thaikarl

before i married, we tried for a tourist visa. i made the mistake of going to the interview with her. the interviewer ask who i was, said i was fiance... and it went totally cold from that instant on.... and she had all the reasons to return to thailand- property, family, etc. but the interviewer hardly looked at her papers. it's just weird and in my opion pretty dumb, but mai pen lai.

i'm american. me and my thai girl registered married(?) with the thai goverment, which i understand counts as a legal marriage in the states.

but we'd like to get married in the church here in the states, and register the marriage here in the states.

can i get a k-1 visa?

we don't want to live here anytime soon. she takes care of her mother and teen daughter- couldn't leave them behind. so we won't be needing k-3 and all that for a long time. but i do want her to meet the family here, and have my family enjoy the wedding.

did we screw up getting a k-1 by registering with thai goverment?

The K-1 is not possible. The best option would be a tourist visa if you intend to reside in Thailand. If you both have strong ties to Thailand (job, residence, etc) and can prove she is not intending to immigrate to the USA, then you would be best to get a visitor visa to the USA. However if your ties are closer to the USA (domicile in USA, employed in USA, etc), then it will be more difficult to convince the consulate that she would not stay in the USA.

Do you work in Thailand?

Does your wife work in Thailand?

Where is your primary residence (USA or Thailand)?

Do you or your wife own property (house, land, condo, etc) in Thailand?

What other ties, besides her family, exist to keep her in Thailand?

The answers to these will help determine your best course of action.

John is correct but you still wont get a tourist visa.

We were in the exact situation you are. After 3 attempts to get the tourist visa an officer explained to me why.

He said " your documents are perfect & I believe you will return to Thailand but if I issue the visa I will be fired the same day". He said the policy was no matter what was presented that the " strongest ties " were to the husband. "This means because you are married she will remain in the USA because her husbands ties are to the USA". He also said that if we had a tourist visa we would probably be turned away at the POE anyway. He said they go by the history of the country rather than the evidence submitted.

At the same time I know people that have gotten tourist visas. I just dont know any that were married at the time.

I did not work in Thailand.

My wife did work.

My residence was USA. I was in Thailand for over a year.

My wife owned property.

She had all the typical ties to Thailand.

When they learn that you intend to marry again in the USA they will not issue the visa. Ridiculouse I know because I think people here on V J believe you will do what you say.

Its 131 bucks to give it a try & you wont know until she walks up to the window no matter what anyone says. Its possible that my experiance wont be yours. I hope not.

i'm confused about the timing of paying fees. after we are married in thailand this coming january 2008, i can file the I-130, and i need to send $355.00 when i file- correct? then, when i recieve notification, i file the I-129F, which has no fee. is this correct?

then, after all their decidings and other steps, my wife gets a visa that will enable her to come to the united states. correct?

then, i file to have her status adjusted, so she can live and work here, and THAT costs $1010.00- correct?

so do i only need $355.00 to start, then some months later, when she comes here, i need $1010.00. - correct?

it's going to be several thousands of dollars to goto thailand this time, and several thousands for her to fly here later (more if we come here together), so i'm trying to get a handle on how much money i'm going to have to make to get all this done - and WHEN i have to make it.

thanks yall!

thanks for the responses. looks like i'll have to goto a tax person and see how to get myself back on the books. i have been fully self supporting, not on welfare, not working the system. nor have i been making a lot of money. i live cheaply and save my money to travel. the last thing i expected to happen in my life was to meet a women overseas and want to get married. so i'll do what ever i need to do. onward!

i dont' have any tax returns. i've been working on a cash basis for many years, and um, don't seem to have any tax retruns or records of income. i do have (or can get) my bank records, showing deposits over the last few years, but other than that, i have no proof of my income.

what else will work?

i have family that has good income and assets, but i am leery of getting them involved. but if i have to, i have to. i don't want to wake a sleeping dragon by trying to re-establish my tax return status and introduce another delay and expense to my life process. i also don't want to do anything that will "red flag" my application and that wil hold up the process. i just want to get married and make the immigration happen.

i'm a bit confused about the options, tho i've been reading thru the site. too much information, but not the "here's what you do" answer i need. thanks!

I am "living" in Thailand on my tourist visa... Does anyone know if the consulate in BKK will approve a I-130 (DCF) for my future wife? If so, then this would be alot faster than me returning to the USA and filing for the K1.

i spoke with a very helpful immigration attourney in bangkok when i was in thailand a few months ago. and i have done some research on my own about filing as a 'resident' in thailand. the procedure for that is to file at the USCIS Bangkok office. BUT, as noted in the other comments, they are very strict about what makes you a resident of thailand. if you have a tourist visa, forget it. you are a tourist, not a resident. if you have a retirement visa, or you are working in thailand with a work permit - then you have a better chance. but the lawyer said you should be living in thailand for at least 9 months or a year before you try to apply. since it will take that long to get a K-1 or K-3, may as well just go that route. after going over all the ways to get there from here, my fiance and i have decided that we'll have a civil marriage in thailand (when i can get back there) and immediately apply for a K-3. we are kicking ourselves now for not getting the civil marriage (registered with the thai goverment) while i was there april to august 2007. if we had done that, we could be filing for K-3 now. and we could have filed before the fee increase. oh well.

you can have the traditional wedding - which for me will be the REAL wedding - at anytime. as my fiancee pointed out, why pay for a k-1 and then pay for a k-3? plus the expense of bringing your fiancee to the states for a k-1. good luck.