Family Visit Visa To Uk For Me Wife

[rushdentillidie]

At the moment my wife and i are involved in the appeal process for a rejection for a settlement visa. As you all know this can take up to 9 month to sort out.

So my question now is what other ways are open so that my wife can travel to the UK. I have read that we wont have much chance with a tourist visa since we are married. But i have been informed that she could get a 6 month visa as a family visitor? Does anybody have any information on this and know if it is possible?

After looking over the visa website, it is not clear what visa this would be and what application form to fill in. Does anybody know the cost of this type of visa and how long the waiting times are. Because I am hoping to return to Thailand soon in a few weeks, and it would be a nice thought to be able to bring my wife back with me. I understand that it will mean that she will not be able to work but it would be good for her to spend some time here and get used to the country. But also not be apart while we wait for the long drawn out process of the appeal.

Any advice is welcomed

Regards

[the scouser]

Whilst I can understand your desire to have your wife spend time with you in the UK, I do think that to apply for a visit visa immediately following a settlement visa refusal is ill-advised.

For your wife to obtain a visit visa, she has to meet the requirements of the law for visitors, one of which is that she intends to leave the UK at the end of the visit. Now that she has already made known her intention to settle in the UK, the visa officer is never going to be satisfied that she intends to leave at the end of any proposed visit. I'd save the £68 and not apply.

The only benefit of a "family" visit application is that, if refused, it attracts a right of appeal, in which case you'll be back in to the 7-8 month waitihng game.

Scouse.

[rushdentillidie]

At the moment we are waiting back for the appeal news.

It was just recommended to me to try this way, as her reason for return would be to apply for a settlement visa after her visit visa expires, and if the appeal is successful she would go back to collect this visa. She will also have a graduation ceremony to attend so i was hoping that these reason combined would persuade the ECO to consider this type of visa.

Regards

[7by7]

As Scouse has said, she has indicated her intention to settle in the UK and is currently appealing refusal of a settlement application. Any visit application now would, I'm sure, be refused as it would be seen as an attempt to by-pass the appeals system and gain entry to the UK with no intention to leave.

There is also the problem of your or her past dealings with the UKBA to consider. To be honest, had these been mentioned in her original settlement application she may very well now have her settlement visa!

[rushdentillidie]

I also have concern about the application for a family visa but i am just going off information that i was told. At the moment i would be willing to try this rather than having to wait for 9 months while the slow appeal process runs on. I mean the family visa would cost around 4000 baht so it would not be to much to lose. But i only wanted to do this if we have some chance. I believe that my wife would have reason to go back to Thailand because she would want to apply/collect her settlement visa, overstaying would put her chance of obtaining this at risk for 10 years, so why would she do this, plus a few months in the UK would give her chnace to get used to the country and make sure that she can fit in here.

Otherwise it means that i will have to spend more time with her in Thailand as the only way we can be together. While waiting for appeal, it is annoying that there is no other way. Maybe you are right 7by7 but at the time of the application i did not think this would have any impact on the application, maybe i should have mentioned all my past girlfriends i have had in the UK also. I still fail to see what relevance my past on this topic has on my current or future applications. I know that we can reapply for a settlement visa but i would be at a loss to what other information we could put in. Apart from more recent bank statement, emails, photos ect. If the embassy are rejecting us for the reason i think they are then I am not sure how or if we would counter this, so i feel at the moment would put any application in doubt. We just have to wait now and see what happens with the appeal and review but i wont hold my breath. I think our best chace now is to get a transfer with work to asia and hopefully go on from there.

Regards

[the scouser]

That something you were told may be bad advice. Even as a professional adviser, I still have clients who want me to assist but then question my advice on the basis of some scuttlebutt they've been told by a friend of a friend of a friend - "Ah, she know! She go Ulop many time."

The reality is that the visa officer, in refusing your wife's settlement application, has reason to believe that certain facts were witheld, the inference being that no credibility can then be attached to anything else that was said. He's not being judgmental, but simply working off the information before him.

