Trebilcock

Many thanks for the advice, folks. Hadn't realised that being married to an EU national would make it easier. Much obliged!

Hi. Can anyone offer any guidance or experience on getting an Italian Schengen Visa for a Thai living in the UK on ILR, please? Thanks very much for any help.

Many thanks for the advice, and apologies for the delay in saying so. Re the part about not fining us if my son over-stays his visa, is that established practice or would we be subject to the whims of the immigration officer on the day? Thanks again.

Hi. My 2 year old son (with a UK Passport) needs to visit his very ill Grandma in Thailand, and possibly stay for about 3 months. When my wife rang the embassy in London they advised that he should enter on a normal 30 day visa with my wife (I can not go with them) and then she apply for a Thai passport for him in Bangkok; for that we would apparently need something called a "CI" form, confirming that I (as his Father) approve. Can anyone advise, or offer any experience of a similar situation please? Many thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks for both replies here. Much obliged. Since discovered that he will have had his Work Permit for 5 years in April, so will apply then using SET (O).

Hi. we have a Thai friend who has been working as a cook in the UK for about 7 years and is now hoping to get Indefinite Leave to Remain. Just passed the Life in the UK test, but not quite sure under what category he could apply for ILR. Form SET (O) looks the best bet, but what are his chances? Aren't the UK Border Agency setting limits or quotas on non-EU nationals, or maybe that doesn't apply for those already here? Can anbody advise, please? Thanks for any help.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/ukreside...plicationtypes/

Thanks very much for the sound advice guys. I know it's a bad time, what with the Pound falling etc, but for various reasons we have to go for it. Both sisters are working, one in the UK & one in Thailand, so we think they can keep up the repayments. If they need me to help get the loan in the first place, then so be it; they're my family now, they need me, and I have to trust them. Thought long and hard about this over the last couple of weeks, and what finally swung it was looking at my baby son one night and wondering what he might think of me if one day he finds out his Dad just stood by and let his one remaining Grandparent live out her days in the tiny, hot, cramped room they have now. Luckily, it's a relatively small family by Thai standards with no other siblings. The idea is that the MiL, SiL and her 3 year old daughter live in the house, and we stay there at holiday times. Just booked a trip for January, so we will see what transpires. Thanks again for taking the trouble to help.

Hi. Myself and my wife (living in the UK) and sister in law are looking to take out a loan in Thailand to buy a house. If I provide UK bank details and in the future it all goes pear-shaped for any reason, could the Thai bank get their hands on my money in any way? Very doubtful they could make any legal claim in another country, and I could probably just move my money into another account anyway? Or would the bank just reposess the house and we'd forfeit all payments up to that time? Sorry if this all seems a bit naieve, but I'm woefully inexperienced in this kind of thing and would really appreciate any advice. Cheers.

Unsure, but reckon you're chances are exactly zero.

Best contact someone like Rosegate Consulting.

Wow, thanks for the quick reply. Do you mean my (our) chances of getting a loan are zero?

Are you married to a Thai national?

Yes, that's right. Me and the missus live in the UK, sister-in-law in Thailand.

Well, I'm not sure how they perceive risk. Perhaps if the mortgage is in your wife's name and you as guarantor.

I think in the current climate, especially looking at the risk of the UK defaulting on it's debt as a country and Sterling becoming the Great British Peso, I doubt they'd go for it. At least the LTV would be very low and interest high.

I'd save up old chap and build you're own. We're coming into a period of sustained deflation and TBH the last thing you should do now is take on debt.

Only way to know is ask the banks. Thai Parnip (Siam Commercial Bank), give them a try, I've always found them to be excellent.

Thanks very much for the input mate. Much appreciated. Fot various reasons I think we have to at least try for the loan, and what I'm really asking is what happens if we have to default on the payments for any reason; is it a case of the bank re-posessing the house as you might expect here in the UK, or do Thai banks go about things differently and try to get their hands on your dosh (in a UK account in this case)? Sorry again if this sounds stupid, but I really have absolute zero experience in this area. Thanks again for taking the trouble to help.

