Immigrant Visa to the US

In My Humble Opinion
41

Update: We received a letter today (Tuesday) from US Citizenship and Immigration Services in Bangkok saying my petition to allow my wife to apply for an Immigrant Visa has been approved. We filed on January 20, the letter shows approval was given on February 10. (The letter itself is dated February 18.)

They’ve passed on all our info to the Consular Section of the US Embassy, and we have to wait to hear from them to tell us how she applies. But her status is now “IR-1,” which I think means she is recognized as a spouse legally wed longer than two years. (We’re in our third decade of marriage.)

About how long might we have to wait until we hear further?

42

Well, that didn’t take long. We received another letter two days later, yesterday (Thursday), from the Consular Section saying to go to the embassy’s website and download the application package. So we did.

Looks like this will be my full-time job in March, wading through this paperwork. And it looks like they’re really serious about my having a US address even if they will give me a year to make up for it. Understandable. But now I cannot leave for Hawaii until July, as I’ve discovered I need US$3000 worth of dental work that will take four months to complete. And I want to get it done here, because if it’s going to cost $3000 in Thailand, I shudder to think what it would cost in the US. I’ll start that hopefully next week so it can be finished by the end of June. Then I figure on heading back to Hawaii ahead of my wife to look around and establish a domicile.

As for our assets, we found a realtor who’ll give us an appraisal on our condo for about 11,000 baht ($309), so that should be done in a couple of weeks.

Once we do submit the package for IR-1, how long might we wait for her interview?

43

I don’t have any experience with your situation but wanted to echo the thought that embassy and immigration officials have a wide latitude in discretion and do treat professionals differently.

If the assets are an issue, can you retire to bumfuck Arizona? You can always move later.

44

Assets are an issue only because they’re mostly real estate. We’re planning to liquidate them, at least this condo. We’re not living in it again.

A bigger issue will probably be my lack of a US address. I’ll need to go see what I can do about that.

45

Lots of people use a friend or family member’s U.S. address until their plans are more settled. It would help if it were someone with whom you have a good enough relationship that you can trust them to notify you about/forward correspondence. You will have the opportunity to change the address later, say if you get a job offer somewhere and sign a lease, etc. Plans do change, and the process does allow for that. You will need to show that you have the intent to establish a domicile in the U.S., but not necessarily that you have actually done so by the time of the interview.

Normally at the immigrant visa interview, the interviewing officer will review the application line by line and ask if there are any changes. (For example, it’s not terribly unusual for people in the process to be younger people who married much more recently, and entirely possible for children to be added in the meantime.)

Here’s what the State Department has to say about establishing a U.S. domicile:

"When a sponsor has clearly not maintained a domicile in the United States, he/she must re-establish a U.S. domicile to be a sponsor. The aspiring sponsor may take steps, including the examples given below, to show that the United States is his/her principal place of residence.

Find employment in the United States
Secure a residence in the United States
Register children in U.S. schools
Relinquish residence abroad
Other evidence of a U.S. residence

If the sponsor establishes U.S. domicile, it is not necessary for the sponsor to go to the United States before the sponsored family members. However, the sponsor must return to the United States to live before the sponsored immigrant may enter the United States. The sponsored immigrant must enter the United States with or after the sponsor."

So putting your condo on the market is one step to establish domicile in the U.S. My office usually tells people to make sure they have set up U.S. bank accounts, credit cards, voter registration if possible, library cards, etc. If you’ve applied for jobs in the States yet, keep the details about those applications, too.

Good luck, and glad the I-130 stage was fast and uneventful! Not that I expected anything else, though.

46

Thanks. I already still have US credit cards, but they bill me here. I’m afraid after more than two decades living abroad, I just don’t have any family or friends left that I would want to lean on. I also don’t want to lie and say we’re going to live with my 95-year-old uncle in California when the truth is I may never see that state again.

No, I’ll be Hawaii-bound once I get this dental work out of the way, which should be by July. Look for a domicile, maybe some gainful employment. We’re definitely selling the place in Bangkok.

One amusing bit. My wife will need a police clearance. Since she has no criminal record, it should take “only” three weeks. (I don’t know why it would take longer in the event of a criminal record. Do they need to take extra time detailing all your charges?) But I’ve heard from others that for a small, um, “fee” equal to about a hundred bucks US, they’ll clear her in just a couple of days. No thanks, we’ll do the three-week wait, no problem.

