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If you are paying in person at the bank it is supposed to take 24 hours or less. If you are paying by EFT or Electronic Fund Transfer then it can take up to 48 hours.
These are notes I wrote down with plans to maybe put them online one day.
Next we created a profile on the “cgifederal.secure.force” website which is needed to make the visa fee payment. Another important use this website has is to give your fiance's correct address where the embassy will mail anything they need to mail to your fiance. Most importantly, her passport with the visa in it at the end of this process.
The link is specific to THAILAND in English.
https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/?language=English&country=Thailand

There are two places you can find instructions for making your payment.
The link is specific to THAILAND in English:
http://www.ustraveldocs.com/th/th-niv-paymentinfo.asp#instructions

This link gives the most detailed instructions for Thailand. Here you can print the BAY Bank Deposit slip under the “Cash at Bank” instructions. There are two different places on this page from which you can print the BAY Bank deposit slip; they are both identical so it doesn’t matter which one you use to print the slip…assuming you will be going to the bank and paying in person as we did. This slip has two copies of the deposit slip on a single page; one is for the bank and one is given back to you as a half sheet as your bank receipt. It is very important for you to keep the one the bank gives back as it must be mailed to the Embassy in packet #3. I kept a high quality scan for my records in case it was lost.

A little more information here:
http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/niv_howtoapply.html
On this page the information is correct up until it talks about making the appointment which is not true for a K1 visa in Bangkok Thailand. In the case of a K1 Visa the embassy schedules your appointment after they have received and reviewed the Packet #3 documents.

https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/?language=English&country=Thailand
This is my experience with the payment fee website --- link repeated above. Click on the “New User”. There are two places you can do this to create your account, in the top instructions with the yellow background and towards the bottom of the page. Once you have created your account and are looking at your dashboard, click on the left-hand menu item “New Application / Schedule Appointment”.
You will step though answering some questions until you get to the payment options. We chose to print the bank deposit slip and go to the bank in person. Remember: Each Embassy will have their own specific instructions and most certainly with regard to which bank you must use. When you pick your payment option you will get a screen with “Payment Instructions” which has all the information on it you will need such as your expiration date, Receipt#, Virtual account# and CGI#. It is very important for you to save and print these instructions and take them to the bank with you. To do this press “CTRL+A” which will select everything, then press “CTRL+C” to copy everything, then open a Word document and paste everything into a new document by pressing “CTRL+V”, then print and save this new document. I saw no option to do any of this on the web page containing these instructions. Alternately, you can just go to your browsers “File” menu and print the instruction page. I would print it at least twice or make a copy.

NOTE: All important documents I scanned and stored in my computer.

At the bottom of the page with step #8 where it lists the fees you must pay, there is a spot for a “receipt number” at the bottom of the page. The part I blacked out above the Receipt Number is your fiancé’s name.



At this point you can go no further until you have paid the fee at the bank and wait until the next day by around noon or two days if you used EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer). After waiting almost a day or two, you can go back to this point by clicking “CONTINUE” which you will see at the top of the left-hand menu after logging back in to your account. When you get to this step #8 you should now see the “receipt number” filled in. Once you see this number filled in you can now click on “continue” at the bottom right of this page.

This is what I wasn’t so clear about. This receipt number, which is clearly shown on the payment instructions, is filled in AUTOMATICALLY within 24-48 hours after you make the payment at the bank. So you come back here the next day around noon and see if it is filled in or maybe two days for electronic fee payment. Ours was there at just before 10:30am the next day. At this point, you can click on continue at the bottom-right of this page.

NOTE: Once you make payment, it is my firm belief that all of this is controlled automatically between the bank's computer systems and the state department's website. I seriously doubt the Embassy has any involvement in monitoring payments on a daily basis and making sure receipt numbers fill in within 24 hours of payment. It makes 100% sense when you think about the ETF taking 48 hours. An extra day is needed for the transfer from your bank to the Embassy's bank. Banks like to do their processing at night after closing hours so one night to process the transfer and one night to process the payment. Paying in person only takes one night of processing.

The next page presented is your Completed Transaction -- click on Printable Version. The file downloaded is a PDF file. When I downloaded it the file was not named correctly, it did not have the “.PDF” extension on it so my computer did not recognize it as a PDF file. If this is the case for you just click once on the file to highlight the file on your computer and then hit F2 to edit the filename…you want to add “.PDF” to the end of the filename, without the double-quote, of course. Now your computer will recognize it as a file which can be opened by Adobe Reader when you double-click on the file…then you can print it from within Adobe Reader. This file has barcodes in it that you will need. This printout needs to be mailed to the Embassy in packet #3.

