Danno2

From what I've read, the series will need to be complete before AOS. Otherwise she may receive an RFE for incomplete vaccination supplement record (I-693A). I am not certain about whether Nern's is complete or not, but will take care of it once she arrives.

Thats what i have read as well.

Is anyone keeping track of how many girls are coming over in June and July? Seems like a Thai invasion..

My fiancée does not believe they'll let her in until around 12 to 12:30 for her 1 pm interview. Anyone else know whether she'll be allowed in earlier than that?

Chada had the 1:00PM appointment and they did not. When she came back at 12:45 they were the last in line. If she wants to be in the front of the line I would say wait. If not tell her to go across the street and relax till 12:30. I would certainly have her in the vicinity at 12:00. Don't be late or rushing.

Chada told me a little story about meeting someone at the interview. Both girls were not let in during lunch so they went across the street and ate together. After that they went back and the other girl interviewed first. The details were hard to understand but the jest of it was the embassy knew that the petitioner was still married and living with his wife. (tax forms???). At the window they asked the beneficiary many times if she knew about it. She said no every time. They denied the visa of course. As Chada walked back to the BTS with her she said the girl was not upset AT ALL and when the girl talked to someone on the phone it was no surprise at all when she got denied. I explained what fraud meant and Chada said yes of course the embassy knew it and the girl knew it.. SHe just wanted to come to America.

I tell this story to put contrast the amount of preparation, attention to detail and legitimacy of relationship we have as compared with some of the off the wall ####### the embassy must see on a daily basis.

Just two days away from the interview, my fiancée is a bit nervous. I feel far more confident since we've done our homework and there have been some optimistic reports coming from the embassy over the past two weeks.

I'm pretty nervous myself, but my fiancee is definitely more calm. I can't wait for this to be over with so I can hopefully bring Kat back with me. I'd sure hate to fly back to the U.S. alone. We spent the morning going over evidence and preparing for the interview. Less than 2 days away as well. My fiancee will likely see yours at the embassy on Thursday. I hope there is something to help me pass the time while I am waiting outside. We're at Som's Guesthouse on Sukhumvit Soi 22, BTW.

I know its hard to do but really try to enjoy it... You are way prepared and legit. Since the recent change in interviewers pretty much everyone who is on this forum has passed through with no problems. I really think you will be fine. Go have some fun. Take your girl shopping!!

Question

When you send in all the required packet 3 information and the embassy reviews and sends you packet 4. Why do they not say at time of you submitting packet 3 docs to them that there is a problem and wait for the interview to tell you that.? Do they even look at what is sent to them in packet 3 or just go ahead and schedule the interview

auto? and say you need more documents?

There were lots of problems a few months ago with the embassy giving everyone the run around. Everything seems to have cleared up and that guy does not seem to be around. Just triple check the list they gave you. If you have any questions ask us here.

There's a knife behind that pretty smile.

The first time I went to Thailand was in 2001 to skydive. The owner of the Dollhouse was an American skydiver who moved over there. He emailed all of us a "Christmas Photo" right before our trip over there. Pretty effective advertising...

Wow we are all going to have to get a Summer 09 Thai reunion going. I'm calling for Vegas.

Sounds good to me! We are in Vegas and makes it easy for me to make it.

Aaron I didnt think you would have a problem with it.

Wow we are all going to have to get a Summer 09 Thai reunion going. I'm calling for Vegas.

Funny story I got a PM today from a fellow VJ'er. He and his fiancee were at the embassy picking up visas at the same time. They started talking and he was trying to hook me up by telling Chada the clinic would be fine without her and to come see me ASAP. Man you talk about a small world!!!!

Thank you Noi..

I was the one with the funky phone records. I'm not sure how long the no phone cards rule was in place but it was a surprise to me to find out they would not accept the phone company records. That was one of the reasons i did the cover letter for the proof of relationship. It explained any issues up front. Search back 1 week and you can find a link to my letter.

In our interview nothing was brought up at all. We only had about 11 months and 2 trips to provide proof and we were fine. Don't stress about it. Just send in the phone card records and attach a letter explaining it was an error on your part and you ask for them to consider that as only a small portion of the entire package.

I'm thinking about getting Chada an AT&T prepaid SIM card to put into her phone (it works on our networks) so she can call me before she enters POE and may possibly be able to call if she gets hung up in POE. Prices seem reasonable at $1 each day you use the phone and free calling to other AT&T customers.

