Uk Visa For Thai Step-Daughter

[nis999]

I am British, 55 and married to Thai last year, who now has extended her UK visa for 2 years and we have a one year old daughter with us in UK (who is British). My wife has 11 year old daughter in Thailand (12 in August) and we would like to bring her over to live with us. My wife’s Thai divorce papers show she has sole custody, but the child is living with Grandparents at present. She is in private school (which I have funded since we got married last October, and we have phone records of regular contact between mother and daughter.

Can anyone help with advice on how we start (I am very nervous, as my wife’s visa was originally refused by VFS, and we were separated for 9 months whilst I waited for our tribunal case to be heard by a UK Judge last year, which cost me a small fortune, only for the Judge to say that he could not believe why the VFS refused us and that they had clearly ignored all the evidence!)

Can we apply from the UK, perhaps getting Thai relations to take our application to VFS or do we have to go in person? I have looked at the official waiting times, but nowhere can I find whether we should be looking at the waiting times for Premium Visa over six months or settlement visa.

I used an immigration Lawyer for my Wife’s appeal last year, and although I don’t want the extra cost I wonder if there would be any advantage in getting them to prepare the application?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I am hoping to get her into our local school next term, as she would be in the same class as my own 11-year olds from my first marriage, so time is tight to say the least!

[kunash]

hi

I would suggest you would need to apply for a settlement visa. what is the current status of your wife's visa? is she on a settlement visa, or iLR, or FLR? How long have your wfie's daughter and wife been separated? What were the reasons that you did not bring your wife's daughter to the uk with your wife? How often does your wife contact her daughter, and how? is the child's father still around, and does he have any contact with his daughter?

Your wife has custody of her daughter which is very helpful. but your wife must also show sole responsibility. this is harder to prove when there has been a separation. to have sole responsibilty means you look after the child's emotional needs, her well being, you take her to school, and cook look after her on a day to day basis.

i would start collecting evidence about contact with the child - email, MSN, Skype. Also does your wife make the decisions in the child's life? Collect any receipts you have for schooling, or monthly allowance, (edit - dentist, doctor )

I think you would have to apply from Thailand for the visa.

Trying to prove sole responsibilty for a child, like in thie case, can be tricky. i would personally employ the services of an agent. there are a couple of good agents who sponsor this forum. you do not want to take any risks with this.

good luck

Edited July 31, 2011 by kunash

[ThaiVisaExpress]

You would need to apply here in Thailand, I would expect to see :

1. Evidence of close contact ?
2. Evidence of financial support ?
3. Evidence of any visits, how long you have been separated from the child?
4. You must be able to maintain & accommodate the child without recourse to public funds.

We offer this service & can deal with everything for you if required feel free to contact me.

Regards Paul

[VisasPlus]

Everything the other OPs have said is relevant. You will be seeking a settlement visa for this child, and currently the waiting time for processing ( after submitting the application) is between 8 - 12 weeks, so it is not likely that a decision on the visa application will be received before the next school term. In addition, you will need to provide a fair bit of documentary evidence to show that your wife has had sole responsibility for the child's upbringing.

The application will have to be made in Bangkok. You can, of course, do a lot of the work from UK, and even complete the online application from there, but the application itself will need to be submitted at VFS in Thailand. Settlement applications for children to join a parent or parants in the UK can be complicated ( depending on what documentary evidence you have ), and take into account such things as how long the parent(s) has been in the UK, what contact there has been since the parent left Thailand, who has been looking after the child, etc. Cost is a major factor, as the settlement visa itself is more than 800 GBP, plus any agent's fees. If you do want to use an agent, then have a look at reputation and track record, if you can. Some agents publish their fees on their websites, and some don't. Even using an agent doesn't guarantee you a visa ( despite what some websites claim ! ). Either way, if you do it yourself or use an agent, then seek as much advice as you can before starting the application.

Edited August 1, 2011 by VisasPlus

[7by7]

Have a thorough read of SET07- Children; paying particular attention to SET7.8 What is sole responsibility?

As hinted at by others, sole responsibility is the biggest hurdle you will have to overcome; and the longer parent and child have been separated, the more difficult this can be to show.

