daveyravey

Thank you. I will get my parents to email the offer of accommodation today. I did mention in my supporting letter that we would stay with my parents and offered their phone number if the ECO felt the need to check.

I am currently putting together an application for my wife to visit the Uk with me and our children.

Our background.

I am a Uk citizen living in Thailand with my wife and 2 children. Children have Uk and Thai passports so do not need

a visa. We have been married nearly 6 years.

We have just sold a business in Thailand and are currently building a new one so we wish to use this time to visit the UK

for a Xmas break with my family. We will stay at my parents house in the UK and stay there for around 3 weeks.

My wife has been to the Uk for a holiday 4 years ago and left in accordance with that visa.

Supporting documents i will show.

1. Wifes passports current and older ones.

2.Wifes ID card

3. Blue house book to show we live together.

4. Childrens passports and birth certificates.

5.My passport

6.Marraige certificate.

7. Bank book to prove we have the funds to travel.

8 Letter of support from me to explain purpose of trip and how we will fund it.

9. Copy of land the wife owns in Thailand to prove reason to return.

I would be grateful if members could suggest any other documents i might also show to make my application stronger.

last time we travelled i added photos of us together but as we are married and have 2 children im guessing we dont need to prove relationship

other than our marraige certificate and kids birth certificates.

A Thai friend of mine is setting up a Bicycle tour business and is looking for a talented bike mechanic to help train

some staff. Couple of days a month in the Pattaya area. Expenses etc will be covered, and meals and lots of cups of tea given

If you have some spare time please send me an email.

The bikes will be Marin MTB bikes.

Does anyone know what happened to this van? Its not there anymore and im in need of mexican food on the darkside.

Whilst this is a nice gesture i would have thought a few more zeros on the amount would be more appropriate.

At $2500 per person that's $50000 !! Quite a large sum if you ask me..

We obviously live very different lives if you think 2500$ is a lot of money for the loss of a life my friend.

The cost of repatriation of a body is 4 times this amount alone.

Whilst this is a nice gesture i would have thought a few more zeros on the amount would be more appropriate.

My kids are already fluent in Thai and English. I they are 4 and 3 years old. I would like

to introduce a third language but cannot decide which one. We live outside Bangkok so i guess

Mandarin or Russian would be a good choice.

What 3rd language woudl you guys choose for a half British Half Thai kid?

My WIFE suffered 2 refusals 5 years even though we had lived together for 2 years and she was my wife so I empathise with you.I was lucky enough to be able to appeal the decision and it was then granted. Put yourself in the shoes of the ECO and make sure you tick all the boxes before you apply.

Quite frankly if you only have around a 1000dollars to your name there is not much reason for you to leave Britain. If I were the ECO i would want to see you well settled somewhere owning property etc etc before I granted the visa.

I am no expert but i do not think you have much chance unless your circumstances change a lot.

I read everywhere that i must get a job in Spain to enable me to get back into the UK through the Surinder Singh route

The judgement in the case of O and B v The Netherlands established five key points:

• A residence period of at least three months is required (para 54)
• Weekend visits and holidays do not count as residence for this purpose (para 59)
• Any citizen of the Union can potentially benefit from this right, not just workers and the self employed (my emphasis)(references to Article 7 of Citizens Directive 2004/38 , e.g. para 56, and to Article 21 of the TFEU, e.g. para 54)
• During the period of residence family life must have been “created or strengthened” (para 51)
• Abuse is impermissible (para 58)

BUT

The UKVI entry clearance guidance still says that to qualify under the Surinder Singh route the British family member needs to have been a worker or self employed in the other EEA state.

The general guidance also says that the British family member of applicants must provide "proof that they were working or self-employed in the EEA country, eg employer’s letters, wage slips, contracts or proof of registration with relevant tax authorities."

Whether this is because UKVI have not bothered to update their guidance, or whether it is because the UK is ignoring the judgement, I can't say.

Donutz? Anyone?

If i would like clarification that the UK guidance is flawed by giving incorrect information where or to whom should i write to? Is there an ombudsman or something?

Well it seems straight forward. I go to Spain self sufficiently and look for a business to buy there. If not successful within 4 or 5 months then apply to UK for EEA spouse permit . The judgement clearly says all we need to have done is strengthen our family life in Spain. Putting the kids in a nursery there, paying bills, join a spanish class etc should suffice for this in the case of not finding a business that suits.

So it now appears i dont even have to find a job.

