newkidontheblock wrote: Then when I was at the Department of Sex Trafficking, officials there declared I cannot be an American, no matter what my passport says. Only this expert saved me. When one uppity official decided to reject the application declaring that missus was a taxi girl and I was a spy, it took the fixer to smooth that over, too.

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 6:52 pm He said it in Khmer, of course. Think about how much trash foreigners say in English to the locals. Do you really think the locals don’t do the same?

He could have said in English, ‘Barang, NO’ but then I would understand. But the whole gist was that he was an important person wanting missus to lose face.

Guy was looking for a reason to reject. And so he invented one. Does that really seem that far fetched in Cambodia?

newkidontheblock wrote:He said it in Khmer, of course. Think about how much trash foreigners say in English to the locals. Do you really think the locals don’t do the same?

He could have said in English, ‘Barang, NO’ but then I would understand. But the whole gist was that he was an important person wanting missus to lose face.

Guy was looking for a reason to reject. And so he invented one. Does that really seem that far fetched in Cambodia?

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 4:07 am

Cambo Dear wrote:Blindly paying an expert is perhaps the greater folly. Was my Moto driver an expert because he has a Moto and has lived his entire life in Phnom Penh? He still had trouble finding nearly every street I ever asked him to take me to.

Let’s use a real world example of experts, shall we? I used a fixer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a marriage license. Fixer goes through the folders of requests for his services.

Rejects those that he cannot help, no matter how much is offered. Those that he can help, he offers a pretty fair fee for his guidance through the system.

First he gave a comprehensive list of forms to fill out, and documents needed. In the US, some documents only come as certified copies, never originals. Impossible for the Cambodian system to accept. Impossible without the fixer.

Then when I was at the Department of Sex Trafficking, officials there declared I cannot be an American, no matter what my passport says. Only this expert saved me. When one uppity official decided to reject the application declaring that missus was a taxi girl and I was a spy, it took the fixer to smooth that over, too.

Back to the immigration visa. The lawyer I hired gave a comprehensive list of documents needed, especially the proof of relationship. Also needed documents proving missus existence, education, financial resources, etc., as well as the same for me. He left nothing to chance. He left no doubt in any immigration officials mind about the validity of missus’ application.

Why submit just the bare minimum needed and risk the chance of rejection? A well yeah, but .. kind of grey area of visa decision making.

The right expert is worth his or her weight in gold.

Please don’t confuse a motodop with an expert. They are not the same.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:27 pm

newkidontheblock wrote:He said it in Khmer, of course. Think about how much trash foreigners say in English to the locals. Do you really think the locals don’t do the same?

He could have said in English, ‘Barang, NO’ but then I would understand. But the whole gist was that he was an important person wanting missus to lose face.

Guy was looking for a reason to reject. And so he invented one. Does that really seem that far fetched in Cambodia?

Given that I've done the same interview, I'd say yes, it's totally far-fetched.