Fiancee Visa Company Recommendation?

[chopsticks]

If you intend getting married do so in Thailand and then apply for the UK settlement visa (2 year validity) rather than their fiance visa which is only valid for 6 months during which time you need to get married.
The requirements and costs are essentially the same.

If you meet all the requirements then the settlement visa will be issued (eventually) unlike a tourist visa where the decision may be more subjective.

There is plenty more advice about obtaining a visa on other popular Thailand forums as well as the UK immigration specific ones but direct links are not permitted to be posted here.

[Takiap]

Thanks for everyones replies. I am just gathering all the information and chewing it over. Just a hyperthetical question. Would it make it easier if I got married in Thailand? Or wouldn't it make any difference? I'm not saying I'm getting married yet but just out of interest.

Cheers

My guess is, getting married in Thailand would certainly make things easier, since you would then have legal grounds on which to challenge any visa refusals. And, before anyone says you don't stand a chance as far as taking UK immigration to court is concerned, it can and has been done. A friend of mine whom I met here in Thailand had done this when his wife qualified for, but was denied permanent residence. He took immigration to court, won the case, and permanent residence was granted. Unfortunately he passed away last year, and his wife has now returned to the UK.






Back to topic..............I wouldn't get married just for the sake of getting a visa, but if the two of you are hoping to marry anyway, maybe you should consider doing so in Thailand, and then apply for the visa a little later.

Best of luck.

[Takiap]

If you meet all the requirements then the settlement visa will be issued (eventually) unlike a tourist visa where the decision may be more subjective..

Yes, that's exactly what I was getting at in my last post.

[caller]

Okay, I resisted entering the fray, but in view of some comments would suggest the OP take a look here - Thailand-UK.com. Apart from the fact its full of Brit members that have been there and done it, (like me, but I don't get involved in this stuff, as Ken says, it keeps changing), but you also have specialist, free legal advice (lawyers marry Thais as well) at hand and one of their sponors is a HO registered/regulated advisor (very important), so should you wish to go the agency route, and there really is no need (I didn't, like others here), at least you can learn all about the cowboys out there.

[chopsticks]

It's definitely a must to read up on the current rules and regs as they've changed considerably in the last few years and some of the earlier posts on here contain outdated info and are now incorrect.

Tourist visas are officially called visitor visas and marriage visas fall under the settlement visa categories.
UK visa applications in Thailand and many other countries are now handled by an appointed visa handling company and applicants for tourist visas are rarely interviewed, partners are not interviewed for tourist or settlement visas.
Tourist visas cannot be extended or 'converted' to a different type of visa.
The maximum stay on a tourist visa is for 6 months but additional restrictions may be imposed limiting it to a a shorter validity period.
Settlement visa applications now require a TB certificate and an approved English language speaking and listening test certificate or some other acceptable proof of proficiency to be submitted.
You will also need to show that you will have suitable living accommodation and financial means of support.
For tourist visas, they will be refused if there is not enough proof to convince the decision maker that the applicant will return to Thailand and not overstay.
This requirement is where many visitor (tourist) applications may fail but (of course) it's not needed for a settlement visa application.
(Proof of land or property ownership, bank accounts and employment to return to will help.)

Unfortunately, abuse of the visa system has led to more restrictions and requirements being imposed in recent years as well as the UK government's policy of reducing non-EU immigration.

[lomuamart]

The following news story probably sits well here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... kdown.html

[Big Boy]

The following news story probably sits well here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... kdown.html

That would have definitely excluded me from bringing my wife's daughter to the UK. More importantly, it would exclude almost every Thai child that I've known to be brought to the UK in the last 20+ years.

[Takiap]

Interesting article, and an interesting thread in general. It seems so unfair, at least in my eyes, that "genuine/real" British citizens are ending up in the line of fire. It also seems unfair that so many will suffer from these new proposed rules simply because of the fact that Britain is a member of the EU, which entitles any number of undesirables the right to enter Britain freely.


To be honest, I can't see the UK government having much success at stopping a British parent from bring/taking their child to the UK.

[Marky_Mark]

Unsure how it is in the UK, however I assume it is more or less the same as Australia.
I also suggest a tourist via first, for several reasons.... Firstly you should show your prospective long term partner your home life, some girls can adapt, some can't.. simple as that.
Secondly to satisfy immigration you should bring her to the UK for a holiday first, this will help with easy transition to the prospective spouse visa (Fiancé visa) you just need to update details, add more photos etc etc.
Immigration offices in BKK love seeing photos of you two together, especially with her family in the photo.

