Civil Partnership

[silomfan]

Good Morning to you all,

My b/f applied for the CP visa last week . I assume many many people applied on the 6th-10th december (5th was Bank Holiday). Have any of you received any indication yet of when your interviews will be ?? Did any of you have your CP visa applications approved without interview ? Any other comments, positive or negative, you can make will be of great interest to me and i would imagine anyone else who has/is applying for this new Visa .

SILOMFAN

[samran]

Good luck with it all. I think you are the ground breaker on this one!! Keep us all informed on how it goes.

[GU22]

I read on another forum that a Brit guy and his Thai boyfriend applied for a 'proposed civil partner' visa so they could move to the UK and register their civil partnership. However, the ECO pointed out to them that as they had been living together in Thailand for over 2 years it would be better for them to apply for an unmarried partners visa instead. This was issued without the need for an interview.

The reason? It cuts out the FLR stage and so saves them that fee of at least £335! This does mean that they will need to apply for a Certificate of Approval to register their partnership, but at a cost of £135 it is considerably cheaper!

Well done, that ECO!

Edited December 14, 2005 by GU22

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Was the ECO gay ? LOL

[silomfan]

I read on another forum that a Brit guy and his Thai boyfriend applied for a 'proposed civil partner' visa so they could move to the UK and register their civil partnership. However, the ECO pointed out to them that  as they had been living together in Thailand for over 2 years it would be better for them to apply for an unmarried partners visa instead. This was issued without the need for an interview.

The reason? It cuts out the FLR stage and so saves them that fee of at least £335! This does mean that they will need to apply for a Certificate of Approval to register their partnership, but at a cost of £135 it is considerably cheaper!

Well done, that ECO!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

One small chink of humanity from 1 ECO ....what a shame they are not all like that. Its odd that it was issued without an interview because presumably for the ECO to have suggested that they must have been at an interview !!. When applications like this for settlement or the equivalent are made they are taken at reception, quickly checked to make sure all the obvious things are there, and then they take your phone number or address and say they wil contact you for the interview date , so i don't see how this guy got his on application.

Unless of course he was a friend of the ECO.. ooopps..mustn't say that

SILOMFAN

[GU22]

From what was posted, the application was handed in along with all the supporting documents, they got the usual phone call (can you come in anytime?) for a short interview and it was when they went back that the ECO suggested the change.

Short interviews, that is a few questions at the counter and then the visa is issued, are not uncommon. All that is required for a short interview is that the applicant to submits all supporting documents with the application and for those documents to show that the application is genuine.

In other words, prepare properly. It's not rocket science!

[silomfan]

Good luck with it all. I think you are the ground breaker on this one!! Keep us all informed on how it goes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for your good wishes.

Application now 8 days ago and still not a phone call or letter giving the date. They don't rush at the Bangkok Embassy . I see on www.gay.com message boards that several other countries have already issued the cp visas to fiancees who are already in the UK.

I guess from the lack of postings here that no-one in Bangkok who applied has had any news , like me. Hopefully soon some will post with details , even if just to say when their interview dates are . it would be nice to know how long the wait is. Of course anyone who actually has the interview will be able to provide us all with valuable advice, questions asked etc, whether successful or not .

Lets hope we all hear soon

SILOMFAN

[GU22]

May I ask if you submitted all the supporting documents with the application?

And if not, why not?

[silomfan]

May I ask if you submitted all the supporting documents with the application?

And if not, why not?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I did submit not only all the supporting documents but also , because i know they will refuse if they possibly can, we also submitted a raft of documents showing our relationship over the past 3 years, even though that is not required. You only have to show you have met .

I'll have a little bet with you GU22... i bet they will refuse even though we undoubtably meet all the criteria for CP visa.(2 UK lawyers have confirmed we do meet all the criteria ). I wonder if when that happens even you will admit the ECO's are unfair. I'll have another bet with you ...i bet you won't !!

SILOMFAN

[GU22]

we also submitted a raft of documents showing our relationship over the past 3 years, even though that is not required. You only have to show you have met

No, you have to show that the relationship is genuine, and evidence of contact (phone bills, e-mail headers etc.), evidence of your visits (ticket stubs, hotel bills etc.) and evidence of time spent together all go to strengthen this point.

i bet they will refuse even though we undoubtably meet all the criteria for CP visa.(2 UK lawyers have confirmed we do meet all the criteria )

Are these the same lawyers who, from what you have said elsewhere, have yet to advise on a successful application? If the business about not having to prove a relationship comes from these lawyers, then I strongly recommend that you ignore their advice!

