How do I get my Thai Fiancee United States Citizenship?

An issue that is paramount for those US Citizens bringing Thai fiancees to the United States of America is eventual naturalization of their loved one. Many Americans ask, "How do I get US Citizenship for my Thai fiancee?" The following is a brief time line intended to explain the process.

Initially a Thai fiancee should pursue a K1 fiance visa. This allows the Thai fiance to come to the USA for up to ninety days. Within that time, the couple must marry and file for an adjustment of status.

Adjustment of Status is the process in which the Thai fiancee becomes a lawful permanent resident of the United States. At first, the Thai fiancee, now spouse, will have conditional lawful permanent resident status in the USA. The conditionality is due to the fact that the foreign spouse's permanent residence is based upon the continuity of the underlying marriage.

After adjusting status, the Thai spouse will now wait for nearly two years until it becomes necessary to file for a lift the conditionality of the Thai spouse's lawful permanent residence in the USA. Ninety days before the two year anniversary of adjustment, the couple will file for the lift of conditions. After the approval of this petition, the Thai spouse will be an unconditional Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States.

In most naturalization cases, it takes 5 years before a foreign national can obtain United States Citizenship by naturalization. However, in cases where the naturalization applicant is married to a Citizen of the United States, the residency requirement period is only 3 years (with an aggregate physical presence in the US of 18 months). However, it must be kept in mind that this residency period begins at the time of adjustment and not necessarily at the time of entrance because the initial K1 visa is a non-immigrant dual intent visa. Therefore, even though the Thai fiancee intended to apply for permanent residence at the time of her entrance, she still was not actually a permanent resident until her adjustment of status was approved.

Another issue that often arises with regard to the aforementioned residency period involves how time spent in the USA is calculated when determining if the Thai applicant for US naturalization has been in the US for the statutorily requisite period of time. The eighteen month physical presence requirement is overcome through an eighteen month aggregate term of physical presence in the USA. Thus, the applicant does not have to have been in the US for 18 uninterrupted consecutive months before filing for naturalization, but instead must have been present for a total of 18 months when adding together all of the applicant's stays in the US. When making this calculation, the days of departure and arrival in the United States are considered whole days.

The information in this article is not a proper substitute for legal advice. When dealing with any legal professional in Thailand it is always advisable to ask for the attorney's credentials as there are many operators in Thailand posing as licensed attorneys in an effort to dupe unwitting consumers. Only a licensed American attorney is entitled by law to represent clients before USCIS.