AngryParent

2) From your link

These changes will affect:

• primary carers of self-sufficient EEA national children;
  
• children of EEA national workers or former workers where the child is in education in the UK;
  
• primary carers of children of EEA national workers or former workers where that child is in education in the UK; and
  
• dependent children under the age of 18 of the primary carers in each of the categories listed above.
  

Thanks for the answer to question 1.

I had read the above for question 2. Do you know how that impacts Surinder Singh EEA family permits? If one brings a child, that child will be in education and as such...?

Yes I agree, it would be nice to hear about question 3.

On a serious note, we had all the spin last year. We had the propoganda flood even deeper than the real flood too.

Would it be too much to ask to just keep the news to facts (rather than what every vested interest wants to have in print)?

OK, we are all smart enough to realize that they spent the budget (don't ask me what is to show), after all this, just be frank and say the water is XYZ in location X and will result in Y.

All other "news" stories are just to camoflauge the spent budget and/or to get an even bigger budget.

A Thai legal question:

One has been working for a government school for almost 4 years (on 1 year renewed contracts).

1. If the school does not renew the contract at the end of this contract year, will severence pay be due to me under Thai law?

2. If the school terminates before the end of the contract term will severance + notice period be due to me?

I do not see the school changing their taught courses (all classes are as before) and my classes will be taught by other existing teachers. Does this material fact affect matters?

Please, so as to assist this matter, if you have first-hand experience/knowledge say so. If you just have an opinion regarding how Thailand and employment should or not be, please state that it is only an opinion.

Thanks.

Can anybody please assist regarding these matters:

1. From October 2013 the English language requirements for settlement is a B1 pass (which is much harder than it is now). Does anyoby know if this will also affect the initial spouse visa?

2. The UKBA website has a mention regarding some recent changes to EEA family migration: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/2012/july/26-eea-regulations Does anybody know if this will affect EEA family permits i.e. is there any change related to Surinder Singh EEA family permits?

3. Does anybody know if there are any legal challenges to the current NEW UKBA spouse/family visa regulations.

Thanks!

And every Chinese person needs to take a direct flight from mainland China or HK to visit Thailand? By the way, I was responding to the poster who questioned if there was 15 to 20 flights and as I mentioned, there are approx. 60. Not difficult information to find.

And don't forget Taiwan

Hmm politically delicate. , but when I did a quick count I didn't include EVA and CAI that add an average 9 direct flights daily and these are the larger jets. This puts it at at a minimum 43 direct flights from Pudong, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong and Beijing . Throw in the charters and connectors and the other Chinese cities and we have a lot of activity. I just looked at Macau to BKK. There are 8 direct flights. I was unaware that there that many flights. I have a feeling if every flight was added up, there would be much more than 60.

So I guess then that 1 million Chinese is possible. The only limiting factor would be how many of the 60ish flights are TRANSIT vs final destination being Thailand. Hmm?

ok, so, "Between January and June, some 1,124,234 Chinese tourists..." visited Thailand. Thats about 6,244 Chinese arriving each and every day for the past six months?? Boe-shit...who can believe that load of <deleted>!

That is an interesting calculation and probably equates to about 15-20 planes per day from China. It would be interesting to see if there are that many planes per day....

I'm curious as to what the average daily expenditures per Chinese tourist are, compared to other nationalities like Germans or Americans.

IF the same applies to them as for here in Europe/you wil be quite surprised/and maybe understand why TAT etc is so keen to have them double-triple´the amount of daily spending. This is due to

a.they stay much shorter

b.they go after spending sprees re brand labels they cannot get at home or at inflated prices

c.small % of lower spending bekpekkers and mostly tourgroups/this also is far easier to get a visa for them, as they also have to apply in China themselves with their own govmt. for permit to leave

Amsterdams diamond stores, Paris fashion stores, London Harrods etc. are overly happy to receive them, as are casino´s./replacing the former Arabs with spending power.

