RobertAtlantaUSA

Our interview was in Bangkok and the officer told my wife that we should hear from them in 2-3 weeks and that she will be keeping my wifes pasport. She did not say approved or not, so I emailed the embassy the next day and they told me that it was approved and to wait to hear from them. My wife says that 3 of her friends with recent interviews were told the same thing, no specific answer, but all were approved.

My wife will need to learn to drive too, and I will be looking for driving schools pretty soon. The schools that I have seen are very expensive. For example, 30 hours of classroom costs $125 which was a good price, but the driving lessons cost around $75 per hour! Has anyone found cheaper schools? $75 per hour was for a private lesson with free pickup and dropoff.

Your wife probably knows where this attitude comes from. Its common with people from BKK just like N Y city.

I think the case was put in A P because they are backed up or simply wanted to review something possibly because its a DCF case. No reason to think they would need more than a few days to finish the case. We were told it takes 3 days to insert the visa due to computer time.

She was told to wait 3 weeks? This is not uncommon when it comes to these A P cases in BKK. I have seen the A P take several months in other cases.

Yes my wife knows where that attitude comes from, but for as long as I have been coming to Thailand, I just still cant get used to it. I get very defensive when someone stomps on my wifes feelings, but thats just a fact of life here when dealing with their society, upper class vs. lower class. Im over it now.

Im very happy with the process so far, from the first officer I met when submitting the I-130, to the speed at which they processed it. Thanks Ning and others for all the advice.

Keeping the visa can be positive. If they had given back then you'd know it was definite denial.

Thanks, hoping for the best.

Check status online with CEAC.

Thanks Darnell, I will keep checking CEAC which shows "Ready."

The American interviewer also told my wife not to make any travel plans until we have received the visa. Great.

My wife was interviewed today in Bangkok for our I-130 DCF. The positives were a short wait time and polite American officer, but the negatives were a rude Thai interviewer and no indication as to whether or not we are approved.

The Thai employee was condescending to my wife when the American officer asked her to translate a question, and was short tempered with my wife. At the end of the interview, my wife was told that they are keeping her passport and that we should hear back from them in 2-3 weeks which to me could mean AP. No "congratulations," no "you are approved," no "have a safe trip." Nothing. And no 221g.

All in all I would give them a 2 out of 5 for the experience and dont want to have to go through this again. I have read all of the VJ reviews for the Bangkok embassy, and almost all that were approved were told they were approved in some sort or another after the interview and that they will get their visa in a few days.

Anyone have a similar experience with their embassy? Not told approved or not? Told to wait 2-3 weeks to hear from them?

Thanks Manilaraf. Yes I think its $325, I just read your links.

My wifes interview is coming up in Bangkok. Just wondering what she will have to pay on the day of interview. I think I paid $420 when I filed I-130 DCF. Thanks!

Curt, get your paperwork ready as things are really flying filing DCF. When you get your IV packet send Yo to Bangkok for her police clearance and medical. The police clearance will take 3 weeks and Angel said they can't offer "express service" wink,wink anymore.

Dave and Angel

They still offer 1 week express service for around 1500-1600 baht.

Hi everyone. Our interview is scheduled for next week. My wife has obtained the police and hospital reports, but I read somewhere that they have to be in unopened sealed envelopes directly from the police and hospital.

Any truth to that statement? My wife unknowingly opened everything, so I hope she didnt spoil anything that needed to stay sealed.

Congratulations! Your worrying is over haha

What a great birthday gift!

Welcome to Visajourney.

1. How many of the "hundreds" paid you with a W-2?

2. Have you been reporting your self employment income on schedule C of form 1040?

3. Do you own a company or corporation with tax ID that you use to accept some of this self-employment income or is it all under your SS#?

4. Is this year continuing to be the same as prior years with numerous employers and 1099's?

5. Have you filed your 2014 1040 yet?

6. Do you work on more than one "project" or "job" at the same time?

Since there are only 5 lines on the G325a, you might need to use a continuation sheet.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

If you are financing your car, the finance company usually requires you to keep full insurance on the car whether or not its being driven, with them as "Named Payee." You should look at your financing agreement and/or call them to see what the minimums are that the finance company requires.

