Visit Or Fiancee Visa

[fracair]

I have today arrived back in England, after visiting my fiancée in Thailand; I took with me two large files containing everything needed to do a visit visa. My fiancée had a file containing original docs that had been translated and properly processed.

On the day we went to do the visa, mistakenly we went to the British embassy parking the car at a hotel opposite our driver and my fiancée and I walked over only to be met by a girl who said that the office had moved.

They were speaking Thai so I had no idea what! Was being said, but as she started walking toward the car with us I had a funny idea I knew exactly what was going on. We arrive at Regent house, got out of the lift on the third floor as far as I can remember, straight into an office and greeted by a female Thai visa agent. The lady in the office looked at the portfolio that we had put together around a 200 pages of proof, photos of the both of us, pay slips, p45, bank statements, proof of accommodation in UK, receipts’ from previous visits you name it its there as well as a detailed Sponsor letter indexing everything.

After speaking with us for around 20mins and offering her services for 87000 baht, her offer was tempting as she made it sound a cert we would get the visa, and if not we don’t pay. She said that we should go for fiancée visa as we meet and exceed the criteria

I asked to have a few minuets with my fiancée we stepped out the office, this encounter was enough for us both to change from visit to fiancée but it was not going to be with an agency.

I went back into the office alone, asked if she could guarantee a fiancée visa, she replied again that if not you not pay, I said with all due respect to you and your company I will have to decline the offer. I thanked her for helping us feel a little more confident in the work that we have done so far.

We then went to Tak to visit with her family once again, as this was now my third trip to see her, her father has now accepted me into the family, her mother and brother were quite happy with my intentions on my second trip.

Whilst in Tak for six days we completed application for fiancée visa, practically rewriting the sponsor letter and updating proof to include this visit.

We stayed in Tak longer than we should have; we did not leave ourselves enough time to make the application.

One very important thing we forgot was the TB X-ray, not a problem took less than 3-4 hours start to finish. That is registering at the IOM, then to the hospital, and back to the IOM

I was hoping to change my return flight day to Jan 26 so we could submit the fiancée visa together on Friday morning, however all flights apparently fully booked, so I had no choice but to return on the 25th.

She will submit the application, on Monday morning.

Thanks for those who helped and advised me in earlier posts, I had to be sure I knew exactly what too do. Long winded I know.

The floor is yours

[atlastaname]

Fracair,

i seem to remember your posts of a few months back although i can't seem to find them now so apologies if i remember wrongly. Weren't you the one i accused of being naive (almost charmingly so) ? I think you were also the one that several members decided was a troll and were quite rude to you? Anyway , seems you are for real after all (i seem to remember i treated you with respect unlike some).

I wish you luck with your application which you will probably get. You were right to go it alone and not pay the 87000B agent fees.

I see one thing hasn't changed...you are still a bit disorganised and lacking a sense of urgency. To spend 6 days making your new application (as you had all the documentation i could have done it in 1) and then to run out of time and have to fly back shows a lack of immediacy. But then not everyone can be as organised as me

I'm a bit worried how quickly you are flip flopping between visit and fiancee visas. I just hope that IF it goes to interview the ECO doesn't get a sense of this too. Its ludicrous that you really want a visit visa (thats what you were going for initially) and now are commiting to a fiancee one. I say it so many times , its so daft that our immigration system is such that it forces people to get married just so their other halves can see the UK. Its not the right basis for a marriage but then again for some it is the only way. People here say go for the visa that best suits you not the one that is easiest (fiancee is easier). Trouble with that is that our wonderful system makes it so difficult for a certain section of Thais (ordinary , no real money , land or job, but nonetheless human beings as good as any other) to get a visit visa that their sponcers are having to marry them to get them here. Yet most here defend this wonderful system . Always puzzles me !!

Good luck... if you are a real relationship then you WILL get your visa , either now or in the future. Genuine couples always get it in the end.

[fracair]

Fracair,

i seem to remember your posts of a few months back although i can't seem to find them now so apologies if i remember wrongly. Weren't you the one i accused of being naive (almost charmingly so) ? I think you were also the one that several members decided was a troll and were quite rude to you? Anyway , seems you are for real after all (i seem to remember i treated you with respect unlike some).

atlastaname

Yes you are correct in what you say, some did think me as a troll, again yes you did treat me with respect to the point that you were prepared to be believe my post for real, thanks. However, I needed to make sure I understood everything, so that when we made the application it would be factual and sincere. Like it was once said, it is not rocket science but it sure is a headache and worrying time for me and for all other people going through the same process. For months, I was reading the site getting as much info as possible to enable us to go it alone.

For months now I had been thinking visit or fiancée, I really did not know which way to go, all I know is, I wanted her to experience England before she made the commitment to live here. However, things move on and priorities change, all I know is that we have made the right decision now. This is our first application so it is unlikely that the immigration office would know of our change in direction.

[GU22]

Its ludicrous that you really want a visit visa (thats what you were going for initially) and now are commiting to a fiancee one. I say it so many times , its so daft that our immigration system is such that it forces people to get married just so their other halves can see the UK. Its not the right basis for a marriage but then again for some it is the only way.

