Hi All.

relavent bits

I'm British .. wife is thai. we have 1 son together / so half thai/english

i lived in thailand for around 7 years. got married etc etc.

we all moved back to the UK just over 1 year ago

wifes passorts is at the home office .. don't expect it back for a few more months as we had a battle which has just completed about her visa.

our son (age 5) has both thai and english passports so no need for visa.

to cut to the point of the post

wife's younger brother (age 20) wants to come on holiday for 3 weeks to visit us.. (i'm paying for the flight etc)

he is a UNI student in BKK in his 2nd year of studying somethign to do with tourism.

i need to help him get all his paperwork together to try and apply for a UK tourust visa.. but unsure what he needs.

things i can think of ..

letter from my inviting him and confirming he is staying with us.

my financials.

letter from his UNI confirming what his student status is .

i would of said my wifes thai passport and UK visa.. however as above its at the home office so we could only supply copy of her passport and until it comes back we have never seen the visa.. so would it be better to say he is comign to visit his nephew (my son) who has both passports.

stumped on what else is needed.

You seem to be just about there.

You have appreciated that it's his application, you are helping him with his application, and of course sponsoring.

The brother in law needs to satisfy the Entry Clearance Officer that the trip is genuine and affordable and, on the balance of probabilities, he will return home at the conclusion of his trip.

So he should provide an itinerary which would include details of what he would be doing for the tree weeks, three weeks is a reasonable amount of time to spend on holiday. You have already said he is staying with you so you have that covered, in your covering letter give details of the accommodation available to him

You have said that you're sponsoring him and that you will submit evidence that it's affordable for you to do so, in your covering letter add a line or two about why you are paying for the trip, from what you have said it's perfectly reasonable for you to do so.

Reasons to return are very important, you have indicated that he is continuing with his studies on his return, the letter from his university should confirm that he is part way through a course, the dates he is expected to return and that date equates with the normal term times.

Both you and the applicant should submit covering letters, don't make them too long just give the reasoning behind the application to allow the ECO to make a positive decision.

Copies of your and your wife's passports are perfectly acceptable, you cannot submit originals, I personally wouldn't go into details of the initial perceived problem with your wife's visa, as long as the copy of the passport shows her right to be in the UK.

Whilst no applications are just rubber stamped, I wouldn't see a problem with the application.

thanks for the reply

but...

while we have a copy of my wifes thai passport .. the copy does not have her visa in . so we cannot show her immigration status. thats why the home office have it, waiting for them to put the visa in.

we do have letters from the immigration tribunal but i think they would just confuse the issue.

so that left me thinking it would be easier to centre the visit on him coming to visit his nephew (my son) who has both thai and uk passports.

Don't complicate matters; why would he visit his nephew but not his sister?

I would simply say that your wife has a leave to remain application pending with the Home Office which is why the copy of her passport does not have a current one in it.

If they want to check, they have the means to do so.