UK Spouse VISA for pregnant THAI wife

[Simon Havard]

Dear friends,

 

I am recently married to my Thai girlfriend who is 16 weeks pregnant we are due to register the marriage with the Ampour this week as we were married in Hong Kong last week.

My wife will give birth in June 2018 and we both want to live in the UK and raise our child there from September 2018 and we need help and advise on how to obtain a VISA for my wife and register the child when born. 

 

We have had our marriage certificate translated and today this has been sent to the Thai consulate for stamping ahead of us taking this to the Ampour to register our marriage and for my wife to change her name to my name. 

 

I have been looking at the forum but still unsure when and how to begin the process to apply for a VISA and if I should use an agency such as Visalogic.? I would be very grateful for any advise at this stage so I can prepare for the registration of our child in June and to then apply for a Spouse VISA so we can live together as a family in the UK.  I have tried to seek work in IT networking here in Thailand but have had no luck even after sending my CV to every recruitment agency and registering with various job sites. 

 

I would be extremely grateful for any help at all please.

[sanemax]

For your Wife to get a UK visa , you would have to show a UK income .

Think that its about 20 000 GBP per year over three years

[Simon Havard]

Hi Sanemax,

 

I have been in full time employment for more than 3 years and earn in excess of 20k.

 

Thanks for your post in reply.

 

[rasg]

Save your money and do it yourself. There is a wealth of knowledge on this forum to help you.

 

Your wife will need a TB test, the A1 English language test, although it's worth going for A2 or even B1 if her English is good.

 

The Settlement visa will last for 33 months and on top of the visa fee you will need to pay the NHS surcharge. If I remember it's £600. She will then need Further Leave to Remain (FLR) that you apply for in the UK. She will need the A2 test for FLR. It lasts for 30 months and again you will need to pay the NHS surcharge. (£500.00).

 

After FLR she will need Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).

 

For ILR there is no NHS surcharge but she will need the B1 language test and the Life in the UK test.

 

Salary currently needed is £18,600 pa. The various visas go up by around 20% pa but from beginning to end it will cost around £7K.

[Simon Havard]

Hi rasg,

 

Thanks for your post I will attempt to do this myself and appreciate your detailed reply. 

When should I begin the application and will it be worth waiting for the baby to be born first.?

 

My wife has a degree which was taught in English I read somewhere that this would help with the English Language test.

Also will I make the application for her to come from the UK or will she have to apply herself from TH.?

 

Many thanks

Si

[sanemax]

Just now, Simon Havard said:

 

My wife has a degree which was taught in English I read somewhere that this would help with the English Language test.

Also will I make the application for her to come from the UK or will she have to apply herself from TH.?

 

Just for the record, there was a report of a fluent English speaker taking the English language test and they failed it, reason being that their English was too good .

   As I recall , instead of answering the questions asked , they wrote in fluent English and not actually answering the set question, which caused them to fail .

[theoldgit]

I concur the rasg's reply and agree that there is really no need to use an agent, if however you did want to use an agent, some people do find it comforting, I would probably opt for one here in Thailand who could maybe communicate with the applicants better, I would only recommend one, that being the company who sponsors this forum, not because they sponsors this forum but because his team are very good and have a good track record.

 

As has been pointed out there was an issue with an applicant whose application was refused because she didn't have the required evidence of language skills, in her case she presented a degree that didn't meet the criteria. The criteria is set out here: https://www.gov.uk/english-language

[theoldgit]

37 minutes ago, Simon Havard said:

Thanks for your post I will attempt to do this myself and appreciate your detailed reply. 

When should I begin the application and will it be worth waiting for the baby to be born first.?

 

My wife has a degree which was taught in English I read somewhere that this would help with the English Language test.

Also will I make the application for her to come from the UK or will she have to apply herself from TH.?

 

Your wife, the applicant, can apply at any time, and it must be done from Thailand, though the supporting documents must be sent to Sheffield, you could send them from the UK and they could be returned to you. She would have to visit the Visa Application Centre in Bangkok. It's worth noting that travel to the UK must be completed in a very short time frame.

I personally would wait until your child is born before the application is submitted.

