visa application to uk

[teo99]

Hi members

I about to make a visitors visa to the UK for my Thai girlfriend of almost 3 years  and I would appreciate some advice,

my situation is  that I’m awaiting a knee replacement operation and cannot show pay slips from an employer,

we plan on getting married next year and my family all wish to meet her before hand,  I own my own home, 3 bedroom house,

and prove I can accommodate her , she works full time in a hotel as receptionist, and has permission form her

boss to take time off for travel, she has little by way of savings in her bank account as she sends most of her salary

home to support her 7 yr old son, i have a limited income of around £1,350 per month from sickness benefit and

and private sickness insurance, and about £6000 in savings,  so, my question is would that be considered enough to

sponsor her visit , flight and her upkeep, I was thinking of relinquishing the task of making the  application to an agency

but was advised not to pay for something I can do myself, I was also told that my son can sponsor her visit to meet my family

he is gainfully employed with a good salary and is prepared to write a invitation letter  as well, I would appreciate any help

given my circumstances,

 

thank you in advance   for your help Teo

[rasg]

 

2 minutes ago, teo99 said:

Hi members

I about to make a visitors visa to the UK for my Thai girlfriend of almost 3 years  and I would appreciate some advice,

my situation is  that I’m awaiting a knee replacement operation and cannot show pay slips from an employer,

we plan on getting married next year and my family all wish to meet her before hand,  I own my own home, 3 bedroom house,

and prove I can accommodate her , she works full time in a hotel as receptionist, and has permission form her

boss to take time off for travel, she has little by way of savings in her bank account as she sends most of her salary

home to support her 7 yr old son, i have a limited income of around £1,350 per month from sickness benefit and

and private sickness insurance, and about £6000 in savings,  so, my question is would that be considered enough to

sponsor her visit , flight and her upkeep, I was thinking of relinquishing the task of making the  application to an agency

but was advised not to pay for something I can do myself, I was also told that my son can sponsor her visit to meet my family

he is gainfully employed with a good salary and is prepared to write a invitation letter  as well, I would appreciate any help

given my circumstances,

There is no set amount needed for a visit visa and showing a balance of £6K is more than enough as long as you are not planning a six month holiday with your girlfriend staying in five star hotels.????

If you use her job as her reason to return to Thailand you will need a letter from her boss explaining she will have her job open when she returns. If the letter is in Thai and UKVI call to confirm any information they will speak in Thai. If the letter is in English, they will speak in English.

A copy of your last mortgage statement will show you own your house.

Any joint flight tickets, hotel bookings, skype/whatsapp logs to prove you are a couple along with anything else you can think of.

If you can avoid it I wouldn’t show her bank statements. Just expla9n she is paid in cash and most of the money is sent home to support her son.

Lastly a good truthful sponsor letter explaining all of it.

Save your money on a visa company. 90% of the work will be done by you any way. Just ask away on here. Many have been through it.

[Tony M]

On 7/1/2019 at 4:38 AM, rasg said:

 

There is no set amount needed for a visit visa and showing a balance of £6K is more than enough as long as you are not planning a six month holiday with your girlfriend staying in five star hotels.????

If you use her job as her reason to return to Thailand you will need a letter from her boss explaining she will have her job open when she returns. If the letter is in Thai and UKVI call to confirm any information they will speak in Thai. If the letter is in English, they will speak in English.

A copy of your last mortgage statement will show you own your house.

Any joint flight tickets, hotel bookings, skype/whatsapp logs to prove you are a couple along with anything else you can think of.

If you can avoid it I wouldn’t show her bank statements. Just expla9n she is paid in cash and most of the money is sent home to support her son.

Lastly a good truthful sponsor letter explaining all of it.

Save your money on a visa company. 90% of the work will be done by you any way. Just ask away on here. Many have been through it.

I normally don't like to disagree with good advice, but it's wrong to tell the OP that 6,000 GBP is "more than enough".  See the attached, very recent, refusal notice, to see what kind of decisions are currently coming out of New Delhi for Thai visa applicants.  I actually agree that 6,000 GBP should be enough, but the ECO doesn't.

[rasg]

Wow. Do you know how long was requested for the visa application that was refused?

[Tony M]

6 minutes ago, rasg said:

Wow. Do you know how long was requested for the visa application that was refused?

It was one month.

[Duffman88]

That's a bit ridiculous, I can only assume there were some other circumstances surrounding the refusal.

[Tony M]

1 minute ago, Duffman88 said:

That's a bit ridiculous, I can only assume there were some other circumstances surrounding the refusal.

 

There were indeed other reasons, but the point is that it was one of the reasons, and it is clear that the ECO did not consider 6,000 GBP to be enough for the sponsor to spend a third of it on a visit to the UK by his partner/girlfriend.  "rasg" advised the OP that 6,000 GBP was more than enough, and it clearly wasn't in that case, in the ECO's opinion.

