US Marriage Visa in Thailand

A Marriage visa, often referred to as a K-3 visa, allows a Thai person who is the spouse of an American citizen to go to the United States to live with their American husband or wife.

The process begins with the preparation and filing of an I-130 petition to the United States Citizen and Immigration Service (USCIS.) The final stage of the process is an interview with the US Embassy in Bangkok, and the granting of the marriage visa.

The US Marriage visa leads to Permanent Residence, also called a Green Card.

The Permanent Residence Permit may be conditional, which is called a CR-1 for a new marriage. For persons married for several years, however, the Permanent Residence Permit is more permanent and is called an IR-1 visa.

Difference Between a US Marriage Visa and a K-3 Visa

Many people refer to a US marriage visa as a K-3 visa. However, these 2 types of visas are not necessarily the same type of visa. A US marriage visa is actually an Immediate Relative Visa, and is initiated by the foiling of a form I-130 petition. The I-130 petition is used not only for spouses of American citizens, but is also used for other immediate relatives, such as children.

The K-3 visa was created as a way to remedy the seeming unfairness that the process of petitioning a spouse to the USA was requiring a significantly longer time than the time required for bringing a fiance to the USA. A fiance visa is initiated by the filing of an I-129F petition. A K-3 visa is also initiated by the filing of the same I-129F form as a fiancee visa, but requires the filing of the I-130 petition. In the past, the I-129F was processed more quickly than an I-130 petition, and therefore the K-3 visa category allowed spouses a faster way for their spouses to arrive in the USA.

At the time of this writing, K-3 visas are not commonly used. The reason why the K-3 visa has fallen into disfavor is
that the basic marriage visa was being process more quickly.

Our Experience

Our US visa practice is supervised a US Immigration Attorney licensed in the USA since 1987. Our law firm has been practicing US Immigration law since 2001. We have successfully obtained thousands of US visas for Thai nationals, and for clients of other nationalities.