TheGoose

Travelling down with my wife & baby daughter from Udon Thani to Bangkok on Tuesday to spend a couple of days there before returning to the UK on Thursday. Are the roads okay from Don Mueang to Sukhumvit & from Sukhumvit to Suvarnabhumi plus are there still plenty of metered taxi's available ? I'm going to book a hotel online tonight & I normally stay around Nana but before I do I want to know that I can get in & out okay to the airports without any major issues. Any info is much appreciated.

I also hear there may be deals to be had due to under occupancy so if anyone has any info on any good deals out there then I'd be happy to hear them

Regards

TheGoose

I was hoping someone resident in Bangkok could help me. I am flying into Don Mueang from Udon Thani with my wife & daughter on 28 Jan for 2 nights before flying back to the UK from Suvarnabhumi on 30 Jan. With all the protest sites I am wondering where the best area to stay is that would allow access by taxi from Don Mueang & to Suvarnabhumi that is lol so close to the Skytrain ? I normally stay down Sukhumvit when in Bangkok but I'm aware there are protest sites at Ratchaprasong & Asoke which are either side of where I would normally book a hotel. Any help is appreciated.

Where does it say that tests done via the company Vantage are only valid for 2 years ?

I just looked out my wife's certicates, she has 3 BULATS ones - Speaking, Writing & a Reading and Listening - plus a University of Cambridge certificate "Cambridge ESOL entry level certificate in ESOL International (Entry 1) (BULATS)" for her level A1. There is nowhere on any of these or the accompanying notes that says they are only valid for 2 years. The Cambridge certificate has an examination date & date of issue, that's all.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

Applied on 13 December & just been told a decision was made yesterday (8 March) which is 12 weeks & 1 day after our application was made. Think we've got to wait an agonising 2 working days however to go pick up the documentation to find out the decision so won't know till Tuesday.

Thanks for the replies. My wife is Thai so the 60 day option seems best. Can anyone confirm if there is an immigration office in Udon Thani ?

Yes, at the moment.

This may change as the forms are updated to take account of changes in the rules etc., so check closer to the relevant time.

Cheers

I don't believe you can get multiple 7 day extensions.

I thought that might be the case which is why I asked.

I am due to fly out to Thailand in a fortnight for 3 weeks. I was hoping I may hear about my wife's spouse visa application whilst I'm out there but its looking increasingly likely that the decision might not be made in the 3 weeks I am in Thailand. One option available is for me to stay for a further period of upto 3 weeks by which time we should definitely have a visa decision. Obviously in my original plans I was nowhere near the 30 days that a visa exemption allows you but now I could be looking at upto somewhere in the region of 49-50 days worst case scenario. I don't have time to apply for a 60 day tourist visa before I leave so what options are available to me once in Thailand ? I know I can fly out & back to gain an extra 30 days or go out via a land border to get an extra 15 days but I was hoping there may be a way of getting a sizeable visa exemption by visiting an immigration office in Thailand. I read that there is a 7 day extension you can get for 1900 baht, can you get extensions longer than this or would I have to get multiple 7 day extensions if required ? Any suggestions are greatfully received.

PS If I can go to an immigration office can this be done in Udon Thani as I will be staying up in NE Thailand for the majority of my trip.

There are three applications that a spouse needs to make in order to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK.

1) Initial spouse visa. This is valid for 33 months and allows their initial entry to the UK to live.

2) After living in the UK for at least 30 months they then apply for Further Leave to Remain. This is valid for 30 months.

3) At the end of the FLR they then apply for ILR. Assuming all the other requirements, e.g. language, are met; if not then additional FLR application(s) will be needed until they are met.

The initial spouse visa will be valid from the day it is issued, so the holder has up to three months in which to settle their affairs and move to the UK. If they delay beyond this then the visa will expire before they have lived in the UK for 30 months so they will have to make an additional FLR application to cover the gap.

However, they can request in he application that the start date be postdated for up to 3 months, so if necessary they could have up to 6 months in which to move to the UK.

At both 2 and 3 they can submit the application up to 28 days before the end of the 30 months; which is probably where your friend got their 28 days from.

Thanks for all the information. I assume at step 2 its the FLR(M) form & at step 3 the SET(M) form ?

