Uk Holiday Visa For Non Working Girlfriend

[Malpal]

I would like for my girlfriend to come to England for a holiday at christmas.

Problem, she has no job and therefore cannot get a letter from an employer.

I have a good job and secure tenancy on my home.

However I have little savings due to a very expensive divorce in France.

We have known each other for 6 months and are talking about the future.

For now, she would like to know what it is like in the Uk.

What are our chances ?

[galoubet]

Slim.

Christmas time? She'll freeze, poor girl.

[7by7]

Your girlfriend will need to show that, on the balance of probabilities, she satisfies the requirements for a visit visa. This basically boils down to four things.

1) She is a genuine visitor with a genuine reason to visit. Seeing how she likes the UK, meeting your family, developing the relationship with you etc. are fine for this.

2) She will be adequately accommodated during her visit. Whoever is providing the accommodation should provide details of the property to show that there is room for her, sharing a room with you is fine. They should also show that they can offer said accommodation; proof of ownership such as a mortgage statement or a landlord's letter if they rent.

3) There is adequate finance for the visit. This can come from her resources, yours, a third party(ies) or any combination of these. Whoever is contributing to the cost of the visit should provide evidence of their ability to do so.

4) She will return to Thailand, or at least leave the UK, when or before her visa expires. I know several people who have obtained visit visas for their girlfriend when the applicant has had no job and no other concrete reason to return; A trawl through this forum's archives will show that this is not uncommon. This is basically because the ECO has been satisfied that the relationship is genuine; so provide lot's of evidence of contact etc.

In your sponsor's letter you should give a brief description of your relationship so far, the reason for her visit at this time and what your future plans are together.

See also the supporting documents checklist and for where and how to apply, the UKVAC.

[Xonax]

No job! Poor girl - how does she make a living in Thailand? How does she provide for her parents and possible children?

Are you aware that quite a few Thai-girls consider it to be a job to have a farang boyfriend, or often several farang boy-friends, who pay for her company, and send her money on a regular basis? Some even travel abroad on paid holidays, to visit their farang boyfriends. In the statistics these girls all appear as unemployed. And if they have once tried that money comes easy without working hard, they will never ever take a regular job. Don´t play with fire, if you do not wish to get burned, and even more important - Don´t waste your time and money!

I am not trying to say that this is the reason why your girlfriend appear to be unemployed, but I do advise you to be very carefull and consider this possibility!

I do hope that your home has proper heating, as she will require an indoor temperature around 27 degrees Celcius (also in the bedroom). Please be prepared to buy her lots of warm clothes, if you are planning to go out.

Edited October 7, 2010 by Xonax

[SantiSuk]

Head for Primark after landing! You can get a lot of winter clothes for £100 there. Agree with the temperature comments - my wife needs 24 hour heating in July/August but still wants to come to see snow in Winter.

[ThaiVisaExpress]

We had two clients last month one was unemployed & she had no assets or ties that might encourage her presence in Thailand however she received her visa on Monday. I would expect you to demonstrate to the Eco your relationship is subsisting & you must include evidence of close contact etc.

If you require professional help feel free to contact me.

[VisasPlus]

Without knowing more about your personal circustances it really is impossible to say what the chances of your girlfriend getting a visa are. A couple of points worth noting from your post are:

1. You say you have little in the way of savings. You will have to show that you can adequately support your girlfriend while she is in the UK, in addition to paying for her ticket, if you are doing so.

2. You say you have known each other for six months. As you are employed in UK, does that mean that you came to Thailand six months ago, maybe for a holiday ? How long did you stay ? Was it just a holiday here ? How many times have you seen her, or was it just the one time ? If this is the case, and you were here only for a short time, maybe a couple of weeks, then your girlfriend will have to convince the ECO that the two of you have a genuine relationship, that only a visit to the UK is intended, and that she will return to Thailand after her visit.

I don't wish to dampen your enthusiasm, and do take heart from the stories of people like Thai Visa Express above, where people in similar circumstances to yours have got visas for their girlfriends. Good luck.

[brian272727]

It does happen, I got a UK visitor Visa for a Thai girl I knew for a couple of months and had only spent 14 days with.

Like your GF she was unemployed, although she was a student and had some savings, car etc but fundamentally it was the same situation.

