2 Year Visa Advice Wanted

[quadisking]

I am currently in the UK with my Thai wife and our 4 year old son. This is my wife's 2nd visit to the UK on a tourist visa.

I won't go into all the details as to why, but my wife wants to apply for a 2-year visa, and we are hoping to get the visa as quick as we possibly can.

We really want to stay in the UK now, and regret that we didn't apply for a 2-year visa in the first place, we will be returning to Thailand in Sept.

I have a few questions -

1) Is it possible to submit the application for the 2-year visa BEFORE we return to Thailand?

If so, how do we go about that, does it mean completing an on-line application?

(the reason why we want to submit the application before we come back is to speed up the application).

2) I heard that it is now a requirement that she must pass a basic English Test before she can be granted a visa. Can this test be done in England?

3) Is it a requirement for her visa application that I have full-time employment in the UK?

If she gets the visa ok, at the moment I don't have a job lined-up. I do however have money in the bank, so is that sufficient to satisfy the powers

that be that I'm able to support my family without having to claim benefits??

----------

I'm considering making an appointment with the Home Office in London, but I'm thinking that it might be a waste of time.

Also, considering using a lawyer, but again I think that might be a waste of time too, as I think that my wife's visa application is a strong one,

apart from me not having full-time employment lined up (I was living as an expat in Thailand for 5 or 6 years).

If anyone has any good information or advice as to the best way to go about things, I'd be very grateful. Thanks.

[chongam]

Right here goes, as far as I'm aware,you can't turn a tourist visa into a settlement from the UK

Question 1---NO, you have to submit the application in person, as they will take her photo and fingerprints, although you can request an app online---but she will need to go in person to VFS in Bangkok

Question 2---Not true---yet, that test won't be here untill Sept or Oct---and no, it must be taken in Thailand and it's only basic English

Question 3---not really, but you must have adequate funds AND accomodation, without recourse to public funds---proof req

Yes an app with the Home Office is a waste of time

And don't forget before you do anything, she will need a TB certificate, my wife, like 10% of the Thai pop had TB---took a year to cure!!

BTW visa waiting time is approx 2 to 3 months from the date you submit at VFS!!

Visit www.vfs-uk-th.com every thing is there ----don't bother with a lawyer---all info in on this site

Edited July 9, 2010 by chongam

[quadisking]

Thanks very much for the info, pretty much confirms what I thought.

Very good website. I clicked on the link to schedule an appointment, then on another link www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk , then clicked on apply for UK visa. Then it comes up with a list of supported countries, and Thailand is on the list. I'd be grateful if you could take a look and see what you make of it, I'm confused because Thailand is on the list of supported countries which accept online applications, yet according to that list you can't schedule an appointment.

Are you sure about the visas taking 2-3 months? I just want to confirm that because I thought that was the worst case scenario, and that most of the visas would only take a couple of weeks to be approved? We really don't want to have to stay in Thailand as long as 3 months, because it would mean having to give up the house we are renting in the UK, and it would mean having to take my son out of his nursery school which doesn't sound like a big deal except when you consider that he has an autism spectrum disorder and that he has been improving enormously since we've been in England. We feel that if he has to stay in Thailand for 3 months that it will be very harmful to his development. Which is the main reason why we decided to come to England in the first place.

[7by7]

The online system should let you complete an online application form and make an appointment to attend the VAC in Bangkok for your wife to hand in the application and supporting documents, have biometrics ttaken etc. Maybe it's confused as you are accessing it from the UK?

The official advice is to allow up to 12 weeks for a settlement application to be processed. Most, though, take less than that. It is difficult to say for sure how long it will ake as there are too many factors outside of the embassy's control; the main one being how many other applications are received aaround the same time. See this topic for some recent experiences.

You may find the following useful:-

Settlement; Spouse

Maintenance and accommodation

[the scouser]

...Which is the main reason why we decided to come to England in the first place.[/size]

So, assuming the UKBA's thought process, your wife applied for a visit visa in the knowledge that her child, and by association herself, had no intention of leaving at the end of the visit.

Your wife has 2 options: either return to Thailand and apply for a settlement visa, which given the circumstances you have described, she will probably get, or make an application from within the UK to switch to settlement from visit status. The latter, as I tell my clients, is highly likely to be refused. Perhaps it's the nature of human beings, but they all perceive that somehow their circumstances are more compelling than others', and opt to make the in-country application. Generally speaking though, it's still refused and they then have to return to Thailand to seek a settlement visa, which they could have done months earlier and have now been back in the UK perfectly lawfully.

Really, it is short-termism to think you can save money and time by trying to "buck the system", but if you want to try to do it, there'll be many an adviser/solicitor willing to take your money and guide you through the application/appeal/JR process (perhaps c. £4000.00) safe in the knowledge that your wife will ultimately be refused and have to return to Thailand to make a settlement application at further cost to yourself.

Your call!

Scouse.

[quadisking]

Scouse, you have misunderstood my post.

We are fully aware that my wife has to return to Thailand in September, we are not trying to get the tourist visa switched to a 2 year visa from England.

