Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing K-1, K-3, CR-1 and IR-1 Visas. That's primarily most of the Visas we do here in our office here in Bangkok. A big question that comes up from time to time, "Is Attorney presence at the interview?" So that's in the interview at the Embassy, at the US Embassy here in Bangkok. A lot of people have a lot of misconceptions about who can be at the interview. At the end of the day, only really the applicant can be at the interview. For security reasons, the Embassy will not let in anybody else. 

Now I do interact with the Embassy quite frequently. Do I go to the Embassy interview? No not as a matter of course. There may be very rare occasions where I may be down there because there is some major issue of law going on although even that usually we don't really do it anymore for that. I used to appear at the Embassy quite frequently especially for what was called 221g follow up. Now, to their credit as much as I don't love the National Visa Center and the quagmire, the digital quagmire they have made their website into, that said it does seem to streamline things a lot more so 221g follow up isn't done quite as often so maybe I am just not down there because I am not needed because we have been dealing with all that on the front end especially in an Immigrant Spousal Visa context. Security is generally a reason that is cited by folks that are running the sort of the infrastructure of the Consular section in an Embassy, is basically they are saying "look we only have so much room down here, we don't want everybody sort of packed together cheek and jowl, there are security concerns". Then they began citing COVID which I mean people can disagree on that. I have certainly been very vocal in my disagreements as far as all that goes. But leaving that aside, I mean again two years ago it just kind of was what it was, we just dealt with it. 

So the reason for the video is yeah under limited circumstances, I was down the Embassy I don't know ten days ago, I had to do a follow-up deal because I had to get a case rectified to get it out. We went ahead and dealt with that. Everybody down there is pretty polite, no real issue but that's pretty rare. I mean I am doing that in kind of a small minority of my cases but at the end of the day I guess that's the function of an Attorney; you're not really using them, it's not when things are going smooth, it's when you have got an issue that you need to get results. So the thing to take away from this video is yeah an Attorney like me, I might be present under certain circumstances at the Embassy depending on the facts of the case but in the vast majority of cases no it is going to be the person who is the applicant, they are going to be interviewing alone.

Now that said, we provide a great deal of interview preparation; we deal with questions; we provide as much information as we possibly can regarding the protocols for when you go into the Embassy. It is daunting, it is especially daunting for someone whose English is a second language for them and they are not really used to dealing with it and they kind of feel like it is I think a lot of people feel like it's a "do or die" situation, in fact much more than it really is a reality and it just not a pleasant experience. We hope we provide some reassurance about how it is going to play out and provide some peace of mind for going through it. I've been doing this for 15 years, sometimes I probably seem a little bit cavalier about it or maybe even a little bit kind of just, I wouldn't say lazy because we do have to move these cases through, but I am just sort of nonchalant because I have been doing it for so long. That actually throws some people off sometimes quite frankly, but for the most part I hope it conveys what it is which is we deal with these cases quite frequently. There is really not a lot at this point, I am not going to say I have seen everything under the Sun, but I have dealt with pretty much anything anybody could deal with in a Consular processing context so whether I am there or not, I feel like the client is being assisted as best I can.