Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing optimal visas to bring a Thai loved one to the United States. I get a lot of calls, get a lot of inquiries from folks who are looking to bring their Thai loved one back to the US. This may be a girlfriend, boyfriend; this may be a spouse, a fiancé, and so I thought I would do kind of a more general video. I oftentimes will do sort of Fiancé Visa specific, Marriage Visa specific, Tourist Visa specific, let's just do a general one here real quick. 

As we have discussed in other videos, in many cases the most optimal visa would be a Tourist Visa, an American Tourist Visa. Unfortunately, due to what is called section 214b of the Immigration and Nationality Act as well as the interpretation by many Officers at the Department of State, this Visa may not be readily available as a practical matter. Now you may be able to apply for it but the likelihood that it will be denied is not unheard of, in fact it's quite high. It has been my experience that where you have a relationship between two people, that operates against the analysis in section 214b and results in a denial of a Tourist Visa. So let's set the Tourist Visa aside because there is a large, I would say a pretty decent probability if you will, that a Tourist Visa application is going to be denied. 

Next question is well what is the optimal visa to get my loved one back to the United States? Really you essentially have got two effective options. You have got the K-1 and you have got the CR-1 or the IR-1.  Now sometimes US Marriage Visas will be referred to as K-3 Visas across the internet. As a practical matter, the K-3 Visa, it may be useful depending on your circumstances but for the most part we see most K-3 Visas become subject to Administrative Closure and so effectively they are not an option to many people anyway. So let's set aside the K-3 Visa. 

You are looking at K-1 Fiancé Visas as well as CR-1 or IR-1 Immigrant Spouse Visas. Now as I have discussed in many other videos, notwithstanding the fact that nothing is particularly moving very quickly through the immigration system, I think generally speaking if you are looking for a more streamlined process of getting one's loved one into the United states, the K-1 Fiancé Visa is probably the better option because one thing, and this is a major thing it does allow one to bypass the National Visa Center; you don't have to deal with the bureaucracy of the National Visa Center which in my opinion is a boon. It's a benefit to not have to deal with that. Meanwhile, okay the downside of the Fiancé Visa is unlike the CR-1 or the IR-1 Visa which are Immigrant Spouse Visas, the spouse enters the United States with their green card. 

Now there are further things to bear in mind especially with regard to these visas coming from Thailand which is getting married in Thailand is not easy like it once was. There was a time where it was possible to get married in Thailand and it took a matter of couple of days. I made a video contemporaneously with this one where I go into that in further detail but long story short, bear in mind, it can take a month or more now to get a marriage registered here in Thailand and that may require a foreign national to remain physically present in Thailand during that time, during that processing time. So again, depending on your situation the Immigrant Spouse Visa may not be the most optimal. Now that said, if you are already married, again that may be your only option. You are not going to get divorced just to go seek a Fiancé Visa, although I have seen that occur in times past because Fiancé Visas at one time were dramatically easier to process than Marriage Visas and divorce isn't something people really like to think about at all if they are in a happy marriage but I have seen situations in the past where it proved necessary or folks that were processing their case felt it was necessary to get their, in this case Thai loved one, into the United States in a timely manner. 

So there is a lot going on when you are looking at US Immigration options. This is probably why it's not a bad idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.