Just a quick question. About how long does it take to get a tourist visa for a Thai national to visit UK.

Its for someone I met at a party the other day. He's married to a Thai, she's just had a baby by him and he wants her to go back with him in about 1 months time. They were under the impresion that it was more or less the same day for a tourist visa. Is this right?

They are plkaning to come back to live in Thailand thats why they dont want a setlment visa. Probably married for about 6 months already, but he lives in UK

Cheers RC

If all the necessary supporting documents are submitted with the application and if those documents satisfy the ECO enough to be "minded to grant" the visa then the applicant may be asked to come back the next day or, more likely, 3-4 days after submitting the application the applicant will be contacted and invited to attend the embassy within the next week for a "short interview." This involves a few questions and if the answers are consistent with the documents already supplied then the applicant will be asked to come back the next day to collect the visa.

If the ECO is not 100% satisfied with the documents submitted then the applicant will be contacted with a date for a normal interview. The current wait for an interview is about 15 weeks. So it is very important to provide everything with the initial application.

I suggest your friend reads through guidence notes on the embassy website and asks here to clarify any points before he submits an application.

Ok Thanks for the reply. I'll pass the info on.

Cheers RC