Hi. Myself and my wife (living in the UK) and sister in law are looking to take out a loan in Thailand to buy a house. If I provide UK bank details and in the future it all goes pear-shaped for any reason, could the Thai bank get their hands on my money in any way? Very doubtful they could make any legal claim in another country, and I could probably just move my money into another account anyway? Or would the bank just reposess the house and we'd forfeit all payments up to that time? Sorry if this all seems a bit naieve, but I'm woefully inexperienced in this kind of thing and would really appreciate any advice. Cheers.

Unsure, but reckon you're chances are exactly zero.

Best contact someone like Rosegate Consulting.

Wow, thanks for the quick reply. Do you mean my (our) chances of getting a loan are zero?

Are you married to a Thai national?

Yes, that's right. Me and the missus live in the UK, sister-in-law in Thailand.

Hi. Myself and my wife (living in the UK) and sister in law are looking to take out a loan in Thailand to buy a house. If I provide UK bank details and in the future it all goes pear-shaped for any reason, could the Thai bank get their hands on my money in any way? Very doubtful they could make any legal claim in another country, and I could probably just move my money into another account anyway? Or would the bank just reposess the house and we'd forfeit all payments up to that time? Sorry if this all seems a bit naieve, but I'm woefully inexperienced in this kind of thing and would really appreciate any advice. Cheers.

Unsure, but reckon you're chances are exactly zero.

Best contact someone like Rosegate Consulting.

Wow, thanks for the quick reply. Do you mean my (our) chances of getting a loan are zero?

Hi. Myself and my wife (living in the UK) and sister in law are looking to take out a loan in Thailand to buy a house. If I provide UK bank details and in the future it all goes pear-shaped for any reason, could the Thai bank get their hands on my money in any way? Very doubtful they could make any legal claim in another country, and I could probably just move my money into another account anyway? Or would the bank just reposess the house and we'd forfeit all payments up to that time? Sorry if this all seems a bit naieve, but I'm woefully inexperienced in this kind of thing and would really appreciate any advice. Cheers.

Hi. Does anyone have any recent experience, please, of renewing or replacing a Thai passport in the UK? My wife is here on ILR, still a Thai national, her passport expires next June, and we're tentatively thinking of a trip to Thailand in Jan or Feb. Her current passport is in her maiden name, so would it be advisable to get the new one in her married name? Would we need to surrender the old passport, and if so what happens to the ILR stamp in it; would we get a replacement in the new one? Finally, would that "6 months validity" rule apply when travelling; after all, she'd be entering Thailand as a citizen of that country (ie not as a visitor or tourist), and when she came back surely she'd have right of entry/abode under the ILR. Thanks very much indeed for any help or information.

Funnily enough, I too bought the book a long time before I got around to reading it. Enjoying it now though. One of the more thoughtful looks at the old falang/working girl thing. IMHO too many books on the topic only look at the falang's viewpoint and invariably revolve around wild parties with self-styled "crazy" ex-pats, getting smashed on booze and drugs, hectic trips to Pattaya, etc. This is a much more considered affair, set in an age before Go-Go bars and sex-tourism as we now know it. Think it was written in the early 50's, and whilst not "smutty" in any way is perhaps quite frank for that time. I think you'd enjoy it.

In Jack Reynolds' "A Woman of Bangkok" the currency is repeteadly referred to as the Tic, ie "Give me a thousand Tics" or "it cost me 20 tics" Been to Thailand nearly 30 times, read dozens of books relating to it, and I can't ever recall hearing that before. Most puzzlingly of all, neither can my Thai better half. Presumably just a slang term, like Quid for Pound Sterling, Buck for US Dollar, etc?

Is the beginning or the end missing ??

I think "Fxxking lights" means "lights for Fxxking" ie lights dimmed to allow hanky-panky, which he missed.

Thanks for the reply, Lop. Yes, SWMBO is from LOS and wants a Thai passport so he can buy land etc when he's older.

