Thanet

My freind has handed all his paperwork to the British embassy to bring his girlfriend to the uk,,,

The date for departure to the uk was April 5th,,,

They received an email to say the application had been received at the embassy and to wait 15 days for a reply,,,

The embassy received the documents on the 14th march,,,

So basically can the embassy still refuse the visa,even when it's so lose to the departure date,,

Or do you think it has been accepted.

Me myself applied for a spouse visa to the uk about 7 years ago with the embassy letting us know quite quickly,,giving me time to sort out flights,

Visa rules have obviously changed,,,,

They don't have to accept an application and grant a visa just because the proposed departure date is looming. Their view is that applicants should apply for visas well in advance of their trip, so as to allow plenty of time for processing. Since approval of a tourist visa depends heavily on stability in the home country of the applicant, as well as solid reasons to come back after the visit, a carefully planned trip would make approval of a visa application more likely than a short notice one.

Definitely a scam. When you see him next time, far from saying he did not take any money from you, he'll say you paid him with a 1,000 Baht note instead of a 100 Baht note. He'll then try to give you change for the 1,000 for sure. Be very careful - he and his mates will beat you up if you try to refuse.

The dog was aggressive, and was known to be menacing toward people, including small children. It was menacing you, and you feared for your safety and killed it.

I don't think that this is a big issue. Tell the woman to get lost. If it really was her dog, she should have kept it under control and on her own premises, rather then let it wander around the soi menacing people.

If she goes to the police, tell them that she s blackmailing you and that you acted in self defence, and to protect others, by killing the dog in the first place.

Three months may have been considered (by the immigration officer) to be too long for a holiday, and too long to just 'meet the parents' and long enough for her to forget about her job and start becoming attached to the UK. Her boss may well have wrote a letter for her, but is unlikely to wait three months for her to come back and may well hire someone else while she is away. I'd say that the immigration officer was concerned that her reasons to return may diminish during such a long trip.

I'd suggest that you reapply for a couple of week's holiday, which would give her plenty of time to meet the parents.

She works in a coffee shop/cafe, she has worked there 2 years, we addressed this we had a letter from her boss saying after 3 months she must return for her job

We have been together for three years

She does not own property but has rented apartment which she would keep

We documented all this

It just seems so unfair

I am scared now, she feels disrespected. It a mess

But all we want is 3 months to meet my friends and family

She has no thoughts about staying in the UK

With no right of appeal I dont know what to do. We could apply again but why would they see it any different?

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

As others have said here, details of all convictions must be disclosed when applying for any Australian visa. Exclusion from Australia on character grounds is usually only for offences that resulted in a jail sentence (including a suspended sentence) of one year or more, or in cases where the applicant is considered to be an ongoing threat to the public good. A DUI conviction that did not result in such a sentence will not be considered serious enough to warrant exclusion from Australia.

If the offence is not disclosed during application, and is found out later on, the visa will likely be cancelled and / or the holder refused entry.

<snipped> apologies misread the OP.

Dammit - renewed mine a few months back

Are you sure it's Bank of Thailand regulations that dictate that credit cards can only be issued to foreigners who have a work permit and earn money in Thailand?

I cannot really see the logic behind this.

I have had Thai credit card for nearly seven years, never worked here so no WP, my only income has ever been my pensions, oh and no money in deposit.

I was told by a customer of my company, who works in the credit card division of Siam Commercial Bank that this was a Bank of Thailand regulation. I haven't actually seen or checked this with the Bank of Thailand myself, so I do have to concede this as hearsay, and you could be right. That said, all the application procedures and forms for credit cards, regardless of which bank, mandate an income and a work permit, which implies a common standard. In Thai banking, common standards are usually inherited from Bank of Thailand guidelines.

I've also heard of people who have been granted credits cards with no income. It happens very rarely, and usually is because the Branch Manager knows the applicant very well personally. Perhaps there is a provision to make exceptions discretionary with the Branch Manager, or perhaps this is because they bend the rules for people they like. For the majority, however, credit cards are out of reach with no work permit and Thai income.

When I applied for my new UK passport last year, via Hong Kong, my Kasikorn debit card was declined but my Kasikorn virtual card went through, both linked to the same account.

