Thailand Embassy hostile?

[Ning 619]

Can you provide a link to that quote?

According to this US Government source, the population of Thai Town is only 10,000, with another 40,000 Thais living elsewhere in Los Angeles County:

http://www.preserveamerica.gov/09-17-08PAcommunity-thaitownCA.html

I will provide this so you can see there is a variation in the figures. Its the govenment that as said there are 2 to 3 million illegals in New York for example. In that report they have lost a million or so.

Los Angeles has the largest Thai population outside of Thailand. Roughly 80,000 of California's estimated 120,000 Thai Americans live in Los Angeles It is also home to the world's first and only Thai Town. In 2002 there was an estimated 80,000 Thai immigrants living in Los Angeles. Thai Chinese are also included in the population. Because of this, Los Angeles is sometimes referred to as Thailand's 78th province.

[lvriesling 11]

I will provide this so you can see there is a variation in the figures. Its the govenment that as said there are 2 to 3 million illegals in New York for example. In that report they have lost a million or so.

Los Angeles has the largest Thai population outside of Thailand. Roughly 80,000 of California's estimated 120,000 Thai Americans live in Los Angeles It is also home to the world's first and only Thai Town. In 2002 there was an estimated 80,000 Thai immigrants living in Los Angeles. Thai Chinese are also included in the population. Because of this, Los Angeles is sometimes referred to as Thailand's 78th province.

I understand that you are claiming higher numbers, but can you provide links to reliable sources for those numbers?

[lvriesling 11]

This source (city-data.com) indicates that the population of Thai Town is even lower, at only 5,397: http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Thai-Town-Los-Angeles-CA.html

[lvriesling 11]

This source (city-data.com) indicates that the population of Thai Town is even lower, at only 5,397: http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Thai-Town-Los-Angeles-CA.html

And if you scroll down to the pie chart "Races in Thai Town in Los Angeles, CA" - Thai Town is about 40% White, 40% Hispanic, 10% Asian, 5% Black, and 5% Biracial. So the Asian-origin population of Thai Town is only about 540 people.

Your text above appears to have come from Wikipedia, which is not considered a reliable source in and of itself because literally anyone can edit it at any time, inserting any text or numbers they wish. The Wikipedia article only cites a 2004 US Dept of Commerce report for its figure of 80,000 Thais in Los Angeles (as a whole) and it makes no attempt to provide any specific number with respect to the population of Thai Town (which is a very small neighborhood within the very large city of Los Angeles).

Your quoted figure of 250,000 Thais in Thai Town appears to be, quite frankly, preposterous. The modest number of residential housing units available within the Thai Town neighborhood could not possibly be sufficient to support this completely unrealistic, wildly inflated, alleged number of residents.

[pinoygwapo 1]

Ning, thanks for your informative and helpful pieces of advise. They are truly a big help.

[P and her J 0]

i have read tons of us visa interview experiences(US embassy in Bangkok). they are kinda mean but we have to accept that some thai women plan to do illegal stuff in legal way, so they have to be really strict. at US embassy in Bangkok, there's a woman (interviewer) that is very very strict, and so mean. every girls who interviewed with her wrote that the way she speaks to the girls is so cold, she throws the documents to the person who her interviewing instead of hand them back nicely, and lots more but i cant describe all because my english is not good enough. i hope that i dont get to interview with her,i cant take the situation like that because my mind is too weak lol i'd cry in front of her if she insults me lol.

[pinoygwapo 1]

I see your point but she remains a Thai citizen so has to prove beyond a doubt that she would return. We were told they believed our story but couldnt issue a tourist visa. They said it was a catch 22 which I had never heard of before that day. I know many Thais that would love to have a tourist visa & use it to gain entry only to never be seen again.

I can only say that in my five experiances with the U S embassy visa section I never had nor ever heard them speak to anyone in the way described. In fact when there was a huge problem with my case they went out of their way to help us including meeting us outside the building to bring me some documents. When they admitted they made a mistake in my interview date they allowed us to pick any day we wanted for the interview.

Any Thai that wants a tourist visa should study the strongest ties rule & do what they can to conform. If they dont or cant they will never get the visa.

well-explained! I love your thoughts on this sensitive matter, Ning! Thank you!