Thanks for all the replies

Thanks for the detailed reply

My wife & daughter are moving to live with me in the UK sometime soon. I thought about perhaps using a shipping company to send some of their stuff from Thailand to the UK. Has anyone used a company they could recommend, how much did it cost & how long did it take to deliver to the UK ?

My 4 month old daughter currently lives in Thailand with my wife & once I get the visa for my wife I plan to have them both come live with me in the UK. My daughter has both a Thai passport & a UK passport so I wanted to know when I should use these. Simplistically I thought I would use the Thai passport to leave/enter Thailand & use the UK passport to leave/enter the UK. However I then started to think about potential problems I may encounter so I was hoping someone on the forum who has been through this before may be able to answer some questions I have. Obviously I know I have to use the UK passport to enter the UK as I don't have a visa for my daughter & I should also point out that neither passport has been used yet.

1/ If I use the Thai passport to clear Thai immigration & the UK passport to enter the UK will I have any problems clearing UK immigration ? My thinking here is that there will be no entries in the UK passport to say my daughter has left a country although she has just stepped off an international flight.

2/ If I use the UK passport to clear both Thai & UK immigration could I encounter problems at Thai immigration when leaving Thailand ? My thinking here is that there is no entry stamp into Thailand on the UK passport.

3/ Finally, when I book a flight for my daughter they will ask for advance passenger information including passport details, which passport should I use ? I don't know how the information you provide is used by the airline & immigration in both countries. If I was to use either passport all the way through then the details I need to enter is easy. The situation I am asking about here is if I were to use the Thai passport to leave Thailand & the UK passport to enter the UK.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the replies. I contacted our friend in Thailand who helped my wife with her visa application & she has said we have to come to the UK within 28 days ! I did find the following on the settlement section of the UKBA website :-

"If you were given a visa in this category but you then delayed your travel to the UK by up to 3 months, you can apply for settlement using application form SET(M) shortly before your visa expires. Provided you meet all the other requirements, we will put your application on hold until you have completed your 5 year qualifying period in the UK."

Also I notice when you apply from outside the UK your initial visa is for 33 months whereas if you move into this category from within the UK your initial visa is only for 30 months. This all suggests that you do have 3 months to enter the UK from abroad once the visa is issued as you have both suggested.

In summary then it's definitely 3 months not 28 days ?

I've had a look at the UKBA & VFS websites to see if I can find an answer to my question but can't find anything so I was wondering if anyone on here knew. Is there a time period from when you receive a Spouse Settlement visa in Thailand to when you activate it by leaving Thailand & coming to the UK ? A friend has told me he had to activate his within 2 to 3 weeks of receiving the visa.

Just realized on the e-mail it now includes Indonesia, I wonder if BKK has now started t process for Indonesia also hence the extra delay now?

THAILAND/INDONESIA: documents can be collected from VFS after 2 working days for Thai applicants and 4 working days for Indonesian applicants.

CAMBODIA: documents can be collected from the British Embassy in Phnom Penh in 4 working days.

VIETNAM:

HCMC: documents will be sent to you within 6 days

Hanoi: documents can be collected from the British Embassy in Hanoi in 4 working days.

So after waiting the full 60 days to get the e-mail you still have to wait a further 2 days to find out if you've been successful ! FIngers crossed you've got the right decision Steve.

Surely taking on extra work has to have an impact on processing times despite what they say above.

Dec figures now up, only 7 applications. 1 was done within 3 days, 1 was done within 15 days & the remaining 5 took took 60 days.

Makes you wonder why a few on here are still waiting when they are near the 12/13 week mark.

It will only cost £94 to change my Emirates flights so I think I'll put the trip back 3-4 weeks to allow for at least 13 weeks since we made the application.

Does anyone know what public holidays the there was in Dec/Jan so I can work out 60 days excluding these ?

Fingers crossed for you this week Steve.

