atlastaname

The visa officer is as equally bound by the immigration rules as the applicant is, so providing that your wife can demonstrate that she meets the requirements, there's no reason why she shouldn't qualify, whether she lives in Pattaya or not.

Scouse.

Scouse this is pure GOLD...

More like pure Bronze i would say. The visa officer operates under guidelines which are just that , and they are given considerable latitude in their interpretation of the bundle of documents in any application. You only have to search this forum and you will be swamped with posters saying "we provided the proof but they ignored it "....etc etc.

Now Pilgrim i am not saying she does or doesn't have a good chance , and certainly i agree with Scouse (for once) that her being in Pattaya should be totally irrelevant , although Pattaya does conjure up the wrong image in some people's minds (maybe in the ECO's as well)

The key word here is "demonstrate ". She must demonstrate (to the ECO's interpretation) that she qualifies. So its not good enough that she does qualify, she must also "demonstrate" that she does. Can be trickier than you think depending on the mood of the ECO on the day.

Good luck anyway

Atlas

Atlas, as ever, selecting the little snippets which suit his argument, without looking at the broader context.

Scouse.

I think you'll find thats a tactic used by just about everyone to make their point.

Its what the quote facility is there for !!

You use it , so does Mahout , and of course the lovable lamented GU22 (who was perhaps its greatest user) plus hundreds of others.

Sadly, as in all walks of life, if you don't qualify you don't get.

Really MA , i expected better from you. We all know that some do qualify but are refused because the ECO decides , for their own reasons, to refuse, which they can always do by finding a small point and elaborating on it . Ohterwise how do you explain me and my partner being refused an unmarried partners visa when we did qualify under all the criteria (easily) and this was confirmed by one of the top UK lawyers who submitted the application for us ? No i can give you the answer , because the ECO was homophobic and didn't like my partner so he trawled through the application to find fault to expand on . The UK lawyer i used is a specialist in this field and confirmed this was also their opinion. Can you explain that ? Other than i am right .......

It must be extremely hard work for Atlas to contrive to skew every post in an attempt to substantiate his viewpoint.

Scouse.

I must remind you this post was entitled

"DO I MARRY HER?"

so it was not skewed at all by me was it? The guy is asking if he should marry her to get the visa. Of course he subsequently changed his post saying he always intended to. Y

I don't think we are disagreeing here. At least not on the specific point you raised above. Yes commitment is expected if you are to reside in the UK as it would be elsewhere. No problems with that idea .

However you are missing a part of my arguement/statement . The bit you (and Scouse) are missing is that I am saying (because it appears so often in peoples posts) that people are having problems qualifying for visas and are contemplating marriage as a way of getting their loved one to the UK even when they only really wanted a visit visa. Because they feel they won't qualify (and sometimes because they have been refused a vv already) they are getting married so as to facilitate their next application. THAT is what i am saying is so wrong. Visit visas should be made easier to get , as it is making some people marry in order to get their partners to the UK.

Also you say , and its the Home Office's arguement also , that couples can always reside in Thailand if they can't get a visa for the UK. I find that so offensive. WHY should the UK partner be FORCED to up sticks and live in Thailand as the only way of being together? If they wish to fine , but why should their family life be disturbed by being made to live in Thailand when they don't want to? When my partner was refused an unmarried partners visa a few years back the ECO said "well theres nothing stopping you living in Thailand together!!" Except that the salaries are pitiful and we wanted to live in England together. My reply (the printable bit) was to say that I will choose where i live with my partner not him. Eventually , after being forced to marry, my partner now lives with me in the UK. WE were forced to marry to have the life we chose to have in the country we chose to live in .

Now maybe you understand my strong feelings on this subject.

To Scouse and Mahout,

Gentlemen , what are you reading that i am not ? We can all understand English yet when i make a post based on what the OP has himself said , you say its skewed. I don't understand . Would one of you kindly explain which bit of

Quote "We did get married for visa purposes ...."

i am misunderstanding.? The implication of the OP saying that is that , if it were not for the visa purposes they would not have got married!!

Mahout , yes of course you are right about all the benefits they get . But i was never saying they didn't get benefits. I never touched on it . All i said was the OP stated they got married for visa purposes and i think anyone who marries for visa purposes (ie to aid a granting of a visa) is wrong , but that is the position they are forced into by our system which makes it so difficult for them otherwise.

