Helping my sons pregnant thai girlfriend into UK

I understand there is a minimum income requirement and the lady would have to pay a health insurance if she wishes to use the NHS. I gather the rules are quite strict but, and I could be wrong so check, grandparents can sponsor her financially.
I recall a chap I knew who moved to England with his wife but they didn't have the finances, but I believe his parents assisted - Vague on details but it could be worth checking.

Thank you so much Fred!
When you say grandparents, do you mean I could sponsor her as the grandparents to be of her child?
This sounds promising!
So I suppose to try and get her here initially on a standard visitor visa, then she would have to return and reapply on another visa as a partner. Then  if granted, I believe, to try and switch the visa to family of a settled persons visa after two years has lapsed, all before baby is due, and need to check term of pregnancy, as may be refused to fly, if too late in pregnancy. But the worrying thing also is if she has the baby here, then is forced to leave for one reason or another...just seems like a lottery!! 

As I said, the guy I knew did it and I understand his parents helped him, but the conversation was vague so I could well be wrong.

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

I agree with much of what Fred has said,  A few points to consider though; you can't apply for a UK resident visa while in the UK on a visitor visa; the law doesn't permit it, you can only apply from outside the UK.

The problem with coming here on a visitor visa is convincing the guy at the airport immigration check that she intends to leave the UK at the end of her visa; if he/she is in any doubt, they could deny her entry and send her back on the plane she just arrived on.  The fact that the young lady may be visibly pregnant will not help here.  I think her only option will be to apply for a family visa based on her relationship with your son; the details of how are contained at this link.  You haven't said how far she is into her pregnancy (and while you don't have to here, you will have to notify the airline), but you also need to consider that she won't be allowed to fly after her 36th week of pregnancy.

The baby will be entitled to UK nationality by the fact he/she has a father with UK nationality; where the baby is born will have no effect on that.  I'd advise your son to register the baby's birth and apply for a British passport as soon as it's born (the UK embassy will accept a Thai birth certificate; although it may need to be translated into English and certified); details of how to do it are at this link.

I wish you, your son and his family all the best of luck in your journey, but to be frank, I suspect you will struggle to achieve your aim of getting the baby born in the UK, these matters take a long time to resolve.  You could be forgiven for thinking that some people go out of their way to put people off coming to the UK.

I hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi there
thank you so much for the valuable info and the links!
That all pretty much makes sense.
She is only a few weeks pregnant, and after some thought, I think it might be better overall for her to have the baby in her own homeland, at least she has some family there, and if we are successful in bringing her here to settle,  She may not get to see them much, as they probably won't be throwing visitor visas at them to come here for holidays no doubt!
I just thought it would be nice, as not sure my son would even be allowed to be present at the time of birth, trying to research more into this...he wasn't allowed into the scan, and the UK are great for choice on how you would like your birth to be, and birthing partners etc.
Also not sure its a great idea her having to fly back and forth all that way, whilst pregnant, surely can't be good for the baby??
We will register the birth in Thailand and apply for passport etc from UK embassy in Bangkok.
It looks like we may have been able to get her here on a marriage visa, but they would have to wed in the UK within 6 months, and that seems so rushed, not sure either of them want that at the moment anyway!
I just am really thinking about long term and the childs education, I want it to have the best opportunities, and thats why I would like them to live here.
I think his girlfriend would have to put across to the authorities, that she would lose her Thai citizenship, and would not be able to see her family as her reasons for not overstaying, and also that she would be denied entry in the future if she was caught overstaying...genuine explanations I think?

It really makes one consider, you must choose your future partner so carefully, the complications of this scenario are mind boggling!!!
Much luck needed...thanks again!

Hi again.

I agree, while it may on the face of it seem simple, the Expat path is not easy to follow and there are things on the way that can trip the unknowing.  You also have to consider the young girls own family in this, they may perhaps have a different view; whatever, I went through it 30 years ago, it's doable.  If you have any further specific questions, please come back to us.

Cynic
Expat Team

The Thai pregnancy scam is one which is pretty well written about and well trodden. I'd investigate it further.

Thanks for the heads up!