I provided 8 weeks of phonecalls, emails, photo's, flight stubs from trip to Malaysia etc Also proof of residence, wage slips and P60. I DIDN'T show bank statements however.

She provided proof of University attendance, car documents, land documents, old passport showing she had travelled extensively. etc

My advice would to be as honest as possible.

[pagan1]

Malpal

7by7 gives you an excelent brief of what is required. If you download the VV checklist and have a modicum of common sense the application is easy. I went through a similar process in January. GF had returned home was living with family and working on family farm. VV was issued in 4 days. Tell the truth, provide the information they request and collate it such that it is easy to review,

As for a winter visit, I am up in the Highlands of Scotland and we had temperatures down to -18C with several feet of snow. Santisuk is right about getting some basic clothing it makes all the difference. Hate to admit it but M faired better than me with the winter conditions !!!!

Good luck and look forward to a post from you where you say the process is easy and your GF is due to arrive.

[Malpal]

No job! Poor girl - how does she make a living in Thailand? How does she provide for her parents and possible children?

Are you aware that quite a few Thai-girls consider it to be a job to have a farang boyfriend, or often several farang boy-friends, who pay for her company, and send her money on a regular basis? Some even travel abroad on paid holidays, to visit their farang boyfriends. In the statistics these girls all appear as unemployed. And if they have once tried that money comes easy without working hard, they will never ever take a regular job. Don´t play with fire, if you do not wish to get burned, and even more important - Don´t waste your time and money!

I am not trying to say that this is the reason why your girlfriend appear to be unemployed, but I do advise you to be very carefull and consider this possibility!

I do hope that your home has proper heating, as she will require an indoor temperature around 27 degrees Celcius (also in the bedroom). Please be prepared to buy her lots of warm clothes, if you are planning to go out.

WoW,,,you seem to have a half empty glass.

If you look at my previous postings you would see that I am not a complete bloody fool.

Thanks for your rather useless reply!!

[Malpal]

Slim.

Christmas time? She'll freeze, poor girl.

I'll do my best to keep her warm!!!!

[w11guy]

No job! Poor girl - how does she make a living in Thailand? How does she provide for her parents and possible children?

Are you aware that quite a few Thai-girls consider it to be a job to have a farang boyfriend, or often several farang boy-friends, who pay for her company, and send her money on a regular basis? Some even travel abroad on paid holidays, to visit their farang boyfriends. In the statistics these girls all appear as unemployed. And if they have once tried that money comes easy without working hard, they will never ever take a regular job. Don´t play with fire, if you do not wish to get burned, and even more important - Don´t waste your time and money!

I am not trying to say that this is the reason why your girlfriend appear to be unemployed, but I do advise you to be very carefull and consider this possibility!

I do hope that your home has proper heating, as she will require an indoor temperature around 27 degrees Celcius (also in the bedroom). Please be prepared to buy her lots of warm clothes, if you are planning to go out.

I think we can assume that this guy has wasted money on a few Thai 'girlfriends'. Most Thai women are very decent and it is very rare to come across any that are just after your money. The one exception is if you hang around with prostitutes in the 'enertainment' districts. It's a sad fact that they only way some farang can get a 'girlfriend' is to pay a prostitute. But for others, who met their Thai girlfriends in other ways, it is juts like meeting someone back in UK or USA.

My girlfriend has spent two winters in the UK. We never had the heating on overnight and she never asked for it to be put on. It is ridiculous to say that Thai people need an indoor temperature of 27C. I know quite a few Thais in London and when I visit them their apartments aren't any hotter than the average. And in Thailand my girlfried always has the air conditioning on so that she can keep cool. Why do you think there are so many fans and air condioning units in Thailand? It's so people can keep cool, not get hot.

Yes, she will need warm clothes for the winter, but so will everyone else. She doesn't need warm clothes because she is Thai, she needs them because it is winter. My girlfriend loves winter in the UK because she likes getting the chance to wear different clothes.

How does she provide for her parents? Maybe they are rich and don't need any help?

How does she provide for future children? She can discuss this with her husband at the time.

Many people go through periods on unemployment in their lives. To suggest that this means you can't support children you may have in the future is ridiculous. My mother didn't work at all after getting married, because she looked after the house and us kids. We never wanted for anything, and always had enough money for everything we needed. So there is no reason for a woman to work if the man is earning enough.