We are all talking at cross purposes here i think. Do neither of you intellegent people understand my point? Or am i misreading it ? Do please tell.....

A lot of sense in what you say Andrew. Unfortunately this forum is populated by mostly staunch defenders of the current system. Quite why they seek to defend it so robustly i cannot begin to understand , but they do nonethe less. No doubt they all have their own individual reasons for supporting it and i doubt we will ever know the truth.

You and I and a few others here with the ability to see through the charade we call a visa system , know that in truth the whole system is built around officially pretending to welcome people to the UK whilst behind the scenes there is a policy of keeping out undesirables , undesirable that is by the governments definition. Now i don't disagree that we need to keep out the wrong people but ... who are the wrong people?

The govt is obsessed by young people of both sexes coming here and working as prostituites. Now to be clear i have no vested interest in this at all , as all my previous relationships have been with much more HiSo Thais. However i cannot for the life of me see why this is a problem . So they come here and work as prostitutes....SO WHAT?? Does the world stop spinning ?

Unfortunately (does anyone know why BTW?) this is a subject that is banned from discussion on this forum , so none of you are allowed to reply , which is a shame.

But in my opinion undesireables are terrorists , not prostitutes.

Quote function

Click on the above link

As an aside this is a quick way to use the quote function, there are other posts but this is the first I could find.

Moss

Thanks Moss , always wondered how to easily do what the much missed GU22 was a master of.

I've edited a bit of your post to see if it worked!!

I’m sure its an honest mistake.

Sorry Alas I couldn't resist

Good Luck

Moss

As you can see Moss from my last post .... actually it WAS an honest mistake, if you can call replying to someone who then completely posts something different a mistake. Glad i keep you amused

This has probably been flogged to death but i'm in need of guidance with regards to getting my pregnant fiancé back to the UK ASAP before she delivers. I’m troubled by horror stories of visa applications and the notorious reputation Pattaya has for being full of get rich visa businesses whose main focus is cash flow. My fiancée is 1 month pregnant, I am 28 she is 24 I have a respectable job and so does she, we plan to marry to aid the flow of visa application. Any previous threads, advice and or guidance on this matter would be greatly received. Oh and what does this all cost?

Shame you feel you have to marry to "aid the flow of visa application" . It has been flogged to death as a search will show...and i expect it will be a matter of days until we have yet another poster considering marriage they would not otherwise be considering just so their girlfriend can get a visa. Nice system we have

I would also like to know what policy guidlines ECOs follow in considering applications. These must be highly specific and based on ministerial statements. We have the benefit of open government and so they must be in the public domain. The UK is not a fascist state so where are these policy guidelines?

The policy instructions are published on the UK Visas website:-

Diplomatic Service Procedures

See also:

Immigration Directorate Instructions.

Scouse.

Quote "the UK is not a fascist state..." ... it is fast heading that way.!!

commenting on the Scouse's post guiding you to the DSP , which make lengthy reading ..... the trouble with these guidelines is that they are just that ...guidelines . Like everything in our vague visa system ,in the end it is all up to how a individual official (ECO) CHOOSES to interpret the rules and guidelines. The deliberate lack of precision in the visa rules means that too much rests with the ECO's interpretation on a given day , which could very well differ from anothers on exactly the same case. So whilst the DSP is a must to read, it is unfortunately not going to help you if an ECO sets his or her mind to a refusal for their own personal reasons.

good luck, you seem to have it covered

Mark

Yes both Boxer and Leedm have it well covered but what a farce that they are both (esp Boxer!!) having to provide phone book thick bundles of documents just to get their girlfriend a visit visa !! I thought , reading Boxer's post, that they were applying for citizenship!!

Mahout makes a very important point in that you both MUST provide reasons for her to return to Thailand (or at least leave the UK) at the end of her stated stay. No amount of documentation will help you if you don't address this point as well

Hello, Everyone! Well I think I’m at a pickle! I was working in Thailand for 2 years and I met a girl whom I have been with for the year and half, however the problem is that we got married in March in Bangkok. We did get married for visa purposes and she hid this away from her family so of which we don’t have too many wedding photos. Now I have returned to the U.K to seek work in order for her to get a visa for the U.K. What we want to know that now we are now married but we have no savings and also I need to get a job in the U.K which I don’t think we be too hard! Have we passed the immigrations laws? My mother will also sponser her as well. She is not a bar girl and she has a B.A English and speaks English perfect! Please give me some advice because I don't really want to waste 500 quid for nothing.

