DrChopper

Dragged our toddler out of bed at 6.30am to go to Chaengwattana today. Arrived at 7.45am and got seen at 10.30am. All docs in order but no extension.

It's my fault for not knowing the rules but (as ever here) the rules seem <deleted> dumb.

Visa expires 22nd Jan but last entry 30th Dec so my stamp is end of March which is > 45 days so they won't do it.

I explain I travel 2 - 3 times per month for work so if I can't do it now I'll have no visa to enter under when I next return. 

They told me to get a re-entry.

So I've already got (and paid for) a multiple entry visa and I have all the docs for (and want to pay for) a multiple entry extension but in the meantime I need to queue again and pay again for a re-entry permit?!?! Where's the logic in that??

Anyway I'm not queueing only to got and waste another morning there in a few weeks and then go a 3rd time to pick it up, I'll just go and get another visa.

Awesome guys, thanks.

A 10 year visit visa is waaaay different than the UK.

Hi All,

I emailed the US Embassy to ask 2 very simple questions, their first reply answered 1 and completely ignored the 2nd. I repeated the question and they gave an answer which didn't actually answer my question. This went on and on - I have now asked FIVE times and still they can't answer a simple question. Can anyone help?!

Is it possible for my Thai wife to apply for a visit visa now for a visit in March 2018?

IE, how long will it be valid for? what is the entry restriction?

The reason for this is that us and my family in the UK want to book a holiday for next year and if possible we would like to know we have the visa before we confirm any bookings.

I know this isn't possible with the UK as the visa has 6-month validity. I appreciate that may well be the case with the US too, but I have no idea. I am too stunned that the embassy can't answer a simple question to try again, so hope that good people of TV can help!

Cheers!

Personally, I'm asking here because I value the expertise and personal experience of the guys who take the time to share on this forum. It's also much quicker and the answers much clearer than the official route. The most common answer when you call the helplines is 'that would be a matter for your judgement sir'.

Supplementary question - can we apply for her to remain in the uk with family while she is there on a visit visa? I thought no, but I can't see in the guidance for this visa why we couldn't.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience of this situation?

I am from the UK, my wife is Thai and we have 1 child with Thai and UK passports.

I am considering a job offer to return to the UK. My wife already has a UK visit visa which starts soon, so we can go quickly.

As I understand it at the end of her 6 months she needs to come back to Thailand and apply for a Spouse visa.

Assuming she gets the visa she can then come back to the UK.

There is the chance that the job would lead me to come back to Thailand in perhaps 2 years time. So, my question is this;

If wife has a spouse visa and then leaves the UK before it ends would that negatively impact on future visa applications?

We will likely want to come back to Thailand but I have one eye on the fact that in the future we might need to return to the UK again to take care of my ageing parents. I would hate to find out in the future that we had blotted our copy book with UKVI.

Any practical experience welcome, thank you i advance.

Thanks both.

Would it be worth (and is there even a way to do it?) me calling UKBA ahead of time to tell them?

Also occured to me - UK doesnt stamp people out does it? Would they even know how long she stayed?

Hi All,

I keen to hear if anyone has insight into our situation.

We got a UK visit visa (6mo mult) for my wife a couple of months ago.

In the meantime I have been offered a job that will require spending some time in the UK, possibly the full 6 months.

On our application we stated that the visa was for a holiday which we did not expect to last more than 3 weeks.

If I take the job and she goes to the uk and stays for ~ 6 months will this change impact future applications? She will leave prior to the end of the visa so there will be no record of wrong doing, but her actual stay won't match the details on the submission.

If it is relevant I am keen to know whether it would affect both a future visit application and/or a more permanent application.

Thanks in advance.

DrC

I didn't know that! Thank you for your own.

Can anyone advise from recent experience?

Thank you in advance.

UPDATE - I had my old visa and entry stamp details and my extension processed by one officer in one visit to a desk and with one queue number.

I told the lady in the queue number queue that I had two tasks to do and she just directed me to the O visa section.

Arrived about 7.45, done by 10.15.

Thanks all. Not the news I wanted to hear but good to know.

I am extending based on marriage. As my wife will be coming with me and she is 6 months pregnant I am thinking I might go beforehand and do the transfers and then go again with her and do the extension. It means 2 visits for me but means she will hopefully be hanging around for less time.

I meet the qualifications, if anyone can definitively confirm the documents needed at CW that would be a tremendous help. I believe I need:

TM7 form

Copy of data page and stamp page in passport

Marriage reg KR2

Marriage cert KR3

Translation of my freedom to marry from embassy

Wife's ID

Wife's tabien baan

Wife's name change certificate

My income proof

Lease as proof of address

Photos of us at home

Map to home

Did I miss anything?

Thanks all!!

I need to go to Chaengwattana and it will be my first visit.

I need to 1. transfer stamps from old to new passport & 2. apply for extension of non-O visa (also the first time I have done this).

My specific question is - does anyone know if I can turn up, get one queue number and do both things at the same time at the same desk? Or will I need to queue to do one and then queue to do the other?

Many thanks in advance.

Thank you Joe, exactly what I was hoping for.

As a follow up qn - if I want to get an extension of stay at the end of the visa is there anything that needs to be done differently or is the process just the same?

I have searched in the forum and think I understand this, but am looking for confirmation.

I have a non o in my old passport issued in October 2015, with an arrival stamp until January.

The girl in HMPO office gave me the visa transfer template for CW and told me I need to go there.

BUT I don't have an extension stamp as I am still within the initial visa period.

From reading on here I can't transfer this and need to carry both passports.

Is this correct? I just go to the border and they stamp me out in the new passport and stamp me back in based on the still current visa in the old passport?