47

We’re progressing with the paperwork for the next stage of my wife’s visa application. A licensed appraiser came in yesterday morning (Thursday morning) to appraise our home, and we should have a full report in 7-10 days. That cost us 10,700 baht (US$305). We’re confident it will show at the very least 4 million baht ($114,000) and probably more, maybe 4.5 million. I’m also waiting for some documents from stateside that should arrive next week.

The Police Clearance Certificate will take three weeks since we’re not going to pay the bribe for expedited service, but we’ve learned we can submit our Packet 3 without that report as long as my wife has it with her for the interview.

The sticking point is plainly going to be my lack of a US address. That was fine for filing the I-130, the form requesting permission for my wife to apply for an Immigrant Visa at the US Embassy here in Bangkok. But now that we’re to the next level, they want that address. One problem is I’ve just embarked upon three months or so of dental work and will not be free to travel to Hawaii until maybe July.For the online Form DS-260, I did as I did on the I-130 and filled in “Unknown Address,” but it would not let me proceed without a valid ZIP code. So I entered the ZIP code for Honolulu’s Makiki area, a nice neighborhood that has the largest concentration of apartments in the city as well as the state. It’s a fair bet that’s where we could end up, at least at first.

One point in our favor though, and please correct me if I’m wrong, but the instructions on the embassy’s website indicate that not only will we have a year to correct any deficiencies in the application, but as long as we keep contacting them at least once every 365 days, that will keep our file activated indefinitely. I’m pretty confident I can have something to satisfy them before a year is up. And we’re thinking maybe we won’t be so quick to sell our Bangkok home if that’s the case too but rather hold onto it for now.

48

That’s correct. I’ve kept cases active for years that way for various reasons.

49

Thanks, that’s very good news. But I hope we can get everything cleared in a matter of months rather than years.

Got those documents from stateside today too. I feel we’ll file the Packet 3 by the end of this month.

50

And we submitted her Packet 3 today (Thursday). Sent it EMS, so the embassy should have it tomorrow. We’re still waiting on the Thai Police Clearance Certificate, which they said would not be ready until April 29 (although reports are it really comes a couple weeks before they say), but the embassy said we could submit everything else and just take the Clearance Certificate with her to her embassy interview. Or Homeland Security interview, whoever does these. The Thai National Police did not ask for any bribes to expedite the process, and I even spotted one sign when we were there last week admonishing people not to pay bribes, so maybe they’re cracking down on that. She should have her interview with the embassy people in maybe two or three months. We’ll wait now for her Packet 4 instructions regarding getting her Medical Clearance Certificate.

It’s a strange feeling though to know we’ll be refused initially. It’s this darn domicile question. I can’t get out of here to take care of that until July, but filing here and keeping the case open is the smart move. Again, if we tried from the US, it would cost more and take even longer.

51

Well damn, that was fast. They received the Packet 3 last Friday, and on Monday they sent my wife an e-mail saying an April 7 interview was scheduled. For this my wife is using an e-mail account that is not her main one and was not expecting a reply so soon, so she just saw the message today (Wednesday). They sent her the Packet 4 instructions too. But she has no Thai Police Clearance Certificate yet. We included a cover letter with Packet 3 stating that certificate would not be ready until April 29. Guess they missed that. She’s sent them a message asking to reschedule the interview for after April 29.

Is this a good sign, them scheduling an appointment three days after receiving Packet 3 – scheduling it one business day after receiving it actually – with the appointment scheduled for the following week?

52

My wife heard back from the Immigration people already. They said she could attend the interview on April 7 and mail in the Police Clearance Certificate later but noted that missing documents would cause a delay in visa issuance. Well, that’s okay since I can’t even get out of here myself until July, and we know the lack of an address inside the US is going to hold it up anyway. So she’s on for an April 7 interview. :smiley: At 7am. :frowning: Geez, these people get up with the chickens.

We’ll get her medical done this weekend to more than likely. Since those are good for only six months, there’s a good chance she’ll have to have another one before she finally moves to the US, but at least she’ll be up on her vaccinations.

53

Interview over. My wife had a 7am appointment this morning, and they started letting people in at 6:45. She was finished by 9, maybe a little before that. Waited about 90 minutes to be called, then answered just a few questions spread out over 30 minutes due to intervals of the interviewer typing in her computer.