[nis999]

Many thanks for quick replies. In answer to the questions posed:

Evidence of close contact? How far back does this evidence have to go? My wife was with her daughter in the family home in Thailand from October 2009 to September 2010 (during which time she was pregnant and gave birth) returning to UK in Sept 2010 on a Fiancé visa. Since then she has been in constant contact with her daughter by phone (I have itemised phone records from the 18185 web site where we get cheap calls)

Evidence of financial support ? Since her return to UK ( we got married in Oct 2010), we have sent money to my wife’s mother monthly. Her daughters school costs B7000/term, we have been sending approx B10,000/month (with the exception of one month) via a Caxton cash card which we load from our UK bank, allowing my wife’s mother to draw cash in Thailand. I have printed record from Caxton Web site.

Evidence of any visits, how long you have been separated from the child? As above, and prior to that my wife was visiting her sister in the UK in 2008, whilst recovering (emotionally and physically) from a serious motorcycle accident in Thailand. We met in UK in May 2009

You must be able to maintain & accommodate the child without recourse to public funds I had to do this for my wife’s 2-year visa extension in Nov 2010, and can provide bank statements etc. The officer who handled our application at Liverpool was happy with the documentation I provided. I am self-employed (Handyman, in business since 2001), owning a 4 bed house with mortgage. My wife now has new credit-card style residence permit, “Spouse/Partner Leave to Remain”, work permitted valid to 18 Nov 2012

So to sum up, the child has been looked after by her Grandma, but funded by my wife since meeting me, with all decisions made by my wife who is in daily contact with both mother and daughter.

I am prepared for the costs, but will need to find out what an agency would charge; I was at first reluctant to use an agency as my Brother-in-Law used one for my Wife’s sisters visa and had a very bad experience. If an agency makes the application, do my wife and I have to go to Bangkok, or would it be advisable?

[7by7]

All evidence of contact, visits, financial support etc. should date back to the day mother and child were first separated.

As previously mentioned, you should also explain why the child did not apply for settlement at the same time as the mother and what has changed since then to make her apply now.

Someone must attend the VAC with her to submit her application and have her biometrics taken; she's only 11 so too young to go on her own. This someone does not need to be you or her mother. If you and her mother can't, or don't want to, do it, then I'd suggest whoever is currently looking after her.

Remember, that as she is 11, soon to be 12, she will need a TB certificate.

[kunash]

the time apart is less than one year which will hopefully be in your favour.

[bobrussell]

You seem very on the ball. If you present all this evidence in a well organised and clear manner I cannot see why the visa should be refused. However be prepared for the present carers to be contacted by telephone and questions to be asked about who makes the decisions, contact and visits. I am not suggesting the Embassy will try to catch someone out but there seem to have been occasions where different interpretations have been made of comments made by grand parents when questioned by the Embassy.

The key points have already been made regarding sole-responsibility. Make sure that the grandparents confirm that they do not make the decisions - you and your wife do. There is an aggressive anti-immigration attitude in the UK at the moment and this can cause problems for genuine applicants. I am not suggesting that you get them to lie but just make sure they are precise in what they say!

If the daughter has contact with the father this can lead to problems so if he is not on the scene make it clear and explain why! When we applied for my step-daughter we made it clear that for health reasons her elderly grandmother was not fit to continue to care for her. We had no problems with the visa.

Check every statement, can it be interpreted in more than one way? If so change it to avoid misunderstandings.

[7by7]

There is an aggressive anti-immigration attitude in the UK at the moment

Maybe, among some parts of society.

and this can cause problems for genuine applicants.

Rubbish; ECOs judge each application on it's merits and are not influenced by the opinions of xenophobes and papers like the Daily Mail!

If the ECO is satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, the criteria for the visa are met then the visa will be issued.

[kunash]

However be prepared for the present carers to be contacted by telephone and questions to be asked about who makes the decisions, contact and visits.

This is quite important. I am sure the embassy will contact the 'carers' and their line of questioning can be quite tough. So make sure the carers know they will get a phonecall, and they know what to say. by this i mean they have all the relevant facts in their head.