I've answered your question regarding the language requirements in my previous response.
You may find the following helpfull, I apologise if you already have them.
  

Settlement Rules.pdf

Settlement supporting documents guide.pdf

Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement_August_2015.pdf

[sanemax]

You would also need to get your son a UK passport , which can be done in Bangkok

[Simon Havard]

To both theoldgit and Sanemax,

 

Just wanted to say thank you for your help and advice with this. can you advise the agent who sponsors this board please as I would like to contact them.

 

All the best and thanks again.

[Simon Havard]

On ‎09‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 3:46 AM, sanemax said:

You would also need to get your son a UK passport , which can be done in Bangkok

Hi Sanemax,

 

I presume I go to the British consulate with my wife and the birth certificate to apply for this ??

Or would I need to visit the Ampour first to obtain the birth certificate.

 

My wife is changing her family name to my family name so I hope this makes the process easier.

[theoldgit]

No, the British Embassy isn't involved, all the details are here

https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/overseas/information/thailand/first/child/thailand

[Simon Havard]

2 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

No, the British Embassy isn't involved, all the details are here

https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/overseas/information/thailand/first/child/thailand

Thanks for this info mate. 

[Simon Havard]

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 3:46 AM, sanemax said:

You would also need to get your son a UK passport , which can be done in Bangkok

Dear friends an update :

Our daughter was born on 13.06.18  10 days early. I arrived in BKK the day my wife came out of Hospital and we spent a month together as a family. The first 10 days the mother-in-law was helping out before she went went back to Khon Kaen. My wife our daughter and I then spent the time to get the Birth Certificate translated and a TB test done for my wife. The passport form has been signed but the counter signature on the photos and then photos themselves are holding us a bit. Once we can resolve this delay most probably by getting someone here in the UK to counter sign the photos and sending them to my wife in TH who will then have to go to the passport office in BKK from Khon Kaen.

 

As soon as we get the passport we want to apply for the Settlement Visa. The documents we need to send supporting the application is just a nightmare. also she has her documents there and some of mine but I have a great deal here.

 

Can we send our documents separate.?

Do we need to use VFS ?

Can I apply for her as a sponsor.?

Can I do this online.?

 

Or can she or I apply for either of EEA family permit or family residence card ?

 

Any help  and advice is always very appreciated.

 

Best wishes 

Simon

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by Simon Havard

[bobrussell]

The system is on-line initially:

 

https://www.gov.uk/apply-uk-visa

 

Your wife is applying for a settlement visa which comes under the 'apply using the visa4UK service.

There are pinned topics here for the financial requirements section and UK settlement visa basics that should help. 

It looks daunting but is straight forward as long as you don't panic!

 

The family permit route will only work if you are planning to move to an EEA country other than your own. 

[Simon Havard]

Thanks Bob - really appreciate you replying. 

 

Would you advise waiting for our daughters passport to arrive before applying for the Settlement Visa for my wife . ?

[sanemax]

2 hours ago, Simon Havard said:

The passport form has been signed but the counter signature on the photos and then photos themselves are holding us a bit. Once we can resolve this delay most probably by getting someone here in the UK to counter sign the photos and sending them to my wife in TH who will then have to go to the passport office in BKK from Khon Kaen.

The counter signature is for the person to confirm that the photo is an actual photo of the person who is applying and they know this because they know the person (for the last three years).

   Not sure how they could do this from back in the UK , if theyve never seen your Daughter .

  You could get the hospital to counter sign the application ?

Congratulations for having a Daughter .

[Simon Havard]

Thanks Sanemax apparently the counter signature has to be someone who has a British Passport. 

Also the passport application has to be made by my wife and from the country our daughter resides. 

 

If I am reading this wrong and someone who is Thai and has known my wife for 3 years could sign it would make life easier to get our daughter a passport. 

 

A great deal of jumping through hoops. 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Simon Havard

[theoldgit]

The photo needs to be signed by someone who has known your wife for two years and holds either a British, Irish or other EU passport, or a US or Commonwealth passport.

 

The full details and requirements are here: https://www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

[Simon Havard]

Thanks oldgit - the only person who qualifies is my sister who resides in the UK so we have got a photo of our daughter and will print, counter sign and then send back to my wife in TH.