Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the standard Marriage Visas that we will often see associated with those Americans or Lawful Permanent Residence in the United States who are looking to bring a loved one, specifically a spouse, back to the United States from Thailand. 

I thought of making this video, I made another one where I talked about a similar topic with regard to K-1 Visa which is, well what about do-it-yourself. Is do-it-yourself okay sort of thing? Yeah look, at the end of the day if you opt to do your visa application, process the petition on your own have at it. I don't begrudge people who want to do that. 

That said, the reason for this video, I was talking to somebody the other day on the phone and ultimately it came down to this person was sort of a, I can't quite say hostile, but obtuse about whether or not they even wanted to use our service or they kind of seemed angry about the overall process and I totally get it. The timelines on these cases are just crazy; the bureaucracy is Byzantine to say the least; doesn't look like it's going to get overly better although processing times are improving. But long story short, we came to the end of the discussion and this person got increasingly frustrated, and a little bit heated. I finally just said to him, look at the end of the day you need to make a decision. Do you want to become an expert, in that situation it was K-1 Visas, but the same holds true for the Marriage based Visas: K-3, CR-1, and IR-1. Do you want to become an expert in processing these kind of Visas or do you want to get your loved one into the United States? And I say that because honestly especially with the Immigrant Spouse Visas, the IR-1 and the CR-1; K-3s we are seeing those administratively closed oftentimes rather than being of any use and on top of that the K-3 is, especially under current conditions, I would say depending on circumstances, there may be a benefit but that is going to be a narrow subset of people that are really going to substantially benefit from the K-3 because you still have to deal with adjustment of status on a K-3; you have still got to go through the Green Card process so I am not so sure that is an overly beneficial process. 

That said and the reason for this video is ultimately, look if you do it yourself and there's nothing wrong with that, fine, but what I usually tell people is do you want to become an expert on this? I am here to tell you, as somebody who is an expert especially on US family visas arising from Thailand, yeah there is probably nobody else on the planet that knows more about that than me, at least that is currently working in this area, and I am not overly fond of that, okay? These cases are difficult, they are bureaucratic in the extreme. Quite honestly with the Marriage Visas especially the CR-1 and the IR-1, the National Visa Center is a quagmire nightmare that I would prefer was wiped off of the face of the planet; I don't even understand why it exists, it is redundant in these cases. So again, this isn't the most fun thing to deal with and the point of this video is not to complain about it but just to ask the question of those who are maybe out there looking to have somebody assist but maybe they are on the fence about it. What you need to do is sit down and set your own priorities. Is it a priority for you to do it yourself and save perhaps some money for example or do you just want to get it done?  And it is similar again to like tax returns; I said that in another video. Do you want to do your own tax return or is it a higher priority for you to not waste your time with that, have somebody else do it and move on with your life? That is what you need to ask when you are looking at the possibility of gaining legal assistance in dealing with the US Marriage Visa process.