Has anyone thought about getting their girls a phone for POE and afterwards?

Any idea if an AT&T prepaid sim is available for purchase in Bangkok or someplace on the net that will deliver to Bangkok?

One thing I would suggest is to not overlook the amount of stress beyond the interview stage. The beneficiary can have a huge amount of stress about leaving friends, country, job, culture and family. I'm not sure if its good to bring all of that up to them but its definitely something to be sensitive of.

Just one more thing. If you use MSN messenger for your chats it saves files in XML format. The cool thing is you can export them into excel. Once that happens you can make a hell of allot of difference in the layout and content.. (Think about a find / replace option... I consolidated 2 maximum sized MSN files plus files from chadas computer and my work laptop that would have otherwise been lost into a single 17,000+ message print out. I got what what would have been a ridiculous amount down to 100 duplexed pages that was simple and "nice" enough for anyone to read.

Maybe the overkill proof of relationship days are behind us (or were never there at all )but if you use MSN and want some insurance over volume and content I can recommend that. The template is posted on the previous page with the other files.

I had a screwed up call situation with multiple issues

#1 I had AT&T and used a 3rd party (dial around) calling card with no detail billing back when I first started. I was pround about how cheap and effective it was but was also a noob back then. I made printouts from their web sit of the local access numbers and receipt for card purchased then highlight each call on the AT&T detail report of me calling those local numbers. In reality that proved almost nothing.

#2 Chada used a calling card that would freak AT&T's billing system out and show that I was calling myself every time she called me. Even though her cell number would show on my caller ID.. I tried like hell to get AT&T to fix it or give me a letter but they would not touch it. So I again just highlighted these numbers and Chada printed her detailed call logs that showed the same date / time of contact between the 2 logs.

#3 In 2009 when I read about the required detailed calling records I changed services to get the detail. I printed those reports and highlighted the local calls on the AT&T bill.

SO IN SUMMARY we had a very convoluted telephone record history. With that said we showed them every AT&T statement for 10 months with inbound and outbound entries indicated. There could have been jerks but they were not.

WHAT I DID to mitigate this issue and my "consolidated chat log experiment" was to write them a formal cover letter that was up front about 2 nuances (as I called them) in my proof of relationship. USCANDAUL and several people from work read it and were like wow thats good. If you have something small or complicated and your worried about how it will be interpreted I say you just be up front with it. Its much better to explain something up front then try having your SO explain it at the window AFTER they have identified it as an issue. I specifically asked Chada if the letter or questions about the phone or chat logs came up. She said it didn't. Here is a link to my cover letter.

http://www.box.net/shared/qm2q8hvm9g - Proof of relationship cover letter

Hopes this helps

My wife just picked up her visa today. she was telling me that the people that do not get approved is because they do not show enough evidence or are missing paperwork. she said there were about 30 people there to pick up various kinds of visas.

That should not be a problem for VJ couples...

Sorry about the links before I didn't know you had to have a google account. There should be no problem with these.

Interview Questions http://www.box.net/shared/fcmf68j2ca

K1 / Packet 4 Visa Instructions http://www.box.net/shared/mkptnd5lo2

Post NOA1 Checklist http://www.box.net/shared/mi0b6iugou

Visa Chat log template http://www.box.net/shared/2lxdfhpcqk

Thanks for the feedback. I'll put them on a file sharing site tonight. I cant do that from the office.

My fiance just got her visa approved and will be here in 26 days. I want to build her a garden with herbs, spices and whatever she would like to have. Do you have some ideas / suggestions on what I should plant or how I should go about doing this. I'm very DIY and should be able to handle it.

I live in Dallas, Texas and have a yard with lots of sunlight options. Please share any information or link you might have.

Thank you in advance

Danny

Oh about the piece of paper. It seems we have to come back on June 9th to

Wow Great news Danny, Welcome to America Chada.... Thank you so much for all the support and info you have given believe me it has been appreciated....[/color][/size]

Your very welcome.

There is NO WAY I would have ever been able to accomplish my goal without VJ and this forum. I have also met a great group of people along the way. I certainly hope others can get some use out of the docs I created. We would have certainly had multiple things fall through the cracks and never made the 3 day Packet 4 turnaround without them. I feel very lucky to have been the only visa approved yesterday. A friend once told me you sometimes make your own luck. Considering we went from I-129 submission to Visa approval in 163 days and dealt with VSC and the embassy along the way I think we used EVERY kind of "LUCK" available.

