Uk Vistor Visa

[Beanster1]

Hi all,

My wife of 4 years and I will be going to the UK for 2 weeks at the end of April. Her first visit.

Does all the documentation need to be originals? House registation, land papers, wedding certificate ect

Also, it says on the website that the wedding certificate, if not in Thai, must have a proper translation. Does this include other documents like, land papers, ect? What I mean is do I need to get everything certified if it's in Thai.

We are also thinking of using the VFS courier service from Chiang Mai, will they return all the original documents or only the passport?

A bit of background on us: We've been together 7 years, married 4 , no children. Based in Chiang Mai, My wife has her own business, land ect. We are going back for 2 weeks for a family celebration. She has never applied fore a visa UK before.

To prove my wife has reason to return to Thailand (she is self employed) do you think the following documents will be enough:

2x Land papers (CM & Lampang)

3-year lease of office building + photos of business, copy of TAT licence

bank statement

Thanks, guys, in advance for all your help

Beanster

[sonicdragon]

Based on my recent experience in a similar position to yours

1. You should not submit originals of any documents except for your wife's passport (and her old passport(s) if any) , which will be returned.

2. If marriage certificate is in thai, it does NOT need to be translated.

3. the land and business documents you mention are similar to what my wife submitted (copies thereof) but we haven't had a decision yet so I can't comment on their appropriateness.

Edited February 21, 2007 by sonicdragon

[Mahout Angrit]

Does all the documentation need to be originals? House registation, land papers, wedding certificate ect

I have never sent the originals and have never had a refusal

Also, it says on the website that the wedding certificate, if not in Thai, must have a proper translation.

if it's in Thai or English it's OK

Does this include other documents like, land papers, ect? What I mean is do I need to get everything certified if it's in Thai.

There are Thai readers in the embassy, no need to translate Thai documents

To prove my wife has reason to return to Thailand (she is self employed) do you think the following documents will be enough:

2x Land papers (CM & Lampang)

3-year lease of office building + photos of business, copy of TAT licence

bank statement

I think the lease on the building and business will be proof that she will return

Good Luck

[the scouser]

The requirement of the immigration rules is to satisfy the visa officer of one's intentions and it is perfectly possible that they may be so satisfied upon production of copies. However, I wouldn't want to run the risk of a whimsical ECO deciding that, today, he wishes to see originals only, and any copies will result in a refusal. If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well, as the old maxim has it. You can, however, have copies of the original certified as being genuine.

With regard to translations, yes, the embassy does have Thai speakers there, but, again, for the sake of completeness, I would have the principal documents translated in to English. It may well be that a visa will be issued without a translation, but submitting one means that the visa isn't going to be refused on a technicality.

With regard to your wife's intention to return, what is your immigration status in Thailand? If you have a one year extension on the basis of supporting a Thai wife, this is as good as evidence as any of your wife's intention to return.

All the best,

Scouse.

[sonicdragon]

On monday we submitted my wife's visit visa application. We had originals of documents such as marriage certificate, land registry docs, bank passbooks. The VCF person specifically requested us to make photocopies and submit those instead.

[atlastaname]

Why on earth don't the Embassy make it clear if they want originals or copies or certified copies submitted?. The number of times this question is asked proves that there is confusion over this matter. It would be so simple to clear it up if they just stated clearly which one they want.

[the scouser]

The VCF person specifically requested us to make photocopies and submit those instead.

So they could squeeze a few extra baht out of you for the cost of photocopying, no doubt. Also, it is possible that they may effectively certify the copies as they have seen the original.

Scouse.

[GU22]

Why on earth don't the Embassy make it clear if they want originals or copies or certified copies submitted?. The number of times this question is asked proves that there is confusion over this matter. It would be so simple to clear it up if they just stated clearly which one they want.

If you look at the checklists you will see that it does say when a certified copy, original or original and copy is required.

Scouse, I can't speak for what happened in Sonicdragon's case, but I have heard many people say that they have presented original documents to the VAC staff, only to have them photocopied and the originals returned. At no cost to the applicant.

Speaking personally, when my wife applied it didn't occur to me to provide anything other than original documents.

[the scouser]

Scouse, I can't speak for what happened in Sonicdragon's case, but I have heard many people say that they have presented original documents to the VAC staff, only to have them photocopied and the originals returned. At no cost to the applicant.

Fair enough.

Scouse.

[brianw]

on the same theme my sister in law wants to visit the U.K with her husband for a 3 week holiday may be booking through a thai travel agent can you tell me what a visitors visa fee would be

[the scouser]

The cost is £50.00 per application, which currently translates to 3750 baht, although that is subject to change.

Scouse.

[Welsh John]

When I applied for my wife last month, I took with me Originals & Copies of all the Documents as well as a typed list of them all including Thai Land papers, Tabien Bahn etc. .The only translated document was the marriage certificate. The staff checked the originals with the copies & then gave the originals back except for the marriage certificate & her passport. He then marked the papers that he had seen the originals & gave them back.

