Tony M

To answer your questions. UKVI will not take a negative view of a new appplication. It's not uncommon for spouses/partners to have to return home for various reasons. I think your wife will need a new English test. Using the previous test result seems to apply only in FLR and ILR applications. That's the way I read it : You do not need to prove your knowledge of English or take a test if one of the following is true: you’re applying as a child you’re applying as an adult coming to be cared for by a relative you’ve been in the UK on a family visa for 5 years and you’re extending it as a partner or parent you’re over 65 you have a physical or mental condition that prevents you from meeting the requirement

Excuse me for trying to help. I thought that you wanted to upload futher evidence, or an explanation about your parents lack of passports. You just need to upload a letter of explanation, and apologise , in that letter, for any mistake in the already submitted application form. I believe that you are over-thinking this whole thing.

Not entirely correct. You can continue to upload documents until the day before your appointment at the Visa Application Centre. This is from the VFS website :

A couple of points. Firstly, you are not legally responsible for this lady's current situation. You are not a guarantor. She does have a valid visa, but it can be cancelled or curtailed if there has been a material change of circumstances (as detailed by "theoldgit"). However, your name and address will be in the UKVI data, and will possibly/probably come up in any future applications for anyone you wish to sponsor. Secondly, you can report this "crime" if you want to, and can even do so anonymously. You can make the report online or by phone. But, if you do want to do that, then you will need to do it fairly quickly as she is traveling soon ? This is the link to reporting immigration "crime" : https://www.amsallegations.homeoffice.gov.uk/default.aspx/RenderForm/?F.Name=Lf62UB7cz4C

This received from UKVI/Home Office today. Six months processing time for UK settlement visas : We are writing to inform you that due to the humanitarian crisis caused by the invasion of Ukraine, UKVI is prioritising Ukraine Visa Scheme applications. This means that customers applying for other routes will experience some delays in the processing of their application. We have therefore made the decision to temporarily amend our Marriage and Family service standard to 24 weeks, from our usual service standard for this route of 12 weeks. This means you should get a decision within 24 weeks (120 working days) from the date you attended the Visa Application Centre to give your biometrics, rather than 12 weeks. We are working to reduce the current processing time as quickly as possible and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. Where there are extremely compassionate or compelling circumstances (for example, a medical emergency), we may consider expediting specific cases. However, the bar for this is high and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. If your request is exceptionally urgent you can contact https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-inside-outside-uk for help. Please note that this is a chargeable service for overseas customers. For all other customers you will be contacted when a decision has been made and your passport is ready for collection at the Visa Application Centre.

Well, that kind of answers the questions I asked. https://thepattayanews.com/2022/04/27/thailands-civil-aviation-authority-issues-latest-measures-for-air-travel-effective-may-1st/ : Passengers must provide proof of vaccination or RT-PCR test results and Covid-19 health insurance when registering in the ‘Thailand Pass’ system before traveling. Once the documents have been verified, the passenger will receive a QR Code to present to the airline. If there is no QR Code, the airline may refuse to have passengers on board. Airlines must verify that passengers have QR Codes from the ‘Thailand Pass’ system before accepting them onto the aircraft. If a passenger is found to have arrived in Thailand without a QR Code, the airline will be responsible for sending the passenger back to the country of origin. I do note that they still say that insurance cover is needed throughout the stay, and they don't say what exactly constitutes "fully vaccinated".

So, Immigration will have to check insurance certifiactes when passengers arrive ? Shouldn't be hard to produce those on your PC at home. Or will they expect the airlines to check insurance when passengers board the aircraft overseas?

They require a copy of your British passport, is all. It's a "check and balance" for your statement that you are a British citizen.

It can somtimes be difficlut to undetstand. You are thinking within the immigration rules, and you have quoted the guidance (an applicant should leave the UK to make a settlement application for leave to remain). I think that what your wife is trying to do is outside the immigration rules, and that's why you have some "strange" questions to answer. The UKVI is seeking information on your wife's situation in her home country amongst other things. Your wife is seeking leave to remain exeptionally, under Section EX of Appendix FM. If you had a British child, then she would probably be granted leave to remain under EX.1, as it is reasonable to argue that the child should not be "forced" to leave the UK, and therefore the child's mother should also be allowed to remain in the UK. If there are no children involved, your wife's application would be under EX.2, which is much more difficult to argue. There must be exceptional circumstances why she cannot return to her home country to submit an application as a spouse. As the Home Office says, the test for this is much higher. Basically, your wife will need to demonstrate that there are insurmountable obstacles, which are descibed as "the very significant difficulties which would be faced by the applicant or their partner in continuing their family life together outside the UK and which could not be overcome or would entail very serious hardship for the applicant or their partner." If there are no children involved, then you should be prepared for an application to be refused. You might be lucky, and an application might be issued, but it could be easier for your wife to return to her country and to submit a spouse settlement application. A refusal of the settlement application while in the UK could cause problems for any future visits to the UK for your wife. I apologise if any of the above "advice" is outdated, but it's been a while since I was involved in any LTR applications in the UK.