Can anyone tell me, please, what would be involved in getting a Thai passport for my baby son, born and living in the UK? Thanks in advance for any info.

If you trust them enough, borrow the money in UK and give it to your wife or sister in law to buy the house. Sister in law can repay you for your monthly repayments.

If you're talking about a 1.5-3 million baht house, that is probably not an amount that would kill you if things went ti_ts up.

If she's looking at 20 million baht condo, things are different.

If the amount is small enough, you could take a normal unsecured consumer loan in any UK bank.

Keep in mind that the property will be extremely illiquid. If you need to sell it to get your cash out, you may have to sell at a huge discount to find a buyer. It may be a high risk strategy to place all your savings in that property, regardless of any tax benefits, cash flow concerns etc. What would you do if you wanted to move somewhere else? Sell it at half price?

I am not 100% sure of this, but generally banks don't like foreigners as guarantors. Reason is that if the loan is not repaid, it may be very difficult for the bank to legally recover the money from someone based in another country. Likewise, UK banks will not give you a regular mortgage for property in Thailand, because if you do not repay, they will not have legal rights to reposess your Thai property.

Thanks very much for the sound advice, NordicMan. Much appreciated.

Hi. Is it possible for someone living in the UK, with no financial history whatsoever in Thailand, to get a loan from a Thai bank? My sister in law is trying to buy a house, and I think she wants to take out a loan in our joint names, or maybe for me to act as some kind of guarantor. Thanks very much for any advice.

I may be in a broadly similar situation, where my sister in law is trying to buy a house in Thailand and (I think) wants me to act as guarantor. Is that possible, given that I live in the UK and have no kind of bank account or financial history in Thailand? And if I did become guarantor and things went pear-shaped, could a Thai bank really enforce it? Thanks very much for any advice or info.

Hi. Been out of the travel market for a while, so hoping for some up-to-date advice on flights from the UK to Bangkok in February. Want to avoid Heathrow & Gatwick if at all possible, but need good connections and good IFE because the party includes a 6 year old child and an infant. London City with Swiss & Thai was a firm favourite, but now seems expensive and hard to find. Humberside is closest to where we live, but the connections inbound are not good. Thanks very much for any ideas or tips.

Well done, that man. Well done indeed.

My advice also would be to start getting things put in your wife’s name straight away; something which I neglected to do, and which caused a few worries when the time suddenly came to apply. Also had that apparently common problem of when to actually apply-

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...p;hl=indefinite

The other silly mistake I made was to use the wrong application form. With a baby due around the same time we had to apply (April) it seemed a good idea to print the forms well in advance, to help us prepare. We knew about the new requirement from April for a Citizenship or ESOL pass, and as that was also mentioned on the paperwork I printed off, I assumed all was in order; unfortunately it failed to mention that the application form itself would also be replaced in April. Nor did it mention the massive price hike to over £700. Bit of a nasty surprise then when the application was returned without the coveted ILR, but they invited as to apply again, and despite all the worries we finally got the ILR a week ago. Just hope I’ll have time to be a bit more organised when SWMBO applies for citizenship…

Just to say thanks for the encouraging replies folks. SWMBO is swotting for the Life In The UK test, and we hope to pass in a couple of weeks. Failing that, we'll probably just go for the FLR for the time being.

Hi. My wife's 2 year Settlement visa expires in April, and for various reasons I'm worried we might not get Idefinite Leave to Remain. With hindsight I should have put more things in our joint names as evidence of living together. We also have that apparently common problem of her not arriving in the UK within 28 days of the Settlement visa being issued, although I think I know how to get around that. We also narrowly failed the Life in the UK test (by one question) this week, although I think we'll crack it in a couple of weeks. So, in view of all this, and the fact we have a baby due in mid April, would it be a better option to apply for Further Leave to Remain this time around, and go for ILR when we are better prepared, say in another two years? If we went for ILR now and failed, would they be likely to offer FLR instead, and would it mean paying for both applications? Any help or advice would be extremely welcome. Thanks for reading.