I once had a restaurant refuse my Thai Amex card, they said their machine wasn't working, I advised them that I had no other card and no cash, all of a sudden their machine was working again.

Many merchants dislike Amex, and would much rather accept Visa or Mastercard. The fees charged by Amex for processing transactions are among the highest. This takes money directly out of the merchant's pocket, unless they charge on to the customer a (usually inflated) amount.

 

Perhaps it's the fees?

Maybe you're right, and for some reason visa processing fees cost more for debit cards than credit cards. So restaurants prefer credit card.

But the bill was around 700 baht (2 pizzas and 2 beers, its a good place, I recommend it). I've paid by debit in villamarket for a 400 baht bill before now (when feeling lazy).

The irony here is that debit cards actually attract a lower transaction fee to the merchant than credit cards. Debit card transaction fees are less than one percent, while credit cards go all the way up to three or four percent for Amex or Diners Club.

Call me a cynic, but perhaps the banks would rather we used credit cards - they make more money that way. The transaction fees are higher, and it encourages us to get into debt and pay interest on outstanding credit card balances.

Incidentally, even in Australia my debit card usually works but is often declined, especially in restaurants. My credit card always works. This puzzles me - machine processed Visa and Mastercard payments to both credit and debit cards are made in an identical way, i.e., as soon as you make the payment the money is instantly reserved and you can no longer access it. The funds available to the Visa and Mastercard online systems are determined by your available credit and bank balance for credit and credit cards respectively, which are published to the Visa and Mastercard networks and are instantly available to merchant terminals for reading and/or reserving funds against transactions.

I find it annoying that my bank steers me toward a method of payment that makes me responsible for paying back a debt, rather than letting me spend my own money.

Yes its crazy ,try to pay for my air tickets online ,refuses debit card only take credit card ,for a falang to get a credit card we have to jump through hoops ,my brother in law ,who does not have a pot to piss in ,no problem sir . he is Thai i am a falang ,go figure.

Jump through what hoops ? I had a CC from SCB about 6 weeks after arriving in Thailand

Your BIL has been given one cos he is seen as less of a credit risk

Bank of Thailand regulations stipulate that foreign applicants for credit cards have a work permit and minimum income derived in Thailand. Some banks, as has been explained elsewhere, grant credit type cards against a bond that is held in a frozen savings account. Usually, the amount held is much higher than the card limit, and little or no interest is paid on the bond amount.

As you say, obtaining a credit card is no problem if you are working in Thailand, but it is an onerous requirement for retirees and the like to meet, regardless of how wealthy they may be. The fact that local debit cards are refused in Thailand makes payment by electronic means problematic for such people, unless they hold foreign debit / credit cards and shuffle money around to pay them.

You'll need to look it up but essentially you'll need to apply to migrate under the skilled stream which essentially means being under 45 and having the right skill set which the government is currently looking out for.

If you happen to have the right categories it still will take a good amount of time and expense to process it all, the upshot being you will be granted PR at the end of it all.

Maybe I missed it but you don't say what you do.

I think that the age limit for an independent skilled migrant permanent visas has risen to 50 year old now. There's hope for us oldies yet.

Visa schemes for foreign skilled workers are intended for people who are actually looking to live (and pay tax) in Oz. The OP could ask his employer to sponsor him for a subclass 457 business visa - temporary residency for 4 years each visa, and can lead to permanent residency in the employer sponsors him for that. The 457 visa requires that the employee be paid locally though, and be fully employed by an onshore Australian company. Australia doesn't seem to want people to use it as a base while working (and paying tax) elsewhere.

Even if the OP is eligible for permanent residency as an independent skilled migrant (depending on what he does for a living), such a visa requires that the holder stay in Australia for two out of every five years to renew it. I nearly fell foul of this rule once, and was told pointedly when trying to renew my permanent visa re-entry permit that permanent residency privileges in Australia are considered by the government to be a commitment, rather than a convenience. I was told that unless I spent more time in Oz, I would not get a re-entry permit in future. At the end I did spend more time there, and now am an Australian citizen.

Another interesting article on why countries like Thailand are in such a mess:

http://www.economist.com/node/21596796

This pretty much summarises Thailand at the moment ...