Help appreciated.

Take special note of the requirement for proof of your Thailand address. For some, that can be a bit of an obstacle. It is a ridiculous requirement when you cannot receive your new passport by mail, but must pick it up from the VFS office.

I know it is not on the list, but can a lease contract be used for this if you have nothing else?

If not for people with none of the other listed items, what is the solution?

I just noticed this 'visa or resident permit (or colour photocopy)' - is a copy of a non immigrant visa enough? there's no address details on there.

I submitted my application this morning with a colour copy of my non-o to show residency. I did not provide any proof of address. This was accepted without issue by the nice friendly VFS operative.

In the next booth a cantankerous old man was shouting, bitching and moaning. He seemed to think that him having photos that were the wrong size was the fault of the young lady trying to help him. When she told him he needed colour copies of every page of his passport he loudly asked her three times if she was joking. She calmly told him she was not joking, that the instructions are clearly noted on the website and that he would need proof of address. The moral of the story? It's nice to be nice, and it gets you a long way.

Take special note of the requirement for proof of your Thailand address. For some, that can be a bit of an obstacle. It is a ridiculous requirement when you cannot receive your new passport by mail, but must pick it up from the VFS office.

I know it is not on the list, but can a lease contract be used for this if you have nothing else?

If not for people with none of the other listed items, what is the solution?

I just noticed this 'visa or resident permit (or colour photocopy)' - is a copy of a non immigrant visa enough? there's no address details on there.

Take special note of the requirement for proof of your Thailand address. For some, that can be a bit of an obstacle. It is a ridiculous requirement when you cannot receive your new passport by mail, but must pick it up from the VFS office.

I know it is not on the list, but can a lease contract be used for this if you have nothing else?

If not for people with none of the other listed items, what is the solution?

Slightly belated, but an update for anyone else doing this:

We got the wedding certificate stamped at the British Embassy, seems there is no way around this.

I got on the phone with the Italy embassy and had the lady verify exactly what they wanted to process. She asked for cert as above, proof of traveling together (we already had flights booked so no problem), my ID, hotel bookings and travel insurance. I explained I was looking at the visa code right then and they shouldnt need hotel bookings and she just laughed. Apparently you can submit without them but they then have to process in a different way, and get some higher approval. Given that we had all but one hotel held via booking.com anyway I just went and booked the final hotel - it just wasnt worth for fight for us. Similarly with insurance, we were always going to get that anyway, so we got it for the application.

We turned up at the embassy, everyone was tremendously polite and helpful. They lady looked over the application, ok'd it and even though we are only going for 3 weeks she said we will just give you a 12 month multiple entry visa. Couple of weeks later we went to pick it up. Big bonus cos we are going back to the uk next summer and now can also jump over the europe as this visa will still be valid.

Feedback from our visit to the Italian Embassy:

I unfortunately could not go so wife went alone.

They told her that the marriage certificate which is endored by the MFA is not enough, and it also needs endorsing by the British Embassy (I am british). Doesnt make sense to me. They did say this can be avoided with a full fee application.

They also still wanted bank statements, hotel bookings, travel insurance etc.

So next time I need to go with her and argue the toss on these points.

We are gearing up to apply for her spouse visa next week.

Given that we dont need to supply financial, travel insurance or flight/hotel details I just wanted to sanity check what we do need to supply. Seems to be just the applicaiton form, photos her passport and a copy of my passport. That seems kind of light, are we missing anything?

Thank you, that's exactly what I wanted to hear!

We are stuck with the IT embassy as the vast majority of our trip will be there.

I (UK) am travelling to Italy with my Wife (Thai).

I unrderstand the differences in the application (no fee, lesser information needed, quicker processing time). My question relates to the EU spouse's passport in the application process. I appreciate the need to validate that the spouse is really from the EU, but do they really require the spouse's original passport?

If so, how does that play with the requirement to have your passport to hand in Thailand?

I would prefer to provide a copy of my passport if possible as I travel frequently.

Does anyone have practical experience of this and can advise?

I see. So specifically could I get that affidavit from my embassy in Singapore or does it have to be the Bangkok one?

Thanks in advance

For proving income for a non o or extension is it possible to use bank statements from a non Thai bank?

Can you show internet banking print offs?

Thanks

There is no need for the EEA national partner to be living in the EEA. No matter where in the world they live, their qualifying family member has the same freedom of movement rights as they do; provided the non EEA national is travelling with or to join the EEA national.

So your wife travelling to Italy from Singapore with you has those rights and so can apply to the Italian embassy in Singapore for her Schengen visa with just the supporting documents listed by Donutz above; i.e.:-

3.6.

Supporting documents

In order to prove that the applicant has the right to be issued with an entry visa under the Directive, he must establish that he is a beneficiary of the Directive. This is done by

presenting documents relevant for the purposes of the three questions referred to above, i.e. proving that:

• there is an EU citizen from whom the visa applicant can derive any rights;

• the visa applicant is a family member (e.g. a marriage certificate, birth certificate,proof of dependency, serious health grounds, durability of partnerships ...) and his identity (passport); and

• the visa applicant accompanies or joins an EU citizen (e.g. a proof that the EU citizen already resides in the host Member State or a confirmation that the EU citizen will travel to the host Member State)

(My emphasis)

This confirmation need not be booked tickets or similar; written confirmation from you that you and your wife will be travelling together should suffice.

For how to apply you should contact the Italian embassy in Singapore.

This is fabulous for us, thank you so much for your help. This being the case I am much more comfortable grabbing any great flight deals that we see between now and when she can apply. Thank you again!