I am on an "O" extension of stay, and have an annual insurance policy. I asked the company (LMG), by email, and received an almost immediate response as attached. I guess the insurance companies are getting a lot of enquiries ! LMG response.pdf

UKVI have increased some visa fees (from yesterday). Mostly by around 15 GBP: Visit visa – short up to 6 months £95 to £100 - up £5 Visit visa – long up to 2 years £361 to £376 - up £15 Visit visa – long up to 5 years £655 to £670 - up £15 Visit visa – long up to 10 years £822 to £837 - up £15 Route to Settlement £1,523 to £1,538 - up £15 Priority Visa service - Non-Settlement (Increased fee applicable from 10 May 2022) £220 to £250 - up £30 Leave to remain - Other £1,033 to £1,048 - up £15 Indefinite leave to remain - main applicants and dependants £2,389 to £2,404 - up £15 The full list of current fees is attached Home Office immigration and nationality fees_ 6 April 2022 - GOV.UK.pdf

If there is no visa in the passport, then it's possible that the application was refused. Refusal of an application is notified by email, to the address given for the applicant in the online visa application form. Have you checked your/the applicant's emails ? If the applicant has'nt received an email, let us know, and I'll explain how to make a enquiry/complaint.

Is she going to give you a refund if the visa is refused ? If not, then she doesn't have much incentive to do a good job with the application. There are agents who will do the application on a "no visa-no fee" basis. In addition, at least one of those agents, although based in Thailand, is registered with the UK govt as an approved immigration advisor. If your agent can tick both of those boxes, you might be okay.

That's not strictly correct. There is nothing in the immigration rules that specifically states that you cannot do what the OP is suggesting, that is to stay 179 days, leave for a couple of months, and then return to UK to stay for a further 179 days. But, the bottom line is, when is a visit not a visit ? The UK govt view is that a visit is not a visit when the visit visa holder is using the visit visa to live, or to try to live in the UK (which requires a settlement visa) . The immigration rules for visitors state, amongst other things : V 4.2. The applicant must satisfy the decision maker that they are a genuine visitor, which means the applicant: (a) will leave the UK at the end of their visit; and (b) will not live in the UK for extended periods through frequent or successive visits, or make the UK their main home; Normally, an ECO or Border Force officer will accept that a visitor can spend a maximum of around 180 days in any 12 month period as a visitor. Spending more time than that will cause the decision-maker to wonder if the visa holder is actually "visiting" the UK or is a de facto resident. Bear in mind that the decison-maker doesn't need proof that you are not a genuine visitor, as the onus is on the visa applicant/holder to satisfy the decision-maker that this is so.

I have just (on Monday) submitted my second report under the new system, and it was approved in two hours. I have seen the above posts about inputting incorrect details for the second submission. When I completed the form yesterday, I only had to input my passport number and nationality, and all other previously submitted info came up automatically. Then just pressed "submit" and that was it.

I have just done my second online 90-day report using the "new" online website. I submitted at 08.08 hrs this morning, and I have it back, approved, at 10.12 hrs.

Published on the UKVI website yesterday : Visit the UK Standard visitor visa applications are currently taking on average 6 weeks to process. We are working hard to process applications to get back to the 3-week service standard.

I don't think it's exactly a new policy. It started, I think, years ago when a "terrorist" (for want of a better word) checked in for a flight with his baggage. But he didn't board the flight, and there was an explosion on board after take off. It was possibly a flight to Brussels ? So, making passengers identify their baggage before actully boarding the flight was brought in so that if a piece of baggage was unidentified prior to take off, it didn't go on board.

The applicant does not require a TB test/certificate if staying less than 6 months in the UK, so not required for a standard visit visa. I'm not entirely sure how that is logical, as it seems possible to infect others with TB in less than 6 months, but that is UKVI logic.

Totally wrong ! If she has a visa that expires on 23rd May, that is when she must leave the UK, unless she has not been in the UK for 6 months. If, for instance, she has only been in the UK for one month on 23rd May, she can then apply to extend her stay by the the remaining 5 months of the 6 months. It will, however, cost around 1,000 GBP to do so. See theoldgit's link above : If you have permission to be in the UK for less than 6 months You may be able to extend your stay as long as the total time you spend in the UK is no more than 6 months. You must meet the eligibility requirements and pay the £993 fee. For example, if you have been in the UK for 3 months, you can apply to extend your stay for 3 more months. This applies if you needed a visa to visit the UK and also if you did not need one.

Yes, Thai tourism is magical. The Thai government made it disappear.

This VFS (Trendy Building) web page gives you information on either scanning the documents yourself or letting VFS scan them for you when you are at Trendy. It costs 460 THB at Trendy. https://visa.vfsglobal.com/tha/en/gbr/supporting-documents

I think you misunderstod me, but no disrespect taken. I just find it wrong when people say it's okay to do something when there is nothing definitive to say that it is okay. This country and this government can change their minds about almost anything at any moment, so telling people it's okay to travel with limited insurance when the published guidance says it isn't, just seems a bit tenuous. But, please don't tell me that Thailand probably isn't the right place for me. No disrespect intended, but please keep your opinions on my life to yourself.

I'll tell my Embassy to stop trying to follow up on this then, as Dr Jack54 says it's okay.

I guess that's a "no" then, you don't have anything definitive to offer ?