Fiancée Visa Application from Myanmar (COMPLEX)

[grenco]

My fiancee and I are in a very difficult situation at the moment and really have no idea where to begin. Any help you guys could offer would be extremely appreciated

First some background, I (m24) am from N. Ireland, currently living and working in the UK, and my fiancee (f32) is originally from Myanmar and is living and working in Thailand at the minute. We met 4 years ago in Thailand when I was doing volunteering there, she moved there from Karen state in Myanmar when she was 18 to go to a refugee camp for better education.


Originally we were planning to get married in Thailand last June after I graduated from university, then she would move to the UK on a marriage visa after I had been working for long enough. But obviously, due to COVID our wedding had to be postponed. Since then I have started working, so our plan has been to apply for a fiancee visa after I have reached the 6 months of employment necessary (mid-April). She was then planning to move back to Myanmar during the processing period as she wouldn’t easily be able to return to Thailand with the COVID border closures.

As far as I know, we should be fine to meet the visa criteria, we have 4 years worth of photos from my multiple trips to Thailand and her trip to the UK, Facebook posts, daily phone calls and chat logs. I’m earning over the minimum wage requirement, she has a good level of English,

However, things have gotten a lot more complicated this week with the Myanmar military coup. Thankfully, my fiancee is safe in Thailand, but with the current situation it wouldn’t be safe for her to return at the minute. She is living in Thailand with a work permit and visa, however, the visa is in a CI (Certificate of Identity) passport which is only recognised within Thailand and thus she can’t travel internationally with it (the passport situation is a little messy out there). She has an internationally recognised passport as well, which she used to travel here on a tourist visa before, but this passport is almost out of date.

So as far as I know, there are 3 things she can only get by going back to Myanmar:

• A renewed international passport

• A proof of single status certificate for getting married abroad

• Biometric scans from the British embassy after applying for the visa

I am really lost about what to do about this and just wanted to know if there’s any way around these due to her situation, or if there’s a way to get them without going back to Myanmar. It’s been over a year since we’ve seen each other now and we really just want to find any way to be together.

Any help or suggestions which we might have overlooked would be greatly appreciated. Are there any other countries which might be easier for us to move to together? I know that this extends far beyond a simple visa question but I really don’t know where to begin with knowing where to look for answers so if there are any resources or legal help we could seek please let us know.

Thanks in advance!

[manci]

So as far as I know, there are 3 things she can only get by going back to Myanmar:

* A renewed international passport

* A proof of single status certificate for getting married abroad

* Biometric scans from the British embassy after applying for the visa

Without knowing the specific current situation in Myanmar and Thailand one can normally renew a passport at the country's embassies abroad. There is a Myanmar embassy in Bangkok.

As far as I am aware for the fiancée visa proof of single marital status is only required if she had been married previously and divorced

As your fiancée is resident in Thailand she can apply for the fiancée visa from there and provide biometrics at the VFS Global visa application centre in Bangkok

she has a good level of English,

that may be so but she would still have to prove her knowledge of English either by an academic qualification or by passing a test

[grenco]

Thank you so much for your reply, we're so happy to find out that everything can be done from within Thailand!

So you don't think that the fact she's there with a CI passport could make anything more difficult? Also, just to be sure that I've got this right, am I right in thinking the whole visa application can be done online other than the biometrics?

that may be so but she would still have to prove her knowledge of English either by an academic qualification or by passing a test

Thanks, we are aware of the English test, I was just bringing up her level of English as a way of saying the English test shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks so much again, that is a huge weight off our shoulders.

[vinny]

When does her passport expire? She may renew it in Thailand, but it takes time.

Nevertheless, the application could be submitted through the Embassy which in turn will forward it to the Malaysian Immigration Department in Putrajaya. Processing time may take up to 3 months.


Issuance And Renewal Of Malaysian Passport
At Embassy of Malaysia, Bangkok

[grenco]

Thanks for the info, although that's from the Malaysian embassy, not Myanmar. It will expire in April, she says that for her it may be more difficult to apply for the passport within Thailand as her Thai visa is in a different passport (the CI passport which allows her to work there as a migrant worker), but she isn't entirely sure of the process.

[manci]

for her it may be more difficult to apply for the passport within Thailand as her Thai visa is in a different passport (the CI passport which allows her to work there as a migrant worker), but she isn't entirely sure of the

she should make enquiries at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok:
http://www.myanmarembassybkk.com/?__cf_ ... Pg-u-TSTuQ