Saltwater

Thanks for all the information, I have taken it all in, and will just focus on your questions to keep things simple:
 

3 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

Was your leave letter on headed paper? Did you include your boss's phone number?

It was indeed, company header letter (TAX codes, address etc), with a message giving permission, CEO's signature with his personal phone number - stating I would return to work when back as usual.
 

3 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

Your gf isn't working so she needs to say why and major on the other things.

Agreed, she and myself stated that in both our cover letters, she is doing online Art courses and etc. I finance her (in more detail than that), so should be a done thing? or not?
 

4 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

Your father is also a 'sponsor' as he is providing accomodation - you sent a letter from your father but did it give any details of the property?  All I usually do is provide a statment that I am happy to accommodate X person, state the size of the property, how many bedrooms and provide a copy of the council tax bill. If your father is also contributing finacially, you need to provide evidence of those funds.

He had his own letter sent yes, signed also from the UK stating free food, accommodation, details of property i.e. bedrooms, bathrooms (amount also) and any utilities free. Water, electric etc. With picture evidence, and also my father's bank statements. No council tax bill though...

4 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

You provide your gf with a monthly income.  Show her bank statements detailing the incoming cash and ALSO show your bank statements detailing the transfers.

"Show her bank statements" - We sent 6 months work, where the statements show my transfers, but we didnt exactly highlight each of my specific transfers... Also I did not send my statements show going out, her statements showed my name transferring in.
 

4 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

I received a phone call from an ECO (yes, they used to do that)

Yes, with my ex-gf's Visas, they called us both times, to ask us about work and etc. and then got accepted, this time, the 'Beijing' office ECO, did not even call... or they dont do that anymore?

 

1 hour ago, KhaoYai said:

If you could find any other things linking her to the address - they should help

Thanks for the hints, I provided to them what we have in terms of proving living together. Any other ideas welcome.

 

1 hour ago, KhaoYai said:

Tony's asked for you to send detais by PM if you're uncomfortable posting them - I would do that.

I have done so, and if you or anyone else think seeing the information would help you advise me, let me know and I will also send to you, cheers.

+ 1 Question, on the refusal letter, I noticed this, what is this Beijing location reference? or is it a name? Cheers.

12 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

Completely agree with Tony - it very well may be a poor decision but the entire refusal notice would be needed.  It seems to me that the biggest concern is the old 'reasons to return' and in this case its a little odd to see it used.  Once someone's put in a couple of visits and showed that they return on time, the 'reasons aren't usually given as much weight as they were previously.

 

Some of your questions have already been answered but you would need to show the entire refusal notice for more help - obviously with personal details obscured.

 

One thing to be careful with on a re-application following a refusal - don't make material changes unless there has actually been a change and in thaty case, explain it fully. For example, let's say your girlfriend actually had a casual part time job but you didn't mention it because you exepected the savings/sponsorship to cover the financial aspect.  Don't suddenly say that she did in fact have a job.  However, if she's started a job between application and refusal - that's fine to mention.  In other words - don't try to make the pieces fit unless you actually have new pieces.

 

If you're living together in Thailand, is your gf named on any lease? Does she have a driving licence at that address? Bank account........bal bla bla.  You need to establish that you are a couple and if you do live together, proof of that.  Your gf's reasons to return would therefore be strenghened as you would need to return to continue your employment as as your partner, it would be reasonable to expect her to return with you.

 

Having said all that, its rare to see a refusal like this when someone's already put in a few successful visits.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, let me clear a bit of confusion perhaps sorry, I have made 2 accepted Visit Visa's with my 'EX-girlfriend'. This is my current girlfriend's first application attempt.
 

When you say 'entire refusal notice' do you mean the email they sent back with all the reasons with obscured details? Thanks.
 

"don't try to make the pieces fit unless you actually have new pieces."
- Understood, and I agree. I have previously only evidenced truths.
 

" is your gf named on any lease? Does she have a driving license at that address? Bank account"
- Her name is on the lease as a witness signature, driving license is to her parents address, and bank account address is at our address together - the statements also showed that. Cheers.