If you are paying in person at the bank it is supposed to take 24 hours or less. If you are paying by EFT or Electronic Fund Transfer then it can take up to 48 hours.
These are notes I wrote down with plans to maybe put them online one day.
Next we created a profile on the “cgifederal.secure.force” website which is needed to make the visa fee payment. Another important use this website has is to give your fiance's correct address where the embassy will mail anything they need to mail to your fiance. Most importantly, her passport with the visa in it at the end of this process.
The link is specific to THAILAND in English.
https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/?language=English&country=Thailand

There are two places you can find instructions for making your payment.
The link is specific to THAILAND in English:
http://www.ustraveldocs.com/th/th-niv-paymentinfo.asp#instructions

This link gives the most detailed instructions for Thailand. Here you can print the BAY Bank Deposit slip under the “Cash at Bank” instructions. There are two different places on this page from which you can print the BAY Bank deposit slip; they are both identical so it doesn’t matter which one you use to print the slip…assuming you will be going to the bank and paying in person as we did. This slip has two copies of the deposit slip on a single page; one is for the bank and one is given back to you as a half sheet as your bank receipt. It is very important for you to keep the one the bank gives back as it must be mailed to the Embassy in packet #3. I kept a high quality scan for my records in case it was lost.

A little more information here:
http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/niv_howtoapply.html
On this page the information is correct up until it talks about making the appointment which is not true for a K1 visa in Bangkok Thailand. In the case of a K1 Visa the embassy schedules your appointment after they have received and reviewed the Packet #3 documents.

https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/?language=English&country=Thailand
This is my experience with the payment fee website --- link repeated above. Click on the “New User”. There are two places you can do this to create your account, in the top instructions with the yellow background and towards the bottom of the page. Once you have created your account and are looking at your dashboard, click on the left-hand menu item “New Application / Schedule Appointment”.
You will step though answering some questions until you get to the payment options. We chose to print the bank deposit slip and go to the bank in person. Remember: Each Embassy will have their own specific instructions and most certainly with regard to which bank you must use. When you pick your payment option you will get a screen with “Payment Instructions” which has all the information on it you will need such as your expiration date, Receipt#, Virtual account# and CGI#. It is very important for you to save and print these instructions and take them to the bank with you. To do this press “CTRL+A” which will select everything, then press “CTRL+C” to copy everything, then open a Word document and paste everything into a new document by pressing “CTRL+V”, then print and save this new document. I saw no option to do any of this on the web page containing these instructions. Alternately, you can just go to your browsers “File” menu and print the instruction page. I would print it at least twice or make a copy.

NOTE: All important documents I scanned and stored in my computer.

At the bottom of the page with step #8 where it lists the fees you must pay, there is a spot for a “receipt number” at the bottom of the page. The part I blacked out above the Receipt Number is your fiancé’s name.



At this point you can go no further until you have paid the fee at the bank and wait until the next day by around noon or two days if you used EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer). After waiting almost a day or two, you can go back to this point by clicking “CONTINUE” which you will see at the top of the left-hand menu after logging back in to your account. When you get to this step #8 you should now see the “receipt number” filled in. Once you see this number filled in you can now click on “continue” at the bottom right of this page.

This is what I wasn’t so clear about. This receipt number, which is clearly shown on the payment instructions, is filled in AUTOMATICALLY within 24-48 hours after you make the payment at the bank. So you come back here the next day around noon and see if it is filled in or maybe two days for electronic fee payment. Ours was there at just before 10:30am the next day. At this point, you can click on continue at the bottom-right of this page.

NOTE: Once you make payment, it is my firm belief that all of this is controlled automatically between the bank's computer systems and the state department's website. I seriously doubt the Embassy has any involvement in monitoring payments on a daily basis and making sure receipt numbers fill in within 24 hours of payment. It makes 100% sense when you think about the ETF taking 48 hours. An extra day is needed for the transfer from your bank to the Embassy's bank. Banks like to do their processing at night after closing hours so one night to process the transfer and one night to process the payment. Paying in person only takes one night of processing.

