Waterloo

Are you sure?

As of today there could be an issue in transmitting British citizenship if OP's child born abroad were to have children outside of Britain with the current laws (I'm saying Britain since there is no guarantee there still will be an UK int he future). Since that possibility is some 20 years away in the future, and does not involves him directly, I don't think the OP has reason to worry now.

Yes, I am only thinking about if I have a child. Not looking further at grandchildren. However, I remember being told, when my child reaches 18 (In Thailand or the UK) she/he must then choose what country she/he will reside in permanently.

This is not a quote or fact, just something I remember being told quite some time ago.

But going by the thread so far, it seems not to be the case.

Currently going through the process of getting the Wife Citizenship in the UK, she is at present on ILR, No one has said she will need to give up her Thai citizenship at that time.

I have read no reports on Thai visa of anyone ever being expected to do this, it would be an nominally to expect a child to when others are not.

I am a UK national my Wife is Thai, both our children have both a Thai and a UK passport from when they were only a few months.

Both the UK and Thailand permit dual nationality, their are lots of posters on here in the same position.

Op thanks for posting it never occurred to me this scenario was even possible, most en-lighting, have a safe journey home.

We decided prior that we didn't want to know the gender our baby. All we hoped for was a healthy child. If we were to have another our hopes would be the same.

FYI We were blessed with a healthy boy.

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ditto

we got lucky and were blessed with a healthy boy and girl 20 months apart

We have 2 children a boy aged 4 and a girl aged 2 and we registered there births at the embassy an applied for there Thai passports when both of them were only a few months old.

It has made life easier for use over the last few years when the wife has taken the children to visit her mother for a couple of months, no hassle of visa's for the children.

This very important to both of us as we are determined to bring the children up multi lingual and bonded with there Thai relatives.

You do need to apply for their birth certificates first but you can do that on the same day as the passport so no extra trips to the embassy.

As has been mentioned earlier there is the question of conscription, but your boy is currently 7 and he would not be eliagable for the lottery for another 11 years.

Personally a lot can change between now and when my boy turns 18 there may well not be any conscription by then and if there is it is his choice at that stage as an adault.

If he choses there are plenty of ways to avoid serving, the obvious being to stay out of the the country from 18 to 31.

getting close to 2 years since we put the wife's ILR application in but at the time we had the same problem of not many letters jointly addressed, but we did have plenty sent separately to the same address, no problems and didn't send any photos.

 

Repeating the party line again and again does not make it right.

 

Maybe Mark Harper should have concentrated his mind on his department's rules on employing foreign workers; then he wouldn't have had to resign!

 

'Many' applicants may have been submitting extra paperwork; but not most and certainly not all.

 

Where an applicant has come from is irrelevant to all except a racist.

 

If applicant and sponsor cannot afford the visit then they would be rightly refused; we are talking here about those wrongly refused being denied justice; which using Harper's figures are around 32,000 people per year.

 

Again, using Harper's figures, guess how much each family visit appeal actually cost the taxpayer. £255. I suggest appealing a fixed penalty speeding ticket costs more than that; would you abolish that right as well?

 

Yes, reapplying would be quicker than a full appeal, but many appeals never got to the AIT as the refusal was overturned in post by the ECM and, more importantly, for justice to be done and seen to be done, a fundamental principle of the UK's democracy, people should have the option of an appeal or reapplying.

 

Even more so when the right of appeal is abolished for settlement applications.

 

I know you like to come on with the big 'I am' and boast on here about your wealth, but most people do not have £1000 to throw away every couple of months to make repeated settlement applications until the ECO gets it right.

 

Though in your arrogance you will doubtless say that those people shouldn't be bringing their partner to live in the UK with them!

 

Is this directed at me?

 

  Your last statement...

"Though in your arrogance you will doubtless say that those people shouldn't be bringing their partner to live in the UK with them!"

 

  Now that does say it all,so you think Joe Bloggs should go forth in the world and marry anyone at will (maybe a backhander included)  anyone that is and bring them back into the UK,yeah right, now that is why the marriage/visitor rules are being beefed up,to prevent such happenings,cannot come quickly enough either

 

PS  could get divorced without letting immigration know and do it all over again a few months later,now I might have a go at this one

 

There is a world of difference between tightening visa rules and taking away the right of appeal! 

My father spent a year in a sanatorium in his teens and as a result both myself and my siblings were vaccinated when we were only toddlers, I think it is still a good idea to screen from high risk country's.

As a side note due to my family history and the wife being from Thailand we were offered and accepted BCG jabs for both our children before we took them home from the maternity ward.

With the current high prevalence levels in some parts of London this common practice for all parents. 

Badly written or not; it is obvious that they tried to do what is legally impossible; convert a visit visa to settlement within the UK.

Their 'advisor' should have told them this in the first place!

Rather than overstay and then try to by pass the rules, they should have done what many couples in their situation do; obey the rules and the foreign spouse return home to apply for settlement there.

With respect I made no comment on the rights or wrong of the case, just pointed out an obvious mis comception some posters were having.

