My Tgf Has Been To The States With Former Husb

[mickscottatlanta]

Back in Atlanta GA but have kept in daily contact with my TGF that I met in Thailand last fall and we dated for just under 2 months. She has been to States with her former husband who she divorced 4 years ago. She has a full time job in Bangkok and earns decent money. I want to go to the UK with her as my next return ticket is back via London and would like her to have a white christmas before I head home. I can fully support her. Where do I start? Will her past travel help her application.

[gotlost]

It does show that she returned to Thailand. That's a positive.

[BWPattaya]

I think you, as an American, have zero chance of getting her a visa to go to the UK. It is hard enough for an Englishman to get a UK visa for a Thai girlfriend at the best of times.

[theoldgit]

I think you, as an American, have zero chance of getting her a visa to go to the UK. It is hard enough for an Englishman to get a UK visa for a Thai girlfriend at the best of times.

As an American he doesn't have to get her a visa to go to the UK, she gets her own. A Thai woman with an American boyfriend will probably have a greater chance of getting a visa to visit the UK than if she had a boyfriend in the UK, there is more chance that the ECO might believe she is trying to stay in the UK.

OP, in the circumstances you describe I see no reason why she shouldn't get a visa for a stay in London. You say she has a decent job in Thailand, so as long as she can prove it, that could be considered a good reason to return, and as "gotlost" has pointed out she has proof of previous travel.

As for the other remarks, I think the posters are just bored.

[gotlost]

I think you, as an American, have zero chance of getting her a visa to go to the UK. It is hard enough for an Englishman to get a UK visa for a Thai girlfriend at the best of times.

As an American he doesn't have to get her a visa to go to the UK, she gets her own. A Thai woman with an American boyfriend will probably have a greater chance of getting a visa to visit the UK than if she had a boyfriend in the UK, there is more chance that the ECO might believe she is trying to stay in the UK.

OP, in the circumstances you describe I see no reason why she shouldn't get a visa for a stay in London. You say she has a decent job in Thailand, so as long as she can prove it, that could be considered a good reason to return, and as "gotlost" has pointed out she has proof of previous travel.

As for the other remarks, I think the posters are just bored.

theoldgit is correct. The OP has nothing to do with the visa. If what the OP says about his gf she may stand a good chance of obtaining a visa to the UK.

[mickscottatlanta]

I am a retired law enforcement officer. TGF has been working for a bank in bangkok for 3 years and went to college before that and has a degree in business administration. She earns good money by Thailand standards 16Kthb per month but not much over after bills are paid. I am on a decent county pension and would be able to provide full support to her. Her employer will give her a letter that she has approved vacation time. Just dont know where to start. She is in Thailand, me in GA and we want to go to the UK of which we are both obviously not citizens of. Any constructive help appreciated.

[theoldgit]

First of all have a read through this website, it's the company that the UKBA use to receive all the visa application, they do not process the applications. http://www.vfs-uk-th.com/applying.aspx

First a couple of basics, you say you want to take her to the UK, as your return ticket is via the UK, so you will be continuing onto the US, will she be returning to Thailand, or going to the US with you?

She needs to apply for her visa, details on the website, and has to convince an Entry Clearance Officer that the trip is reasonable, affordable and she will leave the UK, either back to Thailand or to the US.

She completes a form, either paper or online, the form is pretty self explanatory, and takes to Regent House, where they will capture her biometric details. When she goes to Regent House she needs to provide the supporting documents, these will include a covering letter explaining the reason for the trip, proof that the trip is affordable and evidence to prove that she will return to Thailand after the trip, for example a letter proving her employment. The website actually details what supporting evidence is required.

If you are paying for the trip, then you should provide a letter of sponsorship saying why you are doing so and providing evidence that you can afford to do so, as well as evidence of your relationship, if in fact that is the case.

This is only a brief outline of the procedure, if you have any more questions ask on here and someone will try and help you.

Just one more thing, you talk about seeing a White Christmas in the UK, they don't have them very often and when the do the whole country grinds to a halt, as happened last year.

Good luck

Edited August 8, 2010 by theoldgit

[mickscottatlanta]

First of all have a read through this website, it's the company that the UKBA use to receive all the visa application, they do not process the applications. http://www.vfs-uk-th.com/applying.aspx

First a couple of basics, you say you want to take her to the UK, as your return ticket is via the UK, so you will be continuing onto the US, will she be returning to Thailand, or going to the US with you?

