crazydrummerpauly

The question about whether the TB test for the UK settlement visa application has to be current at point of entry to the UK - after reading some threads which seemed very inconclusive, what is the definitive answer to the question : Does the TB test result have to be less than 6 months old at the date of application only, or does it have to still be within the 6 months from the test, when the successful applicant gets to London or other UK airport ? Here's a thread that showed the disagreement over this -

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/705494-tuberculosis-certificate-uk-settlement-visa/

Updated facts on this needed.

A real (sad) sign of the times, that due to the draconian post-2012 rules on settlement visas, the processing times have plummeted. 100% of settlement visas for the UK now decided in up to 30 Days! -

https://visa-processingtimes.homeoffice.gov.uk/y/bangkok-thailand/settlement-visas/settlement

Select "Bangkok, Thailand"

Oh i don't believe it...how silly of me to search the 'T' s !

Do we know if the applicant can ask for the visa to be post dated for 3 months as under the 'old' system with the 30 days starting from then?

Current guidance still says ( today) :

How long it will take

You can apply for a visa up to 3 months before your date of travel to the UK.

You should get a decision on your visa within 3 weeks.

Check the guide processing times to find out how long getting a visa might take in the country you’re applying from.

But, the website still refers to "General" visit visas, and I think they no longer exist, having been replaced by "Standard" visit visas. That said, I think you will still be able to defer the start date by up to 3 months.

Tony M

Hi - just reading an old thread - that link to the Processing Times - the drop-down menu doesn't have Thailand in it ?! I just started a new thread about it btw. CORRECTION - it is under BANGKOK - there was me searching in the 'T' s ! Hope this might help some other idiot

Browsing the gov.uk site, i landed on the page listing Visa Processing times in all the countries around the world. Since strangely, Thailand does not appear on the drop-down menu, does anyone know of an up-to-date page giving this information about processing times in Thailand ? This is the page that lacks the info about LoS -

https://visa-processingtimes.homeoffice.gov.uk/y

If i've missed it - but i think not - please shout out.

This is Pattaya where for many, many years it has attracted men from everywhere because of it's sex trade. Some come for the boys and some come for the dark side and some come for the lovely young Thai girls and yes, some come for the ladyboys. Pattaya is the sin bin of Thailand and probably S.E.A. Either embrace the sleaze or stay away. It is an enormous money earner and corruption reigns supreme. Thailand would be a poorer place without it (literally).

The bars I see seem full of fat older women, but I guess to a new comer they may be less old and less fat than what he can get in his own country.

Isn't this an Arab preference though, fat women ?

Early am On the v v drunken final day in pattaya in 1983 wandered into.an open aired arena ish where on a stage boys and girls ranging from i guess 5 to.10 ish were singing and dancing applauded by a very excited Arabic crowd,, didn't realise until i was told after they were on stage to be sold ,,,

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

If true, that's a very depressing scenario.

Just like any other group of sexpats from any corner of the world.....not breaking news by any means.....just disgusting on so many different levels.....I try to avoid all this rubbish as best I can and try to lead a normal life......??

Probably no-one will believe it, but i've been living normally in Thailand for over 7 years, and never been to Pattaya, Patpong or Phuket's seamy side. I will leave LoS without doing so.

They 'got the hump' haha.

...and the cops share a joke....what a madhouse.

"Stop attacking tourists" campaign..... As a tourist, I'd be terrified if I saw that, it just highlights how bad it is.

Totally right - one of the weirdest bits of self-harm in ages !

top photo, guy on the right - can't wait to get in a few kicks while the victim is laying there on the ground.

He knows where the bodies are buried ! Scary

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN......

'Leering lotharios' ? haha. What century is the writer from ?

In custody already, as should be.

RIP to the little toddler.

Still no word on actually laying charges against the speeding merc man who killed two students and still no news about charged being laid against the red bull boy.

And still no news about the community service charade of the arogant honda girl.

