Tourist B-2 Visa Declined - Planning to apply K-1 Visa

[Basab 1]

Hello

I am sorry if this is covered in an old post but I could not find anything.

I am a US citizen and my girlfriend is Thai. We met 5 months back in October 2015 - when I visited Thailand and we like each other a lot. We have been chatting and talking over the phone everyday since. We visited many places in Thailand together. She does not have a full time job in Thailand. She lives with her parents mostly and does part time work at some store.

So I wanted her to visit me for 2 weeks in US so that I can show her around and decide if we are both OK with being with each other. The US embassy in Bangkok denied her visa twice citing reason that she does not have strong ties with Thailand. Is this fair ? I never intend for her to break the law and wanted her to go back after her duration of stay.

In our paperwork for tourist visa first time she said I am her friend and got declined. Then second time she said boyfriend and that got declined too

So question is if I apply now for a K-1 Visa - will it get declined because her B-2 visa was declined ?

We are very stressed due to this. I feel they treated her unfairly. Is being from Thailand a factor ?

I want to see her more and I feel she needs to see me more before marrying. 5 month is not a long time. We do love each other. Is the K-1 Visa right for us ? I really appreciate any suggestion in this stressful period

Edited March 18, 2016 by Basab

[aleful 1,905]

hi

yes it's fair, she's supposed to show strong ties to her country, that she has reasons to return

no, it won't have a negative affect on the application

Edited March 18, 2016 by aleful

[GeorgeandGeorgia 14]

Hello

I am sorry if this is covered in an old post but I could not find anything.

I am a US citizen and my girlfriend is Thai. We met 5 months back in October 2015 - when I visited Thailand and we like each other a lot. We have been chatting and talking over the phone everyday since. We visited many places in Thailand together. She does not have a full time job in Thailand. She lives with her parents mostly and does part time work at some store.

So I wanted her to visit me for 2 weeks in US so that I can show her around and decide if we are both OK with being with each other. The US embassy in Bangkok denied her visa twice citing reason that she does not have strong ties with Thailand. Is this fair ? I never intend for her to break the law and wanted her to go back after her duration of stay.

In our paperwork for tourist visa first time she said I am her friend and got declined. Then second time she said boyfriend and that got declined too

So question is if I apply now for a K-1 Visa - will it get declined because her B-2 visa was declined ?

We are very stressed due to this. I feel they treated her unfairly. Is being from Thailand a factor ?

I want to see her more and I feel she needs to see me more before marrying. 5 month is not a long time. We do love each other. Is the K-1 Visa right for us ? I really appreciate any suggestion in this stressful period

The US Consul is very well trained & they can only approved tourist visa if the applicant has a STRONG TIES in their country (example: permanent full time job, getting a good salary, profession, relatives & family, if you own a house, etc. The applicant have to convince the Consul that she has a strong reason why she would be back in Thailand.

I got denied for 3 times when I applied a tourist visa because as Consul said, my ties are not enough to prove that Im coming back in my country. I tried again for the 4th times because I got promoted in my job, salary increased & I was enrolled to school too) then finally I got a 10 year multiple visa entry. Also, another tip, NEVER EVER LIE to the Consul because they are expert to know when the applicant is lying.

About your K1 visa plan, don't rush it if you are not 100% sure about it. My fiancé and I are in a long distance relationship for 2 years but we managed to see each other every year and to work out the relationship, compromise & communication is one of the ingredients We applied for K1 and I just got approved yesterday If you are planning to apply for K1 visa, you have to make sure that you have proof of bonafide relationship. Put in mind that it does not mean that the applicant will be denied for K1 application because of twice denied results for tourist visa, if you can prove to USCIS & US Consul your Fiancé relationship, then nothing to worry about

[Penny Pincher 11]

Hello

I am sorry if this is covered in an old post but I could not find anything.

I am a US citizen and my girlfriend is Thai. We met 5 months back in October 2015 - when I visited Thailand and we like each other a lot. We have been chatting and talking over the phone everyday since. We visited many places in Thailand together. She does not have a full time job in Thailand. She lives with her parents mostly and does part time work at some store.

So I wanted her to visit me for 2 weeks in US so that I can show her around and decide if we are both OK with being with each other. The US embassy in Bangkok denied her visa twice citing reason that she does not have strong ties with Thailand. Is this fair ? I never intend for her to break the law and wanted her to go back after her duration of stay.

