sandyf

An important aspect of the application is where do you live. If you live in Thailand and are going to return together it will be fairly straightforward. If however you normally stay in the UK then you will need to provide a good case for your wife to return to Thailand. The best evidence of this is a letter from the employer stating that she has been granted time off to make the trip and is expected to return to work on a certain date. Bear in mind the employer may be contacted to confirm.

An important item in the supporting docs is your sponsor letter, should be informative and concise and worth making the statement that you will accept full financial responsibility for the trip.

As said it is all done online now and I would suggest that you register and make a dummy application to become familiar with the setup, this can then be deleted prior to the real thing. Good luck.

22 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

The whole land border in Ireland has been never been thought out in this fever to leave to get to the promised land ????

There are some on this forum that would categorically deny that was the case.

On 6/16/2019 at 4:19 AM, wisperone said:

If they wanted to shut down Abnb, I'm sure they could do that by ordering abnb a cease and desist order for the country as it is against the law.  Abnb would have to comply.

They have no grounds to ban Airbnb as there is nothing illegal. Airbnb handles a wide variety of properties and the majority are not subject to the law regarding hotels. It is the owners of certain properties that are trying to circumvent the law and have brought Airbnb into disrepute. The most prevalent is condos where it has been ruled that number of rooms applies to the building rather than individual owners. Condo owners that deal with Airbnb must have a licence and they have signed an agreement with Airbnb that they will abide by local regulations. If the owner fails to honour that agreement, neither Airbnb or the tenant can be held responsible.  All Airbnb bookings carry a statement regarding local regulations and the owner.

On Friday I will be going into an Airbnb property in China and the following appears on the booking.

Local Requirement

As you may know, China has rules which require hotels and other accommodation providers to ensure that their guests’ information is registered with local authorities. Similarly, foreign guests not staying in hotels are required to register with local authorities within 24 hours of check-in. Please check with your host regarding how to register.

It is my understanding that the Thai government want Airbnb to introduce additional scrutiny on Thai properties but Airbnb is a global entity and why should they change their procedures for what is a domestic problem.

If condo buildings are to be legally seen as hotels for letting purposes, which I suspect is based on safety, then every condo building should have a licence irrespective if letting is carried out or not.

On 6/15/2019 at 6:22 PM, nontabury said:

Rightly or wrongly, citizens of the Irish Republic have always received a traditional preference,regarding moving to live and work in the U.K. 

After Brexit is achieved, the British government has already stated that nothing will change.

So some EU citizens will be more equal than others.

On 6/15/2019 at 6:14 PM, nontabury said:

 

  You will find that the vast majority of those in the north, who support the U.K remaining in the E.u. are already in possession of a Irish Passport. As they would prefer to be Irish citizens rather than British. So no change there.

Brexit blindness, if you cannot see the problem it isn't there.

5 hours ago, Pappap said:

With just the state pension that we used to be able to get, yep no more, I emailed them and this was the reply,   

THAI EMBASSY LONDON <[email protected]>

10:54 PM (9 minutes ago)????????to me????

Dear Sir/Madam,

For pensioner (aged 50 or over): A copy of pension statement if the applicant is a pensioner, or a copy of 1-month bank statement showing your income from a pension, or 3-month bank statement of at least £10,000.

From 15th June 2019, we can issue only single entry for non-immigrant and you have to submit the application online.

 

Also with a lot of places not accepting the combination method because of no income letter, guess we could say I'm a Brit in the shit...

China was the first to go online and I had a look at how it had been set up a few weeks ago and it was fairly obvious that this was going to happen.

Of course there were those that claimed it would never come about.

23 hours ago, Loiner said:

Not true. The pre-referendum call was to "Take back control of our borders." not close them. 

Selective memory. The UK has always had control of the borders, nothing to take back.

The rhetoric was always aimed at closing the borders to all immigrants, both Non EU and EU and then trying to argue the toss over who should be allowed in.

Post brexit, those from the ROI would effectively become EU immigrants, all part and parcel of the rhetoric.

On 6/14/2019 at 4:36 PM, nontabury said:

 

 You are so wrong on many points. You state Briexit means a hard boarder, yet strangely after many months of denying it’s possibility, the Bureaucrats in Brussels are now admitting that the technology does in fact exist.