She needs to apply for her visa, details on the website, and has to convince an Entry Clearance Officer that the trip is reasonable, affordable and she will leave the UK, either back to Thailand or to the US.

She completes a form, either paper or online, the form is pretty self explanatory, and takes to Regent House, where they will capture her biometric details. When she goes to Regent House she needs to provide the supporting documents, these will include a covering letter explaining the reason for the trip, proof that the trip is affordable and evidence to prove that she will return to Thailand after the trip, for example a letter proving her employment. The website actually details what supporting evidence is required.

If you are paying for the trip, then you should provide a letter of sponsorship saying why you are doing so and providing evidence that you can afford to do so, as well as evidence of your relationship, if in fact that is the case.

This is only a brief outline of the procedure, if you have any more questions ask on here and someone will try and help you.

Just one more thing, you talk about seeing a White Christmas in the UK, they don't have them very often and when the do the whole country grinds to a halt, as happened last year.

Good luck

Thanks for the information buddy. I will be continuing back to the States and she will be heading back to Thailand. We are only looking at spending a week in London as that is all the vacation time she has unfortunately. She has been to the States before and I have just enough points for her to get a return ticket subject to availability that time of year or I might just have to buy the return ticket I guess. Plus we want to see the Queen Seriously though thanks for the informative info.

[The Professor]

Dude, that should be super easy for her to get that UK visa. Jeez, the USA is the toughest visa to get. UK considering her circumstances should be a walk in the park, man. Don't listen to jealous posters. You're in like flint. Too bad you can't just bring her to the US for a trip but no prob with UK visa. easy peasy

[Mercury]

Well obviously on only 16k a month before bills she doesn't have the funds to buy a plane ticket or support herself and without evidence to the contrary, I'll guess that her bank balance shows near zero, even if her salary is paid in each month. She does have a job though and though is provides a somewhat meagre salary, it is some small reason to return to Thailand. Has she any other ties ?

What sort of relationship do you think others think you have ? You went to Thailand, presumably to look at the temples, and found a girl who you stayed with for 2 months, about a year ago. You have not seen her since then, nearly a year ago, but have kept in contact. You are not really her boyfriend are you ? Now you want to meet her in a third party country where neither of you appear to have any connections and where she certainly cannot pay her way.

The stress on your finances will be quite large and much larger than were she going to the US to visit you in your home. I think her chances of getting a UK visa are quite poor. She would have to show where she was intending to stay, how it would be paid for, how she would provide for the flights and her spending money etc.

I think you are better off asking her to visit you in the US when she has more than 1 week vacation time. Your standing in your community is presumably good, she has a history of presumably abiding by US visa regulations etc. Surely the easiest place to start. If you had more miles together then fine, but I would be asking whether a relationship even exists. Meet her again, then apply. If you are in Thailand for any time, it might be possible to apply when you are there and get a more considerate response fairly quickly. At least you would know the strength of any relationship after having met her for what will be only the second time.

[7by7]

I think you have a very good chance.

She has a job in Thailand.

You, her sponsor, do not live in the UK.

Whether or not she can afford the visit is immaterial if you can, just show that you can.

[BWPattaya]

Any progress to report yet?

[Hans Brix]

Any progress to report yet?

He'll get that visa 100% sure. the hardest visa for a tha girl to get is the usa. Brit visa will be the easiest thihng the guy and girl will ever have to do. All this horseshist about some guy of difficulty is garbage. I wish I had it so eassy just to bring my Thai WIFE to the usa for a tourist visa. If I was a brit, that would be a cake walk. so if we dont hear from the atlanta dude, we know he's in like flint; which he will be. My situation is that I want to just take my legal wife to the usa for a visit and that will be a ball buster. I'd kill to be in that guy's shoes to do something so easy

[Arkady]

You need to provide a letter as the sponsor of her visit, following guidelines on VFS website. You should provide evidence of your income and last 6 months bank statements showing the income coming in to support your application. Of course you need a copy of your passport and evidence of your permanent address in the US would be useful. They don't limit you from sending any supplementary information you think would be helpful.

