tourist visa for my thai girlfriend?

valentine · Post by **valentine** » May 10, 2007, 7:14 pm

Well my experience may be out of date, but here goes. When the visa was issued at the embassy, before its move. I observed many elderly farangs with relatively young girls applying for visit visas. Now the problem is, a visit visa is valid for a stay of 6 months, this obviously leaves it open for abuse. The girl working being the most prevalent so they are very strict, but not only that they must see 100,s of c--, love struck old men being conned into providing a ticket to a new life abroad, so much so they have become rather blaise about the whole process. My wife actually told me some of the overheard remarks made by Thai embassy staff upon seeing the latest dew eyed couple. They included, another idiot, no chance, and many other equally detrimental remarks. Obviously their mind was made up before even having the interview. I actually wrote to Margaret Thatcher suggesting they were obtaining money by false pretense if they weren't even considering the application, as of course the visa fee was not refundable. Needless to say my letter was passed to some civil servant that gave the expected b--nonsense reply.
Now I am not suggesting any of the above circumstances applies to you and friend, but it is an indication of what your up against.

Post by **bamboopaul** » May 10, 2007, 7:25 pm

Those who are genuine have nothing to worry about, those who are trying to pull a fast one, will be seen through very quickly.

We got my wifes UK Visa 2 weeks ago, from the date we sent it off to the date we received the visa 10 days this included 2 weekends, The staff at VFS even called us to say we needed to send some extra documentation, they were extremely helpful, the actual number of days it took to approve the visa was 4 working days.

There is no need to visit VFS in person, it can all be done via a courier or EMS if you prefer, although VFS use GDA to send all documents back to you.
If your paperwork is correct and you have done everything they ask of you, you should have no problems.

For us ,at no time did we experience ant derogotory remark or discrimination.

If anyone needs any help, then please PM me and I will do my best to help.

Post by **beer monkey** » May 10, 2007, 7:52 pm

arjay if you have been living in Thailand for the last 2+ years with her that i would of thought would be enough,she may get called for an interview and if they are happy with the answers shoud imagine no problems, i am sure its the people that have only been to Thailand for a few weeks at a time to see there gf's(not been together long) would find it more difficult, apply to the embassy answer the questions pay the check bin and wait and see.

Post by **arjay** » May 10, 2007, 8:01 pm

For me, it would simply be taking her to the Uk on one of my return visits back. There would be no intention of trying to manoevre her a long term stay there, or for her to work there, because neither of us want that. We would both want to come back to Thailand where we live together.

It would simply be a short visit as a tourist and back home to Thailand.

My concern was more along the lines of what actual documentation I have or could find that would actually prove our relationship and our intentions, and her intention to return here. She doesn't have a job here, so couldn't produce a letter from an employer. We are currently trying to get a document from the school her daughter attends, in the hope that that would help convey that she will want to return to take care of her daughter.

Thanks Bamboopaul - got your Pm now. It does sound a bit onerous, particularly for a short holiday trip.

Post by **Julian** » May 23, 2007, 11:48 pm

I have just returned from LOS having tried and failed to get my GF a tourist visa to return and stay with me in the UK for four months over the summer, so that I could save up my leave to visit her for a longer period in the winter.

I had carefully studied and complied with all the information provided on the VFS and embassy websites. I have a well payed professional career and own my home. I provided six months salary slips and bank statements, a full copy of my passport showing six Thai visa stamps, dated photographs of us together all over Thailand from previous visits, six months of itemised phone bills and a letter of invitation and offer of sponsorship, but to no avail. The stumbling block was that they considered she had no "economic" reason to return to Thailand after the visit due to lack of any assets there, her son and family being of no consequence.

As a recipient of many years of uncontrolled migration, I do understand this line of argument, but think they should openly state it on the "information for sponsors" web page, to save everyone time , effort and heartache. They did however have the manners to recognize my offered sponsorship, although they were somewhat patronising as to any relationship properly existing! I'm not sure how the embassy folks behave in Bangkok, but I certainly don't hand over all that kind of information to a casual acquaintance!!

They also questioned that the intent was purely for a social visit as she had never made a comparable trip before. The fact that she had only applied for her passport recently in order to make the application and had previously had no reason or even opportunity to travel, seemed to miss them.

I've always been proud of my country, but this experience made me feel very ashamed! The rejection was made within 24 hours of lodging the application and no interview was given. Doesn't seem like any of the supporting materials were even looked at. Makes you wonder if that is all part of the "unique way" the embassy is funded!!!!

Post by **beer monkey** » May 23, 2007, 11:59 pm

Do you think its worth paying another 4500baht and trying it again julian,
or have you give up ?

Post by **bamboopaul** » May 24, 2007, 8:43 am

Hi Julian,

I can understand your deep dissappointment with the decision, however I believe the amount of time you have been together plays a major part in the decision.

It also helps no end if she has other passport stamps in her passport (this shows she made the trip and returned), Singapore and Hong Kong two good starting points, also no need for a visa for her.

Don't give up, wait for 6 months then try again.

Post by **briang** » May 24, 2007, 3:30 pm

Hi Julian,

I could almost have written your post myself! I will be back in Thailand in August and December, and we will be visiting Singapore in August and Hong Kong in December (as bamboopaul suggested) to get a couple of '1st world' stamps in her passport (we have been to Laos before but they don't count that

). My GF will then apply again in December.

Chock Dee

Brian

carpy · Post by **carpy** » May 24, 2007, 4:11 pm

Hey,I have had the same prob taking my wife back to Australia.She was knocked back at first.Then i re applied with a bit more paper work and it was approved.If you can get a house lease or a joint bank account together.Just to show that you both are coming back to Thailand.And are only going to the UK for a holiday.

