Can My Wife Stay & Can I Return To Thailand?

[bozy]

After a volatile relationship of 4 years it has finally came to a end,I shall explain a little but i do not want to go into too great lenghts.(but will answer any questions)

We have one child born in Thailand now leaving in England and she has dual citizenship,my wife has a 2 year visa which runs out April 2008.

My questions: What will happen to my wife after the visa runs out? Can I return to Thailand with my Daughter and what visa can I obtain and what are the requirements?

I am looking after our daughter and paying for nursery fees,my wife is working fulltime should she contribute to the nursery fees with me or am I expected to pay for these?(I am not working but have proceeds from my house Sale)

sorry it short and simple,many thanks to whom send a reply.

Bozy

[El Taco Loco]

You are entitled to a Non O based on the child, particularly once your divorce is finalized. Your wife's visa would not be renewed as it is piggybacked with your marriage. Thai consulate in Hull only requires a copy of child's birth certificate to get a 1 year multiple O. (Plus photos of you, etc. )

The issue of your wife helping with nursery fees. The correct thing would be for her to help you. But your current situation is unknown (married still, getting divorced, common law wife, fighting) etc. Take her to court force her to help you if you have full custody of the child.

Good luck.

[bozy]

Many thanks to your quick reply,we are still married this then brings me to another question.

What is the process for divorce we had a registered marriage in Thailand but this was never registered in the UK,but I understand this is recognised by the uk as a official

[AZZZEY68]

Of course its legal here how else could she be here,just go down the same divorce route as you would here.At the end of her 2 year stay she needs to apply for ILR if she does not get this then they will send her home to get this she must prove you and her are in a solid relationship as man and wife.

[the scouser]

If your relationship has broken down, your wife will not qualify for any further permission to stay in the UK unless she alleges domestic violence and can substantiate such a claim.

Scouse.

[Mahout Angrit]

As for you returning to Thailand with your daughter, as already said above you only need to show you are the father of a Thai to get a Multi entry Non Imm O visa but you may be aware that will allow you to enter Thailand as many times as you wish for a 12 month period but each stay cannot be longer than 90days. You would need to do 4 visa runs to get 15 months from the visa.

If you are over 50 you may prefer to apply for a retirement visa extension (giving you 12 months) but if under 50 it's not so easy to just stay there on visa extensions. Suggest you scour the 'Visas for Thailand' forum or post your situation there.

[bozy]

Big thanks to all the replies.My final question is;can i get divorced in the UK although we were married in Thailand?

bozy

[Phil_ne_uk]

Big thanks to all the replies.My final question is;can i get divorced in the UK although we were married in Thailand?

bozy

I believe that if you married in Thailand that you must also divorce in Thailand. But if you are both residing in the UK then it might be possible to divorce there. Scouse will probably know for sure

Phil

[Mahout Angrit]

If you haven't already done so you may be interested in reading this

[gregchambers]

you can get divorced in the UK if one of you is resident there but Thailand would be a lot easier if you can get the wife to come with you and do it where you originally got married (basically same day divorce!)...

BUT be very careful, wifey may decide to grab half your house sale proceeds if you let the lawyers in the UK loose, all kinds of fantasies played out by Thais to get their hands on some real money. So may well be cheaper to stump up for a return flight for the wife and a bit of spending money.

The UK is definitely not a fair place to get divorced if you are male regardless of the circumstances, and Thais in the UK have access to some really nasty lawyers.

[mrbojangles]

As Greg says it is much easier to get a divorce in Thailand, as long as you are BOTH willing to go in and sign the paperwork. Have your assetts grown whilst you have been married? If so, she will be eligible for half if divorcing in Thailand.

[JimmyCA]

After a volatile relationship of 4 years it has finally came to a end,I shall explain a little but i do not want to go into too great lenghts.(but will answer any questions)

We have one child born in Thailand now leaving in England and she has dual citizenship,my wife has a 2 year visa which runs out April 2008.

My questions: What will happen to my wife after the visa runs out? Can I return to Thailand with my Daughter and what visa can I obtain and what are the requirements?

I am looking after our daughter and paying for nursery fees,my wife is working fulltime should she contribute to the nursery fees with me or am I expected to pay for these?(I am not working but have proceeds from my house Sale)

sorry it short and simple,many thanks to whom send a reply.

Bozy

You will find your wife has many rights in England but you have none in Thailand. It would behoove you to send the x back to LOS so she will be less of a problem for you in the future.

[bozy]

Big thanks again,I understand that the law in England can be sometimes unfair and I beleive in this case it is.

My case for that is for the last 4 years we have been spending a lot more than has been coming out my bank balance from the interest,so my balance has dwindled and upon our return to the Uk the overall prices are much higher and now I can not afford the things before as now i am nearly starting fresh again.(house,car,job)

So i feel a little angry and bitter than the courts may give my wife half of what i have left after my wife has given nothing in our relationship financially and sometimes little in effort.

I would have liked to help my two other children as now they are coming of age and they need a little help in most things in the UK to start them off,but if the courts award half then I would only have enough to survive and bring up our little one!

I may suggest going back to Thailand and seeking a divorce then offer to build her a house on her land which was recently left to her after her fathers death,then this way she has a home when and if she returns to Thailand.

At the end of the day we all have choices in life and sometimes it is very hard to see all the possibile outcome but this is what makes life unique.I will move on from this after learning a few more lessons in life.

