My wife has a Thai passport, but my two children have British passports. I will be starting a new job in the Netherlands next week, and I wonder how it will be to get a visa for my wife to visit. Anyone any experiences or advice?

PS: The Netherlands is one of the most culturally mixed places I have been; even more so that London.

Your wife should at least qualify for a 3 months visitors visa (!so not tourist visa), the requirements for which are at least:

1)You have to submit proof your income in the Netherlands is high enough to also support the Thai visitor.

2) Also you will have to show that your living quarters in the Netherlands are big enough to also accomodate the Thai visitor

3) You will be required to sign a paper stating that you vouchsafe for all the costs incurring from the visitor's stay in the Netherlands

4) Return plane ticket must be shown

5) And probably also travel insurance

The office to deal with in the Netherlands in order to supply your wife with the right documents to show at the Dutch embassy in Bangkok (Wireless Road) is I believe called the "vreemdelingendienst", they have branch offices in Amsterdam, the provincial capitals, and maybe some other sizable cities. Note I have the impression Dutch authorities follow a guideline to be not exactly helpful when somebody is trying to get again another foreigner into the country. In other words, if you  submit your application with the authorities and then just wait, your application will remain at the bottom of the drawer. It can help to contact them frequently and enquire which stage their processing has reached. I believe you can also enquire about this through their website, and it could be a big help English is almost functioning as a second language in the Netherlands.

Note the Netherlands belongs to the Schengen Zone, if your wife has a visa for the Netherlands she can go to the other Schengen Zone countries as well, that is to say Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, and possibly even more countries I dont know about.

Good luck battling Dutch bureaucracy!

Mai Chai I think it will be helpful to have a letter from the Dutch employer as well, mentioning your family. It will help to convince the Embassy that the employer is aware of your accompanying family. I am sure you know, but be aware that Britain is non Schengen.

Thanks guys. Need to get my little critters learning English, so my kids are coming over to Europe next year once we are over the winter. Anyway, Thailand is too unstable foreigner wise at the moment, so it will be nice to be somewhere else.