Warning about the Bangkok Immigration Visa Unit

[khrfx4 16]

I will preface this by saying up to and through my fiance's interview everything went fine, aside from us getting a 221(g) forcing me to return to the US to prove "domicile".

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My fiance had to do a new medical as her first medical was expiring on Feb 21. As many of you should know the validity of a K1 visa is only good for 6 months from the date of the last medical.

She went to Bangkok and got a new medical on Monday Jan 11 and mailed it to then. The IV or (Immigration Visa) Unit sent an email to us Friday, Jan 15, saying there was a problem with the medical and she needed to go back to Bangkok, pick up her medical, take it to the hospital and get it corrected. Obviously, this was through no fault of her own. They only gave her 2, two-hour windows in which to pick up the medical…Monday or Wednesday between 1-3pm.

We had a long planned move to Northeast Thailand coming on Tuesday so she went to Bangkok the very next Monday and ran into a closed Embassy due to a holiday. I couldn’t believe the person who had written us the email hadn’t been thoughtful enough to mention the very next Monday was a holiday when this person was writing the email on a Friday before a long weekend. Everybody is always thinking about their upcoming holiday on the Friday before. They didn’t even put the disclaimer in the email (except on holidays) like they do on the Embassy website, which might have given us a clue.

Anyway, now we had to postpone the long awaited move from Banglamung to our home in Kalasin so she could go again on Wednesday, which was the next narrow window given to her this week to pick up the medical.

She arrived early, but was jerked around and had to wait about 30 minutes to get inside because the IV Unit thought this would be a really good time to have a meeting. After 30 more minutes of waiting and her reminding them she had an appointment at the hospital they came out and told her the IV Unit was too busy and to go home, they would contact her again with another time!

My fiancé was almost in tears and was shaking so badly she had to sit down for a while before heading back to the bus station. This was our second failed attempt at doing as they instructed to pick up this medical. I can't begin to tell you how angry I was, my whole body was also shaking. I could not believe a government agency from my country was treating my fiance like this.

That was when I KNEW I had to get my Congressman involved. I have already placed an initial call to his office. They had pushed us into a corner. The next time my fiancé goes to Bangkok it will entail a 1200 kilometer round-trip ride on a death-machine called a bus and over 1400 baht in expenses. I need to have a guarantee that when she goes to Bangkok next time they will not pull this cr..a..p again.

I do not know if this is happening because I threatened to contract my Congressman in my last email or whether this happens often and randomly to other people, but I would warn you to keep your emails factual and robotic just like the IV Unit does with their emails. The people in this IV Unit or at least some of them, are drunk with power and are the most callus people I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

[Alaska2012 462]

If the embassy is so limited in time when you can pick up her medical, wouldn't it be easier to just have a new one done again? That way you can do it when it suits you and just send it in.

[khrfx4 16]

That was a belated thought which I had today and next time if they play games again we will do just that, but you are talking about us having to spend another 3000 baht when we should not have to.

Seriouly, if this had happened to you, wouldn't be furious with them? You can't feel the pain and stress we have gone through?

[Alaska2012 462]

I totally get the frustration! I think all of us going through immigration just want to pull our hair out and scream at one point or another. But you guys are almost at the finish line now, see it as the last hurdle!

Is there any chance you can just call the doctor and ask him send a correct version of the medical to the embassy? Or is there something they forgot to do that requires a new exam?

[khrfx4 16]

555, if it were only that easy. The medical is a sealed top-secret document. It can only be transported between the hospital and embassy as a sealed package and they did not and will not tell us what the problem is, though we suspect it is because the doctor, in his arrogant and infinite wisdom felt the blood tests did not have to be done in our second medical.

Even if we knew this for sure she will still have to pick up this ultra-secret sealed medical package and I presumm it will have an equally secret message to the doctor inside that is for him alone...see where I'm going with this. This whole process is very a..n..a..l.

Edited January 20, 2016 by khrfx4

[Alaska2012 462]

Sometimes I wonder why they make things so darn difficult in parts of the world! My medical was sent straight to the embassy by the doctors office...you'd think the procedures should be the same everywhere!

Oh well, take a deep breath and know this part of the immigration journey is almost over!

[khrfx4 16]

Yeah, wouldn't that be nice. Then all my fiance would have had to do was go back to the hospital because the embassy would have probably sent the medical back them making them responsible since they screwed it up.

What a novel idea!

This Bangkok embassy has ZERO compassion or sympathy for applicants. They treat them like physical items on a shelf to be processed or like cattle and not real live human beings with lives of their own that get screwed up because they make it so difficult.

Even though we still have two things to do; get this new medical completed and me going home to prove domicile, my feeling now is that we will be scratching and clawing every inch of the way to get this visa approved so I'm not messing around with them anymore. I'm getting my Congressman involved. These are the only people government bureaucrats listen to when push comes to shove.