The next page presented is your Completed Transaction -- click on Printable Version. The file downloaded is a PDF file. When I downloaded it the file was not named correctly, it did not have the “.PDF” extension on it so my computer did not recognize it as a PDF file. If this is the case for you just click once on the file to highlight the file on your computer and then hit F2 to edit the filename…you want to add “.PDF” to the end of the filename, without the double-quote, of course. Now your computer will recognize it as a file which can be opened by Adobe Reader when you double-click on the file…then you can print it from within Adobe Reader. This file has barcodes in it that you will need. This printout needs to be mailed to the Embassy in packet #3.

If you are paying in person at the bank it is supposed to take 24 hours or less. If you are paying by EFT or Electronic Fund Transfer then it can take up to 48 hours.
These are notes I wrote down with plans to maybe put them online one day.
Next we created a profile on the “cgifederal.secure.force” website which is needed to make the visa fee payment. Another important use this website has is to give your fiance's correct address where the embassy will mail anything they need to mail to your fiance. Most importantly, her passport with the visa in it at the end of this process.
The link is specific to THAILAND in English.
https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/?language=English&country=Thailand

There are two places you can find instructions for making your payment.
The link is specific to THAILAND in English:
http://www.ustraveldocs.com/th/th-niv-paymentinfo.asp#instructions

This link gives the most detailed instructions for Thailand. Here you can print the BAY Bank Deposit slip under the “Cash at Bank” instructions. There are two different places on this page from which you can print the BAY Bank deposit slip; they are both identical so it doesn’t matter which one you use to print the slip…assuming you will be going to the bank and paying in person as we did. This slip has two copies of the deposit slip on a single page; one is for the bank and one is given back to you as a half sheet as your bank receipt. It is very important for you to keep the one the bank gives back as it must be mailed to the Embassy in packet #3. I kept a high quality scan for my records in case it was lost.

A little more information here:
http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/niv_howtoapply.html
On this page the information is correct up until it talks about making the appointment which is not true for a K1 visa in Bangkok Thailand. In the case of a K1 Visa the embassy schedules your appointment after they have received and reviewed the Packet #3 documents.

https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/?language=English&country=Thailand
This is my experience with the payment fee website --- link repeated above. Click on the “New User”. There are two places you can do this to create your account, in the top instructions with the yellow background and towards the bottom of the page. Once you have created your account and are looking at your dashboard, click on the left-hand menu item “New Application / Schedule Appointment”.
You will step though answering some questions until you get to the payment options. We chose to print the bank deposit slip and go to the bank in person. Remember: Each Embassy will have their own specific instructions and most certainly with regard to which bank you must use. When you pick your payment option you will get a screen with “Payment Instructions” which has all the information on it you will need such as your expiration date, Receipt#, Virtual account# and CGI#. It is very important for you to save and print these instructions and take them to the bank with you. To do this press “CTRL+A” which will select everything, then press “CTRL+C” to copy everything, then open a Word document and paste everything into a new document by pressing “CTRL+V”, then print and save this new document. I saw no option to do any of this on the web page containing these instructions. Alternately, you can just go to your browsers “File” menu and print the instruction page. I would print it at least twice or make a copy.

NOTE: All important documents I scanned and stored in my computer.

At the bottom of the page with step #8 where it lists the fees you must pay, there is a spot for a “receipt number” at the bottom of the page. The part I blacked out above the Receipt Number is your fiancé’s name.



At this point you can go no further until you have paid the fee at the bank and wait until the next day by around noon or two days if you used EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer). After waiting almost a day or two, you can go back to this point by clicking “CONTINUE” which you will see at the top of the left-hand menu after logging back in to your account. When you get to this step #8 you should now see the “receipt number” filled in. Once you see this number filled in you can now click on “continue” at the bottom right of this page.

This is what I wasn’t so clear about. This receipt number, which is clearly shown on the payment instructions, is filled in AUTOMATICALLY within 24-48 hours after you make the payment at the bank. So you come back here the next day around noon and see if it is filled in or maybe two days for electronic fee payment. Ours was there at just before 10:30am the next day. At this point, you can click on continue at the bottom-right of this page.

NOTE: Once you make payment, it is my firm belief that all of this is controlled automatically between the bank's computer systems and the state department's website. I seriously doubt the Embassy has any involvement in monitoring payments on a daily basis and making sure receipt numbers fill in within 24 hours of payment. It makes 100% sense when you think about the ETF taking 48 hours. An extra day is needed for the transfer from your bank to the Embassy's bank. Banks like to do their processing at night after closing hours so one night to process the transfer and one night to process the payment. Paying in person only takes one night of processing.

