I have been coinsidering bringing my Thai GF over to the US on a finance visa. Any other kind is apparently next to hopeless. The whole visa process is tough from what I understand since 9/11.

I was just wondering if anyone in the states has done it, how long it took and what was the reall cost. I have been researching this for some time and I know that their are agencys in BKK that can do it for you. Also, if anyone has a personal referral for one of these companies. Thanks

This post has been edited by drilldr: Feb 10 2007, 10:06 AM

Do a bit of research and do it yourself. I speak somewhat from experience, I brought my wife from China on a spouse visa and helped others with K1 visas from China, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. All of the form are available on the USCIS site and most you can fill on line to print and send in. This is your best resource.

All of the info is readily available and filling the forms won't take you more than a few minutes each. There are Yahoo! groups dedicated to the process: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/USA-Immigration/

Good luck

This post has been edited by picoman: Feb 10 2007, 11:21 AM

Visas to the UK and places like EU and Aussie etc are relatively straightforward. UK Govt stat's for 2005 (2006 not out yet) show that of 35,000 applications from Thailand less than 5% were declined. A friend in Immigration tells me that the 2006 stat's are similar with a very slightly lower decline rate.

However, it does appear that the USA is a completely different kettle of fish.

There are a few Visa Agents in Pattaya although the Stars and Stripes is noticeable absent from the windows of most.

SkiBum is a USA citizen (I think) married to a Thai - he might be able to help you.

Another good resource would be the Thai Visa forum. Good luck with the application.

Drilldr
Im an British citizen so i cannot speak for US visa's but id like to pass on some valuable info to you...
I used an agent to apply for my wife's visa and i would NEVER get stung like that again.
You can either choose many of the "agent's" in Patts or if you go to the US embassy they will usually be waiting outside to lure you into parting with your hard earned cash!
When we applied id heard so many nitemare stories about how difficult it is to obtain your visa so we went to the embassy to find out just how hard. We arrived outside UKVAC to be abducted by 2 thai guys speaking excellent english and promising us the world. "We can do this we can do that etc etc" I thought what the hell it worked out for there services about £980.00 not including the application fee of 20,000 bht. But the visa was "GUARANTEED"
Perfect i thought i can now go back to the UK and carry on running my business without the extra worry of the application. They gave me a list of everything which i needed to supply, so after speaking to the main man there we signed up paid the deposit of 50,000bht.
I returned to the uk at the end of August 2006 and prepared my paperwork to send to them, everything from my end was in order. I had tried to call them on a few occasions but when i got throught to the main man he said "oh you need to speak with somebody from my team who is dealing with your case" HMMM i thought thats not what he said when we were there, he'd said to us that he deals with each case personally.
Alarm bells were starting to sound!!
He'd told us that as soon as id sent him all of the paperwork required he would submit the application. NOT SO. It took me 2 weeks to send him all of the relevent paperwork but after almost 2 1/2 months he hadnt submitted it, saying that the UKVAC was very busy and it wasnt a good time.

The day finally arrived when my wife would go to Bangkok to to have her preliminary interview by the agent just to make sure everything was in order. He said to her yeah everything is fine your interview is at 9.00am tomorrow morning. PERFECT.
She arrived at UKVAC at 8.30 and had to wait for the agent to give her all the paperwork. They turned up LATE adding to my wifes already stressful day! She went in fo the interview ...conducted by 1 english speaking ECO and 1 thai speaking.
The interview went ok...although my wife was very nervous and this obviously hadnt helped by the agent turning up late on this most important day!
She sat there for an hour and a half while they were asking her questions about our relationship, my parents, my job etc etc etc.
Eventually they came to the interview and said .. "MRS........ you have failed to supply enough "evidence" of your relationship over the past 2 years , so im refusing your visa.
To say we were gutted was an understatement.
She called me and told me the bad news..... FUCK .... this isnt on!!
10 mins later she called me back "tirak why you only give few photographs and 1 email?" "WHAT" i shouted id sent over 300 pictures of us together and almost a ream of paperwork with emails and chat conversations that we'd had!
It turns out that they had misslaid them and just put in the application with only a few that i had supplied...
Money back???
Not a chance!! he said 20,000bht was for the appliction fee and 30,000 was for time that his staff had spent sorting out our paperwork!
I spent 35mins on the phone to the main boss his english had became very bad suddenly to the point of us not being able to communicate.
The conversation ended. I was now down 50,000bht and my wife had a refusal stamp in the back of her passport.
Were now going through the appeal process alone, but that can take upto 12 months to complete.
Sorry for my long reply and rant but i just wanted to give othr BM's the benefit of my experience.
DONT USE AN AGENT!!!
p.s
the figures quoted as for stats of granted vs ferusal are missleading.
5% thats laughable. its more like 70-30 against. If you dont believe me just got to UKVAC and see how many girls come out of there crying.
Dean

The very best site on the internet is www.visajourney.com

I base this on experience. Also, do not use an agency! Now you can decide that I know nothing and spend countless hours doing it differently but in the end you'll realize I know what I'm talking about!