The oft-mentioned "review" is nothing more than superficial unless a proper basis and grounds for disputing the decision are provided. I would think, based upon what you've written, that your wife's matter is destined to go to an appeal hearing, in the course of which you will be questioned about why certain facts were perhaps not disclosed at the time of the original application. To say that one didn't see the relevance, is not the right answer. If, in the eyes of the court, someone can't tell the truth, then evidently, their entire trustworthiness is in doubt, and at the appeal stage, you don't want the judge to make negative findings of fact about your credibility as a sponsor/witness because the visa officer can then rely upon those to substantiate a refusal of a subsequent application.

Should your wife make a visit visa application, it is almost certain to be refused. Perhaps it is time to start investigating job opportunities in SE Asia.

Scouse.

[liveforever]

r and d,

i hope you have success in your appeal mate, i know its a hard road preparing the application and everything that goes with it.

we did things the other way round, we got the visitor visa first, now i'm in the process of preparing the settlement application.

there's some good people on here who have helped me too, so if i can be of any help i will try.

scouse, which visa do you think is more difficult to get visitor or settlement?

cheers.

steve

[rushdentillidie]

Thanks for all you advice, it seems that a visit visa would be a waste of time. But i wanted to make sure of this before we applied for one.

I will hopefully be in Thailand early next month following up a career opportunity so this is something to look forward to. But at the moment i am still thinking if we should submit a new settlement visa application while doing the appeal. I have no problems in doing this, but i worry about how we counter the argument about a past girlfriend who i was a sponsor off, for on a tourist visa. Which appears to be the problem, as we did not mention this during the first application. Which at the time i didn't think it would have much impact, as that was in the past and for a visitor visa. My ex did not have any problems in the UK and did not overstay only cam for a 2 week holiday.

I don't want to spend £600 a be in the same situation 3 months down the line. If we where to reapply would it be wise to mention past relationship? do they still take into account previous applications? because if they do i am not sure if we would ever get a visa for the UK.

But good luck with your application live forever hope you have more luck than us.

Thanks again

[sumrit]

i worry about how we counter the argument about a past girlfriend who i was a sponsor off, for on a tourist visa. Which appears to be the problem, as we did not mention this during the first application. Which at the time i didn't think it would have much impact, as that was in the past and for a visitor visa. My ex did not have any problems in the UK and did not overstay only cam for a 2 week holiday.

I don't think your wife's refusal is simply just down to you sponsoring a previous g/f for a visit visa in the past, especially if, as you say, she only stayed for two weeks and there wasn't a problem.

My current (Thai) wife had three successful visit visas when still my G/F (even though I was separated, but still married to my first Thai wife) and a settlement visa as my wife once I'd got divorced. I made no reference to my (ex) wife for the visit visas and the only reference for the settlement visa was the Thai divorce papers I'd submitted. I might add that throughout this my ex was living (and still does live) in the UK.

I have also helped a friend with his wife's visit and settlement visa applications (both successful). He had taken a previous g/f to the UK on a visit visa about six years earlier but that wasn't mentioned in either application (in fact I didn't even know about it for the visit application).

So taking a previous partner to the UK, whether she stayed there or not, wouldn't automatically bar you from sponsoring anybody else.

[7by7]

i worry about how we counter the argument about a past girlfriend who i was a sponsor off, for on a tourist visa. Which appears to be the problem, as we did not mention this during the first application. Which at the time i didn't think it would have much impact, as that was in the past and for a visitor visa. My ex did not have any problems in the UK and did not overstay only cam for a 2 week holiday.

I don't think your wife's refusal is simply just down to you sponsoring a previous g/f for a visit visa in the past, especially if, as you say, she only stayed for two weeks and there wasn't a problem.

In my opinion, the problem isn't the previous sponsorship; it's that this was not mentioned in this application.

As Sumrit's experience shows, previous sponsorships are not a problem; but not declaring them can be, and in this case was. How much of a problem depends on a variety of factors; not least being how long ago it was and what was said in that application. My advice; better to mention something that isn't relevant than miss out something that's vital.

Rushdentillidie, it appears from what you have now said that had you mentioned this previous sponsorship in your wife's application she would now be in possession of a settlement visa! Indeed, I doubt that the discrepancies over dates would have arisen because they would probably have issued it without the phone interview.

Good luck with the appeal.