Bringing your Thai Wife or Fiance to America

Bringing your Thai wife to the U.S. on a B-2 Tourist Visa and also bringing your wife or fiance to the U.S. permanently.

After some time in Thailand, my wife and I had thought it would be nice to go visit the States together.

We were already living in Thailand so we started the B-2 Tourist Visa process from the US Embassy in Bangkok. The process was pretty quick and easy and we had an answer shortly. They said yes and approved her for a B-2 Tourist Visa.

I was surprised that they had given her a 10 year multiple entry to the States. Some people had told us it would be difficult for a Thai wife to get a tourist visa to the U.S. if they were married to an American because the embassy might think you'll stay and live in America. However, I guess that wasn't the case for us.

My wife didn't have a job at the time but we did show that she was a legal partner of mine for the business we had set up in Thailand. The interviewer at the US Embassy in Bangkok also talked with me for a minute and made sure I knew that it was a tourist visa only and she also asked about my future intentions of staying in Thailand. I told her I enjoyed living in Thailand had no desire to return to live in the U.S. which was true for the time.

The B-2 tourist visa she had was good for up to 6 months on each visit and after that time she would have to return to Thailand.

For information on fees and documents required please visit the U.S. Department of State web site or if in Thailand visit the US Embassy Bangkok web site.

Fast forward a couple of years and my wife and I were still living in Thailand but we never used the tourist visa! Things just kept popping up and we never got around to it.

Around 2007 we decided to move to America permanently and we went ahead and started the K-3 visa process from the US Embassy in Bangkok again. The K-3 marriage visa allows your Thai wife to live in America and get her permanent resident alien green card.

We started the process but we were nervous as the embassy had to cancel her tourist visa while we waited for the K-3 marriage visa results.

We did the whole process from the US Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand and it took only 4 months!! Things are done much faster from the US Embassy in Bangkok. My wife and I were already married for over 2 years but even if we were married for 2 years and started the K-3 visa process from America it still would have taken about 1 to 2 years as I've heard from many friends.

There is one problem with starting the K-3 visa from the US Embassy in Bangkok though. You have to prove that you have a job or income from the States and that can be a challenge if you just spent the last couple years living in Thailand. Luckily I could show that I had income from my business web site no matter where I lived.

The total fees were around $1000 usd for everything and that included background checks, translation of Thai documents to English, medical records, all the various US forms like the I-130, I-864, etc. The fees are the same from the US Embassy in Thailand or doing the process from America.

A good place to get documents translated and general help in Bangkok is a place we used often not far from the US Embassy. The name of the office is, Global International Translation Center and you can talk with Chawanthorn Langdeng at tel. 02-2523751.

For more information on immigrant visas visit the US Embassy Bangkok web site, or visit, US Dept. of State.

Here is something to remember and NOT to do when you go to the US Embassy in Bangkok,

I actually over heard one Thai lady tell the interviewer that she worked in a go-go bar. I saw another dressed as if she was going to the go-go bar for the interview. Come on now! These interviewers are extremely critical and just looking for a reason to say no. If a Thai wife or girlfriend acts like a working girl, even if she's not, during an interview then they will say no way Jose.

A friend of mine was living in the States and met his Thai wife through an online dating agency. He flew over a couple of times to Thailand and they ended up started the K-1 visa process, which is the fiance visa.

The process took a little over a year but it's a good way doing things as she gets to see America for a few months and decide if she likes it and you both get to see if you are good for each other while on the visa.

This is how most men bring their girlfriend over from Thailand as most men cannot leave their job or other responsibilities behind in the U.S.

After a few months of living in the U.S. with my wife we started the paperwork and bring her daughter's over from Thailand. We could have brought them over at the same time that we went back to the U.S. but we wanted to make sure everything was settled first. Plus her older daughter needed to finish High school at St. Joseph private catholic girls school, which is one of the best schools in Bangkok and a school her daughter had been attending all her life.

It's better if you, the U.S. citizen, applies to bring your Thai wife's children back to the U.S. under your name. If you try and bring the children back under your Thai wife's name it will take forever!

Even doing it all under my name took about a year.

The total cost for bringing back children is about the same as a K-1 visa or K-3 visa.

If you you�re trying to bring back other family members like your wife's brother, sister or such then it's going to be long and hard. Most of these types of petitions get rejected even after waiting 5 to 10 years. It can get approved but don't bet on it.

For the most part the U.S. immigration services are pretty darn efficient and get things done in a timely matter.

For more information on the K-1 Visa, K-3 Visa or any family visa process questions you can also visit the USCIS.

My wife and I still travel frequently from the U.S. to Thailand and we really like it that way. In the near future, once my wife and her daughters become U.S. citizens, we are going to be spending more time back in Thailand. We want dual citizenship so we can freely travel and do business across borders.

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