Family Visit Visa

[BIGJIMMY]

Greetings TV peeps, this is the situation, the Mrs last family visit visa to the UK was for 2 years, this expired at the end of last year and we're in the process of getting a new one now, as with all the visas we're had we only ever head back for 6 weeks at a time in any 6 month period, the last time we applied I ticked 2 years and we got it, the fee was 3000 baht or something like that, looking now on the vfs website its reads:

Family visitor

Short term visit [up to six months, single or multiple entry] 3,952

Longer term visit - up to 2 years 13,780

Longer term visit - up to 5 years 25,272

Longer term visit - up to 10 years 36,504

My confusion is if we apply for another 2 year visa then it's going to cost 13,780 or is that only if you plan to stay in the UK up to 2 years at a time, we only went for a longer visa last time so that we didnlt have to piss around getting new visas every 6 months and it's the same now, we would like to apply for a 5 year family visit visa with the intention of never spending more than 6 weeks per 6 months period in the UK which is a short term visit not a long term!!

Hope that makes sense because as i'm writing this i'm not quite sure i'm explaining myself properly!!

Thanks in advance.

Mr and Mrs Bigjimmy

[BIGJIMMY]

Just saw the Mrs current passport expires next October anyway so we'll only apply for a year visa!!

Don't worry about it folks!!

Thanks anyway.

[theoldgit]

Just saw the Mrs current passport expires next October anyway so we'll only apply for a year visa!!

But to clarify your original question, the fees went up considerably for longer duration visas a couple of years ago, think they thought people were saving money by applying for longer duration visas and they couldn't have that so they closed the "loophole".

A longer duration visa doesn't allow the holder to stay in the UK for say two years, it just means they don't have to continually apply for new visas if they wish to travel.

If your wife wanted to apply for a two year visa she still can, which costs the same as one with a twelve month duration, she just carries her new passport together with the old one containing the visa when she enters the UK, she could have the visa vignette transferred to her new but that would cost 5200 Baht, and is not necessary.

[BIGJIMMY]

Whow, this ia a massive increase, as I said the 2 year visa we got just over 2 years ago was the same price as a current short term one.

Thanks for the info, as we really only head back once a year I think on this occasion we'll just crack on with a short term one and maybe sort out a longer visa next time, 10 years would be a cracker BUT (and this i've read - not from experience) if you were to apply for a 10 year visa, you pay the fee of 36,000 but they only give you a 5 year visa then you've lost out, I read somewhere you can apply for a certain amount of years but the Embassy are well within their rights to give you a lesser year visa, does that make sense??

Thanks again.

Jimmy

[theoldgit]

You could apply for a ten year visa and they could, if they were so minded, issue a six month visa without any refund of fee.

I agree with you that it doesn't make any sense, I'm sure it doesn't happen too often and it would have to be authorised by a manager, but they are within their rights.

[7by7]

From VAT1.4 Visa validity - What period for a multiple entry visit visa?

Unless there are grounds for not issuing a long term visit visa, the ECO should issue the visa applied for..............

................In all instances, if an ECO decides that a shorter validity of visit visa is more appropriate than the one applied for, the ECM should approve it and notes should be added to Proviso. In such cases, no refund (full or partial) is available. The ECO should ensure that clear explanatory information for the decision is provided in a covering letter when the passport is returned.