Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing actually Marriage Visa applications subsequent to a denial of a Non-immigrant Visa, so that's like a Tourist Visa or a Student Visa pursuant to section 214b. As we have discussed in other videos I have made here recently, one is going oftentimes to be denied if they are applying for a Tourist Visa to the United States or a Student Visa to the United States due to what is called section 214b of the Immigration and Nationality Act. That section of the Act basically stipulates that the Consular Officer must be sufficiently satisfied that the applicant has relative strong ties to their home country and relative weak ties to the United States. It is oftentimes the weak ties part of that analysis that gets people a denial. 

Meanwhile, as we have discussed in other videos, that type of denial is subject to what is called the Doctrine of Consular Absolutism or Consular Non-reviewability i.e. the Visa Officer who makes such a determination - in most cases a denial - is not subject to any type of appeal or review; their fact-finding is final basically is the thing to understand about that. So it is not an infrequent thing to see Tourist Visas, Student Visas denied here at the US Embassy in Bangkok and the question is, what happens subsequent to that? Will that have an impact on like a K-3, or a CR-1 or an IR-1 Marriage Visa Application. The answer is as a practical matter, I deal with a lot of cases involving married couples where the American is usually a citizen or a Green Card holder in the US. Those folks generally speaking are going to be looking at a very high threshold of denial rates on their spouse seeking like a Tourist Visa. It's just sort of the nature of the beast; it's kind of how it is. I have done a number of videos on 214b in the past where I get into the deep analysis that and if you are curious to know that, go to the search function of our channel here and just type in 214, you'll get a whole bunch of videos of that. You can also go to the resource section of legal.co.th over on our website where we have transcribed a lot of the videos, you can type in 214 or 214b and you will get a ton of videos as well over the years where I am talking about 214b.

The point I am trying to make with this video is can you subsequently apply for a, for example an Immigrant Spouse Visa, a CR-1 or an IR-1 Visa or a Non-immigrant Spouse Visa like a K-3? The answer is yes; you can apply. Will the prior denial have an impact? They will see it. Now it probably is not going to be considered substantively significantly material, although the underlying facts in the whole case will dictate how it will be looked at. As I have discussed in other videos, I used to kind of take a nonchalant attitude to prior Tourist Visa denials, but more and more, we are seeing this Administration seems to be keen to use, in some cases to look back on prior visa applications, visa interviews and documentation associated therewith for a Tourist Visa for example that gets denied, and then look to see if there are any discrepancies with the application pending for Immigrant Spousal Visa benefits. Under some circumstances if it is deemed that there was some kind of misrepresentation or if there is some discrepancy between the facts given in a prior denied case versus the facts which are offered up in a subsequent Immigrant Spouse Visa case, if there's some sort of discrepancy, they might want to scrutinize that; that's becoming kind of more of a thing. 

This is one of the reasons why if you are looking at possibly applying for any type of visa to the United States, be it a Tourist Visa, be it a Spousal Visa, a Fiancé(e) Visa, whatever, for a loved one in any context, it is probably a good idea to contact a legal professional and gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed before any moves so one can ascertain exactly what the right type of visa for them might be, look at the risks involved with applying for that, both the possibility of being denied as well as what the ramifications might be to a subsequent visa application filed after a denial.