The next page presented is your Completed Transaction -- click on Printable Version. The file downloaded is a PDF file. When I downloaded it the file was not named correctly, it did not have the “.PDF” extension on it so my computer did not recognize it as a PDF file. If this is the case for you just click once on the file to highlight the file on your computer and then hit F2 to edit the filename…you want to add “.PDF” to the end of the filename, without the double-quote, of course. Now your computer will recognize it as a file which can be opened by Adobe Reader when you double-click on the file…then you can print it from within Adobe Reader. This file has barcodes in it that you will need. This printout needs to be mailed to the Embassy in packet #3.

Application received at CSC 4/26
Check pending 6/4 

Application received at CSC 4/26
Check pending 6/4 

Just got ours last week. Took 3 weeks exactly, even though it was dated a week earlier, and even though they told my fiance they would not mail it with tracking, they actually did mail it with tracking and signature required. I had to sign for it. (I live here in Thailand with my Fiance).
One other thing they asked from my fiance, which I have informed the Embassy about, because it is NOT mentioned in their PDF Police Clearance instructions. These idiots wanted a letter from me, signed by me, saying I had asked her to marry me or some such stupid thing. I just copied my "Intent to Marry" letter I sent with my petition and changed the wording a little and we mailed it EMS the next day.
I'm chalking this up to the old saying "This is Thailand" and whatever official she talked to that day decided he would throw in a curve ball just to have fun.

This is our RECENT experience from a K1 Fiance point of view.
 
First of all, DO NOT bother with trying to drive until you have a driving permit or learner’s permit which you should get ASAP upon arriving in the country.  You DO NOT have to be married to get this or have a Social Security Card.  All you need is a passport and it wouldn’t hurt to bring a translated copy of a birth certificate if you have one, but I don’t remember needing this.  What you do need to be aware of is that the permit will expire when your I-94 expires which is 90 days from entering the US for a K1 Visa.  If you find you need more time to pass the written and behind-the-wheel tests then you will need to apply for a permit and/or license under the new AB60 law.
 
The AB60 law allows any UNDOCUMENTED person to get a driver’s license (LEGAL PRESENCE IS NOT REQUIRED).  The reason you may want to consider this is because everyone will have a certain amount of time in which they are in a gray area of “Legal Presence”.  That is the time between when the I-94 expires and when you are issued your Green Card.  Of course, when your I-94 expires you better have gotten married and filed for Adjustment of Status (AOS) for those on a K1 Visa.  Once you have your Green Card then go back to DMV and apply to convert your AB60 license to a normal license.
 
AB60 License - Go here and scroll down a bit to learn about the AB60 Law
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/newsrel/newsrel16/2016_01
 
AB60 Limits – it is important to know the limits of an AB60 License
https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/know-your-rights/california-ab-60-drivers-licenses
 
Once you have passed the written and behind-the-wheel test and you have your Green Card you can apply for a NORMAL License.  The people at local offices really don’t know what goes on at the Legal Presence Unit in Sacramento; they only know what they are told.  Many of them will tell you it takes months to get your license because the Legal Presence Unit has to verify your legal presence in the US with immigration and Social Security.  This is probably true, but it does not take months.  Some people can and have waited and have luckily gotten their license in a reasonable time-frame.  However, many people wait and wait and never see a license.  We waited 3 months before making our first call and we had to call twice.  We had to wait two months after the first call before calling again and then my wife got her license in 10 business days.  My advice is to not wait longer than ONE month maybe TWO months at the most before making your first and hopefully last call.
 
BTW, this was a big surprise.  We were told by the local office when we got the normal license that the expiration would be the same as our 2-year green card which made sense.  That was not the case.  My wife’s Green Card expires in July 2018, but the regular Driver’s License she got expires on her birthday near the end of 2020.  This is great news because it means we won’t have to deal with the gray period of legal presence between when her 2-year card expires and when she gets her 10-year card.
 
The Legal Presence Unit at DMV in Sacramento has a voice mail system that you can usually get into, but sometimes it is too busy and you will be told to call back…DO NOT give up, keep calling.  It has a feature that allows you to press “1” and then you can hang up and they will call you back preserving your place in line.  You are given this option a couple of minutes after being on hold.  This worked every time for us.  Once it took 50 minutes, but the last time it took about 15 minutes. 
 