Thanks a million

Another person FORCED by our immigration system (by his own addmission)to get married in order to get a visa !! Insane!!

To the OP,

you are well short of qualifying for any visa going by the info you have posted. You need to read up on the criteria required(you have been given a link above) and then get back here if you have any questions.

Good job - deport the bastard!!!

Hasn't been proved guilty yet!! At least wait until he is before calling him a bastard

I think most of your problems are down to lack of money. With more money you probably wouldn't have been refused because everything else would have slotted into place. Unfortunately being skint (your word) isn't a good thing in the world of visas and immigration. With money you can produce nice bank statements which , together with your long relationship, would have given her more reason to return and impressed the VO.

You've been given loads of advice above , but yours won't be easy now , you have a mountain to climb.

Do let us know what you do next

Yes thats what i thought . Another person nearly forced into marriage when all they want is a visit visa. Nice system we have

Guys

i was expecting to be sent lots of paperwork with a detailed explanation as to why the visa was refused....but have just the interview notes and nothing else... the interview lasted 12 minutes and is typed on 1 page of A4 paper...from reading the interview...my wife got 1 question wrong..."what is the time difference between thai and uk"...she answered "about 5 hours....my husband calls me before he goes to work and it is afternoon here"

The other 42 questions were all answered correctly.

Dean

42 questions in 12 minutes is good going!! 3.5 a minute ....couldn't have been much depth to any of them. The question about the time is irrellevant .. they would/could not place any importance on her getting it ever so slightly wrong by answering 5 instead of 6 (or 7 depending on time of year). Mind you you say she got the others right , but thats right by your definition , could be they view some of her answers differently.Its possible. But none of this explains why you haven't got the statement from them outlining their case now and also the reasons for refusal which , in any case , you were given when she was initially refused. Are you positive there is nothing else in the "bundle?"

Talking about condos, anyone any experiences at all of the 3 La Raffine developments in Bangkok? They look very very good , my kind of condo, but no-where can i find the price of the various units except by contacting them direct and then you don't know if the price is for real or not . Anyone know anything?

Can't say for certain across the whole development but a few months ago a business aquaintance of mine contracted to buy one at 71.3 mill, admitedly on the higher floors. Add at least another 5 for furnishings and you have a huge asset just waiting to drop to earth. He thought lowest was around 20 mill but I don't know for certain. Anyway far far too much in my opinion.

Thanks Gummy ,

all points noted

Yes well done , though they've only given you what you are entitled to. No more.

HoJo,

Yours is a very simple case , and you will have no trouble getting a visit visa for your girlfriend as long as you can PROVE you have sufficient funds to pay for both of you , somewhere to stay that is big enough to accomodate you both without overcrowding, and also prove your status in Thailand and your relationship.

What made you think about going for a fiancee visa when all you want is a visit?

I don't really have much else to add to what i have already said but i did want to post this just to thank Dave for his copious replies .... the man has made the effort you have to give him that. And he has almost swayed me into thinking maybe he's right about compulsory wearing of seatbelts. So well done Dave.

However back to the original topic, i still remain unconvinced about the HUGE rumpus this 10 year old has caused. All those who posted about him having no insurance , well hardly anyone in Thailand does so that arguement at least is out the window. So whilst you can all keep yourselves awake tonight fretting about it , i will sleep soundly.

Couple of years ago a Thai friend of mine was coming to the UK on a visit visa with a group of friends. He passed without interview but the others had to attend an interview and because of their poor interview technique, common amounst Thais, they failed. The connection was made between them and my friend as they were travelling together and he was asked to bring his passport back to the Embassy where "CANCELLED" was stamped across it and he was told his visa was withdrawn . He later applied again on his own and got it.

So whether they are supposed to do it or not , in this case at least , they did.

This is the problem with posting early in the morning (early for me anyway) !! My fingers should have typed A4 .. OOOPS. I did type vicious right though, which accurately reflects what they did.

The best advice is to call the Embassy , get put through to an ECO, and ask them what they advise. The nicer ones will usually give you a couple of minutes on the phone and you can glean a lot from that. It doesn't mean you will get the same ECO when you apply but it will give you enough info to make an informed choice. You have little to lose , except the extra fee, as if they don't give you a 2 year you will almost certainly , given your history and circumstances , get a 1 year or 6 month one

The best advice is to call the