John NorCal

45 min to her interview. This helpless anticipation has to be one of the worst feelings out there!

Good Luck to you both.

BTW. Don't miss this oportunity...There is an excellent restaurant in the Conrad Hotel...2 or 3 blocks from Embassy. World Class Dim Sum in their Chinese Restaurant called Liu. & I still remember the drinks that we shared in the hotel Bar right after fighting to get the final approval for our K1 Visa. Priceless!

Chok Dee Krap,

John NorCal

Question about the "Single" Cert

We are a little confused about whether it's necessary to furnish a "Verification of Unmarried Status", though, since she will be sending in a divorce certificate.

After digging around on this excellent site, I've discovered that the packet 3 info/checklist dated 09/08 asks for the "Verification of Unmarried Status", but the newer (newest?) checklist dated May-09 does not seem to ask for this. Additionally, my sweet Chanisa is telling me that folks over on usvisa4thai are saying that the single cert IS required.

Now, the simplest thing for us to do would be to simply have my fiancée get the single cert just in case, however that is turning out to not be so simple -- though she's 28 years old, she's been told to bring in her 70+ year-old parents before they'll give her that document. Arrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!

Anyway, I hope someone can shed some light on this requirement.

Erich

Erich,

We were in the same position and were concerned about the same thing. I can't remember where I looked it up exactly, but I found a couple of references somewhere that the Verification of Unmarried Status (Bai Rub Rong Sod) for the beneficiary is NOT needed if you supply a certificate of divorce. We simply supplied the divorce certificate with official translation and did OK.

However strangely enough, I was hassled on my side about being married before (never married) and other unrelated items...

Hope this helps.

Best Wishes,

John NorCal

PS. I will try to find the reference...maybe here...Check out AaronLV on Sawasdee 3 from Apr 13 2009, 04:41 PM

"You only need the divorce certificate. The Bai Rub Rong Sod is only for woman that have never been married."

We have chatted a lot but have used Yahoo IM. I have saved some chat files but cannot find a log file for this service. How important do you think this will be?

Regarding Bai Rub Rong Sod, is this in addition to a divorce certificate?

You only need the divorce certificate. The Bai Rub Rong Sod is only for woman that have never been married.

*********

Congrats! Great Job!!!

Best Wishes and Good Luck to you both on the US side.

(BTW, I really admire your persistence on duking it out on those crazy 221g issues...I know how it feels)

My Fiance finally got her visa, it was really seeming like it might not happen for a bit. I have never felt more stress, sadness and anger than I have the past few weeks. We had a problem intially because I was once married to a Thai and got divorced at the Thai consulate in LA. This is very problematic because it's only recognized in Thailand. Thus I had to find her and divorce her at the Amphur in Thailand when my Fiance and I decided to get married. I had a lawyer and he was very helpful with this.

The second problem is my Fiance is Laotian, but we both reside in Thailand. We are relocating to the USA next week. She had to have a number of additional stamps and guarantees from various Lao agencies in and outside of Thailand that Thai's do not. This was a little surprising to me and my lawyer. We learned this via a 221(g) If you think Thailand is disorganized it's nothing compared to Laos. It was a real nightmare to gather all the needed signatures and stamps. In fact the guy at the Laos embassy in Thailand flat out refused to help us and forced us to go to Vientiane Laos for something he could have easily done for us in 30 seconds. During the last week I had to fly my Fiance to Laos and back twice. Also getting anything done at the various agencies in Laos is an exercise in luck and madness. It was also never entirely clear exactly what stamps we needed as the 221(g) was very vague so we basically took our best guess which of the dozens of government agencies might be able to provide us with the proof we needed. Since getting the 221(g) my life has very much felt like the Kafka book The Trial. If you haven't read it check it out, you'll relate to some of the strange bureaucratic steps involved in getting a visa to what he had to do in the book to get through his 'trial'.

I am very very relieved we made it this far, now I just hope there are no problems getting married and we can simply begin our life living together in the USA.

Do you know why the other 3 girls were denied?

Neil

I don't know for sure. I wasn't in the room during the initial interviews. Thai fiancee's only. And although you can sort of hear bits it relatively private...The room is sort of a of like a series of 8 bank teller windows and a waiting area...you are given a number and wait for your number to be called.

I know that they were culled out quickly during the interview with only a couple questions and were not fingerprinted or given 221g's. I assume that there was something obvious...either fraudulent paperwork, money, visa/passport problems, or some type of marital status issue. Poor girls. I know how terrible it feels to get denied.

Johnnorcal after you resolved the 221g problem was your visa issued right then and there or did you have to wait a few days?

You have to go back and pick it up. They do not issue on the spot.

Agree w/ the above.

In our case, we resolved issues from our 221g hassle on a Wed. And on the next Fri, we received the actual visa.

So to be specific, on Wed afternoon we got a verbal OK for the visa, they asked us to leave her passport behind, and we recieved a stamped notecard telling us to return on Friday at 3pm for the actual visa attached to the passport pages. (The note card was presented to the security at the embassy entrance to get you inside.)

We got our K1 Visa!!!

But I wanted to share our interview experience. (I posted this to the embassy review section.) It was not easy but I figure that my job in visa journey is to have all the combined problems s***piled on me so others can have an easy route. Check out my USCIS delays as proof.