CAUTION:  They will only talk with the person who the license is for.  They are uncompromising on this issue.  If they can tell you are on speaker they will tell you to take it off speaker so be quiet and type the answers for your spouse on a computer screen if she or he needs help.  If your spouse cannot speak or read English then DMV has interpreters for just about every language.  I guess you will have to ask Legal Presence how to arrange for this.
 
They have several numbers, but this is the one we called and it worked fine:
 
916-657-7445         VOICE MAIL
 
They will ask you to send them a scanned copy of your Green Card or other Legal Presence document and your Social Security Card.  They will ask you to put your phone number, driver’s license number and ATTN: to whomever you talked with on the page you fax them.  They gave us the following fax number and it worked fine using a free internet fax service.
 
916-657-6419     FAX
 
An alternate way to get your license more quickly might be to send a copy of your Legal Presence document or Green Card and Social Security Card to them via mail.  I have not verified this works, but someone else on a great forum I found did this and it worked for them.  I would do this soon after your temporary NORMAL paper license is issued by your local DMV office.  It’s certainly worth a shot.
 
Address:
 
Licensing Operations Divisions
Legal Presence Verification Unit.
Building West MS G204
Sacramento, CA 95818
 
There is a common perception that the Legal Presence department is overwhelmed, but somehow I think they just sit on many of these and hope no one ever calls.  We have a saying in English:
 
“The squeaky wheel gets oiled first”.  It’s not about being loud or rude; it’s about being polite and persistent.
 

This is our RECENT experience from a K1 Fiance point of view.
 
First of all, DO NOT bother with trying to drive until you have a driving permit or learner’s permit which you should get ASAP upon arriving in the country.  You DO NOT have to be married to get this or have a Social Security Card.  All you need is a passport and it wouldn’t hurt to bring a translated copy of a birth certificate if you have one, but I don’t remember needing this.  What you do need to be aware of is that the permit will expire when your I-94 expires which is 90 days from entering the US for a K1 Visa.  If you find you need more time to pass the written and behind-the-wheel tests then you will need to apply for a permit and/or license under the new AB60 law.
 
The AB60 law allows any UNDOCUMENTED person to get a driver’s license (LEGAL PRESENCE IS NOT REQUIRED).  The reason you may want to consider this is because everyone will have a certain amount of time in which they are in a gray area of “Legal Presence”.  That is the time between when the I-94 expires and when you are issued your Green Card.  Of course, when your I-94 expires you better have gotten married and filed for Adjustment of Status (AOS) for those on a K1 Visa.  Once you have your Green Card then go back to DMV and apply to convert your AB60 license to a normal license.
 
AB60 License - Go here and scroll down a bit to learn about the AB60 Law
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/newsrel/newsrel16/2016_01
 
AB60 Limits – it is important to know the limits of an AB60 License
https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/know-your-rights/california-ab-60-drivers-licenses
 
Once you have passed the written and behind-the-wheel test and you have your Green Card you can apply for a NORMAL License.  The people at local offices really don’t know what goes on at the Legal Presence Unit in Sacramento; they only know what they are told.  Many of them will tell you it takes months to get your license because the Legal Presence Unit has to verify your legal presence in the US with immigration and Social Security.  This is probably true, but it does not take months.  Some people can and have waited and have luckily gotten their license in a reasonable time-frame.  However, many people wait and wait and never see a license.  We waited 3 months before making our first call and we had to call twice.  We had to wait two months after the first call before calling again and then my wife got her license in 10 business days.  My advice is to not wait longer than ONE month maybe TWO months at the most before making your first and hopefully last call.
 
BTW, this was a big surprise.  We were told by the local office when we got the normal license that the expiration would be the same as our 2-year green card which made sense.  That was not the case.  My wife’s Green Card expires in July 2018, but the regular Driver’s License she got expires on her birthday near the end of 2020.  This is great news because it means we won’t have to deal with the gray period of legal presence between when her 2-year card expires and when she gets her 10-year card.
 
The Legal Presence Unit at DMV in Sacramento has a voice mail system that you can usually get into, but sometimes it is too busy and you will be told to call back…DO NOT give up, keep calling.  It has a feature that allows you to press “1” and then you can hang up and they will call you back preserving your place in line.  You are given this option a couple of minutes after being on hold.  This worked every time for us.  Once it took 50 minutes, but the last time it took about 15 minutes. 
 
CAUTION:  They will only talk with the person who the license is for.  They are uncompromising on this issue.  If they can tell you are on speaker they will tell you to take it off speaker so be quiet and type the answers for your spouse on a computer screen if she or he needs help.  If your spouse cannot speak or read English then DMV has interpreters for just about every language.  I guess you will have to ask Legal Presence how to arrange for this.
 