[pinoygwapo 1]

i have read tons of us visa interview experiences(US embassy in Bangkok). they are kinda mean but we have to accept that some thai women plan to do illegal stuff in legal way, so they have to be really strict. at US embassy in Bangkok, there's a woman (interviewer) that is very very strict, and so mean. every girls who interviewed with her wrote that the way she speaks to the girls is so cold, she throws the documents to the person who her interviewing instead of hand them back nicely, and lots more but i cant describe all because my english is not good enough. i hope that i dont get to interview with her,i cant take the situation like that because my mind is too weak lol i'd cry in front of her if she insults me lol.

It is always scary and nerve-racking to be on the "hot seat" especially with a cold, stringent, detrimental interviewing officer. I wonder who would interview me as well. I am wishing and praying that it would be someone nice, and I hope it goes as well for you, and for the rest of us here. Good Luck!

[Ning 619]

And if you scroll down to the pie chart "Races in Thai Town in Los Angeles, CA" - Thai Town is about 40% White, 40% Hispanic, 10% Asian, 5% Black, and 5% Biracial. So the Asian-origin population of Thai Town is only about 540 people.

Your text above appears to have come from Wikipedia, which is not considered a reliable source in and of itself because literally anyone can edit it at any time, inserting any text or numbers they wish. The Wikipedia article only cites a 2004 US Dept of Commerce report for its figure of 80,000 Thais in Los Angeles (as a whole) and it makes no attempt to provide any specific number with respect to the population of Thai Town (which is a very small neighborhood within the very large city of Los Angeles).

Your quoted figure of 250,000 Thais in Thai Town appears to be, quite frankly, preposterous. The modest number of residential housing units available within the Thai Town neighborhood could not possibly be sufficient to support this completely unrealistic, wildly inflated, alleged number of residents.

No I wont waste anymore time on this with you. It was your origianl intent to inflame people with your post warning others not to even try to get a tourist visa from that horrible embassy in BKK. The same embassy your wife recieved a visa from. Thats the exact same staff that issues all visas byu the way. So the real problem is that in your case she was treated badly? Or you just want to serve as Chicken Little?

Your quote? from the newspaper in BKK fails to indentify the evil staff member. Why not post that persons name? Or you can take action against the embassy for what they supposedly did to someone you dont even know.

[Ning 619]

It is always scary and nerve-racking to be on the "hot seat" especially with a cold, stringent, detrimental interviewing officer. I wonder who would interview me as well. I am wishing and praying that it would be someone nice, and I hope it goes as well for you, and for the rest of us here. Good Luck!

You will not have a problem other than we Thais are sensitive people & the officers are trained as would a lawyer be. They are able to remove all emotion from the process. We can not. Or I couldnt. My husband was able to be right there with me so I was able to do the interview with him as support. He was right all along; It was easy. My daugter & I were treated very well by a female USC & a Thai male staff. The interview took no more than 10 minutes. You will see & I hope report back here to help others overcome their fears.

Please keep in mind that the cases are reviewed & mostly decided before you ever step up to that window. If there was going to any serious problem you would know right now or soon after the submission of the P 3. As long as the documents are done correctly there should be no problem.

The interview simply provides a way for them to see first hand if you are what you appear to be on paper. In a real relationship for example. There may be a few questions surrounding that aspect of your life. Whatever is asked it will be something you can easily answer as long as there is a true foundation in your relationship. In your case from what I have seen you will probably be done in less than 15 minutes. You will walk outside & feel like it should have been more difficult! We wait so long while dwelling on our fears that it doesnt seem real that it was that simple.

Keep in mind those officers see over 700 cases per month. They are there to grant visas if the cases are correctly done. Just like yours. Relax now & get ready for the real journey you worked for.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Ning

[Ning 619]

i have read tons of us visa interview experiences(US embassy in Bangkok). they are kinda mean but we have to accept that some thai women plan to do illegal stuff in legal way, so they have to be really strict. at US embassy in Bangkok, there's a woman (interviewer) that is very very strict, and so mean. every girls who interviewed with her wrote that the way she speaks to the girls is so cold, she throws the documents to the person who her interviewing instead of hand them back nicely, and lots more but i cant describe all because my english is not good enough. i hope that i dont get to interview with her,i cant take the situation like that because my mind is too weak lol i'd cry in front of her if she insults me lol.

Please read my other post. I hope it will help you to ease your fears of whats to come. From what I have seen written by you & others this women many not be well mannered. Should you interview with her just keep in mind you wont be there long.

Your English is certianly good enough from what I see here. If you interview with her you will do fine. Just use that beautiful smile which I have to think begins on the inside.

