-The Doctor

Hello, getting ready to kick off my the K1 visa process. I'm male and
living in the US, my fiance is Thai and living in Phuket Thailand.
I've known here for going on 4 years now, she's a friend of a friend I
met in college who was studying here in the states. I have some
questions, and was hoping to get some advise:

1. The US Embassy website lists an address in Bangkok for getting the
police documentation required for the visa process. Can anyone tell
me how long it normally takes from contacting them to getting the
report? I ask since I believe there's a 3 month window from getting
the report to when you must present it to the embassy. Also how much
money it costs would be nice too.

2. Is the Bangkok based police report the only report required?

3. Should I hire an attorney, use a service like Visa Pro, or do all
the paperwork myself? I don't believe there's anything too unusual
about our circumstances, but I'm obviously not too familar with the
proess and any potential pitfalls. Some websites make it seem very
difficult to fill out the paperwork properly, but most of them also
seem to be sponsored by services to help you.

4. For the paperwork, should I use the address she resides at now, or
the address on her government ID/residence card? She lives/works in
Phuket, but has all of her official paperwork sent to her parents
house in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

5. Any idea what sort of questions are normally asked at the
interview? Anything in particular I should look out for?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

Noorah101

Don't hire a service. Either hire an attorney, or do it yourself. Many people on this board did it themselves, it's not that hard as long as you're detail oriented and organized...and have a straighforward case. But if it makes you feel safer, definitely hire a lawyer.

Not really. Just questions about your relationship, how you met, how often you correspond, etc. Make sure she had originals of any copies you send to USCIS.

Best Wishes,
Rene

Jimbo15

On Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:06:47 -0700, The Doctor <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Hello, getting ready to kick off my the K1 visa process. I'm male and
>living in the US, my fiance is Thai and living in Phuket Thailand.
>I've known here for going on 4 years now, she's a friend of a friend I
>met in college who was studying here in the states. I have some
>questions, and was hoping to get some advise:
>
>1. The US Embassy website lists an address in Bangkok for getting the
>police documentation required for the visa process. Can anyone tell
>me how long it normally takes from contacting them to getting the
>report? I ask since I believe there's a 3 month window from getting
>the report to when you must present it to the embassy. Also how much
>money it costs would be nice too.
>
>2. Is the Bangkok based police report the only report required?
>
>3. Should I hire an attorney, use a service like Visa Pro, or do all
>the paperwork myself? I don't believe there's anything too unusual
>about our circumstances, but I'm obviously not too familar with the
>proess and any potential pitfalls. Some websites make it seem very
>difficult to fill out the paperwork properly, but most of them also
>seem to be sponsored by services to help you.
>
>4. For the paperwork, should I use the address she resides at now, or
>the address on her government ID/residence card? She lives/works in
>Phuket, but has all of her official paperwork sent to her parents
>house in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
>
>5. Any idea what sort of questions are normally asked at the
>interview? Anything in particular I should look out for?
>
>Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

3. You should not need an attorney unless there is something unusual
about your case (past police record, etc.). The forms aren't that
hard to fill out if you are reasonably intelligent, and there is lots
of help available in this forum and others. Whatever you do, don't
hire an attorney or service that claims they can expedite the process.
I made that mistake and paid an attorney $1800 based on him saying he
could get my fiance into this country (from Thailand) in 60 days
because he "knew the system". It is now over 5 months and we are
still waiting for NOA2! He now admits we can do nothing but wait. So
I paid all that money for basically a typing service, since I had to
send him all the information and hiscretary just typed it into the
forms.

5. I have heard that some of the embassy drones will get quite
insulting and try to ask trick questions of the fiance. Apparently
they think they are marriage counselors or suspect that all Thai women
are coming to the US to be sex workers. Don't know how true this is
but have heard this from several people. There is a list of typical
questions availble for about ten bucks on the web at
www.fiancevisa.com. This guy claims to be a translator who has helped
prepare visa applications and these are actual questions asked at the
Bangkok embassy.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

-JEff

doc,

1. If applying in person I think it typically takes 1-2 weeks. If
applying by mail include time for the mail back and forth and possibly
some additional processing time for mail room activities.

2. Yes, the special operations group that handles the police reports
in Bangkok covers the whole country.

3. Don't use a service. If you think that you might need some legal
help have a consultation with a US immigration attorney to review your
situation and ask questions, then you will have the informtion you
need to decide if you want to diy.

4. By "residence card" do you mean her tabian baahn? And what do you
mean by "official paperwork"? Many Thai people do not live where they
are registered. Show her address on your petition and her visa
application forms as where she lives, not where she is registered for
the tabian baahn.

5. Typically only a few innocuous questions. If something about her
makes them suspicious the questioning could get nasty, but that's rare
in Bangkok. It's a very friendly consulate for marriage-based visa
applicants.

Regards, JEff

On Apr 1, 10:06 pm, The Doctor <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello, getting ready to kick off my the K1 visa process. I'm male and
> living in the US, my fiance is Thai and living in Phuket Thailand.
> I've known here for going on 4 years now, she's a friend of a friend I
> met in college who was studying here in the states. I have some
> questions, and was hoping to get some advise:
>
> 1. The US Embassy website lists an address in Bangkok for getting the
> police documentation required for the visa process. Can anyone tell
> me how long it normally takes from contacting them to getting the
> report? I ask since I believe there's a 3 month window from getting
> the report to when you must present it to the embassy. Also how much
> money it costs would be nice too.
>
> 2. Is the Bangkok based police report the only report required?
>
> 3. Should I hire an attorney, use a service like Visa Pro, or do all
> the paperwork myself? I don't believe there's anything too unusual
> about our circumstances, but I'm obviously not too familar with the
> proess and any potential pitfalls. Some websites make it seem very
> difficult to fill out the paperwork properly, but most of them also
> seem to be sponsored by services to help you.
>
> 4. For the paperwork, should I use the address she resides at now, or
> the address on her government ID/residence card? She lives/works in
> Phuket, but has all of her official paperwork sent to her parents
> house in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
>
> 5. Any idea what sort of questions are normally asked at the
> interview? Anything in particular I should look out for?
>
> Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.