It took 3 trips to Thailand and 2 visa applications, but I'm happy to report my Thai GF of 8 months has just arrived in the UK for 15 weeks

She landed at Birmingham Airport early yesterday evening, we stopped at the supermarket en route to my home and then for some food, and so we didn't get to bed until gone 11pm, but it didn't stop her waking up at 5:30am! I guess even after a 16 hour flight she's still on Thailand time, so lucky it wasn't even earlier.

Thanks to everyone that helped with good advice, we obviously managed to address the Embassy's concerns in our re-application and so her tourist visa was granted. And to those who posted negatively and then got angry when I chose not to care what you thought, Assuming everything goes well it'll be back to Thailand together in October to get married, then the visa process starts all over again when we go for a spouse visa to get her back again.

I live near Hinckley, south Leicestershire within easy reach of the M1 J20 northbound (Lutterworth) or J22 southbound (Coalville), the M6 J2 (Coventry) and the M42 J10 (Tamworth). I'm a young 47 while the GF is a mere 23 I'd love to meet up with any English/Thai couples, I'm sure you'll have some stories that'll scare the pants off me, but hopefully you'll help me learn how to make things work

If there's any interest maybe I'll write my story? The visa basics thread is all well and good but it took 3 threads of my own on top to get her visa approved, but now I've been there done that perhaps it's my turn to repay the help by offering my advice to other first timers.

Edited June 16, 201313 yr by GarryUK

How did the purchase of the tickets go, Did you send a letter to her to explain at check in?

Now life begins for you both, The culture shock for the GF and the weather, Least she wont be seeing snow.

Have you taken next week of work?

I remember my wife seeing sheep for the first time asking who takes them into the house at night and also asking for water and giving her water from the tap, She said, i cant drink water from the tap, I said, You can in the UK (Yes i did put the water from the tap into a glass)

Anyways, a word of caution, Take these few months to really get to know your GF before you get married . Like you say, You have only known her for 8 months which to be honest, that would be a short time if you were dating a lady from the UK, but considering, Most of your relationship has been separated by 6000 miles and the totally different cultures, you still need to get to know the Real miss Thailand and as i was once told by a lady, Life is so different on holiday than living together in real life and she was right!!!

Malc

Well congrats on getting the visa, next step Spouse is more difficult and means you having money to show, but am sure you have already checked what you need. My wife loved the UK when she came over. She would also love to live there oneday.

Remember to get married in Thailand you are going to have to go the Embassy to get your "Affirmation to Marry" done, start getting a list of what you need to get married in Thailand, then tick them off, and don't forget to ask the family about SInsod.

And don't let people say that you have not known her long enough, I met my wife in October and got married the following September at the Amphur, did the party for the family 2 years later.

EDIT - sorry but meant Settlement visa and not Spouse in the first line.

Edited June 16, 201313 yr by beano2274

Congrats mate. I live in nuneaton. Just applied for settlement visas. Anxious wait. Chok dee

The first morning back and we were out at 7am admiring the Hampshire countryside and my TGF asking if we eat all the wild flowers and blossom. She did not belive me that stinging nettles.....sting. so she learnt like we all did when we were children!

Then to Tescos to buy the entire stock of Mama prawn Tom Yum noodles.

Such fun!

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

If you want to meet some Thai people and give your GF a chance to visit the temple you might want to go along to the Forest Hermitage monastery in Warks. They celebrate Asalha Puja on Sunday 21st July

http://foresthermitage.org.uk/about/how-to-find-us/

Good luck to the both of you.

Hope it all works out.

Fantastic post. I remember my wife asking me to close the sunroof in the car it might get hot and finding driving through country lanes made her feel sick.

We did the nettle thing and she has never forgotten.

How did the purchase of the tickets go, Did you send a letter to her to explain at check in?

Malc

Turkish airlines would have been the cheapest for her, but I don't think it would have gone down very well me meeting her in Bangkok airport having flown Emirates myself, so in the end I paid the extra for us both to fly Emirates so when we go to Thailand in October we'll be on the same flight. I gave them a call and expressed my concern over whether she'd be allowed to board if I bought the ticket, and they explained to me that if I paid by any means other than a credit card then everything would be okay, or I could use a credit card if I went into one of their offices and paid in person. Birmingham airport is just 30 miles away, so Saturday morning off I went and did just that.

I'd love to meet up with any English/Thai couples, I'm sure you'll have some stories that'll scare the pants off me...

No scary stories, Garry. I'll only say that my wife has been here as permanent resident for over two and half years. We've met many English/Thai couples and my wife has many Thai friends but only recently met her favourite girly friend. All the rest are fair weather and nothing wrong with that.

Pleased that you got the tickets sorted out. I know there very expensive buying thickets on the BKK to the UK, My wife was paying twice as much when she was coming here on VV and sstill cost £850 when she bought the one way ticket from BKK to heathrow.

Regarding friends, My friends now are husbands of Thai wives!!! The wife kept herself to her self on her first 2 visits, but now she knows most thai people within a 20 mile radius.

First milestone passed: I went back to work Wednesday. House is still there and she's not begging to go home yet, couldn't ask for more than that