A Game Of Chance (uk)

[bubbles]

hello,

im currently engaged to a lovely thai girl and we plan to get married in thailand in august (yey). she then will applied for a settlement visa to come live in the uk.

so will the uk embassy give her a visa based on...

she is 19, im 22.

us knowin each other for 10 months in august.

her been an ex-bargirl.

me owning a house.

me making £15k a year

me not going to the interview with her.

i intend to supply all the paperwork, docs, pics, etc etc to the embassy but was just after a view from you guys (scouser) who know a lot more than me.

any help gratefully received!

[GU22]

Bubbles, first step is to go through the information on the embassy website:-

Guidance - Husbands, wives and partners (INF 4)

To take your points in order.

"she is 19, im 22.

us knowin each other for 10 months in august."

You will need to satisfy the ECO that the relationship is genuine. You're close in age, you've known each other a longish time. (How much of the 10 months will you have you actually spent together?) Provide phone bills showing how often you've called her, letters, e-mails etc. A small photo album of the 2 of you together, at various times and locations. Make sure she knows things about you (e.g what work you do) and your family (e.g. how many and names of siblings).

"her been an ex-bargirl."

Not a problem, as long as the ECO is satisfied that the relationship is genuine. But remember, the ECO will be looking at her motives, not yours. Do not be tempted to lie about this! If the ECO discovers the lie, and they almost certainly will, then it's goodbye to the visa!

"me owning a house.

me making £15k a year"

Good. You will need to show that you can support and accommodate her without recourse to public funds. The link above will tell you what evidence you will need to supply for this.

"me not going to the interview with her."

It is her interview, not yours. The ECO would only want to speak to you to clarify some factual point from the evidence you have supplied. This is very rare. I would suggest that you go with her if at all possible to offer her moral support, but your not being there should have no bearing on the outcome.

There is a long waiting list for settlement interviews, currently 10 to 12 weeks. What you could do is put in the application in May with a covering letter explaining that you are getting married in August and asking for an interview after the date of your marriage. Remember that it's the Ampur marriage that counts as the legal one, not the village ceremony.

Best of luck, mate, and best wishes for a long and happy life together.

Edited March 6, 2005 by GU22

[bubbles]

Thanks GU22,

The plan at the moment is to get married first then she can apply for the Visa, hopefully everything will go as planned.

I want her to apply as 'married' rather than 'getting married', just think it will look slightly better, but thats my thinking behind it.

Anyway, thanks GU22.

Bubbles

[Richard W]

m currently engaged to a lovely thai girl and we plan to get married in thailand in august (yey). she then will applied for a settlement visa to come live in the uk.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Suboptimal order! A better timetable is:

1. Apply May, stating that you plan to be married by the time of the interview, agree interview date in August.

2. Marry in August.

3. Have interview (2 to 7 days later?).

4. Fly home to England together.

us knowin each other for 10 months in august.

Have you made a second visit to check you aren't deluding yourself? It may look better if you have made a second visit. (I suppose this comes under the heading 'evidence of contact', though strictly speaking that is just for proof that you have met. However, it provides some sort of evidence that she intends to live with you.)

me making £15k a year

Have you two discussed what sort of job she is going to do in England? Has she got children?

Advice Warning: It's 6 years and a day since we executed Step 2, nearly 14 months after we met, so my comments are getting stale. The operation took nearly 3 weeks, and would have been longer if I hadn't switched return airport from Heathrow to Gatwick. I didn't tempt fate by buying my wife's ticket (one-way) before the interview.