The silly idea they only stay at their own places is/ well, quite silly and uninformed, as so often on this board.

You are wrong as your assumption of them being the same as those that go to Europe is wrong.

The ones that come here come on cheap flights, and live and travel in budget groups.

The ones that go to Europe buy 30,000 Baht plane tickets and walk around with the latest digital SLR cameras with expensive lenses and kits and wear the designer labels. The ones that come here spend a couple of thousand on travel and carry a cheap and small camera spend a little.

For spouse visa applications where the husband and wife have been living abroad and they want to return to the UK:

• According to this document - one MUST have a job in the UK (or a contract to start in the next 3 months) and a salary of at least 18,600 (Pounds) for the new job and for a minimum of 6 months before (e.g. current job abroad at the same salary) ones spouse can apply. http://www.ukba.home...soi-fam-mig.pdf
  

But here: http://www.ukba.home...ts/maintenance/ it mentions Sufficient prospects of employment for one or both parties

So which is correct? Can one apply based on potential or not?

Something strange today.

I try to sign into hotmail and it keeps saying "you haven't signed in from this location before".

I then get a code sent to me and enter it and it just goes back to this same page again in an endless cycle without being able to go to the inbox.

BANGKOK: -- The Ministry of Labour is drafting legislation that will allow pregnant migrant women to return to their country of origin from the time when they are three to four months pregnant. After giving birth, they will be able to come back to Thailand to start working again.

I love it how these racists make it look like Thailand is so generous!

At least Japan and S. Korea have laws that make such illegal even if they may have certain grudges with foreigners. Thailand has no such protection and makes it hunting season against foreigners. The West is not such - we accept that individual bias is there but when it comes down to reality it is illegal to do such in the west.

This country's economic success is built on the backs of labourers from neighbouring countries; it's time we started treating them with respect

I have worked as a teacher teaching thousands of Thai kids for close to a decade in Thailand. I have a Thai wife and children.

I am really burnt out with all the racism shown by the Thais. When I have bent over backwards to help this country and its people, all I get in return is ZERO stabiltiy and security in this country and bucket loads of hate, double standards and a LACK OF feeling welcome.

I read every few days about the government wanting to CRACK DOWN on foreigners like myself. And what is this crackdown for, foreigners being murderers, thieves, crooks? NO! It has nothing do with such. It is a crackdown against foreigners breathing and living in Thailand - NOTHING MORE.

Then I read about Thais murdering foreigners and cover-ups regarding the investigations (where it appears that the Thai authorities sanction/blindly approve such crimes against foreigners). What is this?

What is the crime of the West against Thailand? Some BS 1800's deal gone wrong or some BS the West did not bail out Thailand in the last "depression"? Wake up - hundreds of years have past! Your elephant memory is so tainted that you cannot see decades of goodness.

All this is stupid and the Thais are living in the past regarding this. Let me turn this around, what the F has Thailand done for ANY OTHERS? But they hold grudges against almost every country and its citizens! All its infrastructure comes from outsiders, and the sum of all its scientific and linguistic knowledge comes from others like myself that teach Thailand.

Deportation, 90 days, work permits, blue books, cannot own land (even if you have Thai citizens as your wife and children) etc. The Nazis had the same system - the same colour coded system, the same militarization of the government sector with foreigners demonized.

Take any sample of foreigners in Thailand today, and WE are not the abusers of Thais - we are building this country!

I have given the best years of my life to Thailand and its people, all I have in return is news such as this and the insecurity that tomorrow this family with Thai citizens in it might have to be deported or leave because we are not welcome! Disgusting in 2012!

BANGKOK, 25 June 2012 (NNT)-The Ministry of Labor is now trying to remove Thailand from the United States Human Trafficking watch list, and planning to enforce more restrictions on legal migrant workers.

That says it all - 'we want off the list' with one breath and with the other 'treat foreigners like dirt!

Reading the front page of TV is like the thoughts of a rabid, racist and xenophobic nationalist: No NASA, Thailand better than Myanmar, murder of foreigners, human trafficking of foreigners, international distrust etc.