[lvriesling 11]

No I wont waste anymore time on this with you. It was your origianl intent to inflame people with your post warning others not to even try to get a tourist visa from that horrible embassy in BKK. The same embassy your wife recieved a visa from. Thats the exact same staff that issues all visas byu the way. So the real problem is that in your case she was treated badly? Or you just want to serve as Chicken Little?

Your quote? from the newspaper in BKK fails to indentify the evil staff member. Why not post that persons name? Or you can take action against the embassy for what they supposedly did to someone you dont even know.

My review of the Bangkok Embassy gave it 5 stars (a perfect rating), and you can read that review here: http://www.visajourney.com/reviews/view-dos-cis-reviews.php?entry=8338

Also, I reprinted the Thai newspaper article in its entirety, and I provided a direct link to it as well. The Dutch citizen who wrote the letter probably did not know the name of the Embassy official behind the window. In fact, dozens of people on VJ (including myself) have described the notoriously strict female Embassy official who does K-1 and CR-1 visa interviews, yet to my knowledge absolutely no one on VJ has ever been able to identify her by name.

Note also that the title of this topic is "Thailand Embassy hostile?" - with a question mark - and the original post asked if anyone had a "similar or different" experience. The original intent was therefore to identify additional evidence that would either confirm or question the accuracy of the described experience.

Ning, you're entitled to your own opinion, but there are certain rules to be followed. Argue your position, whatever it might be, with facts and logic. False information (e.g., an impossibly large figure for the population of Thai Town) only hinders the process of debate and discredits the person who provides it. And while you are fully entitled to your own opinion, it's not at all appropriate to try to put your own words into other people's mouths. These simple rules help to ensure fair and honest debate.

[Boiler 45,510]

All that matters is whether the Consulate is in a high fraud country. The exact nuance of quite how high is not that significant, a lawyer posting on another board divided Consulates into 4 categories:

Low

Medium

High

Lagos

Edited February 6, 2012 by Boiler

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

one argumentative post removed. further posts along this line will result in additional action.

[JD63 4]

Ning's point is that the proportion of illegals in Thai Town is quite high. I think this is likely true from personal anecdotal evidence, but hard facts of this nature are impossible to come by.

As far as hard numbers of Thai people, If you read this link below from the LA times, in 1999, it states:

"The new Thai Town will include the area between Normandie and Western Avenues along Hollywood Boulevard, where Thai businesses abound. The neighborhood is also home to many of the 80,000 Thai estimated to be living in Southern California, said Chanchanit Martorell, director of the Thai Community Development Center"

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/28/local/me-27216

Also immigration numbers from Thailand have doubled from the year 2000 census to 2009

"According to the 2000 census there were 150,093 Thais in the United States. In 2009, 304,160 U.S. residents listed themselves as Thais"

So I would approximate the number of Thai Peoples that filled out a census form in southern california to be between 160-200K

Per the topic at hand, Ning is spot on, they won't give tourist visas without rock solid evidence that you will return, and this isn't even necessarily the BKK embassy. My SIL is a Thai citizen who is married to a Canadian and lives in Canada, she has been trying for 4 years to get a tourist visa to come and visit us and her child's grandparents. They have denied her multiple times because her ties to Canada aren't strong enough. Therefore, I am not at all surprised they would deny the visa described in this article, however, like many other people have stated I think it is someone trying to be inflammatory because they are angry they could not get a visa.

My review of the Bangkok Embassy gave it 5 stars (a perfect rating), and you can read that review here: http://www.visajourney.com/reviews/view-dos-cis-reviews.php?entry=8338

Also, I reprinted the Thai newspaper article in its entirety, and I provided a direct link to it as well. The Dutch citizen who wrote the letter probably did not know the name of the Embassy official behind the window. In fact, dozens of people on VJ (including myself) have described the notoriously strict female Embassy official who does K-1 and CR-1 visa interviews, yet to my knowledge absolutely no one on VJ has ever been able to identify her by name.

Note also that the title of this topic is "Thailand Embassy hostile?" - with a question mark - and the original post asked if anyone had a "similar or different" experience. The original intent was therefore to identify additional evidence that would either confirm or question the accuracy of the described experience.

Ning, you're entitled to your own opinion, but there are certain rules to be followed. Argue your position, whatever it might be, with facts and logic. False information (e.g., an impossibly large figure for the population of Thai Town) only hinders the process of debate and discredits the person who provides it. And while you are fully entitled to your own opinion, it's not at all appropriate to try to put your own words into other people's mouths. These simple rules help to ensure fair and honest debate.