They have several numbers, but this is the one we called and it worked fine:
 
916-657-7445         VOICE MAIL
 
They will ask you to send them a scanned copy of your Green Card or other Legal Presence document and your Social Security Card.  They will ask you to put your phone number, driver’s license number and ATTN: to whomever you talked with on the page you fax them.  They gave us the following fax number and it worked fine using a free internet fax service.
 
916-657-6419     FAX
 
An alternate way to get your license more quickly might be to send a copy of your Legal Presence document or Green Card and Social Security Card to them via mail.  I have not verified this works, but someone else on a great forum I found did this and it worked for them.  I would do this soon after your temporary NORMAL paper license is issued by your local DMV office.  It’s certainly worth a shot.
 
Address:
 
Licensing Operations Divisions
Legal Presence Verification Unit.
Building West MS G204
Sacramento, CA 95818
 
There is a common perception that the Legal Presence department is overwhelmed, but somehow I think they just sit on many of these and hope no one ever calls.  We have a saying in English:
 
“The squeaky wheel gets oiled first”.  It’s not about being loud or rude; it’s about being polite and persistent.
 

BTW, if you do get a Learner's Permit it will expire on the day your Fiance's I-94 expires.  That is as long as they can authorize it for since her legal presence expires at that time.  If you want to extend it then you will have to apply under the AB60 program.  If you do this then the Learner's Permit will be good for 1 year.

This is our RECENT experience from a K1 Fiance point of view.
 
First of all, DO NOT bother with trying to drive until you have a driving permit or learner’s permit which you should get ASAP upon arriving in the country.  You DO NOT have to be married to get this or have a Social Security Card.  All you need is a passport and it wouldn’t hurt to bring a translated copy of a birth certificate if you have one, but I don’t remember needing this.  What you do need to be aware of is that the permit will expire when your I-94 expires which is 90 days from entering the US for a K1 Visa.  If you find you need more time to pass the written and behind-the-wheel tests then you will need to apply for a permit and/or license under the new AB60 law.
 
The AB60 law allows any UNDOCUMENTED person to get a driver’s license (LEGAL PRESENCE IS NOT REQUIRED).  The reason you may want to consider this is because everyone will have a certain amount of time in which they are in a gray area of “Legal Presence”.  That is the time between when the I-94 expires and when you are issued your Green Card.  Of course, when your I-94 expires you better have gotten married and filed for Adjustment of Status (AOS) for those on a K1 Visa.  Once you have your Green Card then go back to DMV and apply to convert your AB60 license to a normal license.
 
AB60 License - Go here and scroll down a bit to learn about the AB60 Law
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/newsrel/newsrel16/2016_01
 
AB60 Limits – it is important to know the limits of an AB60 License
https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/know-your-rights/california-ab-60-drivers-licenses
 
Once you have passed the written and behind-the-wheel test and you have your Green Card you can apply for a NORMAL License.  The people at local offices really don’t know what goes on at the Legal Presence Unit in Sacramento; they only know what they are told.  Many of them will tell you it takes months to get your license because the Legal Presence Unit has to verify your legal presence in the US with immigration and Social Security.  This is probably true, but it does not take months.  Some people can and have waited and have luckily gotten their license in a reasonable time-frame.  However, many people wait and wait and never see a license.  We waited 3 months before making our first call and we had to call twice.  We had to wait two months after the first call before calling again and then my wife got her license in 10 business days.  My advice is to not wait longer than ONE month maybe TWO months at the most before making your first and hopefully last call.
 
BTW, this was a big surprise.  We were told by the local office when we got the normal license that the expiration would be the same as our 2-year green card which made sense.  That was not the case.  My wife’s Green Card expires in July 2018, but the regular Driver’s License she got expires on her birthday near the end of 2020.  This is great news because it means we won’t have to deal with the gray period of legal presence between when her 2-year card expires and when she gets her 10-year card.
 
The Legal Presence Unit at DMV in Sacramento has a voice mail system that you can usually get into, but sometimes it is too busy and you will be told to call back…DO NOT give up, keep calling.  It has a feature that allows you to press “1” and then you can hang up and they will call you back preserving your place in line.  You are given this option a couple of minutes after being on hold.  This worked every time for us.  Once it took 50 minutes, but the last time it took about 15 minutes. 
 
