The best way to be together (Thai GF needs UK Visa)

[Tofer]

I'm not really able to give detailed advice, but what about trying for a student visa for  a language course.

[7by7]

2 hours ago, Tofer said:

I'm not really able to give detailed advice, but what about trying for a student visa for  a language course.

 Not suitable for the OP's purpose.

 

For starters, she would need to be sponsored by a licensed Tier 4 sponsor and would have to leave the UK at the end of her studies.

[7by7]

17 hours ago, bobrussell said:

There is a pinned post on Settlement visa and one on meeting the minimum income requirements

 The Settlement one is a bit out of date!

 

peterpaz, have a read through the following from UKVI:

 

Family visas: apply from outside the UK (the initial visa)

 

Family visas: extend your stay in the UK (Further Leave to Remain, after 30 months residence.)

 

Apply to settle in the UK (Indefinite Leave to Remain, 30 months after FLR.)

 

The Financial Requirement  (which must be met at each and every one of the above stages)

 

 

[peterpaz]

11 hours ago, rasg said:

Thanks. I hope it's helped.

 

It scared me too. My first marriage at the age of 59 so you're not alone... I have no regrets at all.

 

I agree with you. Holidays are not the same as living together. That's why we went the route we did. We had no intention of getting married for a while but the visa system gave us a huge shove as we didn't want to live apart.

 

One big thing about a Settlement visa is that she won't need a reason to return. If your GF gets a visit visa for, say a month, there is no reason why she couldn't stay a few months. One caveat, You need to give a valid explanation in the next visa application. Not so much if the next visa is a Settlement visa to get married but you do need to explain.

 

Don't apply for a visit visa for more than 4/6 weeks.  UKVI will be asking how your GFs business will run etc etc if she requests a long period. Already having been to tke UK before is a big plus.

Great info - and thanks for your response!

[peterpaz]

3 hours ago, Tofer said:

I'm not really able to give detailed advice, but what about trying for a student visa for  a language course.

Might be a good idea that!... thanks!!

[peterpaz]

25 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

 Not suitable for the OP's purpose.

 

For starters, she would need to be sponsored by a licensed Tier 4 sponsor and would have to leave the UK at the end of her studies.

hmmm... good point!
thanks

[peterpaz]

15 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

 The Settlement one is a bit out of date!

 

peterpaz, have a read through the following from UKVI:

 

Family visas: apply from outside the UK (the initial visa)

 

Family visas: extend your stay in the UK (Further Leave to Remain, after 30 months residence.)

 

Apply to settle in the UK (Indefinite Leave to Remain, 30 months after FLR.)

 

The Financial Requirement  (which must be met at each and every one of the above stages)

 

 

Yeah but I think you have to be married or have lived together for 2 years or more still?

[peterpaz]

4 hours ago, GuiseppeD said:

When applying for the next VV you should state that it's with a view to getting married and subsequent settlement visa and this visit is about your girlfriend dipping her toes in the water as to say.

I will do this and hope it helps for the settlement visa too!
Good tip!

thanks

[7by7]

22 minutes ago, peterpaz said:

Yeah but I think you have to be married or have lived together for 2 years or more still?

 Yes; but if your intention is to live together in the UK indefinitely, there is no way around that. 

 

Visit visas, no matter the term, only allow a maximum of 6 months in the UK per visit.

 

In addition, no matter the term of her visit visa, if upon arrival at a UK port of entry Border Force officers have reason to believe that she is using visit visas for de facto residence, they could deny her entry and cancel her visa. There is no hard and fast rule on this, but the convention is that a visitor should not spend more than 6 months out of any 12 in the UK.

 

 

[peterpaz]

2 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

 Yes; but if your intention is to live together in the UK indefinitely, there is no way around that. 

 

Visit visas, no matter the term, only allow a maximum of 6 months in the UK per visit.

 

In addition, no matter the term of her visit visa, if upon arrival at a UK port of entry Border Force officers have reason to believe that she is using visit visas for de facto residence, they could deny her entry and cancel her visa. There is no hard and fast rule on this, but the convention is that a visitor should not spend more than 6 months out of any 12 in the UK.

 

 

Yeah I get the visitor visa criteria... thanks for clarifying this though... it all helps!
Have a good day.