Does anyone have any information, links with regards to this B1 english test requirements? difficulty level compared to the current ESOL course, how much the B1 english will cost, is it currently available to take or do we have to wait until the list of providers are released by ukba.

Have a look at some of the sample tests here: http://www.examenglish.com/CEFR/B1.htm (they claim it is B!). They may seem simple to someone who is westerner and not a teacher, but quiz the test taker on the various meanings of each sentence/word and you will find that they are really just quessing the answers based on hearing/reading the verb and noun in the sentence. Such might have been OK for A1 - I doubt it will be OK for B1.

Also, you will probably find that many ESL textbooks for the pre-intermediate and intermediate level will be OK (I remember seeing such a comment somewhere before). Most of such are from Cambridge and Oxford publishers.

From teaching Thai students (government schools), most of them find some of the A1 tests hard - B1, maybe a university graduate from the top 4 Thai universities where a significant part was in English?

"Democrats seek facts on status of Nasa project"

Well then, they better go into space

Who is doing something? The government with its hundreds of billions or the students?

Well done students!

May I remind all that it is the students and it is just a PROTOTYPE!!!

The government has not spent any money to install water sensors that would be needed for such programs.

So, at present, you have a beautiful looking program that makes the computer screen look important and busy but does nothing. A bit like most things here - looks good but has no substance.

Buy your boats now!

Later farangs pay double.

I am, though, leaving this topic open as there have been some interesting and useful posts, from VisaPlus, Eff1n2ret, paully and others.

Thank you - that is what you should ALWAYS have done in the past and hopefully in the future. That way, freedom of speech is allowed (within fair limits - but unbaised) and there is time left for those who have very helpful posts to post. And it saves hundreds of cirucular posts where you disagree with me and I with you.

Have a good evening.

As previously, he will ignore the fact that the documents he is quoting are out of date and been superseded or he will cherry pick parts which support his argument and ignore those that don't.

.

Go out and have a beer. Rather than posting off topic ad hominem remarks that are groundless.

Till to day you have been unable to prove any of your above negative comments regarding what I post. At least I bring information to this forum (and so do many others that I value).

Just admit it, you don't like me and you are often proven wrong by me - just in this topic alone you were wrong when you said one has to apply for the visa before one can go to the courts!

This topic is about the procedures to bring such a legal case - it is NOT about saying negative things about me. So, can you remain on topic?

I have been on topic so far, but due to your actions I have had to reply to you.

It will be necessary for an application to be refused on income grounds. An appeal will need to follow and fail under the immigration rules. Only then will the human rights lawyers get started!

If I recall correctly, the case against UKBA regarding the English language requirement which was raised by an Indian national was heard in the High Court even though he hadn't gone through the full process of application and appeal - it was argued that it was pointless for him to do so as he had no chance of complying with the requirement.

But I suspect the OP will have to wait until some organisation, publicly- or otherwise-funded, takes up the case. He hasn't a chance of succeeding on his own, and any lawyer may well want up to 10K up front to take on a JR case. He could of course appeal against refusal of entry clearance on Human Rights grounds, but he would not succeed without professional legal representation.

But to be totally honest, we already know the UK HR courts are not that sympathetic. Approaching the UK courts is mainly a procedural requirement for step 2 i.e. ECHR.

Thus, paying anything more than the smallest claim fee to the court is a waste of money and self representation is advisable - unless a knight in shinning armour appears.

So, even if his wife does not apply and be refused he would still need to exhaust all legal avenues open to him in the UK before the ECHR or ECJ would even consider looking at the case?

Yes. Although, from my memory - exhausting all legal avenues is not what you might imagine e.g. it could be the simple claim case from the document I linked to and then a straight jump to the ECHR. There is no need to go through appeals and higher courts etc.