In our paperwork for tourist visa first time she said I am her friend and got declined. Then second time she said boyfriend and that got declined too

So question is if I apply now for a K-1 Visa - will it get declined because her B-2 visa was declined ?

We are very stressed due to this. I feel they treated her unfairly. Is being from Thailand a factor ?

I want to see her more and I feel she needs to see me more before marrying. 5 month is not a long time. We do love each other. Is the K-1 Visa right for us ? I really appreciate any suggestion in this stressful period

If you try to apply K1 Visa, I do not see any problem being denied unless you do not have proof for bonafide relationship. I have known people/friends who only been in the relationship for 3 months and got approved with K1 Visa. Nevertheless you got denied and you still want to pursue, visit her again in Thailand and marry her.

All the proofs you are together e.g. airline tickets, passport stamps, receipt, conversations, phone calls/bills, pictures with family and both of you together of course (with caption of date), proof of sending gifts or packages, etc must be shown either you are applying K1 or Spouse Visa.

[Jon and Fangfang 5]

Basab,

Sorry for your situation, unfortunately they consider it very fair. As most others have said, strong ties to Thailand would allow her to travel. I am stationed in China for 2 1/2 year with a contract from my company and my wife got a tourist visa to the US denied last year. They told her they didn't think she would return. Talk about feeling things were not fair, did they think she would live in the US without me? lol

Start keeping things like all of your chat logs. Take pictures of your chat and make a folder of chat pictures. If you keep up with it daily it won't feel so big a task. It is a real pain to make pictures of 3 months of chat. So keep up with it as you go.

Keep all train, hotel, airline tickets as proof that you have spent time together. If you visit again, I suggest putting her name on the hotel reservation with yours. That way the bill will show both of your names. Do anything you can to show you have had as much contact as possible.

Take a lot of pictures together, and get them printed. Phones are not allowed into the interview, so you need it all printed out.

K1 is your best option, it is faster than getting married and doing a CR-1, and it does give you 90 days to live together in the US before you must be married or she goes back to Thailand. So, if you do a K1, you can take the first 60 days and then discuss it with her, heck, you should have a pretty good feel for each other after living together for 60+ days. Just remember, intercultural relationships involve a lot of compromise, and most of that will be on your end. She is after-all, leaving everything she knows behind. In my opinion that puts the burden on you to compromise to make her more comfortable in the US.

If you don't mind some suggestions of things to discuss up front. Talk to her about the dowry, you will most likely be asked to give money to her family, this is normal as I understand it, best to talk about it sooner than later. After that, ask her if she will expect you to send money monthly to her family back in Thailand after she moves to the US. This is a reoccurring theme on the forum if you take some time and read about it. It might sound callus of me, but keep your eyes open for red flags.

[Basab 1]

Basab,

Sorry for your situation, unfortunately they consider it very fair. As most others have said, strong ties to Thailand would allow her to travel. I am stationed in China for 2 1/2 year with a contract from my company and my wife got a tourist visa to the US denied last year. They told her they didn't think she would return. Talk about feeling things were not fair, did they think she would live in the US without me? lol

Start keeping things like all of your chat logs. Take pictures of your chat and make a folder of chat pictures. If you keep up with it daily it won't feel so big a task. It is a real pain to make pictures of 3 months of chat. So keep up with it as you go.

Keep all train, hotel, airline tickets as proof that you have spent time together. If you visit again, I suggest putting her name on the hotel reservation with yours. That way the bill will show both of your names. Do anything you can to show you have had as much contact as possible.

Take a lot of pictures together, and get them printed. Phones are not allowed into the interview, so you need it all printed out.

K1 is your best option, it is faster than getting married and doing a CR-1, and it does give you 90 days to live together in the US before you must be married or she goes back to Thailand. So, if you do a K1, you can take the first 60 days and then discuss it with her, heck, you should have a pretty good feel for each other after living together for 60+ days. Just remember, intercultural relationships involve a lot of compromise, and most of that will be on your end. She is after-all, leaving everything she knows behind. In my opinion that puts the burden on you to compromise to make her more comfortable in the US.

If you don't mind some suggestions of things to discuss up front. Talk to her about the dowry, you will most likely be asked to give money to her family, this is normal as I understand it, best to talk about it sooner than later. After that, ask her if she will expect you to send money monthly to her family back in Thailand after she moves to the US. This is a reoccurring theme on the forum if you take some time and read about it. It might sound callus of me, but keep your eyes open for red flags.