The lady doing my wife's interview was very nice, but at times it felt like she was bing interogated.

[bkk2006]

Nis999 - Any update? How did things turn out?

I'm interested because I'm facing an almost identical scenario.

In my case, my wife is 11 months into her 24 month FLR(M) visa and we'd like to bring her daughter (currently living with Grandmother in Thailand) to the UK. Circumstances prevented us bringing her over to the UK 11 months ago but we now have a newborn baby boy and want to consolidate the family in the UK for the next 4-5 years.

I'm unclear about the visa application options available to us in these circumstances, i.e. which visa category should we be applying under and which form should we be using? While I understand we could include my step daughter on my wifes Indefinite Leave to Remain - SET(M) - visa application in 12 months time, its unclear how we can proceed at this point in time while my wife is only 11 months into her FLR(M) visa.

Any advice gratefully received.

cheers

[KennethReed]

I am in a very similar position, howver my wife is in from namibia rather than Thailand (i use this forum as it's the best generic advice I can find) the main initial problem I have is that in namibian law we can not take the child out of the country without her fathers permission, and he refuses to give it, even though he split up from my wife before the child was born and had had virtually no contact or given any kind of support to his daughter whatsover.

This to us is a majpr problem, just out of interst what is the position of the British Immigration authorities If this was the case in Thailand, would they require the fathers consent to bring a child out of Thailand

[tigerjohn]

i got visas for my 2 stepsons last yr, we had to use a third party because my wife came on settlement visa in 2010 and we were in no position to travel to thailand to submit the applications ourselves, my wifes mother was not able to do it though she was looking after the boys shes just not educated enough to do it so we used an agent who i have to admit did everything from getting the young ones passport to taking the older boy for tb xrays, checked everthing i emailed/posted her then took them to submit the applications in bkk, i thought she did it for a reasonable price compared to what we would have had to pay and go do ourselves, we did have to go to hull to the thai consul and give her power of attorney for both boys but honestly she did an excellent job and from starting in feb with us going to hull we then went and picked the boys up at the end of may, so it is possible for you to do it all from the uk

[7by7]

Nis999 - Any update? How did things turn out?

I'm interested because I'm facing an almost identical scenario.

In my case, my wife is 11 months into her 24 month FLR(M) visa and we'd like to bring her daughter (currently living with Grandmother in Thailand) to the UK. Circumstances prevented us bringing her over to the UK 11 months ago but we now have a newborn baby boy and want to consolidate the family in the UK for the next 4-5 years.

I'm unclear about the visa application options available to us in these circumstances, i.e. which visa category should we be applying under and which form should we be using? While I understand we could include my step daughter on my wifes Indefinite Leave to Remain - SET(M) - visa application in 12 months time, its unclear how we can proceed at this point in time while my wife is only 11 months into her FLR(M) visa.

Any advice gratefully received.

cheers

The child applies for settlement using form VAF4.

See Settlement; Children, paying particular attention to SET7.8 What is sole responsibility?

You may also find UK Settlement Visa Basics helpful.

Mr. Reed, I'm afraid that I cannot really answer your question. The UK immigration rules are the same regardless of country, and in the case of children sole responsibility is more important than sole custody. However, if the Namibian authorities require the father's consent for the child to leave the country, then even if the child does get a UK visa would she be allowed out of Namibia?

[KennethReed]

Hi 7by7 thanks for your response, am aware of the very difficult Sole custody and Sole Responsibility Issues, and these may even be insomountable, however from my perspective sat this stage its is the fathers permission I am concerned with, because If we can't get past this, then there is no application.

we are looking at going through the namibian courts (not easy and by no means a foregone conclusion to grant custody) I was just enquiring if anyone had been in a similar position in Thailand what the attitude of the Btitish Immigration authorities would be in a similar situation, ie father has not given permission, but the courst have

[7by7]

If the courts have granted the mother sole custody then as far as the UKBA are concerned that is enough; the father's permission is not required. That is the same whichever country one is applying in.

In fact, the immigration rules make no mention of sole custody at all; just sole responsibility.

So, from what you say, it is not the UKBA you may have a problem with, but the Namibian authorities.