matsky13

Thanks ,TCA and 7by7 as always your opinions are greatly appreciated !

Yes she passed on the day they said it was Topic Grade B and conversation Grade B.

The certificate came today and says Grade 5 GESE ....entry level ESOL international (speaking and listening) (entry 3)*
CEFR B1.1 with Merit (more ambiguity ) . B1.1 I'm guessing its slightly better than a B1 .

My wife will be very Happy If we don't have to pay out again for another English Exam ,Its just not that clear in the application FLR form or the guidance notes , The stress alone is bad enough , But the way this government keep adding to the costs of Visa aplications ,NHS Surcharge ,Life in the UK test /. Wow. The cost is crippling us . And The fear of being refused for a sending the wrong evidence .

Especially when we will be sending 2 applications at the same time ,I am Guessing if they refuse my wife then the Daughter will Automatically be refused . So as the fee stands today £1298 down the drain , just for sending the wrong English Certificate .

I am tempted to send both of her Trinity college certificates (the GESE Entry 1 with an A1 with merit that she used for her settlement visa , She also has a city and Guilds (Entry2) (QCF) . Might stick that in aswell , But Probably just confuse them .

In a week when Cameron comes up with even more nonsense of sending middle aged UK Pakistani women to college for free to learn English to stop the threat of ISIS in the UK. It just highlights that the Governments we are living under have no Idea what they are doing regarding Immigration .As usual

Just trying to grab a Newspaper headline to keep the masses occupied.

For all current Visa Applicants Incolme levels have to be way above the minimum wage .
The Life in the Uk test puts too much pressure on them, they are tested to a level that far exceeds the "average " UK citizens Knowledge. Many Questions are written to deliberately trip up the Applicant . Anyway that ground has been well trodden already.

Thanks again

Hello All

My wife and step daughter entered the UK on a visit visa and stayed the maximum 6 months in 2013 . They subsequently applied for and where granted the settlement Visas (IT says Spouse / CP on her visa in her her passport) and entered the UK on that in May 2014 she has been here since except 2 Holiday's back to Thailand for 60 days in total .

I have a number of questions that hopefully someone can help me with when should we be able to make the FLR application ,is it 28 days before the expiry date 28th Jan 2017 , or 28 days before the end of 30 months after she entered on her Spouse Visa MAY 2014 . or does any of the time spent in the UK on her previous visitors Visas count towards this 30 months ?

I am pretty sure its 28 days before the 30 months after she entered on her spouse Visa but I would appreciate clarification .

Secondly and more importantly , My wife has Just taken the English test from Trinity college SELT GESE Grade 5 exam. Which she passed . I understand it only has a validity of 2 years , SO can we submitt this at the FLR stage So tshe doesn't need to take it again at ILR or some other Qualifying English Exam .as the 2 year Validity of this SELT GESE Grade 5 exam will have lapsed by the time we are at ILR .

Lastly do I still need to prove my income at the FLR and the ILR stage

Any help will be greatly appreciated .

Congratulations On , And good luck from me . What a great post and another great response from 7by7 . It is very usefull for my stuation as we are 6 months into our settlement visa , and starting to look to the next steps . A born worrier I and self employed I am worried about hitting the financial requirements as my work fluctuates from one month to the next , But as 7b7 pointed out , my wifes earning could be added . ( something I had forgotten in my moments of worry) . She is not working at the moment as she spends all her time looking after the 19 month old baby but over the next year or 2 that should change. I had been hoping the rules on minimum income would have changed by then anyway .

My Mrs is doing all the right things , she is on an ESOL and also i got her the Thai/English Life in the UK book . She finds that very helpful ,but is still very worried about it .

I Had a hiccup getting the NI number , I sent everything off they require ,only to be told months later that "she had not provided enough information " a few phone calls later we where still none the wiser as to what that actually meant . It was none specific . I gave up after I do'nt know how many phone calls and time on hold been pushed from one uninterested person to the next .The department dealing with it is On the Isle of White I was amazed to find out . why it is necessary to add more confussion by putting the documents on a ferry or aeroplane i have no idea . I am convinced I sent everything off they required .After the settlement visa process I was fed up with Bureaucracy so just put it to one side But I will have to do it all again shortly as my Mrs will hopefully be looking for work soon.

