Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing K-1 Fiancé Visas. We are specifically discussing prior arrest records and how these impact K-1 Fiancé Visas. Now there are two ways to look at this. Prior arrest record of the petitioner, that is the American who is petitioning on behalf of a foreign fiancée in this case let's presume a Thai fiancée and then there is Thai arrest records associated with the foreign fiancée, the Thai fiancée.

So two different things happening here. During sort of the initial phases involving the Department of Homeland Security, the arrest record of the petitioner will oftentimes be of a major concern to the adjudicating officers within that agency. Meanwhile when you are dealing with what I call the back end of the process, Embassy is very concerned with matters involving what is called Legal Grounds of Inadmissibility, determining if someone is legally inadmissible to the United States and a prior arrest record will have an impact upon that analysis. 

Let's be clear, just because someone has a prior arrest record for example a Thai national, it does not necessarily mean it is going to be impossible to ultimately get a K-1 Visa, it is just going to depend on the circumstances of said arrest. There are certain crimes, there are certain citations that are not considered a legal ground of inadmissibility and there are other things that are. Notably also, it is not necessary to be arrested. There's certainly illicit activity that could be deemed a ground of admissibility even if you are not arrested for it. Things like drug use, drug trafficking, human trafficking, things like crimes involving moral turpitude, prostitution; even where there is no arrest for one of those things, if a Thai National has been involved with such activity they may be inadmissible for a K-1 Visa, they may be denied for K-1 Visa and it may be required to do something like an I-601 waiver, there may be other remedies depending on the circumstances. With respect to an American's prior criminal history, the impact on the processing of the case will depend very greatly on the nature of the underlying arrest record.

Under either case, it really is a pretty good idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.