Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Public Charge???	My US fiance had to have major surgery twice last year, the bill was way over $100,000, he had no health insurance and had no money to pay. It was payed by a charity I think, not sure of the details. Does this mean he was a public charge and will this go against me getting a K1 visa??? We have many things going against us I am afraid and this is just another I have thought of. We are already on day 112 waiting for NOA2. No nothing from USCIS. Both of us have had nothing but heartache in our love loves, I guess no real love at all really, and to now find it but not be allowed to be together does seem to be a real possibilty to me with our case. I just can't stay positive any longer and I do hope my fiance does not read this, I am only pretending to be positive for him now. Stella. This shouldn't affect your application because the public charge provision applies to the non-USC fiance and not the USC. If the bill was paid, why would you be worried? Does he earn enough to make 125% of the poverty line? If not, he'll need a cosponsor. Make sure you prepare for that.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-25 20:03:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	anyone ever used immigration officer for 1-134??	In Puerto Rico they don´t declare taxes the same way as US, think the embassy will be aware of that? My fiance is still a US citizen. At the chiang mai, thailand consulate, when I went to get my i-134 'certified', they didn't actually check that the figures were correct or anything like that. They just made me raise my right hand and swear that it was all true. I don't think they get into the details of what your'e writing too much, it's just more of a promise you're making in front of the "authorities". So I doubt it will matter much if they know much about how taxes are done or not as long as you understand that you're making a promise to them that it's all true.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-26 05:21:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	anyone ever used immigration officer for 1-134??	In reading info posted on hear about I-134: "Execution of Affadavit: You, as the sponsor, must sign the affidavit in your full, true and correct name and affirm or make it under oath. If you are in the United States, the affidavit may be sworn to or affirmed before an immigration officer without the payment of fee, or before a notary public or other officer authorized to administer oaths for general purposes, in which case the offical seal or certificate of authority to administer oaths must be affixed." I was just wondering if someone has used an immigration officer to sign i-134 and make the oath infront of them so they don't have to pay the costs of notary public. Did you just go down to your local district office to get this done? i'm trying to save costs and tell my fiance where to go for this. Yes, I have done it before but only because I'm living overseas. They don't actually notarize it, they "certify" it with a stamp similar to a notary stamp. It was quick and free. Try it for your papers and let us know how it goes. Why pay when it's free? Usually banks charge a fee but apparently some posters say they didn't pay for theirs.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-25 20:00:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	MANILA INTERVIEW-CAN MY FIANCE/PETITIONER GO W/ME????	I went with my fiancee since I live overseas with her and it was no problem. They did ask me some questions though along with her. But me being there only strengthened the application.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-25 20:06:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	I might have a dilemma	My approved packet was received by NVC last week. Couple days ago I emailed her the US embassy link in Ukrainian. It was then she realized that she needed to declare all previous divorces (2). We have the DC from the previous marriage of course. I didn't know anything about the previous marriage which lasted from 3/82-8/83, all of 17months. Does anybody have any suggestions on how to work around this. Will bringing any applicable documentation to the interview suffice??? Call or email the embassy and ask them. Alternatively, contact an immigration attorney. This forum is great for basic issues but something like this needs more professional guidance.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-25 07:18:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	WEIRD PACKET 3 FORM NAPLES!!!!	Relax... Just download the forms (DS 156, DS156k, DS157) and fill it out. I think they assume most people are downloading them anyway so why waste the paper. seriously. We didn't even get a packet 3.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-25 07:23:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Income Guidelines	Here's the law on the affidavit of support http://uscis.gov/lpB...ument-frame.htm	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-26 22:09:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	employment and education on DS-156, need advice please	On our DS156, we checked off "yes" for both, working and school. My fiance would like to study part-time after she's there so we didn't want to lie about ANYthing. So for the explanation we wrote "will attempt to gain employment upon receiving authorization" and for the education explanation, we wrote "plan to enroll in advanced degree program, but university is yet unknown." I don't think it matters too much exactly what you write, I think they just want to know if the alien is going to better themselves in some way and/or be able to assist in supporting themselves financially.