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Posts Tagged ‘IR-1’
24th May 2021
American and Thai Immigration Updates
Posted by : admin
The overall posture of American immigration has improved considerably since the beginning of 2021. With the transition to a new administration there have been a number of changes in how immigration cases are processed. As noted previously, the public charge rule has reverted back to pre-Trump criteria. Concurrently, it appears the current administration has rolled back a potentially disturbing policy regarding collection of biometric data from not only intending immigrants to the United States, but American petitioners and sponsors as well. Presently, there are a number of backlogs holding up cases at various points in the US immigration process. For example, processing times at USCIS are longer overall. Meanwhile issues at the National Visa Center are prolonging case processing. Finally, the US Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand has had to postpone a number of appointments citing the COVID situation. Although it seems the Embassy is prioritizing family based Immigrant Visa Unit matters over the non-immigrant visa unit as some level of priority seems to be conferred to cases such as applications for the K-1 visa (for fiances of America citizens) and the marriage visa cases (K-3, IR-1, and CR-1 visas). There does seem to be some hope on the horizon that things will start looking better as this administration does not seem as intent on being deliberately obtuse with respect to processing immigration cases.
Turning to Thai immigration news, the situation in Thailand has turned less positive since April and the upshot in an immigration context is the re-extension of the quarantine time in Thailand. As of the time of this writing, all travelers (including those vaccinated) arriving in Thailand are required to undergo a 14 day quarantine. On a more general note, Thailand remains under a state of pseudo-lockdown which is having a tremendously negative impact upon the SME sector. However, there is hope that things will begin to turn around as the COVID vaccination is rolled out in early June. Key officials in Thailand have also stood firm behind their commitment to reopen Phuket for the “sandbox” initiative in July. This is apparently still moving forward and, as yet, this doesn’t seem likely to be cancelled. That stated, many initiatives (such as “travel bubbles” or reduced quarantine) have been proposed and ultimately shot down or have been rolled out only to be rolled back. Therefore, it is difficult to predict exactly how things will progress moving forward in the course of the next few weeks, but hopefully these days ahead will be better than those recently transpired.
7th July 2020
Updates Regarding Immigration Matters in Thailand and the USA
Posted by : admin
The Immigration systems of both the United States of America and the Kingdom of Thailand have arguably been subjected to more changes recently than they have undergone in many years. Recently, President Trump announced an expansion of his travel ban on certain foreign nationals. The relevant portions can be found in the excerpt from the White House’s website:
Sec. 2. Suspension and Limitation on Entry. The entry into the United States of any alien seeking entry pursuant to any of the following nonimmigrant visas is hereby suspended and limited, subject to section 3 of this proclamation:
(a) an H-1B or H-2B visa, and any alien accompanying or following to join such alien;
(b) a J visa, to the extent the alien is participating in an intern, trainee, teacher, camp counselor, au pair, or summer work travel program, and any alien accompanying or following to join such alien; and
(c) an L visa, and any alien accompanying or following to join such alien.
It should be noted, although the expanded ban appears to have rather wide ranging effects, those seeking the K-1 visa for a foreign fiancee, a K-3 visa, CR-1 visa, or IR-1 visa for the spouse of an American citizen are unaffected by this recent proclamation. That stated, while this ban does not have a direct impact, the fact that US Embassies and Consulates overseas are still not open for visa processing continues to stall immigration matters.
Meanwhile, Thailand is taking stringent measures in an attempt to forestall any further spread of COVID-19 in the Kingdom. With nearly 6 weeks of zero in-country transmissions, Thailand is a proving to be a global success story in the “fight” against Coronavirus. These measures appear to be bearing fruit, but Thailand remains in lock down from an international travel context. It was recently announced that some foreigners would be allowed to enter Thailand. At the same time, Thai officials are attempting to implement a “travel bubble” scheme which will allow some tourists to enter Thailand under specific conditions. As of the time of this writing, the initiation of “travel bubbles” has yet to be seen, but they are expected to come online in September. Thereafter, there will be a phased program of increasingly less stringent restrictions with the culmination presumably manifesting as tourism to resume as normal. It should be noted that the countries surrounding Thailand appear to be taking similar positions to that of Thailand with respect to inbound tourist arrivals, at least for the foreseeable future.
3rd January 2017
It recently came to this blogger’s attention that the officials of the Royal Thai Immigration Police have made policy changes regarding passport holders of certain countries. It appears that passport holders from 37 different countries will now be able to obtain a 30 day visa exemption stamp by crossing a land border into Thailand. The recently announced list includes the following countries:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bahrain, Brunei, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey
It should be noted that most holders of passports on the above list were already eligible to receive 30 day exemption stamps when arriving at one of Thailand’s many international airports. However, 30 day exemption stamps were apparently not available when arriving at land borders. While this liberalization is likely welcome news to prospective tourists who wish to travel to countries surrounding Thailand it should be be analyzed in conjunction with recent announcements regarding so-called border runs.
As previously noted on this blog and other sites, Thai border runs are effectively a thing of the past as recent laws have been enacted which bar individuals from making border runs more than 2 times per calendar year. Although this new rule is unlikely to impact genuine tourists in Thailand, those who have used ostensibly temporary visas and visa exemption stamps to live in Thailand are likely to find maintaining their status in this way to be very difficult in the future. This news comes at the same time as a number of foreign owned or managed businesses in Thailand are reporting significant increases in immigration inspections as well as well known hostels are being raided by those seeking not only criminals, but over-stayers in particular. How this will all play out in 2017 remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: staying long term in Thailand is becoming increasingly difficult, expensive, and time consuming.
