Visa for the family

I have a question about visas
I am planning to bring the family to the US after getting married my TeeRak and her 2 boys right now planning a summer wedding can I start the paper work now and finish eveything after the wedding to cut down the wate time to bring them here is it better to do all at one time or should I bring my TeeRak then the boys later also has anyone adopted wifes children what do you have to do and is this something I can start now and finish after the wedding while I am in Thailand any advise you can give me I would be great full I all so heard that you can use the children to get a visa in thailand after getting married they say it is easer to get because of the children does anyone know anything about this Thank You CJ

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Originally Posted by CalifJerry

heard that you can use the children to get a visa in thailand after getting married they say it is easer to get because of the children does anyone know anything about this Thank You CJ

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Yes you can but you also have to show 400,000 Baht in a Thai bank. On top of that you have to kill your wife, or divorce her, as you have to be single. I think you'll find that the children have to be your own.

Getting just your TeeRak to the US, will be quite a chore by itself already.
It really depends on what your teerak used to do for a living, where did you meet her, how long have you been together...etcs.
After she got to the US and has a greencard, she then can apply for her two children to join her. That is if she has the sole custody paper, otherwise their biological father has to sign the release form before they can proceed with the immigration paper.

But as for you to adopt them, it will be a lenghty process for about the average is 2 years I have heard.
Before you can adopt, you "yourself" have to get the clearance from the stateside INS, mostly clearing your criminal and mental record. Then you have to deal with the "thai dept of social & welfare" for all the paperworks from the thaiside.

You don't necessary have to adopt them, u know. I know numberous couple thai-farang where the farang step-father has never legally adopted them, no problem whatsoever. You still would be able to write them off for your tax deduction as dependants, and they still can go to the local district school, etcs.... because they too will have a greencard(temp) once they hit the US port of entry. In your case, that will be either SF, or LA.

That just a short takes of what I know from many of the couples who had been to the US.

Best of luck

good luck

Take a look at the US Embassy Bangkok’s website. That may answer some of your questions.

You don’t have a clue about how to do this. Hire an American lawyer in Bangkok to take care of the paper work.

You have a house and job in the US? You might need both in order to bring the family to America.

Forget about bringing teerak & kids to the US before you’re married, unless your wife is already rich (not because of your money). She’ll never get a tourist visa.

The usual steps are:

1. Get married
2. Use marriage certificate to file visa petition for wife. Separate petitions needed for each of the children, then they can be processed as your step-children (if they are under 18 yo on the day of the marriage).

Petitions can be filed with US Immigration in Bangkok if you are a long time resident in Thailand. Ask them about this. Otherwise, may have to file through California CIS (Immigration).

3. After Immigration approves the petitions, they are sent to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire. NVC asks for more papers, forms, proof of sufficient US income, tax return, and eventually sends you a visa interview date for the US Embassy in Bangkok.

If the papers start with California Immigration, by the time the visa interview takes place, you’re probably looking at waiting 9-12 months after the wedding. If the visas are issued by the Embassy, your family will get their Green Cards in the mail with 3-4 months of arrival in the US. Adopting the kids is another matter. Not required by law.

If you’re really determined to go ahead with this, you should start by getting good legal advice about the immigration filing procedures.

^ Add to above get married first then once a file has been established with CIS you can apply for a Fiance Visa (there is space on the form to say you are married) once approved (4-5 months) and she is allowed to enter the USA you need to file a Change of Status with immigration it will take another 7-9 months for you both to get an interview with immigration then if approved she will recieve a green card good for two years in the mail within 90 days, then you apply for permanent status, This seems like a pain in the arse and doubles the cost but the other side is her waiting in line in Thailand for 2-3 years until she is approved for a green card. Sorry don't know much about the kids except in all the paperwork there are sections where their information can be included.

If you are legally married, you can not do a Fiancee visa application. That is only for couples who intend to marry (within 90 days) after the lady arrives in the US.

Doing just a Fiancee visa would be much less credible from the Embassy's point of view. Both Fiancee and Spouse cases have about the same processing time, so the Spouse visa is generally recommended.

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Originally Posted by bobsaigon

If you are legally married, you can not do a Fiancee visa application. That is only for couples who intend to marry (within 90 days) after the lady arrives in the US. Doing just a Fiancee visa would be much less credible from the Embassy's point of view. Both Fiancee and Spouse cases have about the same processing time, so the Spouse visa is generally recommended.

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Just did it, you first file for immigration in your home country then once the file has been processed and assigned A-number you are then allowed to make a application for Fiance Visa, there is a line were you state you are legally married. this procedure allows your wife to come to the USA while the immigration application is being processed, as I said we did it and my wife has been here over a year and received her green card this past June. hello neighbor I live in Tustin

Now I see where the confusion comes in. After you are legally married, in some states it takes immigration a long time to process the forms, so after they receive your I-130 Spouse Visa Petition, you can file a K3 petition. The K3 uses the same form as the Fiancee petition (I-129F) but it is not (NOT) a fiancee petition.

