Met her 7 months ago in edinburgh. lived together for the 3 months that were left on her uk visa. Visited her in thailand for one month when the visa ran out. Now want her back.

We have a problem. Because she stayed with me in Scotland, she lost her job. The first UK visa was sponsored by her family living in Scotland. Now i want to bring her back but i am told that boyfriend and family sponsor is not the same.

What length of stay will they look favourably on.

What reason to return can i suggest in the application.

Searching the web, there are agencies who claim to guarantee successful applicaions.

I know in this world, money talks, but is this possible. If so, does anyone know a good agency in bangkok who would help get us back together.

Allan,

No immigration adviser can guarantee success and if you wish to instruct a representative, use one that is UK-based: either a solicitor, or one that is registered with the OISC. If you go with one of the cowboy outfits in Thailand and your g/f's application is unsuccessful, you will suddenly find that the agency has a reason why the money can't be refunded.

In relation to your g/f's situation, if she were to be sponsored by her family, in the event of a refusal this would attract a right of appeal, whereas sponsorship solely by you would attract no such right. Having said that, if the principal reason for her to come back to the UK is to stay with you, you should act as the sponsor.

To be honest, she may find it difficult to obtain a second visit visa so quickly. You don't say how long she said she would stay last time, but I presume that she didn't say six months. Consequently, the visa officer will question her motives when, although she didn't break any law in staying the full hit, she didn't stick to what she originally pledged. Additionally, whilst there is no hard and fast rule, the general principle which is applied by the embassy is that visitors should not spend more than six months of any tweleve in the U.K. Their argument is that as soon as it appears an individual is spending more time in the U.K. than in their home country, they are effectively living in the UK on visit visas which is not within the spirit in which they are issued. The third problem you have is that of your g/f's employment. As she is now unemployed, she is going to have to show that she has some compelling reason to retunr to Thailand and this will be difficult when both her family and boyfriend live in the U.K, especially if either they or you are now financially supporting her.

Scouse.

No immigration adviser can guarantee success and if you wish to instruct a representative, use one that is UK-based: either a solicitor, or one that is registered with the OISC. If you go with one of the cowboy outfits in Thailand and your g/f's application is unsuccessful, you will suddenly find that the agency has a reason why the money can't be refunded.

There was a Thai TV program about this a few days ago. They interviewed this woman who had paid lots of money to an agency that guaranteed her a work visa in the US. After they got her money, you know the story. She was turned down and the agency came up with some excuse.

The program also had some Mucky-Muck Thai who was in charge of all embassies abroad. His speech could be summed up as just this: you qualify on your own - an agency can't change anything.