Greetings, I hope someone might be able to give me a little advice as I have been trawling The UKBA and VFS sites all day and it's not always easy to pin down exactly what you want.

SITUATION:

I have lived and worked in Thailand as a teacher continuously for 10 years and been married to my Thai wife for 2 and a half years.

We successfully applied for a visitor visa this year and spent a month with my father in scotland in april.

We have decided that we would like to go back and stay with my father, as soon as october this year. We'd like to make a spouse visa but would rather do it from inside the UK ( that is, its quite pricey and we'd like to relay the cost until a few months after being in The UK where I can work and earn some better money).

Although we personally don't have stacks of cash, we will be able to provide sponsorship for her from my family and hers, and accommodation will be supplied by my father who also has all the documents to prove house ownership etc.

As far as I understand it, it is possible to change into the spouse visa category whilst in the UK but only if you have permission to stay for more than 6 months. This would rule out the possibility of doing that on a visitor visa which is only valid up to 6 months.

Does anyone have any idea how we could get around this? Could we apply for a longer term family visitor visa and then apply to switch in the UK?

I'd be immensely grateful if anyone could help out with anything they know

Kind Regards,

Ryk

i think you will need to apply for a settlement visa in thailand. you can apply for a longer duration tourist visa in thailand, but on a tourist visa you can only stay in the uk up to 6 months in a year. i dont think there is any way around applying for a settlement visa apart from in thailand.

i am sure someone will confirm this

Kunash is correct; if in the UK as a visitor, general or family, it is not possible to apply for leave to remain in any capacity, including spouse. Well, you can apply but it will only be refused!

The only place she can apply for a spouse visa is in Thailand.

Thanks for the response guys, I feared it would be as such. One more question, My wifes visitor visa that we've just visited scotland on will be valid until september or thereabouts. Can she go ahead and apply for another visa straight after that ( or even before it's validity has expired )?

Thanks again.

She may apply immediately for a spouse visa.

Thanks for the swift repy Thaivisaexpress, i may have to consult you guys on our likelihood of succeeding with the spouse visa.

Cheers,

Ryk