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-26 10:53:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Am I screwed?	You're not screwed, I sent you a PM. I did the same thing as you and got approved last week...	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-27 01:15:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	co-sponsor clarification	If your cosponsor is a US medical doctor, even though he just graduated from med school, I wouldn't worry about it. He'll be making probably a minimum of 80K/year to start depending on the area of the country. Also, for the K-1 I-134 you only need tax returns for one year prior. At least for the bangkok embassy this was the case.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-25 20:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Question About Form I-134 and employer	Contact the embassy and ask them. Go straight to the source. Also, if you can somehow afford it, hire an attorney for this. Your case is very unique. Good luck to you both, everything will be fine for you..	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-28 22:07:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	NOA2 required at interview?	We brought it with us but didn't need it. Wasn't asked anything about it.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-31 01:48:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	fiance completely clueless???	Why are you marrying this guy if you obviously have no respect for him? I seem to remember you complaining about him in another post somewhere to if I"m not mistaken. How about being grateful to the fact that you're getting a visa to the US because of him?? So my fiance still hasn't receive the rfe in the mail and tomorrow it will be two weeks since they 'sent it' according to the email. So I tell my fiance to call them since it said if you haven't received it in two weeks call the national centre. I had to find the number for him to call and than i sent him an email reminding him that he needs our case number from the noa1 when he calls. He emails me backing saying 'what's a noa1 and where is a case number?' (he's the one from USA) Anyone else's fiance completely hopeless on knowing this process and you have to do almost everthing?? I'm feeling alone and hopeless and want to know if anyone else is in the same boat with their other half? Im the USC and my baby who does not speak english much has a hard time. This was (at one time a long long time ago) new to me and I hate paperwork!! It sucks but if you want it someone has to do it. Of course he is the one that has to call since he is USC. One more thing just FYI, at this point it is called a receipt number and not a case number until you get to NOA2. We wish you and your fiance good luck and soon you / him will both be experts at it. I could understand if someone didn't speak english since that's not their fault. but to me it's lazyness on my fiance's part and i'm at the breaking point. Thanks for the FYI on the case/receipt number. i'll tell him i made a mistake and its called receipt number since i'm clear on that now, but he'll still give me the same response.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-28 21:47:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Submission of I-129F from abroad	You can file from the UK no problem... I did it from Thailand and now my wife and I are living in the US after entering with a K1.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-05-08 09:46:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	US citizen's travel to foreign fiance's country	You don't have to be in the US to start the K1 process. I did it from Thailand where I was living with my fiance for 2 1/2 years and had zero problems. We're waiting for her greencard now which we should have very soon...	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-11-27 12:44:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	ufkenmill, By "immigration" I expect that you mean USCIS? - ICE, not CIS, is the enforcement branch - it's the employer that ICE will be after, for failing to fulfill their legally imposed obligation to confirm and document the employment authorization status of its' employees - working without EA is not an issue for adjustment of status of the spouse of a USC - government and its' employees are not responsible or accountable for the bad things that may happen to a person if they give that person bad advice or wrong information and the person follows that advice or relies on that information. Yodrak ..... Immigration was almost laughing when I asked if we were doing something wrong by her working with an expired temp EAD. She said as long as we applied for the perm EAD and AOS we were fine. Seems like they have their hands full with other things to focus on... Yodrak, you must be a lawyer I tell you. Great to hear from you again, it's been while. 1) By immigration I meant the Baltimore Immigration Office Supervising Immigration Officer 2) I never said that EA is an issue for AOS 3) I know... I heard the same thing from two different immigration officers so there must be some sort of internal policy regarding this. Like I said in my post, I work for the fed's now in DC and we have many many internal policies which summarize a position on a reg which may be slightly different than what the reg says. Meaning, we have procedures and policies that can address a particular situation that may seem in direct conflict of a Reg (or meaning non-enforcement of some reg's depending on the magnitude of the non-compliance). anyway....everything's fine now and we never had any problems with firm's or immigration on the issue. Thanks for the post though! great to hear from you..	