Thai friend to travel with me to US

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JAFO
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Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by JAFO »

I suspect this has been asked before in some shape or form but a search did not yield anything.

I am heading back to US for an unfortunate family health development and my friend wants to come along.

I read some internet forms but wanted to hear from anybody who has recently done it and to know if this can all be coordinated in Hua Hin. I really do not want to to go to BKK if I can avoid it.

Thanks in advance.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by Homer »

I know someone doing this now. He's not a forum user so I'll pass on your request.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by hhfarang »

It is almost impossible to get a tourist visa for a Thai girl to visit the U.S. unless she is wealthy, owns an substantial business here, or has a huge bank account or land holdings (or connections).
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by Homer »

Homer wrote:I know someone doing this now. He's not a forum user so I'll pass on your request.
Oops. Missed that visa is for friend, not wife.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by Dr Mike »

One amusing story--An expat had been trying for months to get a Visa for 6 weeks his wife to go to US with no result. They were married, but he had returned to the US and could not get his wife a Visa.

He came to Thai for a vacation and had a Hip replacement at our hospital in Bangkok. He asked if I would write a letter to the US Visa section suggesting that she should accompany him on his way home as he could not travel alone--result, a Visa for 3 months within 48 hours.
I would hesitate to suggest that an ex-pat undergo major surgery to get his wife to the US but it worked for this couple.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by Dr Mike »

One other story--A guyfrom Minnesota had dual UC/Canada citizenship. He tried to take his fiancee home to meet the family in MN for c'mas --no succsess in gettinga US Visa. So he got a Canada visa, which is easier, flew to Winnipeg, Manitoba--rented a car and drove down through a border croosing in a small town--no problem.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by brianks »

Nice idea and thought but not so simple. Involves getting a U.S. Tourist Visa which requires form filling out and payment of a good fee (go to Thai U.S. Embassy website for complete requirements). Have to have an interview at U.S. Embassy and if it is just a casual relationship and you not having retirement or employment visa in Thailand--Good Luck. Can go all the way through process and many get denied at Interview and you have lost everything. You can't even accompany her to interview to help her any more.

Unless you have a lot of time and money to waste, I would think there are better ways to spend your money.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by bcrglobal »

The embassy wants to see proof that the person will not stay in the US, and has reason to return to Thailand.

The most common reason for rejecting a visa application is perfunctory answers, lack of documented proof of answers, etc. Generally if you can provide a compelling narrative in the visa application as to why they have reason and intent to return home (Job, school, property, car--those are the main ones they expect, but they can and will accept others) they will accept it.

Unfortunately the application must be submitted to Bangkok, and they must go there for the interview--no way around it.

When my wife was my fiancee she had no job, no car, no property, and wasn't enrolled in school. Her visa application was approved mainly on the basis of pre-paid hotels, party services, wedding venue, etc. We documented EVERYTHING as thickly as we could--our application was somewhere around 150 pages in total. You're going against the grain here--but it is possible.

Good luck.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by JAFO »

Thanks for all the responses.

I did some research and kind of laugh a little bit in the the fact that people from all over the world visit the US to sight see, see friends and family etc. Like all countries tourism is a major part of a countries revenue so denying people would not make any sense unless the reasons warranted a reject. I mean a case that will be under heavy scrutiny is a girl who has never worked, no or limited education, no bank acct, no vehicle and just because she married a foreigner is not a free pass. In fact I suspect that raises the the biggest eyebrow.

The application process is quite straight forward after a spending a good part of the day plugging around the website and internet. My friend has an MBA in nutrition, worked at huge hospital in BKK owns a quite a bit of land in Lampang, has a car and 2 motorcycles in her name, well established bank acct and her family lives here. She could probably go this alone but would rather travel with someone who knows the ins and outs after arriving in the US.

We started the process today and I will feed the info back and how long it takes. I know we definitely have to go the BKK to the US embassy.

