1 Year Multiple Entry Visit Visa To Uk For Tgf

[KunMatt]

Appologies if this has been covered many time before. I tried to seach for a topic with the same title as mine but some of the important words were ignored because they were too short.

Last year we successfully applied for a 6 month visit Visa to the UK for my Thai girlfriend. We have both returned back in Thailand (well before the expiration of the 6 month visa).

Now we would like to apply for a 1 year multiple entry visa for the UK but according to the fees on the UK Gov website you can only pay for 6 months or 2 years now (and no mention if the 2 year Visa is multiple entry).

http://www.ukvisas.g...s/visafeesvisit

Does this mean that a 1 year visa costs the same as a 2 year visa? If this is the case why shouldn't we just apply for a 2 year visa now and save ourselves the hassle of re-applying for another 1 year visa next year?

Or does this mean that only 6 month or 2 year visas are now available? (I notice there seems to have been some big ammendments to the rules on 30th November 2009 and 6th April 2010).

Is a 1 or 2 year visit visa within this application category a multiple entry?

Thanks in advance.

[seaneee]

only 6 month, 2yr, 5yr, and 10yr now available. In theory if she would be granted a 6 month one then she should be granted a 2 yr visa if you can show that she will be travelling to the UK regularly over the next two years.

If the ECO feels that a two year visa is inappropriate they can issue a 6 month visa instead of just refusing the 2 year one, but you will not get te difference in cost refunded. There are examples of members here that have got a 2 year tourist ( which is multiple entry) after first getting a 6 month one.

Note that although it is a 2 year multiple entry, she will need to leave every 6 months because that is the maximum length of each entry. It has been mooted that a tourist should remain in the UK no more than 6 months out of every 12, but different people have differing views on this.

Good luck

[KunMatt]

only 6 month, 2yr, 5yr, and 10yr now available. In theory if she would be granted a 6 month one then she should be granted a 2 yr visa if you can show that she will be travelling to the UK regularly over the next two years.

If the ECO feels that a two year visa is inappropriate they can issue a 6 month visa instead of just refusing the 2 year one, but you will not get te difference in cost refunded. There are examples of members here that have got a 2 year tourist ( which is multiple entry) after first getting a 6 month one.

Note that although it is a 2 year multiple entry, she will need to leave every 6 months because that is the maximum length of each entry. It has been mooted that a tourist should remain in the UK no more than 6 months out of every 12, but different people have differing views on this.

Good luck

Thanks for the info. I thought that was the case and since posting my question last night I already decided that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to apply for a 2 year Visa when we've only been together for 20 months.

Also, I plan to submit the application form ourselves instead of using the agent we used before so to keep it easy I think I will apply for a 6 month Visa now and if all goes well I will probably apply for the 2 year visa when the 6 month one runs out as then we will have 2 successful Visas applications under our belts and I can show that we have been visiting the UK each Xmas.

I think this is the most sensible way to do it. Plus I don't want to pay £230 for what could turn out to be a 6 month visa!!

[sumrit]

Firstly there is no one year visa, only 6 months, 2,5 and ten years are available. They are all multi entry though.

But the longer term visas are normally only granted after several successful six month visas and, whichever visa you have, the maximum continual stay in the UK is still only six months at a time.

The longer term visas are designed for people who are going to make return visits to the UK over that period of time without having to make repeat applications, they're not designed to allow people to live in the UK for a continual period of two, five or ten years. Also, if you've stayed for a six month period you wouldn't normally be allowed back for a further six months, making a maximum of six months stay in the UK out of any twelve month period.

If somebody wants to stay in the UK for more than six months they should be applying for a settlement visa.

You should also be aware that, if you apply for a longer term visa (say 2 years), the Embassy can choose to still only grant a six month visa and they won't refund you the difference in the fee. See:

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply/infs/inf2visitors#20711241

[KunMatt]

Firstly there is no one year visa, only 6 months, 2,5 and ten years are available. They are all multi entry though.

But the longer term visas are normally only granted after several successful six month visas and, whichever visa you have, the maximum continual stay in the UK is still only six months at a time.

The longer term visas are designed for people who are going to make return visits to the UK over that period of time without having to make repeat applications, they're not designed to allow people to live in the UK for a continual period of two, five or ten years. Also, if you've stayed for a six month period you wouldn't normally be allowed back for a further six months, making a maximum of six months stay in the UK out of any twelve month period.

If somebody wants to stay in the UK for more than six months they should be applying for a settlement visa.

You should also be aware that, if you apply for a longer term visa (say 2 years), the Embassy can choose to still only grant a six month visa and they won't refund you the difference in the fee. See:

http://www.ukvisas.g...sitors#20711241

Gotcha. Thanks.

I'm going for one more 6 month visa now and then a 2 year application for next summer as we want to go to the UK for one summer holiday and one Xmas holiday each year so we can justify it better in the application then.