CAUTION:  They will only talk with the person who the license is for.  They are uncompromising on this issue.  If they can tell you are on speaker they will tell you to take it off speaker so be quiet and type the answers for your spouse on a computer screen if she or he needs help.  If your spouse cannot speak or read English then DMV has interpreters for just about every language.  I guess you will have to ask Legal Presence how to arrange for this.
 
They have several numbers, but this is the one we called and it worked fine:
 
916-657-7445         VOICE MAIL
 
They will ask you to send them a scanned copy of your Green Card or other Legal Presence document and your Social Security Card.  They will ask you to put your phone number, driver’s license number and ATTN: to whomever you talked with on the page you fax them.  They gave us the following fax number and it worked fine using a free internet fax service.
 
916-657-6419     FAX
 
An alternate way to get your license more quickly might be to send a copy of your Legal Presence document or Green Card and Social Security Card to them via mail.  I have not verified this works, but someone else on a great forum I found did this and it worked for them.  I would do this soon after your temporary NORMAL paper license is issued by your local DMV office.  It’s certainly worth a shot.
 
Address:
 
Licensing Operations Divisions
Legal Presence Verification Unit.
Building West MS G204
Sacramento, CA 95818
 
There is a common perception that the Legal Presence department is overwhelmed, but somehow I think they just sit on many of these and hope no one ever calls.  We have a saying in English:
 
“The squeaky wheel gets oiled first”.  It’s not about being loud or rude; it’s about being polite and persistent.
 

Yeah, that was probably a mis-statement.
 
Can you drive with a foreign license, yes you can…for a certain period of time.  You will need a good amount of time to help your fiancé learn to drive in the US where the driving is on the right-hand side or they come from a country where the driving is like the Wild West or both.  However, if your fiancé already comes from a well behaved right-hand drive country and is a good driver then you are in great shape to start studying for the written and behind-the-wheel tests and have that over with fairly quickly.  So driving on a foreign license while learning may never be a problem.
 
If you look at it from the point of view that it is legal for a certain time period to drive on a foreign license, then I guess it's OK as long as any cop who may stop you for some infraction agrees.  I just thought it was much better to get the Learner’s Permit so there was no question she was legal to drive throughout the entire time she was learning.
 

If you are paying in person at the bank it is supposed to take 24 hours or less. If you are paying by EFT or Electronic Fund Transfer then it can take up to 48 hours.
These are notes I wrote down with plans to maybe put them online one day.
Next we created a profile on the “cgifederal.secure.force” website which is needed to make the visa fee payment. Another important use this website has is to give your fiance's correct address where the embassy will mail anything they need to mail to your fiance. Most importantly, her passport with the visa in it at the end of this process.
The link is specific to THAILAND in English.
https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/?language=English&country=Thailand

There are two places you can find instructions for making your payment.
The link is specific to THAILAND in English:
http://www.ustraveldocs.com/th/th-niv-paymentinfo.asp#instructions

This link gives the most detailed instructions for Thailand. Here you can print the BAY Bank Deposit slip under the “Cash at Bank” instructions. There are two different places on this page from which you can print the BAY Bank deposit slip; they are both identical so it doesn’t matter which one you use to print the slip…assuming you will be going to the bank and paying in person as we did. This slip has two copies of the deposit slip on a single page; one is for the bank and one is given back to you as a half sheet as your bank receipt. It is very important for you to keep the one the bank gives back as it must be mailed to the Embassy in packet #3. I kept a high quality scan for my records in case it was lost.

A little more information here:
http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/niv_howtoapply.html
On this page the information is correct up until it talks about making the appointment which is not true for a K1 visa in Bangkok Thailand. In the case of a K1 Visa the embassy schedules your appointment after they have received and reviewed the Packet #3 documents.

https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/?language=English&country=Thailand
This is my experience with the payment fee website --- link repeated above. Click on the “New User”. There are two places you can do this to create your account, in the top instructions with the yellow background and towards the bottom of the page. Once you have created your account and are looking at your dashboard, click on the left-hand menu item “New Application / Schedule Appointment”.
You will step though answering some questions until you get to the payment options. We chose to print the bank deposit slip and go to the bank in person. Remember: Each Embassy will have their own specific instructions and most certainly with regard to which bank you must use. When you pick your payment option you will get a screen with “Payment Instructions” which has all the information on it you will need such as your expiration date, Receipt#, Virtual account# and CGI#. It is very important for you to save and print these instructions and take them to the bank with you. To do this press “CTRL+A” which will select everything, then press “CTRL+C” to copy everything, then open a Word document and paste everything into a new document by pressing “CTRL+V”, then print and save this new document. I saw no option to do any of this on the web page containing these instructions. Alternately, you can just go to your browsers “File” menu and print the instruction page. I would print it at least twice or make a copy.

