Help & Advise Required For Tourist Visa For Thai Gf

[jamony7]

Dear All,

As the title suggests I am after some much needed help and advise from this forum regarding a tourist visa application for my Thai girlfriend! I thought we would have no problems with our application as I thought we covered every angle as regard to evidence required in the visa guidence notes. My GF is an well educated lady, owns property has money in the bank etc etc. I supplied a covering letter, 6 months worth of bank statements and wage slips, copies of my passport, I also gave phone bills as proof of contact, she then also supplied emails, photos of us together, letters, cards etc.

There were a few grey areas which concerned me prior to our application as I know the British Embassy in BKK are tough, but my GF assured me that having spoke to her friends who have success with visa's before we were worrying about nothing!! The grey area being that she has no proof of employment - as she works freelance building and maintainig websites for a number of top hotels in BKK, its all cash in hand work, she pays no tax and thus has no wage slips!! She insisted on making up a story of selling clothes at either Patpong or Khosan Rd as she thought she would get the hotels and herself into trouble with the authorities because of the tax issue!!

My fears were realised and we were refused a tourist visa!!!

Basically from reading the refusal notice she's faxed to me, she stuffed up the interview that she was asked to attend in the afternoon!! She told me that the 2 ladies interviewing her were so rude that she felt so imtimedated and then she just went to pieces! Because of this they think/get the impression that she is a liar and that everything to do with our relationship is fabricated!!

They feel that under paragraph 41 of the Immigation rules, she is not seeking enrty as a genuine visitor and doesn't intend to leave the UK after the end of the visa! In the refusal notice the ECO has made a number of statements to support their decision for refusal - speculative statements which I feel are not open to speculation and we have evidence to back this up! The following are a brief version of those statement:

"You told the officer at the counter in the morning that you sell clothes at Patpong, at your interview this afternoon you told me you sell clothes in Khosan Rd"

This one my GF has only herself to blame because of the reasons I stated earlier regarding cash in hand work! Help!!

"You gave confused and contradictory accounts of how and when you met your boyfriend, you said at the counter in the morning that you met at a wedding, then in the afternoon you said near the wedding party"

This one really is splitting hairs, as my GF was not given the chance to explain - Fact: we met at the hotel I was staying at in July 2004 and she was there attending her friends wedding at that hotel.

"You've given discrepancies of how and when the relationship began, you say you've known him for nearly 2 years but when asked how the relationship began you said 8 months ago, and when asked how the relationship began you said by email a year and a half ago"

Here my GF has got confused into what they mean by relationship, Yes we met nearly 2 years ago and our relationship was purely plutonic and was started by regular emails 18 months ago, but in essence our "relationship/romance" began 8 months ago in June 2005!!

"I am not satisfied that the emails you have provided as proof of contact have not been engineered to prolong the length of time you have known each other, furthermore you mobile phone number doesn't appear on any of his bill"

This statement really sucks!! We literally have hundreds of emails as proof of contact - but I think my girlfriend hasn't helped our cause here - as we have so many emails, rather printing them in full she cut and pasted them to save paper!! As for the phone number, she didn't get the chance to explain that her phone was stolen when we were together in January so hence the number on the application form is different to that showing on my bills!!

"You have provided little in the way of assets/ties/savings/property which might encourage your presence in your country. You have no evidence of you employment. I am not satisfied that you are socially and economically well settled in you country, and satisfied that you intend to leave the UK at the end of period of stay"

As i feared the employment issue came up, if anyone has any suggestions how we can tackle this I would be most grateful! As for the savings/assets I am not sure what we have to supply - In her application my GF provided evidence of property ownership in the form of house papers (although I don't think these were translated) and also bank statements showing funds in excess of 180,000Baht!!

The final issue was that when asked what tourist attractions my GF would like to visit in the UK, she went blank!!

As you can imagine my GF has lost all confidence in gaining a visa for the UK and the thought of having to go back and go through it all again and speaking to the "rude ladies" fills her with complete fear!!

I am sorry for such a long post and on a subject matter which has been covered countless times before, but any advise and help would be so much appreciated. Is it worth employing a agency just to talk with my GF to boost her confidence and prepare her for the likely interview? And Getting her to get referances from old school tutors and having everything translated into English? Also is it a good idea that in my new covering letter I tackle all the points of refusal, detailing every single point of contention ie the engineered emails, phone bills etc?? One final point is

[the scouser]

You've largely provided the answer yourself. If your girlfriend makes a reapplication, then address the reasons for refusal in a covering letter. Most will be easily dealt with, but the discrepancy over your g/f's employment will be a tricky one to overcome. Once someone has lied, it is difficult to persuade the visa officer that anything they say is true.

Going by your account, your girlfriend produced no evidence of her employment but showed a bank book with a balance of 180,000 baht. It isn't surprising that the ECO drew an adverse inference from this. Her doubts will have been compounded by your girlfriend's contradictory statements about the location of the claimed market stall.

The only thing your girlfriend can do is to come clean, explaining what job she does do and why she didn't tell that to the ECO on this occasion. If at all possible, back it up with some testimonies from previous clients. It's not guaranteed to work, but to maintain the charade of selling clothes will undoubtedly result in refusal again.

Moved to visas for other countries forum.

Scouse.

[GU22]

There were a few grey areas which concerned me prior to our application as I know the British Embassy in BKK are tough, but my GF assured me that having spoke to her friends who have success with visa's before we were worrying about nothing!! The grey area being that she has no proof of employment - as she works freelance building and maintainig websites for a number of top hotels in BKK, its all cash in hand work, she pays no tax and thus has no wage slips!! She insisted on making up a story of selling clothes at either Patpong or Khosan Rd as she thought she would get the hotels and herself into trouble with the authorities because of the tax issue!!

Why do people do this? Why do people think a lie will be better than the truth? This is why she was refused. The ECOs are only tough if they suspect someone of lying! Having been caught in one lie, why should they believe anything else she says? If she had not told a lie and then forgotten/ got confused by what she had previously said then it is 99% probable she would have her visa. Follow Scouse's advice above. Confession and contrition are the only options now open to her.

Let this be a lesson to others: Tell the truth!

[bangkokblue]

Jamony7, Out of hibernation, You have my sympathy. Telling a thai official you work cash in hand with 180k in the back pocket, Well who would. This application is miles apart from the very high %of Bar Girl's who are unable to 'Tell the truth' but manage to cover the arse better, rotten luck but that's life. Take the above advice and good luck.