UK Settlement - 3 down 7 to go

[NCFC]

When my wife was preparing for her A1 English Language test she attended a one-day coaching course and met up with nine other Thais also prepping for the Settlement Visa. They formed a Line chat group to give each other advise and moral support as they went through the process.

So far three of the ten have submitted their applications and had the results back. All three were rejected. The feedback was interesting.

One was rejected because the sponsor was already married to an English lady and had not married his Thai 'wife' at a Registrar's Office. He'd done the village ceremony only.

The second rejection was a gay guy working in a Pattaya bar. I'm still trying to find out what the official reason for rejection is, but I understand the rejection result was made the day after the application being submitted.

The third rejection was for a UK guy who has now been rejected 3 times for a Settlement visa and once for a Visitor visa for his wife. Apparently this guy is a taxi driver and can't/won't submit the proper financial evidence, yet still keeps submitting new applications....

My wife says the all the wives complain that they are having to most of the work in preparing the applications, which must be really difficult when you look at some of those forms and the British government web sites. Today, I answered a question from one of the women who thought she had to apply for a family reunion visa, and not a settlement visa. Seriously, if guys can't be bothered to put in the work they deserve to lose their application fees.

It has taken me and the missus six months to put our documentation together and I feel mentally drained by the whole process. Thank goodness it's done and dusted and now we await the outcome.

[7by7]

Your first case reminds me of when we were at the embassy back in 2000 submitting my wife and step daughter's applications (everything was done at the embassy back then, and most applicants were interviewed).

A very upset and tearful woman came out of the interview room and came up to us. She told my wife, in Thai, that her application had been rejected, but she didn't understand why.

I was passed the rejection letter, which basically said; "You have applied to settle in the UK with Mr X, who you say is your fiance and you have supplied a letter from him confirming this. However, neither of you have explained what has happened to Miss Y to whom we issued a settlement visa as the fiance of Mr X 6 months ago!"

The poor woman had no idea that her 'fiance' had previously sponsored another fiance!

One wonders what plans her 'fiance' had for her if he had got her to the UK, and what had happened to Miss Y.

In the case you cite, even if the man's relationship with his English wife had broken down, he would have to divorce her before he could sponsor another woman as his spouse. Though she could apply as his unmarried partner if all the criteria for that were met; basically living together in Thailand in a relationship akin to marriage for at least the past two years. The ECO would also, I suspect, want some evidence that the sponsor's existing marriage had, indeed, broken down.

Obviously, in order to legally marry in Thailand he would need an Affirmation of Freedom to Marry, and had he signed one, without first divorcing his English wife, then he would be guilty of making a false declaration and his marriage would be bigamous.

Cannot comment on the second case without knowing more about the reasons for refusal. If your friend wants advice, please post the full refusal notice; having first removed all names and other identifying details.

BTW, the length of processing has no relation to the result. Applications are processed in the order they are received and it takes just as long to process a refusal as it does to process an acceptance.

The third case; seems like the man is a pratt.

He knows what is required, but wont supply it. What does he think will happen? The ECO will finally give in and issue the visa anyway? We all know that aint going to happen!

Good luck with your wife's application; please let us know how she gets on.

Edited December 2, 2015 by 7by7

[Trevor1809]

The thing that strikes me about this is that we are only getting one side of the story then 3 out of a total of 10.

What I have learnt about dealing with Thais is that I only understand half of what is going on most of the time, whether it is lost in translation or simply wrong or lies. I only know of about 5 % of what went on with my wife's application and it severely pee'd me off that I was excluded from it all until it all went tits up. Then I had to sort it out. Again totally due to face saving and not admitting she had gone to some agent or other. Had she admitted it was all too much then I would have employed a Thai solicitor to deal with it or come over myself.

As you say the taxi driver may have been a pratt, may be not who knows.

[TCA]

Had she admitted it was all too much then I would have employed a Thai solicitor to deal with it or come over myself.

The forms are difficult enough for a native English speaking person to complete correctly. I wouldn't even trust a Thai solicitor to get them right.

[NCFC]

I say 3 out of 10 because the other 7 have yet to submit applications for settlement at this point in time. As these folk all keep in touch with other I thought it might be interesting to follow the outcomes. I've absolutely no idea whether any of the guys are following/posting on TV but I know all the Thais are getting info from Thai-centric websites. Will update this thread when more news comes in.

[Trevor1809]

I've absolutely no idea whether any of the guys are following/posting on TV but I know all the Thais are getting info from Thai-centric websites. Will update this thread when more news comes in.

And why does that make it believable?

An ex g/f got in touch with me having seen my Line id to tell me that my ex wife was on some Thai ladies website on the 50 shades branch using the id name Madam ****.telling everybody how I tied her up and beat the crap out of her.

Now if I went to Thailand and libeled a Thai I would be in deep do do. Having seen a lot of what my ex has written about me I am not sure I could believe anything a Thai writes on such sites. It is all about saving face.

[NCFC]

Got the dreaded email informing us that a decision has been made and we have to pick up the documents on Tuesday. I say 'dreaded' because the application was submitted just 11 days ago and I can't believe a successful outcome would be delivered in such a short timescale. From what I've been reading I was expecting a result in 20-30 days.

So spending the next few days trying not to think about it and of course, it's the only thing that is in my head. Our future happiness hangs by a thread....

[theoldgit]

@NCFC, whilst I don't know the strength of your application, or indeed what the decision is likely to have been, I wouldn't be at all concerned over the time taken for a decision to have been made.

There is no triage system whereby likely refusals are weeded out, when your application reached the top of the pile a decision maker would do just that, make a decision.

You will know the strength of the application, if the criteria is met a visa will have been issued.

Fingers crossed, and do let us know the result.

[NCFC]

@NCFC, whilst I don't know the strength of your application, or indeed what the decision is likely to have been, I wouldn't be at all concerned over the time taken for a decision to have been made.

There is no triage system whereby likely refusals are weeded out, when your application reached the top of the pile a decision maker would do just that, make a decision.

You will know the strength of the application, if the criteria is met a visa will have been issued.

Fingers crossed, and do let us know the result.

Hi ToG

Very good news. Our application for settlement has been successful! The wife has just picked up her passport with the visa stamp allowing her into the UK from 26th January. It was just ten days in processing so very happy with that.

Of her friends, we are the first to get acceptance. Another in the group went for a tourist rather than a settlement visa and has also been successful, though I'm wondering why thy took the A1 language test if they only intended a tourist visa. Oh well, mai pen rai. That's five down and five to go.

[theoldgit]

Smashing news, what a lovely Christmas present.

Best of luck to you both.

[NCFC]

I have to say that I couldn't have done it without the treasure trove of useful information - and advice - from TV, so thank you very much.