Thanks lisu for your post

Hi all we applied for 2 settlement visas , WIfe and daughter . submitted 10th april at the Trendy Building . and received a Decision has been made email on the 1st of may , 4 days later we got the passports in the post . Both Approved . Yipee .

Good luck to all who are still waiting .

Thanks Guys , Bob Russell very helpful , I can't believe nobody has said ,"a Bloody big coat " Its raining harder than Thailand at the moment and its very cold ,Welcome to the British Summer .

On the medical side , I guess that even though the visa is stamped no recourse to public funds , they are ok to now register at the doctors and would you recommend we do that asap ?

Hi all My wife and kids will be leaving at the weekend to come to the UK I just thought it would be nice to thank all for the help we have received in getting the Visas but also to start a new thread with a list of useful stuff to pack for a Thai Lady or Man and children to bring to the UK

Both on the legal paperwork side but also and more importantly for the Thais the stuff that will make life easier cheaper and more comfortable. Food/cooking stuff will be high on the list for most i am sure ,I have asked the Mrs to get plenty of Thai books for our young ones , I am hoping to keep the Thai culture well and truly alive mine are 5 years and 1 year old .


On the paperwork side to make life easier for the next Visa App I Imagine that everything that was sent back from VFS with the Visas and the relevant Original documents should be all that is required in 2 years time to go to the next stage , (FLR I think). So if she brings that over with her and we add all the stuff we collect from now on we should be pretty well covered .

Any thoughts and advice will be really welcome.

I agree Razzell is probably close to the mark ,Or Was a bottle of pastis or 2 involved . Only joking the french border control guys would not do such a thing . I am very interested to know the excact answer though .Also how easy was it to get the residency card I am guessing thats something to do with the MR Singh route ?

Hi all we applied on the 10th April (2 settlement visas ) and I received the decision has been made email on the 30th of April while i was in the Air flying home to the UK , If I had got that email 18 hours earlier I would have delayed my flights and If it is a Yes and visa's are approved we could have all flown back together . That seems to be my luck at the moment . If its a yes that slight inconvenience will quickly be forgotten . We have been checking the track and trace web page of the Thailand Post as we paid for the docs to be posted back and they are slowly making there way back to my Wifes home . but another bank holiday so i guess it will be Tuesdy or Wednesday before we know .

I am sure you guys who applied arround the same time will be getting an email some time very soon . LBL I don't think you need to worry about yours going missing or being stuck in the system . You have the 2 emails saying its being processed its just a matter of biting your nails some more and crossisng your fingers etc .

I was allowed into the VFS application centre as we had our 1 year old with us , I was surprised to see the vast majority about 90 percent of people applying only had a small amount of paperwork with them . We had 2 folders each one about an inch thick . Maybe its my fault all you other guys are waiting . If I have been submitting too much paperwork and slowing the whole system down .

The amount of original documents they tried to give my wife back was worrying . Either I miss understand what they wanted or VFS staff seem to know much better what is required . When I asked "do i need to submit that Original document " ie( my wifws divorce papers ) amongst others . the reply was "its up to you" . Well as I had gone to the trouble of listing them in a smart contents page for my original documents folder then I had already made that decision so yes please send it .

It was nearly closing time by this time and the girl was cashing up I just passed all the paper work to her and said send everything . A mistake on my part but It was a bit of a panic . I ended up giving her original Thai documents as well as the official translations . so I hope to hell we get everything back . whether its a yes or a no my wife will kill me if hey have lost all her documents .

VFS staff will certainly have made the ECO job more difficult they had pulled papers out and the whole organization and indexing will have been all mixed up by the time they had finished .

Anyway my rant is over . Good luck to all of you .

Bob, there are some hoops to go through to settle in Thailand but nothing resembling a "Life in Thailand" test that has to be done in Thai script. If there was then the number of Brits settling there would be almost zero. In my opinion Thailand makes it quite easy to get visas - I got a 15 month visa for c. £100 issued in less than 2 days by post!

You say that ".....it is a hoop but it is one pretty much everyone has to jump through." However, the whole of Romania, Bulgaria and a number of other East European countries have the right to turn up at our border and live here permanently for evermore. Do they need a visa? - no! ......do they need to prove a relationship with anyone here? - no! .........do they need to pass an English test? - no! ..........do they need to take a TB test - no! ......do they need to apply for Further Leave to Remain - no! ......do they need to pass a LITUK test - no.