But for the record having had to jumped through the hopes like most people here I would not dis agree with your assessment of the situation.

Swiss Cheese has less holes then in this story ...

"Nick met Toy, 50, while visiting his brother in February 2012"

Then ...

"She was then granted a visa to live with Nick in New Zealand. But after four-and-a-half years in the country"

That makes it August 2016 ...

Then ...

"Toy was then granted a six-month visitor visa with Nick"

That makes it February 2017 ...

Can I have some of the Lotto numbers please ...

That's assuming that all those application and Visas were contiguous ... which I doubt.

Interesting ...

.

Thats what I thought when I first read it, but if you read it again it says Nick wanted to return home after 4.5 years not they, the article is badly written.

We registered both our children's births at the Thai embassy in their early months, both have UK & Thai passports, it makes life a lot easier when the kids visit yai for extended trips.

http://www.thaiembassyuk.org.uk/?q=node/10

if you follow the link above it explains what you need to do to get a Thai birth certificate for your child, you can apply for a passport at the same time, good luck and congratulations

Sorry forgot to add no such thing as a dual nationality passport, just seperate UK and THAI passports

If you can first rid Thailand of all the farang liars who promise the world to naive Thai girls, I will help you find her.

As already said con artists are not just poor Isaan farm girls, but come in all colours

Yes I realise that, but the OP is asking if his wife can order the passport whilst she is in the UK, and have the passport delivered there.

Probably not strictly legit, but it might be doable.

only ever applied for our childrens passports in the UK, the whole thing was done by post!

I should add for clarity we live in the UK.

With a bit of study I believe almost anybody can pass the test. It takes work, may need some input from experienced teachers for some.

I don't think it is designed to help with integration directly (but could be made to do so) but makes sure the applicant has sufficient English skills to study and learn as necessary. If proper tuition is required then what is wrong with doing a formal course?

There are cultures within the UK that would allow individuals to live isolated lives because there was little motivation to allow study. This has been seen as one way to ensure there are fewer people unable to interact with the country at large because they cannot communicate in basic English.

Whether this test works or not I cannot fully judge but when my wife did her ESOL course there were many there only because they had to be to get ILR. I support the test generally but would like to see some modification to teach more day to day skills. I don't think it has been placed there as a barrier at all. Why should tax payer pay massive amounts to provide information in lots of languages? Most Thais are already streets ahead in language skills than a lot of other immigrant groups!

It is inconvenient but then life can be!

there is very little in your statement that I would disagree with Bod.

My Wife passed on her second attempt whilst looking after our 2 year old at the time whilst being heavily with our second child.

7 by 7 - I agree that there is nothing wrong in people studying. I would even go so far as that there should be a "reasonable" test for citizenship (i.e. one where the average Brit would pass comfortably). My main issue is that it has to be passed for ILR and, in the meantime, whilst people fail (because even an average Brit can't pass it) they have to fork out c. £600 extra each 2 1/2 years for FLR.

We seem to have an arrogance in this country that foreigners are required to do this and that but, in most cases, where Brits go and live abroad they are not required to do any tests in the countries they go to live in. I personally lived in 4 Asian countries without any need for a test. Again I ask how many Brits would pass an equivalent LITUK test in Thai script?

In the past we colonised the world and moved millions of people from country to country without any thought for local culture e.g. Malaya. In fact many Brits went to other countries to live without learning a single word of the local language e.g. India.

The problem with this is you can stay permanently in the country on ILR with no need to progress to citizenship, Indeed some people consciously make the decision not to as it means in some cases surrendering citizenship from there home country.

As I said previously don't agree with the way this has been implemented the standard is clearly set higher than the average citizen can achieve and you get the impression it is being implemented to keep people out.

This really should be implemented in a way to help people integrate, admittedly not an accusation that can be leveled at Thai immigrants to this country.

In my experience with most Thai's in this country are fully integrated due to marriage.

Yes I agree with you although I don't really see any problem with people living permanently here with ILR status rather than go on to citizenship. As you say, there are a number of countries that do not recognise dual nationality - I think Malaysia is one. I think there are probably quite a number of foreign nationals who are married to Brits who would like to return to their original countries in the event of their marriage ending e.g. by death or divorce. Obviously they do not want to lose their original citizenship through obtaining UK citizenship.

Yes that is the point I am making for the reasons you have stated there are legitimate reasons for people staying permanently on ILR, hence if the intention is to encourage integration the test needs to be at the ILR stage and not at citizenship.

7 by 7 - I agree that there is nothing wrong in people studying. I would even go so far as that there should be a "reasonable" test for citizenship (i.e. one where the average Brit would pass comfortably). My main issue is that it has to be passed for ILR and, in the meantime, whilst people fail (because even an average Brit can't pass it) they have to fork out c. £600 extra each 2 1/2 years for FLR.

We seem to have an arrogance in this country that foreigners are required to do this and that but, in most cases, where Brits go and live abroad they are not required to do any tests in the countries they go to live in. I personally lived in 4 Asian countries without any need for a test. Again I ask how many Brits would pass an equivalent LITUK test in Thai script?

