Settlement visa.

[spiceman]

Hi all, have a few questions about applying for a settlement visa.

 

Hopefully will be getting married to my Thai girlfriend Feb 2019 and possibly applying for settlement visa a few months after.

 

By Feb 2019 I would’ve been with her 1 year 2 months. Ive been to Thailand twice to stay with her and she’s been to England twice to stay with me.

She got her tourist visa all by herself. She stayed with me 2 weeks first time round, flew back to bangkok and stayed there for 1 month and then flew back to England and stayed with me 3 months.

 

My questions are:

 

1. Is it best to use an visa agency for applying for settlement visa or is it a simple process that I could fill in the forms for her?

 

2. I meet the financial requirements as I earn about 45k per year but to be honest I always tend to use my overdraft allowance so Im concerned when I have to submit 6 months bank statements. Could that be a problem?

 

3. How complicated are filling in the forms and gathering all the information? Ive been reading posts from others and to be honest its sounds confusing.

 

Ive been employed by the company I’ve worked for 18 years.

 

Would really appreciate if people could give me any advice?

 

Thank you all.

 

 

 

 

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[Jip99]

The OD is not an issue.

 

If the relationship was evidenced on previous standard visitor applications then you should not need the services of an agent.

 

Read the pinned posts on here on the read the Gov.uk website and vfs global website.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Jip99

[spiceman]

The OD is not an issue.
 
If the relationship was evidenced on previous standard visitor applications then you should not need the services of an agent.
 
Read the pinned posts on here on the read the Gov.uk website and vfs global website.

Thank you Jip99 for your reply.
Appreciate your advice. She never mentioned me or our relationship when applying for her tourist visa, at the time she just told the ECO she wanted to visit the Uk for a 2 week holiday. After she received the 6 month visa we started to be concerned if she stayed for a few months so we thought it would be a good idea for her to return to Bkk and then come back to the Uk and stay 3 months.

Looking back now not sure we done the right thing so maybe using a agent will be a smarter move.

Thanks


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[Jip99]

Probably depends how confident you feel about understand the criteria - and providing evidence to support that. 

 

There is good advice on here and I would suggest exploring that first before paying 50,000 Baht, or whatever the current fee is, for an agent to apply on your behalf.

[rasg]

On 10/7/2018 at 11:55 AM, spiceman said:

1. Is it best to use an visa agency for applying for settlement visa or is it a simple process that I could fill in the forms for her?

 

2. I meet the financial requirements as I earn about 45k per year but to be honest I always tend to use my overdraft allowance so Im concerned when I have to submit 6 months bank statements. Could that be a problem?

 

3. How complicated are filling in the forms and gathering all the information? Ive been reading posts from others and to be honest its sounds confusing.

If you insist on using an agency used one that is OISC accredited. The truth is that you don't need an agency. I've said this already on here in the last few hours. If you have had visit visas for your fiancée you already have 70-80% of the information that is required for a settlement visa.

 

With a 45K a year salary you should have no difficulty for your wife to be granted an SV. Even better of you can get your OD down a bit though for your financial health...

 

See my answer to question one! You already have most of the info. It's not that difficult. Especially as you are employed. I am self employed and that was far more complicated but that is why I have an accountant.

 

Plenty of people on here to help you.

 

My wife submitted her SV back in 2016 and a little bit has changed but as far as I can see, only in the way you submit the information.

[bobrussell]

The rules were specifically designed in a way that prevented any form of affordability argument. If you can show the income, you should not have a problem with the visa. You could be up to your neck in debt but that would still not affect whether the rules are met.

An overdraft that is used responsibly would not be a problem for any application but a poorly handled one might make an ECO doubt the affordability of a visit for example.

I don't see the need for an agent either!

[rasg]

5 hours ago, spiceman said:

Thank you Jip99 for your reply.
Appreciate your advice. She never mentioned me or our relationship when applying for her tourist visa, at the time she just told the ECO she wanted to visit the Uk for a 2 week holiday. After she received the 6 month visa we started to be concerned if she stayed for a few months so we thought it would be a good idea for her to return to Bkk and then come back to the Uk and stay 3 months.

Looking back now not sure we done the right thing so maybe using a agent will be a smarter move.

I've just seen this. It really doesn’t matter as she won’t need a reason to return for an SV. You will need to prove that you have a relationship though. If you had sponsored her for the visit visa you would have already done it. And you still won't need to use a visa agent!

 

She will need a TB test from the IOM in Bangkok and an A1 English language test.

[7by7]

14 hours ago, bobrussell said:

The rules were specifically designed in a way that prevented any form of affordability argument. If you can show the income, you should not have a problem with the visa. You could be up to your neck in debt but that would still not affect whether the rules are met.

 

Indeed.

 

That is one of the farcical things about the current financial requirement.

• Income £18,600 p.a. and up to one's neck in ever increasing debt; requirement met.
• Income £18,599.99 p.a. and no debt, not even a mortgage; requirement not met.

[spiceman]

Thank you all for your replies, most helpful. Its good to know that if I do the visa myself I have you knowledgeable people around. Thx


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