I wonder if when that happens even you will admit the ECO's are unfair. I'll have another bet with you ...i bet you won't !!

Without seeing the complete application package, a full transcript of the interview and the ECOs written reasons for refusal, it would be impossible for me to comment. Would you be prepared to publish all that here?

However, if you application is as thorough and complete as it can be, and you have shown that the criteria are met, then he should be receiving a call to come and collect his visa any day now. Even if he has to be interviewed, that still doesn't mean that there is a problem with the application, merely that there are some points that the ECO is not fully satisfied with and so wants to clarify them with the applicant.

I hope he is successful, and following on from my comment in another thread, I hope you wont be too disappointed when he is!

Edited December 17, 2005 by GU22

[silomfan]

we also submitted a raft of documents showing our relationship over the past 3 years, even though that is not required. You only have to show you have met

No, you have to show that the relationship is genuine, and evidence of contact (phone bills, e-mail headers etc.), evidence of your visits (ticket stubs, hotel bills etc.) and evidence of time spent together all go to strengthen this point.

i bet they will refuse even though we undoubtably meet all the criteria for CP visa.(2 UK lawyers have confirmed we do meet all the criteria )

Are these the same lawyers who, from what you have said elsewhere, have yet to advise on a successful application? If the business about not having to prove a relationship comes from these lawyers, then I strongly recommend that you ignore their advice!

I wonder if when that happens even you will admit the ECO's are unfair. I'll have another bet with you ...i bet you won't !!

Without seeing the complete application package, a full transcript of the interview and the ECOs written reasons for refusal, it would be impossible for me to comment. Would you be prepared to publish all that here?

However, if you application is as thorough and complete as it can be, and you have shown that the criteria are met, then he should be receiving a call to come and collect his visa any day now. Even if he has to be interviewed, that still doesn't mean that there is a problem with the application, merely that there are some points that the ECO is not fully satisfied with and so wants to clarify them with the applicant.

I hope he is successful, and following on from my comment in another thread, I hope you wont be too disappointed when he is!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I assumed GU22 that you reside or are at least spending a lot of time in Thailand.If so i am flattered that you took the time to post your reply at 05.30 Thai time instead of sleeping or enjoying the Thai lete night life. I thank you for that.

I think you misunderstood some of my reply. I know you have to prove a genuine relationship. The point i was making is that one of the criteria is that you have met, but we have provided more than called for . Thats all. You carry this misunderstanding into your second point about my 2 lawyers thus drawing the wrong conclusion. Not your fault, just a misunderstanding of my point. We do meet all the criteria, and NO we won't be getting a call from the ECO to collect the visa because they are prejudiced against him . One ECO hates him (we don't know why) and is making it his life's ambition to forever deny him a visa. Of course his colleagues back him up. And no i don't want a comment from "the gent" about this ....my message to him is just don't read this.

Regarding your last comment that i see you also posted on another thread ... i can honestly say that the last thing i think about at night and the first thing i think about when i wake up is my boyfriend and how much misery this spiteful ECO is causing. To make the comment you made about someone you don't know is wrong, and you should apologise and hang your head in shame.

However much we disagree , and we do, i would never make such a personal comment on your motives without knowing you first.

SILOMFAN

[GU22]

No misunderstanding.

I did submit not only all the supporting documents but also , because i know they will refuse if they possibly can, we also submitted a raft of documents showing our relationship over the past 3 years, even though that is not required. [/b]You only have to show you have met .

A clear statement from you that shows a basic ignorance of the criteria! Despite your claimed knowledge and experience!

Every post you have made on the subject of visas, from your very first, shows that for some reason you are dead set on proving that the ECOs are malicious, and now you even claim that at least one of them has a personal grudge against you and your boyfriend! It seems that proving that you are right is more important to you than obtaining a visa for your boyfriend.

You are toying with another persons hopes in order to prove a point. It is you who should be ashamed!

[GU22]

OK, time to expand on my reasoning here.

From Your first post on this forum.

