Dear Hillary,
I am a U.K citizen living in Thailand and my legal wife is a Thai who has never visited the U.K. As a pensioner I applied for my wife and was told, no problem, and was sent a form. As well as returning the form they required the following:
National Insurance No.
Wife’s passport
Marriage certificate
And if applicable – Divorce paper or death certificate of spouse
These all have to be notarized. It took me a full nine months before it was completed, but they pay you from the date you register plus an extra three months. On completion my wife also received her National insurance No. Don’t give up it takes a lot of hard work and perseverance. If you have paid the full stamps it will be worth about a few thousand baht a week to you. The place to apply to is:
The Pension Service
Tyneview Park
International Pension Centre
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1BA
England
For an application form Tel. 191 21 87777
Hope this is of some help Hillary.
Peter
Dear Peter,
This has been of great help, although really outside of my sphere, and you have given the contact details. Thank you, on behalf of all the Thai spouses who might just get a little more spending money each week!