Pietr S

They replied to my email saying that had enabled IR, and indeed it now works. Thanks for the replies.

Thanks for the replies. I have a pre-paid (Happy) service, and I have not registered for eServices. To be honest I didn't know I would need to receive SMS until today. I have sent email to [email protected] and got an automated response. Hopefully they will be able to activate it for me.

Hi all

I am presently in the UK.

I urgently need to enable roaming with my DTAC sim so I can receive SMS - at present I just get a "no service" message.

Can anyone advise how to do that ?

Thanks

PS

I have K Cyber pin 2 internet banking.

Before I could topup mobile numbers on line from overseas.

They have stopped this now for pin 2 users which is a pain in the bum.

With pin 2 I think if you have not registered the other account while your in Thailand

you wont be able to just transfer to another account.

I would check on the internet real quick, I think you will be in for a shock.

If anyone can help me about the mobile topup, that would be great...thanks

aussiep....

Bugger. Seems you are right. I tried to register an account, and to complete the registration it sends an OTP by SMS to my Thai number.....

I did check with KBank before and got this answer: about using K-Mobile Banking PLUS (if you mean this service), while you are living in overseas, we would like to inform you that you can use K-Mobile Banking PLUS service, but you have to open internet roaming with GPRS / EDGE / 3G also.

I travelled to Europe andd di use it in Germany and it works fine.

But you have to pay for the internaional roaming

yes... much cheaper to use internet banking with OTP. not cheaper... free in fact.

But OTP is the "one time password" that they send to your mobile, right ? So to do that while abroad you have to have a roaming service with AIS/DTAC/True, right ? This puts me in the same position as trying to use Mobile banking. I've already given up on that.

I changed my security setting to PIN2 - which is just another fixed password - from OTP before I left Thailand, so I hope I can transfer money to a local account in Thailand using K-Cyber banking (internet banking) without the need to receive anything to my Thai mobile number. I haven't actually tried to use it yet to make a transfer yet, but I need to make a payment for a condo purchase next week, and if I can't do it I will be up a certain creek without a certain instrument.

Thanks for all the comments.

Hi all

I have a Savings Deposit Account with Kasikorn, in my own name. I have the passbook here with me in the UK, however I need for someone in Thailand to pay money into my account ASAP. Can they deposit cash a Kasikorn branch into my account with just my name and account number, that is, without the passbook, or will I have to send the passbook to them ?

Thanks

PS

Hi Pib. That explains it, thanks !!

Hi, has anyone used Kasikorn K-Mobile Banking Plus in the UK ?

I have just returned from Thailand, where I was able to connect without any trouble. But here in the UK, I constantly get the error:

Sorry, connection error. Please ensure GPRS network only (WI-FI not authorized). Please reboot the system and try to login again (error 277)

Apart from seeming crazy to not allow access from a Wi-Fi, I have also tried it while connected by my carrier's 3G and 2G network, and I get the same error each time. Having talking to the carrier's tech support, they told me that their 2G network is Enhanced GPRS (ie EDGE) - yet I still can't connect. The carries doesn't have an old 2G (GPRS) network.

Has anyone else had this problem in the UK using K-Mobile Banking Plus, and were you able to overcome it.

Thanks

PS

Why would then turn it down, you are married.........and she has a strong history.

I'd like to believe that and I hope you are right, as this is probably what we will do, but just playing devil's advocate for a moment, perhaps the ECO might feel that with a single trip visa, it is unlikely she would want to jeopardise future applications by overstaying, whereas with a 10 year visa, it could be argued that there is a much greater temptation to just stay longer than the allowed 6 months per year - our kids will have finished compulsory education by then and I will be at retirement age so this could be construed as a major change to our circumstances, of the kind mentioned in the second point of the first quote of the answer by 7by7:

Stability of personal circumstances. As far as possible applicants 'status should be unlikely to change significantly during the validity of the visa. The better able the applicant is to demonstrate stability over the long term the more it will support an application for a longer period of validity.

My wife had a 10 year visa before getting properly badged up as a Brit. The 10 year or a 5 is definitely worth it. Its as easy as the 6 monther and, of course, the UKBA is trying to generate revenue.

Go for it....

However, the cynic in me says that your last point indicates that it is in their interest to take the money for the 10-year or 5-year one, and turn it down for some reason, since they don't give refunds.

Thanks. That's very helpful indeed.

Is there any guidance, rules-of-thumb, or other advice/comment, other than previous UK visas (4 previous ones) and visas to other countries (several for Hong Kong and Japan) to help determine when or how an ECO may decide "that a shorter validity of visit visa is more appropriate than the one applied for" ?

My wife's visa has just been issued - for 180 days. This is her third family visit visa, and she has also been in the UK on a 2 year settlement visa.

