Bangkok Embassy US Tourist Visas

[kavr 0]

Does anyone know what the situation is for non immigrant visas at the Embassy in Bangkok? Are they processing and interviewing for these, is there a long wait, etc?

 

We're trying to see if my in-laws can apply and interview for a tourist visa in Thailand since the embassy local to them (Myanmar) is closed to all non-immigrant appointments due to political issues in the country. 

 

My in-laws have a local agent that they've used in the past when filing for a visa, and the agent is stating both that an appointment would take months to get (certainly believable in the current situation) and that the embassy is denying all applications right now. Just wondering if anyone has any other insight. I'm getting the impression their agent is just discouraging them from pursuing a visa and leaving them in limbo. 

 

I'm wondering if we could just handle the application process for them. We'd like them to visit as soon as possible as we had a baby last year that they've yet to meet so I'd rather to get more hands on if there's a chance they can visit any time soon.

[JeanneAdil 6,498]

Are they permanent residents of Thailand?

 

According to following sites wait time for a tourist visa  in Bangkok is  150 days

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

46 minutes ago, kavr said:

My in-laws have a local agent that they've used in the past when filing for a visa, and the agent is stating both that an appointment would take months to get (certainly believable in the current situation) and that the embassy is denying all applications right now. Just wondering if anyone has any other insight. I'm getting the impression their agent is just discouraging them from pursuing a visa and leaving them in limbo. 

If they previously had a tourist visa, they might qualify for an interview waiver renewal.  That should be fairly quick.  In the Philippines, my wife had her renewal in about 2 weeks, I think.

https://ustraveldocs.com/th/th-niv-visarenew.asp

[kavr 0]

No, they aren't permanent residents of Thailand. Honestly not even sure if they would be allowed to apply via that embassy. My now husband had to interview for a visa there but it was under different circumstance and a different type of visa.

[kavr 0]

17 hours ago, seekingthetruth said:

If they previously had a tourist visa, they might qualify for an interview waiver renewal.  That should be fairly quick.  In the Philippines, my wife had her renewal in about 2 weeks, I think.

https://ustraveldocs.com/th/th-niv-visarenew.asp

Interesting. I'm trying to look into it now but what I'm seeing so far it doesn't look like they'd qualify. It's been over 4 years since they visited the US, plus they are not residents of Thailand but Myanmar embassy is not processing tourist visas.

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

10 hours ago, kavr said:

plus they are not residents of Thailand but Myanmar embassy is not processing tourist visas.

Right, I forgot that they are not residents.

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

On 4/30/2022 at 9:28 AM, kavr said:

We're trying to see if my in-laws can apply and interview for a tourist visa in Thailand since the embassy local to them (Myanmar) is closed to all non-immigrant appointments due to political issues in the country. 

Are you sure that is still true?  I don't see anything about this on the embassy website.

https://mm.usembassy.gov/visas/tourism-business/

[jan22 3,053]

7 hours ago, seekingthetruth said:

Are you sure that is still true?  I don't see anything about this on the embassy website.

https://mm.usembassy.gov/visas/tourism-business/

Per the State Department's "Visa Appointment Wait Times" site (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html), they are only processing emergency appointments in Rangoon.  And, even if the previous visa had been issued within the past 48 months, as of February 25, 2022, the Embassy has also temporarily suspended the processing of visa interview waiver cases (https://mm.usembassy.gov/visas/u-s-embassy-rangoon-interview-waiver-guidelines-iwp/).

 

There are no restrictions on where an indivudual can apply for a non-immigrant visa like there are for an immigrant visa.  A person can apply wherever they want, as long as they can complete all the required steps in the process (for example, in some countries, you must pay the visa application fee at a local bank, so it might require two trips -- one to pay the fee and one to attend the interview which may be weeks later).  However, an applicant is far less likely to be approved outside their home country, as the interviewing consular officer may not be able to adjudicate an individual's home country ties that will help them overcome the presumption of intending immigration.  Given the current situation in Myanmar, I think it would be highly unlikely they would be granted visitor visas in another country.

 

And, FYI, the current visa appointment wait time in Bangkok is 150 days.

Edited May 1, 2022 by jan22

[kavr 0]

On 5/1/2022 at 10:08 AM, jan22 said:

Per the State Department's "Visa Appointment Wait Times" site (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html), they are only processing emergency appointments in Rangoon.  And, even if the previous visa had been issued within the past 48 months, as of February 25, 2022, the Embassy has also temporarily suspended the processing of visa interview waiver cases (https://mm.usembassy.gov/visas/u-s-embassy-rangoon-interview-waiver-guidelines-iwp/).

 

There are no restrictions on where an indivudual can apply for a non-immigrant visa like there are for an immigrant visa.  A person can apply wherever they want, as long as they can complete all the required steps in the process (for example, in some countries, you must pay the visa application fee at a local bank, so it might require two trips -- one to pay the fee and one to attend the interview which may be weeks later).  However, an applicant is far less likely to be approved outside their home country, as the interviewing consular officer may not be able to adjudicate an individual's home country ties that will help them overcome the presumption of intending immigration.  Given the current situation in Myanmar, I think it would be highly unlikely they would be granted visitor visas in another country.

 

And, FYI, the current visa appointment wait time in Bangkok is 150 days.

Thanks for pointing this out. It seems like they're probably not going to get a visa in either country any time soon if ever. *Sigh*

 

Maybe now that my husband is naturalized we should look into talking to a lawyer about petitioning for his parents to get US residency. Not a quick solution but maybe worth it long term. Just not sure they'll be on board since their other kids/grandkids are in Myanmar 😬