I have heard also about this, he has lived with her in Thailand for over a year, although that does not rule out that it could be someone elses, always worth doing a DNA later. I don't think she is like that though...we shall see!

Cheers

I think that her chances of getting a tourist visa are nil (unless your son supports her financially in a marriage-like arrangement and has a good income there), so spare yourselves the agony (and expense) of attempting this route.

In terms of the actual birth and giving your son the option of being present: the main private hospitals in Bangkok are as good as any that you will find in the West and I am sure that they would make all reasonable efforts to meet the desires of a paying customer. Obviously you would need to be very sure what the mother wanted: it is entirely possible that the kind of birth she wanted would be in accordance with Thai culture rather than our modern ideas about the subject.

At some point the family would have to decide whether to live in Thailand or the UK. Just about the only visa option that would work for them is the family (or spousal) visa. Assuming that your son does not have a job or income in the UK, you would need to show evidence of a substantial lump sum available to support them, and that they would have use of a property suitable for them to live in. They would also need to (i) be married; or (ii) intend to get married within six months of arriving in the UK; or (iii) provide evidence that they had been living together for two years or more.

Thank you for your views and advice!

The whole birth scenario scares me, I am frightened for her having to possibly give birth on her own without support! Her sister had a baby over 6 months ago and when screaming in pain, the staff told her you didn't mind when you were having sex basically!!! This is diabolical in any country for this day and age, totally inexcusable.
I want her to have a positive experience and for her to have someone with her, either my son, or her mother, sister, whoever she would like really.
So I need to ask them to check with the hospital in Bangkok, it may still be that this would go deeply against their beliefs or something, I hope the Bangkok general are open to any suggestions of a birth plan etc.  Also my son reported that when his girlfriends sister had her baby it was separated from the mother and put in a room with all of the other babies, she wasn't able to see the child for a number of hours, no skin to skin contact in this case! There have been a number of cases where babies have been given wrong tags and mixed up, this is another worry!

I think we will definitely aim to apply for the fiance visa, if nothing works and she is unable to settle here, then my son I guess would have to live there, at least he has the option to come back and forth to visit us, his family, whereas, if his girlfriend was living here, her family might not see much of her, I don't want to separate her too much from her family and siblings.

My other main concern is the education for this unborn child, there are so many lovely things here for a child to be involved in, great schools, fantastic opportunities, that I wouldn't want this child to miss out on if I can help it.

Not sure where the best place in Thailand would be, to choose a home and where to live either???

Follow up scan next week, hope all ok!

Your concern does you credit.

I would like to reassure you that the best private hospitals in Bangkok are very good indeed, and work hard to give payiing patients the birth experience that they choose. And of course there are and have been plenty of westerners living in Thailand, so our preferences are not exactly baffling to them. Obviously none of this is free, but anyone with an average UK income is likely to be able to afford the very best that Thailand has to offer.

Similare remarks apply to schools, and of course there are 'international schools' that educate Western children in the ways that we would expect: again, obviously, for fees. I do suggest that you explore the Thailand expat forum, since questions about schools and hospitals are often discussed there.

There is a very good FB group called uk spouse settlement visa. Very knowledgeable people that could give you some good advice. Good luck!

Shana23autumn wrote:

We have a dilemma!
My sons thai girlfriend is expecting and we would like her to possibly move to the UK and that the baby would be born here, but everything I read seems so negative. She is from a poor family who would not be in a position to offer financial support! My son could though, for possibly five years. What would our chances be like for her to settle here? The baby is due next march, and we would like them to be here asap. But applying for a tourist visa is pointless, we need something permanent.
Are we just dreaming that this will ever happen?

Thanks all

Education - depending on where the mother lives, there are perfectly good schools in Thailand which aren't necessarily expensive. What is more difficult though if living in Thailand is the "Thai way", which is deadening to intellectual curiosity. If a child is exposed to that from a young age, its rare they mange to emerge as a fully thinking person.
NB I speak Thai and lived and worked there running a business for several years. I visit Thailand regularly for work and hols.

She may not actually be pregnant. I personally know several examples of this, solved by insisting on a pregnancy test done in from of your son.