I met my wife in a hairdressing salon while on a business trip to Hua Hin in 2008, she is a local girl born/raised in Khao Tao, I also did the tourist and prospective visa myself with a first time, we are both the same age 33&32.
It is a easy process if it is a genuine relationship, immigration will see straight through you if you met her on the last week of a 3 week holiday to Thailand.... Things to think about are emails between you two, skype conversations, entry visa stamps, hotel receipts in both of your names....sms records from your phone bill... basically anything that can be linked to the both of you and classed as evidence that you are a genuine couple.
I visited my now wife 7 times over a 12month time frame before inviting her for a holiday to Australia.

Did i say....."If its genuine its easy"

We now live in Australia and she couldn’t be happier, especially with our little Aussie 18 month old pooying.

[ge3]

Once again thanks for all of your replies. I will probably go for the tourist visa route to see whether she likes the UK first and the initial cost of it all. I am still assessing the whole thing and wondering whether I have enough evidence as I have only known her for a short period.

I will keep you all updated.

[T.I.G.R.]

I did this 24 years ago but I think the same principles apply today. I hadn't even met my wife when I came to Thailand. We had corresponded for six months, me every day by letter and her every ten days or so because she had to use a dictionary to decipher what I had written and then to provide an answer.

I found her in some golf magazine under some Asian "dating" service that for $276 provided a catalogue with little head shots and a one or two sentence description. I originally wrote to ten women, form letter of course with a picture included. Six wrote back and it didn't take but one or two letters to separate the wheat from the chaff, as they say. My wife was all alone before long, and I think I learned more about her as a person than I had any of my other serious relationships by far. It's really hard to hide your true self in a letter.

At any rate, one day she intimated that if I ever wanted a wife she might be available. A short time later I arranged a 13 day vacation with the intent of meeting her, bedding her, and seeing how we got along......with the thought that if she didn't work out I had lots of other Thai girls waiting for me......right.

I'll try to make this short; I wasn't very bright about the whole thing and could not have been luckier had God hit me on the head and said "This one's for you, you need some looking after". Getting bedded was the last thing on her mind and it sure wasn't going to happen until we got married. Also, in those days any reputable hotel would only let a woman in your room with a fifteen minute permission slip.

After meeting her uncle, the titular head of the family in Bangkok, and gaining his approval, he suggested we see an attorney which we did. The attorney suggested that the easiest way to do things was for me to go to the American Embassy and apply for a Thai marriage, and for him to escort her to the "other side" of the Embassy, literally, because the two "sides" didn't communicate with each other, and she would apply for a fiance visa. Long story short, she got permission from the Thai side, and after filling out the requisite paperwork we were all set. Of course we got married here or otherwise the family wouldn't have let her out of their sight. The fiance Visa process was fairly straight forward, and at that time the Embassy staff was substantially smaller so I actually had two personal conversations (by letter) with the resident Ambassador to pave our way. Of course, we didn't mention to anyone that we were already married in Bangkok, a process that took place at the Bangkok government offices with a rubber stamp and a couple of dollars. We did have a big reception at our hotel, maybe forty people or so but it was pretty fast getting all that done in 11 days. Eleven because we took a couple of days to get to know each other......some funny stories there but as usual I've carried on far to long already.

Two months later, on Thanksgiving 1988 I picked her up at San Francisco International Airport, and on Valentine's day 1989 we were married again in California.

I had spent a great deal of time and effort to make sure every letter and every punctuation mark in her Visa application, which I had to file from America was perfect, and luckily it must have been. We were told at the beginning it could take up to six months. But had we told them we were married already, the Lawyer said it could take up to four years to get her Visa approved. He certainly earned his fee.

I would expect much of the process to be the same, but I think the intent of my message is to warn you that you do need an attorney, but a reputable one that your future wife's family could refer you to. I was lucky in that my wife's Uncle had worked in Government and business and knew someone good. If your future bride has that kind of family let them help you......if not, find someone you can trust to get you a decent attorney.....there is more than a lot of pretend advice here so try to make sure you're not getting ripped off.

Good luck, I hope you are as lucky as we have been.

[chopsticks]

.............. I think the intent of my message is to warn you that you do need an attorney...................

Attorney or 'immigration advisor' is completely unnecessary for UK applications as per OP
may be different for USA though.

[ge3]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replies and lots of good information. I have decided to take the tourist visa route for my girlfriend and using a chap recommended by a member on this forum who is a visa agent. Although its not guaranteed, I will keep everyone updated on the progress.

Cheers

[chopsticks]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replies and lots of good information. I have decided to take the tourist visa route for my girlfriend and using a chap recommended by a member on this forum who is a visa agent. Although its not guaranteed, I will keep everyone updated on the progress.

Cheers

Good luck with your application, I would be be interested to know what the visa agent recommends to increase your chance of success.

[T.I.G.R.]

Yes, I second the good luck.

Sorry to throw a wet blanket on your party though, although the U.S. may be different from the U.K.

We tried for a couple of years to get a Visa for my wife's sister just to visit for two weeks.......unsuccessfully. It was a lot easier to get the Fiance Visa......let us all know how you do please.