The chief of police and the 2IC now in charge of the first two cases for well over a month with close to no progress should be sacked on the spot and charged with dereliction of duty, at least.

Disgraceful...

Who is 'the little toddler' in the story ? "Somkiat Srichan, 36"

Good that he feels so safe walking around the street late at night. That is, until it happens to him.. Then his tune will change. Personally, my experience has shown that in most cases a foreigner can smile his way out of most tense situations. I say most because there are times when Thai men simply want to exert some violence. Case in point: I was with my Thai family talking about the water supply using my wife to translate to her father. Out of the blue, the father picked up a large knife used for cutting bananas of the tree and he came at me with blood in his eyes. It was intervened only by my wife and her mother who jumped in front of him. As it turned out, he got angry simply because he didn't like that a foreigner was telling him a more sufficient and modern way to supply water to the house and thought that I should be doing it his way regardless. It didn't matter if I was in the right about it. He was losing face because I would not back down and because he was looking like he was ignorant about this to his family.

If a Thai is losing face by you or anyone. Run! Violence is the only thing they seem to understand.. Their is no compromise with them and as a foreigner, you are always going to be wrong. Even when you are right.

Who's house? His or yours?

Who was paying for the water? Him or you?

If it was his house you should have just said your piece and left the man to his error.

If he was paying and you were not going to be hit with the costs of his error at some point, you should have just said your piece and left the man to his error.

If this was your house you should have told him to piss off and not set foot on the property ever again.

If you were paying the bill or supporting the man, you should have cut off the funds and told him to never contact you again.

That is how you deal with these situations. The man's behaviour was unacceptable and he should have been dealt with accordingly. As soon as you show any weakness, they will keep behaving in this manner.

Probably dangerous advice. In LoS, it is almost never worth 'saying your piece', unless you like playing with fire. But your advice makes perfect, principled sense to western minds though. It is how i'd behave back home, but i can't risk it here.

Prospective means planned and subject to a final decision after the occurrence of a certain event, in the example of the text you quoted the marriage of the visa applicant.

Thanks, but nope, still doesn't make any sense to me in practical terms. I don't think anyone outside of the rarified world of ECOs knows what it means - and they probably couldn't agree on a meaning if pressed hard. Leaving aside semantics, what does a PROSPECTIVE place look like in the real world ? Or, what does the entry on a visa application form look like in terms, if it describes Prospective Accommodation ? Crucially, taking the gvt text word-for-word - a NOT-married couple CAN RELY on Prospective Accommodation, and a Married couple CAN NOT. Wha ??? Surely i'm not the first person on TV ever to have read and been baffled by this paragraph ? The two crucial statements -

"Accommodation for a couple may be prospective rather than available on arrival because the

Hi all.

Does anyone know what this actually means in practice ? -

"Accommodation for a couple may be prospective rather than available on arrival because the

But the elephant-in-the-room in all these threads about the state of things in los, is not what will be done about IT, but how MUCH of IT each of you will take before you decide enough-is-enough, and take the decision to pack up and leave ? There is after all, something deranged about ranting on and on about how awful it all is and at the same time volunteering to remain.

These events never come out of the blue.

The OP did not mention children. This has been the primary reason why my one and only marriage and subsequent relationships came to an end. I did not want kids and all the women did. And it doesn't help when their siblings and friends of the same age have little babies.

I would guess that after 14 years marriage she is 40 to 45 and the desire to give her life some purpose by bringing up kids is becoming overwhelming. Just a guess.

Relate to this 100%. Kids are a massive issue anywhere in the world, and in Asian cultures generally maybe even more so. And it is not always cultural - i have seen women friends back home in floods of tears as their 30s move towards their 40s and they are childless - a lot of that is universally felt across cultures, whether it can be called biological or hormonal or whatever...Truthfully, if my partner wanted to leave me to have a chance to have kids, i would support her, it is that important for women at a certain stage. [Which is not saying i would be fine with it!.]

