ArizonaMike74

I want to apologize in advance if this is not perfect - it was difficult for my wife to translate this out of context but here it goes:

Vishu,

Are you online? Do you want to say something...ha ha ha?

When is he coming back? I'm waiting to punch him. Tell him if he's a good fighter to come back and fight with me again.

Are you serious or are you just being a big mouth sweet heart?

No. This is America so we must say it and make Americans scared.

He is not your Facebook friend?

No he is not.

Vishu

I can't BELIEVE IT!!!! Teaw and I zipped down to Pattaya for a couple days cause she wanted to go to the beach and there were no cheap flights to Phuket or Samui when were were going to be here. Now I have not been to Pats for 3 or more years, but I was totally shocked to be in LITTLE RUSSIA!!!!! It's 95% Russians now and everything has Russian writing on it. At the hotel we were at I felt like we were the only English speaking people there and we pretty much were. While getting a foot massage last night the lady we were talking to said she wished it was like the old days where it was all Americans and English as she did not like the Russians so much. It was really depressing to see the place change like that from what I remember it was. I sure won't be going back to Pats again!!!! Scratch that one off my list. I just hope the tour people don't screw up Phuket and Samui and other places with the Russians.

Well that sucks I've never been but Mimi wants to try it for vacation but I guess we won't plan on more than a week there (Hua Hin is the next place on our list), so we can see what it's like. Just read an article about the topic that said they are big spenders ($300 bottles of champagne and caviar):

http://www.gluckman.com/Russians.html

It's good for Pattaya tourism but that means prices for everything will go up. Maybe they will spend more improving what I've been told is a pathetically short/smelly beach.

congrats on your marriage...arizona mike and to you and gif as well, bless 1010. wish you lifetime of happiness and an easy transition for your wives in a new country.

@arizona mike are you anywhere near chandler? there are quite a few thai people there, some solid restaurants and grocery ingredients as well.

Thanks to everyone for the congrats. I live about 15 minutes from Chandler and have visited Wat Pa there but the closest Asian grocery store I could find is in a strip mall on the border of Mesa and Tempe (Dobson and Main), called Mekong Plaza and is actually Chinese owned but they have some Thai, Korean, and Vietnamese food there. We can get fish sauce there and just about everything she needs but it's about a 30 minute drive. When Mimi and I visit Wat Pa she can ask the people there where the best grocery store is.

However, she gets by fine shopping at the local vegetable/fruit market and Walmart. We've only had to go to Mekong twice since Mimi got here - the first time to check it out and the last time for another bag of rice and a few hard to get Thai vegetables. We haven't eaten at any Thai restuarants yet but I'll probably take her to my favorite Thai restaurant soon. I've teased Mimi that they make better Green Curry Chicken than her so maybe she can ask for their recipe. LOL, I think I saw some steam come from her ears after that comment

Hello everyone,

I just thought I'd give a quick update. Mimi and I got married at the Excalibur's wedding chapel the Tuesday after Thanksgiving - small wedding just my mother-in-law and my immediate family. The wedding was cheap ($250 package), but the pictures were expensive ($300 just for the CD - otherwise you get one 8*10 print). We stayed four nights in Vegas at the Excalibur. Mimi doesn't gamble and I didn't really have time but I managed to play in one very small poker tournament at the Excalibur's poker room and dumped about $20 into a slot machine.

Vegas was colder than I've ever experienced in that city - freezing at night and 50s during the day. I know some of you are probably dealing with snow but I grew up in the desert so it was very cold for me and definitely way too cold for Thai people:) The last day we were there it warmed up a bit so we walked up the Vegas strip, saw the hotels, did a little shopping, and grabbed lunch at PF Chang's (this was the closest to real Chinese food they've experienced - both gave it the thumbs up). The last night in Vegas we saw the Lion King - quite a musical production - everyone loved it (and we had front row tickets I bought months in advance so that helped).

After four nights in Vegas, we drove to Anaheim Thursday for four nights in a hotel across the street from Disneyland. The first night I drove to "Thai Town" in Hollywood. There are a few restaurants and a grocery store - they mainly wanted to go to get hard to find Thai ingredients from the grocery store there. There is a book store right outside the grocery store that carries Mimi's favorite weekly Thai gossip (oops I mean "news") magazine. The store's proprietor said that he would ship her the magazine once a month (I can't remember the price but I think for 3-4 issues of the magazine shipped to our house it would be $15-20 so very reasonable). We ate at a good Thai place and then drove to China Town in downtown LA. We just drove through China town since it was getting late and they already got the groceries they were looking for at the Thai market.

