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K-3 Visa Thailand: Is Medical Insurance Required?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests we are discussing the K-3 Visa and specifically we are discussing a recent proclamation from President Trump with respect to Immigrant visas and the requirement that immigrants or prospective immigrants I should say, have medical insurance or have medical insurance coverage lined up, before they will be granted an Immigrant Visa in order to immigrate to the United States. 

For those who are unaware, Trump has made this proclamation and it has come down the pipe and we would be dealing with it but for the fact that a Federal Judge in I believe Oregon, a federal judge though, there is a Federal district there, has handed down an injunction enjoining the US government from implementing this proclamation until such time as an adjudication can be made and presumably if an adjudication is made that this new proclamation should be overturned for some legal reason or perhaps for a constitutional reason, we will see if this thing is actually implemented. For now we should or at least it's prudent to presume that it ultimately will be implemented but we are simply dealing with an injunction. So we have got an injunction on a rule. Basically the effect of it is currently postponed but how will this impact K-3 Visa applicants?

For those who are unaware, the K-3 Visa is often times colloquially used in place of basically just a US Marriage Visa. A lot of people talk about a US K-3 Visa in the place of just simply of US marriage visa. It is not the same thing as a standard Immigrant Spouse Visa. A standard Immigrant Spouse Visa is a Visa such as the CR-1 Visa or the IR-1 Visa. The K-3 Visa is actually a Non-immigrant Visa. It was created under the provisions of the Life Act under President Clinton. It was created at a time when the processing of Immigrant Spouse Visas for American citizens was quite slow especially compared to the processing of the K-1 Fiancée visas and basically they just created another K category to allow a supplemental petition in order to enjoy expedited processing for the spouses of American citizens. Now subsequent to that time, especially since USCIS has sped up their processing of immigrant cases, we have seen a lot fewer K-3s issued mostly because the National Visa Center has administratively closed such cases on the premise that the underlying immigrant cases come through and therefore the K-3 is not necessary.

That being said, the K-3 remains a category so I felt it was relevant to talk about this in the context of medical insurance. It is also a bit of a curiosity because I can't seem to find anything specifically on point with  K-3 although I think from the stuff that I have found, we can logically infer exactly how they will be treated if in fact this medical insurance regime actually comes into force.

A recent posting on travel.state.gov, the posting is topped Presidential Proclamation on Healthcare. I am quoting just pieces of this; there is a lot to this. Those who are interested should go check that out. You can Google it. Presidential Proclamation on Healthcaretravel.state.gov. Quoting directly: "This requirement will apply to all Immigrant Visa applicants and individuals seeking to enter the United States on an Immigrant Visa except applicants for K Fiancée Visas and other aliens entering the United States without an Immigrant Visa including lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees." So it specifically states K Fiancée Visas. It does not say K Marriage Visas which is the K-3 category but it does go on to say "and other aliens entering the United States without an Immigrant Visa". The K-3 remains a Non-immigrant Visa notwithstanding the fact that it is issued for marriage purposes and those who do obtain a K-3 Visa ultimately will have to adjust their status because they don't actually have green card status yet. That being stated, the K3 at least according to the State Department and travel.state.gov, the K-3 as it is not an Immigrant Visa, will not have the same rules apply to it as would the Immigrant Spouse Visas like the CR-1 and the IR-1 Visa if and when the rules with respect to medical insurance ever actually come into force.

So if the injunction is ever lifted, it looks to me as though in that event unless they change the proclamation, in that event K-1 and presumably K-3 Visas will not be impacted by the change of rules that stem from this proclamation on mandatory health insurance for those who are seeking to immigrate to the United States.