White Christmas 13...I feel for you! My former Thai wife and I were married for nearly 19 years after I brought her to the US. I worked hard during that time and amassed a handsome amount of retirement resources to last us the rest of our lives, and it was our plan to return to Thailand to live out our dream. Then, lo and behold I got the "I want to be free again" lecture. She left divorce papers on the kitchen counter while I was at work and 6 months later we met in court and she got half of our marital assets, and within one year was married again to a fairly wealthy younger man. I later discovered she has been having an affair with him for some time while we were still married.

The long and short of it is that things aren't always as they seem. After I moved to Thailand on my own and remarried, I came across the following paragraph on a forum in Udon Thani, and this one excerpt did wonders for me so far as understanding what happened to my marriage. Perhaps it will help you and others as well, so here it it:

"I know of oh so many wives who genuinely love their man, but feel neglected as a person and lack mutual trust in their relationship. The guys are either unaware or simply do not care. Often with the attitude that "I'm providing, so everything is fine". Nah, brah. It's not. Thai women have an amazing ability to "o-tone" (endure) without displaying the slightest hint that is what they are doing. Even if asked directly, they will deny it rather than open up about how they really feel or talk about what bothers them. There is a term in psychology for the behavior, and it is referred to as "passive-aggressive. It is the behavior where feelings are suppressed, but the person is maintaining a checklist of things they do not like. Anyway, It is my opinion that most Thai women exhibit that behavior. At some point, they may snap and all hell breaks loose because of all those accumulated checkmarks. Recall those sensational stories about what Thai wives do....anything from taking everything and leaving him to hiring a hitman".

Hope i'm not tempting fate here, but in my opinion many if not most farang males are not really up to the challenging 'job' of being an effective partner to a Thai female. It is a tough role with many aspects, and above all if there is not a good-level shared language, most such relationships are doomed from the start. The 100% central requirement of any relationship anywhere is COMMUNICATION. The relationships that do succeed are usually between extrovert, even noisy types, who are always expressing feelings and worries and throwing ideas back and forth - any sulky silences on either side are a bad sign for the future. 'Passive-aggressive' behaviour is of this type of introverted and dangerous lack of sharing problems openly and working them through.

Real sympathy for the OP - hope you hold up through it all - i'm sure many of us on here are thinking : There but for the grace of [insert favourite deity] go i.

anks for the speedy responses guys, very helpful

If you have been married get whatever divorce paperwork is issued in the UK as believe that will be required by Embassy.

You need the decree absolute or if widower then you need a copy of the death certificate.

And once the Embassy has issued the affirmation to marry it then needs to be translated into Thai and authorised (stamped) by the Ministry of Foreign affairs.

HL

Thanks for the speedy responses guys, very helpful.

Happylarry understand the translation bit and the need for it to be authorised. I am hoping I am able to do this in a day when I come back to Bangkok (as I am going back to the uk for a few weeks) before moving onto Samui .

Am I able to do these things alone or do I need my girlfriend with me? I have copies of her ID and housebook.if that is of any relevance / assistance?

thanks again

As far as I know girlfriends input is not required. The affirmation is only confirming that you are free to marry and it doesn't refer to any person, just you. Please be aware that you now have to make an appointment on line first or they won't admit you to the Embassy. Once you have the affirmation then the easiest thing to do is go to the translation shop in the Homepro shopping centre opposite the Embassy and they will translate it and take it to the ministry and get it stamped and then post it to you in Samui, very easy for you and not expensive.

HL

Just been through this process - don't agree with the 'Homepro' idea for the translation. The easiest thing to do is simply walk up the stairs in the ministry to the first floor and go straight to their internal Translation Office right in front of the escalator. It is no more expensive than some external translating services, and above all, it is in-house so any mistakes will rebound on the colleagues. While i was there a guy was losing his cool big-time because a translator outside the ministry had added a Postcode to his address which was NOT on the British Embassy 'affirmation'. He had to get another translation and wait another 4 hours ! That mistake would not have been made by the internal translators in my opinion. By the way, the normal service at the MoFA is 3 working days. To get the Express same-day service (which takes 4+ hours) it's a very early start unless you stay in a hotel very near the building - get there by 7am to be near the front of the queue. Yep, i know they don't open until 8, but we were allowed in with others to queue at the bottom of the stairs before 7. Even with that start and the Express service and being No.04 in the queue, it will still be just after lunch when the precious docs are handed over. Be warned : they stare closely at every word and number on the translation to find any differences from the British Embassy original.

