Thursday, August 5, 2010

A Thai girlfriend that will never get a UK travel visa

This week I was contacted by a British man that met a Thai bar girl in January 2010. July 2010 he returned to Thailand to share a two week holiday with her. He reported that they had a great time together; traveling to Phucket, Krabi, Bangkok and Pattaya.



His Thai girlfriend no longer works at the bar as he now sends her 15000 Baht a month while in the UK helping to support her and her family back in the Thai village.

Towards the end of the holiday they decided that for the next holiday the Thai girlfriend should visit the UK. This would help the British boyfriend out as he has ran out of holiday days from work.. (Though it is worth remembering that in the UK you can request to take unpaid holidays)

When the British man returned to the UK he contacted our office and explained that he wanted to get a UK visitors visa and his girlfriend had a friend at the embassy that for a fee would sneak her passport into the embassy and personally put the visa in the passport.

Obviously the man from the embassy wanted a backhander of 40,000 Baht, and also told his Thai girlfriend that she would need another 40,000 Baht in her bank account for the visa.

The British man was unsure if to believe his girlfriend and contacted us so we could give him our opinion.

The first point I made was; why would a man from the embassy who can stamp the visa into the passport also request that the girlfriend put more money into her bank account. If he can issue the visa without an application, why would he need to see her bank account?

The Thai girlfriend told our staff member that she wasn’t interested in going to England.



I asked a Thai member of our staff to contact the girlfriend and explain that the British boyfriend had contacted us about a visa, who also explained how our office works and how we could over time ensure that a visa would be granted. The Thai girlfriend told our staff member that she wasn’t interested in going to England.

It is obvious that in this case the Thai girlfriend was trying to get 80,000 Baht from the British boyfriend with no intention of traveling to England. We know that it is not possible for a member of staff at the embassy to grant a visa without a correct and complete visa application with supporting documents.

The British man took the news very well but I could tell he was angry, he didn’t understand why she would try to con him for money as it sends it to her every month.

Don’t believe everything you hear in Thailand, not everything is as it seems. Saying that, not all people in Thailand are out to con you. Some of the Thai girls are looking for a relationship and some are only looking for fast cash.