So to me this LITUK (and other visa hoops) smacks of re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic! A lot of the ghetto mentality and general problems you talk about are being caused by this huge influx of East Europeans not by the foreign partners of Brits who, for the most part, assimilate and learn about our culture and language simply because they live in the same house as ethnic Brits.

Durhamboy a great post and very true .

The schools in my area are awash with gangs of eastern Europeans I have first hand knowledge of Polish kids having virtually no English language skills even after 3 years living here , the mother speaks no English and only watches Polish TV that by the way does not have a TV license for , they are on housing benefit for certain and probably Tax credits etc .

It must have a detrimental effect for local UK born English kids in the school when such an influx all at once of poor English speakers .

The EU migration is the big problem in this country certainly not Wifes and Husbands of British born people .who as you say are integrating just by living with a Brit .

I agree with the principal of a LIT UK test but i think it should be for all migrants and should be a little easier . I tried and failed the test myself .

Hi Pete I am in the middle of an application for settlement myself and also self employed .

I think you will be in a similar position as me in that my year end was JAN 31 but I had to wait until after 5th of April as they want to see your last years figures that have been submitted to the HMRC / It seems very unfair but I understand the reasons.

Hi RHCP its not very well explained on the UKBA website like most other things ( its enough to make you think they don't want any more migrants in the country) I can't understand why ? , As the reply's to your original question say ,

If You Just enter the English name on the online form as on the passport of the applicant .

and then when you have completed and printed the online version and you have a hard copy . just get the applicant to sign it however they normally sign .

I have removed lots of bitter thoughts about putting an X on the signature , that's just ridiculous, Who would even contemplate that , too many LEO's .

Good look OP , You have my best wishes .

Yes I agree with that about the dates but maybe its just the software they use ?.And it could explain our time difference maybe its not set correctly or in the wrong time zone ,wondere if anyone else has time issues .

Longballlarry I will be suprised if our Visas get turned around that Quickly I have just seen the post about UK Embasy holidays this last couple of weeks 14,15 off for Songkran and then 18 and 21 for Easter . It must be awfull having to work overseas and have all the hollidays forced on you from other cultures , all without pay I guess .

Hi Guys just wondering where you submitted these super quick already approved visas .

My lady seems to think its the ones that got submitted at the old Regent house that have the quick turn around .

I doubt it as the decisions are not made there or at the new Trendy building .But at the Embassy so it should not make any difference .

We submitted on the 9th at Trendy and I have received 2 emails .

Your processed passport has been despatched from the UKVI Decision Making Centre , on 4/9/2014 to the UK Visa Application Centre.

the other one saying Visa application, tracking ID No. UK-xxxxxxxxxxxxxx – has been forwarded to the UKVI Decision Making Centre on 4/9/2014 .

the first one was timed 1 min after the other but the emails where received by us in reverse order ie the eirliest time last . but both times where before our actual appointment .

Longballlary As they say dispatched to the UK visa application center i guess it is still being processed .

Its all a bit confusing though .

Hi Guys just wondering where you submitted these super quick already approved visas .

My lady seems to think its the ones that got submitted at the old Regent house that have the quick turn around .

I doubt it as the decisions are not made there or at the new Trendy building .But at the Embassy so it should not make any difference .

Thanks to all 140 odd of you for taking the time to read my post ,

In answer to my own Question for the benefit of anyone else inn the same boat .

I receieved emails from VFS

the first one saying the applications had been dispatched

the second one saying the applications had been forwarded to UKVI deccision making team .

The New office seems to have really seeded things up . according to the emails and the times on them our applications where "dispatched" and "forwarded" roughly 3 hours BEFORE we submitted them at the desk .

Now that's what i call service .

Just wondered if anyone knows the sequence of events after an application for settlement . We submitted last week at the new Trendy building ( not as good as the old place as far as i am concerned ).

All my wife got was a printed till receipt saying acknowledgment of receipt the application number GWFXXXXXXXXX

her name and date of application and time the visa cattergory total payment £0.00 plus officers name .

she was given a seperate http track tailand post link address and a reference ( format eg (xx 1111 1111 1xx)) written in ink on the bottom of photocopy of her passport .

no APET number or anything else .

we have been waiting for an email or sms telling us that our docs have been posted to Embassy or something .

can anyone suggest what we do now ?

Sorry I forgot to mention , trying to keep the posts relating to the original post . I have just booked appointments for next week , so it appears everything is working ok lots of times for Thursday of next week available .

