Daily Report: Hopeless Summer, Hopeful Future

My goal during lunch break today was to figure out how to get Pui a visa to go to America this coming summer. There are basically two options: One is a tourist visa, and two is a fianceé visa.

Americans who don't live overseas have no idea just how difficult it is for the average citizen of the world to visit America. Although the State Department pretends that it doesn't judge too harshly, if you are a citizen of Thailand and you...

1. don't own a house;
2. haven't been at the same job for 3 or 4 years... and have tax records to prove it;
3. don't have an amount of money in the bank equivalent to approximately one year's salary;
4. aren't leaving behind at least one child in Thailand as proof that you will be returning;
5. don't have an American sponsor living in Thailand who will be bringing you back; and
6. dont' have a round-trip airline tickets purchased in advance,

you won't be getting a visa. If you are missing any of those 6 things, and this is your first time applying for a tourist visa, your application will probably be rejected.

(NB: A respectable family name with 4 or more syllables; a passport full of stamps to Switzerland, Greece and/or Japan; a Chulalongkorn University Med School ID; carrying a Fendi purse with keys to a BMW clipped to the shoulder strap; and/or sporting handsome Chinese facial features can be acceptable alternatives to the 6 requirements above.)

Now, if I were to marry Pui here in Thailand, that would help if I had a work permit. It would prove that I'm coming back to do my job and wouldn't be leaving my wife behind. However, since my job is in America, I'm on a tourist visa, then marrying Pui in Thailand would make it even less likely that she would be able to go to America.

The next option is a fianceé visa. That is the best way to get your girlfriend to America, but getting it done in a period of less than 6 months... and probably closer to a year... is impossible. This is a good visa though because you send the application to America where it is "pre-approved" to be upgraded to "a green card" upon presentation of a marriage certificate. You then get a 90-day fianceé visa from the U.S. embassy in Bangkok, go to America, get married, and then your wife would have a permanent "OK to go to America" stamp in her passport, no further visas necessary.

Unfortunately, my trip is in the beginning of July... several months before a fianceé visa would be completed. Therefore Pui will not be going this summer with me on my trip to America, which is a major bummer.

However, we've decided to start the process of getting Pui a fianceé visa for my (our) next trip to America after this coming summer, which will be sometime in 2008.

Pui and I have been a couple for a year this month, and known each other for two years now. We already consider ourselves married, and are both 100% certain that we're happy with each other and have every intention of staying together for as long as we can imagine. Therefore, we are going to get the fianceé visa because we might as well start getting some of the benefits of a couple in the eyes of both the American and Thai governments. (We'll be just doing a "justice of the peace" thing in America, and then having a proper wedding in Thailand afterwards. You're all invited.)