Now you get to teach her to drive.

Chok Dee

hehehe

Since Nok has been here longer and has a longer track record of putting up with you she needs to do the driving buddy Also make sure Nok remembers her job (Getting Chada over here in 2 weeks). Oh and before you ask a 10th time, she lives in Bangkok...

You feel like your getting spanked with this post??? I am quite the "Over Poster" today...

Looks Like KH1982 is the next K1 as he posted they will be going through this evening or tomorrow morning. He's new and his post is on page 104. If he does a review we should start to be able to see a good pattern hopefully.

One last thing before I pass out. Here are the docs I created for Chada and I along the way.

Post NOA1 Checklist

Chat Log Template

K1 Packet 4 Instructions

K-1 Interview Questions

I hope they can be of use to someone else. OK I need an hour of sleep before work.

Congratulations Danny and Chada for getting the visa!!! :joy:

And to think... how upset you were just the other day!!!

See how fast things change around here?!

I see you've decided to put Chada's picture back up... is that your "rally" picture?!

LOL, Yes, Yes and Yes. (I'm proud of my girl and how she kicked @ss the last 4 days)

Now if someone could just convince her to quit her job of before the end of June. I even tried bribing her with a 20,000b shopping spree in Dallas. She said "I donot know how to tell boss" I told her we can buy him a nice gift. she said "cannot"..

Oh and in a follow-up conversation she said there was no Fat Man. Just a small girl and small guy at the embassy and they were all nice. Maybe someone was "reassigned". Siberia would be a good place I think.

Well actually I did sleep good. Must have had something to do with Vodka, soda and then beer... I'm not sure when my last post was but I um "went to sleep" then woke up at 3:54 pretty groggy. I picked up the phone to see if I got anything yet. Nothing... Then 2 seconds later ring, ring and its Chada calling. Being "a little bit sleepy" I just about dropped the phone. To make a long story even longer it seems we have have to come back to the embassy again. It was a little difficult to understand Chada on the cell phone but after about 2 minutes she explained to me everything that happened.

She went to the embassy about 2 hours early (11:00am) and they would not let her in. She called me, went to lunch and came back at 12:45 and was essentially in the back of the line. Then as they went through security screening the medal detector kept going off so after they found it was her USB drive she was the last one in. I don't know what happened after that or how long she waited but she said there was allot of girls there for the interviews and that she thought only 1 actually got a visa.

About the interview.

She was interviewed by a woman who she said was very nice and could speak English and Thai. They chose to do the interview in English. The woman asked her 6 questions.

When did you meet?

How did you meet?

What does he do?

When did he ask you to marry?

When will you marry?

Is he a good guy?

Chada said she believed that the woman knew the outcome of the interview (if they were going to give her the visa or not) before they ever called her to the window. The next part was a little difficult to understand but she said they looked at all the evidence but she thought out of everything it was the photos that stood out and one in particular. When I proposed to Chada it was actually a setup. I put the camera on the beach and had it taking pictures then dropped to one knee and "popped the question" (all while the camera was taking shots). When they asked "When did he ask to marry you?" they all laughed and said yes they saw the picture of the proposal on the beach at Koh Samet. So all in all that was really about it.

If others want to compare their relationship (length of time, how they met and the proof or relationship) to ours this is how everything played out

Met online July 8th.

Started daily conversations since then

1st trip in October (3 weeks)

Filed I-129 December VSC

2nd trip and proposal in Feb

Completed 80% packet 4 during second trip (didn't do police report or proof of relationship)

Sent in Packet 3 last month

Surprise phone call to interview Monday

Mad dash to assemble packet 4 info during last 3 days

Proof of relationship was a highly customized chat log (14,000 entries), 200 emails, 140 photo's and bastardized phone records (linking cell phone to my and Chada's Thai calling cards)

I wrote a cover letter stating the nuances of the chat log and phone records and she attached that letter to the top of the proof of relationship information

Interview at the embassy today

Oh about the piece of paper. It seems we have to come back on June 9th to

PICK UP THE VISA

She was the 1 who WAS APPROVED!

Woo Ho USA population increase by 1 little Thai girl.

This is going to make my hangover feel much better in the morning.

B)