She could apply without your sponsorship but I think her salary is rather low to have a good chance on her own. Her trip to the US will be helpful because she came back on time. Previous travel to other tough visa countries is considered very important by the British Embassy and I don't they are going to care that she went there with some one else. She needs to show evidence of assets as well as income. B80k in a bank account that has been there for a while is probably an absolute minimum but B200k plus is much better, even if you have to top up. The UK now accepts evidence of other assets in addition to bank accounts, e.g. property title deeds and stock portfolios.

Good luck. You should definitely get it, if you both do the documentation properly. (Check the application form carefully and help her fill it in). BTW a white Christmas is not a certainty in the UK and quite rare in London. More chance further north and the countryside usually gets more snow than the cities.

[theoldgit]

B80k in a bank account that has been there for a while is probably an absolute minimum but B200k plus is much better, even if you have to top up. The UK now accepts evidence of other assets in addition to bank accounts, e.g. property title deeds and stock portfolios.

The whole idea of providing sponsorship is to prove that the trip is affordable, there is no need to show large sums of cash in the applicants bank account, indeed if there are large sums in bank accounts suddenly it might have an adverse effect.

I have known people obtain tourist visas with a low income and small amounts in their bank accounts, but the sponsors have provided proof of trip affordability.

Can I ask how you arrived at these figures?

[bridge]

B80k in a bank account that has been there for a while is probably an absolute minimum but B200k plus is much better, even if you have to top up. The UK now accepts evidence of other assets in addition to bank accounts, e.g. property title deeds and stock portfolios.

The whole idea of providing sponsorship is to prove that the trip is affordable, there is no need to show large sums of cash in the applicants bank account, indeed if there are large sums in bank accounts suddenly it might have an adverse effect.

I have known people obtain tourist visas with a low income and small amounts in their bank accounts, but the sponsors have provided proof of trip affordability.

Can I ask how you arrived at these figures?

Certainly can for Australian tourist visas:

Posted on that topic some time ago.

Edited August 15, 2010 by bridge

[Arkady]

B80k in a bank account that has been there for a while is probably an absolute minimum but B200k plus is much better, even if you have to top up. The UK now accepts evidence of other assets in addition to bank accounts, e.g. property title deeds and stock portfolios.

The whole idea of providing sponsorship is to prove that the trip is affordable, there is no need to show large sums of cash in the applicants bank account, indeed if there are large sums in bank accounts suddenly it might have an adverse effect.

I have known people obtain tourist visas with a low income and small amounts in their bank accounts, but the sponsors have provided proof of trip affordability.

Can I ask how you arrived at these figures?

No embassies provide hard and fast guidelines as to what income and assets they look for. It depends on each case. The numbers I quote are guesstimates. Yes, it is possible that a tourist visa could be granted purely on the sponsor's financial standing but this is more likely in the case the couple are married. For a sponsoree not married to the sponsor, it would be safer for her own financial standing to be as strong as possible, even though weakness there can be compensated to some extent by the sponsor's financial standing. The numbers I quote are not considered large sums of money by embassies. My experience includes obtaining a 10 year US visa, 2 Schengen visas, an Australian visa and 4 UK visas (including a 2 year visa) for my wife, mostly before we were married. The best thing is to make the case as strong as you can. For those in a steady relationship, it is a good idea to deposit some "visa money" in an account in her name ahead of time and leave it there for future trips. Keep the book, if you like. For those who disagree with me, feel free to apply for your girlfriend's visa with hardly any money in her account and no other assets.

Edited August 15, 2010 by Arkady

[7by7]

There is, as far as a UK visit visa is concerned, absolutely no reason for the applicant to have a large, or indeed any, amount of money of their own. Para 40(vi) of the Immigration Rules says

will maintain and accommodate himself and any dependants adequately out of resources available to him without recourse to public funds or taking employment; or will, with any dependants, be maintained and accommodated adequately by relatives or friends

So, as long as the trip is affordable it does not matter whether the funds are coming from the applicant, the sponsor or a third party, nor whether the funds are from income or savings. Obviously, though, if the funds are not from the applicant's own money then an explanation of why the person supplying them is doing so should be included in the application.

A search of this forum will show that many members have successfully sponsored a UK visit visa when the applicant has had little or no money of their own.

Large, unexplained deposits into an applicant's bank are always treated with suspicion by UK Entry Clearance Officers, so if one is going to do this one must explain why, where the money came from and what it is for.