Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing US Tourist Visa applications, so we are specifically discussing folks who apply for a US Tourist Visas here in Bangkok. Now different Embassies, different Consulates do things differently. There is a Consulate in Chiang Mai that also processes Tourist Visas as well but for Thailand specifically we see a lot of the same issues in this regard with respect to Tourist Visa applications that are sought here in Thailand. Now bear in mind, again different Embassies may do things a little bit differently so while the analysis I think in this video is going to be useful to many, it specifically is speaking to Thailand and my experiences and the information and anecdotal evidence that I have here in this country. 

So yeah US Tourist Visa applicants are often denied a Visa by the US Embassy here in Bangkok oftentimes citing what is called section 214 B of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under that Act there's an impetus created on the part of the adjudicating Consular Officer that the applicant needs to demonstrate that they not only show strong ties to their home country, in this case Thailand, but also weak ties to the United States. So the strong ties analysis is usually pretty easy for most folks. They can say "oh, I have a wife, she has a house here in Thailand or she owns a condo, she has a job" - strong ties are never the issue. What we usually see though in denied applications for Tourist Visas is a failure to meet the weak ties analysis and unfortunately the relationship with a foreign national in and of itself is oftentimes sufficient to find that look there are not sufficient weak ties to the United States because for example if someone is married to an American, that in and of itself could be deemed a strong tie by the adjudicating Foreign Service Officer I should say, not Immigration Officer.

Where does that leave us? Well a couple of things. First of all you need to understand that this analysis occurs in the context of what's called the Doctrine of Consular Absolutism or Consular Non-reviewability, meaning the Consular Officer's fact-finding initiatives are not subject to judicial oversight basically; they can't be appealed in a legal sense. You can't initiate a legal adjudication associated with a Visa Officer's decision to deny, Foreign Service Officer specifically, but in the Non-immigrant Visa unit specifically for a Tourist Visa there's no appellate process. So again, this is important because whatever fact finding is made on the part of the Consular Officer, you are kind of stuck with it. This especially comes up in terms of the analysis of "weak ties" when we see US Tourist Visa applications denied and it does happen quite frequently, it's not a rare occurrence. We see folks contact us quite often saying "I applied for a US Tourist Visa and I was summarily denied". Yeah it is unfortunate but yeah that is what you are looking at in terms of section 214 B of the INA and the practical application thereof results in a large number of denials of US Tourist Visa applications from here in Bangkok.