Thermal poling is an attractive method to induce a nonlinear coefficient in silica materials. We have investigated potential silica materials with respect to their suitability for thermal poling and analyzed the achievable depletion thickness in the poling process. Based on this investigation, a fiber was designed and prepared for second harmonic generation. The generation of light in the visible range at a wavelength of 532 nm was successfully demonstrated with a poled fiber and with quasi-phase matching using a pump wavelength of 1064 nm.