Greetings O Knowledgeable Ones :-)

I will soon be getting married, in Thailand, to the Thai mother of my 2 children (both have dual thai-UK nationality) and we wish to apply for a UK visitors visa for her in order that we can visit my family once or twice a year for a few months with the children. I was thinking of a 2 year multiple entry.

Here is some background info:

- We have been together for 4 years and our twin babies were born in October 2006.

- I own 2 businesses in Hong Kong but I live most of the time in Thailand. I have been using the 30day visa-exemption rule to stay in thailand and commute to HK every month for a few days, with the occaisional visa-run to Cambodia. After we are married I will obtain a dependents visa for Thailand.

- My wife does not have any employment. She does own 4 properties in Thailand in her name (2 houses, once of which we live in, and 2 pieces of land; none of which produce declared rental) and she has mainained an average bank balance of over 1million baht since before we met.

I would have thought that our situation was extremely common so I was expecting there to be no problem, however friends of ours in a similar position were recently denied a visitiors visa, apparently because she had no prima facie reason to leave the UK, and therefore I am very worried that the same could happen to us. Hypothetically, if I were to stay in the UK with the children beyond the time allowed by her visitors visa she would naturally want to do the same. It was even suggested to us that, paradoxically, it might be easier for her to apply for settlement (I do own a house in the UK together with my mother and I could quite easily establish a UK branch of my HK company that would "employ" me). My financial position is comfortably secure, though I have no "real" plan to live in the UK apart from 3-4 months every year.

Other advice I have received is to make the application in HK - where applications are not dealt with so stringently - though of course all the documentation about her bank, properties, phone records etc; are in Thai language - we will both be in HK for around 5 weeks before travelling to the UK. I am a permanent resident of HK (and a British Citizen) and she is a non-permanent resident of HK.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

SD

She should apply in the country where she is resident. This may cause a problem such as your friend experienced if you are seen to be resident in Hong Kong and she in Thailand.

Basically, you will have to show to the ECOs satisfaction that you do not intend to settle in the UK; if they believe that you will be leaving then they will believe that she will leave with you, but if they suspect that you will be remaining in the UK then they will suspect that she will remain with you. So, you will need to provide as much evidence as possible of your residency in HK/LOS, as well as hers.

As well as the documents on the checklist I would also strongly recommend a covering letter from you explaining your work and domestic arrangements, confirming that you do intend to return to HK or LOS at the end of the visit. Any evidence you can supply of your employment and commitments to HK and/or LOS will also help.

As this would be classed as a family visit, you could appeal against any refusal. Therefore the ECO will need to be sure of his/her ground if they were to refuse.