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-10-27 11:22:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Well we finally received notification of approval for her EAD today. Now we're just waiting on her AOS interview...ahh.. By the way, my wife has been working the entire time she's been here. She received a temp EAD at JFK upon arrival, we applied for her permanent before it expired but she got a job just as it expired. After talking with immigration in baltimore in person, we were told she could work since she had applied for AOS and a perm EAD. We just used her receipt from the EAD to show the firm where she works and I explained the situation over the phone to them and they were OK with it. I work for the federal govt now and they know it so that may have had an effect on them accepting my statements, but they were indeed factual anyway. I confirmed with the baltimore immigration office and over the phone with an imm. officer. So now we should have the actual card soon so they'll be no more explaining to do. She's already looking for another job since we won't have to explain the situation again. Immigration was almost laughing when I asked if we were doing something wrong by her working with an expired temp EAD. She said as long as we applied for the perm EAD and AOS we were fine. Seems like they have their hands full with other things to focus on...	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-10-27 10:43:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Can someone tell me about the vaccination records in packet 3? My fiance does not have her records, but I read that she can have a blood test to determine the immunizations she has already had, if this is done, how does the doctor fill out the record? Just attach a copy of the blood test or what? (We want to get this done because its cheaper in Thailand). Also, I just want to verify that she can go to any doctor provided the form is competed in English, correct? Bill We were lucky in that my then fiance (now wife) had her vaccination records but I do know that the doctor's office will know how to handle this. You have to go to the approved doctor's which the embassy will provide a list of them to you. Definitely do it all in thailand, it's much easier just to get it out of the way.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-10-25 08:11:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Hey guys, long time no see. My wife and I have been busy working non-stop since we came to the US. If you guys don't remember me I was living in Thailand and came back to the US with my then fiance/wife (had a thai wedding ceremony in thailand first) and have been back here since april 4th of this year. Time flies! I just had a question that I was hoping someone here could help me with. I'm trying to buy a talking dictionary for my wife but do not want to buy it over the internet from thailand. Does anyone know where I can get this: Talking Dict in the US? I have friends in Thailand and can have them buy it for me and send it but I was trying to avoid the hassle of wiring money to them and having them mail it here. The thai post is pretty unreliable and slow. Thanks!	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-10-24 15:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	I am glad to see everything is moving along everyone. Here is a question to all of you who have already entered and got married. Does your Thai wife where here wedding ring all the time? Sometimes? or rarely? Ton tells me that most Thai women only where it for a couple of days after the wedding. Is this true? Dan I believe this is more a bhuddist-thai issue rather than solely a thai issue. My wife wears her ring at all times except while sleeping (as do I) but she is Christian. just my 2 cents...	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-06-04 19:23:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Thanks everyone for your encouragement. Yeah, it's pretty cold here in maryland compared to thailand,lol. C is freezing but she's handling it pretty well. She's wearing gloves inside the house and when she sleeps,lol. The process at the border was painless. We flew to JFK to get the temp work authorization and did end up getting it. I went through the non-USC line with her and the process consisted of her submitting her folder and passport to the first officer, who did the initial processing. He was all business and after finishing with him we then had to go through the 2nd checkpoint where they did the final processing. No problems here either, it's a checkpoint about 100meters from the other one and they appeared to be the supervisors. After about a 5minute wait we were told "good luck" and we left. After getting our luggage we had to then go through customs which I was a little nervous about since I had about 150 DVD's in my luggage that I bought in burma. I had shipped all my software to avoid having that confiscated. My nervousness was pointless since we were checked through in about 3 seconds. My parents met us at the airport and arranged baloons and flowers for C which was great for her. She has met them before since they had lived in Thailand and I actually met C through my dad. After a 5hour drive and a stop at cracker barrel for some american style food we reached home. We're still adjusting to the time change though and we both keep waking up at 3am,lol. Now it's on for the AOS and for me to find a job!	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-04-09 13:39:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Just wanted to update everyone quickly about our status. We finally made it to the US! C and I arrived thursday night at about 2am to maryland. We're still recovering from the long flight and time-change.. Will write more later... Thanks again everyone for all your help!	