I'd be grateful for a little advice as follows :

My Thai partner is travelling with me to Britain in a couple of weeks on a tourist visa. We are hoping to travel to France and Spain as well.

Will my partner need a visa for every country that we visit? And is it better to obtain a visa here in Thailand or to apply from the UK?

Thanks for your help.

Will my partner need a visa for every country that we visit? And is it better to obtain a visa here in Thailand or to apply from the UK?

She will need to get a Schengen visa before she leaves Thailand. A Schengen visa will allow her to enter both France and Spain and travel between the two. If you intend to go to France and Spain on seperate trips from UK you will need a multiple entry visa.

Regulations are that she must apply in her country of residence so she must apply for the Schengen visa at the embassy in Bangkok of the country which you intend to travel to first or the one where you intend to spend the most time.

It would be difficult for a tourist to obtain a visa to Europe while in the UK. Best to apply for a multiple-entry Schengen visa in Bangkok from either the French ((66 2) 627 2150) or Spanish (Tel: +66-(0)2 2589020, 2589021) Embassy before travel.

Thanks for all your help.

We have now applied for a Schengen VISA and we should have it next week (with a bit of luck).

One final complication : we will be travelling to the Republic of Ireland also. If we have both a UK and a Schengen visa, do we also need an Irish visa? The Irish Consulate says yes but that seems crazy to me. We do not have time to obtain a visa to Ireland here in Bangkok anyway because it takes a month, apparently and we leave on 23rd March. Do we really need one and, if so, will it be possible to get one in the Irish Embassy in Britain? My partner has been to Ireland before, about two years ago.

The main problem is that we have booked a flight from England to Ireland on 4th April and a flight form Ireland to Spain on 5th April, so if we can't go to Ireland, we lose our airfares and our hotel charges in Madrid.

Any advice?

Yes, your partner will require a visa for the Republic of Ireland. You could try pleading your case to the Irish embassy in London, but under normal circumstances, the visa should be sought in the usual country of residence.

Scouse.

Yes, your partner will require a visa for the Republic of Ireland. You could try pleading your case to the Irish embassy in London, but under normal circumstances, the visa should be sought in the usual country of residence.

Scouse.

Thanks for that.

I'll see if I can get an accelerated visa from the Consulate in Bangkok. I have almost two weeks to do it.

I think it's ridiculous that we have a UK and Schenhen Visa and that they entitle us to travel almost everywhere in Europe except the twenty-six counties of my home country! However, rules are rules, so I suppose I'll just have to try to get around them!

Three visa applications and three visa application fees to travel in such a small area!

Thanks for all your help.

Three visa applications and three visa application fees to travel in such a small area!

Marry her and the visas are free for the spouse of a UK citizen

From your post, it seems you are staying in the Irish republic for less than a day, hardly worth getting a visa for i should think, you could almost stay in transit and not require a visa

You would hope that as your partner has been to Ireland before, and has current visas for the UK and Schengen, matters can be expedited.

Scouse.