Your are correct that it is ludicrous to apply for a fiance visa if what is wanted is just a visit, you are also correct that this is no basis for a marriage. However, to say that people are forced to do this by the UK immigration system is complete and utter <deleted>!

People here say go for the visa that best suits you not the one that is easiest (fiancee is easier).

One should always apply for the visa that suits one's purpose. Fiance visa easier than what?Should a Thai wishing to study in the UK find a UK citizen to marry as a fiance visa is easier than a student visa? What rubbish!

Trouble with that is that our wonderful system makes it so difficult for a certain section of Thais (ordinary , no real money , land or job, but nonetheless human beings as good as any other) to get a visit visa that their sponcers are having to marry them to get them here.

More <deleted>. I got a visit visa for my step-son when he was a student, and I didn't have to marry him. I know many who have got visit visas for girlfriends, boyfriends, relatives etc. without getting married to each and every one; none of these people were rich or HiSo. With many (maybe most) of the Thai/UK couples I know, the Thai partner came to the UK for a visit, with a visit visa, before making any marriage commitment.

Atlas, it is people like you who continually peddle this myth that ordinary Thais cannot get a UK visit visa that causes couples into marrying prematurely, not the UK immigration policy.

Yes, a poor farmer from Issan is going to find it difficult to satisfy the visit visa conditions without a sponsor, but then without a sponsor he wont be able to afford the ticket! Likewise, I would like to travel first class round the world, but travel agents etc. wont let me because they say I don't have enough money. Will you petition them on my behalf?

[atlastaname]

Fracair,

GU22 should apologise to you for turning your perfectly reasonable thread into a war zone with his usual rude and innaccurate outbursts against my postings. He won't though , so i will apologise for making this reply to him which i am forced to do.

Many people have to marry if they want their other halves here in the UK because they do not qualify for a visit visa due to not having enough money land or reason to return as seem subjectivally by a detached ECO at the British Embassy . That is a fact not <deleted> as GU22 suggests. Is he trying to say that no-one has been FORCED by the immigration policy of this country to get a fiancee visa in order for their other halves to see the UK? Forced because they would not have a chance of getting a visit visa because they do not have enough money land or a good job thus deemed not to have a reason to return after their visit? He knows as well as we all do here that many people have gone down the settlement visa route because they had no other choice.

So GU22 what is this if its not FORCE ??? Well !!??

Whats this rubbish about Thais studying here and being forced to marry them ? It was very clear from what i wrote that i was comparing the visit visa and the fiancee as this was the OP's dilemma . I said quite correctly that the fiancee visa is easier to get . It is ..thats a fact .Bloody obvious . But GU22 decided to deliberately take it off track by introducing student visas into the equation. I can't imagine what he was trying to prove by deliberately misunderstanding .

As for his last paragraph of vitriol , its plain rubbish. Of course some people get visit visas and then go on to marry ..thats obvious. I never said there weren't did I? Equally there are some for whom there is no chance of a visit visa , not just the poor farmer that he mentions condesendingly either but many ordinary low paid workers , even university graduates with no current job . For some of them the only way to get to the UK as they would/have failed to get a visit visa , is to get married . Bllody obvious , factual ststement . Why GU22 won't (i say won't because he can understand it he just chooses not to) acknowledge this absurdity in our system i have no idea . I can only conclude that as he will hear nothing against our wonderful polite ECO's or the system they work for, he refuses to see what is clear to the rest of us

Rant over ...for now

[GU22]

It is people like Atlastaname and the rants they produce, such as the one above, that cause people to marry prematurely, not the UK's immigration policy nor it's application by the visa section in Bangkok.

With most of the Thai/UK couples I know living in the UK, the Thai partner came to the UK with a visit visa first. As I have said in a different thread, in most of these partnerships the Thai half used to be a bar girl; so when they made the visit visa application they had no land, no steady job or income. Yet they all got their visit visa, as do tens of thousands of ordinary Thai people every year.

Atlastaname always chooses to ignore this fact as it goes against his prejudices. Yes, the system, until the Civil Partnership Act, was biased against homosexuals. Yes, many homosexual couples, like Atlastaname and his partner, did have to lie in order to obtain a visa. This has now changed.

Unfortunately, Atlastaname has let this past experience embitter him to such a point that he simply refuses to believe that for the vast majority of applicants, for whatever type of visa, the process is fast, simple and successful. No matter what social level the applicant comes from nor their income.

There are faults in the system, as I have acknowledged many times in the past, and ECOs do make mistakes, as I have also acknowledged in the past. But the overwhelming majority of refusals are the fault of the applicant; either the application was unrealistic or fraudulent, or more usually simply poorly prepared.

Sorry that this thread is going off on a tangent, but I feel it is important for people to realise that visit visas are obtainable, and that a fiance visa should not be viewed as an easier to get visit visa and that no one should ever marry someone merely to get a visa; apart from the moral aspect it simply isn't necessary.

[the scouser]

You've both stated your case. This old chesnut is ne'er to be resolved, so time to put it to bed.

Closed.

Scouse.