Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing misconceptions associated with American Visas from Thailand. Every now and again people start saying the same things to me when I am talking to them about Immigration matters and it leads me to believe that there must be some forum or something out there where they are getting erroneous information and every now and again I try to go ahead and compile some of the things I have been hearing and do a video like this. So to be clear, this is Misconceptions about American Visas from Thailand; visas to the United States from Thailand. 

One of the big ones, I see this constantly is people view Tourist Visa applications especially for the significant other of an American, as a relatively easy or straightforward process. In point of fact and I have made a number of videos on this channel regarding this, but section 214b of the Immigration Nationality Act is a threshold that many in that position are not going to be able to overcome; that is just a plain truth of it. Now there are circumstances where they may and it will depend on the facts of the case but 214b is a high threshold to beat and it is very likely that most Tourist Visa applications again especially for those who have a relationship with an American, 214b is probably going to knock those cases out of the box every time. With respect to Tourist Visas, another thing that I see a lot of people talk about is, "Oh, I do have a Thai girlfriend. I am trying to get her a Tourist Visa and I am showing that she has property or a job in Thailand and things. It is not really what anybody is looking at; it is the relationship with the American. At the end of the day 214b calls upon the adjudicating Consular Officer to go ahead and do what is called a “strong ties-weak ties” analysis. They have to determine that that applicant has strong ties to their home country and this is key, weak ties to the United States. Often times any kind of relationship with an American, especially a romantic one, is going to mitigate or operate against that weak tie side of the analysis and is probably going to result in a denial under 214b of the Immigration Nationality Act.

Another misconception out there that I often find interesting is the presumption that getting married is a faster way of getting a significant other in the US. In point of fact, it might be depending on circumstances, it also might not be. So for those who are unmarried it may be a good idea to go ahead and explore all their Immigration options before making a final decision because the K-1 Fiancé Visa is out there and under certain processing conditions, that can actually be a faster method of getting into the US. 

Another big one is, this isn't so common now but when I first came to Thailand and was doing US Immigration, it seemed like every 5th person I talked to just thought they could just walk into the Embassy and file one piece of paper and go ahead and get a visa to the United States. Now reasonable people could argue that perhaps that is a better way to do things but the fact is the Immigration system is quite a complicated, in fact I would dare say Byzantine, set of institutions associated with ultimately getting the Visa especially an Immigrant Spouse Visa or a K-1 Fiancé Visa or any type of visa that confers long-term status in the United States especially work authorization status. You are talking about some time spent and a lot of documentation and a lot of processing. It is not just a matter of walking into the Embassy with one's significant other and walking out with a Visa.

The final one I do see occasionally is the notion that lying or being evasive about possible, what are called grounds of admissibility, is a good way of dealing with Immigration. Where we see this oftentimes is in the context of folks that have prior criminal records and they try to hide that oftentimes through rather less than optimal methodologies. The other thing we see is folks that worked in activities that are consider grounds of inadmissibility even where they don't have a conviction or an arrest record and they just want to go ahead and lie about that activity. Oftentimes that is going to get you into way more trouble. In fact a lie will get you into way more trouble than probably the underlying issue that you think is there; in some cases it may not even be the issue you think it is. There are certain things that one thinks “Oh I have a criminal record for this and that is going to keep me from getting a Visa”. It is probably a good idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed with this because what you think may be a deal killer might not be depending on the circumstances. 

So again, it is probably not a terrible idea to contact a legal professional if you are dealing with any type of US Immigration matter, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.