[fordguy61mi]

On 6/8/2017 at 7:12 AM, peterpaz said:

I can certainly meet the 'sponsor' requirements when it comes to financial requirements.
I can't get my head around a 'settlement' visa though.... only allowed 6 months in the UK. That doesn't really say 'settlement' to me.

I know what people on here will say... "If you say you both love each other, just get married".... 
I'm very nervous about getting married just to get a visa. I do love her but I'd like to try living together in the UK before I ask her to marry me for all the right reasons. I am fully aware of all issues that can arise once a Thai lady moves to England and problems could 'crop-up' that you would never have predicted. My intentions are honest - I'm just trying to be sensible about this and cautious at the same time. Marriage for me would be a lifelong commitment and I'd need to be 100% happy that everything would work out.

You can never be 100% sure everything will work out. Relationships are a gamble every time. You have no idea how the other person might change over time and you have no control over it. Whether you know her 1 year or 10 years. That's been my experience anyway. Good luck to you in whatever you decide.

[rasg]

On 09/06/2017 at 5:57 AM, mercman24 said:

if the boredom doesn' t get to her the uk weather certainly will.

What is it about some of the people on here? You might be relaying your own experiences but I wonder if you have ever considered that others just might be different?

 

My wife has been here for over two years now and she actually prefers the weather here. She likes the change of seasons here and the sheer variety of the weather in comparison to Thailand.

 

We went to Iceland back in March three days after the biggest snowfall in 50 years and she loved every moment. Snowmobiling, horse riding in the snow, lying on a frozen lake. We had a blast.

 

I have my own business and as soon as she was allowed to, she came to work for me. Most of our work is based around the weekends and we spend all of our time together and have a few joint hobbies that we both love. She is gradually building a business of her own.

Edited June 13, 2017 by rasg

[paulsingle]

peterpaz I'm following your story with interest. I am taking a similar path to rasg who is very generous with his help and advice as are many others including the 7by7 who seems to be the oracle in these matters.

 

I have made several visits to Thailand to be with her and we got her a visit visa to come here last year. I have decided to go ahead and marry here in the UK and am currently applying for the Marriage Visit Visa. I'm in the process of booking the venue and applying to give notice for the wedding in the hope and expectation that the 6 month marriage visit visa will be granted.

 

She is 37 and I am 59. (I only mention this because I don't want some cynic thinking this is about a 70-something man with a girl of 20-odd)

 

We are making the following points with this application:

She will give up her work position to travel to the UK to marry.
She will not overstay in the UK, firstly because she does not want to jeopardise possible visits to the UK in the future, secondly because we must return for my son's wedding in Thailand and thirdly because we plan to move to north-east Thailand to live and work.
I have travelled to Thailand to be with her for the following visits:
February 2015 - first meeting on 2 week visit
August  2015 - 10 day visit
December 2015 - 7 day visit
February 2016 - 15 day visit
September 2016 to May 2017 - 8 month visit
She has travelled to the UK to be with me:
March 2016 to June 2016 - 12 week visit
We had a traditional marriage at her parents home in Khon Kaen in January 2017 but this has no legal status.
We have lived together for almost a year in total and when we are not together we speak by video call every day.
She will have international travel and medical insurance for my visit as she did on her previous visit.

We are explaining that we she will stay for about 24 weeks as we plan to visit my relatives, plan the wedding, give notice, take a honeymoon in the UK and finally take the opportunity to have Christmas in the UK before heading back to Thailand.

 

While she is in the UK, we will arrange for her to take and approved English test - but not do any study course. I see no need to mention this in our current application.

 

Next year we will begin the process of applying for a settlement visa for her to come and stay and work in the UK.

[bobrussell]

Just be aware that a 24 week visit may not meet with enthusiastic ECO acceptance. It is still necessary for an applicant to demonstrate reasons to return.

 

[paulsingle]

28 minutes ago, bobrussell said:

Just be aware that a 24 week visit may not meet with enthusiastic ECO acceptance. It is still necessary for an applicant to demonstrate reasons to return.

 

We could ask for less time but getting married is a major life event. We have to give notice at the registry office after she arrives in the UK and at least 28 days before the wedding. As I can't be sure when the visa may be granted, I feel inclined to allow for a little leeway in case of any delay (not to mention refusal). I  also thought it would be reasonable to allow a few weeks for all the wedding preparations. So my plan is for her to arrive late in August, give notice early in September and marry mid to late October.

