUSA 15]

My fiancée makes me proud. She made a copy of the the copy of my picture and bio pages that I had sent for the police certificiate, so she's going to include that with Packet 3. It does state on the sheet "I and free to marry my fiancée and intend to do so within 90 days of her entering America," but I don't think the consulate should mind that.

[scandal 951]

Since the first DS-156 was never submitted, there is no barcode in the system. Though it's done online, it's not stored. People have made mistakes on their first DS-156 and just started over with no problems.

However, regarding your concern of whether to let the old address slide or use the new address, I would check what protocol should be followed. Whether you should contact NVC to let them know of the change and/or contact the consulate. On one of the forms it asks where your fiancée intends to live, so I would recommend using the new address.

Thank you for the advice about the scanned images. I did include that form from USCIS that states "I understand that photocopies are allowed and I may be asked to submit the original copies of any evidence." That is signed and dated this month. Perhaps that along with the printed out passport copies shall suffice. I'll do the whole thing just to be sure as well.

Thanks for the advice. I took it. I went back on the EVAF site and did a new DS156 with barcode. I also updated all other docs that mentioned my old address, and brought things current with March dates. Gonna put it in an expedite envelope at USPS right now.....

[scandal 951]

Wish I could go for K-1 or K-3 since it is faster to get an interview date for USEM in Bangkok. Our case was completed at NVC since Feb 3 and still waiting for an interview date. It has been such a long waiting.....9 months...

We don't get the interview date for April due to how busy the USEM in Bagnkok is. So I guess I will have to wait to see if i get any luck for May Interview date.

You say that now, but once you get to the US you have no worries. You are done. No AOS etc. I-551 stamp with a green card. SS card in the mail. I know it sucks now, but you made the right decision.

I can see your point about wanting to be done with the bureaucracy. However I guess my calculation was that anything we need to do AFTER she's here (AOS, AP, EAD, SSN, green card, removing conditions, and eventually naturalization) we will do TOGETHER. So the waiting really isn't the same thing at all as the waiting we are doing now before the visa. Hence I would be biased to whichever path leads to the quickest POE. Having said that, I'm not at all sure that K1/K3 actually gets a faster POE and you may well be right that IR1 could be better. For those who qualify, DCF has got to be the best. I did a DCF back in 1999 when I moved from Israel to the US with my then-wife and kids. It was entirely painless. I filed everything at Tel Aviv consulate in June and we were in the states in August. Immigrating to the US was the easy part. Keeping the marriage happy proved not to be so easy.

[Thai family 0]

Wish I could go for K-1 or K-3 since it is faster to get an interview date for USEM in Bangkok. Our case was completed at NVC since Feb 3 and still waiting for an interview date. It has been such a long waiting.....9 months...

We don't get the interview date for April due to how busy the USEM in Bagnkok is. So I guess I will have to wait to see if i get any luck for May Interview date.

Just be patient. You will be glad when it is all said and done that you went for the immigrant visa. It's been quite a process (read:hassle) since my DIL's been here, and she hasn't even applied for AOS yet! Of course that is another $1,010 and most likely a trip for an interview that will be at least 250 miles one way. The most recent addition this week was her driver's license. She couldn't get that until she had an EAD. She couldn't replace her SS card until she had an EAD. The guy at the DMV insisted in January that they had to get married again here! My son's off on military orders so I am helping her with all of this.

Thai Mom

[daboyz 36]

Wish I could go for K-1 or K-3 since it is faster to get an interview date for USEM in Bangkok. Our case was completed at NVC since Feb 3 and still waiting for an interview date. It has been such a long waiting.....9 months...

We don't get the interview date for April due to how busy the USEM in Bagnkok is. So I guess I will have to wait to see if i get any luck for May Interview date.

Just be patient. You will be glad when it is all said and done that you went for the immigrant visa. It's been quite a process (read:hassle) since my DIL's been here, and she hasn't even applied for AOS yet! Of course that is another $1,010 and most likely a trip for an interview that will be at least 250 miles one way. The most recent addition this week was her driver's license. She couldn't get that until she had an EAD. She couldn't replace her SS card until she had an EAD. The guy at the DMV insisted in January that they had to get married again here! My son's off on military orders so I am helping her with all of this.

Thai Mom

Making the case again. If you are married, go for CR-1/IR-1

[WROCLAW 0]

yes, this is correct. good luck w/everything.