Something of interest:

"111. In Burden, the ECtHR confirmed that applicants may not be required to pursue their claim in the domestic courts if the only possible remedy is a declaration of incompatibility under the Human Rights Act. As it is for the Government to decide whether or not to amend the legislation which has been declared to be incompatible, and whether to change the law in a way which provides an adequate remedy for the individual applicant, the ECtHR concluded that the declaration of incompatibility cannot be considered an effective remedy for the purposes of the requirement that domestic remedies be exhausted"

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200607/jtselect/jtrights/128/12807.htm

We have to not get mixed up here, How many people stay in the 3rd in the world DESTINATION. BKK IS NOT THE FINAL DESTINATION for most of arrivals. I still rebuff the TAT figures. TAT is sort of saying it's the third most loved place on earth.????

I think you have solved the issue of the misleading data - transit flights through BKK!!!

Yup I think most of the XX million TAT keep rambling about can be discarded based on transit, visa runs and border crossings e.g. the lady with a basket on her head that crosses the Myanmar border and enters Thailand on market days (multiplied by all such similar low level border movements) etc. The rest of the numbers are just dreamt up.

Thailand sure does get the low class travellers ($1.57 per person 19.2 / 12.2) or would it be low class journalists?

I knew my assumption was right!!!

A victim, under the Act, can be defined in the following ways:

• An individual who has been affected or is at risk of being directly affected by something done by a public authority;

http://hmctsformfind...s/ex503-eng.pdf

The above means I do not have to have applied for a spouse visa.

Well, yes, it is very well-established law (considerably pre-dating the Human Rights Act) that an individual affected by the decision of a public authority can challenge it in the High Court by way of what is called a judicial review (JR) procedure. The court has the power to declare the rule (law) void because of unreasonableness or that the minister went beyond his/her powers (ultra vires) in making it, or because it was in conflict with the HRA.

But - a JR is a very technical and complex procedure for which preparation lawyers are very much recommended. Also, there is no legal funding for a JR hearing (except for asylum) and in your case your spouse would have had to have been refused by the relevant government department/ agency - so she would need to have applied for a spouse visa and have been refused one. Not a straightforward matter then.

I had a quick look at a few docs regarding this judicial review. Although it has much of what I want, I don't think this is the legal option that is in my mind and that I am trying to do - JRs are complex and costly. The human rights option has a built in system for those who are poor, cannot have lawyers etc and would fit my position i.e. it is more common man friendly, from my understanding over the last many years (but no I am not a lawyer). Take a look at the link I added in one of the posts above - what I want to do is either what is in that or something that is very similar.

The government can argue that an applicant doesn't fall under the convention as he/she is not in Europe. That might or might not stand in some cases.

A UK national can argue that his rights to family live (the right to form a family are violated) if his foreign spouse is denied entry or there are restrictions placed upon it. That is normally how these things are challenged in court (national and European).

Any challenges go first through the national courts and not until there is a final judgement from the highest judge that is competent in the case can a challenge be made at the European Court of Human Rights.

That is a lengthy national process and only a few percent of all cases submitted to the ECHR court are accepted.

Thanks!

I did know that it is lengthy etc.

So far from the document I attached (and memory from somewhere), it appears that my family/I are able to start a case. But that doc does not really say how to do it.

Right now I want to bring this to UK courts as a hr matter and as cheap as possible e.g. prepare all the docs myself and even represent myself in court if need be (unless there are agencies that will act on my behalf - but I called the one in this thread and they cannot help and liberty will probably be a waste of time as they probably have better things to do).

How to do this?

Why not approach one of the Law Schools that specialise in Human Rights law to see if a lecturer/student is prepared to assist you; no harm in trying. Unless you are well versed in presenting legal argument the challenge that you wish to take on will not get very far. As difficult as it may be for you, looks like it would take a long time for this issue to be raised in by the European Court of Human Rights. However I have posted a link below that should walk you through the process.

http://www.echr.coe....sked questions/

Thanks for that. That is step 2 i.e. ECHR. I am still at step 1 i.e. UK