Hi there,

I've been with my Thai girlfriend for two and a half years now. I moved to Bangkok in February 2006. We started dating in April 2006 and I moved into her apartment in November of the same year. I lived there for a year before coming back to England in November the following year. She came here at the beginning of April this year and is staying until the end of June. She will then return to London to do a masters degree in September.

So we will have spent a year in Thailand and a year and three months in the UK together (after this visit and her masters). We don't have a whole lot of evidence of us living together in Thailand except for a few letters sent from the UK with the same address on it. We also have a few emails that mentioned we were co-habiting.

She already has a masters degree from the US and a good career in art gallery management and support from her family. Her application for a tourist visa took less than a day for the embassy in Bangkok to say yes. She has already been accepted to all the universities she has applied for here and will definitely get the student visa for one year.

So we can get one years definite proof of co-habitation in the UK but only some sketchy evidence of our time in Thailand.

Will that be ok? Any advice? We were hoping for an unmarried couple visa but I'm worried about the lack of evidence on the Thai side. She isn't allowed to do a normal degree as she is too educated already. A masters is only a year.

We don't want to get married yet.

Thanks for any advice/reassurance/other options, etc.

See also 13.14 - Unmarried (i.e. opposite sex) and same-sex partners and how they qualify (The parties having been living together in a relationship akin to marriage/civil partnership which has subsisted for two years or more.)

As I perceive the chronology, the earliest your girlfriend can be considered to be an unmarried partner will be April 2010. The rules stipulate that it is not an aggregate of 2 years' cohabitation but rather a continuous period of at least 2 years immediately prior to an application. Short absences may be ignored, but not beyond a period of a total of six months within the 2 years.

Scouse.

Sorry for my delayed reply, I was abroad.

Thanks a lot for all your help. I will look into things further. Maybe we'll just marry.

Cheers,

Jason

Scouse I am back!

The girlfriend and I now have a healthy 14 month old girl and are currently residing in Thailand. (decided to take a year off after all - she won the debate!)

This one is of interest to us, as we would like to go back to the UK for a couple of months, and then come back here for about 8. What visa to go for? Fed up with trips to Bangkok for VV, and would like to start the process of getting the gf into the UK with ILTR. But main snag I saw as us being out of the UK for at least 8 months in the 2 year period ( Indefinate Leave to Remain) though together.

We have been togetherfor best part of 4 years now, living together for 2, via VV and long holidays. But I had read the 6 month rule as ...

13.14 - Unmarried (i.e. opposite sex) and same-sex partners and how they qualify (Rules Paragraph 295A)

The parties having been living together in a relationship akin to marriage/civil partnership which has subsisted for two years or more.

"Living together", should be applied fairly tightly, in that we would expect a couple to show evidence of cohabitation in the preceding 2 year period. Periods apart would be acceptable for good reasons, such as work commitments, or looking after a relative which takes one partner away for up to 6 months where it was not possible for the other partner to accompany and it can be seen that the relationship continued throughout that period by visits, letters etc. Where a couple have been living together for the preceding 2-year period but have been dividing their time between countries and may, for example, have used the "visitor" category, then this will be sufficient to meet the requirement.

In our case we had 3 months apart as baby was born in Thaland and I had to be in th UK for work before the baby could fly. This will have taken us over 6 months total apart in 2 years, will this be a problem?

I am loathed to go the VV route again as the cost of travel and time is significant in gong to Bangkok every year (i am right in assumig the gf must do the biometrics etc again?). Also we would like to start planning for life in the UK, schools etc. .

Is there a danger she could be refused a VV as we are using it as a means to live in the UK?

Could she be refused a Partner Visa and Indefinate Leave to Remain as we will be out of the UK for a long spell?

Are the Consulate offering 2, 5, or 10 year VVs?

Sorry for all the questions, just starting out on the next process!

Thanks

Iain

Time line last 2 years...

June to Sept 2006 missus in UK

Nov 2006 missus in UK

Dec 2006 - Jan 2007 me in Thailand

March 2007 1 week me in Thailand

April 2007 me in Thailand (baby born)

August 2007 - Jan 2008 missus in UK

Feb 2008 - to date Both in Thailand.

During the above period we have alwways lived together barring golf weekends (far fewer now!) and business trips.