The result was pretty much what we expected – I have to go reestablish a domicile in the US. As for our assets, they liked them, and they didn’t. They liked them just fine except my wife’s assets were not entered on the correct form. I’d been led to believe if the applicant was the spouse, then her assets could be included in my form I-864 Affidavit of Support, but no, we still need to put them on the I-864A. The I-864 form and/or instructions does say the spouse’s assets can be included on the I-864, and I am certain I e-mailed them to confirm, and they said yes, put them on the I-864. But apparently that is not the case.

The big surprise was they canceled my wife’s Tourist Visa. !!! We were not expecting that. Thought maybe she could at least fly over to help me look for an apartment, then return to Thailand, but no. The interviewer said that had to be done now that my wife was in the system for the Immigrant Visa. I guess that makes sense, but since others have told about how they went to visit their spouse or fiancee in the US while being considered for their Immigrant Visa, we had assumed she could keep that until approval. So be warned if you’re going to go through this too.

Overall, a positive experience despite the Tourist Visa cancellation. The personnel were nice, it was quick and efficient. Sucks about the old visa being canceled, but that just means I’ve got to get my ass in gear and head to Hawaii as soon as my dental work is complete. But that won’t be until July. :frowning:

54

Besides reestablishing my domicile in the US, the only item lacking now is a tax transcript from the IRS, showing I really paid my taxes. Monday will make four weeks since I ordered my transcript from them, and it’s still not here. I’ve heard it’s been taking three weeks for these to get to Thailand, and possibly the recent slew of holidays have slowed the local mails down somewhat, but I’m getting a little antsy. If I don’t receive it in the next couple of days, I may call the IRS to see if they can tell if they sent it. Since I can’t show W-2s, my having worked for Thai companies, I need this transcript. Any thoughts about hurrying it along?

55

Did they specifically ask for an IRS transcript rather than a copy of your tax return? That’s odd, if so; usually a copy of the return works fine.

56

We gave them the copy of last year’s tax return that my accountant gave me, but they said that was not good enough, that what they really needed to see was W-2s. When I pointed out I’d been working in Thailand for a Thai company and so did not have W-2s, this is the e-mail I received back from the IV Unit:

**"If you have questions about tax documents, you should consult your accountant and/or contact the Internal Revenue Service. When you provide us with copies of your tax statement, you are required to include proof of that income. Commonly this is supported by a W-2.

“If you prefer to send us your official tax transcript in lieu of the W-2, you may do so by requesting the official transcript from the IRS by going to this website for more information: https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript.”**

So I went to the website and requested a copy of my tax transcript. But that was on April 11, four weeks ago as of tomorrow (Monday). The website says I should get it in 5-10 days, but that’s for in country. I’ve heard it’s been taking three weeks to reach Thailand, but it’s almost a month now. We’ve had some local holidays that could conceivably have slowed the mails down a little, but I’m going to call the IRS number I have tomorrow night my time if I still don’t have it. Maybe they have a record of having mailed it.

They’ll send the transcript to the address on the tax form, and it is the correct address on there. Occasionally someone sending us mail will leave off the “Thailand” part, and with Bangkok postal codes resembling New York City ZIP codes, that’s where it sometimes goes. Hope that is not what happened.

My accountant does my US taxes based on my completed Thai tax form. I wonder if having that form translated as well as the supporting documentation from the Thai company would work. I may ask the IV Unit about that if I can’t get anywhere with the IRS.

57

I’ll add that the IRS website states if I filed electronically, it takes about three weeks for my transcript to become available. My accountant did file my return electronically, back in February, so it should be available now. It also says it may not be available until mid-May if I did not pay all the tax I owed, but I owed zero, so that should not be a problem.

To make this even more frustrating, it really does not matter what my tax return says, because it is not at all representative of my present income, which, as they already know, is now zero, my having left my company two months ago. We’re living on assets.

58

I just spoke with the IRS. It turns out there was no record of my requesting a tax transcript and no record of one going out. !!! But the lady I spoke with was very helpful. She put my request through again while I waited, confirmed for me that her computer said it took and gave me a tracking number to follow it. So hopefully this time it will get here, and in less than four weeks.

My phone bill will see a bump though. This was not a toll-free call. I waited for 15 minutes before I could be attended to, and then that took another 10 minutes. But again, the lady I spoke with seemed efficient and on the ball.

59

As an American citizen, do you not have to fill in American tax returns anyway? Even if only to show that you’re not earning more than $75K (or whatever it is now)?

60

Yes. But no W-2s: those are the forms American companies use to indicate how much you’ve earned and they’ve withdrawn.