penco

I have had a FitBit Charge HR and the battery life was 3-4 days and it was a bit fragile. I replaced it with a Mi Band 3 and this for me is perfect, 2-3 week battery life and it displays my smartphone notifications (I can select which apps can do this). I now have more phone on silent and no vibration because the Mi Band 3 vibrating on my wrist is sufficient to alert me without disturbing others. The Mi Band 3 is also waterproof to 50m so I only take it off to charge it (I use it to mostly track my sleep). It cost me £20 so I'm not precious about it, don't bother taking it off for DIY and don't worry about it being damaged though it's very robust and has been fine so far. The function for finding your phone using your smartwatch is handy if you mislay your phone. Basically I love my Mi Band 3 and highly recommend it. For not much money it's worth giving one a go.

Had the PSA test myself and the doctor never mentioned the "no sex" rule. Fortunately it was negative anyway. Good advice though.

6 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Well said.

 

The writer has just trotted out a very standard list of package tourist holiday locations.

 

I am surprised nobody has mentioned Mukdahan yet, Thailand's unfeted jewel in the crown.

Ah yes the sleepy hamlet on the Mehkong. Personally I love Mukdahan though it's a bit too hectic for me and I have to retreat to nearby Dong Luang for peace and quiet (except for the damned cockerel crowing at all hours). :D

10 hours ago, rasg said:

Interesting. What was her reason to return for a visit of that length?

 

I'm interested simply because many apply for a visa for, say a month, relying on their job as reason to return. They are then given a six month multi entry visit visa and stay for much longer than they originally requested and then have problems with the next visa application unless they can explain the reason for the longer trip.

 

 

Job and family in Thailand. 

That plus plenty of proof of a relationship. By the time we were successful in getting a visitor visa I had been out to see her again (twice in less than 6 months) and we went together up to Isaan to see her family. Photos of this plus photos of us together during the previous trip and photocopies of the Thai visa stamps in my passport I think convinced them that our relationship was genuine and that we wouldn't risk jeopardising our eventual application for a settlement visa.

We originally met in 2004 and she does have family in UK that I am also very close too and they too were mentioned on the application making absolutely clear than she would not be a burden on the state and that our application was genuine.

15 hours ago, rasg said:

Very sensible recommending dishonesty in a visa application. NOT! A ten year ban from applying is likely to follow.

 

I saw those words for the very first time on a visa refusal notice just a couple of hours ago on a different forum. It is not something I would want to see for anybody and the applicant admitted in a phone call to the ECO that she had created a letter from her employer herself. It is a monumentally stupid thing to do.

.

I had known my, now, wife 14 weeks when we submitted her first visit visa back in May 2015. Alarms bell are not set ringing at all with a low salary,. Many Thai women are on a low salary. Only knowing somebody for a few months, or heaven forbid, having met in Pattaya are not necessarily negative points as long as there is a strong application. (My wife was working in the hotel restaurant where I was staying on my first trip to Thailand.)

 

But you still haven't answered my question as far as I can see.

 

Here it is again.

 

The OP didn't answer if his GF requested five months for the successful visit visa where she actually stayed for five months.

 

Actually I did but I obviously didn't make it clear.

We applied for 6 months. She got 6 months and stayed 5 months.

She only stayed 5 months because getting plane tickets at the drop of a hat cost a fortune, hence the delay of a month, during which time her visa was already valid and thus lost a month.

Hope that clarifies it.

1 hour ago, rasg said:

You don't need to apologise. The Fiancée visa is a settlement visa and you can apply for it at any time. I explained it poorly. Lasts six months with all of the other criteria needed. TB test, language test, £18,600 financial requirement etc etc. But, no reason to return required. No job for your GF to worry about. You get married and just before it runs out you apply for FLR (Further leave to remain) from within the UK that lasts for 30 months.  Then another FLR and 30 months later, Indefinite Leave to Remain. Those three visas add up to five and a half years and you can apply for ILR after five years. A2 language test now needed for the second FLR. B1 for ILR and also the Life in the UK test.