Our plan is for my wife to take a 4-5 month trip once every year (this is what we have stated in the latest application), and I noticed that there are 1 year, 2 year, 5 year and 10 year options on the application form. While I am aware that they cost more, we would like to avoid the hassle of applying every year if possible, so I am thinking to test the water, so to speak, next year, and apply for a 5 year one next year.

So I am wondering, how, if at all, are multiple entry multi-year family visit visa applications considered differently to single trip applications in terms of satisfying the authorities about reason's to leave the UK after each trip, and other criteria ? I expect it is too simplistic to think that now she has had several similar visas, if our situation remains the same, then a multi-year visa should be easy to get ?

Thanks

PS

FYI, I got the 7 day extension very easily at Samut Prakan Immigration office a week ago on Friday. In and out in about 15 mins...

The ladys application for a tourist visa to the UK was processed in 14 working days, we picked it up the next day.

I arranged tickets through my agent and confirmed with him as soon as the application was approved, if you have booked tickets before an application is approved (they say don't) then be it on your own head.

Sorry if that sounds harsh but it is the way it is.

We fly out on the 10 sep.

Thanks. I realise that's the way it is, but the reality is that we hold tickets that expire on 2 Sep - that is, we are using the return leg of tickets that were originally issued a year ago. It's not as if we consciously decided to book tickets for 1 Sep before the visa was issued.

Whilst it probably won't help you but my good lady's application was processed and the visa issued in ten working days last month, we are flying in the 5th.

Great. Well, I guess we can live more in hope that despair

May I ask, when was your appointment at VFS ?

Thanks. It's going to be a nervous few days !

FWIW, we found a very nice 25m pool at Bodycare Fitness and Spa in Samut Prakan. Swimming-only for the kids was 900 baht for 1 month each and for myself it was 2400 which included the use of the gym. They have cheaper plans if you sign up for a longer period.

Our one month will be up on Monday. We've been every day except for 3 days and had the whole pool to ourselves more than half the time.

https://foursquare.com/v/bodycare-fitness--spa/4cc93b2a46b43704b81447e1/photos

According to the VFS tracking site, my wife's application for a family visit visa "has been forwarded to the British Embassy: 05 Aug 2013"

She was told at her appointment on 5 Aug to expect an SMS after 15 days. That would have been last Tuesday.

I am slightly concerned because the flight to the UK is on 1 Sep, it's the return leg of a 1 year ticket, the validity of which expires on 2 Sep, and furthermore our kids go back to school on 3 Sep. This was all explained in the sponsor letter. In her previous applications, the visa was obtained in around 2 weeks.

Can anyone advise what the current turnaround times are, and if there is a number at the embassy we can call to check the progress.

Thanks

PS

I entered Thailand on 25 July with a 30 day visa exemption. Can I go to an immigration office and extend this ? Is so, by how many days ? And can it by done at Samut Prakan Immigration office ? I'll be leaving on 1 Sep.

Thanks

PS

I suspect your wife was told she had to report to the overstay desk and pay fine - but if she want there no fine would have been collected but only a stamp placed in passport. This happens to many every day so any change in policy should be reported here quickly.

That sounds possible.

Where is this policy written down ? Is there a link ?

Actually it is policy not to impose fine for those under the age of 15 and that policy is normally posted at exit points. Do not believe it is a law but only policy but have never seen any report of payment being required so would ask where wife departed from and who exactly did she make payment and did she obtain a receipt for that payment (if you know)?

It was at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

After checking the details with my wife, there is more to the story. When leaving through immigration she was told she had to pay the fine there and then. She called her brother-in-law who is a policeman and had just dropped them off at the airport. He came back in, took the children and they went through with him and met up with my wife on the other side, somehow having avoided paying the fine.

My children visit Thailand every year for the long summer holidays. Last year they were here for just over 5 weeks and when leaving my wife (she is Thai) had to pay the overstay charges. They were 5 years old then. They were travelling on their British passports.

I have just read here that children under 7 are exempt from paying the overstay fine. We are currently here in Thailand, again for just over 5 weeks and I'd like to avoid the overstay charge for the children this time (they are now 6 years old). I was wondering if someone can direct me to an official document in Thai language that says they won't be charged for overstaying, which I can then print for my wife in case she is asked to pay it again.

Thanks
PS

This may be of help,

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=th&u=http://www.tm.mahidol.ac.th/th/tropical-medicine-knowledge/new/Louse.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25E0%25B9%2580%25E0%25B8%25AB%25E0%25B8%25B2%26complete%3D0%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D695%26site%3Dwebhp

Thanks but it doesn't seem to say anything similar to what I quoted from the NHS and CDC websites.