It wouldn't make sense that being self supporting would not be acceptable, it most certainly is for the Spanish authorities (if you have sufficient funds ofcourse, the minimum number which I do not know). and after migrating back to the UK it should "only" be a matter of showing you had the intention of settling in Spain long term. The UKVI guidelines may give some insight on that but if you consider your migratie to Spain as something which might be long term and act accordingly (Spanish mobile package, perhaps opening a bank account there etc.) you should be fine. I guess having a job in Spain could help the case that that actually did a proper migration rather then a long holiday but I see no reason why the SS route wouldn't work for self sufficient migrants who stayed 6 (officially 3) months in Spain or any other EU coutry with the intention to likely stay there long term.

Sounds interesting. I have the funds available to look for a business in Spain although in all honesty I doubt I would invest in Spain.

I wonder where i might get more advice on this?

So you could go to Spain (or any other EU country) for the purpose of finding work (employement)and various other purposes, including economicaly inactive. In which case financial means would have to be proven, the height depending on the minimum living standard of the given country (Spain in your case but don't ask me how much income the require per month for financially independant EU citizens),

For the first 3 months you should be alright anyway aslong as you don't become a financial burden to the authorities,giving you time find work if financially independant is not an option. Once there you'd need to tackle Spanish bureacracy discribed above, but this might be more straightfoward if an experienced source explains it and I doubt you'd need to know everything in advance but having a general idea of the procedures certainly won't harm your cause.

The theory remains simple: move there, don't be a burden to the Spanish authorities, register in a townhall, register with immigration, register your family members, settle in perhaps later on move to the UK or just stay in Spain if it suits you better.

Thanks for that. I read everywhere that i must get a job in Spain to enable me to get back into the UK through the Surinder Singh route. Although i can self support whilst we are in Spain it seems the definition of family life in Spain revolves around having a job there or being self employed.

If i request a 90 day type C visa for my wife can she exit and re enter spain automatically?

We might like to visit Paris for a weekend or something.

Is a 90 day visa automatically given and is it multi entry?

great reading thread. I have now decided to apply through the Spanish embassy. <deleted> to VFS out of principle.

Donutz thanks for all this great info.

<snip>

Seems the crux of this is getting a job in Spain.

Not necessarily.

The freedom of movement treaty rights are:

1. Student
2. Jobseeker
3. Worker, employed or self employed
4. Living off independent means, e.g. a pension or investment income.

Assuming 1,3 and 4 don't apply to you, you could live in Spain as a jobseeker and your wife can live there with you. However, many countries put a time limit on this; usually three months, after which you would have to leave unless you can show you have a realistic chance of finding work in the very near future.

What the Spanish position on this is, I don't know.

If i choose living off independent means can my wife still relocate to the uk with me? i have enough money to last 6 months there.

<snip>

Seems the crux of this is getting a job in Spain.

Not necessarily.

The freedom of movement treaty rights are:

1. Student
2. Jobseeker
3. Worker, employed or self employed
4. Living off independent means, e.g. a pension or investment income.

Assuming 1,3 and 4 don't apply to you, you could live in Spain as a jobseeker and your wife can live there with you. However, many countries put a time limit on this; usually three months, after which you would have to leave unless you can show you have a realistic chance of finding work in the very near future.

What the Spanish position on this is, I don't know.

This topic can now be closed. I have decided to take my wife to Spain on an EU spouse visa instead. Thanks for all your input.

looks like the VFS fee is about 850baht. Its an admin fee , not the visa fee. I have just emailed them so i should get a reply in a day or 2.

Seems the crux of this is getting a job in Spain. Who knows we might end up staying there. Other forums say all we need is my passport, wifes passport, marraige cert and legalisation from UK embassy and 2 photos each. Sounds like an adventure.

You can apply by sending a mail to the embassy in which case they must give an appointment ASAP -max 2 weeks-, or for a fee via the external party VFS.

So its free if we go to the embassy but there is a fee at VFS? Do you know how much the fee is?

I would obviously not be working or looking for work til we got to Spain,

so is that ok to get the visa.

Does anyone have any links to the visa application?

As per previous post i have decided to leave Thailnd with my family and started checking out visa requirements for the wife to move

back to the UK.My wife is Thai and 2 kids have UK passports.Married over 5 years.

My initial observations are that it is expensive, stressful and time consuming trying to get a UK settlement visa..

Now there is no specific reason we need to move to the UK and my parents own a lovely 3 bed house near Alicante that is rarely used and they will happily

let us move there.

Eureka Moment! Move to Spain for 6 months and see where things take us. I have read about the Surhinder Singh route and whilst

there is no underlying reason for us to go this way, i would like a 6 to 12 month holiday in a beautiful villa in Spain, and i might even

look for a business in Spain and never go to the UK if we settled and found a business.I understand i would need to get 12 hours work a week or more

or become self employed.

So what visa would my wife need to accompany me to Spain? Where and how do we apply?

I thank you in anticipation of the informative replies many great people take the time to post here.

Has anyone got a link to a suitable english test in Bangkok? Thanks