Step 1. Go to visa journey and download all the files for K-1 visa mail them to Thailand, bring them with you to Thailand or if you were like me you were in Thailand. Read all you can and start asap!

Step 2. Get your girl to fill out all the boi information about job, education, parents, mother and fathers names and birthdates...look at the forms and you'll see what I mean. Also on several forms she MUST sign in her native language "Thai" you need to point this out to her. Have her send the forms back to you...spend the money and do it all express mail if out of Thailand! If with her it's all very easy. If memory serves you need a leter of intent to marry from both of you and passport photos less then 6 months old. There is a check list...look for it!

Step 3. After you have sent in all information and the I-29F( I think this is the first form) you will recieve then I'll tell more!

Step 4. Be patient it takes 3 months to years depending on all sorts of stuff. Make sure you mail your information to the correct visa processing area for your region in the US.

This should get you well into the process!


SkiBum

This post has been edited by SkiBum: Feb 10 2007, 06:05 PM

Thing to watch out for:

Agencies: The reason is you don't need them, also the cost involved, now in the US they have set up rules governing the agencies and how they help you. Also, if information is used that is incorrect you can find major problems...ahead! They also use a scare tactic that doesn't help the situation and can add alot of stress.

Fill out entire forms: Don't leave any blank empty...use N/A or none! Make sure all dates match. Don't let you TG date a single thing except her intent to marry.

You must show a relationship: Letters, emails, photos, phone bills have alot...never can have too much!

You have to prove you've met her within the last 2 years: Plane tickets do this with trips you both went on together with emails!

GoGo girls and BB girls might have problems: Does this apply! My wife is university educated and not a p4p girl! I guess don't list these jobs under Bio information.


Other visa's to try for: M1-student visa, J-1 student visa, H2B working visa, K-3 married visa! I have information on these types too. Yet, as I think you said, "K-1 is the easiest"...It's a true statement,btw!

Hope this helps,


SkiBum

I have just brought my TW and her daughter to the U.S. on a Finance visa. It took me a couple of months to gather all of my necessary documents (Prior marriage and divorce documents, etc.) and we filed on July 4 last year. She received her and her family's visa on January 16 and flew to the U.S. on January 20.

I would highly recommend a good agent, as it saved us at lest 3 months time and a lot of hassles. None of this is cheap however, as their fee is about $1800 U.S. $ and the various fees to the government are about $600 to start, and another $2000 in costs once she gets here.

I used Brian who advertises on Stickman and recommend him highly (I have no interest in his organization)

i brought my thai wife here (usa) in 1988...
we traveled back and fourth four times (tourist visa) untill she stayed for good in 1990...
she just became a usa citizen last year......
never used an agent and went smooth as silk...
just be patient and make SURE all your paperwork is correct...
it did help the she/we had traveled alot together before applying for a visa.....
i agree that the thaivisa forum is great for info on this and many other visa issues...
good luck.....

Thanks guys for all the great replys. I have been worried about being victimized in Thailand one more time, like what happened to Dean. The hard part is the distance. Doing all the forms and getting it all just right and the time and effort. I know it's not going to be easy and I have to be patient if I am going to do it myself. I finally finished with my divorce here in the states and got all the docs. Is 6 months a reasonable time frame nif all goes well? Thanks again.

This post has been edited by drilldr: Feb 11 2007, 02:32 AM

drilldr
6 months should be about right... if you think youve got all of your paperwork..you havent. What im trying to say is. if they ask for 6 months bank statement give them 12...if they ask for phone bills...give them every call and sms youve ever made/sent. Make sure you set out your application like a portfolio, everything numbered and cross checked with an index at the beginning.
Hope this helps you..
Dean

Hi Dean
Sorry to hear about your bad experience.You may be too advanced in the appeals process now but IME with the Australian embassy it is easier and quicker to put in a second application than to go thru the appeals process.

This post has been edited by lostinpattaya: Feb 11 2007, 03:05 AM