I think the trip to and through LA/Hollywood was an eye opener for both Mimi and her mother. They had a glamorous view of both cities from movies and TV shows but when they saw all the trash on the side of the freeway, the horrible smog and traffic, and then the downtrodden areas that are Thai and China town they were happy that we lived in Phoenix. Thai town particularly was a rough neighborhood. The grocery store had an armed guard at the front door - that was a little scary.

Friday we spent the day in Disneyland and both Mimi and her mother were very impressed - her Mom asked why we didn't spend more time there and less time in Las Vegas. We took an all day bus tour of LA on Saturday (Santa Monica Beach, Venice Beach, Walk of Fame, etc.). Sunday we spent the day at the newer Disney park across from Disneyland called California Adventures. We had a long drive home on Monday - everyone came home tired but happy with the trip. More to come about life with two Thai women:)

Mike

Is this thread DEAD or what???? Nobody writes in here anymore?

Yes this thread has been quiet. I've been very busy with my wedding, honeymoon, reception. etc. but I'll post updates soon. I hope those still waiting for their interview are doing well - I know the holidays can be difficult when you're apart and waiting on the government.

Mike

I agree with the comments about Windows in Thai, probably not something you want to do. No real reason to pay for anything more than Win 7 Home Premium for 99% of home users anyway.

Actually Mimi can read and understand and prefers english most of the time when using the computer - it is when she's typing to her friends on facebook, etc. she uses the small arrow on the start bar to change to Thai characters. I don't know if there is a way for her to type to her friends in Thai on the internet without the Windows language pack but I'm sure there may be an alternative. It's free for XP/Vista but Win7 ultimate does cost extra. I was buying a new Alienware so it wasn't that much more altogether but if I had to buy a separate upgrade just for the Thai language pack I probably would have sought out alternatives.

Mike

Usually it is.

LOL. Yes your results may vary But that's what this thread is for.

On a separate note I now have a list of things that may ease the transition for your loved one when he/she arrives here:

1) Rice Cooker - this is a must. I bought one at Sears for $30 that is working great so far (Mekong Plaza, my closest Asian Grocery Store, wanted $100+).

2) "Thai Keyboard Stickers with White Lettering on Transparent Background" found on Amazon.com for $5.77 with shipping sold by 4KEYBOARD. This will turn any standard computer keyboard into a Thai keyboard

3) Download the free Thai language pack for Windows XP/Vista (this allows you to switch between Roman and Thai language on the computer by clicking on an arrow on the far right side of your Start Bar in Windows). Unfortunately, if you have Windows 7 you have to upgrade to Windows Ultimate in order to download/install any language packs.

4) Thai Satellite for Thai News/Soap Operas (I mentioned the specifics in an earlier thread and there are alternatives to a satellite dish).

5) "Bidet BB-50: Hand-held bidet with room temperature water and adjustable pressure" offered from Amazon for $45.50 with shipping. This is the popular "Bum Gun" found everywhere in Thailand. It comes with all the necessary hardware to go between the water hookup and your toilet's tank and mounts on the wall. This one has held up well so far for me.

6) Some kind of clothes drying rack or setup some clothes lines. Mimi is not a fan of clothes drying machines (I don't think they're popular in Thailand but someone can correct me if I'm wrong). My socks and underwear are OK in the dryer but for the more delicate stuff she prefers the old fashioned method.

I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting but I think that covers the important stuff. Obviously you don't HAVE to buy this stuff but I think it will make for a much easier transition for your significant other.

Mike

You need to turn on the CC in the Cable Box or Satellite receiver, they have their own decoder in them, and don't use the TV's cc decoder.

Per your info I decided to look through the manuals on both my cable box and satellite receiver. I found a hidden menu on my cable box that allowed me to turn on english subtitles - thanks! Unfortunately, the digital receiver only has "teletext" (British version of CC), but when I try it on the Thai channels it just says "No Teletext". Thanks,

Mike

Just wondering about those Thai channels, or any of the other language channels your dish gets, is there an option on them to turn on english subtitles? Watch Thai channels with english subtitles? I imagine probably not but would be nice if they did.