The settlement visa lasts for 33 months if you get married in Thailand so the second FLR is not needed. Quite a big saving in the cost and much, much cheaper to get married in Thailand. Especially if you only do the legal bit at the amphur.

 

No NHS surcharge needed for the Fiancée visa. £200 per annum is the cost of the NHS surcharge. Paid in advance, of course. The FLR NHS sucharge is £500. NHS surcharge for the Settlement visa if you get married in Thailand is £600.

Thank you very much for your extremely informative and helpful reply. I really appreciate your help. 

5 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

The A1 IELTS Life Skills test (which is what she would have to take if she does the test in Thailand) is pretty easy. It only lasts about 18 minutes and consist of general questions, 3 listening questions and a short chat with the other candidate. It is more to see if she can communicate with people than a test of her English, which only needs to be at a very basic level.

Thanks, we watched a few YouTube videos of the test so I'm fairly familiar with the test.

She struggled to understand. I think she'd be better now.

2 hours ago, 7by7 said:

No, that is for unmarried partners; i.e. a couple who have been living together and have no intention of marrying.

 

A Fiance visa is for an engaged couple who intend to marry in the UK within 6 months of the visa being issued; After the marriage the foreign spouse applies for further leave to remain.

 

See the pinned topic UK settlement visa basics for more details. It's a little out of date in some areas, but not this one.

 

OK, she lied to you but not in her application. But really silly not to have agreed the leave of absence with her employer and obtaining said letter!

 

If it is your intention to live together in the UK; then settlement is the answer; unless you are prepared to live with her in Thailand for two years then either as your fiance or your spouse.

 

I'd recommend spouse, as it's the cheaper option. Although it will necessitate you travelling to Thailand to marry her first.

 

Fiance or spouse, she will need to pass A1 in English speaking and listening with a UKVI approved provider (the ones in Thailand are on page 14; unfortunately they're all in Bangkok). But, as Brewsterbudgen says, A1 is very basic; often called breakthrough or beginner. The requirements being:-

• Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type.
• Can introduce themselves and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people they know and things they have.
• Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

If she can hold a conversation with you in English she should pass easily.

 

It's your future, it's your decision. But take my advice; don't marry her in a rush simply to get her a visa. Only marry her if you love each other and want to spend the rest of your lives together.

As ever your advice is invaluable. Your advice was instrumental in our successful second application.

I really appreciate it.

3 hours ago, 7by7 said:

I cannot understand this comment.

As I understand it (my understanding maybe faulty), my only recourse to get married is for her to get sufficient English to get A1, that's not happening in Thailand, she's a factory girl earning a pittance and has no free time. So getting married in Thailand is pointless with out A1.

I thought getting a Fiancée Visa requires living together in Thailand for 2 years?

3 hours ago, 7by7 said:

As said before

 

If you really love each other, really want to live together, then this is the correct route for you. See Family visas: apply to live in the UK

 

OK, as perthperson says, you have to meet the financial requirement; but you say you have a career, one good enough not to give up; so do you?

 

The previous lie in a visit application should not effect a settlement application; see Immigration Rules part 9: grounds for refusal

 

I'm no Bill Gates but the financial requirement isn't a problem. I'm in permanent employment with a good employer and I'm a homeowner (i.e. a mortgage slave).

She DID NOT lie on the application form.

She told them where she worked, she didn't tell them she had a letter indicating they would hold her job open, she told me that.

When they rang her employer, the person they spoke to had no idea my TGF was planning to go to UK for 6 months, so the inevitable happened.

Previously she'd got a BS letter saying they'd hold her job for her (no Thai employer is going to do this in reality, it was merely for the Visa Application people - jobs in factories in Ayutthaya or Pathum Thani aren't difficult to find) and they didn't contact her employer, though if they had, the employer would have said "yes we're aware she wants to visit her BF in UK and it's fine".

If I recall correctly rasg's Mrs unfortunately (i.e. unplanned) lost her job whilst she was in UK and the Visa people were fine with that. Apologies rasg if I'm getting this wrong.