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-04-08 16:40:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Well it is now official. Ton and I got married today Dan Congratulations Dan and Ton. Good to hear things are working out... How is she doing with the transition? C and I are leaving for the US on wednsday night. Can't wait to get there..	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-04-02 02:01:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Alternatively, if it's a one-time transaction, you can send money to Thailand using western union. they have offices everywhere here. The only caveat is that you can't send money FROM thailand to the US, they only allow incoming transfers. I tried to send money TO the us and they don't allow it. had to do a bank transfer. Also look into bank transfers (not for cambodia obviously), you can wire money from account to account pretty quickly (1 day) and you're positive that she'll get it since it's going right into her account.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-28 02:34:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Hi every one, I need your help again. I am preparing the affidavit of support I-134. Last year I made $26,700. I read I-864P states the family of 4 requires $25000 to qualify to be a sponsor ?. The I-134 instruction does not say anything about co-sponsoring. I think I need a co-sponsor to make sure I cover this matter just in case. Where can I find the litterature help me understand this co-sponsor requirement? Please advise. Thanks Here's the actual law on the affidavit of support http://uscis.gov/lpB...ument-frame.htm My advice would be to get a cosponsor if you're close to the borderline. You wouldn't want to go throught this whole process, get to the interview, and then be told to come back with a joint sponsor and have all your plans pushed back to an unknown date.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-26 21:13:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	I lost my job back in August which paid me a decent salary, now I barely make enough for both of us, especially having to shop for 2 different grocery list. Living in LA is just ridiculous. The cost is so high and the salaries are some of the lowest I have have ever seen. Dan I hear you, LA and southern california is outrageously priced. I have a friend living in LA who says that half the houses on his block were bought by speculators and are sitting there empty while the owners wait for the prices to shoot up higher so they can sell and make huge profits. I don't know how these people afford this stuff or where they're getting the money to pay a 4K/month mortgage payment. I guess the only real option is to either win the lottery or move out of the area. Unless of course you can somehow get into the housing boom before it busts. The weather is pretty temperate in So.Cal but it's the same in Tijuana and you could live there for a fraction of the cost as the US,lol. Move to florida, good weather and low cost of living and best of all, no state income tax! Plenty of great places to live in the US that aren't as expensive as the trendy LA area. How are things going with your wife? You don't like thai food? I love it, although I need a burger at least once a week but I eat it 7days a week. It's healthy and cheap (at least it is here!)	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-25 19:54:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	She's going from one paradise to another, that's great to hear. Except the standard of living in kauai is alot better than in thailnad generally speaking,lol. I was stationed on sand island in honolulu when I was in the coast guard. I have great memories of hawaii. I've only been to the big island and maui, along with living on oahu. Great fishing there! What do you do there? I would love to move back there but the cost of living is a bit prohibitive. The standard of living on Kauai isn't what you would think, except for the resort areas!!! However, the cost of living is through the roof!!! She is prepared for what to expect, which is basically the same thing as living in the country, only it costs you an arm and a leg! I am a Systems Engineer with the radars here at PMRF Barking Sands and up on Makaha Ridge. Before I came here, I worked at the Ronald Reagan Nuclear Ballistic Missile Test Site on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands for 7 years... way cheaper living there!!! (and no Federal or State Income Tax!) We plan on moving to the mainland as soon as possible, because as you said, the cost of living here is prohibitive! I'm trying to get a job on the Western Test Range at Vandenberg AFB in Lompoc, CA. At least that will be about a 25% cost of living increase from here, and I can actually buy a house for less than $500,000!!! It's funny how some people worry about meeting the 125% of the poverty level, while my taxes alone exceed that amount alone! Aloha and Mahalo, Robert I hear you, when I lived in san diego I remember that the minimum salary you could make to afford the average house mortgage was over 100K/year. Needless to say I was a renter,lol. I made 65K/year and couldn't afford a house! I almost made it to kwajalein when I was in honolulu. I was stationed on a ship and we were on a tour down there to service the buoy's but got injured when we moored up at johnston atoll and had to be flown back to honolulu. Nothing real serious though, a little nerve damage in my arm but you'd never know it. Man I miss the fishing in hawaii and the south pacific though! Good luck on the job in california. Sounds like you've got a great career going on there. I honestly don't know how someone plans to support another person on 125% of poverty level. Being in thailand I don't make squat and used my brother as a cosponsor and he makes 100+year working in the border patrol andpaid 30K in taxes last year. I have a job offer in the US already making close to what I was making before luckily.	ufkenmill	Male	Thailand	2006-03-25 03:21:00
