SlackWaster wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2023 2:46 pm Hello everyone

Thank you for your input it's much appreciated - if a little bit discouraging.

We'd certainly be travelling with return tickets and I have enough money in my account - as does she - to show we can afford the holiday.

She has a mother, grandmother, and two sisters who live here, the mother and grandmother are dependent on her.

She has a house in the province which she built (where her mother and grandmother live) but doesn't own the land it's built on, that's a relative's land.

A potentially additional negative is that I don't have a great job here, I have a successful business online, which of course I can operate from anywhere, and it's registered in the UK.

What's really frustrating is that as much as I love England, it's really gone down the swanny, and why on Earth would I want to live there and subject my girlfriend to life there.

Anyway - thanks again, I'll wait and see if there's anymore answers posted before looking at them all and working out a plan of action.

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2023 10:39 am I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the UK visa officers are ageist and sexist. I think they actually enjoy issuing refusals to older UK guys wanting to bring over younger Khmer women.

I have noticed on the relevant facebook groups that young female UK citizens working in Cambodia are getting UK visit visas for their young Cambodian boyfriends with ease. Said bfs have a poorly paid job and not much else to show intention to return.

I know of many old guys who have struggled to get visit visas for their younger Khmer gfs. Many give up. Of those who have succeeded, I don't know of a single case of overstay in the UK.

If the applicant is a genuinely cashed-up Khmer or has a seriously well paid career job, it should be easy. Also if the couple have a baby together and the baby has a UK passport. Absent one of those things, you have a struggle on your hands.

The most painless way is to use a good quality visa agent in Pattaya, much cheaper and better than a UK lawyer. You get a money-back guarantee. The agent fee will be at least $1000, plus the application fees of $200+.

BTW, owning land, having a non-career job, having dependents in Cambodia, having travelled to other countries (which don't have stringent immigration controls) are all of very little help.

Even if you do convince them on the intention to return issue, you also have to prove you have sufficient funds, place to stay in the UK etc. There are specific ways that all this needs to be proved and specific requirements of documents to be submitted, only some of which are listed on the UK Visa pages. For the translation, you can use any translator who is competent and owns a stamp.

Bubble T wrote: ↑Sat Jul 08, 2023 5:51 pm

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2023 10:39 am I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the UK visa officers are ageist and sexist. I think they actually enjoy issuing refusals to older UK guys wanting to bring over younger Khmer women.

I have noticed on the relevant facebook groups that young female UK citizens working in Cambodia are getting UK visit visas for their young Cambodian boyfriends with ease. Said bfs have a poorly paid job and not much else to show intention to return.

I know of many old guys who have struggled to get visit visas for their younger Khmer gfs. Many give up. Of those who have succeeded, I don't know of a single case of overstay in the UK.

If the applicant is a genuinely cashed-up Khmer or has a seriously well paid career job, it should be easy. Also if the couple have a baby together and the baby has a UK passport. Absent one of those things, you have a struggle on your hands.

The most painless way is to use a good quality visa agent in Pattaya, much cheaper and better than a UK lawyer. You get a money-back guarantee. The agent fee will be at least $1000, plus the application fees of $200+.

BTW, owning land, having a non-career job, having dependents in Cambodia, having travelled to other countries (which don't have stringent immigration controls) are all of very little help.

Even if you do convince them on the intention to return issue, you also have to prove you have sufficient funds, place to stay in the UK etc. There are specific ways that all this needs to be proved and specific requirements of documents to be submitted, only some of which are listed on the UK Visa pages. For the translation, you can use any translator who is competent and owns a stamp.

Your observation doesn’t match what you see when you get here. At this year’s Khmer new year celebrations in Manchester the Khmer people were almost exclusively middle aged (20’s to 40’s) women with English husbands and Khmer couples. The Khmer community here isn’t big but it is quite supportive.