[Alaska2012 462]

Well at the end of the day your girlfriend still have to do her medical and you must prove domicile and there isn't much your congressman can do about that...

What proof of domicile did you send in? If you already sent in enough evidence in that matter and they are just being asshats then yes get help from the congressman but if your evidence was too weak you gotta go home.

[khrfx4 16]

Given what has happened, for what should have been a simple job of getting the medical fixed, I'm now anticipating any kind of problem. These people know all the tricks to trip you up if they want to, but turning my fiance away during a time they said she should come is way beyond messing with us. That's just plain rude and if they can do that then they are capable of anything.

I'm hoping my congressman will help make sure we do not have anymore problems with this medical with this IV Unit. We had made plans long ago to move to our home in Northeast Thailand which we had to do today. My fiance now has to travel a 1200 kilometer round trip to Bangkok next time and spend over 1400 baht getting there because they could not take 5 minutes to get her medical to her when she was right outside their door at a day and time they specified.

I'm not calling on him for the "Domicile" stuff YET!

As far as my domicile paperwork goes. I just sent them a bunch of documents that were supposedly received at their office on Jan 17. I even sent them a few documents they did not ask for, but they clearly prove my intent to reestablish residence in my home. I have not heard from them yet. I know that I still have to provide them with a driver's license and voter registration card when I get back to the US and I'm trying to confirm with them that this is all I have left to give them.

I'm also waiting for an explanation from them as to why she was turned away yesterday. We may find out they knew nothing about this. I have a little suspicion the Thai lady who told her this did not have the power or authorization to do this, but Thai people are very prone to being drunk with authority if they think they are at a higher status than another Thai girl as I'm sure they assume with almost every girl who walks into that embassy and there is probably a lot of jealousy going on as well that these girls get to go to America and they don't.

Reading your message again, I'm not sure you really understand my intent in getting my Congressman involved. I certainly don't expect him to get it waived and I don't expect him to take the medical for her. I hope he will get the IV Unit to stick to their word so the next time she comes, they treat her with a modicum of dignity and give her the medical that she traveled so far to get. In other words......DO THEIR JOB.

Edited January 21, 2016 by khrfx4

[aquadude2 0]

Sorry for your issues but feel stating to them you are going to involve a Congressman probably didnt help your cause. I doubt your Congressman will do anything, they get involved when there have been serious issues in the process, not a minor or short delay or what ends up being a $40 dollar round trip to get it completed. About the holiday, it is pretty much on you, cant blame them you didnt think about it being a holiday. If I remember correctly, their website lists holidays. Sorry but you have to remember, they are government employee's. Anyway, valuable lesson to be learned here, if you dont know already, Thai's in general dont respond well to criticism and even less well to threats of going over their head. Actually the American INS/DHS isn't any better with either. I let my now wife deal with the Thai's, she is way more laid back than I am. One last point, if your planning on living in Thailand, why the K-1 visa?

[Anh map 2,098]

Congress members don't have as much juice as US Senators.

[HFM181818 750]

No senator nor congressman can order the IV unit to do anything....they have NO power nor authority over them....for a very simple, legal fact. Congress is in the Legislative branch of our government while the State Dept is in the Executive branch....and no one from one branch of government can tell someone in another branch of government what to do. Period. All congressmen or senators can do is write letters...which only have to be answered within three days of receipt...but compliance with whatever nonsense is being requested is NOT something that the COs have to do....I don't know why people believe that Congress is empowered to tell anyone and everyone what to do....sorry...they have no authority over any of us.

As to some last minute meeting allegedly scheduled just to annoy you, well, when meetings are called, by the ambassador or the consul general, then that meeting will take place....even though they did not ask your permission to do so.

[Boiler 45,525]

You are dealing with the US Government, they really don't care what your problems are.

[HFM181818 750]

there are rules and procedures that have to be followed....however bureaucratic it seems....and no one asks any applicant if it's OK to hold a meeting some time during the day....

[Andy and Pui 16]

Not much you can do except supply the documents they want. We had a similar issue when Pui went through. The hospital filled out the paperwork on expired forms or a month and half later the form expired for when she had her interview. Same thing also happened to someone else who was trying to get a visa that day as well and she had gone to the other hospital in Bangkok. I think their process has changed since we went through because the day she had her interview I had her go back to the hospital to get the paperwork on the correct forms and had her go back to the Embassy and then she received got the visa and they told her to return in a few days to pick up her passport with visa. I also think they mail the passport back to you now instead of picking it back up at the embassy. It was a very stressful situation and because Pui did not get the visa at first she just wanted to go back to her appartment. After much talking she was able to do all of that. To this day she and the other lady she who had the expired medical forms dislike the lady who interviewed them.

Good luck!