Stanaris

Hi all, congratulations to those who have Visas already & good luck to all those still waiting.

Just an addition to Tiggerfishes advice, I have a Thailand unlimited Package with Skype for £3.39 a month, which includes unlimited calls to landlines & mobiles in Thailand & also a Skype to go number to use on your mobile. As long as you have minutes on your phone you can call Thailand for free using the Skype to go no.

Hope this is of help.

<SNIP>

I've just had a look for that deal and can't find it, can you post a link please ?

Hi

I think they may have changed the plan a little now. I know I only pay about £3.00 per month with unlimited calls to Thailand.

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/prices/pay-monthly/

Check it out here

Yes I always said i would do that whatever the outcome.....strange! Nevermind I am in favour of removing,,,, Tiggerfish where is your post about things to do such as obtaining ni numbers etc I cant find it cheers

At the risk of repeating myself ...... There is an update on the bank and NI bit so not so much of a repeat

Thai TV DooTV a 2 year subscription for around a hundred quid, less than a pound a week and a huge back catalogue of shows. You need a decent machine and broadband connection though.

Skype for calls back home with a unlimited world subscription means the wife and stepson can talk for as long as they like for less than a tenner a month.

However I would recommend a backup for whatever internet based telephone solution you use as they are all dodgy from time to time, for a back up we use VoipStunt

Mail order Thai ingredients Raan Thai (I've been thrown out of the kitchen, it's a hard life)

NI number, follow this link, my wife got sent hers without an interview.

To register at a Doctors you need photo ID (Passport will do) and proof of address (council tax bill or utility bill)

HSBC did come up with the goods for a bank account (Their Basic type) despite the pessimism about the credit check from the assistant in the branch where we applied.

Thanks for this update, I am sure many of us will find the information useful

Good luck to all who are still waiting

Try this link, I believe it will get you there

First of all I would like to thank Tigerjohn for starting this thread and Tiggerfish for the updates, without them I would be lost.

Most of all I would like to thank everyone who has been posting on this thread. I do not know about most who apply for a visa but before I found this thread I believed it would be sorted within a few weeks hahaha then this thread turned me into a realist

We have been waiting for just over 5 weeks now and it has been easier than we first thought. ok yes I miss my wife very much but by reading and sharing the pain of waiting and the sheer joy of success with everyone on here, life is bearable.

Might sound sad but we have read through every post

So a big THANK YOU to all for helping us through this time.

i vote that we take mercury of the list until we hear back from him...all in favour say AYE!!!!

I am sorry but I must agree with Quan.

Looks too scary up there and I am nervous enough already

yeh must admit it makes me nervous also,im hoping hes got it and was so excited he forgot to post it:)

That would put you top of the list Chris (not putting pressure on you) so will be watching your progress with interest

Good luck for an early answer

i vote that we take mercury of the list until we hear back from him...all in favour say AYE!!!!

I am sorry but I must agree with Quan.

Looks too scary up there and I am nervous enough already

And the answer is YES!!!!!!!!

Thanks to Tiggerfish for keeping this thread updated and to all those who have been waiting and still are for your good wishes, it's a real help to not go through this wait alone.

One word of warning....If like me and you try to be smart by pre booking your flights, give yourselves at least 14 weeks in advance. I did it 10 weeks in advance and although we got the result back in time i still have to change the flights as the visa is valid from the 7th. Never mind 6 more days after 8 years in the land of smiles wont kill me,

Good luck to all those still waiting, i have no house, no job and not much money left but they let us back ....so keep the faith.........

Diddyman

Congratulations Diddyman, I am suree the wait is well worth it.

I too made the mistake of booking a flight (bad advise given to me) and fully expecting to have to change the date but still keeping my fingers crossed.

I notice the next on the list applied 13 September so the next few weeks are going to be quiet, no one to look for until then

Best wishes for the future and good luck to all us still waiting

Sonic should have his by thursday.

Got the SMS and website notiication today (Monday 18th). Finger crossed !

BTW we withdrew her passport for 10 days when we went to HK, so that does not seem to have affected anything.

The application was successful.

Best wishes to all and many thanks to TiggerFish for keeping this thread going !

Thats Brilliant news well done and good luck back in the UK

Personally, I have no problem with asylum seekers since in the main they, akin to most immigrants legal or otherwise, generally adhere to a work ethic.

Whew...................I would love to respond to that, but I think I must leave it for others to comment if they wish.

"British citizens wishing to take spouses back to the UK simply have to meet the requirements of the rules and pay what is really a quite modest fee given what the dividend is likely to be viz free education, free health care, unemployment benefits, tax relief, child care assistance, British citizenship and pensions"

and I suppose you have no problem with these immigrants being entitled to everything free as you quoted???

I know my thai wife will not be entitled to all these free benefits when she comes to the UK "no recourse to public funds"

ps I have no objection to paying a fee for the settlement visa, all I want is my wife to be living with me, and this has nothing to do with benefits (which we cannot claim anyway) ok

pps I think we are starting to move off topic now

so

Do You Want To Be An Eco???