The first application also failed because she was deemed to have insufficient reason to return which was because at the time she was helping a child minder and got free room and board as her salary, she'd walked out of a job at a high tech Japanese company's factory in Ayutthaya to be with me. The second application was made after she'd been working in a car parts factory for 6 months - to satisfy the "in gainful employment - reason to return".

Anyway I apologise if my understanding of UK immigration requirements are incorrect and I welcome any other solutions to my problem that don't involve me going to Thailand to live for a specified amount of time or giving my TGF a wage and paying for English classes in Thailand so she can get A1. I don't have the financial wherewithal for the latter or the freedom to do the former.

Finger crossed we can swing another 5 months in UK so she can get her English up to scratch and then it's get married at an Amphur near her family so her Dad and daughter can be there too, then Settlement Visa and so on.

3 hours ago, 7by7 said:

Lying in any visa application is guaranteed to result in a refusal if the lie is discovered; which, as your girlfriend discovered, it usually is.

 

It can also have serious consequences in any future applications. She's lied to them once, why should they believe her next time?

 

You are correct that a standard visitor can study in the UK for up to 30 days during their visit; provided this study is not one of the main reasons for their visit.

 

Obviously, telling the visa section that she was going to the UK to learn English tells them that study is the main reason for her visit!

 

See Permitted Study.

 

It wasn't quite like that. They asked what will she do in UK, she said stay with her boyfriend, do some sight-seeing, spend time with my BF's family, visit my own family in UK (her sister-in-law is my best friend's wife and they are very close).

Visa people then said "Yes but what else are you going to do?"

So she replied honestly and said that she would also learn English because we want to get married and she needs A1. They said how? She said my BF will teach me and I will have lessons at a local school.

When she was here last time we went to local tertiary college where they did ESOL classes and she was assessed but the tutor said it would be very expensive as we'd have to pay for a year and we'd only get 3 months as she was returning to Thailand in January. Hence she said to the Visa people "go to a local school"

So that screwed that up.

11 hours ago, rasg said:

So the second application was successful. How long was requested in the application? If it was less than five months, did you explain the extra time in the third application or was part of the refusal due to the longer stay?

 

If you are not both singing from the same hymn sheet a new application is doomed to failure.

 

A letter from her boss is very important.

 

How will she get up to A1 unless she is learning? It's not a hard test but she does need to have a basic understanding of English and it does take time. My wife 's English has improved dramatically since we both met but she has been forced to learn as she has been here for over two years with a couple of very short gaps. She's been immersed in it but she loves to learn. Just as well as she needs A2 before her next visa as the government changed the goalposts.

 

You have a lot of ground to makeup with UKVI with your next application, I think.

 

A settlement visa is to get married. My wife and I went the fiancée visa route. It lasts for six months and you have to get married in that time. We were married in the UK. The settlement visa lasts for 33 months if you get married in Thailand.

 

 

I was completely honest with all our applications (obviously she applies but I actually fill in most of the details). So we asked for 6 months and got 6 months but it's valid immediately so you always lose a few days. Getting a direct flight to UK with zero notice would have been prohibitively expensive hence 5 months.

Even so she was detained at LHR for 2 hours (in a locked room) while they allegedly rang me (my mobile didn't ring once whilst I was waiting for her in Arrivals). They took her passport away with them. Fortunately thanks to the good info I'd read her she followed my advice and had all her documentation in her hand luggage and showed it to them but they still detained her.

I can't understand why she said to me she had the letter when she didn't. I think it was a case of miscommunication (easily done) or basically her placating me with the intention of getting it done later "yes, yes honey, of course I've got one" [must remember to get that letter sorted].

He English isn't too bad actually and we've run through the various YouTube A1 videos and I reckon she can do with a few months of being in UK and practising here (plus some private tuition/less than 30 days course), instead of her making friends with Thai girls here and speaking Thai all the time... <sigh>

I'm obviously missing a trick here because I thought a fiancée visa was only available if you could demonstrate you'd been in a relationship for 2 years in Thailand? I sincerely apologise if I've got this wrong. It's the reason we've been going for A1 then get married in Thailand and apply for a Settlement Visa then.