Thank You so much for your detailed answer. Very helpful. I am already sending her money every month. She never ask for it but I give her anyways. I am aware of the dowry things and not worried about that. You are not callus at all. She is not at all into money. Never asked me for anything. I do however get your point. K-1 will be what I choose. Maybe it will be a good idea if I visit her one more time. Good luck with your wife and her CR1

If you try to apply K1 Visa, I do not see any problem being denied unless you do not have proof for bonafide relationship. I have known people/friends who only been in the relationship for 3 months and got approved with K1 Visa. Nevertheless you got denied and you still want to pursue, visit her again in Thailand and marry her.

All the proofs you are together e.g. airline tickets, passport stamps, receipt, conversations, phone calls/bills, pictures with family and both of you together of course (with caption of date), proof of sending gifts or packages, etc must be shown either you are applying K1 or Spouse Visa.

Thank you. I would guess getting approved for Visa after marrying her would be harder than K-1 won't it. Plus I've only been with her for one week together even though we been talking long distance for 5 months. Good advise on keeping all proofs.

The US Consul is very well trained & they can only approved tourist visa if the applicant has a STRONG TIES in their country (example: permanent full time job, getting a good salary, profession, relatives & family, if you own a house, etc. The applicant have to convince the Consul that she has a strong reason why she would be back in Thailand.

I got denied for 3 times when I applied a tourist visa because as Consul said, my ties are not enough to prove that Im coming back in my country. I tried again for the 4th times because I got promoted in my job, salary increased & I was enrolled to school too) then finally I got a 10 year multiple visa entry. Also, another tip, NEVER EVER LIE to the Consul because they are expert to know when the applicant is lying.

About your K1 visa plan, don't rush it if you are not 100% sure about it. My fiancé and I are in a long distance relationship for 2 years but we managed to see each other every year and to work out the relationship, compromise & communication is one of the ingredients We applied for K1 and I just got approved yesterday If you are planning to apply for K1 visa, you have to make sure that you have proof of bonafide relationship. Put in mind that it does not mean that the applicant will be denied for K1 application because of twice denied results for tourist visa, if you can prove to USCIS & US Consul your Fiancé relationship, then nothing to worry about

Thank You. Good advise on not rushing things and telling the truth.

hi

yes it's fair, she's supposed to show strong ties to her country, that she has reasons to return

no, it won't have a negative affect on the application

Thanks. I don't feel as bad now.

[Boiler 45,399]

Why do you think it was unfair?

[baron555 934]

Hello

I am sorry if this is covered in an old post but I could not find anything.

I am a US citizen and my girlfriend is Thai. We met 5 months back in October 2015 - when I visited Thailand and we like each other a lot. We have been chatting and talking over the phone everyday since. We visited many places in Thailand together. She does not have a full time job in Thailand. She lives with her parents mostly and does part time work at some store.

So I wanted her to visit me for 2 weeks in US so that I can show her around and decide if we are both OK with being with each other. The US embassy in Bangkok denied her visa twice citing reason that she does not have strong ties with Thailand. Is this fair ? I never intend for her to break the law and wanted her to go back after her duration of stay.

In our paperwork for tourist visa first time she said I am her friend and got declined. Then second time she said boyfriend and that got declined too

So question is if I apply now for a K-1 Visa - will it get declined because her B-2 visa was declined ?

No affect at all.

We are very stressed due to this. I feel they treated her unfairly. Is being from Thailand a factor ?

Chill......They did not treat her unfairly......No to Thai factor.

I want to see her more and I feel she needs to see me more before marrying. 5 month is not a long time. We do love each other. Is the K-1 Visa right for us ? I really appreciate any suggestion in this stressful period

Maybe you have doubts? The K-1 is not a let's get to know each other visa. Your mutual plans for marriage should be solid prior to filing for it.

Then again don't look at our case as an example of that...we both filed when we had only knew each other for three months...and we only met in person once for 10 days.

We both went into the whole affair with honesty and understanding and with the agreement that at any time either could call the whole thing off with no ill feelings, even after they arrived in the US.

We have been together for 6 years now and agree that our initial feelings about the relationship and it's potential for great success were correct.

Has it been easy? Nope, but we never hold a grudge, easily pass off emotions and never bring it into the bedroom.

Edited March 18, 2016 by baron555

[Boiler 45,399]

OP has only met her once, said himself far to early. Sending her money worries me, why?

