Visa for my Girlfriend and her Son for the UK.

[Alex2015]

I would like to take my Thai GF and her young son to the UK for a holiday. An agent has said there should be no problem as I currently reside in Thailand, 'Retirement Visa'/Extension of Stay. My GF doesn't have a job, property, job nor money in the Bank, well not much.

1) There is a 5000 baht deposit to start the procedure, if the Visa is refused nothing more, is the Agent being realistic telling me it's possible to obtain a Visa for both the GF and her son ?

2) Would the Father of the child have to sign a consent form for him to leave Thailand ?

I would appreciate informative answers only please.

3) What proof do I have to provide that I will be supporting her whilst in the UK, I don't own a property, I do but it's currently rented out.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Alex2015

[rasg]

Why would you pay an agent when you will have to do 80-90% of the work supplying them with all of the information?

Many people on here will be happy to help.

[johnatong]

OP all the information needed can be found in the link.

https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa

The biggest challenge will be persuading the ECO that your g/f has reason to return.

Take care with "agents"! If you ask I am sure someone here will post details of one of the few reliable, trustworthy agents.

[Alex2015]

Why would you pay an agent when you will have to do 80-90% of the work supplying them with all of the information?

Many people on here will be happy to help.

The Agent has a great deal of experience, I have none, I am fortunately in a position where as I can afford to pay an agent.

[beano2274]

I could be your agent, pay me 5000Baht, and tomorrow I can tell you it is not possible, thanks for the money.

Seriously, there are two agents on this website that can assist you, and you only pay if you get a result.

Yes, normally the childs father must consent to the child leaving Thailand, dependant on the courts decision when they got divorced.

You need to supply bank statements also where will you stay, and a good idea is an itinerary.

[rasg]

The Agent has a great deal of experience, I have none, I am fortunately in a position where as I can afford to pay an agent.

I am in that position too and I have managed to get two visit visas and a settlement visa for the GF in the last 9 months. It's not that difficult and as I explained you will end up doing most of the work.

The only reason I haven’t added any advice on the visas themselves is that I am not familiar with a visa for a youngster. You need to prove that you, your girlfriend or both of you have enough to finance her trip.

Reason to return might be the main stumbling block and the fact that she is bringing her youngster to the UK with her might remove a little of her reason to return. That is where I'm not sure. As you are in Thailand too and you will both go back to Thailand together, maybe not. A visit visa for a youngster should be as simple as for an adult but it's outside my experience along with consent forms etc.

[Mister Fixit]

I helped a friend apply for a UK visa for his girlfriend and 4 year old daughter earlier in the year. He did all the donkey work, and I just told him what to get together. His application took only 3 days to process, as did my own last month. However, it was the fourth application I've done and it's become quite easy to do now.

He wrote a sponsor letter explaining the details and why she would be returning - child's education, her job, etc, etc.

The ECO just needs to be happy that 1) you have enough money to pay for the trip, and 2) that she and the child will return to Thailand at the end of it.

He was lucky because he could stay with his brother for the month-long stay. You'll need to show where you'll be staying and if you have a house there, then I'd just not say it had tenants, and use that address.

You could definitely do it on your own with help from people on here. I certainly wouldn't use an agent, and I certainly wouldn't pay a non-returnable 5,000 baht up-front.

It's a bit of a chore copying everything and collating all the paperwork but definitely do-able on your own.

[nongsangcity]

Good luck with the visas....people often say its easy to get visas for the UK....i have never found it easy....in the past 13 years my g/f at the time and now she is my wife has been refused 3 tourist visa......she did get visa to come and live in the UK when we were married...and whilst we were both living and working in the UK were applied for Tourist Visa for her 14 year old son to come and have a months holiday in the UK whilst on the long march and april holiday..the school typed up letters etc showing he would be back for the new term in the may...etc...got letters from the local amphur stating his gaurdian was more than happy to let him have a month in the UK on holiday.....he was refused ???? and the refusal was based on....Even though we recognise maintaing contact with family is very important, in this case WE FEAR FOR HIS SAFTEY WHILST IN THE UK.....so on this basis your visa application is unsuccesful.....you have the right to appeal...etc etc etc.......ps...i never used an agent.........

[whatproblem]

Listen to everyone and do it alone ,you can't trust the agents ,same advice make sure there is a reason to return for you gf and kid

[afrigo]

My experiences with the Uk Home Office in respect of getting a visa even a tourist visa for my Ugandan wife of well over nine years have left me wired with frustration, cost me a great deal and very probably taken years off my life. Currently I`m now in Thailand and she is back home in East Africa. I`ve pretty much given up.

