My wife want's to invite her sister over to the UK for the Summer and I'd like to ask a few questions.

Do we "jointly" sponsor her application? We will obviously pay for her flight etc. My wife is working in the UK.

We have proof of accommodation, mortgage documents etc over in Bkk already...these are over a year old and were used for my wife's fiancee visa application - do they need to be re-done??? Do we need to "self-certify" both our passports?

She isn't working at the moment (just took redundancy after the floods) but has a car, rental agreement a few quid in the bank. Is it a major problem? She has never travelled out of Thailand before.

What is a reasonable length of visit for a holiday 2-3 months ok? Does it really effect future applications if you apply for 6 weeks and she stays longer?

What is the current wait time?

RAZZ

Edited April 6, 201214 yr by RAZZELL

When my wife's sister visited us we jointly sponsored her, though I wrote the sponsor's letter.

I would supply up to date accommodation evidence; you don't want to chance the ECO refusing because they feel the situation may have changed!

Copies of both passports to show the status of each of you in the UK.

Explain the situation re her employment as fully as possible, highlighting her prospects of employment on her return.

Length of visit? How long is a piece of string? Be honest, if the intention is to stay the full 6 months, say so. Having said that, there is no reason why a visitor cannot stay longer than stated in their application; however it can damage their credibility in future applications unless satisfactorily explained.

From recent posts on this forum, I believe the current waiting time for a visit visa is about 5 working days.

Did one two weeks ago - it was about 12 days (including a weekend) from day of vist to date of receipt by courier at our SiSaket home. Collecting yourself should knock a couple of days off that.

Dont leave the UK Border people to guess at or interpret the likelihood of your wife's sister's return. Lay out in the sponsor letter all the reasons why she will return and there is no harm in saying that 'she has no interest in settling in the UK'.

Many thanks

The intention is for my wife to go back and visit her parents/friends/family at the end of May and for her sister to fly back wIth her.

I better get my skates on

RAZZ