In the past we colonised the world and moved millions of people from country to country without any thought for local culture e.g. Malaya. In fact many Brits went to other countries to live without learning a single word of the local language e.g. India.

The problem with this is you can stay permanently in the country on ILR with no need to progress to citizenship, Indeed some people consciously make the decision not to as it means in some cases surrendering citizenship from there home country.

As I said previously don't agree with the way this has been implemented the standard is clearly set higher than the average citizen can achieve and you get the impression it is being implemented to keep people out.

This really should be implemented in a way to help people integrate, admittedly not an accusation that can be leveled at Thai immigrants to this country.

In my experience with most Thai's in this country are fully integrated due to marriage.

There could be a sub forum under Visas created of 'Overseas Pension/Government payment issues.

The UK Pensions topic runs under the General Forum

The Mod, TheOldGit did hint at some change a while back.

Does make sence to have the topics in a central place.

Found this thread completely by accident & then struggled to find it again a couple of hours latter!

I think a Sub Forum headed Tax and Pensions, grouping posts from various country's would be very useful.

^^ I have no idea about the Funds performance ... however, from the Australian Government website ...

You can also apply directly to the Australian Taxation Office for early release of benefits if you were in Australia temporarily and are now leaving the country permanently.

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/early-release-of-superannuation

Expand the 'Temporary residents and early superannuation release'.

Thanks for that David very helpful & a change in the rules from when I left Australia at the time it was not possible to get the money out of the country.

I will E-mail the fund today to asked them what my options are?

Hope the Twins are well, my 2 little ones are off at the end of the month to visit Yai down on the farm.

Cheers Waterloo

Hi

I am a UK national currently working in the Uk.

Some years ago & I worked in OZ for 2 1/2 years gaining 2 1/2 years of super contributions which at the time of leaving the country were put in the government designated Rollover fund (SMF Eligible Rollover Fund).

Now whilst this is not a massive amount of money I am not 50 yet so it has a fair bit of time to sit there until I can gain access to it!

So my question is does anyone know if SMF Globals fund have a decent performance or is it worth me researching the possibility of transferring the funds to another rollover fund?

Cheers for any advice

A mixture of things to bring and things to do!

A good quality rice cooker (apparently the UK origin ones are not as good!). Familiar cooking utensils such as mortar and pestle because they are cheap there and very expensive here.

Kitchen items would be my priority because most Thai homes revolve around meals. As long as your wife can go straight in and cook a familiar meal it is a good start. Most sauces are not too difficult to get here so arrange a trip to the local 'oriental' food shop. Expect your wife to have kittens when she sees the prices though!

Clothes - go to Matalan to get everyone kitted out comprehensively without breaking the bank. Most Thai clothing is not much good over here so save weight and leave most of it there. Only bring special items.

My wife came back last time with bucket loads of spices/peppers but this may get you in trouble with customs. Never let her bring meat in, however nice it may taste!

Get her to carry her TB certificate and have her prepared to fill in the landing cards. If this is her first 'landing' with a settlement type visa she should fill one in. Apparently future arrivals this will not be necessary!

Have internet access ready to give access to Thai radio and TV. You may have a battle to convince her that the water is fit to drink from the tap!

A mixture of the excitement of the new, mixed with the comfort of the familiar is the best thing in my opinion.

I would agree with everything bob has said particularly the bit about a rice cooker, a must have in any Thai household

15 out of 24, 3 short of a pass off to hand myself in!

Ironically the Brunnel question was one of the easiest for me.

Personally I think the stated aim behind the test is a good idea, it is difficult to deny that some groups have failed to integrate over the years and that this has caused problems.

Have my suspicions on implementation however & real motivation.

A genuine system to encourage people to integrate would involve classes to educate & inform, not a book & a multiply choice test.

Good Luck

I wish you every success with your en devours

I did revise the letter before I sent it and did shorten it a little.. Good point that I also thought of too.. I got it down to 2 pages... Left the visa agent part in unfortunately but wish I hadn't, also a good point.. Thanks

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I think you could still shorten it by at least a third to make it scan better, he doesn't need to know all about your business or how tall your wife is.

It is always a good idea to keep these letters brief & to the point even more so with David Blunket being blind.

I dare say 7by7 is right, but if no one complains then the politicians can say no complaints = no problems.

Hi Stuart

Having read your letter, I think it requires a little shortening to be more effective.

Personally I would delete things like reference to the visa agent, this is superfluous to why you are writing to the MP.

Stick to the relevant points, don't send him to sleep.

Dear all

I want to update you regarding the latest for my girlfriend and her tourist visa.

Thanks to the advice from Tony M at Thai Visa Express we have been able to get the original rejection overturned. My girlfriend now has her visa for the full three months we requested

I would certainly recommend Thai Visa Express to anyone else who might require a good and honest visa service.

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Dear Jamie

Glad to here it's worked out for you, it's always nice when someone has the courtesy to come back & update people.

Wishing both of you every happiness in the future.