After a honeymoon period of a couple of weeks, we would be within 6 weeks of Christmas and I thought it may be seen as reasonable to want to stay on for Christmas while she's here.

I take your point though. I could certainly tighten up the timeline and aim to return to Thailand immediately after the wedding if that may mean the difference between granting or refusing the visa.

[rasg]

I know we have spoken about this before but if you went for the Settlement (Fiancée) visa she wouldn’t need to go home. Just apply for FLR from here.

[paulsingle]

1 hour ago, rasg said:

I know we have spoken about this before but if you went for the Settlement (Fiancée) visa she wouldn’t need to go home. Just apply for FLR from here.

I think between us we came to the conclusion that the Marriage Visit Visa was the best option because I would like her to stay here for as long as possible - within the 6 month limit of course. Then we want to go to Thailand for several months. So a stay of up to 6 months would be easier to justify if we are going to marry and we wouldn't have to worry about absence during FLR.

7by7 and Brewster pointed out that the fiancé route is expensive for my situation:

"As a type of settlement visa it is considerably more expensive than a marriage visit visa, the financial and language requirements must be met, she will need a TB certificate and pay the NHS surcharge."

Now I'm just wondering how hard I have to trim the length of this visit application to ensure it meets with a favourable reception.

It seems some people get away with using the full 6 months but some don't.

[paulsingle]

I would like to think that I could win approval for my fiancé to come for 6 months when on a marriage visitor visa in the light of the above but I guess a different officer on a different day can produce a very different response.

[rasg]

I didn't have the time to read back to the beginning of the thread as I had to rush out.

 

No doubt that it's cheaper to go the getting married in Thailand route and will probably suit you better.

 

I have no experience with the marriage visa you propose but you are still need the reason to return.

[bobrussell]

Adjusting the visit length on an application but not sticking to the plans can backfire later. Without good reasons it impacts the credibility of the applicant in subsequent applications.

This may be of little significance if the next application is for a settlement visa but may well blot her copy book for further visit visas.

It does little to help other applicants that do follow the rules!

If you say she will stay three months then I would suggest she stays three months!

It may be difficult to persuade an ECO that this is not an attempt to by-pass the settlement rules. My wife had problems at Heathrow returning on a marriage visit visa after a trip back to Thailand.

[paulsingle]

47 minutes ago, bobrussell said:

Adjusting the visit length on an application but not sticking to the plans can backfire later. Without good reasons it impacts the credibility of the applicant in subsequent applications.

This may be of little significance if the next application is for a settlement visa but may well blot her copy book for further visit visas.

It does little to help other applicants that do follow the rules!

If you say she will stay three months then I would suggest she stays three months!

It may be difficult to persuade an ECO that this is not an attempt to by-pass the settlement rules. My wife had problems at Heathrow returning on a marriage visit visa after a trip back to Thailand.

Indeed, I wasn't thinking of shortening the application and then staying longer than applied for. We could possibly squeeze the marriage visit down to 10 weeks but I wouldn't apply for less than 12 weeks. She would have to go back without me as I need to stay in UK until the January or February next year.

Edited June 14, 2017 by paulsingle

[rasg]

2 hours ago, bobrussell said:

Adjusting the visit length on an application but not sticking to the plans can backfire later. Without good reasons it impacts the credibility of the applicant in subsequent applications.

This may be of little significance if the next application is for a settlement visa but may well blot her copy book for further visit visas.

It does little to help other applicants that do follow the rules!

If you say she will stay three months then I would suggest she stays three months!

It may be difficult to persuade an ECO that this is not an attempt to by-pass the settlement rules. My wife had problems at Heathrow returning on a marriage visit visa after a trip back to Thailand.

I somehow doubt that that it has any effect on other applicants following the rules at all.

 

As long as the extended stay doesn't go beyond the expiry date of the visa and is backed up with a good reason there should be no issues. My wife did exactly that on her first visit visa. She requested one month and stayed 18 weeks and then did something similar on her second VV. We requested six weeks and she stayed for 14. No issues. The next was a settlement visa and it went through with no problems.

 

On the first VV she was laid off from her job that was explained on the VV2 application. The second extended stay I explained that she had no burning reason to go home and we couldn’t imagine life without each other.

 

When she was going through immigration at Heathrow the second time she was asked if she knew how much time she had stayed in the UK. She told them and she was waved through.