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You have been living or travelling in Thailand and you have met the person you wish to spend the rest of your life with. Great! What do you do now? Getting together is easy, but bringing a Thai to the USA is a bit trickier.

K-1 Fiancé/Fiancée Visa and how to obtain it for a Thai Fiancée:

The K-1 Fiancée visa is exactly what its name implies, a visa for a Thai fiancée to come to the USA in order to live with a prospective US Citizen Spouse. This is one visa that only a US Citizen may apply for so a Thai Permanent Resident in the US cannot bring a Thai fiancée to the US before they are married, but must instead get married and petition for a marriage visa.

The main portion of the K-1 Fiancée Visa petition is the I-129f, which is essentially the application for the Visa itself. Along with this form other documentation is required including (but not limited to) proof that both parties are free to marry (they are both single) and evidence documenting the ongoing relationship.

Currently, it takes about 6 months from the time the US Citizen submits the K-1 Visa petition with USCIS to the time the Thai fiancée obtains the actual K-1 Visa at the US Embassy in Bangkok or the US Consulate in Chiang Mai. This timeframe is always subject to change depending upon both the workload of USCIS in the US and the US Embassy or Consulate in Thailand.

In order to get the process started the US Citizen fiancé must submit the K-1 Visa Petition to the USCIS Service Center with jurisdiction over the US Citizen's place of residence. Depending upon which state the US Citizen lives the petition will be submitted to either the USCIS Service Center in either Vermont or California.

USCIS will send a letter after submission called Notice of Action 1. This letter will basically tell the petitioner, "we have received your request for a fiancée visa for your fiancée and we will process it as soon as we can." It will generally take about 2-3 months for USCIS to process the petition. Oftentimes USCIS will reject a petition because the petition was filed with incorrect documentation or insufficient documentation. For this reason it may be wise to have an attorney prepare the USCIS petition.

After the US Citizen files the I-129f petition with the USCIS office the waiting begins. It usually takes USCIS about 2-3 months to process the I-129f petition. However, the time it takes to process the petition depends upon where the petition was filed. At the time of this writing the Vermont Service Center has a faster processing time than the California Service Center while filing in Bangkok can expedite the process greatly if the US Citizen is entitled to file there.

After USCIS finishes processing the I-129f petition they will send the petitioner, or his attorney, what is called Notice of Action 2. This document essentially states, "We have finished processing the petition and we have approved/denied it." If the petition is approved it will be forwarded to the National Visa Center. At the National Visa Center (NVC) the Thai fiancée's I-129f petition will be further processed. Basically, NVC does a background check to see that the Thai fiancée beneficiary of the K1 Visa is who she says she is and is not someone who should be excluded from the USA.

It usually takes NVC approximately 4 weeks to process the petition at which point they will contact the US Citizen, or his attorney, and tell him that the petition is being forwarded on to the US Embassy in Bangkok or the US Consulate in Chiang Mai. In this letter they will also give the couple a BNK number. This number is the Thai fiancée's ID number for the US Embassy or Consulate, she will need this number in order to obtain an interview appointment and it will make all correspondence with the US Embassy more convenient as it can be used as a point of reference for the Embassy officials.

When the US Embassy or Consulate in Thailand receives the Thai fiancée's K-1 petition from NVC they will send her a letter known as packet 3. Within this letter is a list of documents that the Thai fiancée will need to collect for the interview at the Embassy. The letter will state that the Thai fiancée must collect these documents BEFORE sending back a response requesting an interview date. Many people seeking a K-1 Visa just send the letter back requesting the interview immediately as the interview appointment is usually scheduled far enough out that it is possible to collect the documents long before the interview. By doing this the interview is scheduled as quickly as possible and expedites the process.

I am of two minds on this subject. I truly believe that the Embassy says things for a reason and asking for an interview before all of the documents are in order could slow the process down if the Thai fiancée arrives at the interview with crucial documentation missing. At the same time, the interview is usually scheduled so that there is enough time to gather necessary documents and waiting until the documents are gathered before notifying the Embassy/Consulate could slow the process down as well. It is important to bear both of these factors in mind when deciding upon a course of action for scheduling the Thai fiancée's interview.

Now it's time for the interview... Many people, especially a Thai fiancée or spouse, are very anxious about the Embassy interview. However, in my experience I have found this to be a rather routine procedure particularly when you take into consideration the fact that the consular officials do hundreds, maybe even thousands, of these interviews every year. They are really not looking to trip up the Thai they are interviewing, but simply make sure everything is on the up and up.

Once the interview is completed the Consular official will likely tell the Thai fiancée either that the petition is approved or request more information using a 221(g). A 221(g) is a document the Embassy will give to the Thai fiancée with a list of the further documentation that she must provide before the Visa will be granted. A 221(g) is often requested in Thailand because of a name change.

Thais change their name quite often in comparison to Americans and might have done so at many points in their life. It is quite common that their name may have been officially changed when they were an infant without their knowledge. The Embassy wants to see all of the official name change certificates in order to make sure that the person seeking to immigrate to the US is in fact who they say they are. There are many other reasons that the Embassy may request a 221(g), but name change seems to be the most common.

After the US Embassy/Consulate officials in Thailand have received the documentation they deem sufficient they will issue the visa. For a K-1 Visa a conservative estimate of the turnaround time is approximately 5 business days. Often the K Visas will be returned within the same week, but I like to give conservative estimates as the situation can be fluid. If there is a holiday during the week the fiancée interviews or for any other reason the Embassy is closed the visa could take longer to obtain. The time of year and workload at the Embassy have a lot to do with how quickly the Embassy will get the visa into the passport.

After the Embassy has processed the Visa and put it in the Thai Passport, the Embassy officials will call the Thai fiancée and tell her to come pick it up any day after 3pm. If you have a US attorney working in Bangkok, then he or she can pick it up on the fiancée's behalf. The Thai fiancée will have until the expiration of the K-1 Visa to travel to the USA. The visa usually lasts for 6 months. Once in the USA you must get married within 90 days or your Thai fiancée must leave the country. That is the K-1 Visa from Thailand process in a nutshell.

Thanks for reading,

Benjamin W. Hart, Esq.

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for competent legal advice from an attorney.

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For more on this and related topics please see US Immigration from Thailand

Benjamin W. Hart is a licensed US Attorney and member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He currently resides in Bangkok Thailand and is President & Managing Director for Integrity Legal an Immigration Law Firm located in the USA and Thailand.