Visa for girlfriend to UK

[Spencer87]

hi guys

long time lurker .. 1st post

my situation as per the topic is i want to try and get my girl a visa to the UK

initially a tourist visa to see if she like the UK and then after if all goes well we will i suspect marry in Thailand and then apply for UK settlement.

 

our story is we met last june (2017) thru an american friend who lived in pattaya and had been with her brother for many years. they have now moved back to the USA and married. i knew the guy and during a meal he introduced me to his partners sister (my now girlfriend) .

before the sceptics dive in she is not a bar girl .. she is a lead singer in a music group that sings in places such as the big tawangdang variety club in naklua and several other ones (bowin & rayong). shes 35 yrs old. and has 1 child aged 9 who as usual lives with grandma most of the time at the family home.

like many Thais self employed is cash in the pocket and the idea of paying tax is something they did not know existed.  her monthly income is around 40,000 bt. and the bank is used only to transfer money to friends or family.

i have been coming to see her 1 week every month for the last 9 months. and we stay together when i am here. 

we are now at the stage where we want to move forward. we talked about me moving her to thailand but i have a good business in the UK and it would fall without my hands on input. so we have come up with her coming to the UK on a tourist visa to meet my family and if she likes it and we think its viable for then to marry in thailand and apply for settlement in the UK.

i've just flown back in to thailand 2 days ago with a plan in mind of getting a visa application rolling and while i researched visa's and decided that it would be best to use an agent to do the footwork (she works long late hours) i forgot all about songkran lol .. so many if not all agents are closed as they don't want to get soaked. i'm here until 19th april

does anyone know if any of the good agents are open next week ? and from the info given do those in the know think we have any chance of success

 

[rasg]

7 hours ago, Spencer87 said:

i've just flown back in to thailand 2 days ago with a plan in mind of getting a visa application rolling and while i researched visa's and decided that it would be best to use an agent to do the footwork (she works long late hours) i forgot all about songkran lol .. so many if not all agents are closed as they don't want to get soaked. i'm here until 19th april

Working long hours or not, she will still have to do the legwork gathering the information for the visa.

 

90% of the work is in the gathering of info. As long as you have access to a PC and the Internet it is not that difficult to do it yourself. You will also need access to a printer. My wife used a local copy shop for her first Visit visa and as she had quite a bit printed, I ended up emailing documents directly to the copy shop.

 

If you use a visa company please, please, please use an OISC accredited visa company. They are very thin on the ground and you will pay a bit more but you will get quality advice. Thai Visa Express are sponsors of this forum.

 

Six days is doable as long as you have access to all of the information and documents you need.

 

You will need to show you have sufficient funds to pay for the flight and trip, proof of your relationship and a reason that she will return to Thailand. Typically a job to return to is one of the best.

 

Think you'll find that most agents will be enjoying Songkran with their families like most people. An even better reason to do it yourself and save some cash.

Edited April 13, 2018 by rasg

[dallen52]

Working long hours or not, she will still have to do the legwork gathering the information for the visa.
 
90% of the work is in the gathering of info. As long as you have access to a PC and the Internet it is not that difficult to do it yourself. You will also need access to a printer. My wife used a local copy shop for her first Visit visa and as she had quite a bit printed, I ended up emailing documents directly to the copy shop.
 
If you use a visa company please, please, please use an OISC accredited visa company. They are very thin on the ground and you will pay a bit more but you will get quality advice. Thai Visa Express are sponsors of this forum.
 
Six days is doable as long as you have access to all of the information and documents you need.
 
You will need to show you have sufficient funds to pay for the flight and trip, proof of your relationship and a reason that she will return to Thailand. Typically a job to return to is one of the best.
 
Think you'll find that most agents will be enjoying Songkran with their families like most people. An even better reason to do it yourself and save some cash.

Just doing a U.K. visa application for my Thai partner.
All the site changed April 2018..
A bit more information is required now.
Mother and father details.
The other usual stuff.

Plus the price went up.
It also says allow up to 15 days.

Surprisingly after completing the online part, it offered me a Bangkok appointment for Tuesday April 17th.
And said that the main document required was a valid passport.

She has had previous applications for Australia. Ok.
Biometric is already on the database.

Hoping that the docs required are now simplified?
And we just take the basics same as previously.

Anyone done this in the last few days?

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[rasg]

40 minutes ago, dallen52 said:

Just doing a U.K. visa application for my Thai partner.
All the site changed April 2018..
A bit more information is required now.
Mother and father details.
The other usual stuff.

Plus the price went up.
It also says allow up to 15 days.

Surprisingly after completing the online part, it offered me a Bangkok appointment for Tuesday April 17th.
And said that the main document required was a valid passport.

She has had previous applications for Australia. Ok.
Biometric is already on the database.

Hoping that the docs required are now simplified?
And we just take the basics same as previously.

Anyone done this in the last few days?

Mother and father details were required back in 2015 and they were the most difficult things to get from my then girlfriend who is now my wife. Dates of birth and places of birth were a pain as so many older people don't seem to have birth certificates. My wife couldn't remember her mum's birthday and certainly didn't know her year of birth. They  don't put that much emphasis on birthdays in Thailand the way we do in the west.