Also, depending on what state you live in, you might be required to have at least liability insurance for as long as the car is registered, unless you turn in your plates. I have found that its easier for me to just keep minimum insurance on my car sitting in my driveway than to turn in the plates every time I take an extended trip.

Check with your finance company and also check with your state.

Op, first of all stop worrying! You will get through this process, the financial qualifying is just one part of it.

If your fiance earned net income from his consulting work at the gym plus all his other sources of income and they are more than 125% above poverty line, then you might be ok.

Be careful when he files form 1040 because if he takes too many self-employed business deductions when he files his 1040, it might bring him too low to qualify. Another member here grossed $40,000 from his self employment, but after he finished deducting everything, his net income was $17,000 which was below what he needed to qualify so he needed to get a co-sponsor.

I know what you are going through. I paid for an express mail package to be delivered in 3-5 business days. It took 8 business days. It did not update as "delivered" until the day after it was delivered. Next time I will use Fedex which is a little more expensive but more reliable.

All you can do is wait and have faith. It will probably be delivered in the next day or two.

Best of luck in boot camp. Like Adrian-Gloria said, get your fiance everything in advance just in case you get expedited.

Back in my day at Great Lakes, they called it basic training. When I went in, I couldnt contact my family for a while after induction, so better if your fiance has everything before you go in. Anchors aweigh!

Thank you for the link. Do you know if these numbers are net income or gross income? I make around 32k gross and net around 23k. Either way I'm above the number. Just wanted to know. Thank you again!

I assume you are an employee of a company since you have a 401k account. In that case you are covered because $32k is above the $19,912 poverty line for 2 people.

"Net" can mean 2 different things depending upon whether or not you are an employee.

Employees of companies they dont own can make gross income or salary, and then "net" means take-home or income after taxes. They report gross income from their Total Income line of form 1040.

If you are self employed (which it appears you are not), "net" means net income after expenses but before taxes. $23,000 would be the number you would enter on I-864.

I just went through this I-864 maze, and my understanding from the instructions is that they ask for your TOTAL INCOME from your 1040 or your AGI from 1040ez. OP can not file an EZ since he has SE income. That number will be net of expenses from schedule C (Self employed) of form 1040.

So if OPs gross from self employment was $40,000 and after expenses net was $20,000 and he had no other income, then $20,000 would be his TOTAL INCOME. The lower that net number goes, the closer he comes to the 125% above poverty line.

OP, if you are making that much money and filing a self-employment schedule C on your 1040, you might be able to lower your tax burden by forming an S corporation. I have done that for the past 20 years and it has saved me tens of thousands.

Thanks D and B!

Can I ask when you filed? I cant see your timeline.

Thanks for the answers. I guess I will wait to see if we get an NOA2 within the next few weeks (maybe months) or an RFE.

I am the petitioner and filed form I-130 DCF in Bangkok on January 27 2015, but I really gave only the minimum needed to file plus included Facebook and Skype chat logs for the past 2 years plus only 1 picture of us together. The officer accepted the I-130 and said I would hear back from them in a month.

Ever since I filed, I have been thinking about sending some more information such as more pictures of us together, a history of our relationship, copies of plane tickets for trips we have taken together, etc. Do you think it will help?

Thanks Darnell. I guess I will just wait to hear back from them after approval.

Hi everyone. I filed an I-130 DCF in person at USCIS in Bangkok 8 days ago but so far I have not heard anything back from the USCIS. They have my mailing address and mobile number but no word has come to either.

When I filed the I-130, the officer said that I will hear back from them in a month which seemed unusual since nearly everyone on VJ has received an NOA1 within a few days after filing by either mail or text or both.

My question is that since I filed DCF in person, will I actually receive any NOA1 or will they just skip to the NOA2?