Meanwhile, as Thai Immigration cracks down, it appears that the Department of Homeland Security’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has made new regulations regarding the forms which must be submitted in connection with petitions for various immigration benefits. Forms such as the I-130 (associated with spousal immigration petitions for visas such as the CR-1 or the IR-1) have been upgraded and apparently the USCIS will no longer accept forms of an older pedigree. The same is apparently true with respect to the I-129f (the form associated with the K-1 visa used to bring fiancees of American Citizens to the USA) as that form has been updated.
Concurrently, it appears that there has been an across-the-board increase in the fees associated with the filing of certain immigration petitions. It is advised that those interested in this matter either speak with a qualified professional or conduct their own research to ascertain the current costs and fees associated with a visa to the USA.
4th November 2010
การบริการคนเข้าเมืองและพลเมืองอเมริกัน (USCIS) รับผิดชอบในการวินิจฉัยและขั้นตอนการทำคำขอเพื่อสิทธิประโยชน์คนเข้าเมืองอเมริกัน เรื่องหลักๆส่วนมากแล้ว ผู้ยื่นคำขอประสงค์ที่จะยื่นคำขอในสหรัฐอเมริกา อย่างไรก็ตามในบางกรณี อาจมีความเป็นไปได้ที่การยื่นขอสิทธิประโยชน์ของวีซ่าคู่แต่งงานอาจยื่นที่สำนักงานUSCISที่อยู่ต่างประเทศ หรือยื่นโดยตรงที่กงสุลอเมริกา สถานทูตที่อยู่ต่างประเทศ
ภาคส่วนการปฏิบัติการ USCIS ระหว่างประเทศ สำนักงานนโยบายเละโครงสร้าง สำนักงานความผูกพันสาธารณะเชิญคุณเข้าร่วมในการประชุมทางไกลเพื่อที่จะอภิปรายถึงการเปลี่ยนแปลงในการวินิจฉัยฟอร์ม I-130 คำร้องของญาติคนต่างชาติซึ่งยื่นโดยผู้ยื่นคำขอที่พักอาศัยอยู่ต่างประเทศ ในเวลานี้ ผู้ยื่นคำขอที่อาศัยอยู่นอกสหรัฐอเมริกาอาจจะยื่นฟอร์ม I-130 และคำขอนั้นจะวินิจฉัยโดยสำนักงาน USCIS หรือกงสุลอเมริกันที่อยู่ในต่างประเทศ USCIS กำลังทบทวนทางเลือกที่จะมีการวินิจฉัยฟอร์มI-130อย่างเป็นการภายใน ในระหว่างช่วงนี้ USCISจะจัดการภาพรวมที่อาจจะกระทบต่อการยื่นแบบฟอร์มและคำวินิจฉัยในขณะเดียวกับการตอบคำถามและคลายความกังวลจากผู้ถือผลประโยชน์
ไม่ว่านโยบายที่เสนอไปนั้นจะเกิดผลหรือไม่ แต่ถ้านโยบายนี้มีผลบังคับใช้แล้ว การทำวีซ่าถาวรจะมีความเป็นไปได้ที่จะยื่นขอรับผลประโยชน์วีซ่าในสหรัฐอเมริกา
ขั้นตอนการเข้าเมืองสหรัฐอเมริกานั้นขึ้นอยู่กัข้อเท็จจริงที่หลากหลายและประเภทของวีซ่า ดังนั้นผู้ที่มองหาวีซ่าประเภท CR1 หรือ IR1จะไม่ต้องประสบกับขั้นตอนเดียวกับผู้ที่กำลังทำวีซ่าประเภท K1 ผู้ที่กำลังจะมองหาสิทธิประโยชน์ของวีซ่าประเภทไม่ถาวรในขณะเดียวกันผู้ยื่นคำขอก็ไม่ประสงค์ที่จะเริ่มยื่นคำขอเกี่ยวกวับการเข้าเมืองในสหรัฐอเมริกา อย่างไรก็ตาม ผู้ยื่นคำขอสำหรับวีซ่าประเภทไม่ถาวรจะต้องได้รับการตรวจสอบตามบทบัญญัติมาตรา 214บี พระราชบัญญํติสัญชาติและคนเข้าเมืองสหรัฐอเมริกาซึ่งมีแนวโน้มที่อาจจะได้รับการปฏิเสธวีซ่าเมื่อเปรียบเทียบวีซ่าประเภทอื่น
หลายๆคนอาจจะสนใจที่จะใช้บริการจากผู้เชี่ยวชาญในกระบวนการเข้าเมืองในขณะเดียวกับการหาคำแนะนำที่น่าเชื่อถือจากผู้ที่มีประสบการณ์เกี่ยวกับกฎหมายคนเข้าเมืองสหรัฐอเมริกา ทนายความอเมริกันเท่านั้นที่จะมีสิทธิที่จะเรียกเก็บค่าธรรมเนียมจากการให้คำแนะนำและคำปรึกษาในเรื่องการเข้าเมือง
To read this post in English please refer to the previous posting on this blog.
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