Setlement Visa For Uk

[DJB]

Having read the posts already out there it seems like the whole visa issue is more like a lottery than a serious appraisle. I have had some experience of the neuances.. of the British Embassy already and they don't fill me with confidence that I will get a visa for my girlfriend.

Current situation stands at tried to get a holiday visa the other day but after waiting for 2 and a half hours to submit the application got told by some fat bloke that 'there was no way she would get a 2 year holiday visa if she hasn't been to England before'. I must have missed that bit in the fine print.. He then said 'does she work for a Large Multinational Company' (Yeh right)

He refused to except the submission on the grounds that we did not provide bank statements..fair enough. But then said that a three month relationship was not enough anyway and to come back in another three. I must have missed that one too..

Personally I think that as we were the last but one in the que, it was 12:30 by then and he was really fat. He was thinking more about stuffing his face at lunch than doing his job and helping us out.

Undaunted and judging by some of the offhand comments from the embassy staf. Desk clerk: 'Is she your wife sir'. I reakon that the best way to get her to England is for us to marry and apply for a setelment visa. We were intending to do this in England anyway but it would have been nice if the folks could have been there.

So..has anyone any advice on how to go about it. What documentation is a must..

Neither of us is employed, will this matter as my Parents have written a letter saying they will be happy to provide food and accomodation untill we can get ourselves sorted.

Where should I say we met, I doubt in a bar will go down well, but then how to explain what she was doing in Macdonalds on Koh Samui.

Combined with this, when they say what job was she doing before we met If she says serving drinks in a bar will that just creat a problem.

I can't stand all this bullshite that surrounds the whole process by the way...

Getting up at 7:30 to get there before 10...I mean a 2 and a half hour window for the 130 people who went there the same day I did..that's just over 2 min per application.

Saying that you can deliver an 'Affirmation of the right to Marry' at any time between 9 and 3:30 neglecting to mention the 2 hour lunch break these jumped up ######ers get...Yeh I ended up waiting for an hour and a half just to get the Consulate to sign it..

I mean It's not like I am going to start a brothel in my in my 60 year old parents house..Though by the time we get an interview I may have to sell my ass to pay back the debts I am running up to stay in Thailand...

[tyler2uk]

hello mate.....

dont know if this is going to be any help to you but i recently married in thai and now living in uk with thai wife on two year visa......

The way we went about it entailed getting married in thailand, not the family ceremony way but in the registry office.....my advice is get to embassy well early..before afternoon opening at 1 pm..... and be near front line of people waiting, you have to go in, pay money and ask for a right to marry, then you will get a numbered ticket, when you get that go to the small room at side of the upstairs room and you will be given this right to marriage form....

When stamped you need to get to registry office fast as there will be many people with same mission, when there you other half may be asked a few questions about how long you been together but its all easy, try to get a few photos for yourself and to show the embassy when going for a visa...my real advice would be to look at an agency for this because getting to bkk on time and getting to the front of the queues is something they do well (pushing in), plus you can have a taxi on standby to take you to the marriage office

When this is done you will both get a proper marriage certificate, you will need a translation of this to english and copies for the embassy.......

That was the easy part, and you will not have to marry again in uk because i gather it is recognised here, i only married again in the uk for my familys sake,

Now with the settlement visa, you will need proper application form that you can get at embassy, the information you need to get together is basicly everything you can, plus photocopies.....

What i got was mortgage agrements, pay slips, bank statements, references from work, pics of my house, phone bills, copies of passports showing we have been together some time, her phone cards, emails, marriage certificates and eng translation, her id card, her passport, my birth certificate, driving licence, a letter from my solicitor as a reference for me and prove of home ownership, bank statements showing i can offer support to her when here, council tax bill showing 25% discount to prove i live alone, e mails and letters from parents houshold bills.....etc.

basiclly they want to see you can offer full support and that you have known each other for a while.....

My wife actually worked in a car dealership in Narkon Ratchisma and she had to supply info on her job, bank statements, birth certificates, and even a form from her local town hall saying she has never been married..

Now i know that all sounds a bit much but thats what we had, i know of a few people who didnt have any of that and are now in the uk.....i think a lot depends on who you see at embassy....

