Hey everyone, I have a few questions, I am sure my situation has occured before and was wondering if I could get pointed in the right direction!

My wife is Thai and we were married this past March. We were given a b2 10 year visa to come visit my family and we would like to plan on moving the the US in Oct 2008.

So should we apply for the k3 visa right away from Thailand or should we come over next Oct and begin the process for a greencard from the US.

If it is possible to start in the US, are we allowed to visit Thailand for say; a one month vacation?

I saw that for the K3 visa there is a salary requirement, currently we are both teachers and I moved here after I graduated University so the last job I had was at an electronics store, not exactly big $. Will this pose a problem?

Thanks for your time!

I could be wrong and plz someone with knowlage feel free to correct me , but to my understanding your wife can not move to the states with the B2 visa , it is for vist only , you guys would probly have to aply for the k3 , since thats the proper spouse visa , to my understanding since you already got married in her country it would be concidert visa fraud if she moved on B2 and adjusted the status from the states

I am in agreement on that, Lona, to knowingly enter the US on a visitors visa with the intent to remain permanently is visa fraud. So is out of the equation.

The OP seems to have 11 months before they want to enter the US and I'm not sure that that would be sufficient time to go through the whole K3 process (it may take longer). He would be wise to see whether Thailand allows direct consular filing and, if they do, whether or not he meets their residency criteria.

I suggest you check out the direct consular filing forum, as well as the "Asia: East and Pacific" regional forum for a more specialised audience They can advise whether anyone has managed to DCF in Thailand and, if not, what sort of wait times are being seen with applying for the K3 in the US.

OK Thanks for all the help! I will check out the forum and get working on our K3 visa this week.

If you have been a resident of Thailand for six months or more, you may be eligible to file an I-130 directly with the Consulate. If you have 11 months before you actually want to live in the US, I would definitely forget the K3 visa and go the CR1 visa route all the way. This works filing directly in Thailand or mailing your petition to the appropriate US service center of USCIS.

Yes, there is an income requirement and if you don't meet it, you'll need a joint sponsor who does. This too is far more reliably accomplished going the CR1 visa route. The remaining issue will be US domicile. You'll need a US address. If you didn't maintain one, you could use parent's or another family member's address.

Start by reading the "Guides" here.

B2 is a visitor visa. Use it to visit, not to "reside".

Great, I've been here for 2 years, this should speed things up. My parents are going to Joint sponser etc etc since both of us will go for further education once we get back so it's back to being a perpetual student :/
Thanks again for all of the help