[ThaiVisaExpress]

When would the child be travelling ?

Does the child's mother have sole custody of the child ?

ensure any agent is qualified/ formerly qualified with the OISC has immigration background. A lot of agents are nothing more than travel agents & we should know by the amount of refusals we see.

[sanukjim]

With this info you give her chances are very,very remote.better bet the lottery instead.Sorry.

[rasg]

You mention that the agent wants 5000 baht upfront. What is the total you will be paying for their services?

Also. Do you own property in Thailand or have along term lease on a property? I have just created a visit visa application for an under 18 year old on the UKBA website to see what extra info is required. There is single page that requires info about the parent in Thailand, who the youngster is traveling to the UK with and where he/she will be staying. The rest is identical to a normal visit visa and most of it will be ticked no regarding employment etc. I would suggest that UKVI will almost certainly contact the father to confirm that his permission has been sought for the child to come to the UK. Is your GF on good terms with him?

Here is the link to the UKBA website for the necessary requirements.

https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa/if-youre-under-18

FYI, my GF was in the same sort of situation last year with very little money, no property etc etc and we had only known one another for a few months and we had no difficulty getting, 2 visit visas and now a settlement visa. In your situation most of the visa details needed for the youngster is a box ticking exercise, a passport and the added complication of the need for support of the child's dad. Without his help it would be a problem.

[bigyin]

My circumstances were exactly the same as yours. Retirement visa, GF and child and home in the UK rented out. I had no difficulty at all in obtaining a tourist visa for them both. You obviously need to show that you or someone else can support you all for the period of the stay, you need to show that you have somewhere to stay. I left my tenants in place and we stayed with a friend. If you can do that (friend or relative) then you will need a letter of invitation for you to stay with them. I would not pretend that you are staying in your own home as previously suggested as telling lies or twisting the truth in an application can have long term consequences. You must be able to convince the ECO that they will return to Thailand at the end of the trip. In my case I detailed how long we had been together, showed photos of us in our home in Thailand and generally emphasised that we were a family and my visa in Thailand confirmed that our life was in Thailand together. As regards the father of the child does he still have contact? If so you will need a letter from him giving consent. In our case there was no ongoing contact so we got a letter from the local office confirming that my GF was the sole carer of the child. You just have to tick all the boxes one at a time and present it in a sensible way. As has been said before here there is no need for an agent. Good luck.

[bobrussell]

With this info you give her chances are very,very remote.better bet the lottery instead.Sorry.

The above comment is likely to be complete bunkum!

If you are settled/living in Thailand, visas should be very straight forward.

You will need to provide evidence that the visit is affordable and demonstrate you are all living in Thailand and have somewhere/something to come back for. Evidence of housing, employment/pension, child's schooling should really be enough to satisfy an ECO. Worth getting the school to write a letter confirming permission to be away from school or that the visit is taking place during holidays.

If you feel more comfortable using an agent the first time then it is your choice but it is absolutely the case that you will still be doing most of the work!

[theoldgit]

With this info you give her chances are very,very remote.better bet the lottery instead.Sorry.

Utter rubbish.

[Alex2015]

How would you know that ? That's the problem with the Thai Visa Forums some decent folk but also loads of cynics.

[superal]

Good luck with your application but in my experience and that of friends it will not be easy . You have two hurdles to overcome . 1/ your g/f has little financial standing that commits here to return to Thailand 2/ her sons inclusion exacerbates the probability of an unsuccessful visa request but you never know till you try as I have heard of men getting visas for their g/f's with similar situations to your own .I don't care what the know alls say here , the outcome is a lottery and dependent on the officer who picks up your application . Also I know of someone who used an agent and was guaranteed a tourist visa for his g/f and it started at 50,000 baht but finished up at 100,000 baht . I currently have been told of a Thai lady now a British national who is paying a Thai agent 50,000 baht to get a female relative ( no financial standing ) to the UK on a tourist visa and is 100% confident she will succeed as this agent always delivers .. Therefore if you are paying 5000 baht that money will do nothing accept line your agents wallet .

By the way my application for my g/f failed on the grounds that they felt she would not return to Thailand despite bank accounts , own house and business .I have no doubt that postings will follow that will say follow the visa app guidelines but the decision can be adjudged by an officers interpretation . The whole business is inconsistent . I wish you well and hope it works out for you .

[rasg]

Many, many stories out there about so many people who applied for visas and didn’t get them.

Almost without exception we hear about the good bits of the applications that failed but you rarely hear the whole of the story where there were glaring holes in the application.