Applied for ours on 13 Dec (2/3 weeks later than I had hoped) so our 12 weeks is up on 7 March but allowing an extra week for Xmas & New Year holidays could take us upto 14 March. A few mates went through this procedure last year & they got their visas at around the 8 or 9 week mark which also seems the case for people on this site up until the last couple of months. Here's my dilemma I am currently booked to go to Thailand from 31 Jan to 22 Feb which will be 7-10 weeks after our visa application was made & based on the decision time from a few months ago I was fairly hopeful that I would get the visa whilst over there but this is looking increasingly unlikely. My work probably wouldn't be to happy about me having to go out twice so I was thinking of moving my holiday back 3 weeks to try to ensure as much as possible that the visa would arrive so that I am able to bring the wife back to the UK upon my return. What do people think ? I did mention in the sponsor letter about my travel plans & that I was returning to the UK on 22 Feb but I'm not convinced the embassy will take this into account.

I have a Thai wife & we have a 3 month old daughter. I got a Thai passport for my child then applied for a UK one which my wife has just received back. She tells me the passport has 2 photos in it which seems a bit strange so I was wondering if anyone else had recently received a UK child passport which was applied for in Thailand & if so does it contain 2 photos ?

Thanks for the replies, you both agree with what I thought. I have mentioned the circumstances around our daughter in both section 5 of the application form & in my sponsorship letter.

7by7, good suggestion about putting our daughters nationality as dual Thai/British as she has both passports.

Had a read throught the pinned UK Settlement Visa Basics thread but couldn't find an answer to my query so I am hoping someone reading this may be able to help.

I currently reside in the UK but have a Thai wife living in Thailand. Recently she gave birth to our first baby daughter in Thailand & she currently resides there with her mum. Our daughter has just received her UK passport & I am now in the process of completing the paperwork to apply for a settlement visa for the wife so I can bring both wife & daughter to live with me in the UK. I am completing Appendix 2 of the VAF4A form regarding the Financial Requirement which has to be met & have reached part 3. Now I am wondering if we should say we are "applying with with no child dependants under 18" or "applying with one child dependant under 18". I've looked at the notes on the application form itself (see link below) & read the guidance notes on the UKBA website. They are not 100% clear but seem to suggest that children who are British Citizen's are excluded from the Financial Requirement. As this visa application is only behalf of my wife (although our daughter will be travelling with her) as our daughter holds a UK passport she will be classed as a British Citizen & therefore I should go for the "applying with no child dependants" option ?

I'm also assuming in part 1.27 of the application form where it asks for the nationality of my daughter I would put British ?

Just to be clear I meet the Financial Requirement under both scenario's I've described above & have used part 5 of the form to,explain my situation. I just want to ensure I complete the application form correctly to try to ensure, as much as possible, that the visa application process runs as smoothly as possible.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/visas/vaf4a2.pdf

Tomorrow I'm heading into Udon to apply for a Thai passport for my daughter. I would also like to pick up 2 passport photo's to allow me to apply for a UK passport to. Can these be done at the same place I get the Thai passport done ? If not can anyone suggest somewhere I can get passport photo's taken in Udon ?

I'm thinking for the Thai passport application that the photo may be done digitally so I won't be able to get two photo's to use for the UK application.

Hi Goose...thanks for that. I have rechecked the Hongkong web site and it definately states on there that to use the form C2 that the child has to be a British citizen.

See below:-

C2 Form

Only use this form if you are:

• aged 15 or younger and
  
• a UK Citizen applying overseas or
  
• a British Overseas Territories Citizen or
  
• a British Overseas Citizen or
  
• a British Protected Person.
  

So are you telling me that my son can just apply for a passport and ignore these instructions then?

HL

My daughter is a British citizen by birth & the documentation I have provided confirms this. If the same goes for your son then you'll be fine.

Goose you mentioned that you are after a British passport for your daughter....have you had her registered as a British citizen yet? I ask because my son is about to do this and I wondered if you had any advice. He too wants to get a passport but needs to get the citizenship done first.

HL

I've not registered her with the UK embassy or applied for a consular birth certificate but then these aren't required in order to apply for a UK passport. Got a friend who deals in all this helping me & I will be sending her the following documents :- My daughter's Thai birth certificate, my UK birth certificate, our marriage certificate, 2 copies of my passport photo page (1 signed), 2 copies of the wife's passport photo page (1 signed), a completed C2 application form with 2 passport photo's (1 countersigned) & the fee. I don't think I've missed anything :-) She will arrange for any translations of Thai documents into English.

The documents have to be originals.