Visa For My Thai Son.

[JonnyP]

Hello Forum members,

I was wondering if somebody could help me with detailing the procedure for bringing my wifes son and my son in law over from thailand.

He is a thai national and currently has no passport.

We are planning to travel there in june this year and would like to apply for his visa then.

He is currently under care of his grand mother and she can arrange to get his passport before we travel.

My wife is currently in her first year of her 2 year settlement visa.

She origionally came on a fiancee visa and after we were married here we applied for the settlement visa and we successful.

We have one problem at the moment which is as follows:

His school teacher is wondering wether to send him to primary school at the end of this term , she has said that if he will be coming here shortly then it would be advised for him to stay at the nursery and wait for us to bring him here to be schooled.

He is 5 years old and is 100% thai. his father is no longer on the scene but is contactable.

What application form will he need to apply for the visa ?

What are the typical problems with this situation ?

Is it likely that he will get the visa considering his circumstances ?

Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Jonathan Prior

[the scouser]

Hi Jonathan,

For your step-son to qualify for a settlement visa, you will have to show that you can maintain and accommodate him without having to claim various benefits on his behalf. To this end, you'll have to show that you have sufficient income and a big enough house, just as you would have had to do when your wife went to the UK.

You will additionally have to show that your wife is related to her son and that she has had sole responsibility for his upbringing. If you are in contact with the father, then perhaps get written confirmation from him that it is the mother who has invested most in the child's development, and that he has no objections to the child going to live with the mother in the UK permanently. If you have been sending money to Thailand for the boy's benefit, then support the application with the receipts. Also include any evidence of phone calls etc between mother and son. Some people recommend getting a "sole custody" document from the amphur.

You should complete the settlement visa application form. I hope you included the child's details on your wife's settlement application as the embassy will check, and failure to have done so will lead them to question that your wife's son is genuinely hers.

Topic moved to migration to other countries forum.

Scouse.

[BKK90210]

I remember my neighbour went though the same problem.

The main key here is getting the permission release form from the natural father of the child. This was a big problem for him (dealing with the child natural father)...it likes cat and mouse...hide and seek game! Don't give up....just keep trying, especially if the child natural parents parted in not so good terms.

GOOD LUCK

[lopburi3]

One other item to remember is that both parents have to sign off to obtain a passport for a child in Thailand so I don't believe grandmother is going to be able to pull that off without some help. But the fact the father is contactable/agreeable? makes it a better situation than many people probably face.

[GU22]

From my own experience and talking to others, a letter from the natural father may be ok for a visit visa, but will not be enough for a settlement visa. She will need a sole custody document. If the natural father cooperates this is simple a matter of both parents attending an Ampur and signing a few forms, but if the natural father wont cooperate she will need to go to court. In my wife's case she had to go to court as the father wouldn't cooperate and this took nearly 18 months!

However, this was in Bangkok. I know of cases in remote villages where the father has been absent and the mother has gone to the Ampur with the village headman and got sole custody on his say so.

Of course, if the natural father is dead then his death certificate will suffice.

[GuestHouse]

The requirements are covered under the Hague Convention, seeParental Permission to Travel

Edit....

Sorry, having re-read your post it seems you and your wife are planning for her son to join you in the UK permanently.

In that case I think your wife is going to need both permission to travel and permission to take the child permanently overseas.

I would point out that Sole Custody is not the same thing as permission to travel since removing the child overseas may infringe the rights of the child to have access to the absent parent. (Yes I know you say he is out of the picture, but a formal statement to that effect is required, not just when obtaining a visa to the UK, but later when traveling out of the UK on holiday elsewhere and definitely if the need ever arises for medical procedures – operations requiring parental permission).

I would recommend you get a written confirmation from the father that he gives his permission for your wife to emigrate overseas AND to travel while overseas with their child. I’d get that in Thai and get it translated into English and the translation notarized at the British Embassy.

I say this because there was a post hear a few months back where a family where pulled up by immigration when taking a holiday away from the UK with a Thai child (Greece from memory) would not let them in because the child needed a visa for travel in Europe. You could well get asked for parental permission to travel when applying for such visas.

As for possible problems..

Expect the father to suddenly get interested in the child until some payment is made.

Edited January 24, 2006 by GuestHouse

[Lawnmower]

We recently got a Thai passport for my step-son. His natural father was not needed to sign off for the new passport in Laksi. My wife just said they were not together anymore. They looked at her passport and saw her name was changed to mine and said ok no problem.

