jessicanguyenself

You don't have to be in the UK For a year to open a bank account . I have only been here just about 2 months and i got a bank account already . You said you've added your wife's name to all the bills , those bills with her name on should be good enough to get her a bank account ,all they need were two form of proof of address , proof of id

Visit visa can be like lottery ticket sometimes . My best friend applied for a uk visit visa 2 months ago , at the time when she fill her application form online she was not engaged to her bf at the time , and after his visit he proposed to her and on his supporting letter he mentioned that her visit to the uk to meet his parent prior to their engagement which she did not mention on her application form , she only said her reason to visit the uk was to meet his parent . She has a good job with high wage for a big international company in Vietnam , she has traveled to Europe , australia before , plenty of money in her bank , a letter from her boss stating her position at her company , salary and permission for her holiday and her position will be kept open upon her return but sadly she got refused . So their reason to turn down her visa was because they not satisfied with her intentions in the UK althought they both said she will be meeting his parents ) but my friend missed out the engagement part because she did not know she was gonna be engaged .

Hey Folks,

My wife was issued with the spouse CP visa and was told to take the TB test before travelling. She called the IOM to make an appointment but was advised that she could travel without taking it as the test can take up to two months to arrange. The TB test is usually required before the ECO will issue the visa but in our case they issued the visa without one. So I am wondering what is to stop my wife travelling without taking the test? She has travelled to the UK several times before and has never been asked to show her test certificate and X-Ray. She has one from two years ago, could she use that. How closely to regional passport official inspect document written in Thai? Have the rules/entry procedures changed? Is she likely to get stopped by passport control and refused entry to the UK without a valid cert? Or would they let her in anyway or send her back to Thailand?

How long does it usually take to do the test at the IMO and get the results? Surely it can't take two months?

Does anyone have any advice on this matter?

Nope they would not refused her to entry to the UK but they will ask her to go for the X-ray test right at the Airport . I am from Vietnam and when I applied for my settlement visa , I did not need to have TB test done but when I arrived at Heathrow airport the officer did ask me to go for an X ray test right at the airport which takes around 15' .

7 by 7 . I am just wondering what possible reason could there be for my wife not getting ILE . My wife has not passed a KOL whatever that is , though she did very well on the English speaking and listening . In the last 11 years I as the Father , Husband and sponsor of my little family have only been to the UK twice and only for a total duration of 3 months , could this be a reason . It is not the end of the World as they now have their visas and we are going but I would rather sort is all out now rather than later . Don't really want to wait 24 months before applying for ILR . From what you said earlier am I right in thinking that if my wife takes the KOL as soon as we arrive , then she should be able to apply for ILR straight away . I say this because I see that some people who have been living out of the UK go there for a holiday and take it then return to Thailand and then apply for settlement . I don't think any of it will apply to our two young children as I intend to apply for them to get their UK passports when we get there . I tried contacting Jessicanguy but to no avail . Is there a special number at the embassy I can call to discuss this or should I just turn up at embassy and get told to clear off . I don't really want to email and wait up to 20 days for a reply as we will probably be in the UK by then .

It doesn't matter if your wife did well on speaking and listening , to be able to get ILE from Thailand you need to pass life in the uk test and it's the rule , Lituk test is a test base on general knowledge of life in the UK ., it has nothing to do with your wife speaking and listening skills though it would help her to study the test easier . I got IELTS overall band ( and this is academic level not just speaking and listening )at 7.0 which allow me to do master degree in the UK and yet I had to sit the test to get my ILR in the UK . And in case your wife doesn't have her settlement visa subject to KOL ,neither you want to mess around to change ur visa do not worry as ur wife do not have to wait for 24 months if she got proof that you both have been living outside the uk for 4 years , all she needs to do is to sit the test , as soon as you past the test then u can apply straight away for her ILR ( if you apply in person you have to wait 2 days after you pass the test ) .

Ps : I am a she not a he

7by7 is correct but I did not even have the right visa either , British embassy in bkk granted me a usual spouse visa not the settlement subject to KOL , we managed to sort them out ok though .

I am also married to my husband for over 4 years and have lived outside the UK too . We have just moved back to the UK late of June and i took the test and past around a week ago . Applied for ILR using their premium service ,I hate the fact that waiting for 6 months and not knowing the outcome .

