I have heard anecdotally that Thai spouses of UK citizens do not have to pay for UK and Schengen tourist visas, however I can find no reference to this on any of the official web sites. Does anyone have any experience of this? It certainly sounds too good to be true!

Not true, but nearly so.

You can get a free EU Family Permit if you are working in any EU (not just Schengen) country EXCEPT your home country. So theoretically you can get a visa for your missus to visit Italy if you're a Brit and you're working there. Likewise an Italian working in the UK can bring his wife for free. Neither of you can get a visa for your home country for free.

Some places are easier than others on the Family Permit line. I failed miserably to get a permit for my wife to visit The Netherlands because, although I had a Dutch employment contract, they wanted to see 12 months of Dutch tax payments before they'd issue, ended up paying full whack for a tourist visa.

Thanks for the quick response. Sadly, there's no way that mechanism can work for us, but it probably explains the "friend of a friend" stories I've heard.

I have heard anecdotally that Thai spouses of UK citizens do not have to pay for UK and Schengen tourist visas

As you're talking Tourist visas, the statement is half true. You have to pay for a tourist visa to UK but the spouse of a UK citizen gets a Schengen visa free of charge.

Thanks for that - it will apply to us in the future, very useful to know.

If you're British living and working in another EEA country your wife may apply to join you in that country free of charge. Once you've lived together in that other EEA country, and should you wish to then settle in the UK, your wife could then apply for a free family permit to join you in the UK.

Scouse.