Uk Visa For A Thai Wife - What Do I Need To Do?

[pauls999]

Hi,

I know these post are all over the place but i can not find one that answers all my questions.

Firstly I will be returning to marry my thai girlfriend fiance in october 2004 but what do i need to do to get a her a UK visa.

A bit of background, We met 6 months ago, we have been together for 1 month (in 2 x 2 week stints so far) and in daily contact by phone, SMS and occasional email and post cards. I have met the family, several of which have spent over 40 years between them living in the UK, not that that will help with a visa but she knows what to expect in the UK.

I know about bringing proof of the relationship which will be 8 months by then, I have itemised phone bills for calls and SMS, bank statements for me and her, i gave her a bank cash card on a separate account that I put money into in the UK and she takes out in Korat where she lives. I have a private rented thee bedroom house that I have living in for 11 years (just me) so i have all that documented. We are both single, not been married and have no children, I am a company director (age 42) and she (age 23) works on the family farm.

Should I use an agency to present the info to the embassey or do it myself, I say this because a friend of mine did pretty much the same thing 2 years ago and used a Thai woman agent who used to work just across the road from the UK embassey. He gave her all the paper work and although they had only been married the day before they had no interviews and got the visa in the afternoon. He said that she charged 12,000B for this. I keep on reading about it taking weeks or months to get these things done, why is this? and has it changed alot since then?.

Given the above info, what do you think the chances are of bringing her back in a 2 week time window in October

[the scouser]

Firstly you should complete the relevant application form which can be found here. Your fiancée should then submit this to the embassy and pay the fee of £260.00 in local currency. Everyone who applies for a settlement visa is interviewed and the current waiting time according to the embassy website is 12 weeks from the date the application is lodged. The length of time an applicant has to wait is dictated by the number of other applications; i.e. a few applications = a short wait and a lot = a long wait. So, to answer your question, your fiancée will not get the visa whilst you are in Thailand on this occasion.

I personally don't think agencies are worth the money when you can guide your fiancée through the process. Ultimately she will either qualify or not and an agency is not going to influence the visa officer's decision.

For your information there follow the criteria that your fiancée will have to meet in order to get the visa:-

"the sponsor is present and settled in the United Kingdom, or is to be admitted for settlement at the same time as the applicant arrives in the UK;

the sponsor is aged 18 or over and the applicant is aged 16 or over;

each of the parties intends to live permanently with the other as his or her spouse after the marriage;

the parties to the proposed marriage have met;

adequate maintenance and accommodation without recourse to public funds will be available for the applicant until the date of the marriage;

after the marriage there will be adequate accommodation for the parties and any dependants without recourse to public funds in accommodation which they own or occupy exclusively;

after the marriage the parties will be able to maintain themselves and their dependants adequately without recourse to public funds." End of rules.

Scouse.

[pauls999]

Hi Scouse,

Can the Visa application form be filled in now for example and sent off the embassy in BKK so as to try and coincide the date of my next visit to an anticipated interview, or if there is time could ask I for a specific date or will they only give out dates and not allow resquests?

[the scouser]

Yes, you can send everything to the embassy now but it would have to be via your g/f who needs to sign the form and enclose 2 photos. The embassy will then write to her with a date for the interview. If you don't include all of the supporting paperwork then this is not a big problem as your g/f can show it when she goes to the interview. However, if you were to do it now the earliest your g/f would be interviewed is late November. The embassy does allow requests but only for interview slots for a date after the existing waiting list.

Scouse.

[bergerac]

hi pauls999,

I got married in apr and used agency who charged 9000 baht which included

same day marriage and visa processing.

They completed the application and the form was submitted 15th june by my wife

[ i had to produce 6 months bank statements, phone records and housing details

which i had to send to wife when i returned to uk]

My wife had initial interview 16th june after queing for 7 hours at embassy, she was called back to embassy 8th july for what she thought was second interview

only to be told entry visa was granted!.

In my case the agency fee was worth it as they somehow fastracked application

although obviously have no influence on final decision.

If you need any info pls post or mail me and i will be glad to help,

bergerac.