jjohnson97526

Update:  Still Waiting.  Still bored with the process. I feel the need to visit her.  If I  do, it will be very difficult to avoid stopping by the embassy to look for answers.  This seems like the "Ugly American" thing to do.  Please, somebody talk me down.

My fiance in Thailand is very bored with the visa process.  We have been waiting since February 2020.  Our case is at the embassy, but that's where the trouble starts. Before we actually met in person, we tried to get her a visit to the US on a tourist visa.  A complete waste of time during the Trump Administration(circus).  She was denied April 2019 after only 2 questions into her interview.  I love her so much, it didn't slow me down a bit.  I made it to Thailand in September of 2019, and hired an attorney($4000) to handle the case.  

After an extended wait due to COVID, we received our first RFE in January 2021.  Everything they asked for hasd already been included in our original petition.  There was 1 hotel receipt missing out of everything they had requested.  

Fast-forward to May. Our login to CEAC showed "no data available" for 2 weeks.  I called NVC and after a solid hour of Muzac I was fortunate enough to speak with a human.  I may as well have been talking to a wall, but a couple of days later the status changed to "ready"

Our attorney attempted to login to CEAC in order to make arrangements to pay the visa fee , but our account  was security locked because of our B-1 attempt, preventing any further action.

This weekend she found her login, but now our attorney is on vacation.  Can't blame him for that.

The question I pose is thus: Shall we continue ahead by logging into the CEAC on our own, or wait for our attorney?  A very detailed list of actions was included with our NOA2.  Since we are in "ready" status, should we try to arrange payment of the visa fee and move forward with an interview date, or should we wait for professional counsel to continue our battle?

I must admit that the current visa process is very boring, to the point I can catch a whiff of discrimination by the hands of my government.  If I were a UK or European Union resident, I wouldn't be here venting about how broken our immigration policy has ALWAYS been, because the acceptance period is under 90 days.  That's the case everywhere, except the USA.

No interview has been scheduled,  and we've been waiting for the step.

What Is It?

JJ

Welcome back.  I think....

I';m heading for Phuket July 5.  I'm vaccinated and anitbody positive, so I'm hoping for no quarantine.  I check Thaiuland's requirements for Certificate of Entry on a daily basis.  Going on 19 months without being near the woman I love.  Just like Bruce Hornsby said, "what I wouldn't give for only 1 night, a little relief in sight...."

5 hours ago, Steve and Nicha said:

My call to the NVC said the same thing a few weeks back regarding a supervisor.  But when the NVC sent us something in the mail, it basically confirmed it was sent to the embassy and to work through them.  I will tell you and you probably figured out that the embassy replies are useless.  They barely read the question and don’t provide an answer.  I will just say that they said our case was not received.  When I told them I was worried it was lost, they said not to worry because there is nothing that would indicate that.  So I kept waiting and I checked every morning.  Here is a new frustration when you reach the next step.  I had an interview scheduled for this Tuesday and they cancelled a week ago.  Now I was able to find an open slot for June 7 and worried they will cancel again a week before.  We waited this long and now need to deal with a fluid situation of rising covid in Thailand with no sense of when this process will end.

Brother I feel for you.  What really aucks is than I'm a man of action, but in this case there is very little I can do.  My girl jumped on getting ready for her interview right after we got the NOA2.  She flew to Buriram province and had the town elder and her dad come into town for a signature on the statement of celibacy in front of what we consider a notary.  I understand these documents have a short shelf life.  It's gonna kill me if she has to do it all over again.  I'm watching your case as a harbinger of what is to come, so please know I'm rooting for you!  Sure hope it isn't that difficult going the other way when we're ready to retire....

33 minutes ago, rndz said:

NOA2 of 12/15/2020, NVC sent to BKK 2/3/2021 here.  I've called the NVC a couple of times and also received the "supervisor review" reply.  More helpful was a comment by one of the staff answering the phone that a large quantity of applications were sent as a batch and the embassy is working through them, with many not logged into the system yet.  I've also called the embassy - there's a US number that I guess transfers to Bangkok and East Coast evening hours will catch them in the morning before they're too busy.  They will only tell you they can't find the case and will not even confirm there's a backlog waiting for entry.

 

I wish there was a single system for tracking the application from start to finish.

 

Well, I wasn't sure of what the result of my hour-long hold would be, but now I know.  I just hope Idarin doesn't read this post right away.  Last night she went to bed with a smile on her face. 

That is exactly what they said to us.  But it will suddenly reappear as “ready” status at some point.

6 hours ago, Steve and Nicha said:

That is exactly what they said to us.  But it will suddenly reappear as “ready” status at some point.

Thanks for the words of encouragement.  You know exactly what we've been going through first hand, so you're aware of how a small sliver of light in a sea of black can lift one's spirits.  Idarin was so pleased that I called the NVC, and with your response to my post.

I just got off the phone with NVC.  NOA2 date was 02-24-21, but Thailand consulate claims they have not received our petition.

NVC has submitted our case for a supervisor review, and they said they will email the results in a week or 2.

If you decide to call NVC, expect to be on hold for over an hour.  I'm not sure if this will do any good, but it may put my girl's mind at ease for a while.