As it turns out, I've discovered I can't get any Closed Captioning to work through either my HD Cable Box, or the Digital Satellite Receiver I use for the Thai Channels. CC is function that is now built into all TVs but only works when directly connected to COAX cable (HDMI and RGB won't pass the info necessary for the TV to display CC).

We've had www.thaitv.tv for the past three years. About three weeks ago it stopped working altogether (calls and e-mails received no response; they have since changed their homepage, no login page). Tried several of the "free" sites but none worked without "buffering" every five to ten seconds. Ended up subscribing for three months to www.mydootv.com. Rin absolutely loves it! Has alot more content than thaitv had. No problem with streaming video (no buffering issues). Also, shows that are live are available as recorded content within an hour (on thaitv it was usually about 24 hours later). Another benefit has been that it is possible for us to login to dootv from multiple computers at the same time (using the same login/subscription). Not possible with thaitv. Works well when the children and Rin want to watch different things!

With thaitv we had buffering/delay problems initially. Ended up being our modem supplied by Comcast. I went and purchased a Motorola cable modem/wireless router combo and the problem went away.

It's good to know that there is an alternative out there for Thai TV. $95 for one year or $165 for two years isn't too expensive if it keeps working as well as you say it does. The recorded content would come in handy because of the time difference. I'm not sure what time Mimi's favorite soap opera will be on here in the USA...I fear I'll be waking up at 3:00am to watch some Lakorn Thai Thanks for the info.

Mike

I know some of this info has been mentioned before but I thought I would post anyway for those who have recently married or will soon. I wanted to have Thai TV available in my home so I did some research. Not so much for Mimi because she can understand most American TV (they do talk too fast sometimes but if I turn on English subtitles she'll be OK), but for my visiting soon to be Mother-In-Law since she speaks very little English. I tried a few web sites but even with a high speed internet connection the streams were horrible (they paused every five seconds).

I ended up buying a fixed dish satellite system from Galaxy-Marketing.com for $218.65 with shipping. I paid a local satellite guy $150 to install it so I'm out about $370 but it's all free-to-air broadcasting so there is no monthly bill. They have about seven Thai stations, mostly American produced but Thai speaking broadcasts, on the Galaxy 19 satellite. One of the channels is TGN which is the exact same broadcast as in Thailand (I called her while watching a cooking show to verify it was the same). I noticed there is a new station called "Lakorn Thai" which means it is a station dedicated to broadcasting Thai Soap Operas - it's sure to make Mimi's mom happy...LOL.

I know that there is an argument to be made for total English immersion upon arrival but I think that your significant other would really appreciate having some connection to Thailand in their new home - even if just for Thai news. I know how much I appreciated just being able to watch a little BBC or any English news broadcast while I was in Thailand.

Mike

Kinda funny. It's getting chilly in Texas.

We are not suffering from that particular issue in Phoenix It's supposed to stay over 100 all week so I hope that it isn't warmer than low 90s when she gets her in November

Well, Teaw and I are finally back in North Carolina after our aborted stay in Thailand due to my father's death, flying back to NC and then the next morning out to Calif for the funeral and to help my mom

get some stuff straightened out. My daughter was a champ and took care of all the funeral stuff for my mom so she didn't have to do it. But flights delayed coming home tonight (Sat) through Chicago so we got

back a little later than we had hoped. Now after meeting my family by what I call baptism by fire she can settle in now and get used to the US.

I'm sorry for your loss but it is good to hear the two of you made it back home safe.

Just talked to her and Visa APPROVED!! Pick up in one week.

Congrats

Mimi was approved for her K-1 Visa yesterday and her mother was approved for a B-2 Tourist Visa today! A short synopsis of Mimi's interview:

An American lady interviewed my Fiance' in English. She was friendly and polite and asked how we met, my name, where I work, was I married before, do I have any children, and where/when we plan to get married. Short interview (5-10 minutes).

Mimi's mother, Waralee, was interviewed in Thai by an American man. He was also friendly and though she brought a bunch of financial documents he only asked to see the invitation letter I sent her (I believe I copied it from VisaJourney somewhere). The letter just explains that she took care of me when I was in Thailand and that I want her to come to her daughter's wedding in America and that I will take care of her while she is visiting America. He asked her my name, where I work, why she was coming to America, and how long she planned on staying. Very short interview.

