Submitting a Laos passport at VFS

[brewsterbudgen]

My girlfriend has a Laos passport but we live in Thailand. She will shortly apply for a UK Marriage Visitor visa and UKVI have confirmed she can apply in Bangkok.

Once we have submitted the online form and have the appointment at Trendy in Bangkok, she will need to hand over her passport. I am trying to time the appointment so that it falls a day or so after her border run, so there will be around 28 days before she needs the passport back, in order to do her next border run to Cambodia. Is this reasonable? Does a Marriage Visitor visa take longer than a General Visitor visa? Are there other options?

[theoldgit]

There's no reason why a marriage visa should take any longer than a Standard Visit Visa, I understand that they are being turned around pretty quickly at the moment.

There is an option of retaining you passport whilst the application is being processed, this costs £40 and must be applied for in advance and you must hand the passport in within 10 working days of submitting the application, to be honest I wouldn't think this is necessary. http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/thailand/user_pay_services.html#4

I would be inclined to add a note to the application of the need to get the passport back asap, I think the UKVI are aware of the problem it causes to be without one in these circumstances.

[asdecas]

Forty quid to retain your own passport? Ye gods, is there nothing these vultures will not charge for?

[brewsterbudgen]

There's no reason why a marriage visa should take any longer than a Standard Visit Visa, I understand that they are being turned around pretty quickly at the moment.

There is an option of retaining you passport whilst the application is being processed, this costs £40 and must be applied for in advance and you must hand the passport in within 10 working days of submitting the application, to be honest I wouldn't think this is necessary. http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/thailand/user_pay_services.html#4

I would be inclined to add a note to the application of the need to get the passport back asap, I think the UKVI are aware of the problem it causes to be without one in these circumstances.

Fortuitously, I discovered that one of my students works as an ECO Assistant at the Bangkok Embassy. He's told me that Lao applications are generally processed quickly as they realise that they need their passports for ID and border runs. I will definitely add a note to the application as well.

Thanks for the help.

[TerryLH]

Couldn't she get a visa that would allow her to stay here longer than 30 days?

[brewsterbudgen]

Couldn't she get a visa that would allow her to stay here longer than 30 days?

Only a tourist visa, but she's not a tourist. She's lived here relatively easily for 7 years doing 30 day border runs.

Once we are married, she should be able to stay on an Extension as my dependent.