[Pilotman]

Sorry to disappoint you OP, but I think you are going to find it extremely difficult to get a visa for your G/F at this stage.  Your finances, and hers for that matter, are going to be a real issue. You can certainly make a good argument for her returning to LOS after her visit, her job and her son, who she supports, are good enough reasons, but I would suggest that your ability to sponsor her would be weak. Your son is a none starter as the prime sponsor,  but could maybe add support your position, but it is still a weak situation. A friend of mine has had his G/F (as was, they are married now) visa refused 3 times, despite her being a company owner, a graduate, and her B/F (husband) a teacher here working for the government. Of course, nothing is certain  and if you can bear to pay the cost of an application that you may forfeit, you never know until you try.  You would be in a stronger position once you are married. Best of luck. 

[Tony M]

Sometimes the advice given in this forum (or in any forum) is not overly helpful.  The OP's girlfriend has a reasonable chance of getting a visa, if the application is well put together. Despite many forum members advising against using an agent, this is possibly one of those times when an agent could prepare an application that has a good chance of success. Clearly, the advice not to waste your money on an agent may not be the best advice, when an agent can possibly provide useful advice, such as reasons for refusal in decisions coming out of New Delhi at this time. Don't tar all agents with the same brush, especially if that agent is maybe offering a "no visa, no fee" deal.  My opinion only, of course.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Tony M

[rasg]

1 hour ago, Tony M said:

Don't tar all agents with the same brush, especially if that agent is maybe offering a "no visa, no fee" deal.  My opinion only, of course.

An OISC accredited visa company is fine because you can expect quality advice. The others? Somehow I doubt it as anybody can set up as a visa company offering advice etc in Thailand. In the UK I am pretty sure you need to be qualified.

 

I would still apply for the visa for the OP's girlfriend using the £6K but request a shorter holiday. IMHO and it;s only my opinion, it is not an ECO's job to decide if I want to spend a third of my savings on a holiday for my girlfriend. I spend a lot more than £2K on a one month holiday travelling around Thailand a few months after I met her. (A heck of lot more since we married and went for settlement!) Is it in the ECO's guidelines? If the visa was refused I would ask for a review if that was all the money I had.

[Tony M]

22 hours ago, rasg said:

An OISC accredited visa company is fine because you can expect quality advice. The others? Somehow I doubt it as anybody can set up as a visa company offering advice etc in Thailand. In the UK I am pretty sure you need to be qualified.

 

I would still apply for the visa for the OP's girlfriend using the £6K but request a shorter holiday. IMHO and it;s only my opinion, it is not an ECO's job to decide if I want to spend a third of my savings on a holiday for my girlfriend. I spend a lot more than £2K on a one month holiday travelling around Thailand a few months after I met her. (A heck of lot more since we married and went for settlement!) Is it in the ECO's guidelines? If the visa was refused I would ask for a review if that was all the money I had.

 

You are, I think, quite right. The fact that the ECO doesn't find it credible for the sponsor to spend a third of his savings, is (in my opinion) a personal opinion, and personal opinions have no place in a lawful refusal decision. The immigration rules state:

A visitor’s travel, maintenance and accommodation may be provided by a third party where the decision maker is satisfied that they:

1. (a) have a genuine professional or personal relationship with the visitor; and

2. (b) are not, or will not be, in breach of UK immigration laws at the time of decision or the visitor’s entry to the UK; and

3. (c) can and will provide support to the visitor for the intended duration of their stay.

I don't see how the ECO's personal opinion is even relevant. It's not a matter that needs the ECO to be satisfied on the balance of probabilities. The sponsor has stated, in the application, that he can and will support the applicant. Can the ECO show that he cannot or will not ? If the right of appeal still existed in visit visa applications, then I'm pretty sure that refusal reasons like this would never happen. 

A review has been requested, but no response so far from the UKVI !

[rasg]

Seems we are on the same page then.????????

[teo99]

hi guys im going ahead with the application and well see what happens, they ask proof we know eacher a long time we use  facebook and whatsapp for communicating with each other, we have over 12000 items of fb chat alone ( not all good) not counting whatsapp chat, can any of you guys advise me on how much they'll require, surly not all of it.

thanks in advance 

Brian

 

[puchooay]

My wife got her first visitor visa on the strength of her having 40k baht in the bank and me showing a UK bank balance of 4k pounds. My parents wrote a letter to say we would be staying with them. 

 

She did not give an approximate cost of the trip, why would she, so they would never know what percentage/fraction of our my money would be spent.

 

Sometimes, giving too much information can hamper the application. I would guess that is what happened in that particular case.