bangkockney

Do you have photoshop?

Be Careful when resizing the dimensions of the image only to reduce filesize - you do still want the scan to be readable, right?

If you have Photoshop, better to save for web, gif restrictive if B&W or very few colours.

Then put it into Acrobat Pro, optimise and make compatible with Acrobat 4 or later. This will give you markable file size reduction and retain readability.

The birth will need to have been registered at the Embassy, or the child's biological father will have to be involved in the process.

Thanks indeed for the information. The birth was not registered at the British Embassy. Is there a time limit for doing this? I mean the child was born a few years ago, so therefore could it be registered now and what would be needed in order to do that, given that the father is not involved? Thanks P.S. No, I do not wish to marry the woman.

Unfortunately, as it is the father who is British it must be him that makes the claim of nationality for the child. As 7by7 confirms, it's just not possible.

I guess your only other option is to try and trace him and see if he wants to do right by his child - i.e. ensuring his own flesh and blood's rights are fully recognised. Some people, sadly, do not share this opinion.

Ask the local council to put your wife on the bill for council tax. They will usually do it over the phone and send written confirmation within a day or two!

She should already be on the Council Tax bill, if not naughty naughty!

No need to book an appointment, you can be a walk-in.

It's first come first served. Go early and be prepared to wait.

Arguing about who is being disrespectful of the deceased, in a thread announcing said death, is well, disrespectful is it not?

Let it go <deleted>.

Sorry, but shock horror, you waited 7 days. There are others who have to wait significantly longer than that!

And re having to take another number, how would you suggest they manage people coming to collect passports? A complete free-for-all?

Lovely! - We are talking about an EEA Family permit, not any Visitor or Settlement Visa. Most people are getting them issued within 2 days. I would say you can not compare these application times, as rule are different.

As far for the passport collection. Why 'free for everybody" - don't you have the receipt? I suggest you try some other embassies ( start off with Japan or EU countries ) and see how they handle the passport collection. Not sure if you still praise the VFS Thailand system.

Just another remark. As an EU Citizen I have more rights regarding the Visas for my wife in your country as you, but on the other side you will enjoy the same rights at my home embassy. Here you get the Family Permit within 2 days as well.

The point is decision times are not de-facto. Your application could have been refused, referred or deferred to the Home Office, which could result in delays longer than you experienced.

I would suggest Japan is a bad example since volume is nowhere near as high as the British Embassy.

Despite having a receipt, you are not ushered to a separate room just for Family Permit applicants to collect their passports. Again, given the volumes, having everyone just queue up at the counter would cause far greater problems.

Ticketing systems are used everywhere where there is high volume and a need to retain control of a large group of people e.g. passport applications in person.

I also do not agree that the German embassy processes more applications than the UK, in all categories combined.

But no problem, you're entitled to your opinions (little point arguing over an opinion) following your experience and of course are entitled to apply outside Thailand in future if you so wish. I just thought your criticism was a little harsh.

Sorry, but shock horror, you waited 7 days. There are others who have to wait significantly longer than that!

And re having to take another number, how would you suggest they manage people coming to collect passports? A complete free-for-all?

I was going to start a thread about this too, as I had the exact same email a few days ago.

It's quite a funny email really. "Copy rights" I mean, come on!

I have Skype, Wolrd Package ( I think it's called)

About £7 a month, unlimited worldwide landline calls.

Mobiles quite cheap too.

Personally, I prefer the various gateway numbers when calling abroad from Thailand - the quality is perfect and the cost slightly cheaper than Skype.

Tamiflu was first approved in October 1999 by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of influenza infection in adults. When Tamiflu’s safety profile for use in children was considered and the drug approved in 2005 by the US FDA, Tamiflu had been used by about 33 million patients worldwide.

In Japan, amongst children there have been reported deaths of 1 per million. Therefore, if your child has been prescribed Tamiflu by a Doctor and at the appropriate dose, there should not be a problem.

It should not be given to kids under 1.

Yes also blocked on TRUE in BKK.

Interesting.

My phone is True, and the site is accessible when accessing on "3G".

Accessible here, 3BB Cheang Wattana, BKK.

... I cannot see how this pressure leads to the refusal of worthy applicants; surely it would be the opposite, and one doesn't see many complaints from people who got a visa when they shouldn't have!

There are many examples where an ECO simply does not know the rules he is to uphold. Especially surrounding transitional arrangements and following policy changes from the Home Office and/or UKBA. Plus - and I'm happy for you to label me a cynic - I have a suspicion that the Visa Sections worldwide have been told to hold on to applications in certain categories for longer, refuse where further investigation is warranted etc as a back door way of capping numbers. I also get this impression from correspondence seen between various stakeholders.

Applying for an admin review or full appeal is not available to all applicants. Consider a student, whose course start date is fixed. His visa application is incorrectly refused, his start date has passed and he therefore has no chance of being issued a visa. The refusal remains on record. Further, he loses the application fee, plus loss against tuition fees paid. Unacceptable levels of loss, given the ECO should know the rules better than the applicant.

It would be very simple for the UKBA to remove speculation surrounding standards by publishing data on applications received, successful applications and a breakdown of refusals. Australia is the only country taking transparency of the visa process seriously, publishing detailed analysis of visa refusals, although to-date, this is limited to student visa applications only.