 And again Brexiteers have never championed the proposal to close the boarder,and neither did the government of the Irish republic, until they were lent on by The E.u. All you have to do,is look at the discussion in the Irish Parliament, regarding this point,it’s on YouTube 

And finally I do not agree that money should be thrown on trying to overturn the Democratic vote of the British people, in their decision to leave this so called u ion.

You can try and dress it up any way you want. When the Belfast agreement was signed both sides of the borders were citizens of the EU, post brexit those in the north with a UK passport will become foreign nationals as far as the south is concerned, hardly in the spirit of the Agreement. Of course to brexiteers, nothing more than an irritating technicality.

Little wonder there has been a surge in applications for Irish passports, resolution will come with the reunification.

Your response on the money highlights how little respect the brexiteers have for the essential services, brexit means brexit whatever the cost.

Unfortunately that is part of Thai life. I have lived in a rural village for around 10 years and about 6 years ago they built a village hall not too far away. That gets used quite regularly for functions with the speakers so loud the surrounding villages can hear, not just ours. Sometimes the functions last all weekend with the speakers going from first thing in the morning until midnight.

As far as I understand the noise must stop by midnight and after that you are quite entitled to call the police. With the village functions there is normally a police presence as a matter of course.

When it comes to noise the Thais can take it to a whole new level.

23 hours ago, nontabury said:

 

Of course they did. As regards to the Belfast agreement and the border with the Irish republic. Please note, that NOW the Bureaucrats in Brussels are contemplating useing technology to facilitate the transport of goods from the Irish republic. Yet only a couple of months ago they were stating that no technology existed, when this was suggested by the Brexiteers.

 

Brexit means a hard border in Ireland, fact of international law, it has always been a question of how to disguise it. Brexiteers have always claimed they wanted to close the borders to the UK.

Note that you failed to comment

"Do you really think it is "right" that money is thrown at brexit from all directions while virtually every essential service in the country is at crisis point?"

10 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Please show me where the evidence this red bus made people vote for Brexit. I would suggest that it is nonsense and just an excuse by remainers to feel justified that 'we are all wrong'.

When people voted to leave did they give any thought to the Belfast agreement or the peoples of Gibraltar and Scotland, of course not, and with 85% of the electorate in England, whatever England wanted  the UK would get.

More importantly when people voted to leave did they give any thought to where the money was going to come from, of course not, the state will provide.

The country was already in the grips of austerity and the vote to leave opened up a bottomless pit that money has just been thrown into. TM kicked it off with a extremely expensive and unnecessary court case, but she couldn't pay for the elderly, passed that over to local councils.

Do you really think it is "right" that money is thrown at brexit from all directions while virtually every essential service in the country is at crisis point?

On 6/12/2019 at 1:18 PM, stereolab said:

I also receive an RAF pension, so there will be a tax element, I was hoping to file my online tax return this month. I may just reflect the actual monies received + the Equiniti P60 figures. 

I have just done mine again, its fairly straightforward, there is a specific box for the state pension and then you have enter other income and tax paid. You do not have to provide anything so you have to use what you have available, the DWP does not provide anything regarding the routine pension unless there is some change.

This year you will only have the 6 months but in future you need to be wary of the number of payments, normally it is 13 but for last year I nearly got caught out as I received 14, one on the first day of the tax year and one on the last. Every 21 years their is a bonus payment, how long you have to wait depends on how close your first April payment is to the beginning of the tax year.

If you are due a refund, it is fairly quick, about a week.

Bit ironic that the area most likely to significantly benefit from leaving the EU, voted to remain.

The deprived areas, other than NI, should be quite happy to be further deprived, after all they knew what they were voting for.

That would see Wales stripped of £2.3bn over the six years from 2021, with other big losses in the southwest (£1bn), the northeast (£480m), Northern Ireland (£230m) and the West Midlands (£225m).

In stark contrast, London would gain a staggering £19bn over six years, with the southeast (£1.2bn), Scotland (£795m) and the east of England (£583m) also set to benefit.

