Job Offer In Uk..is Tourist Visa A Quick Fix?

[leftcross]

i have been working in thailand for the past few years but have just been offered a job back home in the uk.

my wife is thai and we have two children together with dual nationality. the job in the uk wants me to start in january, but looking at posts on here about settlement visas it seems as though we might not be able to get one in time.

is is possible for my wife to travel on a tourist visa and then apply for settlement when in the uk at the end of the six months?

i am worried about the whole situation as i do not have anywhere to live in the uk and will get accomodation when i arrive to work. i can get a letter from my next company stating my salary (more than enough for us all) but would a settlement visa be refused ont he basis of a lack of somewhere to go? We would probably stay with family for the first few days before I go off looking for somewhere to rent in a different part of the country where i will work.

my wife has been to the uk twice before on a tourist visa but we had problems with the second one. they refused it because they said i didn't have the right funds - i had taken 100,000 baht out of my account to buy the air tickets leaving it nearly empty although i was still receiving a salary every two weeks. they could see this on my bank statements but still refused it (for a two week visit!). i borrowed some money from a friend and reapplied and they granted it the next week but the whole expereince has left me slightly jittery about being refused this time for a settlement visa.

has anyone had a similar experience? the tourist visa would at least allow us to get to the uk and then maybe we could sort the rest of the paperwork out once there?

[sumrit]

Firstly your wife won't be able to travel on a tourist visa then change it to a settlement visa in the UK. All settlement visas must be applied for outside the UK, so your wife would have to return to Thailand again to apply for one. Also one of the criteria for issuing a tourist visa is a 'reason to return to Thailand' and if you and your children are returning to the UK to live your wife would be unlikely to be able to convince the ECO that she would be returning to Thailand on her own, so her application would probably fail on this point anyway. He would probably say that she is unlikely to want to return to Thailand for a settlement visa, and as you intend living in the UK that's what she should have applied for.

Like you I spent several years in Thailand before returning to the UK with my wife and daughter in July this year.

For your wife to get a settlement visa, to simplify things, you would basically have to show that;

You have a genuine relationship, and as your wife has already had two tourist visas they have already accepted this, although you should resubmit the documentary proof as well. So that shouldn't be a problem.

That you have sufficient funds to support your wife without her having recourse to public funds. If you already have a SECURE job offer, with a start date (and with a large enough salary of course ) and you can provide documentary proof from your prospective employer that should be acceptable to the ECO.

That you have adequate accommodation for yourself and your family on your arrival in the UK. This is the point that, for those of us that have been living abroad, might seem harder to satisfy the ECO, but it DOESN'T mean you must already own or even be renting a home of your own. It means exactly what is says, adequate accommodation. For myself my son lives in a three bedroomed house on his own so we moved in with him for to short term until we were settled and found our own house. We had to provide a letter from him inviting us to stay with him for as long as we needed to and documentary evidence that it was his house and that it was large enough to accommodate us (basically that we had separate bedrooms for ourselves and our daughter). So if you have somewhere similar to this to stay (you'd have to supply accommodation details even for a tourist visa anyway) it should be enough to satisfy the ECO on this point as well.

Your wife's previous refusal shouldn't have any bearing on a settlement application, The ECO will only be interested in whether she meets the criteria for the visa she is currently applying for, and as I've already said it would probably be more difficult for her to get a tourist visa than it would a settlement visa.

And the good news is that the current waiting time for settlement visas appears to be down to as little as two weeks now so you still have enough of time for your wife to apply so you can all travel together in January.

Good Luck.

[leftcross]

sumri - thank you so much for the detailed reply. it's good to hear from someone who has been successful in the same situation.

perhaps i could put my brother's house as the initial contact as there would be space for us all. this would be the only hurdle i can see to us getting a visa...but obviously the time concern is another factor.

quite excited about going back if we can get everything arranged. thanks again.

[7by7]

You may also find the following helpful: Maintenance and accommodation

MAA12 Legally owned or exclusively occupied

The ECO should consider the basis of the availability and security of tenure of the accommodation. Factors to be taken into account will include:

the ownership of the property and/or the duration of a lease;

how much security the terms of any lease gives and whether it could be terminated at short notice;

whether any lease enables the tenant to sublet to the couple or take them in as lodgers.

If the accommodation is not owned by the couple (or one of them), the Rules require that there be adequate accommodation which is for their exclusive use. This need not be as elaborate as a self-contained flat. It is acceptable for a couple to live in an existing household, e.g. that of a parent, uncle, aunt, sibling or friend, as long as they have at least a bedroom for their exclusive use.

If the couple have children with them there must be additional adequate accommodation for them (see MAA14 for maximum numbers of persons allowed).

Basically this means that if you are going to initially stay with a friend or family you will need a letter of invitation from them, describing the property and confirming there is room for you all, plus proof of ownership if they own, such as a mortgage statement, or if they rent a letter from their landlord confirming that you can live there and that there is room for you.

Settlement; Spouses may be helpful, too.