US tightening Visa Requirements

traveller123

Re: US tightening Visa Requirements

Post by traveller123 »

werner99 wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:03 pm What happened? Did your partner get his American visa?
His appointment at The US Embassy is on Friday morning - we will travel up to Bangkok tomorrow.
If their system is similar to the UK visa application we will not find out the result on Friday
traveller123

Re: US tightening Visa Requirements

Post by traveller123 »

And the result was ----visa refused with no right of appeal and no reason provided for the refusal.
The Officer did not give him the opportunity to submit the evidence we had provided to meet the visa conditions.
It was very disappointing that the best evidence of all that he had had four UK and two Schengen Visas counted for nothing.
My partner told me that while he was waiting many well dressed Thais were leaving with rejection slips, does this mean that the US under Trump only wants visitors from those countries on the ESTA list
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Re: US tightening Visa Requirements

Post by Gaybutton »

traveller123 wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:20 pm And the result was ----visa refused with no right of appeal and no reason provided for the refusal.
I'm very sorry that was the result, but with the Trump administration in power I can't say I am surprised. I don't understand why they won't give a reason. If they gave a reason perhaps the applicant could take care of whatever was the reason for the rejection and reapply later. But without a reason, there is no way to know what to do other than to reapply and hope for the best.

If all the paperwork was in order, the only thing I can think of as a reason for the rejection would be they were not satisfied with his "compelling reason" to return to Thailand, but I can't figure out why he was not even permitted to submit his evidence.

The only suggestion I can think of would be to go over all the requirements again, try to figure out what might have gone wrong, wait about a month, and try again. Either that, or find somewhere else to go.

Again, I am truly sorry it worked out this way. I know how disappointed you must be.
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Re: US tightening Visa Requirements

Post by Undaunted »

traveller123 I am sorry to hear of you misfortune however, I am not surprised as his Schengen visas are typicality not difficult to get however, I can’t say that I am unhappy that the other Thais were denied visas, let them get a taste of their own medicine.

A good friend of mine is English and on 2 occasions his Thai b/f was denied a visa at the U.K. embassy in BKK, so he was able to get him a Schengen visa with the help of a German friend, they went on to the U.K. after arriving in Germany.

The U.S. embassy is looking for significant reasons to ensure a Thai will not stay in the U.S. these include a sizable amount of money on deposit for a considerable amount of time and ownership of property, it appears you put your eggs in the wrong Schengen basket.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
fountainhall

Re: US tightening Visa Requirements

Post by fountainhall »

I feel really sorry for traveller123's predicament. If Schengen visas are not difficult to get, I always understood UK visas were much more difficult. Anyone know if this is still the case?
traveller123

Re: US tightening Visa Requirements

Post by traveller123 »

My partner's first visa was a UK visa back in 2009.
The paperwork we provided was very detailed including details of my UK employment, salary, bank statements and council tax bills, photos of me with his family, a letter from his employer in Hua Hin stating he had worked for her for two years and his job would be kept open and copies of my phone records showing calls to him every couple of days.
Our subsequent UK visas (including one for our UK Civil Partnership) were obtained with details of the length of our relationship and me showing I had the funds to support him in the UK.
We had to apply for our Schengen Visas at the Spanish Embassy as Spain was our first destination and we found the process similar to a UK visa application.

The reason for our US visit was to visit my daughter, who is a naturalised US citizen, lives in the Nappa Valley and with her husband have good jobs
Here we have a nice house in his name, 10 rai of land in his name (I know that's not a lot), I have savings, partner doesn't.
We had evidence for everything but he was not given the opportunity to present it.

My own feeling is under Trump they don't want Asian tourists and hang everything on setting the bar impossibly high on answering why the visitor will return to Thailand
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Re: US tightening Visa Requirements

Post by Gaybutton »

traveller123 wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:51 am We had evidence for everything but he was not given the opportunity to present it.
What happened and/or what was said when he tried to present it?

Despite being American, I think it's despicable to deny visa applications without at least providing the reasons. How can any applicant be expected to be able to deal with whatever the problem is without even knowing what the problem is? What are people supposed to do, guess? What is applying for a visa supposed to be, a roll of the dice?
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Re: US tightening Visa Requirements

Post by Undaunted »

2 questions: Can he show that he has a significant job where he has been employed for an extended period of time and again a letter from his employer stating he will return, and why a after all this time does he not have his own bank account?
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
traveller123

Re: US tightening Visa Requirements

Post by traveller123 »

Gaybutton wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2019 2:02 pm
traveller123 wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:51 am We had evidence for everything but he was not given the opportunity to present it.
What happened and/or what was said when he tried to present it?

If he understood correctly he was told the decision had been made.
He is a very polite guy and, like many thais, does not challenge authority or people he perceives as having a higher status.
If I had been allowed to be there I would have politely asked the Officer to consider our additional paperwork.
(Incidentally now with a UK Visa application you can upload your additional paperwork at the time of application)
traveller123

Re: US tightening Visa Requirements

Post by traveller123 »

Undaunted wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2019 2:04 pm 2 questions: Can he show that he has a significant job where he has been employed for an extended period of time and again a letter from his employer stating he will return, and why a after all this time does he not have his own bank account?
Undaunted, you are making assumptions here:
He does have his own bank account but it only has a small 30,00 odd baht balance
I have the large accounts but he was not given the opportunity to show this.
He doesn't not have an independent job, his job is looking after our land, house and garden and most importantly me.
I think you are British (apologies if you are not) so you will know that our UK Civil Partnership (of 8 years) is practically equivalent to marriage.
It happens, which is not unusual, that one partner is much wealthier than the other.

The thing that jars is that he was not given the opportunity to present this information in detail.
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