Sounds like to much hassle for me so the answer is NO!!!

Personally, I have no problem with asylum seekers since in the main they, akin to most immigrants legal or otherwise, generally adhere to a work ethic.

Whew...................I would love to respond to that, but I think I must leave it for others to comment if they wish.

"British citizens wishing to take spouses back to the UK simply have to meet the requirements of the rules and pay what is really a quite modest fee given what the dividend is likely to be viz free education, free health care, unemployment benefits, tax relief, child care assistance, British citizenship and pensions"

and I suppose you have no problem with these immigrants being entitled to everything free as you quoted???

I know my thai wife will not be entitled to all these free benefits when she comes to the UK "no recourse to public funds"

ps I have no objection to paying a fee for the settlement visa, all I want is my wife to be living with me, and this has nothing to do with benefits (which we cannot claim anyway) ok

Hi Everyone,

Yep Tigerfish you were right, received SMS this afternoon about 3pm. Will pick up in the morning and let you all know the result. Might need a beer tonite to calm the nerves

Diddyman

Congratulations Diddyman and good luck with the result.

Things really are speeding up now, Good luck for the result Sonic

Diddyman not far behind you would hope.

Good luck to all

Waiting times from applications that have completed.

26 Feb, 08 Apr, 5 weeks and 6 days, weaver93, successful

03 Mar, 22 Apr, 7 weeks and 1 day, kp86, successful

04 Mar, 26 Apr, 7 weeks and 4 days, rinbury, unknown

08 Mar, 04 May, 8 weeks and 1 day, lostforwords, successful

08 Mar, 05 May, 8 weeks and 2 days, harrydash, successful

10 Mar, 06 May, 8 weeks and 1 day, samuzza, successful

19 Mar, 12 May, 7 weeks and 5 days, , refused

26 Mar, 25 May, 8 weeks and 4 days, andyandythai, unknown

30 Mar, 27 May, 8 weeks and 2 days, HowardJohnson, successful

30 Mar, 03 Jun, 9 weeks and 2 days, , refused

30 Apr, 04 May, 0 weeks and 4 days, bwalker1973, successful

07 May, 29 Jun, 7 weeks and 4 days, craiggm16, successful

11 May, 02 Jul, 7 weeks and 3 days, Phil_nu_uk and nongbkk, both successful

24 May, 09 Jul, 6 weeks and 4 days, friend of catch245uk, unknown

25 May, 12 Jul, 6 weeks and 6 days, candledinner79, successful

25 May, 15 Jul, 7 weeks and 2 days, sanook2me, successful

26 May, 16 Jul, 7 weeks and 2 days, catch245UK, successful

31 May, 21 Jul, 7 weeks and 2 days, Matty1243, successful

01 Jun, 23 Jul, 7 weeks and 3 days, billymalky and esoteric, both successful

02 Jun, 02 Aug, 8 weeks and 5 days, Kaks and mikeee, both successful

04 Jun, 18 Aug, 10 weeks and 5 days, snuggzzz, successful

08 Jun, 06 Aug, 8 weeks and 3 days, kevozman1, successful

09 Jun, 09 Aug, 8 weeks and 5 days, snakey, successful

11 Jun, 11 Aug, 8 weeks and 5 days, tigerjohn, successful

18 Jun, 25 Aug, 9 weeks and 5 days, Dubar, successful

21 Jun, 03 Sep, 10 weeks and 4 days, incy, successful

25 Jun, 03 Sep, 10 weeks and 0 days, stament, successful

24 Jun, 07 Sep, 10 weeks and 5 days, chiang mai, successful

24 Jun, 17 Sep, 12 weeks and 1 day, jasonr3225, successful

25 Jun, 15 Sep, 11 weeks and 5 days, akaloco, unknown

28 Jun, 16 Sep, 11 weeks and 3 days, skeets, successful

28 Jun, 17 Sep, 11 weeks and 4 days, TiggerFish, successful

06 Jul, 22 Sep, 11 weeks and 1 day, lonnie41, successful

20 Jul, 06 Oct, 11 weeks and 1 day, pagan1, successful

23 Jul, 01 Oct, 10 weeks and 6 days, brotch, successful

30 Jul, 08 Oct, 10 weeks and 0 days, liveforever, successful

03 Aug, 08 Oct, 9 weeks and 3 days, silverdales, successful

06 Aug, 11 Oct, 9 weeks and 3 days, simmsc, successful

23 Jul, 13 Oct, 11 weeks and 4 days, yumster, successful

17 Aug, 18 Oct, 8 weeks and 6 days, sonicdragon, unknown

Still waiting (19/10/10)

06 Jul, waiting 15 weeks and 0 days to date, Mercury

20 Aug, waiting 8 weeks and 4 days to date, Diddyman

13 Sep, waiting 5 weeks and 1 days to date, chris555

14 Sep, waiting 5 weeks and 0 days to date, Stanaris

16 Sep, waiting 4 weeks and 5 days to date, quadisking

01 Oct, waiting 2 weeks and 4 days to date, Quan

04 Oct, waiting 2 weeks and 1 days to date, bryangiggs

06 Oct, waiting 1 weeks and 6 days to date, AllThaidUp69

Thank you very much for keeping this updated, this is my lifeline at the moment.

