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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Visa interviews here in the US Embassy in Bangkok in the Kingdom of Thailand but this information could be used in a more broad manner; it could apply a little more broadly for example in Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore or throughout the world. It may provide some insight.  

I do want to preface the rest of this video by saying that this is mostly taken from recent experience dealing with the US Embassy here in Thailand. We are starting to see Visa interviews being rescheduled. The gears are starting to crank, things are starting to turn back on. We are starting to see Consular processing happening again. Thanks to everyone involved at the State Department who are bringing that process back online and it is certainly great to seem.

Now unfortunately, due to the fact that there has essentially been about a 6 month delay as a result of the lockdowns, the shutdowns, we are now in a situation where certain documentation is becoming "stale" so for example we are seeing medical exams becoming "stale" as a result of this and as a result of them being “stale” it is now required to go ahead and get a new medical exam. This composed its own set of logistical problems most notably travel. I know a lot of our clients here in Thailand do not necessarily live in Bangkok and it can be quite a drive to get down to Bangkok in order to undertake a medical exam with one of the certified civil surgeons that the US Embassy allows to conduct these exams.  It is also possible to do this in other hospitals in Thailand, most notably Chiang Mai, but as a practical matter we find oftentimes that all this is going to be done down in Bangkok so folks that are for example up in Khonkaen that have to travel down here, that can be a real concern, so logistics is a real concern with getting a new medical.

I have had a lot of clients ask me, "Well can't we use the old one?" Unfortunately they did make some dispensation to provide an extra month but for the most part with things coming online the way they are, I think it is a pretty much foregone conclusion that you are going to go ahead and have to do another medical exam. Fortunately, when you are doing a redo of a medical exam, it is oftentimes not quite as drawn out a process as the first medical exam. That being said, it still has to be undertaken with all due formality that is required by the Embassy on the part of those Civil surgeons. So it has got to be done. It has got to be done basically as it was done the first time and it can be time consuming. We have been assisting clients in getting those medical exams completed and keeping the process moving forward. 

What remains to be seen is exactly how this is going to play out. We have yet to actually start to see visas being issued out of Bangkok, at least out of here in our office, although we anticipate that happening this week. We will keep you updated on this channel as the situation progresses.