My wife has every intention of returning and we're not trying to 'buck the system'. I didn't mean that we were trying not to go back to Thailand, we have to go back anyway because

my wife owns her own home in Thailand, and so we have to find a tenant to rent her house.

What we would like to do is submit the application from the UK, so that when we arrive back in Thailand she already has an appointment at the British Embassy in Bangkok,

and hopefully so the application has already been approved, so that we can avoid having to wait a possible 2-3 months for the application to be processed.

[theoldgit]

^^^

You can submit the application from the UK but it will only save you a few days because, as has already been pointed out, the applicant still needs to go to Regent House to submit the hard copy of the application together with the supporting documents and to have their biometric details taken.

[sumrit]

What we would like to do is submit the application from the UK, so that when we arrive back in Thailand she already has an appointment at the British Embassy in Bangkok,

and hopefully so the application has already been approved, so that we can avoid having to wait a possible 2-3 months for the application to be processed.

You can fill in the on line application from the UK and, once completed, will then be given the opportunity to book an appointment on line. But this appointment isn't to go to the Embassy, it's to go to the VFS centre. Before your wife goes there, but after she's returned to Thailand, she must have a TB test at the IOM centre in Bangkok to ensure she's free from TB. Only then she can go to the VFS centre to submit her completed and signed on line application form (you have to print it off from your PC once completed so your wife can sign it), all her supporting documentation, her TB certificate and have her biometrics recorded. Once your wife has done that everything will then be forwarded to the British Embassy to 'join the queue' for processing, they won't start to look at the application until after your wife has been to the VFS centre. As 7by7 says the Embassy advise up to twelve weeks for this, although this can vary and is dependant on how busy they are. I believe the current wait is about 7-8 weeks.

So basically, no, unfortunately you won't be able to speed up the system (queue jump) by filling in the on line application before your wife returns to Thailand.

edited to say theoldgit posted while I was still typing

Edited July 10, 2010 by sumrit

[stament]

Thanks very much for the info, pretty much confirms what I thought.

Very good website. I clicked on the link to schedule an appointment, then on another link www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk , then clicked on apply for UK visa. Then it comes up with a list of supported countries, and Thailand is on the list. I'd be grateful if you could take a look and see what you make of it, I'm confused because Thailand is on the list of supported countries which accept online applications, yet according to that list you can't schedule an appointment.

Are you sure about the visas taking 2-3 months? I just want to confirm that because I thought that was the worst case scenario, and that most of the visas would only take a couple of weeks to be approved? We really don't want to have to stay in Thailand as long as 3 months, because it would mean having to give up the house we are renting in the UK, and it would mean having to take my son out of his nursery school which doesn't sound like a big deal except when you consider that he has an autism spectrum disorder and that he has been improving enormously since we've been in England. We feel that if he has to stay in Thailand for 3 months that it will be very harmful to his development. Which is the main reason why we decided to come to England in the first place.

Can't she go back on her own whilst you continue working? Then you wouldn't have to give up the house?

[7by7]

Why does being in Thailand for up to 3 months mean losing your house? I'm sure that as long as you keep paying the rent your landlord wont care whether you are there or in Thailand.

Also, if your wife goes alone you wont have to take your son out of nursery school. It obviously means being separated for a period, but if it's in the best interests of your child then it seems to me to be worth considering.

If you all must go, why wait until September? Why not go now so for most of the time you're away your son's school will be closed for the summer? Based on current processing times there is a good chance that she'll have her visa and you'll all be back in time for the start of term in September or soon after.

[Thongkorn]

I think you can only book an on-line appointment 10days to two weeks before you submit all your documents anyway, So just book 2 weeks before you go to Thailand , so that when you get there you have at least a week to get your TB certificate and documents in order then submit them .

[quadisking]

Thanks again for all the advice, I think that I will probably do what Thongkorn has suggested.

In hindsight, I guess that the question which I should have asked in the first place is how soon can my wife book an appointment at VFS when we have returned?

If she can book an appointment more or less straight away, we may as well wait until we're back, if it's going to take weeks for her to get an appointment then we ought to submit an online application earlier?

[7by7]

Like any appointment system the length of the wait depends upon demand and the only way to find out is to book one by completing the online process.

Remember that she does not have to book an appointment at all, but can simply turn up at the VAC with her application pack and wait. How long she has to wait again depends on how many are in front of her. I know of people being in and out in under an hour, but I've also heard of it taking all day!

[quadisking]

OK, thanks. So if she doesn't make an appointment at all, but simply turns up at the VAC with her application as early as possible in the morning, then that means that she should be able to submit the application the same day, even if it means waiting around for hours? We don't have any problem with that, we just don't want to have to wait weeks before we can apply.

[7by7]

Correct. Obviously, the earlier she gets there the shorter the wait will be.

However, she will need to make an appointment to obtain her TB certificate. See Tuberculosis testing for applicants visiting the UK for longer than 6 months.

[tedwonguk]

Hi all,

To correct the post before your online App is only save on the system for 7 days only and NOT 2 weeks. This information is on the VFS site. So you will need to do this just before you go back to Thailand. Also I would recommand that you book your TB test before you go back as well as the booking can take up to 2 weeks. Hope this help.

[quadisking]

:jap:Thanks everyone.