It is only my opinion but I think an ECO looks at an application in its entirety and strikes a balance on the probability of the applicant returning to Thailand. As long as there are no obvious red flags.

My own GFs experience pretty much sums it up. She had no money, no property, a son in Thailand (which doesn’t mean much
when it comes to the reason to return), and we had only known each other for four months and there is a fairly big age gap. The only pluses that she did have was a good employer who wrote a very nice letter that was on headed paper and we had many, many photos of us all over Thailand. Just looking at the photos it is obvious that we are crazy about each other. Each photo was dated along with the location where to was taken. Two visit visas and a settlement visa in ten months without a problem.

I am pretty convinced that a lot of it is to do with presenting an organised, well laid out application without spelling mistakes that is to the point, with the necessary information that an ECO needs to make a decision. I hear about people receiving phone calls from UKVI to clarify points from sponsors, applicants and employers and presumably that means information was missing from the original application for the ECO to make a decision. We didn't get a single phone call in any of my GF's visa applications.

I have seen a few shocking examples of visa applications full of spelling mistakes, badly worded, poorly presented etc etc and I am not surprised that many don't succeed. I offered to help somebody who is the friend of a local Thai restaurant owner close to my house who told me that she had failed to get a Visit Visa three times. What she didn’t tell me until quite some time later was that the woman had lied on her first application.

Edited June 2, 2016 by rasg

[rasg]

Too late to edit the previous post again.

I should point out that I am no expert on this. The only way I learned anything about visas was from two Thai forums and a lot of Googling!

Almost everything you need is available on the web. The first VV took many hours trawling the web etc and asking the GF for the info. In a few cases she had to make a special trip for things like copies of divorce papers, translations etc etc. For the first VV I asked her to go back to a copy shop three times in one day because I wasn't happy with the way I had written something in my sponsor letter etc. I was back here in the UK making changes and emailing PDFs directly to the copy shop.

Visas two and three took a few hours because we had 95% of the info used in the first VV. As I am self employed I did get my accountant to complie the docs needed because UKVI is so specific in their requirements and I don't speak the accountant language.

[rasg]

Hey Alex 2015.

If you let me have an email address I am happy to send you the sponsor letter as a PDF that I used for our very first Visit Visa to give you a flavour of what I said that worked for us.

[superal]

Hi rasg ,

I do agree that presentation is important for sure as first impressions count but it is not ( along with correct spelling )a prerequisite article to obtaining a visa . Where have you ever heard of spelling being the cause of a failed application ? My application was immaculate with impeccable references . Following the rejection I had email correspondence with the then head of the Independent Inspectorate of the UK Border Agency John Vine who agreed with me that their were no grounds for rejection . He was dealing with literally thousands of rejected applications and said it would easier to present my same application again and would almost certainly be approved . I think every individual case needs to be judged on its own merit . I am pleased for you that all of your endeavours led to a successful application . I could list several cases of inconsistent decisions .

Edited June 3, 2016 by theoldgit
Quote fixed

[Alex2015]

I would like to thank every one for the info, just need a little bit more, my GF has an infant child, divorced, no contact with her husband, no idea where he is living. Would the child need a Passport and a separate Visa ? I have tried 'googling' but it's doesn't really give any concrete answers.

[theoldgit]

My GF has an infant child, divorced, no contact with her husband, no idea where he is living. Would the child need a Passport and a separate Visa?

Yes, the child would need both.

[rasg]

Hi rasg ,

I do agree that presentation is important for sure as first impressions count but it is not ( along with correct spelling )a prerequisite article to obtaining a visa . Where have you ever heard of spelling being the cause of a failed application ? My application was immaculate with impeccable references . Following the rejection I had email correspondence with the then head of the Independent Inspectorate of the UK Border Agency John Vine who agreed with me that their were no grounds for rejection . He was dealing with literally thousands of rejected applications and said it would easier to present my same application again and would almost certainly be approved . I think every individual case needs to be judged on its own merit . I am pleased for you that all of your endeavours led to a successful application . I could list several cases of inconsistent decisions .

I wasn't suggesting for one second that a spelling mistake would lead to a rejection but if you read my post above a little more closely it says this:

It is only my opinion but I think an ECO looks at an application in its entirety and strikes a balance on the probability of the applicant returning to Thailand.

I am pretty convinced that quite a bit of it is to do with presenting an organised, well laid out application without spelling mistakes that is to the point, with the necessary information that an ECO needs to make a decision.