[rsn 135]

I noticed many people mentioned that they collected chat logs for the interview. Regarding chat/IM logs for proof of an ongoing relationship, I don't plan on including them for a few reasons:

1.) I don't like the idea of some stranger at the embassy or in the govt reading over private conversations between my fiancee and I.

2.) I am a software engineer, so I don't like to spend too much time sitting in front of a computer after work (since I already spend a million hours as it is)

3.) We primarily chat over the phone, and only via IM occasionally

4.) I haven't collected any chat logs for the last year anyway.

I just filed my I-129F. Will the absence of chat logs hurt us at the interview?

Edited March 22, 2009 by rsn

[rsn 135]

Also, I have been reading in this thread that it is not, for some reason, a good idea to include photos of an engagement ceremony. Seriously? I included photos from our engagement ceremony with the I-129F as proof that we are in fact engaged, along w/ the engagement ring receipt. In order to be considered married, you have to actually be legally married last time I checked, and as a result registered somewhere as such. Is this really going to be a problem for us? Are they really not able to understand the difference between engaged and married at BKK? <rolls eyes>

[ThaitoUSA 15]

I think with other documentry proof, they are not needed at all. Would you be willing to include emails? You are free to Sharpie out any private information you don't wish to share. I would also recommend you include any snail mail letters with postage stamps, photographs together, proof of seeing each other since filing the I-129F, etc.

On the Packet 3 Checklist for Bangkok it states:

Evidence of Relationship: In order to process your case, the officer must be convinced of your relationship with Petitioner. You must bring with you at the time of interview sufficient evidence which proves your relationship, such as photographs, letters, e-mails, old household registries, or any other evidence of your relationship with the petitioner. Failure to bring these items will delay your case. If the cosular officer is not convinced of your relationship with Petitioner, he or she may require you to submit further evidence.

We included a page or two from a sampling of chats we've had over the past four years. I don't mind if some stranger reads them, as there is nothing to hide there. Again if there is private information, it can be blackened out.

I believe so long as you have sufficient evidence, a lack of chat records is just fine.

edit: In some locales, a wedding ceremony would disqualify you from K-1, even if no legal paperwork was ever filed. You don't want the CO to believe in any way that you had a wedding ceremony. So long as you are clear that it's just an engagement ceremony, I don't think there should be any problem whatsoever.

Edited March 22, 2009 by ThaitoUSA

[rsn 135]

I think with other documentry proof, they are not needed at all. Would you be willing to include emails? You are free to Sharpie out any private information you don't wish to share. I would also recommend you include any snail mail letters with postage stamps, photographs together, proof of seeing each other since filing the I-129F, etc.

On the Packet 3 Checklist for Bangkok it states:

Evidence of Relationship: In order to process your case, the officer must be convinced of your relationship with Petitioner. You must bring with you at the time of interview sufficient evidence which proves your relationship, such as photographs, letters, e-mails, old household registries, or any other evidence of your relationship with the petitioner. Failure to bring these items will delay your case. If the cosular officer is not convinced of your relationship with Petitioner, he or she may require you to submit further evidence.

We included a page or two from a sampling of chats we've had over the past four years. I don't mind if some stranger reads them, as there is nothing to hide there. Again if there is private information, it can be blackened out.

I believe so long as you have sufficient evidence, a lack of chat records is just fine.

edit: In some locales, a wedding ceremony would disqualify you from K-1, even if no legal paperwork was ever filed. You don't want the CO to believe in any way that you had a wedding ceremony. So long as you are clear that it's just an engagement ceremony, I don't think there should be any problem whatsoever.

I plan on including some carefully selected emails from each month for the interview. We should have lots of photos, receipts of flowers I have sent her, passport stamps, boarding passes, itineraries. I have proof that I have spent almost 3 of the last 12 months in Thailand with her as well, which I suspect will be quite helpful indeed. I guess I will consider saving some IM logs.

Regarding the engagement ceremony photos I sent with the I-129F, will those be seen/made available to the interviewer in BKK as well? If not, then I'll just omit them when I put together the evidence before the interview.

[ThaitoUSA 15]

Any evidence you submit, whether during I-129F filing or brought to the interview shall be accessible to the consulate officer. With all of your other proof, you may wish to exclude those photos. Your fiancée could always bring them but not submit them. If further evidence is asked for, they can be volunteered.