Those interested in receiving Consular services such as notary services and/or issuance of a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, US Passport, or additional visa pages are well advised to contact an American Citizen Services Section of the nearest US Mission with Consular jurisdiction over the area in which one is located.

Those wishing to find the US Embassy in Bangkok’s official website homepage please click Here.

Each year, many Thai-American couples opt to seek US immigration benefits in the form of travel documents such as the K-1 visa or the CR-1 Visa. Meanwhile, many multi-national companies or individual immigrant investors seek investment or business based visas such as the L-1 visa for intra-company transferees, the E-2 visa for Treaty Investors traveling to the USA, or the EB-5 visa for Immigrant Investors making a minimum $500,000 investment in an eligible program in the United States. In most cases, Thai applicants for the visas noted above will be required to process their visa application with the Immigrant Visa Unit or Business Travel Unit of the US Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.

Those Thai nationals seeking Non-immigrant visas such as the J-1 visa (Exchange Visitor Visa), F-1 visa (Student Visa), B-2 visa (Tourist Visa), or the B-1 Visa (Business Visa) must process their application through the Non-immigrant Visa Unit in Bangkok if the Thai applicant resides within the Consular jurisdiction of the US Embassy in Bangkok as opposed to the Consular jurisdiction of the US Consulate-General in Chiang Mai Thailand.

Those interested in learning further information about the process of obtaining a United States visa from the Kingdom of Thailand please see: US Immigration.

At the time of this writing, the US Embassy in Bangkok is closed to those seeking routine services due to the unrest in the areas near the Embassy compound. In Bangkok, the situation seems to have stabilized. However, the city remains tense as most Bangkok residents seem to be hoping for an end to the unpleasantness and a return to relative normality.

On a related note, the Thai Tourism Industry is preparing for a major downturn moving forward. To quote the website ThaiVisa.com:

Thailand’s violent political turmoil has had a “disastrous” effect on the vital tourism sector, the country’s finance minister said Friday, stressing that the overall economy remained sound. “Tourism in value terms accounts for six percent of our GDP,” Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij told a Tokyo conference, adding that the sector also accounts for “as much as 15 to 20 percent of the total employment.” “And clearly, with the events that took place over the past several weeks, and the pictures of these events flashing across TV screens across the world, it is going to have a very disastrous impact on tourism.” Thai security forces on Wednesday crushed a six-week protest by anti-government protesters in street battles that left 15 people dead and saw arsonists torch some 36 key buildings across the capital Bangkok. The stock exchange and the nation’s biggest shopping mall were among locations torched in the chaotic aftermath of the campaign to end the “Red Shirt” protesters’ occupation of Bangkok’s top retail district. Korn said that “we anticipate that the impact on the GDP of the protest so far is probably between 0.3 and 0.5 percent of GDP.” However, he stressed that the wider economic picture was sound in the kingdom, telling the conference that “we expect the formal Q1 (first quarter) figure to be in two digits” this year.

As we have previously discussed on this blog, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs has waived fees for Thai Tourist Visas. However, the fees associated with applications for the Thai business visa and the Thai O visa remain the same.

For further information about attorney assistance with Consular Processing of US visa applications please see: US Embassy. For further information about closure of the US Embassy in Thailand please see: US Embassy Bangkok. Finally, to learn more about Thai Immigration please see: Thai Visa.

Emergency American Citizen Services – New Temporary Location

The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok has set up a temporary location to provide emergency and very limited routine Consular Services to U.S. Citizens.  If you do not need your service right now, please wait until we reopen our Embassy facilities.

You must bring your original documents (when available).  If at all possible, please bring a photo copy of each of those documents as well.  Many of the forms are available on-line.  Please print out and complete your forms.  Bring the completed forms with you.  This will help us serve more people.

Beginning at 8:00am Wednesday, May 19, 2010, the services listed below will be available until further notice.  Newly issued Passports and Consular Report of Birth Abroad will not be available for pick up until the following work day.

WHERE: WESTIN GRAND SUKHUMVIT, BANGKOK

259 SUKHUMVIT ROAD (corner of Soi 19)

BTS: Asok, MRT: Suhkumvit (note: neither the BTS nor MRT is currently running)

Phone: 02-207-8000

HOURS: 08:00 – 12:00 Monday – Friday

SERVICES:

• PASSPORTS – EMERGENCY and REGULAR
• CONSULAR REPORT OF BIRTH ABROAD (CRBA) BY APPOINTMENT ONLY*
• NOTARIALS (AFFIDAVITS, INCOME AFFIDAVITS, etc)
• PICK UP OF COMPLETED PASSPORTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS LISTED ABOVE
• DROP-OFF OF DOCUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF AN APPLICATION

PAYMENT: CASH ONLY – U.S. DOLLARS OR THAI BAHT

NO CREDIT CARDS, CHECKS OR TRAVELLERS CHECKS WILL BE ACCEPTED

Those who have appointments will be given priority and seen on the day of their appointment.  Those with appointments on Friday May, 15; Monday May 17; and Tuesday, May 18 will be given priority in the order of their original appointment.  Please bring a print-out or other proof of your appointment with you.

Appointments must be made on the Embassy website, http://bangkok.usembassy.gov.  Appointments cannot be made by phone.

Those without appointments will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis.  We will do our best to accommodate those without appointments if we have time between appointments, but we cannot guarantee that services will be available to those without appointments.

*CRBA APPLICANTS PLEASE NOTE:

Applicants for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad will only be seen with appointments; there will be no walk-in CRBA interviews.  Please come prepared with valid documentation; a detailed list is available on-line.  Failure to provide complete documentation may significantly delay the procession of your application.

IF YOU ARE APPLYING FOR AN EMERGENCY PASSPORT PLEASE BRING:

• 2 passport photos with white background
• Police Report
• Proof of Citizenship (if available)
• Proof of identity
• Fee – $100.00 (one hundred U.S. dollars)

FOR COMPLETE DETAILS OF REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION, SERVICES, AND FEES PLEASE CONSULT THE EMBASSY WEBSITE http://bangkok.usembassy.gov

As stated in the above announcement, one should refrain from traveling to the provisional American Citizen Services unless it is an emergency. The United States Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand is closed until after the 21st of May due to the unrest in the city.

For information about the situation in Bangkok please see: US Embassy Bangkok. For further information about attorney assistance with Consular Processing of American visa applications please see: US Embassy Thailand.