I feel very sorry for you that you have to go through life with such negative attitudes.

Edited October 10, 2010 by w11guy

[marc651]

I think we can assume that this guy has wasted money on a few Thai 'girlfriends'. Most Thai women are very decent and it is very rare to come across any that are just after your money.

The one exception is if you hang around with prostitutes in the 'enertainment' districts. It's a sad fact that they only way some farang can get a 'girlfriend' is to pay a prostitute. But for others, who met their Thai girlfriends in other ways, it is juts like meeting someone back in UK or USA.

Very rare? Some? Come on, get real, many of the newcomers get in contact with the girls that somehow have financial interests. The ones "not after your money" like you put it are more difficult to access for someone new to the country. They dont bump into you and start introcuding themselves (unlike others ...)

My girlfriend has spent two winters in the UK. We never had the heating on overnight and she never asked for it to be put on. It is ridiculous to say that Thai people need an indoor temperature of 27C.

You and your GF must really be an exception. I don't think it is "ridiculous" to say that fresh Thai arrivals in the winter to the UK will need to have the heating on more than your average local who is used to the cold.

How does she provide for her parents? Maybe they are rich and don't need any help?

...

Many people go through periods on unemployment in their lives.

What are the probabilities for her being rich and unemployed? In the unlikely event of this being so, I am sure the OP would have mentioned her having a fat bank account and adding this as proof for financial support during her stay.

I feel very sorry for you that you have to go through life with such negative attitudes.

IMHO you must be a hard core optimist, or else a bit naive

Xonax was just trying to warn for the common situations where newcomers to Thailand fall in love with seemingly nice friendly superb girlfriends that unfortunately have other motivations and plans besides genuine love and friendship...

[w11guy]

Very rare? Some? Come on, get real, many of the newcomers get in contact with the girls that somehow have financial interests. The ones "not after your money" like you put it are more difficult to access for someone new to the country. They dont bump into you and start introcuding themselves (unlike others ...)

I was saying it was uncommon for Thai women to be money grabbers. I agree that it's common for many farangs to pick the small minority who are money grabbers.

So what you are saying is because they can't meet women they just pay for and marry prostitues instead. That is very sad. Many men in the UK don't have girlfriends and find it hard to meet women, but the don't rush to the nearest brothel to find a wife.

The problem I have with some posts on here is that they present an very overly negative image of Thai women in general. Just because many farangs only meet prostitutes and have bad experiences doesn't mean that the non-prostitute women are bad. All it means is that these men are making extremely bad choices.

I would rather have no girlfriend than have a prostitute a girlfriend.

Many men come here and mary prostitutes. It is more surprising that there aren't even more problems than there actualy are. Just use some common sense. If you are 60 and your girlfriend is 18, then it is pretty obvious for anyone to see that she is not interested in you, except for you money. If you want to pay for her to be your girlfriend, I have no objection to that, but don't be suprised that she tries to rip you off. But that is not what most Thai women are like.

Stop denigrating Thai women as a whole just because some men have problems with prostitutes. Most Thai women are very decent people. If you can't meet them then you're not making enough effort. They don't hang around Nana and Soi Cowboy, so look elsewhere.

[7by7]

This is a topic about obtaining a UK visit visa, not the best way to meet Thai women.

Any more off topic posts will be deleted.

[bigdod]

Gents,

I'm just starting this process for the 1st time myself to try and get a visa for my girlfriend of 2 years to come to the UK to meet my family etc (oddly enough for Xmas too...she wants to see snow and Christmas...!!)

I've just downloaded the application forms & checklist and am starting to put all of the necessary documentation together, the one thing I'd like to know is, that she seems to think that she needs to have circa 200,000bht in her bank to ensure her being granted a visa, however, as we are saying on the application that I am to be funding her trip entirely, is this necessary...??

Any other pointers that anyone can give to help me with this process will be gratefully received...

cheers

[7by7]

As I said earlier in the topic

3) There is adequate finance for the visit. This can come from her resources, yours, a third party(ies) or any combination of these. Whoever is contributing to the cost of the visit should provide evidence of their ability to do so.

So all the finance for the trip can come from you, there is no need for her to have any money of her own at all, indeed ECOs can be suspicious of large amounts suddenly appearing in an applicant's bank account unless there is an adequate explanation of where it came from and what it's for.