@VisaPlus

...bankokney's...(emphasis added)

Freudian slip? Lol.

I think you hit the nail on the head VP with your example of the AB Regional Manager being replaced. Someone had to be held accountable publicly, but unfortunately not the right person(s). Certainly open for debate.However, we know little of any training programmes implemented as a result, though again, I'm sceptical.

Given she has not yet been made redundant, there is no real argument for informing the visa section. It's all mere speculation. And you are not obligated to tell them either as when you submitted and paid for your application - the date that everything is judged by - there was no threat of redundancy.

Personally, I would stay schtum, especially as you have already been issued your visa. If you submitted little else in way of showing intention to return other than a letter from her employer, telling the visa section she may be made redundant could lead to them reviewing their decision to issue the visa.

No IO will call back to Thailand to check details with your employer.

The time to explain the redundancy - if it happens - and any extension of your trip in the UK would be if/when you make subsequent visa applications in the future.

If she IS made redundant before flying to the UK, informing the Visa Section may well be a good idea, but as it stands she is currently still employed.

Can anyone who uses the wizard builders confirm what site structure they generate? Is it div based or table based?

Many I've seen are still table based, but would be interested to know about the sites recommended in this thread.

Bloody hel_l.. so Imight have to fork out for every visit to the doctors and for seeing the midwife during her pregnancy etc. Can the Primary Care Trust help with all this? Thanks for the info

Actually, you won't see your GP that much during a pregnancy. Your GP will ask where you want to have the baby, dependant on what hospitals are local to you obviously. The GP then forwards all your details to the Maternity Ward at the hospital and everything is dealt with there.

If there are any complications during pregnancy, like pre-eclampsia, you'll be asked to see your GP for initial assessment and medication, normally methadopa. But, you can go to the Labour Ward for immediate medical care instead, with the same outcome, but a longer wait.

I'll digress slightly, but in a way you are right to be concerned Facebook is up to something (potentially) naughty. Did you know the following:

fbcdn = FaceBook Content Delivery Network

A CDN distributes your static content across servers in various, diverse physical locations. When a user’s browser resolves the URL for these files, their download will automatically target the closest available server in the network.

Used by Facebook to store and serve all the millions of pictures, video etc that are added daily. In fact, Facebook stores 4 different image sizes for every image, meaning a quarter billion new files every week!

What this actually means is that when you post a photo or video to your Facebook profile, you think you are uploading to the Facebook-owned server in Califronia. Wrong. The photos are actually stored on servers maintained by an external company which runs the content delivery network. So delete an embarrassing picture off Facebook and it still remains out their in the ether, until removed from all caches on all servers in all CDNs in use! A typical CDN has around 61,000 servers and Facebook uses at least two external companies.

Of course all this is buried in Facebook's privacy statement somewhere - bet you haven't come across it before though.

If your GP insists on charging you, you could remind them that they receive payment from the NHS for every new patient registered and for every patient they have on their books.

If the GP doesn't want to register your wife, go to another one.

There is no reason to pay a penny.

You could always open a First Direct account, which is Internet only, no paper statements.

Interestingly, on arrival the wife and I initially queued at the UK/EU passport line (as we were advised by UKBA on our earlier visit to UK in the summer) but ,on getting to the service point, we were told that they could not process arrivals on settlement visas "because of the strike" and that we had to go queue again at the other nationality passport section where (supposedly) they had more experienced staff on duty. There was also mention of a "health check" requirement, but that never happened, maybe because we came from a non-TB country?

Go figure...

There is still TB in Thailand. Students, for example, are required to have a chest x-ray as part of their UK student visa application.

Never mind, the Daily Mail article answered my question.

Bangkockney, do you really find tickets cheaper in BKK than LDN ?

I always fly with Etihad, and I pay around £400 - £500 and can never find a price like that in BKK !

Yeah, I just booked to fly 2 adults 1 child, Emirates, return for around £1,200 (paid in THB) (this includes a return in the expensive month of December). Found this deal to be about £100 cheaper in BKK. I concede this is not big chips to everyone, but a saving is a saving.

When it comes to plane tickets, one really has to shop around to get value.

However, I have never actually found it cheaper to buy two one-way tickets. Usually, buying a return and paying a fee to change the return date ( usually $50 or $100 ) has worked out cheaper.

Agreed and also my preferred method of doing it.

We've always gone through together.

Although I would suggest swearing and getting irate will only antagonise the situation, subjecting you to more questioning and checks.

To be fair, they did put a PA call out to you, which you missed, so maybe your over-reaction was a little harsh?

However, I can sympathise with your experience and the repeated barrage of questions.

Remember, though, that it is funds available to, not funds carried by, the person seeking entry.

These funds could be in their bank, their sponsor's bank or even that of a third party (or any combination of these) as long as the funds are available to the person.

Indeed. By cash money, I meant liquid assets, didn't mean to suggest carrying a wedge.

Although having some currency with you is always good too.

Not sure, but I think it's the number of days from the embassy receiving the application to them returning the passport to the VAC; remember that it is working days. Remember. too, that those are the figures for August, processing times now could be longer or shorter depending upon demand.

I understand that the SMS is sent by the VAC when they receive the passport back.

Off the top of my head, all service standards - and visa requirements e.g. validity of bank statements etc - are to be judged against the date shown on an applicant's payment receipt and date of biometrics, if applicable.