A poorly presented application that is full of spelling mistakes is not going to be as well received as one that has been laid out and organised well so the ECO is able to find everything quickly and easily.

There was a post on here in the last few days where a visit visa application had been unsuccessful despite having £10000 in a savings account and only a small amount in a current account which the ECO hadn't taken into account. I would be interested to read the sponsor's letter that went with that application.

I'm not suggesting for one second that UKVI don't make inconsistent decisions either.

[7by7]

As sometimes happens, various people have jumped on this topic to complain about their own experience, giving edited highlights without the refusal notice so we only get one side of the story, as if their failure is the norm; which it isn't.

Consistently over the 15+ years I have taken an interest around 95% of visit applications in Thailand have been successful.

Based upon what many people have said and the many refusal notices I have read, I would say that there are three main reasons for refusal; which are, in ascending order:

• ECO error. It happens, they're human.
• The applicant simply did not meet the requirements for one reason or another.
• The applicant did meet the requirements, but failed to show that they did.

Alex, based on what you have said, I reckon that you should not have a problem.

1) Do they live with you?

If so, provide evidence of this; if not provide evidence of your relationship.

Also provide evidence of your immigration status in Thailand. Unless the ECO has reason to believe otherwise, they will assume that if you return to Thailand they will also.

2) Your girlfriend doesn't work, but does her son attend school?

You say he is an infant, so probably not; but if he does get a letter from the school confirming his attendance and when he is due to return. This can be written either in English or Thai. If Thai, attach an English translation. Note, though, that the visa section may phone the signatory to confirm the contents. If the letter is written in English they will expect to speak to the signatory in English, and will doubt the letter's authenticity if that person is unable to do so. If it's written in Thai they will speak to the signatory in Thai.

3) Your girlfriend needs a standard visitor visa, as does her son; but see the section If you're under 18 for him.

Note that it says there

you have consent from your parent or guardian to travel to the UK

which I believe means his mother's consent alone is sufficient.

However, I would explain the circumstances regarding his father in your sponsor's letter.

4) There is no specific amount of funds required for a visit. But they will have to show that they have sufficient available to them to cover all the costs of the visit.

This money can come from your resources, your girlfriends, a combination of both or even a third party.

Whoever is contributing must provide evidence of their ability to do so and if a third party say why they are so doing.

5) You will also need to provide evidence of where you will be staying and that there is room for you all.

If staying with friends or family, a letter of invitation describing the property and who else lives there showing that there is at least one room for you all to use, as he is an infant her son sharing with you and she should be OK, is sufficient.

You may also find UK visit basics useful; it's a little out of date, especially the links, but the essentials are the same.

[jamie2009]

We applied for UK Visitor Visa for my G.F a few weeks ago and were successful.

i did everything myself, no agent, I must of wrote rewrote the Sponsors Letter, numerous times,  I compiled a folder with probably more info than needed.

Thanks for all the info and advice everyone, saved me thousands of baht.

 

[Celer et Audax]

We applied for UK Visitor Visa for my G.F a few weeks ago and were successful.
i did everything myself, no agent, I must of wrote rewrote the Sponsors Letter, numerous times,  I compiled a folder with probably more info than needed.
Thanks for all the info and advice everyone, saved me thousands of baht.
 

I agree no need to waste money on an agent, you need to show the immigration people in the U.K. That you have the funds to support your self and your gf and her child whilst you are in the UK and they will not become a burden on the Uk taxpayer
You also must be able to show that you have a reason to return to Thailand after your holiday, I get my employer to confirm my position and salary here in Thailand and I have also backed that up with copies of rental contract for our home in bkk
A letter from a family member confirming that as well as you they will be supporting your gf and here son during their visit
Although not a requirement I always take out travel insurance for my gf and here daughter when we go to the uk to further demonstrate she won't be a burden on the uk tax payer, this is icing on the cake but all adds to the general picture
As I said earlier they(uk immigration) want you to show you have the funds to support your gf and her son and that you intend to return to Thailand
Good luck


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[7by7]

On ‎04‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 2:37 PM, Celer et Audax said:

Good luck

Considering this topic is nearly 12 months old and the OP has not returned to it or started a new one asking for further advice, I suspect that he, his girlfriend and her son have had their trip to the UK and are now back in Thailand!

[jamie2009]

5 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

Considering this topic is nearly 12 months old and the OP has not returned to it or started a new one asking for further advice, I suspect that he, his girlfriend and her son have had their trip to the UK and are now back in Thailand!

I only applied for the Visa in March before that I was gathering all the info required, getting the various documentation, translations, photographs etc, we are going in June/July