I will say looking at the US Embassy website along with other sites there is a ton of subjectivity as to why a Visa might be denied. Outside meeting the basic required info of form DS-160 and DS-157 most critical is the interview. Also important is appearance, behavior, reason for visit person education, work history and ties to Thailand to ensure they will return. If you were married in Thailand that is not a given she can come as Thai marriages do not make her a US citizen so when folks say "Wife" I have to assume it is a Thai married here because if she was married in the US she just hops a plane with hubby if all the proper documentation was taken care of during the US marriage process.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by m_right »

JAFO wrote: I have to assume it is a Thai married here because if she was married in the US she just hops a plane with hubby if all the proper documentation was taken care of during the US marriage process.
Wrong assumption. She can't just hop on a plane. She would have to apply for a visa just like your friend. She would have an advantage in the decision process because she would have had to have traveled to the U.S. in the past without incident.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by JAFO »

Interesting, not what I read but no matter, I am not married nor am I marrying so it was really a comment to the guys who said their "Wives" were denied a Visa.

I suspect they were married in Thailand and the gal had basic things other then what the foreigner man has given them and that would clearly be evident on the DS 160 form and if they were not really sharp would fail the interview process altogether.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by hhfarang »

I tried to get my wife a tourist visa to come to the U.S. for a holiday before we got married. She was a college graduate, owned some farmland up north as well as her parents home in her name and had a full time teaching job. They denied her application. I asked the embassy personnel how I could bring her to the U.S. for a visit and they told me the only way was a fiancee visa which is a 90 day visa and at that time very easy to get. If you were married by the end of the 90 days, she could stay, if not she had to return to Thailand. He also told me that after that, if she did not marry but returned on time she may be able to get a tourist visa as she had demonstrated that she would return to Thailand. That visa only took a couple of weeks to get, but that was way before 9/11 so things may be more difficult now.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by JAFO »

hhfarang wrote:I tried to get my wife a tourist visa to come to the U.S. for a holiday before we got married. She was a college graduate, owned some farmland up north as well as her parents home in her name and had a full time teaching job. They denied her application. I asked the embassy personnel how I could bring her to the U.S. for a visit and they told me the only way was a fiancee visa which is a 90 day visa and at that time very easy to get. If you were married by the end of the 90 days, she could stay, if not she had to return to Thailand. He also told me that after that, if she did not marry but returned on time she may be able to get a tourist visa as she had demonstrated that she would return to Thailand. That visa only took a couple of weeks to get, but that was way before 9/11 so things may be more difficult now.
HH,
That all seems so odd. Did she fail the interview? I mean lets think about this. Based on your facts she had all the solid basics in place that she would return. She was established in TL and would definitely return. What I am reading into all these posts is that Thai's can never leave their country to just visit the US. They all need to be married and to a Farang. Having met lots of Thai in the US they get there some how. Maybe they are all crowding into a cargo box and coming over on ships. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

What about Thai men that travel to US. Do they get denied? I know most references here are about women.

I do not know the personal status or age of any of the posters here on the site and do not need too. However I have been to the US Embassy quite a few times and have witnessed some very interesting "couples" that might raise a flag and be met with greater scrutiny being you may not bring her back. Again all speculation as it hard to assess why a person gets denied without being there. The applicant could have answered some questions wrong or in a way that raised a red flag. My friend did some websearch and there are a few sites about what questions some have been asked. They can be tricky, especially if done in Thai and not English. One was;

Interviewer: "Are you married?"
Applicant: "No, but I want to"

Interviewer: "If you did marry would you want to stay in the US
Applicant: "Yes"

In that likely scenario because she offered way to much information I would guess a denial would be handed out primarily as she is saying she would part ties with Thailand without any hesitation so all the stated ties to Thailand in the DS-160 page are moot, she would leave them. There were many others.

Again, my friend is going this alone, I am not a sponsor, not her husband, just a friend. She stated she will travel with me on the DS 160 form and will stay at my friends place and we supplied all the proper information. In the section where it asks her purpose for visiting the US, she stated: I would like to visit the country as a tourist to sight see"

She applied for a B2 Visa 90 days

Again I will follow up on what transpired. She has a scheduled interview appt Jan31, everything is filled out.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by hhfarang »

Maybe the process is different now. My missus application was denied without ever reaching the interview process. When I asked the "why" question, (I was willing to sponsor) the Embassy staff told me that she did not meet the requirements that assured she would return to Thailand before her visa expired. Simple as that.
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Re: Thai friend to travel with me to US

Post by moja »

It is not just Thais who have problems being allowed to go to the states when married to an American I have an English friend who married an American in the UK. When he returned home she was not allowed to go with him and it took the best part of 3 months to sort the paperwork out and for her to get a visa.
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