If you are hoping for an Australian Aged Pension, be aware that you have to reside in Australia for the two years preceding your application for it. You might spend all your money here, then apply for your pension and be told that you won't get it for another two years, and that you have to stay in Australia. broke, for that entire two-year period.

Can you tell me where you got this info.I have a form with all details on what is required and this 2 years is not there.I got the form from Mark Butler who was minister for pensions and the aged and my local MP.Also I know many Ozzy's living here and this didn't' apply.Just had to be in the country to apply.What you say has no logic,the govt.are going to pay me unemployment benifits plus health,etc for 2 years while I wait.On the other hand,I could wait in Th.at no cost to the taxpayer at all.I know logic and govt.don't always go together,but it doesn't seem right to me.

The DHS website states that you need to be an "Australian Resident" on the day you make your claim:

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/age-pension

From the same website here:

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/residence-descriptions

This is how they decide whether you aare a resident or not:

Living in Australia

You are living in Australia if Australia is your usual place of residence. That is, Australia is where you make your home.

When we are deciding whether you are living in Australia we will look at:

• the nature of your accommodation, and
• the nature and extent of your family relationships in Australia, and
• the nature and extent of your employment, business or financial ties with Australia, and
• the frequency and duration of your travel outside Australia, and
• any other matter we think is relevant

And here is what the Law says:

http://guidesacts.fahcsia.gov.au/guides_acts/ssg/ssguide-7/ssguide-7.1/ssguide-7.1.4.html

In particular:

7.1.4 Requirements for Former Residents of Australia Receiving a Portable Pension Summary - for Age, DSP, WP, WidB, BVA

A person arriving in or returning to Australia (1.1.A.320) must satisfy the Act's definition of Australian resident (section 7(2)) in order to lodge a proper claim for a pension. A former resident who returns to Australia and is granted a pension (Age, DSP, WP, WidB, BVA), or who transferred under SS(Admin)Act section 12 to Age CANNOT take that pension outside Australia if they leave again within 24 months after having again become an Australian resident. The purpose of this legislation is to discourage people from coming to Australia just to get an Australian pension to take back overseas.

If you are hoping for an Australian Aged Pension, be aware that you have to reside in Australia for the two years preceding your application for it. You might spend all your money here, then apply for your pension and be told that you won't get it for another two years, and that you have to stay in Australia. broke, for that entire two-year period.

hmm you still get banned from thai visa with one of these. see OP.

i still got one question though, have yet to see any farang, ever called anything other than farang, does this still happen when you have thai citizenship? (actually not totally true, long ago met a thai wife who called her husband by his farang name, but none since then. perhaps unbeknown to me he had thai citizenship )

anyhow congrats to those who have succeeded, i can feel your big sense of achievement beaming off the page. for me it is not something i will be able to achieve in this life.

oh yeah one other thing, do you have to do military service?

No need to do military service for naturalized Thais.

And, yes,we still get called farangs - naturalisation doesn't change our appearance

Provided your dependent children do not accompany eiher you or your wife to Australia, your Thai wife might be eligible for a Subclass 462 "Work and Holiday" visa.

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/visa-options.htm

This is similar to the standard Subclass 417 "Working Holiday" visa that you may be eligible for, but with some exceptions:

1) Your wife must have a degree

2) She will not be eligible for a one-year extension for working in regional Australia for more that 88 days in the same way that Subclass 417 "Working Holiday" visa holders are

3) She needs a letter of invitation - the visa rules will tell you which Thai government agency to get this from

4) Subclass 462 "Work and Holiday" visas have a cap of 500 visas per year for Thai citizens, although this has not been reached in previous years. See here:

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/pdf/working-holiday-report-jun13.pdf

You and your wife may also get asked what provisions you have made to support and care for your dependent children while you are both in Australia.

If your wife does not meet the requirements, then she may be eligible for a tourist visa, depending on your collective circumstances.

I just wanted to share with you all the shocking standard of Thai Airways service these days:

My wife was travelling from Sydney to Bangkok.