I started our Apps from this site https://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/account/register

Thanks O.G just had a look at your link . 450 Baht , that beats a journey back to Bangkok .
We just need the Documents from HMRC and we are good to go .

Hi Guys , I have just finished our Online settlement apps and everything went pretty OK except a few minor glitches and the staggering fee for 2 applications (Wife and Stepdaughter) I know need a few beers to recover from the financial shock ! .

But at the end when you have the option for return of original documents .only the "IN PERSON" was available .

Is this correct I was hoping it would be the same as Visitor visa all the original Documents including the passports where posted up to us . For a fee of course .


Thanks in Advance .

Sorry I just re read your reply . It seems I miss understood your reply . "we" have completed 2 applications from the same account .
one for "myself" Mrs Matsky . and then one for "someone else " Mrs Matsky's Daughter as she is only 5 andsurely cannot be expected to set up her own account and make her own Application .

The FAQ I refered to was

"I want to create another Application. Do I need to create a new account?
No. You will not be able to register a new account under the same email address. To create a new application, log in to your existing account and click on Apply For Myself or Apply For Someone Else.

If you could clear this up i would be very gratefull

Thanks O.G . Its Nice to have your input and very reasuring .

"Helping" her fill it in ...LOL ....It used to ask at the end if you have had help filling the forms in if i remember right .

I saw the FAQ at the top of the page a bit too late . and it does explain about only one account . but thanks anyway .


I am most of the way through the application forms at the moment but I do have some questions , and wonder how other people have found the new forms .

1. Have you elected to depart the uk ( well yes they have been on visit visas and they "elected" to leave when it was time to go home . But some how i don't think they mean this . I have put no at the moment . any thoughts ????

2 Most of the answer box's are not long enough ie issuing authority of passport cannot fit "Ministry of Foreign Affairs "

3 regarding my step daughter on the old visit visa they asked if she had been known by any other names . But not on this new doccument . I will be submitting the 3 diferent name changes and the translated docs that we used for the visit visa anyway .But I wonder why they have not reffered to it in the application .

The usual silly questions about work status . when i have already told them her age is 5 (yes maybe legal working age in some country's ) but not here i think ??

These inconsistency's along with others make me wonder if I am filling in the correct Application.

Any thoughts ?

I am Just starting applications for settlement for my Thai wife and her Daughter (my step daughter).

pretty much the first question on the site is:

Am I applying myself or am i applying for someone else .

Do i select myself as it is essentially it is her (My wifes ) application and i am filling it in for her .(she dosn't read or write English that well)

then do i need to open another account with them for the Daughter or just select on the bar at the top Apply for someone else , as she is only 5 and unable to do it herself .

I know its probably obvious to most people but not me , its not explained that well .

Thanks for any help .

Hi I have similar situation .

I am hoping to apply in the next week or so . But I am waiting until I have my tax return and SA302 from this financial year ie ending on the 5th April 2014 . And all my related bank statements , Acounts that must be either audited or acompanied by a charted accountants letter of authentication . All the stuff must relate to the year you are relying on for the meeting the limit/requirement .

Does yours ? if not maybe that's why they have put you on hold ?

From what i understand .any applications that fail on the finances only will be put on hold . and in the event that when a decision on the apeal about the limits set by the government is made . it maybe that they can then change your decision.

ie they scrap the limit and the new stringent rules ( I doubt that myself ,only that the limit may be lowered ). so this may not help . But it does depend on why yours does not meet the requirements . Is it just paper work or is it the actual figures .

Others much more knnowledgable than me will tell you to post the letter from UKBA .and hopefully they will be able to help .

You have my sympathy , Its a nightmare for most people , but i think for the self employed its even worse .

Good luck in getting it sorted .

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Thanks for the Link but I am still not much clearer , I could end up in a few categories there .
3.4.5. E
submit a copy As I will be in Thailand on the 6th April I cannot (I think ) ask HMRC to post me an original . (but the truth would be that I could probably get someone to visit my house every day waiting for the mail , open it all until they find the SA302 original and then post it out to Thailand towards the end of April . as long as it makes it over in the post DHL etc OK then I could submit my application.

Or do i go with an online copy and hope it is ok and if not , hope they ask for the original as it is at there discretion to do so . which will hopefully have made the journey described above .

Difficult decisions to make . GRRRRRR why is it never straight forward .