The figures are a consequence of the government withdrawing almost all domestic economic development funds for the regions since 2010 – while capital spending is earmarked towards the south.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/conservative-brexit-funding-regions-tory-leadership-contest-structural-funds-a8952186.html

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Abbot Ale in Sheffield.

 

The only ale I ever drank there was ‘Wards’ (AKA Waaards).

 

On a more serious point, what you are observing is the fracture in British society caused by the growing wealth gap. The very few haves and the very many have nots.

One of the things about Wetherspoons is their drinks menu is fairly standard throughout the country and Abbot is the standard strong real ale at about 5%. They normally over either Ruddles or Greene King IPA as a standard real ale and there is always a selection of guest real ales.

Forgotten when the Wards brewery shut down, must be over 20 years ago now. Never did like it, always the runs.

15 hours ago, nontabury said:

 

My God, I’ve been living here for the last 16mths,after living in Thailand, and I recognized nothing that you describe. Rising prices, I noticed far more in Thailand. As for Witherspoon’s,I don’t know where there is one.

Take it you have never walked through Sheffield, a body in every doorway and £8.95 for Pad Thai in the market food court. They only get away with it as bog standard English food is around £7.

Three Wetherspoons in Sheffield city centre, nine I think city wide, a blind man couldn't miss them. The Benjamin Huntsman in the city centre sells Abbot Ale, nectar to the gods, for £1.79 on a Monday, normal price £2.29 a pint. Ordinary pubs charging around £4 a pint for dishwater.

I first came to Thailand in 1999 and a small beer was about 60 baht in Pattaya, not changed much, a couple of nights ago I had a kapow for 45 baht and a large Chang for 75 baht. There is no dispute the minimum wage has increased prices in certain areas but trying to compare the UK to  Thailand is meaningless, last year I stayed in the Dusit in Pattaya for around 3500 baht a night and then a few weeks later paid £82 a night for B&B in Forres.

17 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

Are you seriously saying that the increase in poverty that YOU'VE  finally noticed is due to the brexit that hasn't actually happened yet???!

"that YOU'VE  finally noticed"

Always a caustic comment, I go back every year but the changes I noticed this year as to what I have noticed in previous years was far greater than in the previous years. Clear enough for you to understand?

Of course it is due to brexit. The squabbling politicians have taken their eye off the ball in every other direction.

18 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

No faster than a car then.....  It usually takes me about 2.5 to 3 hrs to drive to Hua Hin from central Bangkok (about 200km).

 

Theoretically its possible to achieve Bangkok to Hua Hin times in less than an hour, but I fear this will not happen. At 160kmh its possible in 1.5 hrs and this may attract some without a car, but the convenience of the car and not having to stick to a schedule for many outweighs a 1.5 hr time difference.

 

Usage may increase when Bangkok becomes a city less dependant on cars, with congestion charges significant enough to heavily limit traffic in the capital. 

What a narrow minded post, all about you and your car, xxxx the bigger picture.

Not everyone lives in Bangkok and not everyone wants to drive to the south of Thailand. I have taken the train to the south many times and the current journey is quite reasonable. Moving the station alone will make a significant difference to the shorter journey times and the overall increase in speed will benefit the long distance traveller.

Your last statement just beggers belief.

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

I can understand her. and I am a Southerner from Poole in Dorset.

 

It may be that joining the RAF as a boy helped a lot as we were multi regional from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and multinational with boys from South Africa, Rhodesia, Kenya, Pakistan, Australia, NZ and several more countries.

 

We were a polyglot lot in those days, and we all worked together without any racism that I ever saw.

I was in the last entry of Aircraft Apprentices to go through Halton and there were so many foreigners in our entry they referred to us as the Black & White Minstrel show, but as you say we all got along and I became close friends with many and have seen some regularly over the last 50 odd years.

Will see quite a few from far flung places next year at the final Halton reunion, another victim of government cuts.

54 minutes ago, Satcommlee said:

I  use MyAis/Line Pay for paying PWA and PEA bills online but they recently asked for photos of me and passport to continue using the service for any bill over 1000 baht.

Been paying my electricity for the last 10 years by direct debit, by far the easiest way.

Water is more of a problem, that is heaven sent and some years gets held up for prolonged periods.