Hi all.

A couple of simple queries -

1) What is the up-to-date position on appealing against a Settlement (spouse) Visa refusal ? A link to the overall current process would be great. Is there actually still a 'right of appeal' ? (or only a 'review' procedure).

2) I have read about refusals of applications, with the reason given being that the 'Suitable Accommodation' element had not been satisfied. Specifically, in the case of an offer of the free use of a room in a friend's 3-bed house - the only other occupants being the friend and wife - the refusals cited the 'Lack of a Tenancy Agreement'. The reasoning being that the parties involved could 'fall out' and the accommodation swiftly withdrawn, presumably leading to the applicant and sponsor turning up at the door of the local housing department - as if that would do them any good! I cannot find any reference to the need for a Tenancy Agreement in any government guides on this, so has anyone encountered this requirement either as sponsor or adviser ?

Thanks in advance.

Hi all. This is a very depressing thread. I came online to ask a related question about appeals.

If a normal settlement application is refused, and it is taken up in an appeal - IF the appeal is WON, and the original decision on the application is therefore shown to be in error - is the original £1,200 application fee refunded (since it was the ECO's mistake), and if not, why not ?

Tell me something cheerful....pleeeeez.

I know the answer to this without having to bother to check the facts and the sad news is that you can kiss any money spent goodbye forever.

Several years ago I had some court documents that needed signing by the notary at the British embassy. Once they returned to me I forwarded them to the court back in the UK. Upon receipt they informed me that the notary had signed in the wrong place so they sent the documents back to me in Bangkok.

I went back to the embassy and showed them the court letter explaining their mistake. They acknowledged their mistake but obliged me to pay the fee again. When I remonstrated about this their attitude was tough luck. Pay up or push off.

Come the revolution...bang....but i'll be feeding the worms for sure. I think the old saying 'the Law is an ass' (as in donkey) is way too gentle on the b'strds in wigs. 'Signed in the wrong place' ? <deleted>.

It seems that ECO decisions are frequently overturned:

Please find the data below relating to your request and note that the figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols but have been derived from local management information. They are therefore provisional and subject to changes. 1- 5,462,780 applications were received between 1 July 2012 and June 2014. 2- A) 4,578,935 applications were issued, ( 607,880 were refused & © 38,440 are currently pending. 3- 368, 005 applications were reviewed by the ECM, 292,445 applications were issued following the review and 75,560 refusals were maintained post review.

Source: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/234642/response/584199/attach/3/FOI%2033251%20ANSWER.pdf

This is the stage that mistakes should be corrected and this process should be included within the cost of the original visa. A small refundable fee may well be in order to stop the 'chancers'.

I was surprised that the number of 'corrections' was so high. It does suggest that this part of the system does work quite well. What is not clear is how much the ECO's learn from the exercise. Are weaknesses and mistakes fed back so fewer happen in the future.

Proper appeals to the First Tier Tribunal involve matters of law rather than processing errors. I am not against appellants paying some costs up front to stop spurious appeals but the other side of this is successful appellants should get refunds and potentially compensation for errors.

The threat of compensation should encourage the visa processing staff to perform their duties with even more care.

The 'threat of compensation' bobrussell - fantastic idea...we can but dream :-)

Hi all. This is a very depressing thread. I came online to ask a related question about appeals.

If a normal settlement application is refused, and it is taken up in an appeal - IF the appeal is WON, and the original decision on the application is therefore shown to be in error - is the original £1,200 application fee refunded (since it was the ECO's mistake), and if not, why not ?

Tell me something cheerful....pleeeeez.