Post by **beer monkey** » May 24, 2007, 4:49 pm

good advice julian from the above posters,so have another crack at it,what have you got to lose (apart from a few thousand baht) !

Post by **Aardvark** » May 24, 2007, 4:52 pm

arjay, am just going through the Process of obtaining permenant residency for my wife and the one thing they were big on was written statements from freinds and family stateing the we were in a comitted relationship. these had to be witnesed by an apropriate person. If you did the same in Udon it may make a difference with your application. Just a thought!

Post by **Julian** » May 24, 2007, 8:11 pm

Beer monkey, I did consider lodging a new application there and then as I still had 10 days left in Thailand, but decided to leave it a while and show a continued relationship. Will try again next spring. (I'm trying to be considerate to my GF weather wise in UK)

Paul and Brian thank you for your good advice about other trips/visa stamps. We will probably do this on my next two trips (October and January) and have the stamps in her passport before the next attempt.

Best wishes to you all, Julian

Post by **Dakoda** » May 24, 2007, 8:26 pm

I will stick with my first answer "when hell freezes over", before blowing 4k+, I would watch this space for arjay's luck. good luck either way.

Post by **beer monkey** » May 24, 2007, 8:53 pm

There are plenty of successful applications for a short stay visa for UK, so its certainly not a case of when hell freezes over,but it may be the case in the US though, 4500 baht fee is not extortionate, unlike the 32000 baht for wife visa, so a few attempts don't really hurt the pocket, so seems a good idea to leave it a while Julian then apply again.

Post by **bamboopaul** » May 24, 2007, 9:05 pm

There are plenty of successful applications for a short stay visa for UK, so its certainly not a case of when hell freezes over,but it may be the case in the US though, 4500 baht fee is not extortionate, unlike the 32000 baht for wife visa, so a few attempts don't really hurt the pocket, so seems a good idea to leave it a while Julian then apply again

.I agree BM How can anyone think that 4,500 baht is a lot of money ????? I don't know about you guys but back in the Uk, thats about a decent meal for two.

Plus the girl has to be worth that surely?

Post by **Dakoda** » May 24, 2007, 9:05 pm

arjay wrote:I was thinking of applying to take my LGF back to the Uk with me on one of my occasional brief return visits, but am concerned at the number of hoops we will have to jump through. It would only be a holiday visit of say 2 or 3 weeks.

What puzzles me a bit is how when we have lived together in Thailand for over 2 years, I can actually prove that. I don't write letters to her, or ring her much, or send her money, as we live together. We don't have any tenancy agreements in joint names. She doesn't work, as she isn't allowed to here. We each have our own separate bank a/c's.

We have a few photos of us in various places, but they don't have dates on the back, though they maybe a little dog-eared!!!

She has a daughter living in Laos, which could be used as a reason for GF wanting to return to Thailand, with me, and not doing a runner in the Uk, but the daughter doesn't have a birth certificate, though she does have a passport.

In the Uk we would stay with my son or daughter.

The subject and what I was referring to seem to be different. Big difference between thai girl friend and Lao girl friend. So, BM

BM wrote: There are plenty of successful applications for a short stay visa for UK, so its certainly not a case of when hell freezes over

so the plenty you ref to are Lao girl friends, right

Post by **beer monkey** » May 24, 2007, 9:08 pm

I blame arjay for confusing the matter then.

.

Post by **Dakoda** » May 24, 2007, 9:13 pm

beer monkey wrote:I blame arjay for confusing the matter then.

are you being beamed up, cloned, (avtar) or just a light scan

Post by **arjay** » May 24, 2007, 10:02 pm

Aardvark wrote:arjay, am just going through the Process of obtaining permenant residency for my wife and the one thing they were big on was written statements from freinds and family stateing the we were in a comitted relationship. these had to be witnesed by an apropriate person. If you did the same in Udon it may make a difference with your application. Just a thought!

Aardvark, thanks for your suggestions above, which I will keep in mind.

We would only be applying for a tourist visa to visit, not a settlement visa.

I hope I may have an added card up my sleeve, in that we are officially and legally "engaged" in Laos, and I do have the official "engagement document (dated nearly 2 years ago) to support that. I would also emphasise that we (she and I), both LIVE in Thailand, so would both be wanting to return to Thailand.

Dakoda wrote:The subject and what I was referring to seem to be different. Big difference between thai girl friend and Lao girl friend. So, BM

Dakoda (and BM?), Understood the topic title was "Thai GF", but that said, I don't think there would or should be any difference between applying for a tourist visa for a Lao GF to visit the UK, as against one for a Thai GF to visit the UK, particularly as both would be done through the British Embassy in Bangkok. Why would they apply different criteria? They are wanting to go to the same country and applying at the same Embassy.

Post by **Dakoda** » May 24, 2007, 10:16 pm

arjay wrote:
Dakoda wrote:The subject and what I was referring to seem to be different. Big difference between thai girl friend and Lao girl friend. So, BM
Dakoda (and BM?), Understood the topic title was "Thai GF", but that said, I don't think there would or should be any difference between applying for a tourist visa for a Lao GF to visit the UK, as against one for a Thai GF to visit the UK, particularly as both would be done through the British Embassy in Bangkok. Why would they apply different criteria? They are wanting to go to the same country and applying at the same Embassy.

I think there is a BIG difference. That said, just wanted to see if BM knew of any with Lao girl friends, and from his reply, I think not.

It just seems to me that people with a wife, need to jump thru hoops, to get a visa to visit.

Wish you luck, but also post back on what they say. Might have better luck with that piece of paper, they might even think about it.