My Thai girlfriend is visiting on a 6 month UK Tourist Visa at the moment.

My intention is for her to visit on a regular as possible basis, ie when this one finishes apply for another

Anybody know how possible this is. Is it possible to apply for the next one while one is still valid and if not how long between visas is possible or thought of as reasonable.

Cheers

Hi Rob,

As a rough rule of thumb, your g/f could probably get away with spending 6 months out of any 12 in the UK on visit visas. Any longer than that and it becomes apparent that she's living in the UK, which is not the purpose for which a visit visa is issued.

On the bright side, having visited the UK once and complied with the conditions of entry, subsequent visas will be quite straightforward to obtain, providing that she doesn't apply for them until a reasonable period has elapsed since the last one finished.

Scouse.

Rob,

From Guidance - Visitors (INF 2)

How long will my visa be valid for?

With a visit visa you can usually enter and leave the UK any number of times while it is still valid. The Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) may occasionally limit a visa so it is valid for only one entry. You cannot stay for longer than six months on each visit. Visit visas can be valid for 6 months, one year, two years, five years or ten years. You can apply for a visa valid for any of these periods. The ECO may decide to make your visa valid for a shorter time than you have asked for, for example if are not a regular traveller or have never visited the UK before.

An English acquaintance of mine and his Thai wife live in Europe, and she has successfully applied for and received a 5 year vv, but only after she had visited the UK a few times previously with 6 month visas.

Unless your girlfriend is a regular traveller and/or has visited the UK several times before, then she is not going to get anything longer than 6 months.

As Scouse says, whilst there is no hard and fast rule on this, the ECO is extremely unlikely to issue a visit visa if it means the applicant is likely to spend more than 6 months out of 12 in the UK.

A visit visa is for visits. If she wants to live in the UK then she should apply for settlement.