59 minutes ago, Tony M said:

Looking at the sections of the refusal notice that you have posted, it could be a "poor" refusal decision.  It would be helpful to be able to see the whole refusal notice, and to be able to put your quotes into context. You can redact personal information (as you have done already).   It would also be useful to see where the decision was made. 

 

It's interesting to see that you say that your girlfriend's land documents were submitted, but the ECO says not.  Did you self-upload the documents, or were they scanned at the Visa Application Centre ?  

 

If you would prefer to send me a private message, I'll be happy to help if I can.

"were they scanned at the Visa Application Centre ?"
- Hi, thanks for asking, they were scanned at the Visa Application Centre, yes. We paid for this service. Both land certificate and graduation certificate professionally translated and stamped.
 

38 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

If you are giving her money - are you transferring it via bank account transfer or giving it to her in loose cash to bank it ? Might answer the question about no link if she's putting it in in cash. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is fine to ask, the money is just a monthly allowance so to speak - which is paid by bank transfer from me to her bank each month.

 

1 hour ago, theoldgit said:

 

Good points have been made here.

 

@SaltwaterYou say you are living together, depending on the amount of time you've actually done so, I assume the money you pay her is similar to the "housekeeping" similar to that many of us pass onto our wives or partners as general housekeeping ang living expenses, rather than a salary.

 

Proving your relationship could satisfy the ECO of her reasons to return, you're a couple living together, travelling on holiday together, and will be returning home together.

 

How long ago did your ex girlfriend apply for her visa?

 

You don't need to supply details of your parents income, just a letter confirming that you've been invited to stay at their family home, and there's sufficient room for you both.

 

I'm just going out, I'll revisit your question tomorrow.

 

 

Thanks for asking, we have been living together for over a year and a half, and yes, the money is just a monthly allowance so to speak. We submitted the documents 2 months ago on March 31st, the decision was extremely delayed as I have noticed with other applications...

"Proving your relationship could satisfy the ECO of her reasons to return"
- Indeed, this was explained in detail in both mine and her cover letter, pictures of travels to beaches, pictures of the workplace we met at with us there, and documents such as my payslips showing I work here legally with a return intention together. Do you have suggestions for extra evidence of relationship? Thanks!
 

4 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Income is from work, you giving her money is not seen as income.

They correctly see her as unemployed and want to see the savings.

Thanks for the information here! - For her savings then, we sent the evidence for this - what do you think about my point No 3) ?  The money I will give her for the trip, should it be shown from my bank account, or I transfer to her and show from her bank account? etc.

Hi there, hoping this is the right place for advice then, I have omitted any confidential information hopefully.
 

(My ex-gf was accepted twice successfully for a UK Visit Visa before, so I have done this before, successfully).
 

I'm half Thai, with UK + Thai passport (I work in Thailand as a Thai national). My current girlfriend (we live together) from Thailand applied for a UK visit/tourist visa and got refused, 1 reason I agree we need to send evidence, but the others they read the application wrong. Are they rushing because of their backlog???
 

1) In the application she wrote 'Income per year' as £XXXX but they said 'where are her evidence of savings of £XXXX'??? They read income per year as 'savings', this means they did NOT read correctly? Also we had sent evidence of 6 months of her statements showing a monthly income from myself to her:



The number they mention is the Amount you get in a year... the 'savings' number is much lower of course.

 

When re-applying, what should I write back to them in the evidence? Should I screenshot and highlight where they READ it wrong? Will the next ECO understand???  How should I show the total of income per year, send extra statements up to 12months with highlights of monthly transfers?? (The income comes from me, because she does not have a proper job, she has a proper education etc. btw. certificates were sent to the ECO).
 