Hi Jessicanguyen,

So u have applied for ILR? Why didnt just come to uk for the Life test then come back to VN apply for ILR or ILE so u don't have to wast ur time twice ( I guessed that u moved to UK end of June with ur husband on settlement visa 27 months which u applied when u was in VN and waited for 12 weeks?). My suituation is similar to ur, married and live our side of UK for over four years, I did uk life test in Apr when I came to UK last Apr then back here and I applied for ILE in June and still waiting for the result:-), 31st of this month will be 12 weeks So finger gross :-). And why u have to for 6 months to get ILR? Here they told me 12 weeks but still wait and see.... Good luck.

I think u misread what i wrote , I said I applied for my ILR using premium service so i did not have to wait for 6 months to know the outcome , ILR using postal service here takes within 6 months for the result . My settlement took me roughly 2 months not 12 weeks . Acutally we did not plan to move to the Uk untill Feb this year so no time for us to mess about with the test and I did not have any study material with me either .

I am also married to my husband for over 4 years and have lived outside the UK too . We have just moved back to the UK late of June and i took the test and past around a week ago . Applied for ILR using their premium service ,I hate the fact that waiting for 6 months and not knowing the outcome .

One has to wonder about the purpose of providing a postcode reference document. As far as I can fathom you still do not need to be resident in UK in order to take the LITUK test. Two years ago my wife took the test whilst on a two week visit to UK. As I recall, in order to comply with this requirement we temporarily amended her bank account address from overseas to my mother's home in UK and got a statement sent there.

If you take things to another level, what happens if someone decides to live in a hotel or serviced apartment where your name will never appear on any of the document types that they are Pparently insisting upon.

You did not need proof of post code two years ago but you do need now as failing to do so then you won't be able to take the test . If you settle in the UK how come you do not even have a bank account ? or anything with your name on ? remember the people doing the test are the people who seek to settle in the UK

They also said they don't accept Bank statements and Mobile phone statements any more. has to be council tax billing gas electric .

That is not true , I have just passed my Lituk test on the 27 of July and I did use my bank statement for my proof of post code , my statement was not even a proper statement it was an online one that I printed out at the bank's computer and one of the lady works at the bank just put their logo stamp on my statement .

Unless her spoken and written English is at entry level 3 or better, she will require some study to bring it up to the standard required. So you should start looking for an ESOL course for her. Note, though, that some colleges/LEAs will charge her the higher overseas student fees until she has been living in the UK for 12 months.

The UKBA have yet to publish approved test providers for the B1, so watch this space.

In the Uni where i will be studying for higher education in september , they said the rule has changed to be 3 years living in the uk before u can pay the same fee at the locals and british citizen who has been living abroad for 5 years will be paying the same fee at international students

I think bank account would be the last step as the bank would ask for two set of proof of address from the bills , or council tax bill .

If Tribal is right, it does seem strange, and a waste of time that the office assistant spent 35 mins asking my wife questions when the ECO could have been working on it. The assistant actually asked my wife if the children in the applications were related. (bloody stupid question when all submitted documentation shows that they are brother, and sister) My wife got the impression that the assistant was more interested in what life in the UK during her last six years was like. As i said before a very strange interview.

Tribal is right , and the embassy do call you to ask for confirmation of the information you have already provided . When i applied for my settlement , someone called my line phone to ask to speak to my husband and this person was british . she did not wish to speak to me and did not even tell me she was calling from the embassy in bkk But i knew it anyway as my husband did not know our line phone number .She only asked for my husband personal details (names , dob ) and one stupid question was If He is sponsoring me for my settlement visa . And that was taken place one week after we submitted our application Though i did not get my visa untill 8 weeks later

Ur wife's spouse visa and her daughter dependent visa allow them to work , so they can apply to work right away if they wish to .They do not need to wait for ILR to get work

Thank you jonzboy for your quick respond . Yeah even after I stated clearly the time we have lived together in my cover letter ( and with evidences of course ) they still managed to give me the wrong visa . I did bring all the evidences with me to the uk so I guess I won't have a problem with proving that .

I am thinking about doing my Lituk test next month just to get it over with . I am not sure what is B1 level but I have my IELTS test with overall band at 7.0 which qualified me to do my MBA . Speaking of UKBA officer Isn't always correct , he even told my husband that after I have my ILR sorted wait for 12 months then I can apply for citizenship . I know it's not correct but my husband was quite happy until I burst his bubble

IO asked my wife what my line of work was and who did I work for when she first came on a visit. That got her flustered because she could speak enough english and knew roughly what I did, but found it difficult to explain and did not know the company name. Luckily I had come through the EU immigration line and spotted that she was starting to panic, so I was able to help her out.

