|
|
| Bangkok, Thailand |  Review on July 18, 2009: |
John NorCal
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Interview questions were initially easy. Where did you meet?, when?, how many times I visited? and then they started in on a really strange tangent and they asked for more information. a) documents for name change after a divorce and before the new Thai ID card was re-issued with her previous maiden name. b) Documents for my divorce.
Problem: a)Nat ID card name changes after divorce from married name back to maiden name can happen without std forms and receipts and thus are not available. b) I was never married! and thus I can't supply divorce papers! Amazing.
They gave us a white slip of paper stating the problems above (form 221) and said to come back next Monday between 1 and 3pm with these documents in order to receive an OK for the Visa.
Big Note: you don't have to necessarily wait for the next Monday or Wednesday. It is possible to go back on ANY Monday or Wednesday from 1 to 3 pm to resolve problems with paperwork. Form 221 states this also. Also Note: the original interview is with the Thai fiancee only...BUT follow up interview with the further proof required from 221 can be with BOTH BF/GF or Hsb/Wife. This can be a big help with these instances considering language and tag-team efforts.
I/we are very happy that we returned that same day instead of waiting for the next week. I really think that my stares of disbelief and stern furrowing of the brow helped convince them that they were crazy in assuming that I was married. In their defense I can say that their logic was: you have children, you are 48 yrs old, therefore you must have been married, right? They also said that I had a passport application somewhere in my history where I listed a spouce...however they could not and would not show me what the hell that was all about?!! Eventually I was able to sign a piece of paper in their presence that stated that I was not nor have I ever been married before and that made it all OK.
Again I don't think that if I hadn't been there, it would have been able to be resolved...at least not for a few weeks and without possible legal intervention.
Overall I think that the BKK interview system is slipshod at best. Maybe they deny or request additional info in order to discover fraudulent cases...ie. bogus cases will drop out under extra scrutiny. (But in my case the extra scrutiny was bogus.) 
I think that approx 16 interviews were scheduled on Wednesday morning. By early am 3 girls were absolutely denied...questions were asked but no figerprints and no request for extra info. We saw 3 girls who made it through the interview but recieved form 221 for more paperwork. And finally on the next Friday when approved K1/K3 visa were handed out @ 3pm, there were only 6 girls with visas. My fiancee was one of these 6! 
| |
|
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #4743