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

No, the denied B2 tourist visa will not hamper her in regards to getting her a K1 fiance visa. That actually happened to my now wife. We applied for her to get a tourist visa to visit me when I was on leave back to the USA from working in Afghanistan. I literally had paid for round trip airfare for both of u, included a letter saying she was going to visit me and my family and then go home. But alas she was denied at the time. Literally 6 months later I filed for her K1 visa and she was approved.

So DO NOT WORRY.

[Pennycat 880]

Hello

I am sorry if this is covered in an old post but I could not find anything.

I am a US citizen and my girlfriend is Thai. We met 5 months back in October 2015 - when I visited Thailand and we like each other a lot. We have been chatting and talking over the phone everyday since. We visited many places in Thailand together. She does not have a full time job in Thailand. She lives with her parents mostly and does part time work at some store.

So I wanted her to visit me for 2 weeks in US so that I can show her around and decide if we are both OK with being with each other. The US embassy in Bangkok denied her visa twice citing reason that she does not have strong ties with Thailand. Is this fair ? I never intend for her to break the law and wanted her to go back after her duration of stay.

In our paperwork for tourist visa first time she said I am her friend and got declined. Then second time she said boyfriend and that got declined too

So question is if I apply now for a K-1 Visa - will it get declined because her B-2 visa was declined ?

We are very stressed due to this. I feel they treated her unfairly. Is being from Thailand a factor ?

I want to see her more and I feel she needs to see me more before marrying. 5 month is not a long time. We do love each other. Is the K-1 Visa right for us ? I really appreciate any suggestion in this stressful period

It's not a matter of fair it's a matter of what they're required to do. Tourist visas can be really difficult to come by for young single people from anywhere--it's not Thailand.

Now, what I'm about to say is NOT an implication that your or your girlfriend would be doing any of this. My husband and I had the same set of circumstances-- I 100% understand and believe you. But you have to think of the possibilities-- the worst-case scenarios in giving someone a tourist visa (which is how the COs have to think).

Regardless of your intentions, you can't force her back on a plane, and you can't even guarantee that she'd show up to visit you. In theory, she'd be able to claim to want the visa to visit her boyfriend for two weeks, but instead fly to a different city and take a job working under the table somewhere and never be heard from again (whereas with a K1, she's less likely to do that because she's proven a strong relationship with you for K1. For a B2, they have no way of knowing if you've been a serious couple for years or if you met at a bar on your last night in town because they don't even ask because B2s don't factor in relationships-- family visas factor in relationships).

You guys could be lying and using the B2 as a way around the K1-- how could you prove otherwise? Generally the "proof" that you won't immigrate on a B2 is very strong ties to the home country, which is what she was unable to prove.

Think of it as "not that we're bad people but because bad people exist"--- sort of like why you've got to go through security screening at the airport. It helps a bit, even if it's really frustrating to be treated basically like a criminal.

Failed B2 won't have any effect on the K1. Only thing that could effect it is if she'd continued to claim that you're just a "friend" but it's good that she was honest about "boyfriend". Because think about it--if she had been applying for B2s to visit a "friend" (say, she's got an offer to work under the table somewhere from this "friend" and all she needs is to get on US soil) and kept failing...who is saying that she wouldn't hire someone to play the boyfriend and apply for K1 for her? Again, not saying YOU but saying that people really do pull these stunts and it's in your best interest to not look or behave like them. Admitting "boyfriend" during a B2 interview is a good way to NOT look like them. So kudos for that.

[baron555 934]

OP has only met her once, said himself far to early. Sending her money worries me, why?

Sending money is not a good idea and is definitely not evidence of a legitimate relationship.

It could work against you.

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

I would advise you to slow down and don't file right away. You will need strong evidence in your K-1 petition or by the time of interview. Take one more trip to see her, then apply when you return.

Print out the K-1 petition checklist and the necessary forms in the guides here ,when you go. SO that you can get all the documents you need to have her sign them.

Good luck!

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

Sending money is not a good idea and is definitely not evidence of a legitimate relationship.

It could work against you.

Exactly..on top that, you could create a future problem even if everything is legit.

My unsolicited advice to everyone..When you start giving your partner money, he or she will be expecting you to keep doing it even when she or he moves here..

[Cathi 5,744]

She was correctly denied a B2, she has no ties to home and the minute she mentioned boyfriend in their eyes gives her reason to not go home. There is nothing unfair about it. You should not be sending her money. You stated you that 5 months was not long enough to know if she wants to marry you and a K-1 visa is not an I need to get to know you better before we marry visa, it's a visa to get married. The obvious answer if you want to get to know her better is to take another trip to see her.