UK Visas for Thais
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UK Visa - Fiancee Visa

My Experience 

[Written on vacation with Joy in Wales, UK]

My name is Owen and my girlfriend's name is Joy.

I went to Pattaya, Thailand on holiday in July 2004 and met Joy on a blind date organised by a friend and his girlfriend. We had a great evening: drinks and a meal.

Joy and I liked each other a lot and we continued to see each other every day for the rest of my vacation, which was four weeks.

I returned to Wales, leaving Joy there, although we had made arrangements to keep in touch.

Over the following weeks, I realised just how much I missed her and made arrangements to return as soon as possible. I was phoning her every day and spending a fortune on calls. Meanwhile, Joy had moved back to live with her mother.

I got back to Thailand and Joy met me from the airport and I knew I had done the right thing. I even had fledgling plans to move to Thailand to live.

Within a week or so, I had made up my mind to live in Thailand, although I had certain affairs I needed to clear up back in Britain first. I also thought it would be nice for Joy and great for me to invite Joy to accompany me back to stay in Wales, while I arranged these affairs.

So, we went to the Embassy in Bangkok (150km) away to collect the forms for a UK visa and seek advice on how to go about getting a so-called fiancee visa.

People start queuing for a UK visa and other other things outside at about 7am and it can take a long time to get inside. We got there at about 10am and waited 2-2? hours. It didn't take long to get our UK visa application forms once inside and we then went home.

We read the UK visa application forms and the guidelines and then came to realize for the first time, what a mammoth task getting a UK visa or fiancee visa was! You also have to enclose the applicant's passport with the UK visa application. Joy had never had a passport, so the first step was to get one.

Back to Bangkok, but still in an up-beat mood.

We also realised that we had none of the 'supporting evidence of a lasting relationship' that the embassy puts so much store by: no photos (I have never, ever taken photos  of anyone or anything on a regular basis); no letters (Joy speaks, but does not read or write English); no emails or text messages (same reason); no mobile phone bills (I am pay-as-you-go); no landline phone bills (I didn't know I had to keep them).

In short, nothing whatsoever to prove that I even knew Joy, let alone how long.

Now it was starting to become depressing and my return flight was in a fortnight.

So, I bought a couple of disposable cameras and clicked like crazy; I rang home and got the phone company and the bank to send me duplicate statements; I rang the council and the building society to get letters to prove I owned my house and I arranged for KLM to prove the date of my first flight to Bangkok.

Then I sat down to write a letter of sponsorship to accompany the UK visa application. I also wrote out for Joy, the names, ages and occupations of my parents, my brothers, their wives and children etc. and similarly learned the same details about Joy's family.

By now the passport application had been processed and we had to go back to Bangkok to pick it up. A few more days later and the papers arrived from Britain and we were ready to submit the UK visa application, although the phone company had sent the bill for the wrong month (not the ?360 bill, but a small one for ?45) and the bank's statement was a month out of date.

Anyway, off the UK visa application went: fingers crossed.

We had our interview the day before my return flight - about 10 days later: back to Bangkok and a hotel.
We were kept waiting, but we were confident she would get a UK visa. Then Joy was called up and she went in.

Fifteen minutes later she reappeared, but we still had to await a verdict on the fiancee visa.

Another fifteen minutes and she was called up again.

I could see by her face she had been refused a UK visa - it was heart-breaking.

Joy was so visibly upset and disappointed that I decided to forego my return flight and wait for her to obtain a fiancee visa.

We spent a couple of days depressed about the result. After all, I had said in my letter that I only wanted to go for six weeks to sort out my business before returning to Thailand to buy a house and set up a business. It was a genuine application for a holiday visa; not a covert application to smuggle in an exotic dancer!

Anyway, then Christmas intervened and the tsunami came and we had to delay our repeat UK visa application by several weeks. (I only say this to point out that things happen and unexpected delays can occur).

We sent off another UK visa application, with another fee, and waited another fortnight.

Back to Bangkok and a hotel and a restless night.

The interview went well this time and we got our UK visa, although it took a week before we could get a flight.UK visas for Thais

I have since talked to many couples and I think that this is a fairly typical true story.

This is a cut-down version of our story. If, after reading our experience, you think we can be of help to you and your loved one, consider buying my ebook by clicking on the link in the sidebar.

The ebook tells our story in more depth and goes into far more detail about the pitfalls in front of you when you apply for a visa and gives more links and specimen forms to help you get your loved one to your home.

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