Many thanks

bozy

[Mahout Angrit]

I may suggest going back to Thailand and seeking a divorce then offer to build her a house on her land which was recently left to her after her fathers death,then this way she has a home when and if she returns to Thailand.

Bozy

It's not a case of 'if' your wife returns to Thailand as without your cooperation and proof that you have a life together she will be unable to remain in UK (unless she decides to overstay illegally or claims domestic violence). Depending on what she and you want you may be able to use that as a bargaining chip but it may mean you have to stay together just a little bit longer.

As already said, there will probably be a network around her who know the ins and outs and will be happy to assist her to milk what she can.

Good luck

[JimmyCA]

So i feel a little angry and bitter than the courts may give my wife half of what i have left after my wife has given nothing in our relationship financially and sometimes little in effort.

I would have liked to help my two other children as now they are coming of age and they need a little help in most things in the UK to start them off,but if the courts award half then I would only have enough to survive and bring up our little one!

I may suggest going back to Thailand and seeking a divorce then offer to build her a house on her land which was recently left to her after her fathers death,then this way she has a home when and if she returns to Thailand.

At the end of the day we all have choices in life and sometimes it is very hard to see all the possibile outcome but this is what makes life unique.I will move on from this after learning a few more lessons in life.

Many thanks

bozy

Bozy

You should help your children before you build the X a house. You will end up pennyless unless you change your ways.

Your story is not new

Good luck

[mrbojangles]

Bozy

You should help your children before you build the X a house. You will end up pennyless unless you change your ways.

Your story is not new

Good luck

I concur

[gregchambers]

Unfortunately, if the courts decide to grant custody to your wife of your daughter (even if she has no real interest in her which seems to be the case) then you will lose a lot more than half! As I said, Thais will play out extreme fantasies to get the (free) money, so building her a house in Thailand might not be a bad incentive if you can get the Thai price (depending where she comes from, the farang price is two to five times what the Thais pay). It is quite frightening how twisted the UK can get in these things so persuade her than the savings in legal fees etc make it much more sensible to do the deed in Thailand.

But don't we have this completely wrong? Step one, more all the money offshore. Step two, take self and daughter back to Thailand (using whatever visas are available). Step three, see Thai lawyer and get him to process divorce without wife's consent (I read another post that it is a matter of advertising the divorce in Thai papers, etc), approx cost 20,000 baht I seem to recall. Step four, smile. Only problem would be if wifey catches up with you!

I would recommend moving the money offshore as a first step, just to protect yourself. If you tell the Inland Revenue you are going non-resident and the immigration that your marriage is over and her visa should be cancelled, you should be able to avoid UK divorce laws if neither of you end up UK resident. Thai laws, if you are looking after the daughter you should be fine. But how you deal with a vindictive ex-wife and her assorted relatives is another question!

Then get divorced in Thailand but let the wife retain her earning power in the UK. hence major face for her? This is probably the core of your original question, but other than her getting engaged to another Brit, I am not sure how to pull this off! Is she capable of passing the new tests for citizenship in the UK?

Bottom line, get your money out of the UK as a first step!

[Mahout Angrit]

I would recommend moving the money offshore as a first step, just to protect yourself.

Great recommendation from Greg, I suggest Singapore if you intend to live in Thailand. Efficient English speaking polite staff. You can contact Citibank and open an account on the internet, you can contact HSBC in Isle of Man who will open an account with HSBC in Singapore for you all via their web pages. If you open offshore UK and remain resident in UK you will still have to declare the interest for tax.

[Tinkelbell]

Quoted: ....."If you open offshore UK and remain resident in UK you will still have to declare the interest for tax."

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Interesting advices.

Since the bank still has to declare the interest for the tax. Is it possible if the IRA, (the tax man ) can put a freeze on your account eve though you already moved your money to offshore account ?

Would appreciate you guys enlighten me on this.

[gregchambers]

Unfortunately, I believe he can't actually go non-resident until after April 5th next year (unless he has been out of the country immediately before April 07 and in the UK less than three months since then, he might just swing it).

Unfortunately, movements of large amounts of cash out of the UK/Euroland are reported to the government, although you can always change banks in an offshore country once the money is there.

The government has some powers to recover unpaid tax but does not seem to pursue offenders once abroad (my tax collector friend in the UK has confirmed this recently). Conceivably it has some powers to get child support out of bank accounts but that does not apply in this case.

It then comes down to what a Thai friendly lawyer in the UK can do to him in the divorce proceedings but don't see why the tax authorities and their powers would be involved. A court order to follow the money trail is a possibility (actually, Geneva seems the safest bet as they don't recognize the powers of UK courts in divorces although bankruptcy laws do apply). The Swiss amenable to physically moving the money out of the account, closing it and opening a numbered account which would make it untraceable unless criminal acts were involved in the UK. The Swiss will need proof of source of funds and identity check (in this case lawyer's invoice showing house sale, some utilities bills and passport would be enough). Like most banks, the money will have to be wired in.

I am no expert in this but have taken preventative measures of my own to keep my assets out of the hands of ex-girlfriend who lives in Thailand and had two kids with me (her sister UK citizen well connected to dodgy lawyers). I think few UK lawyers will borther to take on cases on commission where the husband has no assets in the UK to which they can apply a court order to freeze, so just disappearing and getting the money out of the country should put the OP in a position of power. esp as he wants to do that anyway.

Having said that, with Thai gals it is always better to give them some face (in my case she won the land/house I build and gets a minor stipend for the kids every month, just enough to let her think she has won and stop her setting the country lads on me - hopefully!)