Asia: East and Pacific	Biggest adjustment for Thais coming to U.S.	My (Thai) husband and I are moving to the US soon... I appreciated all your comments, especially about the TV, because my husband loves to watch TV and I know he'll get tired of so much English practice all the time. I have been practicing making Thai food here in Thailand, so that when we get there I can cook it for us, and I'll be taking some supplies with me and looking forward to seeing what I can buy in North Carolina. I don't even know if there are many Thais in NC, but I hope we'll find them... Best wishes to all.	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2008-06-23 02:51:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	name change certificate	Hi, I've searched the forums and sent 3 emails to the Bangkok embassy and can't find an answer to this question. Packet 3 says that if either the petitioner or beneficiary has changed their name, we need to submit a name change certificate. I (the USC petitioner/wife) changed my last name after we got married. But I didn't get any name change certficate, just a new Social Security card. I've never even heard of a name change certificate in the US, although I know they have those in Thailand. Do I just show my Social Security card with the new name or do I need something else? It's probably no big deal, but as you all know, we just want to be completely sure we are not missing anything!	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2008-06-26 22:45:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	police certificate has old passport number	There's always one more little thing to worry about... the day before my husband went to get his police certificate, we noticed that his passport was expiring soon. So, he went for the police certificate, and the next day applied for a new passport. The new passport came in the mail a week later and we noticed that it has a new number that does not match the old passport number. (I never knew this as I've only had one passport.) Then, today I got his police certificate and realized its says "Mr. so and so, passport number xxxx". So it identifies him by his old passport number. He can still show the old (cancelled) passport to prove it's the same person, but I'm worried. Has anyone had this situation before? Do you think we need to get a new police certificate? It's free but it requires a 12-hour each-way train trip to Bangkok! Thanks! Edited by e_b_d, 01 July 2008 - 02:43 AM.	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2008-07-01 02:42:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	public notary in thailand?	Hi, I'm not clear on what kind of certification you need, but if all you need is a US public notary, I think the only place for that is the US Consulate or Embassy. I had a form notarized at the US Consulate in Chiang Mai last year for about $30. If you need "certified" translations into English, then there are a lot of businesses that do that, but I've never done it myself. If you only need a certified copy of documents (but still in Thai), she should be able to get those from the offices that issued the original. My Thai husband has about 4 certified copies of his birth certificate. Hope that helps a little.	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2008-07-01 02:27:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Live in the US short-term	No, we're not trying to live in the US "for however long it takes to get the GC" . We're trying to live there long enough for him to get to know my family and home culture a little, if possible. In fact, if we didn't have to apply for a green card in order to have a long visit, I'd be happy. And no, I didn't mean that the US goverment was going to be flexible for me, I meant that our ideas and plans are flexible since we don't know what will be possible and what will be best for us. I'm just beginning to learn and hoped to get some support here... Thanks to those who offered it. Edited by e_b_d, 10 May 2006 - 09:53 PM.	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2006-05-10 21:50:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Live in the US short-term	Thanks so much to all 3 of you for your ideas, especially for the Bangkok DCF thread. I wasn't sure that was an option. Well, as you can see, my boyfriend and I are not sure of what exactly we'll do, just exploring options. We do plan to get married--no sooner than a year from now--and we definitely want to spend some time in the US so that he can get to know my family and culture, but how long we'll stay and when we'll go is flexible. I realize that going to stay for a year might not work out on the visa side, that's why I wrote to see if anyone had any ideas. And no, we don't have a large stash of money, I was planning to work (and him too depending on his status), but all this is just preliminary thoughts so far. Replying to Yodrak's other question, my boyfriend's visitor's visa was denied because he could not sufficiently prove non-intent to immigrate. It's pretty hard for young single Thais without much money to prove that they would just visit the US and not try to stay. The consular officer said, hey just apply for a fiance visa, you'll get that. Well, that's fine if you're planning to get married on your trip to the US, but we weren't. Thanks again to all. I'll be around VJ learning from you all for a while.	