The K3 petition (& K4 for the minor children) allows the spouse to go to the US and wait there to be approved for Green Card - instead of waiting outside the US till Immigration finally completes processing.

If you are going to file with CIS in California, it might be faster just to wait till the I-130 spouse petition is approved, instead of doing the K3/4. In Texas, the K3/4 is the better choice.

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Originally Posted by bobsaigon

If you are going to file with CIS in California, it might be faster just to wait till the I-130 spouse petition is approved, instead of doing the K3/4. In Texas, the K3/4 is the better choice.

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Once the I-130 Petition is approved the file is then forwarded to the appropriate consulate (the country of residence for the visa applicant) to complete visa processing, in our case Bangkok.
Our decission to then file the K-3 Petition for Fiance was made when the Petition was approved in June 2008 and I logged on to the USCIS web site to see the status of Visa applications being processed. the website showed they were processing applications received June 2007,since there were at least another 12 months worth of applications in front of us we opted for the Fiance Visa and she was in the states by October 2008, filed for adjusted status this was then processed in the USA and green card was approved May 18 2009.
If we had waited for I-130 processing through Bangkok we might still be waiting.

I don't mean to be nit-picky, but someone who has not been through the process might be confused by the term "Fiancee" visa.

FIANCEE VISA (Visa to US without getting married first)

1. Meet fiancée in person within 2 yrs of filing petition
2. File I-129F petition with Immigration (CIS). Minor children of the fiancée can be included on their mother’s petition.
3. After petition is approved, it will be forwarded to the US Embassy/Consulate
4. Visa interview at US Consulate/Embassy
5. After visa is issued, fiancée goes to the US, must marry the petitioner within 90 days of arrival.
6. Apply for Green Card
7. Green Card is issued, valid for 2 yrs
8. Before the 2 yr Green Card expires, apply for Permanent Green Card.
9. After being a Permanent Resident for 3 yrs, can apply for US citizenship. (2 yrs conditional permanent resident, 1 yr as permanent Green Card holder)


MARRIAGE VISA (Get marriage certificate before starting the immigration process)

1. Get marriage certificate
2. File I-130 visa petition (& other items) with Immigration (CIS). Separate I-130 petition is needed for each minor child (<18) of the foreign spouse. They will be processed as step-children of the sponsor. Later, adoption is optional.
3. After CIS sends the Fee Receipt for the I-130 spouse petition, the sponsor can file an I-129F petition in order to get a K3 visa for the spouse. (CIS uses the I-129F petition for both fiancées and for K3 visa applicants.)
4. There is a visa interview for the K3 visa. With this visa, the foreign spouse can freely enter/leave the US while waiting for CIS to complete processing of the I-130 petition.
5. K3 spouse will be notified when CIS approves the I-130 petition and then can apply for a Green Card.
6. Green Card is issued, valid for 2 yrs
7. Before the 2 yr Green Card expires, apply for Permanent Green Card.
8. After being a Permanent Resident for 3 yrs, can apply for US citizenship. (2 yrs conditional permanent resident, 1 yr as permanent Green Card holder)

Better to get professional help from the start in order to avoid time-consuming mistakes.

Thank you for the step by step process, I was misinformed by # 8 thought it was total four years. last line get; get professional help!! generally a waste of money, did that and really was a dead loss. The immigration websites show you how to do it yourself from this end, best the wife uses a local agency to complile and translate Thai paperwork. So bob are you in Orange county or over there?

I'm over here (Thailand and Vietnam) most of the time, helping Vietnamese nationals to get immigrant visas to the US. (Private, for-profit agency).

I agree that the paper work CAN be done by people who are capable of dealing with such matters, but not many people fall into that category. I also agree that it can be a waste of money to hire someone who is not qualified or not interested in doing the job well.

I still think the original poster is not ready to tackle this job by himself, should get professional assistance.

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Originally Posted by bobsaigon

I still think the original poster is not ready to tackle this job by himself, should get professional assistance.

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Agree most need professional help.
Q: one thing I'm unclear about, s the time between issuance of the green card and application for citizenship based on the actual time lived in the USA, in otherwords if you go on vacation overseas for a few months is that deducted

Going overseas for a few months should not be a problem. Six months or more for a single trip could start CIS making inquiries or could be deducted from the physical residency requirement.

The general rule is that the permanent resident married to a US citizen must be physically present in the US for half of the 3 years of permanent residency (18 months), and that the 3 months preceding the application for Naturalization should also be spent in the US.

So, during that 3 year period, several trips abroad are OK if the total time outside the US does not exceed 18 months.