One lady Mimi knows from Thai4Visa had her interview the same day as Mimi and she told Mimi that her Fiance' paid a lawyer over 40,000 baht to help them. I am glad I did not pay for an attorney as I intended to originally - the people here convinced me not to. I want to thank everyone for the information and advice provided - I could not have done it without your help. Thanks!

Mike

She can have dual citizenship. In my mind the best reason is for traveling. If she has a US passport she wont need visas for most countries in the world.

You make a good point I had never thought of before. I would like to take a European vacation with Mimi in a few years visiting Spain, France, Greece, and Britain. It never occurred to me before that she will not be able to get a US Passport since she will be here on a Green Card. If that is the case then she would have to apply for a Visa for each of those countries at their nearest Embassy? Wow that sucks

Not sure when your fiancee's monther's B2 interview is, but my MIL's B2 interview was today, and, much to my surprise, she was approved. If she was approved, I'd be pretty surprised if your fiancee's mother was not, so that should ease your fears a bit (if you had any).

Thanks for the info!

Has she ever had a tourist visa for the US before? Approval of these can quite difficult if she cannot show strong ties to Thailand, and her daughter having a K1 will actually be considered a negative factor, especially if the mother has never had a tourist visa before. Even more especially if there is no father in the picture that is staying behind in Thailand.

Mimi's mother, Waralee, has traveled to Norway and lived in Sweden with her Swedish husband (she's widowed), but she's never been to the US. Though she is single, she owns a rice farm and two nice houses in the city of Sisaket, has money in the bank, and has another daughter and two grandchildren that live next to her so she definitely can prove ties to Thailand. The reason I'm scheduling the Tourist Visa is so she can come for the wedding. I've read conflicting view points on Waralee's chances of getting a B2 Tourist Visa for the wedding but I have to try and I can't afford to wait for a month or more before she applies - I need to get Mimi's airline ticket and I can't buy hers until I know if her mother is coming too.

This will save them another long trip and the expense of going to Bangkok and I will know right away if her mother is coming or not (unless the Embassy pulls more shenanigans).

Mike

I never emailed them but I figured that was the case. We are trying to get an appt for the same reason as well. This is a somewhat common situation, not just at this embassy I'm assuming. You just have to check every day, sometimes several times a day. It's not really the embassy's fault, it's just the way it is.

...Also, don't bother looking farther than 8 weeks in advance - they don't schedule appointments that far into the future.

Yes you are right. It turns out I got all worked up for nothing I checked when I woke up this morning and still no green but after I got to work I checked and the calendar was lit up like a Christmas tree. I picked the morning after Mimi's interview, September 8th, got the confirmation, and all is right in the world again

Correction - non-immigrant visa interviews appear to be quite a bit more than 12 days out. No open appts anywhere on the calendar. Weird.

Yes something is seriously screwed up - the Embassy's web site says current time on Tourist Visas is two weeks but my fiance' just bought the PIN for her mother hoping we could schedule her Mom's B2 interview for the same week as her K1 interview (two weeks from now). However, she had trouble with the web site so she gave me the info so I created a login, used the PIN, and when I got to the schedule to pick a date - NO GREEN DAYS - not this month, not next month - no available days ever (I looked as far as January). I emailed the Visa Support Team and here was their response:

Thank you for using the Visa Information Service. We apologize for any difficulties you may have experienced.

There is currently a high demand for visa interview appointments. Appointment availability changes regularly as applicants schedule and cancel appointments. In addition, appointments will become available as the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Consulate General continue to add more appointments for the future. Please check the site again.

Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you,

The Visa Information Service Team

I replied to that email asking how often I should check the web site and how often the Embassy opens up appointments. Instead of the instant reply I received before they emailed me back saying they would "look into it" and I would get a response in 2-3 business days. Unbelievable

Congrats Mike. Hope all goes well. I'll be there on the 5th to start getting Teaw ready to come here....visit family, etc.

You going over there to bring her back?

Thanks. I would love to go over and I have enough vacation time but unless I trip over a pot of gold it's not going to happen:) If Mimi's mother gets denied her B2 Visa then it may be a different story but for now I'm planning on buying plane tickets for both of them, entertaining them while they're here (probably one trip to Tucson and one to the Grand Canyon), having our wedding in Las Vegas, and a honeymoon at Disneyland.