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2006-05-09 22:55:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	Live in the US short-term	My boyfriend is Thai and we both live in Thailand. What we would really like to do is travel together to the US next year, get married there, and stay for about a year, then return to live in Thailand. But to apply for AOS when his fiance visa runs out is so expensive and so much work, since he might not even stay long enough to finish the process. Does anyone know of any other options for us? He definitely can't get a tourist (visitor's) visa, we already tried that once and got denied. I'd appreciate any ideas.	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2006-05-08 04:48:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Dear all, My fiance got his K-1 approved today and will pick it up tomorrow! Thanks to everyone for your help along the way. In case anyone is interested I'll tell what questions he was asked. There were more questions than we expected from what I had read, but none of them were difficult. How long have you known each other? Where did you meet your fiance? What was your fiance doing there (where you met)? What does your fiance do for a living? (This was the wording he used, glad my fiance knew that this means "What kind of work does your fiance do?") What are you doing now? (that is, work or study, etc) Where is your fiance now? So you've met her parents? (The interviewer knew this from the pictures.) When are you getting married? He also was asked one question that I won't quote directly in order to guard his privacy, it was about a "yes" answer to one of the questions in number 38 of the DS-156. We had attached a signed statement to explain the "yes" answer, and the consular officer probably just asked him about it in order to confirm that his answer matched the written statement. Then he was asked to raise his hand and swear that the information in his documents was true. Then he was told to come back for the visa at 3pm tomorrow! thank you george/matt, that was helpful!!! it is very stressful. the i-797 indicated that i will here from them w/in 30 days, is that from the notice of approval? separately does it matter if he was denied a tourist visa before? (he has had visas to the the u.s. before but his last was denied, any bearing on the k-1?) thanks again for being so helpful. Kang Lang, My fiance who just got his K-1 approved also had a denied tourist visa from about one year ago. He saw at the K-1 interview today that they had his whole packet of papers from his denied tourist visa attached to his K-1 papers, so they definitely look that stuff up. Whether it has any impact on the K-1 would depend on why he got denied the tourist visa, but if your fiance is like my fiance and most Thai tourist visa applicants, he got denied because he did not have sufficient proof that he would come back to Thailand. If that is indeed the case, the tourist visa denial will not hurt him on the K-1, since the K-1 visa holder has permission to stay in the US and apply for a green card, thus the K-1 applicant is not required to prove that he will come back to Thailand. In fact, the consular officer who interviewed my fiance for the K-1 today told him right out, "This is the correct way", meaning that the K-1 is the correct way to get into the US for someone who is dating/planning to marry an American, instead of the tourist visa. (When he applied for the tourist visa before, we were not planning to get married on that trip, but I now realize that him having an American girlfriend was less than helpful for getting a tourist visa, since some people might try to get married on a tourist visa.) Good luck to you!	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2007-04-17 18:52:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Goontar, I have been able to get email replies from the embassy regarding my case, by following the advice of others on this forum: Email to: visasbkk@state.gov Subject: 2nd IV Inquiry BNKXXXXXXXXX (Applicant: Name) The embassy says your email should give them the details of your case first before your specific problem is stated. For example, this is what I wrote in the email body: 'Re: I-129-F (K-1 Visa) petition Case Number: BNKXXXXXX Petitioner: Name (Date of Birth xxxxxx) Applicant (Thai national): Name (Date of Birth xxxxxx) Please notify me at (email address) whether the Embassy has received our K-1 petition and whether Packet 3 has been mailed to the applicant yet. Thank you' If you don't receive a reply within one or two days, email again, with the subject line saying 3rd or 4th Inquiry. My "2nd inquiry" got no reply but my "3rd inquiry" got a reply in one business day. And, for anyone who is waiting on packet 3, I'll post here the embassy's reply when I asked if I could go ahead and send my fiance's checklist, DS-230, etc, without having received packet 3. (This was after the embassy confirmed by email that they had sent packet 3 to us weeks ago.) 'Dear Madam, The address of the applicant is changed according as requested. For your conveniences, the Packet 3 materials and forms and the checklist can also be obtained through this link; http://bangkok.usemb...20Checklist.htm You can mail 1. Signed checklist 2. 