I am a gay UK man with a Thai partner who has visited the UK 3 times in the last 2 years. I have also visited Thailand to stay with him. We applied in Dec 2004 for a settlement visa…….It was refused because firstly they didn't believe that his first 2 visitors visas were to visit the UK but were really to come to stay with me (we have photographic proof that he toured with his family on these 2 visits and i think they now accept that partially) and his last visa, a student one , he worked and didn't study. We admitted this breach of the rules . They also doubted we had lived together in "a relationship akin to marriage" for 2 years although they DO now accept this.

So, you were claiming to have been in a relationship akin to marriage for at least 2 years, yet you also claim that his 2 visits to the UK during that time were not to visit you! Can’t have it both ways. Either his intention was to live with you, so claiming he was touring with his family was a lie; or he was touring with his family, so wasn't living with you, which means that you were'nt living together in a relationship akin to marriage.

The student visa. Having been successful with 2 previous visit visas, a third one would have been a mere formality. Yet you chose to present him as a student, when he had no intention of studying but worked instead. You haven’t said whether he was discovered and removed or left on his own accord before that, but either way the Home Office know the student visa was bogus.

Why apply for a bogus student visa when another visit visa would have been a formality? Well it wouldn’t have been, would it? From the time scales you have given, it is extremely likely that a third visit visa would have fallen foul of the “no more than 6 months out of 12 in the UK” convention.

So, what we have here is someone who tried to bend the rules in order for his partner to spend time with him in the UK. Someone who got found out, and has since had difficulties with visa applications. Someone who blames those difficulties on “spiteful” ECOs who “are prejudiced against him.”

If you had been upfront from the beginning, and not attempted to bend the immigration rules, then you would not now be having your present difficulties. But, you would much rather sit back and blame “spiteful” ECOs than the real culprit: You.

It even seems that your arrogance extends so far that you would rather your boyfriend didn’t get his visa than you admit to your past mistakes.

[silomfan]

OK, time to expand on my reasoning here.

From Your first post on this forum.

I am a gay UK man with a Thai partner who has visited the UK 3 times in the last 2 years. I have also visited Thailand to stay with him. We applied in Dec 2004 for a settlement visa…….It was refused because firstly they didn't believe that his first 2 visitors visas were to visit the UK but were really to come to stay with me (we have photographic proof that he toured with his family on these 2 visits and i think they now accept that partially) and his last visa, a student one , he worked and didn't study. We admitted this breach of the rules . They also doubted we had lived together in "a relationship akin to marriage" for 2 years although they DO now accept this.

So, you were claiming to have been in a relationship akin to marriage for at least 2 years, yet you also claim that his 2 visits to the UK during that time were not to visit you! Can’t have it both ways. Either his intention was to live with you, so claiming he was touring with his family was a lie; or he was touring with his family, so wasn't living with you, which means that you were'nt living together in a relationship akin to marriage.

The student visa. Having been successful with 2 previous visit visas, a third one would have been a mere formality. Yet you chose to present him as a student, when he had no intention of studying but worked instead. You haven’t said whether he was discovered and removed or left on his own accord before that, but either way the Home Office know the student visa was bogus.

Why apply for a bogus student visa when another visit visa would have been a formality? Well it wouldn’t have been, would it? From the time scales you have given, it is extremely likely that a third visit visa would have fallen foul of the “no more than 6 months out of 12 in the UK” convention.

So, what we have here is someone who tried to bend the rules in order for his partner to spend time with him in the UK. Someone who got found out, and has since had difficulties with visa applications. Someone who blames those difficulties on “spiteful” ECOs who “are prejudiced against him.”

If you had been upfront from the beginning, and not attempted to bend the immigration rules, then you would not now be having your present difficulties. But, you would much rather sit back and blame “spiteful” ECOs than the real culprit: You.

It even seems that your arrogance extends so far that you would rather your boyfriend didn’t get his visa than you admit to your past mistakes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am not going to waste any more time on you . I did respect you before for your knowledge but recently, in your quest to defend the ECO's at all cost, you have become more extreme in refusing to even acknowledge that they make mistakes and therefore my case COULD be one of them.

You have assumed many things that are not true without asking me first for the exact facts. You have all the qualities to make a great ECO.

SILOMFAN

[GU22]

I have drawn my conclusions from the information presented by you. If that information is incomplete or incorrect, then it is inevitable that the wrong conclusion is drawn.

Rather like a visa application, really.

So, have you got the point yet?