Dear Rob/Editor,
My girlfriend and I met in Thailand in 2017. Always kept in touch and in 2020 the contact became so intensive that a relationship emerged. Last year (2021) at Christmas and the turn of the year I visited her in Thailand, met family and at the moment I am on holiday with her again. I would also like to introduce her to my environment and that is why we started preparing a visa application.
I already have my affairs in order, from permanent contract and pay slips to guarantee, I know which insurance I will take out when the time comes, have a screenshot of the intended return ticket, relationship statement including proof such as tickets, photos and hotel confirmations with my and her name. I also wrote an invitation letter in which I also tell something about our relationship, what our plan is if she is allowed to visit me and where the burden of proof of the relationship statement can be found. I also devoted a paragraph to the fact that I pick her up myself and put her back on the plane, that I am aware of the rules, requirements and possible consequences. In short, I think I have prepared and read in well.
However, the requirements imposed on her side of the visa application do not reassure me.
After reading a question from Franc here on Thailandblog at the beginning of August, I even started to worry a little about the visa application, especially about making it plausible to return to Thailand. In Franc's aforementioned piece, he mentions that his application was subsequently rejected, up to 4 times, despite the fact that he had attached proof of ownership of land. Our application also includes proof of ownership of land in Surin, a piece of farm land and a piece of land with a house. Can I conclude from this that this alone is not enough to get a visa application approved?
Her situation is and her name is Suwannee.
Her father passed away a long time ago, her mother at the beginning of the covid19 outbreak, her brother relinquished land ownership so that she now owns the land, we have official documents for this and I had them translated this week into the English. She lives in the house that she now owns. Her neighbors are all brothers and sisters of her father, who together cultivate the land and keep animals. Her uncle still has a kind of contractor company with various tractors, trucks and other machines. She also regularly works for that, and I help her financially when necessary. However, this is not a work on paper, but now that I am writing this I am thinking that I can still try. A statement from her uncle that he expects her to return to work through him.
She has no children and no care for the elderly, but she takes care of her 3-year-old nephew who lives with his grandfather (which is her uncle).
I am actually looking for advice on how I can use her situation in a positive way to meet the condition that it is plausible that she will return to Thailand, and how I could then present this in our visa application.
Thank you in advance for your response and effort
With regards
Mark and Suwannee
Dear Mark,
Each application is viewed as an individual and unique thing, where it is ultimately about the overall picture. It will not only depend on whether or not you have proof of your own land/house. In your case I would certainly also include a statement from that uncle that Suwannee helps with some regularity. In your accompanying letter, you should of course also briefly explain your situation, so that the official can get an idea of who you are, what your plans are and why it is more likely that Suwannee will return on time than that she will break the rules (overstay, etc.). ). All visa applications are now processed centrally in The Hague, which means that some country-specific knowledge may be less optimal than before. So write in the letter that in rural Thailand official employment contracts are not the norm in such cases.
Much more than, for someone who does not know you at all, sketching who you are in a short letter and trying to make it clear that granting the visa is not an unreasonable risk for the Dutch government, and can substantiate this with evidence (deeds, contracts, declarations) and much more you cannot do. Make sure that the entire package is complete (checklist) and well-arranged, so that people in The Hague can browse through it quickly and should be able to see quickly that everything is in order.
Success!
Yours faithfully,
Rob V