After months of waiting, the interview day finally came. I was nervous and excited and woke up at 5.50am. Despite the fact that it was day 1 of tighter COVID lockdown restrictions in Bangkok, the embassy had not cancelled my interview. I was SO grateful for that!
Took a Bolt, and got there around 7.10am. There were about 8-10 people milling about. The security guard directed me to the queue (not sure why I was the only one queueing there and first in line at that…) and after a while, a lady came round and asked for my appointment letter and passport. She stuck a sticker on the back of it which had the barcode and tracking number for Thai Post so that they can mail it back to you after the whole process. She also directed me to follow the green line once I was in.
Then I went through the security check and they took my phone and gave me a band with a tag. Then they scanned my belongings and scanned my body too after I passed through the metal detector. I forgot that they do allow tote bags to carry your documents in, so I was very happy about that. Once in, I thought I had to go to a counter but no, I was directed to sit in the IV visa seating area (see rough schematic below) until they called my name to do a document check. To be honest, I’m not sure if it was the IV visa seating area or if it was just the K1 visa area as everyone else was there for a K1 visa.
If you apply for an F (student), J (exchange), B (tourist/business) visa – basically any non-immigrant (NIV) visa, you have to head first to the NIV counter, show your documents to the Thai officer there and then sit down in the pink area. I saw quite a few people get yelled at so this is for all you folks who have never applied for an NIV visa. You stay seated until the Thai officer makes an announcement like, “All those who have interviews scheduled at 8.15-8.45am please line up at the entrance.” THEN, and then only, make a line at the entrance. If you do anything else, again you will get yelled at. And it is NOT pleasant for other peeps too because she’s on loudspeaker, mmkay?
They made a mistake with my appointment time, to my chagrin. So, although I was scheduled for 7.30am, but in their records mine was at 8.30am. This I only found out from the counter close to 8.30am when other people who came later, or who had a later appointment time than me, were summoned before me. I was not very happy about it but this is Thailand, so take a deep breath, smile and accept it. The officer at the IV counter graciously told me that she would check my documents now and she slotted me in.
She requested for various documents in a particular order and then proceeded to rip my post-its off them. So remember, when you arrange them for the interview here in Bangkok, don’t worry about placement or how legible the words are. Those things are for YOU to be able to find them quickly and pass it to the officer. I had also made TWO sets of everything…. which was a total waste of paper. More on that later. The only thing she asked me a copy for was my birth cert. The whole time she was arranging those documents in a folder, readying it for the consular officer to peruse. The folder, I might add, already had my K1 scan printed out. Then, she gave me a pamphlet about domestic abuse and my rights as a foreigner etc and told me to wait in the 2nd area outside the doors until the consular officer called my name for counter 5.
I had no idea what she meant about how the consular officer called my name. But I soon learnt that he, too, has access to an intercom. Unfortunately, it was competing with the loudspeaker from the NIV counter lady, so there was an applicant who missed her name the first time but he waited about 2 mins before repeating it.
At this point, I was less nervous. There were 2 ladies before me. The first one – the one who missed her name (actually she missed it the second time too because she was unfamiliar with how it was called out in English but the other lady picked it up) – was out very fast because of some issue with her name or last name on her passport vs her application. The second lady took about 10-15 minutes and she came out with a big smile on her face. We congratulated her and about 5 minutes later, he called my name.
Counter 5 was the one on the far left the moment I walked in. The whole area was so much emptier than the last time I had been there in 2019 and 2018. There used to be like 50 people crammed in that space, but with COVID, it was only like 15 people tops. The officer greeted me kindly and confirmed my name and birthday. Then he did my fingerprints – the part I hate the most. Even he remarked that there is no way round the two thumbs part. It’s always awkward no matter how you do it 
The rest of the interview was a blur. He was very friendly and amiable. Personally, I like talking and I do tend to talk too much during interview to build camaraderie. However, all the advice has been to not offer too much. So my balance was to offer information that I thought would be helpful in building my case and establishing my relationship with KC. For example, I remarked that I had been here before twice (which he would have already seen on my records anyway) and so he asked me why. “For my student visa as I’m doing a Master’s and it was across a few summers and I still have a bit of it left.” To which he replied that maybe I would get to finish it up when I get there. Which YES, is what I am planning on.
Anyway, that segued really nicely into “how did you meet?” and “how often have you met?” The officers already kind of know this information because they skim through your papers before the interview. When I said that one of our trips to South Korea together, he commented how much he liked our picture in the traditional costumes. The purpose of interview is to establish that your relationship is genuine and neither of you are being duped by the other, because it happens SO MUCH.
At the end of it, he said thank you for coming and that I would receive my passport in about a week. I thanked him too, exited, told the other ladies the news and wished them all the best and got my things.
Thoughts:
- The interview was less scary than I had anticipated. But I HAVE been praying for a nice consular officer. There are some really gruff ones sometimes.
- Of course I am happy that my visa has been approved, but also I know that until the visa sticker goes into my passport, nothing is for certain. That 10-15 minutes is not enough time to check through ALL your paperwork. So rejoice, but also if your case is not as straightforward, then hold your horses because you could receive a message asking for more documents later on too. At least, that is MY understanding of the administrative processing part.
- I printed out far too much and I need to plant more trees to make up for it. Even the evidence of relationship I did two sets, which was totally unnecessary. The originals they took and kept, which I think will be included back in my packet later on, included my police records and single status certificate. The consular officer did return my birth cert at the end of the interview because earlier the Thai officer had also requested for my birth cert copy. But yeah, no need to print out the DS160 confirmation twice, or the appointment confirmation twice. They didn’t even ask to see my previous passports so the copies I made of my previous passports was totally unnecessary.
I’m really happy with how smoothly the process went for me. What’s next? I don’t know. For now, I wait for the confirmation of good news!
learn and live 