It is good to see that applications are dealt with in the order of when they are submitted and processing times do look like they have improved a lot.

Just a little worried to see Mercury still there. Has anyone heard anything from him yet?

Thats 30550 baht a rip off, £650

I used Siam Legal in Bangkok, they charged less than 40000 and did everything for me, so the agencies you have tried are overpriced in my opinion. I would suggest trying a reputable company like Siam Legal and see what they can do for you

Sorry I cannot be more help

surely they would not charge that just for checking?

Sorry just thought it would be worth trying to see if they did a checking service too

I used Siam Legal in Bangkok, they charged less than 40000 and did everything for me, so the agencies you have tried are overpriced in my opinion. I would suggest trying a reputable company like Siam Legal and see what they can do for you

Sorry I cannot be more help

Sonic should have his by thursday.

Got the SMS and website notiication today (Monday 18th). Finger crossed !

BTW we withdrew her passport for 10 days when we went to HK, so that does not seem to have affected anything.

Thats Great news Sonic, good luck with the result.

Looks like my prayer mat is working

boy is it quiet in here.

It is quiet because I was praying sonic would be notified today that their visa was ready, which would give me more hope.

Another prayer not answered

Passport picked up and 8 weeks 6 days for issue.

Congratulations to you and Yumster

Rayongy, what date did you actually apply for your visa?

On this basis Sonicdragon and Diddyman could get theirs next week, I hope so as this would mean the times are getting quicker.

I Hope its not getting any easier at the 10 week point a week tomorrow is when its really possible to get that SMS, incidently my wife had a letter from the embassy confirming payment for the visa arrived today dated 22/9 so not sure what is that about, anybody got this as well and is there a pattern to how long you get the letter to decision maybe it means the file has been picked up? (we hope)

I know I asked this before but still no reply. I was wondering if it is normal to receive a letter confirming payment and if this relates in any way to when an application is processed.

I would appreciate any feedback...... need something to keep me going while waiting and waiting and waiting

It is best to be totally honest in my opinion.

I met my wife on Thai Kisses and that is in our application.

Why hide it?

I Hope its not getting any easier at the 10 week point a week tomorrow is when its really possible to get that SMS, incidently my wife had a letter from the embassy confirming payment for the visa arrived today dated 22/9 so not sure what is that about, anybody got this as well and is there a pattern to how long you get the letter to decision maybe it means the file has been picked up? (we hope)

Does everyone eventually get a letter confirming payment?

Morning all,

I switched on my pc this morning and on the tracking page it says the following:

Your application is ready for collection; please visit the UK Visa Application Centre where you submitted your visa application to collect the same.

The text on her phone has just come through too ...

A family member will pick up the visa today ... so I should have the result shortly.

Thats great news for you, congratulations the long wait is over. Good luck with the result and this does look like they are getting processed more quickly too.

hello everyone,

got the sms this morning at 9.15 to say the application has been processed.

good luck to everyone waiting and the guys with sms's too, all the very best.

kind regards

Good luck Silverdales and Liveforever, at least your wait is over now. Keep thinking positive Yumster and I hope everything works out for you.

9 weeks and 3 days is an improvement on recent times so that is good news, I am hoping that the delays have been caused by the quantity of applications in June and July which included a lot of student visa applications too. If that is the case we might get back to 6 or 7 weeks or is that just me being very optimistic?

Good luck to all waiting too

Hi all just got TEXT this afternoon to say sent today i have to pick it up in phuket text sent at 10 -15 this morning but only hit the phone at 3 this afternoon dont know why so cant pick it up till tomorrow i am a bit worried because it says ----Processed visa application ref----- couriered to you via gda on the 07/10/2010 does not say visa ready did anyone with visa granted get same text dont think i will get much sleep tonight anyway good luck to you all will post tomorrow when i pick it up .

Congratulation to Pagan and Brotch, hope it is good news for you both and good luck for the future.

I am a little concerned about Mercury, has anyone heard anything?

Looks like 11 weeks is becoming the norm so I will have no hair left by then.

Hi

My understanding is the date you put on the application is irrelevant and you can travel within 3 months of the visa being granted, so I would not worry about it.

I am a little curious now regarding the implimentation of this English test.

This comes into effect on the 29th November 2010, but how does this affect settlement visas already applied for?

Judging by the processing times at present there will be many that applied for a visa in September and October that will not have submitted certificates therefore will the visa be issued subject to passing the test before entry to th UK?

Or will only application made from the 29th need the certificate?