NOTE: All important documents I scanned and stored in my computer.

At the bottom of the page with step #8 where it lists the fees you must pay, there is a spot for a “receipt number” at the bottom of the page. The part I blacked out above the Receipt Number is your fiancé’s name.



At this point you can go no further until you have paid the fee at the bank and wait until the next day by around noon or two days if you used EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer). After waiting almost a day or two, you can go back to this point by clicking “CONTINUE” which you will see at the top of the left-hand menu after logging back in to your account. When you get to this step #8 you should now see the “receipt number” filled in. Once you see this number filled in you can now click on “continue” at the bottom right of this page.

This is what I wasn’t so clear about. This receipt number, which is clearly shown on the payment instructions, is filled in AUTOMATICALLY within 24-48 hours after you make the payment at the bank. So you come back here the next day around noon and see if it is filled in or maybe two days for electronic fee payment. Ours was there at just before 10:30am the next day. At this point, you can click on continue at the bottom-right of this page.

NOTE: Once you make payment, it is my firm belief that all of this is controlled automatically between the bank's computer systems and the state department's website. I seriously doubt the Embassy has any involvement in monitoring payments on a daily basis and making sure receipt numbers fill in within 24 hours of payment. It makes 100% sense when you think about the ETF taking 48 hours. An extra day is needed for the transfer from your bank to the Embassy's bank. Banks like to do their processing at night after closing hours so one night to process the transfer and one night to process the payment. Paying in person only takes one night of processing.

The next page presented is your Completed Transaction -- click on Printable Version. The file downloaded is a PDF file. When I downloaded it the file was not named correctly, it did not have the “.PDF” extension on it so my computer did not recognize it as a PDF file. If this is the case for you just click once on the file to highlight the file on your computer and then hit F2 to edit the filename…you want to add “.PDF” to the end of the filename, without the double-quote, of course. Now your computer will recognize it as a file which can be opened by Adobe Reader when you double-click on the file…then you can print it from within Adobe Reader. This file has barcodes in it that you will need. This printout needs to be mailed to the Embassy in packet #3.

There is absolutely no question in my mind that every single stupid immigration person involved with this decision at Pearson Airport is brain-dead. Expiration of the petition has no bearing whatsoever on allowing you to enter the US on a K1 visa. As other people have said it is certainly up to them and I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree with that statement, but that does not mean they were right; in fact they were 100% wrong.
Think about it. Most K1 visa holders will arrive at their POE with their petition already expired and that is simply because this whole process takes so long. The petition expiration is 4 months from its receipt at the NVC and that expiration has nothing at all to do with entering the US. It is a kind of clock that they look at as to when you have your interview at the embassy. They target getting the interviews done before this date and that is all it is used for if anything. These guys were new or they have never been stationed in a place that handles K1 visas on a daily basis.
Once you go back to the Embassy and explain what happened and they straighten it out and you finally get into the US then I'd have your US fiance file a congressional complaint. Government departments hate congressional complaints. It is the ONLY thing that gives them even a tiny pause in thinking about what they did. And don't forget to mention their disgusting attitudes with their laughing and joking. Incredibly unprofessional. You should have gotten all their names.
You next point of entry should be a larger airport or at least one that does not have inexperienced immigration officials stationed there.

NOA1 and NOA2 are only mailed to the petitioner.

I received no answers to any of my questions on this thread, but I'll go ahead and answer the last questions now. I received an answer from the US Embassy in Bangkok from an email inquiry. It took almost a week, but they answered.
The Validity of the medical, at least in Bangkok, is 6 months...not the one year I had read about and a couple of other people had told me. This means, even though the validity of the visa is normally 6 months, the validity of your visa can be no longer than the expiration date of your medical which will certainly expire sooner than the day you get your visa (theoritically). So if you wait until say one weel before your interview date to get your medical then your visa, which I read is usually granted a day or two after the interview in Bangkok, your visa validity will be about 5 months and 3 weeks. I'll just have to wait and see how this plays out.
This information was critical for me to know since we want to delay our trip to the US until early 2016. The timing will be tight.