1) In Sydney she had changed her ticket date by calling your Bangkok office. The ticket date was changed, but the 2,000 Baht fee for this change was not charged to her account even though she provided the correct details, using the same debit card that she used to buy the ticket. She received an email confirmation that the reservation had been changed, so she thought that the process was complete

2) When she arrived at Sydney airport, she could not check in. The check in staff called the manager on duty, who was very rude and just kept repeating that the ticket was void, refusing to say why or offer help in any way. My wife was telling me this on the phone, so I asked to speak to the duty manager, who rudely told me that it was not her problem that (even though Thai Airways had itself made the change to the booking and sent a booking change confirmation). She then cut me off by handing the phone back to my wife

3) I called the Thai Airways customer service line in Bangkok, and included my wife by conference call. The customer service in Bangkok asked to speak to the Sydney manager on duty, but she refused to take the call

4) Eventually, after a full hour and a half – time that my wife thought that she would not be able to fly and was worrying all the time – the Thai Airways Sydney staff asked her for a credit card so that they could charge the 2,000 Baht. My wife gave them the same card that she used to book the ticket but they refused to accept it because it was a debit card and not a credit card. I had to give my own credit card number over the phone so that my wife could then check in and just make it to the plane in time

I’ve sent a complaint, but heard that Thai Airways ignores customer complaints, and doesn’t care about customer service, so I don’t expect a reply. Thai Airways treats its customers disgracefully, and should be ashamed to call itself a quality airline – maybe it was a quality airline once, but not now.

As her sponsor, according to the DIAC website, your obligations during the waiting period before permanent residency is granted are as follows:

___________________________________________________________________

If you want to sponsor your partner's visa application to migrate to Australia, you must sign a sponsorship undertaking.

If you sign this sponsorship undertaking, the following obligations apply while your partner is in Australia on this visa. You agree to:

• provide information and advice to help your partner settle in Australia
• make sure that adequate accommodation is available to your partner. This assistance would cover the two years following the grant of their temporary Partner visa
• provide support as required that will allow your partner to attend appropriate English language courses
• attend an interview (if requested by us) in relation to your partner’s application

You also agree to inform us in writing if you withdraw your support for your partner before their application is finalised.

Before lodging an application, please read all related obligation requirements.

__________________________________________________________________

Your wife (the visa applicant) also has similar obligations, inn that she must:

_________________________________________________________________

Adhere to visa conditions and comply with all Australian laws.

Continue to meet all legal requirements for visa eligibility from the time you are granted a temporary visa until a decision is made on your permanent visa, which is usually two years after you lodge your application.

Immediately notify the office handling your application if:

• you change address
• your circumstances change
• your relationship with your partner ends.

See:
Form 1022 Notification of Changes in Circumstances ( 77KB PDF file)
Form 929 Change of address and/or Passport Details ( 89KB PDF file)
Note: Requests to update your address may be processed by telephoning the general enquiries line.
National Telephone Numbers

___________________________________________________________________

It's a shame, and you should both be sure that your relationship really has ended before staring this process, which may end up in her visa (and all the time and money you spent on it) being cancelled. If this happens, she will be sent a notification of intent to cancel by DIAC and will have 28 days to leave Australia or prove that she is eligible for a different kind of visa. Think carefully before you both take this irreversible step.

DIAC will send you a request for two stat decs and ask for other supporting information just before her PR is granted anyway, and if you are no longer together then she will have to leave anyway.

Be aware that she will be able to stay in Australia and get PR regardless if she can prove to the satisfaction of the authorities that you have been abusive or violent - some unscrupulous partners use this route if they are determined to stay after a relationship breakdown. The death of a partner during the 2 year waiting period is also considered grounds for grant of PR.

Australia has no power to stop an Australian citizen from entering Australia, but the Australian Tax Office can certainly stop you from leaving again via a Departure Prohibitiion Order:

http://law.ato.gov.au/pdf/rmp/rp0013v6.pdf

There was a famous case where Paul Hogan visited Australia to attend his mother's funeral and was prevented from leaving by the ATO:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/paul-hogan-trapped-in-australia-by-ato-after-his-mothers-funeral/story-e6freuy9-1225910139427

Outstanding child support can also lead to departure prohibition:

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/spw/corporate/freedom-of-information/resources/operational-information/child-support/departure-prohibition-orders-procedural-instruction.pdf