When you got all you can go to embassy in the visa application entrance, with all you papers and copies,( obviously not real driving licence) hand in to people in this entrance, then you will have to go in and pay at cashier, about 18,000bt, and you will get a reciept.....next you will get letter saying if you need any more info and then a call giving an interview date....we got an interview 3 months after handing all that in,

The interview is something she will do alone, they basiclly grilled her about how long she knew me, how she met me and about why she wanted to go, luckily her english is good so she had no problems and we had nothing to hide so we got it there and then....

I consider myself lucky because i have heard a lot of horror stories, but as long as you get all the paper work you can, especially proof of job and accomodation, and financial support when here you should be ok.......

I hope this helps you a bit, my real advice is do it proper because she also got grilled at heathrow, so be carefull if you gonnna go through agencies who offer to sort your paperwork out for you, because it can backfire....good luck

[Boo]

Hi DJB, The embassy can be tricky bastards about the paperwork but a lot of their job also involves the protection of the women (thai) who are taken to the UK with their partners. Not having been in a relationship that long they want to ensure that you aren't some guy who once you get her to england will make her work in a brothel or dodgy massage parlour, or that you might decide after a couple of months that you dont want to be with her & she ends up staying illigally in the UK. That said, with the right paperwork & presentation & a lot of cleverly worded answers to their questions & there is no reeason, providing your in a genuine relationship, that she can't get the visa. Check out www.thailand-uk.com for most of the answers that you need & pm me if there is something specific you need to know as I recently went through the whole thing with my husbands residency visa. It was mind bending & stressful but we got the visa on the first try, so theres always hope.

Good Luck.

Boo

[peteypie]

DJB, Having worked for HM government in a similar type of establishment as the British Embassy, Bangkok, the first thing I would advise, and this is ment in the obvious understanding of your frustrations, 'take a chill-pill' before entering the premises. Your frame of mind will determine the Immigration Officer's frame of mind. If you go in next time thinking Oh no! Not that fat b**tard again, then he'll do all within his powers to screw you. Remember, he has to sit on his fat behind day in day out dealing with us! Like the other replies have stated, you go in with ALL the paperwork, ALL signed sealed and delivered, two copies of everything in nice plastic covered binders. You wear a nice clean shirt, with tie and pressed trousers. Your girlfriend dresses likewise, in conservative clothes. You act real nice, smile a lot, you call everyone Sir or Ma'am. Your girlfriend does loads of Ka's, and Wai's to all and sundry. If you don't have the right documents, you apologise for wasting their time and come back again. Look at it from their side of the glass, they have one hundred plus people coming in per day, most of them without the documentation they need, which allows them to legally issue a visa. They have to be polite to all the knuckleheads (I've been one myself on many an occasion) who roll up un-prepared and who then 'throw a wobbly' because they can't get what they want. Also, their duty is to protect not only you but your girlfriend/wife from possible abuse!? So, please remember that 'Fatso' and his friends behind the glass are only following the rules put in place to protect you and the girlfriend. He isn't trying to screw you around, he's just a bit disappointed that yet another 'client' has rolled-up to make demands while grossly under prepared and has used up the time allocation of someone who was prepared but couldn't get into the room on that day! Do it right, and you'll get exactly what you want. Good luck next time.

[Richard W]

Where should I say we met, I doubt in a bar will go down well, but then how to explain what she was doing in Macdonalds on Koh Samui.

As far as I am aware, that is not a valid ground for refusing her a visa. Lying in the interview is. Six years ago the Immigration Advisory Service was advising that meeting as client and bargirl was not an obstacle, and I know a bargirl from Koh Samui (place of work, not origin) who entered the UK on a fiancée visa about three years ago. (I don't know what she told the Entry Clearance Officer, but they aren't stupid.) The couple are still together. On the other hand, if a bargirl were still working as such when she applied, she would be refused. (I don't know what contact the ECOs have with the Thai police, but the police at Bangrak claim to know who the bargirls in Patpong and its environs are.)

Neither of us is employed, will this matter as my Parents have written a letter saying they will be happy to provide food and accomodation untill we can get ourselves sorted.

On the accommodation front, I believe you should be OK provided you will have exclusive use of a room large enough for the two of you. However, you may have to persuade the ECO that your parents won't throw her out. Do they know how you met? Your lack of a job could be a major problem - I don't remember the law on this, but I recall that ECOs are warned to be on the look out for pretend jobs created to get through immigration. About five years ago, the chief reasons for refusing settlement were inadequate accomodation or maintenance.