Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing CR-1, IR-1 and K-3 Marriage Visa Applications and the issue of petitioner biometrics. Recently, in a K-1 case that we are processing, I got a request for petitioner Biometrics. This is the American citizen who is seeking K-1 Fiancé Visa benefits for their foreign fiancé specifically here in Thailand.

Look, I haven't seen one of these in like 15 years, and it involved a case years ago when we had a local USCIS office. It was quite a complex case and honestly, it had a background that involved a really complex set of circumstances. Again, in nearly 20 years of practicing US Immigration law primarily from out here in Southeast Asia, I've only seen this requested once before. And in that context, we were dealing with processing through the local USCIS office here in Thailand, not dealing with the Service Centre Stateside - which service centres in the United States, frankly I am starting to wonder if this request is intentionally obtuse, intentionally designed to create an obstacle to thwart the underlying petition on really ticky tacky grounds in many ways. 

Yeah, I get that yes, Department of Homeland Security has a mandate to do background checks on petitioners for Immigration benefits but with the state of the digital system, what it is, I just have a hard time believing that they need to request biometric information in this way. I think it is in my opinion designed to create a requirement that then if you don't fulfill it, they can say well we can close the case because you didn't fulfill that requirements. There was a lot of that in the first Trump Administration; I'll be honest. Look I agree with Mr. Trump's policy on illegal immigration, but I very much get angry at the way that his first Administration and frankly this Administration, seems to go out of its way to try to thwart legal immigration, people who are trying to obey the law and do it right. That's wrong. I don't think that that's a good thing. Now that said, again they may feel like they have their own reasons for seeking these Biometrics and I have seen it before. And in the prior case I saw it some 15 years ago - that's the reason I bring up CR-1, IR-1 and K-3 Visas - that was an actual Marriage Visa. The person was actually married to their immigrant spouse or their perspective immigrant spouse under those circumstances; ultimately, they did go to the United States.

I am confident that in the case that's currently they are seeking Biometrics it will ultimately be successful as well. But it's just these extra hoops to have to jump through and honestly it begs the question why are these hoops being presented, and is it just a sort of mechanism if you will to try and create extra obstacles to thwart an otherwise pretty legitimate petition for Immigration benefits to the United States for the spouse of an American citizen under the circumstances we usually deal with from the Kingdom of Thailand.