SAWASDEE 2

[Kang Lang 7]

my fiance just called me to tell me packet 3 arrived finally. i have no idea when our petition actually arrived in bangkok from the nvc or when they sent it out but at least we are getting closer. (just have to mention that now that we are getting closer i am growing more and more impatient). i actually have almost all the packet three docs prepared and a friend is going to bkk in 1 weeks time. hopefully we will be able to schedule an interview for 4-6 weeks time. maybe i will be in bkk for an interview around his brithday on 2 July!

Glad you are getting close to the big day. I am very happy for you. I am planning to send my package on the 24 of this month to the CSC. How long has your wait been so far?

Thanks a bunch, I have been barely able to contain myself all day! It's been 4 months and 1 week since we filed, but I haven't seen him since December 2005. I submitted a request for his medical exam online today so hopefull that all works out and he's going today to get submit paperwork to collect his police certificate.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

[goontar 0]

I think I made a mistake. My fiance has a 5 year old son and I listed him on all the applications but did not file for him. Our plan is to petition for him in about a year or so till we get ourselves sorted out here. Do I need him at the interview for my fiance. Or can his visa be applied for at a later date? thanks.

[dvddvd 0]

Congrats dvd. How long before they let you pick up the visa. I already booked the airfare and don't really have a full week to wait.

goontar

it's difficult to make heads or tails of the current process behind scheduling visa pick-up dates. i don't know how they are currently being scheduled. i don't know if they've changed or if they have run into some unforseen variables. my fiance's pick-up date was scheduled two days after the interview. a friend of mine; his fiance's pick-up date was scheduled 6 days after the interview (which took place last week)

good luck

dvd

[Yodrak 7]

goontar,

What do you mean "did not file for him"? Did not file what?

If the boy is not applying for a visa at the same time as his mother then his presence should not be required at her visa interview.

At what "later date" do you think he might be applying for a visa? Be more specific than "till we get ourselves sorted out". Keep in mind that Thai women have very strong mother instincts. Leaving a child upcountry with the grandparents while working in Bangkok is significantly different from sitting around the house in the USA keeping company with the TV while the child is halfway around the world.

Yodrak

I think I made a mistake. My fiance has a 5 year old son and I listed him on all the applications but did not file for him. Our plan is to petition for him in about a year or so till we get ourselves sorted out here. Do I need him at the interview for my fiance. Or can his visa be applied for at a later date? thanks.

[goontar 0]

goontar,

What do you mean "did not file for him"? Did not file what?

If the boy is not applying for a visa at the same time as his mother then his presence should not be required at her visa interview.

At what "later date" do you think he might be applying for a visa? Be more specific than "till we get ourselves sorted out". Keep in mind that Thai women have very strong mother instincts. Leaving a child upcountry with the grandparents while working in Bangkok is significantly different from sitting around the house in the USA keeping company with the TV while the child is halfway around the world.

Yodrak

I think I made a mistake. My fiance has a 5 year old son and I listed him on all the applications but did not file for him. Our plan is to petition for him in about a year or so till we get ourselves sorted out here. Do I need him at the interview for my fiance. Or can his visa be applied for at a later date? thanks.

I agree, but this was a judgement call on both our parts. We decided it might be too much for everyone involved to have her, our 1.5 year old daughter and her 5 year old son come to stay with me in Miami. I am here until I finish my work. Maybe a year or two then back to Chicago or somewhere else. And I really don't think I want him going to public school around here. He has been raised largely by his grandparents and is very comfortable and happy.

To the point, I would like to have him over here within 2 years. I listed him on all the forms for the I129 and that he will follow later on the packet 3-4 stuff but I am wondering if that is all I have to do for now. What are my options, or can he simply come with as soon as she is approved? Sorry, I am confused and we have our interview next week so I am a little nervous about the whole thing. Thanks for any info.

[Yodrak 7]

goontar,

If the boy has not yet submitted a visa application then he cannot "come with" when his mother gets her visa. He needs a visa and he has not applied for one. Perhaps with a good deal of groveling the consular officer could be pursuaded to take his visa application at his mother's interview, but time is short the prepare the necessary supporting documentation.

He can submit a visa application as a K2 at some later date as long as the visa can be issued within 1 year of the date that his mother's K1 visa was issued.

After that, you would have to submit an I-130 petition for him as your stepson so that he could apply for an immigrant visa.

Yodrak

goontar,

What do you mean "did not file for him"? Did not file what?

If the boy is not applying for a visa at the same time as his mother then his presence should not be required at her visa interview.

At what "later date" do you think he might be applying for a visa? Be more specific than "till we get ourselves sorted out". .....

Yodrak

I think I made a mistake. My fiance has a 5 year old son and I listed him on all the applications but did not file for him. Our plan is to petition for him in about a year or so till we get ourselves sorted out here. Do I need him at the interview for my fiance. Or can his visa be applied for at a later date? thanks.

.....

To the point, I would like to have him over here within 2 years. I listed him on all the forms for the I129 and that he will follow later on the packet 3-4 stuff but I am wondering if that is all I have to do for now. What are my options, or can he simply come with as soon as she is approved? Sorry, I am confused and we have our interview next week so I am a little nervous about the whole thing. Thanks for any info.

[dvddvd 0]

goontar,

a little background .... from the beginning of the process, we included my fiance's daughter in all of the paperwork and somewhere along the line (i believe in packet 3) we stated that she would follow at a later date. maybe this will help you though.

we had the same question as you regarding if the fiance's children must attend the interview. the packet 4 interview paper states that all family members must attend. so .... we wrote the embassy and i asked them if her daughter needs to be present since she intends to follow at a later date. here is the response -

Dear Sir,

If the applicant's daughter will follow to join the applicant later,

provided that it is within one year, the daughter is not required to

appear on the interview date. The K-1 interview will be conducted with the principal applicant only.

