Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing K-1 Fiancé(e) Visas, so these are Fiancé(e) Visas for the fiancé(e) of an American citizen. We are based here in Bangkok, Thailand so I primarily handle US Immigration cases that arise in Thailand. Occasionally I get a case here in Southeast Asia in another jurisdiction, but for the most part I process out of Bangkok; I process Thais trying to go to the United States on things like a Fiancé(e) Visa, Marriage Visa, etc. 

So the point of the video, the question being posed is can I go to my fiancé(e)’s visa interview? The answer to that question, unless there's extremely extenuating circumstances, and in 13 years now, yeah there haven't been extenuating circumstances that I've seen where they have allowed anyone to go to the interview other than the applicant themselves. Now in some instances and I mean rare and I have dealt with this because again there might be some underlying fact in the case that needs to be explained, some detail to the case that's just anomalous, yeah, I have made appearances and I do make appearances at the Embassy when the necessary to assist the processing a case but no one is able, under security protocols at least at the Embassy here in Bangkok, and I just recently have been in correspondence with the Embassy on this point, because somebody sent me some email where basically they took a screenshot from main Department of State's website where it said something, some posting that said oh, you can attend this interview with your significant other or whatever. 

First of all, setting aside the fact it's not a good idea because you can end up in what's called a Stoke's Interview which you are not going to want. The other thing is as a security matter, look I used to go to the Embassy quite a bit in person to do what were called 221g follow-ups prior to about 2012. Then around about 2012 they kind of instituted new protocols and said, "hey only the applicant can be at the interview", and they stopped doing 221g follow-ups in person. They basically said you have to do all that by correspondence. Again, there are, and it's a limited number of cases in any given year where I need to physically go to the Embassy, but sometimes it is required again due to the facts, due to something needs to be explained especially where it involves what are called Legal Grounds of Inadmissibility where we need to explain, "hey this person is disclosing this. We are actually seeking a waiver. Can we go ahead and process that through?" Sometimes that needs to be explained, because the detail of it, it's kind of complex legal stuff basically, and under those circumstances it may be required for me to show up, but again very, very rare. The default position here in Bangkok is for security reasons, they're not going to allow anybody but the applicant to go to the interview. 

I also have to imagine it might have something to do with the fact that people that used to attend interviews with their significant others, especially in the Tourist Visa category, were oftentimes so unpleasant that they just didn't want to deal with them. I remember sitting mostly when I was doing 221g follow-ups at the Embassy years ago, I'd be sitting in the waiting room, and I could hear - people were standing in line going through the visa interview process - and I could hear the things that foreigners would say and literally would bang on the windows and do crazy stuff in some of these interviews. Yeah, I can kind of see where they just really didn't want to deal with that anymore and they don't really have to. The interview itself only pertains to the applicant; there's no legal reason per se, they need to see that other person again. And if you show up, you could expose yourself to a bunch of scrutiny you don't want anyway. 

It's not actually a good thing to go to a visa interview with your fiancé(e) for a variety of different reasons. You could be exposing yourself to again further scrutiny. It's kind of akin to sometimes it's not a good idea for a defendant to get on the stand in a Court proceeding; it's just not always the optimal posture to be in. That said, I do understand with regard to Immigration for a loved one, fiancé(e)s and I am making another video contemporaneously with this one discussing spouses, yeah, I get it, you want to put that significant other at ease and it's totally understandable because it's not a process anyone wants to go through. I personally have been through the process of being an Immigrant myself, albeit coming into Thailand. It is not a process; my wife was with me for some interviews that I had to go through, especially during the nationalization process, and she wasn't able to be with me through other ones. There's a benefit to having that loved one with you, I get it.

That said, we assist in providing preparation; I personally do this quite often. In fact I got a batch of cases. It always seems like I get a big batch that comes in due for the holiday season and then the holiday season screws everything up and you have to start dealing with it in the aftermath of the holiday season. But in any event, I have got a whole batch of them coming up where I'm having to do interview prep for a number of clients and it's a pretty routine thing. I've been doing it for pretty much the entire time I've been out here - some nearly 18 years now. So the point of trying to make is the interview prep side, that is a sort of given for the process and it is something that we provide as a service. I've been doing it for years, preparing them for the possible questions that are going to be asked. We also assist with police clearance and medical exam issuance. And again, we literally walk our clients through this process. I really don't want clients to need to know anything about the process. To just be like, okay I showed up at your office, what do I got to do? We get her to - her or him, whoever the fiancé(e) might be - down to the Embassy on time, go through the protocols associated with getting into the Embassy, which are explained beforehand, and I go through all of that with them to put them as at ease as possible, and then in the event that we do have to deal with a 221g follow up - for those who are unaware what that is, it is basically a refusal pending further documentation - we assist with that as well. 

So again, I've been dealing with Fiancé(e) Visas for nearly 20 years. If I seem like I kind of have a sort of banal patter in the way I talk about them, it's just because I've done so many of them; it is very much sort of routine to me. I get it. For the new person who's never dealt with it before, especially as it pertains to a loved one, it is something that causes a great deal of anxiety. We like to think that we are here to assuage that anxiety and make that fiancé(e) feel as good as one can going into an interview of this type.