Doesn't help with the OP's circumstances, but obviously if you are travelling together it makes sense to go through the foreign passport line with your Thai partner, even if you are busting for a pee and can see a quicker route to the loo!

If you do go through separately it was clear that you are able to approach the immi desk from behind their backs to help out as long as you are really really polite and deferential. i.e. - don't get pissed up on the flight over and do leave your ego behind when dealing with officials, even though they clearly have a much lower status and intellect than ones good self.

Edit: Illustration - a couple of months ago I saw Manchester immi give a Chinese family a mostly unwarranted right old mauling because the son was being arrogant. Did not make me proud to be Brit. We've all seen how bad IOs can be with their backs up.

Ur wife can go to the UK/EU passport line with you , I did that everytime i travelled with my husband and there was no question ever been asked .

I hope some of the members here could help me out with my situation , I was wrongly granted normal spouse visa instead of Settlement spouse KOL require but I did not have enough time to send my passport back to Bangkok and got it changed . I used that visa entered the uk and we contacted the ukba few days ago asking them to change back the right visa and their answer was :

- they will not be able to change another visa for me as I have already entered the country with that visa but I am still entitled to apply for my ILR once I have pass life in the uk test without the 24 months waiting period . The problem was the ukba officer said I might have to do it before 9th of July which is impossible for me to book for the test and study the test and gather all the paperworks with ILR application within 10 days .

So my question is : my spouse visa was wrongly granted by VFS Bangkok on may . I wonder isn't my case still apply under the old rule ? Why the ukba said I would have to do it before 9th of July before the new rule comes to affect ?

And if I don't have my life in the uk test ready by 9th of July , would I have to wait for 24 months to apply for ILR or the new 5 years rule ?

And I read on ukba website said

"abolishing immediate settlement for the migrant spouses and partner where a couple have been living together overseas for at least 4 years, and requiring them to complete a 5 year probationary period;"

I wonder if their 5 years probationary period counts from the day you got married or from the day you entered the uk ?

I am so lost and I do not know which rule apply to our case .

I am Asian and I never had any problem at heathrow terminal 3 when arriving on my own with visit visa ( I have been entered the uk many times on uk visit visa since 2002) . I had a pleasant arrival last week on my settlement visa they even let me jumped the queue because I have a young kid with me . So far the uk immigration treated me better than my own country immigration at my local airport

funny that this topic came up, when renewing my vietnam visa in saigon in march this year, our mate in the visa department at the airport , mentioned that they had heard from may 2013 , a new asean 90day visa, was going to be phased in, it is going to be expensive but a good thing!!That is if it really happens

I wonder if someone is holding a vietnam 5 years visa waiver can use it to entry another asean country without a visa ???

Hi guys , I got my passport back today and Visa approved . submit 26th of march and decision made on the 25th of may

Her house book.

Your passport with the appropriate Thai visas in it.

Letters addressed to each of you at the same address.

Bills likewise.

Anything remotely official with either of your names on it, the address and the date.

I appreciate that not everyone keeps such things for 4 years. Unfortunately, if you don't have any evidence that you have been living together for 4 years then you have to accept that she isn't going to get ILE.

Remember that you will need similar evidence to show you have been living together at the same address in the UK when she applies for ILR. So get your bills etc. in joint names wherever possible.

I have subimtted the all our join bank statements in local bank which dated 5 years back, all the visa in my hubby passport , work contract here , so i do hope they do give me a right visa .. and you said that it can be change once in the uk incase they gave you a wrong visa ?? how and where can i change if i got a wrong visa

Got the email from VFS bangkok yesterday said the passport will be sent to me within 6 working days .. Finger cross .

Congrats Tribal ..where in the uk will you be living ? . i guess i will be starting to moan soon if i still have not heard anything next week

Thanks tribal and 7by7 . I am starting to annoy the receptionist in my office since i've been asking her if she got any package for me every 2 hours

Give VFS a call tomorrow jessicanguyenself.

Do you have the VFS number ? If you do pls pass it on here and i will ask my husband to give them a call after monday if i still have not recieved my passport back . Feel so hopeless without my passport .

Do let us know ur good news tribal . I still have not heard anything but maybe mine would takes a few days longer since it will be post all the way from bangkok to vietnam . And we dont get email from ukba telling us anything ..