So you’ve met the woman of your dreams here in the Land of Smiles and you want to take her back to the US. A lot of erroneous information floats around about the US Immigration process particularly with regard to the tourist visa and hopefully this little article will clear up some of the confusion.
The Tourist Visa for your Thai Fiancee
I hear many people discuss the tourist visa in various forums and blogs and mostly I hear about how easy they are to obtain for Thai girls. It’s true that the United States Embassy in Bangkok is somewhat less reluctant to grant tourist visas than other diplomatic missions. That being said, they are still difficult to obtain. I usually tell people that the rejection rate is about 95% and I usually receive and incredulous response because they know someone who got one for their Thai girlfriend, fiancee, or wife. That may be the case, however, the Bangkok Embassy denies many tourist visas on a daily basis and they are not likely to alter this system. The overall rejection rate for Thais wishing to obtain a tourist visa is very high. The reason for this high rejection rate is the fact that a Thai applicant must overcome the presumption that they are merely using the tourist visa as a means for going to the US in an effort to permanently remain.
This presumption can be rebutted by showing “strong ties” to the Kingdom of Thailand, in short: money talks. Overall, “strong ties” implies financial ties, i. e. a well paying career or property in Thailand (condominium, home, company, assets, etc. ) that would require a trip back to the Kingdom. Many US Citizen boyfriends, fiances, and husbands looking to assist Thais coming to America inadvertently may be hurting the Thais chances of getting a tourist visa.
Say you take your Thai girlfriend or fiance to the US Embassy in Bangkok and tell them you want to get a tourist visa to show her around America. Immediately you have given more evidence in favor of denying the tourist visa because it looks as though you may use this visa to get married which would reinforce the presumption that she is simply using the visa to go to the US to remain. Also, if by chance you two get this visa and go to the US to subsequently get married then US Immigration can (and many times does) construe this as an attempt to defraud the US government.
With such a high rejection rate and the other risks involved if marriage is even a remote possibility and the US Citizen boyfriend or fiancé lives in the US, then it is a better option to file for a K-1 Fiancé(e) Visa with USCIS in order to bring the Thai loved one back to the US.
Thanks for Reading,
Benjamin W. Hart, Esq.
Posts Tagged ‘Tourist Visas’
Bringing a Thai Girlfriend to the Usa: Facts About the Tourist Visa
December 9th, 2009The Tourist Visa: a Bad Option for Taking a Thai Loved One to the United States
November 6th, 2009ites claim that a US Tourist Visa is an easy document to obtain. They make it seem like it is the right visa for getting a Thai girl to the USA for marriage. However, as this article will point out, a tourist visa is often not the best course of action for a Thai looking to immigrate to the US.
Tourist Visas are granted at the DISCRETION of the Immigration officer
The first problem with the tourist visa is the fact that getting one is highly discretionary. Whenever I’m in the US Embassy I always hear the ubiquitous statement “I cannot give you a visa to the USA,” usually this seems to be said to a person looking to obtain a tourist visa to the US. In fact, I heard the officer state, “you must show strong ties to Thailand and you have not shown strong enough ties for me to issue this visa.” That officer was right. The immigration officer has to look at all applications for visas with the presumption that the applicant (for our purposes a Thai fianc? will live indefinitely in the United States should they be granted entry. This said, it is on the Thai applicant to prove this presumption incorrect. The way for a Thai fianc?to do this is to prove that she has strong ties to Thailand (i.e. the Thai is so tied to Thailand that she will come back to Thailand after staying in the USA for a short while).
The ways to prove strong ties to Thailand essentially come down to money. If the Thai fianc?has a well paying job (by US standards), a good deal of money, a home in Thailand, or investments in Thailand these factors can be used to show that a Thai fianc?has strong ties to Thailand. Another factor is the American fianc?If the US citizen has a job and strong ties to Thailand and is going to return with the Thai fianc? then Immigration will likely look more favorably upon the petition for a tourist visa. It must be noted again that this visa is completely discretionary. Even if the applicant shows all kinds of ties to Thailand the immigration officer can still reject the application based upon little more than gut instinct.
The Odds of obtaining a Tourist Visa for a Thai Fiancee are Bad
The fact is: the Tourist Visa has about a 95% rejection rate among Thai applicants. It is just not an efficient way of getting a Thai fianc?into the US. Why would you spend the time and money to go up against those odds?
It COULD BE CRIMINAL to take a Thai Fiancee to the USA on a Tourist Visa and get Married!
A tourist travel visa is precisely what its name states: a visa for touring the US. It is not designed to be used to bring a Thai fianc?to the US with the intention to marry her and have her remain. If you intend to use the tourist visa to bring your Thai fianc?to the US to marry, then it could be deemed to be an attempt to defraud the US government. The possibility of being found to have defrauded the government increases if you and your Thai fianc?immediately get married and try to adjust her status to permanent residence. If you and your Thai fianc?are found to be attempting to defraud the government it could lead to criminal penalties and possible deportation for your Thai fianc?
Use the Correct Visa to take your Thai Fiancee to America
Even though the process for getting a Thai fianc?to the US is frustrating and time consuming a lot of complications can be avoided by not being taken in by the supposed allure of the tourist visa. In the end, the benefits of the tourist visa are far outweighed by the disadvantages. If you want your Thai fianc?or spouse to come to the US to reside with you, then use either a K1 Fianc?Visa or a K-3 or Immigrant Relative Spouse visa. Although these visas seem to take more time and cost more money, in reality they take less time because you and your Thai fianc?won’t be hitting any dead ends and won’t throw money away on a visa that you have only a 5% chance of getting.
Thanks for reading,
Benjamin W. Hart, Esq.
The above article should not be taken as a replacement for competent legal advice from a duly licensed attorney in your jurisdiction. No Attorney-Client Relationship shall be inferred from this article.
By: anonymous