I was quite surprised after reading previous comments on here. We had sole custody documents to show but didn't even have to mention these. We had previously changed his last name to his mother's maiden name, so maybe this helped as-well.

The sole custody documents took a day and a half in the local Amphur. The father was required as were two independent witnesses to verify everything was correct. We also changed his name to my wife's maiden name while we were there.

I am applying soon for a settlement visa for my step-son. In respect of the actual visa application is sole custody papers enough or will i need a letter from the natural father as-well ?

Edited January 25, 2006 by Lawnmower

[GU22]

I am applying soon for a settlement visa for my step-son. In respect of the actual visa application is sole custody papers enough or will i need a letter from the natural father as-well ?

Sole custody papers will suffice, there is no need to get the father involved at all.

[JonnyP]

well thanks for all your feedback folks.

We will change jo's (step-son) surname to my wife's maiden name as a good measure.

We will have to contact the father and check that he has no objections to him emigrating

What is an amphur ? is it like a lawyer or something ?

We can certainly ask him to sign sole custordy papers there. just hope he will comply

As for the rest of the evidence , we have all our moneygram papers to show money sent and can provide proof of telephone calls although it will mean contacting alot of compainies. how far back do you think we should obtain these for ? 3 months enough ?

I have a two bedroom house but i think by the time we apply for the visa we will have a 3 bedroom house. we have a new born too so maybe 2 is not enough although she is currently in our bedroom.

My finances should not be a big problem.

Anything i have missed or any better ideas ?

Kind Regards

J.Prior

[GU22]

What is an amphur ? is it like a lawyer or something ?

It's the local government office, a sort of combination of council office and registry office. If you are going to change the boy's surname you'd do that there too.

You seem to have everything covered, but I suggest that you go back as far as possible with the phone records.

My only concern is the number of bedrooms, I think 2 should be enough at the moment, but there is a cut off age above which they wont accept different sexed siblings sharing a room. Not sure what it is, though. Scouse?

[the scouser]

I must admit that I was under the impression that 2 different sex siblings were not considered able to share a room, but can find no reference to this. The Immigration Advisory Service gives the following guidance:-

‘Adequate’ accommodation mainly means accommodation that is not overcrowded, although if the accommodation is seriously flawed in some other way that may also mean it is inadequate. Overcrowding is judged according to the table below, where rooms are proper rooms - not, for example, a kitchen or bathroom. A child under the age of one does not count as a person and a child between one and ten counts as half a person:

Rooms Persons permitted

1 2

2 3

3 5

4 7.5

5 10

with an additional 2 persons for each room in excess of 5

Scouse.

[bangbuathongben]

Hello all, its been a long time since I have been on this forum as I have been waiting for my computer and gear to be shipped back to the Uk from Thailand. Anyway I to am in the same situation. My wife is in her first year of settlement in the Uk (thanks to the thaivisa boys) and we are going through the process of getting my stepdaughter back to the Uk. She also did not have a passport so we had to make a trip to the Thai Embassy in London queens gate to get a copy of our marriage certificate and a copy of my wifes id card stamped and certified, also a letter of consent from my wife. These certificates should reach Thailand early next week which will leave afew weeks to apply for the settlement visa before I arrive in Thailand on the 26th of Febuary. I basically have produced all the same documents that i have produced for my wifes visa, with the added photos and documents from our new house (as before my wifes visa was granted on the fact of us living with my parents). I also wrote this in my sponsorship letter that this was the reason why we did not bring my stepdaughter back with us originally. I hope I have the same success with this visa as my wife had so fingers crossed. I will let everyone know how I get on. Scouse feel free to add anything you think I have missed out..

Cheers.....

Bang..........

[GU22]

Been out all day, but I've done a bit of research this evening.

The only mention of any age limit I can find is in various local authorities housing allocation policies. This one from Fife being typical.

Householders (tenants or owners) will be awarded overcrowding points, if

- three persons share a bedroom

- a child over 8 shares with a sibling of the opposite sex

- a child shares a bedroom with a step/half/foster brother or sister

- a child shares a bedroom and there is more than 10 years difference in age

Given the relative ages, new born and 5, there should not be a problem. However, Jonny, I suggest you put in your covering letter that you are actively looking for a larger property, just to be sure. Unless you have found one, by then, of course.