Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing US Marriage Visas in the context of issues pertaining to residency and domicile. I'm just going to jump in here. I thought of making this video after a reader sent this to me by email. It's an article from Breitbart, that's breitbart.com, the article is titled: Trump ending automatic green cards for migrants marrying U.S. citizens. Quoting directly: "While marrying a U.S. citizen has never been a locked-in guarantee that a migrant would be issued a Green Card, marriages have previously offered a huge boost to a migrant’s request for legal status. But that may be changing as Immigration Attorneys are finding that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are giving such marriages much closer scrutiny than ever before. Marrying a U.S. citizen is no longer the near-guarantee of legal residence for foreign nationals." Quoting further: "One new wrinkle in requests for marriage-related Green Cards is residency. The Trump Administration is prioritizing a shared domicile for the migrant and the U.S. citizen, a requirement that was not prioritized in the past. "Immigration Officers do not care why you live apart, and they do not care if it's for work, school, money, or convenience," the Attorney added." "So, if you're not living in the same house every day, Immigration is going to start questioning the marriage. And once they question it, they're investigating, and once they come knocking on your door, they're looking to deny you. So, if you want a marriage Green Card, you live together. Period," he explained." 

Well, I don't know if I necessarily agree with that analysis; again, every case is going to be different. That being said, understand, one, from the context of those who are looking for visas for immigration purposes for spouses emanating from Thailand or Southeast Asia, these issues appear to be most pertinent with regard to folks who are seeking to adjust or convert their status in the United States. It does not appear that this is so much prioritized with regard to those who are looking to marry Americans who are processing through an Embassy or Consulate abroad, for example like through the US Embassy here in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Now again, I have to imagine that there are ramifications for this, even for cases that go through Consular processing. I've done a video I made contemporaneously with this one discussing what is called the Domicile Paradox. That was an issue that used to come up in cases that I would process utilizing the local USCIS Office here at the US Embassy compound, and oftentimes we would find ourselves being issued with 221g refusals until the "domicile issue" was rectified. Now as I discussed in that video, the notion of domicile that the State Department maintains is not on par with what the legal notion of domicile is under the Common Law or the Law of the 50 states in the Federal Government. But that being said, again it's applied a bit differently when we are talking about foreign aliens who have no particular rights in the United States to begin with until they are actually processed in and granted Visas; so they deal with it in a slightly different way.

But that being said, do I believe that this will affect the overall process for those who want to get an IR-1, CR-1 or a K-3 for their Thai spouse or a spouse out here in Southeast Asia? I think it may have some implications. I think it will be somewhat indirect, but I don't necessarily think that it will have no implications. That being said, I think there's going to be substantial ramifications stemming from this policy for those who, especially for those who enter the United States illegally and are trying to reconcile their status after the fact. That being said, we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.