Vicky (fiancee) supplied originals of passport, Birth certificate, ID card, house ID, name changes, and huge pile of proof of evidence to Thai embassy workers and was eventully interviewed by the young blonde lady on Wed am July 15.

Interview questions were initially easy. Where did you meet?, when?, how many times I visited? and then they started in on a really strange tangent and they asked for more information. 1) documents for name change after a divorce and before the new Thai ID card was re-issued with her previous maiden name. 2) Documents for my divorce.

Problem: 1)Thai National ID card name changes after divorce from married name back to maiden name can happen without std forms and receipts and thus are not available. 2) I was never married! and thus I can't supply divorce papers! Amazing.

They gave us back our supplied documents above and a white slip of paper stating the problems above (form 221) and said to come back next Monday between 1 and 3pm with these documents in order to receive an OK for the Visa.

Big Note: you don't have to necessarily wait for the next Monday or Wednesday. It is possible to go back on ANY Monday or Wednesday from 1 to 3 pm to resolve problems with paperwork. Form 221 states this also. Also Note: the original interview is with the Thai fiancee only...BUT follow up interview with the further proof required from 221 can be with BOTH BF/GF or Hsb/Wife. This can be a big help with these instances considering language and tag-team efforts.

I/we are very happy that we returned that same day instead of waiting for the next week. I really think that my stares of disbelief and stern furrowing of the brow helped convince them that they were crazy in assuming that I was married. In their defense I can say that their logic was: you have children, you are 48 yrs old, therefore you must have been married, right? They also said that I had a passport application somewhere in my history where I listed a spouce...however they could not and would not show me what the hell that was all about?!! Sounded like a poker bluff to me. Eventually I was able to sign a piece of paper in their presence that stated that I was not nor have I ever been married before and that made it all OK.

Again I don't think that if I hadn't been there, it would have been able to be resolved...at least not for a few weeks and without possible legal intervention.

Overall I think that the BKK interview system is slipshod at best. Maybe they deny or request additional info in order to discover fraudulent cases...ie. bogus cases will drop out under extra scrutiny. (But in my case the extra scrutiny was bogus.)

I think that approx 16 interviews were scheduled on Wednesday morning. By early am 3 girls were absolutely denied...questions were asked but no figerprints and no request for extra info. We saw 3 girls who made it through the interview but recieved form 221 for more paperwork. And finally on the next Friday when approved K1/K3 visa were handed out @ 3pm, there were only 6 girls with visas. My fiancee was one of these 6! :kicking:

PS. I'm on a crappy laptop and may only have a few chances to respond to other questions until I get back to US on Sunday...but I'd be happy to do so if others are interested in the screwy BKK interview routine.

The airline tickets are insanely expensive right now! I can't find anything under $1800!!! I was thinking Korean air to Dulles (I live in the Baltimore/DC area) but they're over $2100).

I'm having the toughest time! I'd like to stay about a month and also be there for her interview. I dont' really want to waste too much time there once visa is in hand so that makes impossible possibilities since the interview is less than a month away on the 23rd! I really need a couple weeks to get things together here so even going out July 14, tickets are closer to $2k. My problem is getting hers comign back and having flexibility in case there's a delay with both our tickets.

Looking at leaving July 14 or 20 or so, coming back 3-4 weeks later....ugh! Prices are insane! My first trip to BKK was $935

Hey Heyena, Check out www.Kayak.com. They have the best info on flght pricing trends, (ie. cheapest airline, cheapest day of the week to travel, historical pricing etc,) You should be able to still find something in the $1K range. I've booked through them before, but usually I use the site to research and then book direct or w/ expedia etc.

Good luck w/ the travel and the interview!

John if you intend to travel back together that is also a huge plus. I remember returning from Bangkok to LA last summer sitting next to a Thai woman. She had married an America professor who had taught in Thailand but had since returned to his home in California. I had to help her fill out the I-94 and customs declaration cards because she had never seen them before and her English was average. When she knew I spoke Thai, she didn't speak a word of English from that point. Just like when I know a Thai speaker is pretty good at English i.e. my fiancée, I resort to speaking English out of laziness.

I don't think that I'm going to be able to travel back with her, Unless I can motivate her to pack in a few days after we get the K1 green light.

BUT I've been thinking about how it might be difficult for her to navigate through San Francisco and POE paperwork...so now I'm thinking about snagging an extra copy of an I-94 card and show her what is expected when they give her one to be filled out. (She has good verbal English skills, but reading comprehension is so-so for the forms...hell, I need to read em a couple of times too after an 18 hr flight.)

Thanks for the suggestion and the reminder!

Hey Guys/Gals,

I know we got a couple of interviews coming up: The fiancees of Brothers Scandal and Giram are interviewing on the 30th or so (I think)...anybody else?

Brothers UScandual and Giram...I can't remember...are you guys going over there for the interviews?

Peace and Prayers for Success!

MarkNAAm

We're up for an interview on July 15th early am. I think that we are ready...I know that I'm gonna be a 5th wheel for the interview process, but I want to go for the moral support & make sure that she has all of the paperwork organized (and we get there on time). I've got my fingers crossed.

Chok dee krap to the others queued up for the interview!

John NorCal

Thanks for the comforting info!!

I'll sleep better now...

My Fiancee Overstayed her visa in another country. (the UK for less than 1 yr approx 6 yrs ago)

Does anyone have info on how this might effect our K1 process? Should I be concerned?

I'm still waiting for NOA2 for my I129F...& tired of waiting.