[bigdod]

7by7,

thanks for the advice. That's the way I read it too, and thats a particularly good point about sudden large sums of money showing up.

I'll let you know how it goes.....

[7by7]

This is a topic about obtaining a UK visit visa, not the best way to meet Thai women.

Any more off topic posts will be deleted.

Off topic post deleted; next one gets a holiday.

[Thongkorn]

My lady now my wife living with me happily in the UK , only had about 300 baht in the bank , but she had a bank history , her wages went into the bank and it showed in her bank book, because she was working class, so to speak they do not earn a lot and have to live , hence not a lot in the bank , The border agency are not stupid as some one suggested , if a large amount suddenly appears in her bank bank book obviously they will be suspicious.It can be done and has been done , many people told me ,oh you have to have this amount in her bank. all i can say is don't listen to them .

Edited October 10, 2010 by Thongkorn

[KunMatt]

I don't think it's as hard as people make out on here, as long as there's no anomalies in your/her life/history and you have a genuine relationship and life with this girl then why shouldn't she be allowed to visit the UK with you?

I got my gf a 6 month UK visit visa after only knowing her for about 6 months, reason for travel was to visit my friends and family for Xmas with her.

Her being unemployed isn't a problem if you have the funds to support her trip and cover all her costs, I guess proof of 5k to 10k in savings would be sufficient for a one month trip including all travel.

To satisfy the embassy that she would return to Thailand: well we live in Thailand together and we've no intention or reason to remain in the UK after our holiday.

Just make sure all your paperwork is in order, more so for yourself than for her it seems. The amount of paperwor and evidence you have to submit in Thailand is quite different and more in depth that other nationalities I've done it for, so for the first time we used a visa shop so they could check we had everything in order, after that we got most of the paperwork back and knew what we needed to do it the next time. The second application we did by ourselves and it was all smooth and easy and saved us 7k baht.

We submitted more paperwork about me, than the applicant herself.

Email history printed out - I searched for her name in my Hotmail acount and printed out the results showing regular emails to and from my gf, and any notifications from Facebook about messages from her etc since we met.

Skype history - screen grabbed and pasted into Word

Our apartment rental agreement in Thailand with both of our names on the contract. If you are staying in hotels get her name on the receipt etc.

Printouts of bank statements from online banks.

Pictures of my house (grabbed from Google streetmaps) and mortgage statement.

Photocopy of my Birth certificate

My last 6 months pay slips and a letter from my employer stating how long I had been with the company and my salary.

About 30 photos to prove we are together and in a genuine relationship taken at various places around Thailand with her, and photos at parties with her family and us together, things that show you are in a normal relationship. I worte on the back of the photos the date and where it was taken to show that the pics were covering every month of our relationship since the start.

And a 2 page letter to the embassy explaining all of the supporting paperwork above, i.e. how we met, what I do for a living, how much time I spend in Thailand and out of the UK, when we are together, why we want to travel to the UK, where we will stay in UK and what we will do, when and why we will return to Thailand together, and that I would like to be financially responsible for her and fund her entire trip, including all costs and her return flight ticket.

As long as there's no complicated situations or things you think will cause you problems on your application then I would do it yourself if you know exactly what to include first time or use a visa shop if you are unsure.

After speaking to one I decided not to use one of the expat visa shops that charge a King's ransom in admin fees as our situation was very straight forward and it would have been a waste of a lot of money, so instead we paid a very good local visa shop 10k which covered the visa application fee and the shop's admin fees and everything.

Good luck. It's not as dicey as it seems, but it is a relief when you find out the application is successful!

[7by7]

This is a topic about obtaining a UK visit visa, not the best way to meet Thai women.

Any more off topic posts will be deleted.

Off topic post deleted; next one gets a holiday.

Off topic post deleted and posting rights of member concerned suspended for 7 days.

You were warned.

[7by7]

This is a topic about obtaining a UK visit visa, not the best way to meet Thai women.

Any more off topic posts will be deleted.

Off topic post deleted; next one gets a holiday.

Off topic post deleted and posting rights of member concerned suspended for 7 days.

You were warned.

And another one!

It seems that people can't resist, so I'm closing this topic.

Anyone who has any questions about obtaining a UK visit visa, please start a new topic.

Anyone who wishes to bring out the tired old stereotypes please do so elsewhere.