Regards,

Correspondence Unit

hope this helps you. good luck next week.

dvd

[goontar 0]

That does help. I was wondering if there is anything else that needs to be done if I only plan on bring her son over later. I have his name on the petition and DS157 or 156. I don't recall. And also on the afadavit of support. This way when we feel its a good time to bring him over it should be easier to file the petition.

Hey, what kinda of questions did they ask your fiance? Was it easy, hard?

Thanks.

goontar,

a little background .... from the beginning of the process, we included my fiance's daughter in all of the paperwork and somewhere along the line (i believe in packet 3) we stated that she would follow at a later date. maybe this will help you though.

we had the same question as you regarding if the fiance's children must attend the interview. the packet 4 interview paper states that all family members must attend. so .... we wrote the embassy and i asked them if her daughter needs to be present since she intends to follow at a later date. here is the response -

Dear Sir,

If the applicant's daughter will follow to join the applicant later,

provided that it is within one year, the daughter is not required to

appear on the interview date. The K-1 interview will be conducted with the principal applicant only.

Regards,

Correspondence Unit

hope this helps you. good luck next week.

dvd

[BishopMnA 0]

Hey Goontar,

I had the same experience as Dvddvd. I too listed my fiancee's kids on all paperwork. When we went to Window #5 on the day of the interview at the Consulate in BKK, the lady asked us if her kids would be coming to the U.S. at the same time. I told her that they would be coming at a later time. She made a quick note (not sure what she wrote) and stuck that in our file. We then sat down and waited (about 1.5 hours or so) to be called for the interview. When we were called, the CO (extremely helpful and kind gentleman) had the note and asked us again about her kids. We gave the same reply. He then gave us some more additional, and helpful, information about completing the K2 process for her kids, and that it must be completed within one year of the issuance of the K1 visa.

He then just asked a few simple quesions:

1. Asked my fiancee if she wanted to answer in English or Thai. She chose English.

2. He asked her where/how we met.

3. He asked me where I worked.

That was it! We were missing one document, so we did have to come back and turn in that document at a later time. Once we turned in that document, my fiancee was given her visa the same day.

Our interview experience was very simple/easy. I hope yours experience will be equally as smooth!

Peace

Mark-N-AAm

[BishopMnA 0]

Hey Goontar,

Here is one more interesting thing that the CO did tell us when we are there in BKK for the interview. He told me/us that he is 'allowed' only 5 minutes for each interview! I thought that was short...but he said they have so many applications to process that he has to limit his time for each interview in order to complete them all.

Perhaps that is one reason that he didn't ask us too many questions!

Peace!

Mark-N-AAm

[goontar 0]

Thats interesting. Five minutes. I wonder if that is an average per interview.

What doc did you forget? I feel terribly under prepared for this. But likely I have covered all the bases and just feeling paranoid. Thanks.

Hey Goontar,

Here is one more interesting thing that the CO did tell us when we are there in BKK for the interview. He told me/us that he is 'allowed' only 5 minutes for each interview! I thought that was short...but he said they have so many applications to process that he has to limit his time for each interview in order to complete them all.

Perhaps that is one reason that he didn't ask us too many questions!

Peace!

Mark-N-AAm

[BishopMnA 0]

I don't know if that is the average or not, but from reading on VJ about other people's interview experiences, it does sound common.

If you've filed all the right paperwork then you'll be fine. We had to file an 'extra' report that wasn't listed in Pkt 4 to verify that my fiancee was indeed single. She's been a single mom all her life (never married), so that required an extra form from the local police station...in our case.

One more interesting thing: I had prepared a TON of evidence supporting our continuted relationship from the time of KI petition filing to the date of the interview. I presented that to the lady at Window #5 when she collected all our paperwork. However, the CO didn't even look at it. He just immediately handed it right back to me!

Peace,

Mark-N-AAm

[dvddvd 0]

my fiance has never been married and she has a daughter. after reading this site, we went ahead and had the "single paper" produced; just in case they asked for it. i don't know if they did, but they kept the paper.

she was asked 3 questions.

1. how did we meet?

2. when was the last time that she saw me?

3. how long did he stay? she answered incorrectly by a mile. i don't know what she was thinking, but they didn't flinch at the answer.

if you have been careful, proofread, checked and triple checked the documents; i believe that you will be fine.

i prepared a checklist for my fiance to use. i'll send it to you if you want to look at it. private message me if you'd like it.

best,

dvddvd

[Kang Lang 7]

i have another probably dumb question. so my lawyer seems unclear about packet 3, the instructional sheet says do not send anything to the embassy, but in another place we red that you send back the ds230 part 1 but unsigned. we are almost done compiling all of packet 3 and he has his appointment to get his medical on the 17th. he'll pick up his police certificate on the 13th. should we wait until after we have it all done and then go online to make our appointment?

(wish i had not hired a lawyer)

[goontar 0]

The certificate of being single! Funny you mention this because I told my fiance that there was a 1 in 100 that they would ask for it. But she has been insisting on going home and getting this anyway. She is making a special trip on monday just to get this form from Ampher in her home town.

I don't know if that is the average or not, but from reading on VJ about other people's interview experiences, it does sound common.

If you've filed all the right paperwork then you'll be fine. We had to file an 'extra' report that wasn't listed in Pkt 4 to verify that my fiancee was indeed single. She's been a single mom all her life (never married), so that required an extra form from the local police station...in our case.

One more interesting thing: I had prepared a TON of evidence supporting our continuted relationship from the time of KI petition filing to the date of the interview. I presented that to the lady at Window #5 when she collected all our paperwork. However, the CO didn't even look at it. He just immediately handed it right back to me!

Peace,

Mark-N-AAm