 

Biometrics are taken for every visa application to show that it is the same person applying each time and the visa prices go up in April each year.

 

 

[theoldgit]

@dallen52 My girlfriend needed to supply details regarding her parents when she first applied for a visa in 2007 and has done so for every application since, including her most recent application in November 2017.

 

It's not unusual to be able to get short notice appointments, on a previous application she applied during the early evening and was offerred an appointment the following afternoon.

 

Application fees have risen every year, usually in April.

 

As the previous poster has pointed out biometric details are caputured for every application to ensure that the same person is making the application, also. I'm led to believe, for data protection reasons.

 

Whilst you were advised that the applicant passport should be submitted, that's only the bare minimum, certainly when my good lady applied in November the automated letter only mentioned the passport  but she as the applicant will still needed to provide support claims she had made in her application, as supporting evidence is not retained forever. I do concede that the policy could have changed during the last few months, but I suspect not.

 

You may find the supporting documents guidance helpful. https://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/thailand/pdf/document-checklist.pdf

 

 

 

 

[CeeGee]

I think the question regarding parents DOB has been raised before and the "official" advice is to put 01-01-1900 if you do not know exact dates,we have done this on ten previous visitor visas and it has never been questioned

[rasg]

1 hour ago, dallen52 said:

Surprisingly after completing the online part, it offered me a Bangkok appointment for Tuesday April 17th.
And said that the main document required was a valid passport.

She has had previous applications for Australia. Ok.
Biometric is already on the database.

Hoping that the docs required are now simplified?
And we just take the basics same as previously.

Anyone done this in the last few days?

Out of interest I just went through the new online visit visa application process and it seems they are finally off the beta version. It's much cleaner and simpler to use but pretty much the same information is required. You can check a box now and only supply one parents details. One thing I like is you can download a PDF at any step to check that you have put the correct info in. It generates a link now that you copy and paste to return to the application at any time. After ten days of inactivity it will delete the application.

[CeeGee]

still shows beta version for me, 

[rasg]

Which link are you using?

 

Here is the latest. AS far as I can see you must keep the link that the website gives you after you have started the application. I didn’t keep it as I was only playing and I can't get back to it.

 

https://visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/alt-language-selection-skip-visa

Edited April 14, 2018 by rasg

[CeeGee]

That seems to work, it certainly is different, I was using the link   https://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/home/welcome , which I have always used.If you start an application you do get sent an e mail with a link on it.

 

However, if you go to the Apply for a visa page, you still get sent to the beta version.

Thanks for the info

[theoldgit]

Thanks for that link rasg at first glance it looks a lot better and you don't need pre register you can start straight away.


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[dallen52]

11 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

Thanks for that link rasg at first glance it looks a lot better and you don't need pre register you can start straight away.


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We had started the process of applying and we went back to the link. 

But it basically has us starting again. 

No problem with that.

It did ask for a second parent. 

We were lucky to have a copy of the tabien Baan from previous stuff we did. 

Plus the usual never married affirmation from her local town and head lady concurrence. 

With the Australian one we fronted and the lady said.. 

Not need. Not need. 

To several papers. 

Because of the fact that I did a sponsorship letter. 

 

Never really had any problems with applications. 

I just wanted to check what else was being taken currently besides the passport. 

 

I did a check list some time ago. 

Looks like this. Attached. 

Pretty much the same for UK and Australia applications. 

 

But some of the officers take less. 

 

 

[rasg]

12 hours ago, dallen52 said:

We had started the process of applying and we went back to the link. 

But it basically has us starting again. 

No problem with that.

It did ask for a second parent. 

We were lucky to have a copy of the tabien Baan from previous stuff we did. 

Plus the usual never married affirmation from her local town and head lady concurrence. 

With the Australian one we fronted and the lady said.. 

Not need. Not need. 

To several papers. 

Because of the fact that I did a sponsorship letter. 

It does ask for both parents but there is a box to check if you only know one of them.

 

A UK visit visa doesn't require birth certificates. They would have been provided to get passports.

 

My then girlfriend had to get a copy of her divorce papers.

 

Also a copy of the sponsor's passport pages showing stamps to and from Thailand were needed.

 

As far as I know you no longer need a passport photo as they take one when you supply biometrics.

[CeeGee]

Just noticed on the new form, a sneaky little question.regarding someone else paying.

1) Will anyone be paying toward the cost of your visit

2)Who is paying towards the cost of your visit

3)How much money will they be paying towards your visit

 

4)Why are they helping to pay for your visit?

 

I doubt if anyone is going to put, to smuggle drugs or to work in a brothel so why ask this question as they already ask, what is the main purpose of your trip,I can think of no logical reason for asking this question as you have to state you are not coming for terrorism etc or to overthrow the government

[rasg]

If I remember it also asks if anybody else is paying towards the cost of the trip so you can add more than one.

[theoldgit]

Nonsense posts removed.


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