Can someone help me?

[B840shelton 0]

Hello

I haven't been able to find much information on this topic. I have had a Thai girlfriend for a while now. I haven't applied for a fiance visa yet. She applied for a travel visa and she got approved. She said it is good for 10 years. So she can go back and forth within the 10 years. We are not sure what the maximum stay is each time. She came and visited me for 1 week. This was last month. Now I want her to come back and stay for 6 months. Who determines how long she can stay? From what I read it is the immigration officials at the port of entry? But if she bought a plane ticket that arrives in March and departs 6 months later, will this be a problem? Also, is there any way to get around the time constraints? I know an American citizen that was living in thailand, but he could only stay in the country a certain amount of time, so to get around it, he would fly to Hong Kong every 3 months or whatever it was. I am hoping that she can come and stay for the 6 months, and I will also apply for the Fiance visa while she is here. Does anybody know anything more about this?

[Jaylen Brit 0]

Limit on stay: For B-1 and B-2, alien is usually admitted for up to six months. He/she can apply for a renewal of status, which may be granted for up to six months. It may then be possible to apply for additional renewals, which are granted at the discretion of the Immigration Service. In the alternative, alien may apply to change to another visa status (such as H-1B worker), depending on the restrictions placed on the visitor visa status. VWPP aliens are restricted to a 90-day stay, and renewals are not possible.

(or so it says on the website /lawyers info page I just GOOGLED)

[motu 6]

... and I will also apply for the Fiance visa while she is here. Does anybody know anything more about this?

No, you can't; the fiance visa (k1) is done from here but its sent to the US embassy in her country. She then comes on the K1 and then you have 90 days to get married and file for Adjustment. You are probably thinking of adjusting status by getting married here - which is niether K1 or K3 or CR - but maybe others can post about their experiences - Adjusting status after marrying on a visitor or other visa is not too common a topic on these forums. Good Luck

[Jaylen Brit 0]

You CAN start the paperwork off for K1 while she is here but she MUST return to her own country before its issued (obviously) as she needs to attend interview in the US embassy in her country of residence; but there's no prob for you, the USC, starting the ball rolling while she's over on her B1 and helping her fill in the bio forms.

You must make sure tho that she doesn't overstay her visitor's visa as she entered the country with a clear non-immigrant intent.

[aussiewench 9]

... and I will also apply for the Fiance visa while she is here. Does anybody know anything more about this?

No, you can't; the fiance visa (k1) is done from here but its sent to the US embassy in her country.

As JB has just said, yes you can fill out and send in the I-129F and accompanying documents and evidence while she is there and she must then return to her country of residence for the interview.

Adjusting status after marrying on a visitor or other visa is not too common a topic on these forums.

Actually a lot more common then you may think. Lots of threads in the old forum are on this very issue. However the OP never mentioned anything about this so I wont go there

Edited February 14, 2006 by aussiewench

[sharky 2]

Hello

I haven't been able to find much information on this topic. I have had a Thai girlfriend for a while now. I haven't applied for a fiance visa yet. She applied for a travel visa and she got approved. She said it is good for 10 years. So she can go back and forth within the 10 years. We are not sure what the maximum stay is each time. She came and visited me for 1 week. This was last month. Now I want her to come back and stay for 6 months. Who determines how long she can stay? From what I read it is the immigration officials at the port of entry? But if she bought a plane ticket that arrives in March and departs 6 months later, will this be a problem? Also, is there any way to get around the time constraints? I know an American citizen that was living in thailand, but he could only stay in the country a certain amount of time, so to get around it, he would fly to Hong Kong every 3 months or whatever it was. I am hoping that she can come and stay for the 6 months, and I will also apply for the Fiance visa while she is here. Does anybody know anything more about this?

I also have a B1/B2 tourist visa. I don't think there would be a problem with booking a flight with a return date close to six months (obviously not over it!), that's what I did. HOWEVER, your girlfriend will have to convinve the POE officer that she has a good reason to stay for six months.

Apparently the DHS USED to stamp you passport for a six month stay..... mandatory (whether you were staying for two weeks or longer), but now if you are only staying for a two week period they will only stamp you for that..... so it is up to your girlfriend to convince them that she wants to stay longer.

I told them that I had a few friends in the states that I wanted to visit and travel around for a while for perhaps 5-6 months, they're normally ok with that type of thing, and then they stamped me for six months (that should work).

Then if you are not killing each other after the six month period! then you can start to file for the K1 visa whilst already in the states. This is how we did it, and it helps shorten the time period that you will be away from each other while the visa is being processed.

good luck

Paul

[twellspeak 0]

Some good advice here and I can not add much more... Just remember, every time she tries to extend her stay on the tourist visa the harder it will be to convince USCIS that she does not have immigrant intent. the last time my wife used her B1 visa (June 05) she was stamped in for 6 month, no questions asked. tourist visas are generally difficult to get in Thailand, I'm not sure if it had any bearing on how smooth our K1 processing went or not but it certianly did not hurt.

What you are describing is called a "visa run", it's what a lot of expats do to stay in the kingdom. Every 30,60,90 days they head for the border cross out for an hour or so then re-enter the country. upon re-entry their visa it stamped for another 30,60,90 days. So as long as they keep their visa valid they can have an indefinite stay in Thailand. To my knowledge, it is not possible to do something like that in the US.

Hello

I haven't been able to find much information on this topic. I have had a Thai girlfriend for a while now. I haven't applied for a fiance visa yet. She applied for a travel visa and she got approved. She said it is good for 10 years. So she can go back and forth within the 10 years. We are not sure what the maximum stay is each time. She came and visited me for 1 week. This was last month. Now I want her to come back and stay for 6 months. Who determines how long she can stay? From what I read it is the immigration officials at the port of entry? But if she bought a plane ticket that arrives in March and departs 6 months later, will this be a problem? Also, is there any way to get around the time constraints? I know an American citizen that was living in thailand, but he could only stay in the country a certain amount of time, so to get around it, he would fly to Hong Kong every 3 months or whatever it was. I am hoping that she can come and stay for the 6 months, and I will also apply for the Fiance visa while she is here. Does anybody know anything more about this?