Visa for my wife??

[miked]

need some help please.
my wife( thai) has a u.k. residence visa. we left England in febuary and have lived in Thailand since then. i have a 1 year multiple entry visa.
2 questions.
will immigration in England allow my wife entry on the basis of her residence visa.?? we only intend to stay for 2 weeks
question 2, my thai visa runs out in january. will the Hull embassy cancel this and grant me a new one year multiple visa from november.??
very grateful for any info.
thanks
mike

[lomuamart]

I'll try on this one, but I'm not 100% certain.
I should think that your wife would be allowed into the UK on her residence permit. Are there any time restrictions on it? Maybe a call to The Embassy would clarify matters. Also, there are others on the board who have Thai wives living in England and come over to Thailand regularly. I doubt that the wives have to apply for a new visa each time they go back, but they would be better able to advise on this than me.
I also don't think that Hull will have a problem with granting you another multi-entry Non O. I'm sure that you don't have to wait until your current one expires. If you send them a copy of your marriage certificate, then it'll be plain sailing, I'm sure.

[dtaai-maai]

Can't give you an informed opinion on your Thai visa, but I'd make sure you have a re-entry permit before you leave Thailand.

As far as your wife is concerned, when you say 'UK residence visa' do you mean she has been granted 'indefinite leave to remain?' If she has, I can't see any reason why you should have any kind of problem when you go back this time. In the unlikely event that she is asked any questions, there is no reason to mention you'll only be staying a couple of weeks.

If you are now resident in Thailand, it's possible (only possible, as most UK immigration officers seeing the 'ILR' stamp will just stamp the passport and move on to the next 'customer') that at some point in the future you might be asked to demonstrate that she is still a permanent resident of the UK. But the worst case scenario if you stayed resident in Thailand for a few years is that the ILR stamp would be withdrawn and you'd have to go back to Visit Visas when going back to the UK. A formal enquiry to the Brit Embassy mentioning that you are now resident in Thailand and occasionally going to the UK on short visits (if that's the case) is probably not a good idea.

If over the longer term you're doing what a lot of couples do, and spending a few months here and a few months there, relax and don't worry about it.

I hope this makes sense... if it doesn't feel free to PM me. I can't vouch that all of the above is gospel, and I'd advise anyone to check for themselves any legal advice they get on a forum. It must be possible to view a copy of the UK Immigration Rules on line, which are probably in fairly simple language (since they have to be understood by immigration officers...)

[dtaai-maai]

This got me interested, so I've had a look round.


http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/lawand ... ules/part8

Unfortunately the language isn't quite as user friendly as I'd hoped!

Para. 287 is the one relevant to your wife. If she's still on the original 2 year extension, she should be readmitted in line with that. The constant use of the phrase 'Settled in the UK' is the only matter that would give me any slight concern in the long run, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it for now.

I'm now off for a lie down in a darkened room, with a wet cloth over my eyes.

[dtaai-maai]

It's no good, I can't sleep.


http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/servlet/Front ... 1067624#Q3


This link takes you to the UKVisas site and contains guidance for returning residents.

[Big Boy]

Provideing her right to remain in the UK is still valid, she will be permitted to re-enter. However, she should be returning to settle rather than just a holdiay, so be very careful with your wording when you get to UK immigration.

I made similar enquiries for my daughter many years ago (when her right to remain in the UK was still valid). At that time the official line was that if it was for a holiday, she should apply for a new visa, but reading between the lines they were saying travel on the existing visa and tell a white lie if questioned.

[miked]

thanks for all your help.
her visa is a permanent resident visa and as i am here on a mutiple entry
tourist visa then surely i am not a resident of Thailand but a tourist. if so then i must be a resident of the u.k. my argument is that i have been absent from the u.k for 9 months on holiday. i fully intend to return to Thailand after 2 weeks but again on a one year multiple entry tourist visa.
i pay tax in the u.k and surely i can go on holiday for as long as i like.??
as yet i.m not sure that i will settle in Thailand and may at some point return to the u.k. ( when watford win the premiership or hell freezes over).
not sure why i need a re entry stamp.?? when i leave Thailand i will get a 90 day stamp as my multiple entry visa does not expire till Jan 08. hopefully i can get the Hull embassy to cancel it and return to Thailand with a new visa.
thanks once again for all your help.
mike

[lomuamart]

The above all sounds like sensible advice.
Looking at it from the other way around, I'm granted "Non Resident" status from the UK and that helps with tax matters. However, I'm not allowed to spend more than 90 days in the UK over any one tax year otherwise I can lose that status.
So, there may well be a requirement for living in the UK for a certain length of time to qualify for residency.
I would have thought that if the OP's wife was on the 2 year ILR, then the above might apply. But after that, isn't a Thai person able to get a British passport?
As far as the re-entry stamp is concerned, I don't think it applies in this instance. The OP's visa is multi-entry (I assume) and so he can reenter Thailand as many times as he wants during the validity of the visa. There's no need for a reentry stamp, unless you're on an extension of a Non-Imm. I've done it before after having to go back unexpectedly to the UK a few months after the visa was issued by Hull.