2) - Now this one, I do not understand. In her cover letter she wrote she was going to visit my family, correct, but also travel around with me to visit destinations around my hometown in the Cotswolds. My thoughts to this statement - and I may be naive and angry, but so what even if she was just requesting to visit her boyfriends home and family - is this not a valid reason anymore? (Same reason my last gf who got accepted twice)

3) I stated I would help pay £XXXX for the visit, and that accommodation + food was FREE because we would stay at my parents in the UK (all evidenced with signed letter from my father, his bank statements and pictures of the house). I DID NOT show evidence for this amount, so I agree I should send evidence -> can you guys help advise how to show it? Just show the money in my own account? I do not want to transfer to her, and show it like that, it would look dodgy/intentional? or should I do that?
 

4) "not displayed ANY" - This is incorrect, written in each cover letter, was that she has a land certificate in her name. The original certificate was scanned ALONG with a professionally translated (to English) and stamped copy. Did they just skip over it? - She also has family, friends and lives with me here - and I have a job to return to (with a letter of leave given in English and scanned).
 

5) Can anyone elaborate on what they are requiring? In the cover letters we stated our exact plans, planned return date and why etc. Are they expecting some other 'wording?'.

What can be done if the ECO does NOT read the application correctly? We sent all other required evidence, so would appreciate focus on the ECO's "reasons". ANY advice would be greatly appreciated for the re-application we will make... Thanks all!

Hi all,

So just checking up as applying now, but the vfs site at https://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk mentioned that I could apply for the standard visiting visa via https://visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/product/uk-visit-visa I have gone through nearly the whole process now, up to the point where it is asking what payment options I want to use. Has anyone used this new service yet instead of the vfs visa4uk site? See attached for the stage I am at (you cant see any of her details), will it still request for my girlfriend to submit all supporting documents and do biometrics at Chiang Mai (place of choice?), also we'll probably do 3-5 workings days, as we are cutting it close with the days we can go right now. Cheers! All feedback would be great on this new system.

43 minutes ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

The only benefits are that (a) the genuineness of the  relationship - if appropriate - has already been accepted so that should take away any uncertainty relating to that criteria and (b) the reasons to return have been enhanced by returning from the previous visit.

 

Thanks all, and I was thinking that this would be the perspective that could be taken into consideration, as last time I did indeed spend a lot of resources and time making documents showing/explaining our relationship was genuine last time and all evidence I have now shows we honored our story and intentions when travelling last time.

With that in mind, I submitted like 40 odd images last time on double sided A4s for pictures etc, can I tone that down this time? Want to give the ECO an easier time... as he will look up the last evaluation anyway? (I can do it, nothing fishy, just last time felt like I submitted a lot, I even submitted 2-5 pages of facebook and phonecall records) Or like wooloo /rasg mentioned it's fresh, so I should just do it like I did the first time and stop thinking like this. Cheers

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the responses, hopefully after the second time it will become second nature to me, but it is indeed a big deal to get all the same relevant documents I did last time for us, and a letter to support my friends case with my ID with it should be help enough I guess.

We will be applying at the new Chiang Mai office, there seems to be some 50/50 success here still too, but I guess we will do our best each time and see. Do we need to do anything different for the Chiang Mai office or will they just grab biometrics all over again anyway? Just trying to find 'benefits' to applying after a successful application last time.

The circumstances are even easier than last time, so looking forward to a yes, I will of course reply here if I think of anything else you could help me and hopefully other out who read this and my old topic.

Thanks.

Hi all again!

Been a while since I started this rather detailed topic at http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/807489-uk-visa-for-long-term-thai-gf-visiting-my-uk-family-vaf1b/ for my GFs first visa, which was a success, with much help and thanks to the members here who helped and now we are after another one, so after reading that or remembering should give you the backstory and I will keep questions easy for my clarification and you great guys here.

The Short:

My Thai GF got her UK Visa last year valid Mid June 15' to Mid Dec 15' (6 mths) though we only went for 1 month, I was the sponsor and she was financed by my father.

I also got my Dual Nationality sorted out and now hold both UK and Thai passports, ID cards etc.

