Obtaining a UK Fiance Visa For Your Thai Fiance

[CrazyExpat]

Settling in the UK with your Thai fiance proves to be your best option if your bread and butter in the UK is keeping you from permanently relocating to Thailand. A UK settlement visa in the form of a fiance visa is your key to bringing your Thai fiance to stay with you in the UK for good. This is true for those couples contemplating of getting married in the UK then proceed in adjusting their fiance's immigration status after marriage.

UK Fiancee Visa Requirements

Applying a UK fiancee visa for your Thai fiance necessitates meeting two important requirements: your relationship with your Thai fiancee and your financial status in the UK. Establishing a believable and an on-going relationship between you and your fiancee requires your having known each other and being together for a period of time not less than 6 months. This should be seen as a logical requirement after all you are sponsoring someone to the UK who will hopefully become your long time partner in life. The longer you have known each other, the better. Apart from this, you also need to show tangible proofs of your genuine existing relationship in the forms of email exchanges, photos together in various places, money transfer receipts, telephone bills, boarding passes to Thailand and any other pieces of evidence that could validate your existing relationship. You would also need to provide proof of your freedom to marry certificate and if you have been married before a divorce certificate or spousal death certificate should be provided to attest the dissolution of your previous marriage.

Finally, you would need to write a letter detailing the milestones of your relationship, how it started and developed to become what it is now. This in turn becomes a literature for all the pieces of relationship evidence you have so far collected. Just recently the British embassy also started requiring a letter of intent to marry from a registrar in the UK for the visa applicant and the British fiance. This, however, would require the presence of the foreign fiancee in the UK at the registrar's office before this letter is issued. Contacting the municipal registrar in your area on how to go with this is the best thing to do to be able to address this requirement. Your fiancee also needs to undergo a medical check up to check her health status. They are particularly concerned with checking if she has Tuberculosis. You would need to call the IOM center in Bangkok to schedule her check-up and anticipate corresponding medical check up fee. She would also need to secure a police record to prove her being a good citizen. This needs to be obtained at the Royal Thai police which can take up to 2 weeks to have it finally issued. Your financial position in the UK is the next crucial requirement in question. The rational behind this is that the UK government wants to make sure that you would be able to support your future wife's stay in the country without any recourse to public funds. To show them your financial capability, you would need to provide your last 6 months bank statements; at least 3 recent pay slips, employment letter, House Title deed or Mortgage Agreement and photos of your house. This is aside from the sponsorship letter which confirms your desire to sponsor her stay in the UK. Speaking of the sponsorship letter, it's advised to include in it your sincere intention of marrying your fiancee once she gets there and supporting her financially and morally and purchasing her airfare ticket and travel insurance after she has obtained her visa successfully.

Process

The UK fiance visa application follows a simple process. Nonetheless, it is advised to take it seriously as remedying a refused visa application proves to be a more difficult ordeal. A good way to start the process would be to familiarize yourselves with the details of the whole procedure i.e. expected time frame, costs, required documents among others. It would be good to list down all the required documents from both ends and start collecting them the soonest possible. In filling out the visa application forms it would be prudent to start with a draft and if there are questions unclear to you, it's always good to ask UK visa professionals. You can also call the British embassy to clarify confusing items in the visa application forms. As for your fiancé's important documents in Thai i.e. Birth certificate and Single Certificate, they would need to be translated into English and legalized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Once the aforementioned required documents are collected and fully prepared, you can proceed with submitting your visa application at VFS in Bangkok which will turn over to the UK consular Section. It would take approximately 3 months to process the visa application before the result of the visa application gets issued. If interview is required, the processing time would expectedly take longer. Your Thai fiancé is initially allowed to stay in the UK for 6 months if she gets the visa. After marriage in the UK, her immigration status can be adjusted accordingly that she may be able to stay and work there for good. Costs Aside from the service fee of the visa agent, you would also need to anticipate other fees like embassy fees, medical check-up fee and translation fees.

Summary The UK fiancee visa application demands a thorough preparation of the required documents. It is therefore advised to enlist the service of UK visa specialists to guide you and your Thai fiancee with the visa application process. UK visa professionals who speak both Thai and English and have broad experience in assisting UK visa in Thailand are recommended to carry out the task for you.

George M. Londob works as a Business Correspondent for Siam Legal International, Thailand's largest legal service network with offices in Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai and Samui. The firm has international locations in London and Los Angeles. Siam Legal is a full-service international law firm and provides a wide range of legal and visa services. Reach Siam Legal at +(66) 2-253-8100, or info@siam-legal.com.

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