Wife had used K-1 Visa before... what Visa to use now?

[Huehuehue 0]

I am an American, male. My wife is from Thailand. She was issued a K-1 Visa in 2014 and used it shortly after Being issued. We were wed in America and have an official marriage certificate (obtained within the 90 day period). So we are legally married. We filed for a status of adjustment (the process to obtain a green card). After doing so, we just abandoned the application and decided to live in Thailand (since having a green card requires staying in America and she missed her family...). She had an advanced parole card but it expired in 2015 December.

We have decided to return to America to stay there, after realizing that Thailand will not be our permanent home and that America will be. Here's the big question: What visa should my wife use to gain entry into US and stay in the US with me? Ideally, we want to avoid the year long K-3 visa process, as she was already vetted during the K-1 visa process. Is there any more expedient way for her to return to America? Perhaps a way for her to pick-up her K-1/adjustment of status where she left off?

Edited July 26, 2016 by Huehuehue

[Merrytooth 5,748]

https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/international-offices/thailand-uscis-bangkok-field-office

Form I-130, Petition for an Alien Relative

You have start over again with a spousal visa, Direct Consular Filing at the local US Consulate Bangkok.

Form I-130, Petition for an Alien Relative

[soulstriker 274]

best prepare now to start over , with a I 130 ,good luck

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hi,

Your wife's AP is expired, so there is no way for her to reenter to continue her AOS. Most likely the case has closed?

Applying for the K3 requires a filing for a CR1/IR1. Once the I-130 is approved, the K3 request will be denied.

If you have legal residency in Thailand, you can file DCF. You can not file with a tourist visa.

If you do not meet the residency for DCF, then you must file in the US.

Expect this to take a year.

Best of luck.

[Huehuehue 0]

Hi,

Your wife's AP is expired, so there is no way for her to reenter to continue her AOS. Most likely the case has closed?

Applying for the K3 requires a filing for a CR1/IR1. Once the I-130 is approved, the K3 request will be denied.

If you have legal residency in Thailand, you can file DCF. You can not file with a tourist visa.

If you do not meet the residency for DCF, then you must file in the US.

Expect this to take a year.

Best of luck.

Thailand is tricky. They do not grant Legal residency but to only 160 people (at most, though I doubt they grant anywhere near that number) per year, per country. Obtaining legal residency there is incredibly difficult. The best a person can have in Thailand is a 1 year non-immigrant visa, which can be perpetually extended every year. I have a type O non-immigration visa, which is used for the purpose of staying with my wife. I do not have any residency and I have never extended this visa. So I am really just "visiting Thailand to see my wife" and I have no residency status whatsoever in Thailand.

I was able to get the K-1 visa before using a Visa service in Bangkok. All they did was file the forms and mail them to the UCSIS in Chicago, which I could have done myself. There was no need to be a resident or stay in any country. It was all done by mail and was location agnostic.

Are you saying that for CR1/IR1/K-3 that the sponsor must physically go to the US and file in person?

Edited July 26, 2016 by Huehuehue

[lost_at_sea 995]

"File in the US" - he means you need to send the paperwork for the I-130 to the USA (mail it to the appropriate lockbox), rather than filing locally in Thailand via DCF.

Edited July 26, 2016 by lost_at_sea

[JFH 12,190]

If you were a resident of Thailand (not a visitor) you could go for faster processing through the Bangkok embassy. You would still be doing the same visa, but on a much quicker route. This option is only available if the US citizen is a legal resident of Thailand.

If you are not a legal resident, prepare for it to take a year. Despite your wife having been vetted before, CR-1 is a superior visa as it grants residency upon arrival (no adjustment of status) and is therefore a more complex and involved process. What your wife went through for K-1 is probably a quarter of what you will have to do for CR-1. You will have to send everything to Chicago. You do not have to be physically present in the USA to file but later down the line you must demonstrate your intent to re-establish domicile there.

Edited July 26, 2016 by JFH

[lacolinab13 86]

I would recommend double-checking with the field office in Thailand as to what documents they will accept to prove "residency" in Thailand.

I have no personal experience with the Thailand field office, but I know for example that you are able to file DCF in Peru if you are a de facto resident there, even if you've been staying just on a tourist visa (and exiting and re-entering every 3-6 months as needed) and working illegally, without legal/official Peruvian residency.

I found this link: https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/international-offices/thailand-uscis-bangkok-field-office which is a bit ambiguous (for example, they mention passport stamps and visa in the required docs, is the O visa with continuous stay in Thailand enough? it's not 100% clear). I would personally call and ask, just in case, about your specific situation and whether you could be considered a resident, as filing DCF is so incredibly quicker than filing with the Chicago Lockbox.

[Huehuehue 0]

Thanks for the information all, it's been very helpful. I found this thread here about DCF at USCIS Bangkok: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/134105-showing-residency-to-file-dcf-in-bangkok/

It may be the fact that a Non immigration O visa + apartment lease (1 year) will work. I have been physically present in Thailand for 1.5 years consecutively on the type O visa, under 2x diferen 1 year apartment leases. While "visiting", or rather living with and supporting my Thai wife. Although I never "extended" this visa at Thai Immigration (I just get new ones). Longterm expats here typically extend their visa, not get new ones.

[Jon and Fangfang 5]

Go for the DCF if they let you. I did ours in China and it took less than 4 months. Good luck to you both!

[Victoria wolf 35]

I think you may need to file CR1. I130

[Michael and Ganna 104]

If you fill out your timeline it helps people help you....If you have been married for 2 years you file IR-1