Q&A:

I can understand 2nd applications work the same way, but what should I mention in relation to our previous 'success' and evidence to my/our story (I got my Thai ID etc and new passport etc when I mentioned in the last application 'sponsor' letter) to aid us in another success this time around? BKK VFS complained we had too many documents last time (though they mattered) can we like, reduce the "picture gallery" of us etc this time now because we already did it once with success?

I assume my father needs to send again... bank statements if he is financing her? (that was one of the hard parts for my father)

- etc etc to above. Just seeing what exactly is needed for this 2nd round, so many papers for first time applicants.

I also have a thai male friend who wants to come too. Quick questions, does it benefit him if I help him apply for his visa? Like invite/sponsor letter him too? Quick facts, he can finance himself for the trip well more than required, his occupation is tour guide/leader for an agency, he has traveled around Asia a lot, singapore, vietnam, burma, china/taiwan etc. He will stay and travel with me and my GF, stay with my family too etc.

Many thanks all.

hey all,

thanks, I think she understands and knows the documents she needs, but just not enough time right now. Would it be best to just do a border run right now to give her more time doing all this document business with marriage certificate translations and etc.? Thanks again.

Hi All,

Thanks for all the previous help before, I now have a friend who needs some straight up advice.

She is the wife of someone working on a full work permit legally etc, and her current Dependent Non O Visa will expire in just 3 days. She hadn't realised that she needed certified documents she left in Greece to renew/get an extension on her visa, and cannot get them in time. She is thinking her options are to exit the country at a border and get a visa on arrival first, giving her time to get the certified documents from Greece to here in time to apply for the Dependent Non O Visa. Is this her best option? Thanks... yes they are a greek couple, so I don't know what Visa on arrival Visas are like for them.

Thanks all, appreciated.

Hello All,

Just saving opening up a new topic as my question is related to this topic anyway.

So the Visa my GF got and we used for our trip, is valid until end of December this year. Simple question is, can we use the same Visa to travel again before it expires (and come back before so of course)? I have read over many things, but want a concise explanation.

Do we need to notify anyone beforehand? What precautions we need to take if we can just use it again. She only went for 1 month, so she hasn't got the problem of staying in the UK for 6months or more in a year. How should we really carefully go about this if we want to?

Also... if we apply again after Visa expired, she doesn't need to wait 6 months or anything does she? That is just a recommendation? Thank you all.

Hi All,

As reference, this here is the document I should be obtaining along with my Thai Birth Certificate on pickup: www.thaiembassyuk.org.uk/?q=node/18 Certificate of Identity

Thanks.

Heya All and Thanks.

Travelling back this week then, and appreciate the tips and advice. It seems that the Certificate of Identity is valid for just 10 days, so I guess I would only use it for this trip back.

My concerns are who I actually show this document to? Is it the passport gates/immigration on re-entering Thailand then, and I go through the gate that all other Thai nationals go through? I don't need to go through the non-thai gate as my document classifies me as a returning Thai national (which I will triple check with the RTE that it allows me unlimited entrance to Thailand, they said it would, but checking it again tomorrow). Do they actually stamp me in, even though I dont have a Thai passport to stamp? The CID is my clearance document correct? Not sure how it works at all, and searching online it seems hard to find information. Will immigration at Bangkok need more information than just the document, to talk in private or make calls?

My UK passport would be used for literally ID purposes? Even though the UK immigration will 'stamp me out' are there no problems if the Thai Immigration doesn't see it then? I show my UK passport to the airline all the way too I assume?

Thanks again, just so unclear on the procedure in using this document going back to Thailand when so close to travelling.

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, yes I believe I can use my UK passport as ID at least, but when leaving the UK and UK immigration who 'stamp me out', I use my UK passport, but do I need to show them the Thai CID also then if they ask why I dont have a visa? Although UK passport holders dont need a visa and can get 30days free on arrival anyway? and 'on arrival' I will just be showing my CID to get in, the Thai Embassy in London said I can use it to enter Thailand as a Thai national yes, but good idea about getting something in writing for the airline just in case.

