Visa Trauma

Honestly, the past two months of our lives have been spent preparing for, worrying about, and doing everything in our power to get Otto a tourist visa to America. The consulate works under the assumption that everyone in the world wants to defect to the US and also that you are guilty of doing so until you can prove to them exactly why you will return to your home country. I spent weeks preparing a scrapbook of our relationship to prove that we are legitimate. My parents spent I don't know how much time and money preparing documents for sponsorship. They had to get an affidavit from a lawyer confirming that they would cover any medical costs if Otto were to fall ill. They also had to compile tax returns, letters from their employers, bank statements, invitations, etc. Once we had all the documents we needed, Otto had to buy a PIN number to be able to access the consulate website in order to make an appointment. Then he had to go to a specific post office to buy an envelop (which cost $100). I suppose this is in lieu of the interview fee but it seems a bit pricey especially considering that there's no guarantee of getting a visa.

A little bit of a back story: During the summer, the consulate in Chiang Mai came to visit my school in Lampang and also had a party for all American citizens in Lampang. I, of course, regaled him with questions the minute I got a chance to talk with him and hoped that he would possibly remember me when Otto went to apply for a visa. Then just last week, we had some Taiko drummers visiting from Stanford. They gave a performance in Lampang which was also attended by the consulate. I had heard that the group was playing in Chiang Mai the next day and wanted to get information so Otto could go to the show. I went to talk to the former president of my university who was sitting next to the consulate. I asked if the show in C.M. was open to the public and was told that it was invitation only. The consulate turned and told me to give him Otto's name and information and he would put him on the list. So Otto turned up at the Consulate the next day for this Taiko drumming show and said that he felt completely out of place. Apparently it was a show for the consulate staff and a few Americans in Chiang Mai. Luckily, Otto met some nice PhD students who didn't seem too intimidating and I think it was a good opportunity to see the inside of the consulate before his interview. I also said that it would be good if the staff at the consulate had seen him there. This show was less than a week before his interview so I thought it might help him.

The day of the interview came along and Otto said they asked him about 4 questions and wanted to see some of my documents. Unfortunately we hadn't prepared my documents because we thought it was more important for him to have the documents from my parents since they were going to be his sponsors. So they told him to get my passport, work permit, contract, etc and come back for another appointment two days later. They also asked if I was at the consulate but I didn't go with him because the website stated that Americans aren't allowed into the interview with their Thai partners. So I decided I'd better come for the second interview in case they wanted to talk with me. That day, we got all dressed up, checked over our documents once again, and I kept asking Otto tons of interview questions. They gathered my documents, didn't ask him any more questions and just said, "We'll call you." Otto asked if they wanted to talk with me and they said, "No." We were both so frustrated. They didn't even look at the documents that my parents had painstakingly gathered. They didn't look at his certificate of land ownership and they didn't look at my scrapbook! Also, we didn't know what all of this meant. Were they going to call him back for another interview? What was our next step? The waiting was excruciating.

They kept his passport and a few documents and kept ALL of my documents. Otto commented, "I'm the one applying for a visa but they seem more concerned about you." So we were completely unclear about what was going to happen when Otto got his passport back in the mail today with a 10-year visa inside. Whew! I can sympathize with anyone who has to go through this process and after talking to so many different people and hearing their stories, I realize that we actually had a pretty easy experience. Thank god we don't have to go through this again for another 10 years. Now, onto the next big hurtle: saving up enough cash for our round-trip tickets. America, here we come!