Fiancé Visa For Thai Gf On Tourist Visa

[has876]

Please can someone help! This may have been answered in previous posts but I cant seem to find the answer. Currently my Thai girlfriend is on a 6 month tourist visa. She plans on staying here for the full 6 months and then return back to thailand to immediately submit an application for a fiancé visa in Bangkok. My questions are:

1. Does she need to return back to Thailand in order the apply for a fiancé visa or can she apply here in the UK?

2. If she must return to Thailand to apply for a fiancé visa will she have any problems? as some people are saying we may need to wait 6 months before applying another visa?

Many thanks

[bellboy86]

Not sure about time to apply. However I know she needs to return to Thailand to apply. Goodluck

[VisasPlus]

She cannot apply for a fiancee visa in the UK. She must return to Thailand.

She can apply for a fiancee visa immediately on return to Thailand. It is only with visitor visas that you might have to wait up to six months to make a fresh application.

[has876]

Thanks for your help!!

[malct]

Hi

I am also in the same situation.

this is my GF's 2nd visit to the Uk and she is due to go back to Thailand in August.

If we were to get married in the Uk, am i right in saying that we apply for a fiance visa with the intension to get married in the uk with in 6 months? and once you get married you can apply for your wife to stay in the UK for 2 years.

Are their any pros and cons if you marry in Thailand and not the UK?

I will be going back to Thailand in August with my GF and then going back to Thailand in September for my big 50 birthday.

Long term, My plan would be to retire in Thailand.

Malc

[7by7]

If you marry in the UK while she is here as a visitor then once back in Thailand she would apply for a spouse visa.

If you are not married when she returns then you can either marry in Thailand and she then applies for a spouse visa or she applies for a fiance visa and you then marry once she is back in the UK.

A fiance visa is valid for 6 months. During this time she travels to the UK and you marry. Once married she applies for Further Leave to Remain. This lasts for 24 months and at the end of it she applies for Indefinite Leave to Remain.

A spouse visa is valid for 27 months and once she has lived in the UK for 24 months she can apply for ILR.

The cost of a fiance visa and a spouse visa is the same; currently 42,120 baht.

The main difference between the two is the cost of the FLR application (currently £550 by post or £850 in person) and that a fiance cannot work until after the marriage and receipt of FLR, whereas a spouse can work immediately.

The cost of an ILR application is currently £972 by post or £1350 in person.

Remember that whether applying as a spouse or a fiance she will need a TB certificate and to pass the basic A1 English speaking and listening (or better) test. See UKVAC website for more details.

To apply for ILR she will need to have satisfied the Knowledge of language and life in the UK requirement. This can only be done in the UK, and can be done while in the UK as a visitor.

[Thai Visa Express]

I would suggest you marry in Thailand no need to apply for further visas etc..

[malct]

If a uk Person get married in Thailand, Can his thai wife still stay in the UK for 2 years, Just like if she was to marry in the UK?

[RAZZELL]

If a uk Person get married in Thailand, Can his thai wife still stay in the UK for 2 years, Just like if she was to marry in the UK?

If you get married in Thailand your wife would have to apply for a Settlement Visa which if granted would give her 27 months in the UK.

If your gf/fiancee comes to the UK on a fiancee visa you get 6 months within which time you have to get to get married and then apply for Further Leave to Remain (FLR) and then get awarded a further 2 years.

Having just gone down this route myself I would say it was pretty painless and for our situation was preferable to getting married in Thailand. Hope that helps

RAZZ

[Thai Visa Express]

If a uk Person get married in Thailand, Can his thai wife still stay in the UK for 2 years, Just like if she was to marry in the UK?

Yes

[7by7]

Having just gone down this route myself I would say it was pretty painless and for our situation was preferable to getting married in Thailand. Hope that helps

As a legal Thai marriage is also legal in the UK (and vice versa) I can't see any reason for giving the government an extra 500 quid for an FLR application when you don't have too.

But I do understand that people have their own reasons for marrying in the UK instead of Thailand.

[pac4155]

I'm currently going down the same route myself (Thai wife, married in Thailand last month, applying for a settlement visa to UK, just submitted). I have lots of info on applying for such a visa, if the original poster would like to PM me, I'll gladly supply.

[Pilotman]

You have been given some good advice, here are a few extra points that may be of interst. By the way, my wife and I did just what you are doing. The fiance visa will not ncessarily be for 6 months, they will amend it depending on when you say that you will marry [if in the UK] . I advise that you marry and register in Thailand, it makes things much easier, but make sure that you have translated and legalised versions of everything! My wife and I applied to VFS for her fiance visa while she was still in the UK, We sent the paperwork to BKK and she then returned for the X ray and interview. She was back in the UK with me within 2 weeks and in that 2 weeks, we got married in the villiage, although she still enterted the UK on a fiance visa not a spuse visa. It didn't matter.. It was all very straightforward.

One small thing. VFS sometimes say that you must have a date booked for the marraige in the UK, this is balls and is in fact not possible, UK Embassies were instructed not to ask this some 5 years ago, so don't let them get away with it. Good luck.

Pilotman

[malct]

Thank you for all your advice on this topic, It is very interesting.

Just need to get my head around whats best for me and also the GF.

Long term, we are wanting to live in Thailand, So maybe a thai wedding might be the better choice.

Malc