Options For The Newly Weds.....!

[jaylord]

Hi All

I have just recently returned from thailand and what was a whirlwind holiday for me and my new wife! The questions I have relate to what steps we should take next so she can join me in the UK so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

We first met over 3yrs ago while i was on holiday in bkk and when i returned to the UK we maintained contact. I returned to Thailand 6mths after meeting her to visit and we stayed together travelling to Samui and also becoming engaged on this visit. I returned to the UK and we maintained contact for another 6mths and i also was able to send a little money over every month or so to help support her. After this i moved to thailand for 2mth and we lived togther in a condo in Bkk and had a great time in which we visited her family and decided we absolutely had a future together.

After this 2mth period i returned to the Uk and she moved up country to her family home in Ubon while i made visa arrangements for her to stay with me in NZ for 3mth, for which we successfully obtained. (I am a dual national and we stayed in NZ with my father who also sponsored her stay in NZ as i was initially out of work). In NZ we successfully applied for a 9mth extension to her tourist visa which also included a work permit and we stayed in in NZ in total for almost one year before i returned to the UK and she to Thailand.

This is where it gets a little bit sticky as when i got back to the UK our relationship cooled. I got a new job which took alot of my focus and our contact really dwindled as time went by although we did keep in very limited contact. I went to thailand 3wk ago on holiday and when we met it was like we had never been apart, so happy to be together again, that we, decided to get married! I admit that we were reckless and it was rushed but it was great and we are very happy. We had a great wedding in Ubon with all her friends and family and i even had to extend my stay by 2 days as we didnt know i needed an affirmation of my freedom to marry which we had to get after the wedding in Bkk before we could register and legalise our marraige. Very rushed and very stressful as it felt like we were applying for a visa just getting the marraige registered so inquisitive were the staff at the lumphur.

So now is the tricky part i guess. I am back in the UK i have about £1000 left after paying the dowry and for the wedding, rings etc. I have about 2k on my credit cards and i live in a shared house, but i do have disposable income of around £7-800 a month after all expenses which should be enough for us, especially if she can work also. We should be able to show a lot of evidence of our relationship particulalry the early stages, ie phone bills, flights, photographs galore, but the past one year will be far more difficult. She has no land or assets and works in a salon.

Do you think we can successfully apply directly for a settlement visa in the UK or should we start with a visit visa? Any advice would be great as i start to put together all the paperwork!

Thanks all!

[the scouser]

It sounds as if you've got plenty of evidence of contact going back over the last 3 years, during which time your wife has lawfully spent a year with you in NZ, and you're now married. A disposable income of £700-800 per month should be adequate for the purposes of maintaining you both and accommodation need only be one room in a shared house for the sole use of you and your wife.

I think you can go for the settlement visa now.

Scouse.

[jaylord]

Thanks very much for the reassurance - we were thinking of just going for it as we are able to prove a solid history, we were just worried about the lack of contact in the past year.

Thankyou

[jaylord]

Just looking at the paperwork now and there does not seem to be a specific application form for me to fill in as the sponsor - is this correct? And if so is it just a case of me laying out a covering letter with full support documentation for the wife to submit with her VAF4?

[Mossfinn]

You been away Jaylord?

Moss

[the scouser]

The form is completed in respect of your wife. You can provide a covering letter and any relevant supporting documentation.

Scouse.

[jaylord]

Moss - that was a long time ago we have all we have all grown up now! Incidentally my wife is not that girl!!

Scouser thankyou for the advice - do you think it is important that i show phone bills and emails from the early years? They will be quite hard to get hold of enough especially as i have since changed banks and cell networks etc. I am hoping that our story and the strength of our time in NZ will be enough. I have got copies of early airline tickets which i can use and lots of photos.

Also in the section about my wifes current employment details - is it necesarry to go as far as providing copies of her bank statements? And any copies of passports etc i send is it vital they are certified or is this not really vital? And finally - i am aware that this is asked many times - but with regards a ticket for her to england - do you think it is advisable to explain in the application that this will be purchased afterwards if successful or would you advise going ahead and making a booking so we can show an itinary?

Sorry for all the questions i have read alot of your posts and they are always full of excellent infomation!

[the scouser]

If you're going to claim that your relationship is x number of years long, you should, where possible, provide evidence covering its entire duration. This doesn't have to be telephone bills and evidence that you travelled together should be fine.

If you are going to submit evidence of your wife's employment, then also providing her bank statements/bank book should ideally corroborate the former. There is no requirement in the Immigration Rules to provide a certified copy of your passport and a simple copy should be accepted unless it is apparent that it has been tampered with.

The embassy doesn't expect people to buy tickets prior to getting the visa and once a visa is issued the natural next step is to buy a ticket, so this does not need to be explained.

Scouse.