sandyf

I have been using Sri Ratcha for about 10 years and never in that time have they ever asked to see a bankbook. I wouldn't think about going without a bank statement.

There is a reason why the winter is referred to as High Season. Summer months have always been the lowest of the low season, even the rubbish British weather is preferable.

Exactly. You can never stop the internal temperature reaching ambient, but you can slow it down. I had the house built with cavity wall construction and even during the hot season I do not need the air con during the day. With the internal thermal mass, running the air con overnight keeps the inside relatively cool until the following night, a bit like a storage heater in reverse.

You cannot compare them. It is all about heat conduction and double glazing has a built in barrier that will slow down the conduction. Film is only one step up from clear glass and a long way short of double glazing, at the end of the day heat is only cold in reverse. It is a balance between appearance, comfort and budget, I went for comfort within budget, have cavity wall construction with small windows, but that wouldn't suit everyone. Up to each to try and minimise the rise in internal temperature but there is no silver bullet. One of the most effective is keep direct sunlight off the building with either natural or artificial shading but that is not without problems. Good luck, building to your own spec is a unique experience.

Unlikely from the UK. With all the all the problems at airports and on the trains difficult for people to go anywhere, although long haul is a big less of a risk than short haul. About a month ago I had my flight from Gatwick to Belfast cancelled at 36 hours notice. I made an error on the claim and had to resubmit, in the space of 24 hours over 10,000 claims had been submitted. Still waiting on the outcome. The board would be on fire if people actually had something concrete to whinge about.

They are a terrible company to deal with. When I had a problem at the beginning of the year I sent an email to the address that was shown and got this in their response. Dear Customer, Thank you for your email. Our CORRECT email address is: [email protected] not vfsglobal.com You could try that but I would suggest clearing your cache and trying again. They sent me a load of useless suggestions and I ended up resolving it myself. If you struggle to get anywhere, send them an email that you are going to report the issue to the UK embassy, I did that a couple of years ago and the matter was resolved within an hour.

The "Flexibility" is conditional and a bit like beauty, in the eye of the beholder. The last non UK visa my wife obtained was in Feb 2020 for Morocco, lost it, but maybe next year. We went to Dublin a few weeks ago on the back of her UK visa but at my age unlikely she will enter the EU again.

There is an old adage - https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/when-in-rome-do-as-the-romans-do But then that would require some understanding.

An interesting development. Back in 2015 when we went to Germany the Germans had introduced an interactive online application form called Videx. The software made no allowance for family members of EU citizens, everyone had to follow the same procedure with the same supporting documents. I raised the issue with Solvit, didn't do me any good, but in due course the EU ruled in my favour. The Germans amended their guidance so that family members of EU citizens could make a manual submission using the standard Schengen visa application form. Unfortunately for us Brits that is no longer an option. https://ec.europa.eu/solvit/what-is-solvit/index_en.htm

I went to Global House in Chonburi yesterday and didn't see anyone not wearing a mask.

Quite. This is the statement I responded to, on reflection a bit ambiguous. As you say duration of stay is the main factor. "Once a track record has been established a multiple entry visa, for 12 months, will usually be issued." It would appear that the old Schengen Handbook has been superceded by the Visa Code handbook integrating various types of visa so the term "Schengen Visa" is not quite what it once was.

The Schengen Visa Handbook was drawn up to deal with short term visits of up to 90 days, hence the name Schengen visa. Long term visas were a different process altogether. It would appear there has been an amendment since I raised an issue against the German Embassy with Solvit a few years back, a point in time when I read the handbook more times than I care to remember. It is however not as straightforward as you would make out. This is how it is put:- 8.4.3. Multiple entries for the When a multiple-entry visa is issued with a period of validity between 180 days (6 months) and 5 years, the duration of authorised stay is always 90 days (per 180 day-period). Multipleentry visas (MEVs) with a long(er) validity should be issued to frequent or regular travellers irrespective of travel purpose. When assessing a visa applicant’s ‘travel history’ account must be taken of previous visas issued by all Member States and not only those of the case handling Member State. Visas allowing for multiple entries with a validity of less than 6 months should only be issued if the travel pattern of the applicant during the (short) validity period would not be covered by a visa for one or two entries. In such cases, if the applicant is consider to be bona fide, the consulate should also consider whether it could issue a multiple-entry visa valid for 6 months and a duration of authorised stay of 90 days.