[lomuamart]

miked,
Our posts crossed over. You're absolutely right about the multi-entry visa and I'm sure that you won't have a problem with Hull getting another one if the current hasn't expired.
After all, it's another 100 quid (or whatever) in the coffers.

[miked]

i think that as we are not returning to settle, i need to get her a tourist visa for the u.k.
monday i will phone the British embassy in bkk to make sure. its not worth flying all that way to be refused entry.
will let you know what they say.......................
thanks again for all your help.
mike

[Big Boy]

lomuamart wrote:

I would have thought that if the OP's wife was on the 2 year ILR, then the above might apply. But after that, isn't a Thai person able to get a British passport?

That changed about 5 years ago. To get a British passport these days, Thais have to pass a fairly stiff reading and written examination - not something the average Thai from rural Thailand is likely to do. These days the visa has to be re-newed every 2 years - paying for the priviledge every time.

Mike - absolutely no need to go to the added expense/possibility of refusal (at which point you would be completely snookered). Just tell that white lie if questioned when entering the UK. Don't get on your high horse about paying taxes etc (regardless of how you feel inside), just play the game and you won't have a problem.

You won't be refused entry providing you play the game, where as the little tin gods at the embassy may find a small anomaly in your application that allows them to refuse you the tourist visa. Once that refusal is in her passport, there is no turning back.

[lomuamart]

Thanks BB,
Didn't know that. I had read that there's written tests and so on now to become a British citizen. In fact I had a go at a specimen questionaire a little while ago and failed dismally.
Dunno what that means, but it must mean something?

[caller]

The route is settlement visa, followed by indefinite leave to remain, because if you don't, after two years you have to seek further leave to remain (another two years) at cost and so on. After ILR, if so inclined, you can go for citizenship. For both ILR and citizenship, you have to pass the life in the UK test or have met a certain standard in a combined ESOL/citizenship course. You also have to demonstrate you have met the terms of the original visa and that you have lived as man and wife in the UK. This does not preclude holidays and even longer trips back to LOS or wherever.

I wish I knew what visa the OP was talking about?

And BB, you'll be surprised at how many of those rural ladies from Issan pass the test! My wife hasn't yet been here 12 months and she's already studying EFL at intermediate level, she was close to first certificate level and will be in a few months. Once she has finished her current course, she will prepare to take the life in the UK test. It can be taken at any time, not just when you're applying for a different visa.

[dtaai-maai]

This is getting confusing, but you're getting good advice all round, miked. To clarify (I know it's repeating a lot of the above):

1. You don't need a re-entry permit for a tourist visa. I assumed that '12 month multiple entry visa' meant a Non-Imm visa - my mistake. You should get a new mult entry tourist visa without any problem.

2. Do not apply for a UK tourist visa for your wife.

3. There is no such thing as a UK residence visa. That might be how you think of it, but whatever she's got, that ain't it! The visa, as with your Thai tourist visa, is what you get when applying for pre-clearance from a foreign embassy. All it does is tell the immigration officer that you have been generally found to meet the requirements for entry. It is not in itself permission to enter the country, only the immigration officer can give you that. Going by what you've said, she will either have whatever period remains of a (renewable) two year time limit, or she'll already have Indefinite Leave to Remain, which obviously means no time limit. If you could have a look in her passport and quote the last immigration endorsement (either on entry or at the Home Office), that might help make things clearer.

4. UK immigration officers have an element of discretion in how they apply the rules. Sometimes common sense applies. Hence Big Boy's 'white lie' advice, which I was also implying when I originally advised you not to mention that you'd only be staying 2 weeks. The worst thing you could do is to start banging the desk and giving the 'I'm a British citizen and I pay my taxes' speech.

[caller]

I'm also confused as to how your wife can apply for a visitors visa when she already has whatever she has that allows her to reside in the UK! Don't you think that might set a few alarm bells ringing with imm?