(The photo copy of my passport was certified by my local sub post office in the uk for free ( I know them ) but I used to certify documents all the time for customers when I worked in a bank years ago for free.)

4 days later my wife had a phone call from the courier in Phuket saying we had an envelope to pick up. Nerves in tatters we took along the copy of the photo page of my wifes passport that Vac had given back to us with their stamp on it & the receipt clipped to it with the application number etc.

The envelope contained the Passport with the visa in it + the photocopies of documents + Marriage Certificate + the TB certificate.

I had paid the 300 Baht for the courier hoping that if my wife didn't need an interview we wouldn't need to spend a load of money on flights just to pick up the passport but if she had needed an interview the passport could still be sent to Phuket without waiting around in Bangkok.

Hope this helps & Good Luck

[Beanster1]

With regard to your wife's intention to return, what is your immigration status in Thailand? If you have a one year extension on the basis of supporting a Thai wife, this is as good as evidence as any of your wife's intention to return.

All the best,

Scouse.

Scouser, I'm currently on my 5th yearly extension of a Non Im B, I have a work permit etc. Should I include those, I'm guessing, as you said, I should for the sake of completness. Don't want to get refused on a technicality!!

Thanks, everyone for the informative replies. I think I'll take the originals as well as copies to the courier and have them verify the copies.

Cheers

Beanster1

[sonicdragon]

The VCF person specifically requested us to make photocopies and submit those instead.

So they could squeeze a few extra baht out of you for the cost of photocopying, no doubt. Also, it is possible that they may effectively certify the copies as they have seen the original.

Scouse.

Actually, I went out for lunch and used a 1baht copyshop instead of paying them 3baht per page :-) Also, they certainly did not certify the copies - there were 40+ pages and they didn't even look closely at the originals.

I annotated my typed sponsors letter by hand, in which I had said that original copies were enclosed, and stated that VFS requested photocpies instead of originals.

[Mahout Angrit]

Perhaps the only consistency here is inconsistency but I sponsored a mother and daughter joint application for visitors visas in January (their 1st application). As the UK Visa web site does not have their checklists in Thai language the applicant phoned UK Visas in Bangkok (was that a good idea )to be dictated the requirements. She was told to submit photcopies of the support documents.

The application contained those documents, a letter from her employer, a letter from the school all in Thai language, no translations were sent, no originals and no certification/verification was done.My sponsorship package contained only good quality colour photocopies no certification/verification but original covering letters.

The application was submitted to the courier in Phuket, checked and forwarded to Bangkok. Two weeks later the passports were back in Phuket with the visas.

Better to be lucky than clever maybe

Slightly off topic but relevant... while a single sponsors package can support a joint application the visa fees must be included on separate bank drafts for each application.

[the scouser]

Scouser, I'm currently on my 5th yearly extension of a Non Im B, I have a work permit etc. Should I include those......

Yes. It's all grist to the mill. That you've been in Thailand for 5 years on a work permit indicates that you are likely to return, and, by association, so is your wife.

Scouse.

[sonicdragon]

Just to say that my wife's visa was approved and issued after 2 days. All supporting documents (copies, not originals, as mentioned in this thread) were returned along with the passport+visa.

[atlastaname]

Why on earth don't the Embassy make it clear if they want originals or copies or certified copies submitted?. The number of times this question is asked proves that there is confusion over this matter. It would be so simple to clear it up if they just stated clearly which one they want.

If you look at the checklists you will see that it does say when a certified copy, original or original and copy is required.

Scouse, I can't speak for what happened in Sonicdragon's case, but I have heard many people say that they have presented original documents to the VAC staff, only to have them photocopied and the originals returned. At no cost to the applicant.

Speaking personally, when my wife applied it didn't occur to me to provide anything other than original documents.

If it were all so clear as you suggest GU22 then why is even the scoucer above giving advice that copies should be ok to satisfy but he wouldn't want a whimsical ECO to suddenly decide only originals are good enough. If even scoucer can't be sure then how can ordinary mortals understand clearly? Of course common sense dictates that where possible originals should be submitted , but you have to agree its confusing otherwise why are even the experts unsure?

[the scouser]

The confusion lies in the immigration rules themselves. Nowhere is it stipulated that original documents must be supplied, only that the immigration officer is "satisfied". If presented with an evidently bona fide application, the ECO will issue, even if copies of documents have been submitted, as overall the standard of satisfaction is attained. However, in a case where the ECO is not immediately satisfied, and is looking to refuse, he may then seek to bolster any refusal by relying upon the fact that copies were submitted in support of the application and that this detracts from its credibility.

Ultimately, therefore, no one case will be identical, but to obviate any unnecessary refusal, I'd recommend submitting originals where possible. If the visa application centre then choose to hand them back, so be it: at least the embassy can't (shouldn't) then turn round and criticise for submitting only copies.

Scouse.