Given all that, it will probably be a year or two before I make it back to Thailand. I am confident Mimi will be fine because she's flown internationally several times and her English is excellent but I would like to go back to Thailand to see my friend Dan. He is the reason I went to Thailand in the first place. He recently moved to Khorat and is in the process of building a mansion for his family (he was born in Thailand, raised in the USA, and his parents just sold their chain of Thai restaurants and moved back to his original village to retire). He was in construction here so he is helping build their house but it's taking a long time and I know he misses home.

Mike

Hi Om. Welcome or Sawasdee krab. My fiancee Aod sent Packet 3 June 29. We have not heard from the Embassy yet. They have not scheduled the interview.

I sent an email to the Embassy to make sure they received Packet 3.

They received Packet 3 July 1. They said 8 - 10 weeks to Schedule the interview. Maybe 2 - 4 weeks later is interview day.

Do you know about www.usvisa4thai.com. Good web site for Thai ladies.

Good luck.

Good News Rob!

The Embassy received my packet the day before yours and I just got my interview date so you should get yours shortly. Mimi's interview will be September 7th so not too far out (about two and a half weeks), and sooner than I expected.

Mike

I'm not sure where to go for help, so I thought I would try this since the USCIS seems like a dead end...

I really think something has gone wrong with my I-129F application. According to the online status, it was received in Vermont on March 18, 2010. I never received an NOA1 hard copy and was told it must have gotten lost in the mail. Even though they would not send me another NOA1, I eventually did get a letter from them that included a receipt number, so I assumed everything was on track. Now it has been over 4 months and no word at all. I can't find anyone on this entire forum that recently took longer than 3 months to receive an NOA2 and the USCIS won't do anything until the 6 month threshold is reached (5 months processing time + 30 days). My online status has never been changed from "Initial Review" and I have not received any requests for more information or the like. Does anyone have any idea where I can go to at least make sure my application is still in a queue somewhere? Can anyone think of a legitimate reason it might take so long? Any help would be appreciated as this wait is killing me. Thank you.

USCIS has five months to approve before they have to give you an answer as to why it's taking so long. In my case they waited until literally the very last day. I believe it was planned that way for some reason because I called about four months in and the lady on the phone told me she knew exactly when it would be approved. I thought she was joking or daft since she was just a call representative and was not the person working my case but as it turns out her prediction was right - it was literally the very last day before I could complain when it was approved. As a matter of fact I knew to the day when I could call and was calling and looking up my case number online when I noticed the status had finally changed to approved.

Then it was stuck at NVC for three weeks or so and took another week or two to get to Bangkok. I applied in November and my fiancee didn't get her Packet 3 until June. I originally had thought she would be here in June since five to six months was the average time from N1 to Visa back when I applied in November. Now I'll be happy if she gets her Visa in August or September (9-10 months after my NOA1).

Hang in there - at this point there is nothing you can do but wait until the five months are up. Even congressional inquiries can't really help you until it's been five months since your NOA1.

NEWS FLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Teaw went to the embassy today, Monday, to see why they tried to call her Friday. So she got to the embassy about 1:30, got in by showing them on her phone that they tried to call. He sent her back out while he checked her case, then called her back in and said SHE GOT THE VISA and told her to wait out front until 3pm. So at that time they called her back in and gave her the packet and visa and she went outside and called and woke me to tell me. She said 3 AP cases got visas yesterday.

So now the planning starts as I have to see when I can get off work for two weeks to go over and get her, spend time in Buriram with the family and move some of her stuff back up there.

Now I can finally rest easy and quit worrying when they will get off their butts.

Congratulations Tom! It seems that you've been through more grief to get your approval than anyone that I've seen on this forum so if anyone deserves some good news it's you. I hope that Teaw appreciates everything you did and that the two of you get along once she's stateside. I know you don't want to try this a third time

Yes Laddawan passed her interview and will pick up her visa on the 22nd. Sorry took so long to post but had to buy her plane ticket and etc. She will be flying here on the 26th. As for the interview she said she had no problems at all and had the american lady giving her the interview and said she was very nice. We were both worried as I only made one trip to Thailand but our evidence was very heavy and it finally paid off. Thanx guys now the countdown begins to her arrival

Matt

Good job and congratulations!