Still any more advice or experience still needed, I am just guessing at this process of travelling with this document.

Hi All,

Ok I think it best for us just to go in the queue together and I will take most of the documents I think they may ask for, just incase.

I think we will look into getting her the insurance then, just to be safe. Also, when did I become a UK non-resident? Technically I am still since my UK residence address is with my parents, as on my passport, driving licence etc - the address where we would be staying actually. Or does being away for more than 3 years invalidate that?

Thanks.

Hey All,

A few aftermath questions then, just to help the journey go as smooth as.

When arriving in the UK (London) and passing through immigration, I can actually go in the same non-uk national queue as my GF correct? As I will also bring all documents used for the Visa Application with me and ready for any questions or something they want to see.

Second is as my gf is travelling as a Thai to UK, is it really needed for her to purchase any insurances at all? Thanks.

Thanks all, I hope others who read this all can get a good idea as to other things they may have missed that can get them a good result.

Okay everyone!!! We got it! After the embassy call it took 2 days for the email to say they had made a decision and then it arrived today by post in Chiang Mai! We opened the sealed package and the passport was inside, open! on the Visa page for us! So no nervous passport opening there haha.

I just want to say that was a nervous first time, and even though we thought a couple of things might have tripped us up, I guess we were worried about nothing, so thank you all for your quick and helpful replies in the moment, and just awesome, really appreciate it.

She got the C-visit Visa for 6 months, from the the day we received the email decision, 180 days, though we are only going for 3-4weeks. So happy, thank you all. Credit to all.

Hey All,

Ok so email arrived with "YOUR UK VISA APPLICATION DECISION IS READY FOR COLLECTION" though we paid for the courier service for everything to be delivered to us, and not for us to pick up. So "ALL APPLICANTS: if you paid an additional courier or postage fee, documents will be sent to you." I assume this means the passport will arrive in the same package delivered back to us here in Chiang Mai? Thanks.

Oh yeh, and nervous! Actually the British Embassy did call us 2 days ago, they called me first but they wanted to speak to my girlfriend. who was at work, so they called back the next day (her day off luckily), during the call they asked a lot of questions, tests I guess? Like, where will she be going, name of town/city, doing what, does she know/can spell my surname (its long), when she saw me last (strange question, we live together, as written in both letters haha)... etc. They also asked a lot about her work when she gets back (she is leaving her current job anyway, to start a new one in August, we supplied employment offer letter signed, but she is just leaving a month earlier to do this trip) but still they asked a lot, concerned I guess. The HR at the new company/job place also notified us that the Embassy had gotten in touch to check also. What do you guys make of it, a positive they called and checked so much?

Thanks.

There have been stories like this before in other threads although we have never had a problem with them. They should certainly not have mixed up the documents nor taken some out nor returned originals. Basically what is presented is your GF's application and supporting evidence as you see it and it should be forwarded as is to the Embassy. Their job is to ensure that there is/are no obvious omissions which could be sorted out there and then and do the biometrics. There is no way of knowing whether this will cause a problem and of course after the event there will be no way of proving that you ever submitted the documents in the first place. Fingers crossed and good luck.

Thanks both.

Yeh almost taking things into their own hands, because well, my girlfriend knew as much as she could going in, but they really do force decisions on the girls that have gone in and met this sort of thing happen to them too, I did indeed search and read some of those threads, and really disheartening you cant do much about it. Disappointed sure, but we don't really have a choice but to accept what happened, complaining... never seen anyone get anywhere with it. *sigh*, the payment online is for processing and not the visa, we are paying for a service!

Last question while waiting, we bought the 250THB courier service, though will we know our decision in an email first? Or when the passport arrives with the documents? Or... is passport pick up only? Ha. I wasn't sure about this.

Thanks 7by7, really appreciated the quick response, tog also.

So, we have now submitted our documents at our appointment at the Trendy office.

I want to ask you all though, what you think about some things that happened when my girlfriend applied and her experience?