@Loren ********

agreed…for sending cash in person it works for me. They get you some on the exchange rate (of course), but the fees are low.

@Steve *********

Cool. We’re in Udon Thani. Contact my congressional representatives? Nah. I’m fed up, yeah. It’s been a big disappointment. Call it whatever you want, but Europeans / Canadians are generally welcomed in the US but “brown” / darker skinned and Asian people aren’t. 🤷‍♂️ Coincidence? I don’t think so, unfortunately. I don’t see the USA systemic racism and condescension towards those groups receding anytime soon. (In fact, with the inevitable (?) “Trumph” 2nd presidency it will get worse, again.) We’ll just continue to remain in Thailand — and all but give up on ever coming to live in the US anymore.

@Andrew **********

I concur. 👍

@Steve *********

we tried the fiancé visa route in the USA — got rejected. Got married in Thailand and re-applied, but now we need to get a waiver approved for the original rejection before the marriage visa application can proceed. We’re still waiting on the waiver approval, and after that we estimate another 2 years for the marriage visa application processing. We started in 2015. That’ll be 11 years when this is said / done (?) (…still no guarantee) — and thousands of dollars, 2 lawyers / meetings with attorneys, and hundreds of hours of emails and paperwork... what a waste. Pathetic. Disgusting. Needless to say, there is almost zero chance we’ll use the USA visa even if it gets magically granted, and frankly I’m done with the US now and jaded on / saddened by the whole eye-opening, jaw-dropping discrimination we experienced. I know there are others with similar experiences, too. Luckily my wife and I are content to live at our home in Thailand — and spend our money here — since America (so far) doesn’t want us. 🤷‍♂️