The days of paperwork are long gone, I can still remember going to VFS at Regents House with a bag full. I can also remember something that was said to my wife at her first interview, "your husband lives in Thailand, there won't be a problem." there wasn't and there hasn't been in 10 or so applications I have done since. Being married helps but not a lot when the husband lives in the UK, your residence in Thailand makes for a strong case. As far as the agent goes entirely up to you, you have to bear in mind the application is on behalf of your GF and she will need to provide the same information to the agent as is asked for on the online application. To be quite honest I do not see a lot to be gained. You can obviously use a computer or you wouldn't be here so as I said before you and your GF should go through the application online before approaching an agent. There may well be information required that she is not happy discussing with a stranger, better to find out beforehand. The application is in 2 stages, you provide the info to UK immigration and then make the payment, you can delete any application before getting to that stage. Once paid you are transferred to the VFS website to make an appointment and upload the documents. You can opt out of the upload and choose for VFS to do that for you. As suggested by others you should do some research on the UK and VFS websites.

You are quite entitled to your opinion. I would agree the EU are a bit more accommodating but where bookings are likely to have more than one name it would be prudent to explain why. Information on purpose of travel is more beneficial than omission. The Schengen visa can only be issued for up to 3 months.

The OP said the tiler was laying "new" tiles.

As far as the Schengen visa goes your financial situation is of little significance, from what you said in the OP I have little doubt your GF could get the visa in her own right. A letter from you indicating you live together in Thailand and will travel together would just strengthen the case. What will be more of a challenge is the UK. You need to be much more specific on the reasons to return. You will need to highlight things like the length of relationship, the fact you live in Thailand and how you fund living here. It would help if you can establish if your GF has an interest in the property. The UK visa application is quite tedious and I would suggest you make a dummy application to get some experience on the information required and how to make responses. At the end you can just delete the application without completion.

No they are not. Changes to the entry requirements are not normally effective until a day or so before and the online service will not change until the regulation becomes effective. Since travel restarted it has been potentially problematic to travel in the first few days of the month.

I would support much of the other advice, i had assumed that you would be dealing with the UK visa first, it stands you in good stead for a Schengen visa. The Schengen visa is a visitor visa and has no grounds as such and bringing in the family may have adverse consequences. In possession of a UK visa and reasonable funding there is no reason why a visa would not be granted. One of the benefits of the strict UK immigration. I found the visa conditions to be a bit arbitrary, for a week in Spain we got 2 weeks multi-entry, for 3 days in Germany we got 4 days single entry and for 5 days in Malta got 10 days multi-entry. The Schengen visa can be for up to 3 months so you would need to provide an itinerary that indicated your requirements. As has been said it would need to show the longest period in the country where you intend to apply. Most EU countries have VFS visa centres but for Germany you deal with the Embassy direct. They are very efficient, when you make the application you are talking to an embassy official and you get an answer there and then. Their processing is however different to the others and very strict with little leeway. As ours was a family application I was allowed into the embassy but not sure if you would be, I saw many filling in forms out on the pavement. I am not a fan of VFS but in this case I would suggest a better alternative.

I think they were still in use into the 90's but mainly small retailers.

In a nutshell your relationship is no longer of any significance, you yourself will be there on a visa waiver as opposed to being an EU citizen. Your GF can apply for a Schengen visa as any other but I would avoid making Germany your main visit. I have had 3 Shengen visas for my wife and Germany was the most difficult. Once in the EU you can travel elsewhere so you could book a week in Paris and just say on the application an intention to visit other cities. Unlike the UK the requirements are fairly straightforward and you could supply a letter to the effect that you will travel together and that you would also be providing financial support. Your GF would need to make the application so all confirmations of bookings would need to have her name, or preferably both names. Although the visa could be obtained in the UK it would be safer to get it in Bangkok before travelling, a friend of mine had difficulty with the French in London.

Exactly. When the scheme was running we went to a steakhouse in Chonburi a few times, their normal prices were not in a range we would normally pay. I came back from the UK a couple of weeks ago and while there walked into several Wetherspoons, cost of living crisis would be the last thing that came to mind.

Started here back in February, in fact the dry season was not really dry, think about 3 weeks max between rain. When I first came here at least 4 months without rain every year, quite noticeable when you have no mains water.

That old adage, what came first, my post or BritManToo. ????

Blast from the past, my father kept chickens at my grannies and she pickled the eggs. Sad day when they stopped selling them in pubs.

Exactly, embossed characters were for the old imprint devices. My HSBC cards are still embossed but my RBS is flat. My Wise visa debit card has no info on the front and only my name and cvc on the back.