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Posted

Have recently had advice on here regarding Schengen Visa for France visit under EEU rules - thanks all.

Anyway, the good news is that following the Visa application (normal /paid route) it was approved the following day, so must have done something right!

The application and Visa was in my fiancee's maiden name.

We plan to get married at the end of the month but am unsure about name changes.

My understanding is that her ID card can be changed to married name immediately (or if not then within 60 days) - no problem there, will do immediately.

So she can register to take an A1 Level English test in her married name and it will match up with her ID Card.

My question is - before we go to France for 90 days from mid March, we want to also apply for a UK Settlement Visa, so that when we get back in mid June (with UK Visa hopefully approved) we can start to prepare to go to UK.

.......but to do this presumably they need to have her passport in her married name(?). BUT the Visa is in her maiden name passport, and I am assuming that if we applied for a new passport in her married name they would want the old one (with the Visa) back. Not sure I want to complicate things with trying to get it transferred.

Any thoughts?

Posted

Firstly, I'm sorry but she cannot submit her UK settlement visa application and then take the trip to France whilst it is being processed.

This is because she has to submit her passport with her UK application and they will keep it until her application has been processed.

If she asks for her passport back before her application has been processed then her application will be treated as withdrawn and she will lose the fee; unless she needs to travel outside Thailand for urgent, compassionate reasons.

So, she has three options:-

  1. Submit her UK application immediately after your marriage and hope it is processed in time for her to have her passport back for the French trip. Note that if she does this her UK settlement visa will be valid for 33 months, and she must have lived in the UK for at least 30 months to be time qualified for the next stage;. So watch the dates. She could, though, ask for the start date of her UK settlement visa be post dated for up to 3 months. There's also no reason why she could not then go straight to the UK from France; but if she does ask for her UK visa to be post dated she cannot use it before that date.
  2. Wait until she returns from France in June and then submit her UK application. But, depending on how busy the entry clearance section is, she could have to wait until at least September before getting her UK visa.
  3. Abandon the French trip until after she has her UK visa. This will probably mean her current Schengen visa will have expired, but as she will then be your wife another one will be free (as discussed in your topic on the matter).

Secondly, her Schengen visa will still be valid even if the passport it is in isn't. So she could get a new passport in her married name and carry both old and new passports and her marriage certificate to provide the link. Note that the marriage certificate will need to be translated. English will do but all Schengen states require the translation to be authenticated by the Thai MFA (the UK doesn't; a certificate from the translation bureau will suffice for all UK purposes).

Alternatively she could wait until her return from France before changing her passport and then submit her UK application in her married name.

Thirdly, there is no obligation in either Thai or UK law for a wife to take her husband's surname upon marriage (not sure about France, but I suspect it's the same). So she could submit her UK application in her maiden name without changing her passport; again the marriage certificate will provide the link.

My wife changed her ID card immediately we were married, but didn't get around to changing her Thai passport until it expired. By which time she was living in England and not only had ILR but was also a British citizen. Indeed, for a short period she had a Thai passport in her maiden name and a British passport in her married one. All perfectly legal, as long as there is no intention to deceive.

But changing her passport in Thailand is, as you probably know, a quick and cheap process so, if time allows, she may as well do so if she wishes.

Posted

Tahnks as always for the comprehensive reply - appreciated.

Don't think (1) or (3) is an option really. Option (2) may be as if not going to the UK we would apply for another Schengen Visa (the free route this time....) after 10th September (>180 days).

As you mentioned, we could then go straight from France to Uk all being well.

Easy enought o get a new passport in her married name. Do you knwo if they can trace that she has an 'old' passport that has to be handed in? Or could she have both old and new, which would solve the problem?

Posted (edited)

Whenever my wife and daughter have renewed their Thai passports they have been given the old one back.

I can't say for sure if this would happen with a name change; my wife did this before 'e' passports and for both the 5 year renewal and the name change they simply put stamps in her exixting passport. But I'm fairly sure that if she asked for the old one back they'd give it to her.

Whichever option you choose for her UK visa application, remember that she must have lived in he UK for at least 30 months to be time qualified for the next stage, FLR. If she hasn't done so then she will have to apply for an expensive extension.

There is, of course, no reason why she can't do it the other way round. Her UK residency starts the day she first enters the UK with her settlement visa; so she could enter the UK and then go to France then back to the UK.

Remember that she cannot apply for her UK visa while in France as a visitor; UK visas have to be applied for in the applicant's country of residence.

Edited by 7by7
Posted

my wife renewed her passport last year in London and had her name changed at the same time after being married for 5 years, we have the old passport along with all her other expired passports.

Posted

my wife renewed her passport last year in London and had her name changed at the same time after being married for 5 years, we have the old passport along with all her other expired passports.

Similarly for an "e-passport" name change in Thailand, the old passport, with a cancelled stamp, is returned to the applicant.

Posted

Thanks for all the replies, some good some off the point(!)

Anyway, going back to my No.1 post.....about passports. We went to the Passport Office in udon Thani and explained the situation and simply asked whether we could keep the two passports.

They said yes, that they would simply stamp the new and the old to basically state they were the same person. SO solved....

Re staying in Thailand., having considered all replies,my preferred option will be to a) go across to Laos before current Visa ends 15th February....that will get another 90-day stamp.

When I come back from France in mid June I will get normal 30 day visa on entry. In light of the change of rules that G7 countries get a 30 day entry visa overland still, I will simply cross the border into Laos (45 minute drive to border) and re-enter on a 30 day 'free' visa (though $35 in practice...)....mid August, which will hopefully be all I need until we go to the UK hopefully or back to France.

Thanks to all.

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