2 photos of the immigrant visa photograph requirements; http://bangkok.usemb...requirement.htm 3. a photocopy of the passport photo page 4. DS-230 part I (unsigned) to the IV Unit using this mailing address right away. U.S. Embassy Consular Section Immigrant Visa Unit 95 Wireless Road Bangkok 10330 Normally, when the returned Packet 3 materials are received by the IV Unit by mail, the interview appointment can be scheduled in 10-12 weeks later. By that time, the applicant will be notified by mail. Regards, Correspondence Unit' Also, I'd like to make a note about the medical exam in case it might help someone. There is a required form DS-2053 that is not listed on the BKK embassy's website as a packet 3 form (http://bangkok.usemb...K1 for Thai.htm), but I knew about it from Bill's posting of his packet 3 forms, and I downloaded it from http://travel.state....ons/DS-2053.pdf. Of course the hospital asked us to bring the forms, but in the end, the doctor used some of his own forms, which I think we exactly the same except his were printed front and back. We went to Dr. Kitti at Ram 1 in Chiang Mai. It took a couple of hours, but there were no problems. My fiance had to go back to pick up the results and forms the next day. I hope I've helped someone a little. Good luck to you all!	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2007-03-08 00:19:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Congratulations Dan and Ton on the green card and Bill and Pao on the visa approval! I got my NOA-2 and am working hard on all the paperwork for the BKK embassy.	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2007-02-02 04:26:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Yes, the originals and the copies are needed to be presented to the consular at Window 5. I recommend you to place the original on top of the copy....you know...like... BC, then the copy of BC...Thai ID, then the copy of it..... I was told from the other visa webboard (in Thai) to have all documents in order like this.... set 1 (beneficiary’s doc) 1. DS-156 2. DS-156K (unsigned) 3. DS-157 4. Passport + a copy 5. Thai ID + a copy 6. census registration + a copy 7. birth certificate + a copy 8. name change certificate + a copy (if applicable) 9. divorce decree + a copy (if applicable) 10. medical examination 11. receipt of visa fee from post office set 2 (petition’s doc) 1. I-134 2. the letter of employment 3. bank statement 4. most recent year tax return + W2 5. divorce decree + a copy (if applicable) set 3 (proof of relationship) - E- mail , E-Card - photos - a copy of plane tickets - phone bills - etc. Good luck on your interview on 30th!!!!! Hi James, Can you direct me to this visa webboard in Thai that you mentioned? Also, to all, I'm a little confused about whether I need tax forms for the I-134. It's mentioned by James above, and I've heard it elsewhere, but neither the I-134 itself nor the VJ Affadavit of Support tips mention tax forms. Am I missing something? Thanks	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2007-01-23 03:34:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Hello all, You don't see many posts from me, but I'm always around reading your stories and learning from you. I have one question but first a story you all might appreciate (if that's the right word)... My fiance needs to present his military record (only men need this) to get the police certificate. He knew where that record is and that he needed to request it in person and then wait a week or so to have it mailed. So last Tuesday night he took the night train from Chiang Mai down to his hometown Saraburi. On Wednesday he went to the district office, and this is what he was told: We can't give you your records because you are now registered as living in Chiang Mai. You have to go to the Chiang Mai district office and tell them to move your records from Saraburi to there, and then you can request it from them. We were pretty frustrated, since he wasted time and money to go down there, but I told him, well at least now you know exactly what you need to do. Then Friday he went to the office in Chiang Mai, and you guessed it... they told him that the office in Saraburi is wrong. It has nothing to do with where he has his house registration, the military records are there in Saraburi and he has to request them from there. Agghhhh!! So this would mean another trip down there, hoping the officials would give it to him, and then still waiting a week or so for them to mail it even if successful. Then another trip to BKK for the police certificate. But then, fortunately, my fiance saw that on the police certificate info there are two types of military record acceptable, and he called a different office to see if the second type was difficult to get. They said, no problem, you can get it in one day. Good news, so with much prayer we are going to try to get the military record and apply for the police certificate on the same trip down to central Thailand in a few weeks. We'll see..... My question is, since we are waiting on NOA2 and expecting it in Jan or Feb, is it okay to go ahead and get the bank and employer letters and the notarzed I-134 ready, or can too-early dates be a problem? Thanks!	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2007-01-15 04:39:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	SAWASDEE 2	Hello all, Sent my I-129F on Oct. 13!! Now thinking of how to prepare for the next part. I want to ask two questions about the police certificate. One, can you get it ahead of time or do you have to wait and request it when you have received Packet 3? Two, how long did it take to get it? The BKK embassy's info says 2-3 weeks for processing the police certificate, but it looks from some of your timelines like you got it quickly. Is there any chance of getting it on the day you request it? My fiance and I live in Chiang Mai, so we want to make as few trips to BKK as possible, but we also want to be well-prepared. Thanks! Erin	e_b_d	Female	Thailand	2006-10-18 22:52:00