8 hours ago, rasg said:

Can you explain this a bit more please? Was it two failures and then successful on the third? How much time did you request when she was granted the visa?

 

When my, then GF, returned to Thailand in the middle of February she went back armed with a settlement visa application and her English Language test, (she took it at Trinity in Hammersmith), took her TB test the next day, submitted it the following day and stayed with her cousin and his wife until it came through. She was back in the UK just over two weeks after she left.

 

Not possible as quickly now of course, as Settlement visas are sent to Sheffield and seem to be taking two months.

First application failed. Lack of photographic proof.

Second application successful. Granted 6 months, got 5 months in UK and returned.

Applied again for another 6 months, refused. They didn't like my current account having less than 2K in it despite the fact that my savings account had 20K in it. She told me she had a letter from her employer saying they'd keep her job open. She'd fibbed and when they inevitably rang her employer, the employer said she'd lose her job. She also was interviewed by phone and told the visa application people she was going to UK to learn English - epic fail! They told her she can't do that on a tourist visa (not actually true unless you do more than 30 hours a month classroom time) and she needs to apply for a student visa. So basically a total mess.

I was annoyed about the whole thing. She had 5 months in UK and I nagged her from the start that she needed to crack on and learn English but she suffers from the Thai "loss of face" syndrome and couldn't hack trying to speak English and making inevitable mistakes. So she wasted 5 months in UK and went back without A1.

The employer letter thing was annoying because she'd got one previously, so she knew the score. But lied to me when I asked her before applying if she had one again. Waste of £100!

So we'll try again in September and fingers crossed we get it. This time I'm motivating her to make sure the application's a good one because I'm not paying for it, unlike the previous 3. This time it's her own hard earned money going down the drain if she doesn't do it right.

I thought that Settlement visas are for spouses? She doesn't have A1 and her English isn't good enough yet. Besides working 6 days a week on night/day shifts at a factory aren't conducive to learning English. What free time she has is spent catching up with sleep, washing clothes or on rare days off where she decides to have a public holiday instead of working overtime she'll maybe try to go to Isaan and see her family and child.

She herself knows that the next application is crucial so we're both motivated to make it work.

I find the whole situation ironic as I myself am the result of a UK man meeting a foreign woman and falling in love (I'm half Latin American). But back in the 60's immigration was far simpler.

On 7/7/2017 at 0:14 PM, rasg said:

I'd be interested in seeing your sponsor letter. The ECO obviously saw holes in what you had to say about her employment or maybe it was just the two months that you requested.

 

With my wife's first visit visa we requested a month but she was laid off from work while she was away so she stayed 18 weeks. I explained it in her second visit visa application a few weeks later and also explained that I was financially supporting her and it went through without a hitch. The two visit visas actually overlapped by 12 days. With the four visas my wife has had since 2015 we have never had a call.

UK Visitor Visas - 3 applications, 2 failures and 1 visa

:-(

We're trying again in September. You've made me feel more hopeful but I'm still dubious. For my relationship, this is the last chance saloon. If she gets refused again then I'm giving up, I can't go to Thailand to live (I have family commitments in UK, a career here (for what it's worth)), so I guess our plans of marriage and living together will just remain plans.

On 7/6/2017 at 0:01 PM, rasg said:

Two months is a bit of a stretch for a first visit visa imho knowing how much time Thais get for holidays.

My TGF came for 5 months on her first visit, would have been 6 months but I couldn't afford to get her a flight the day after she got her passport back.

Similar background i.e. she earns 10K THB working shifts in a factory in Ayutthaya, no land, no house etc etc.

So it's definitely do-able. 

An interesting opinion piece on this very topic...

The UK, where falling in love with a foreigner is only for the better off

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2017/feb/23/the-uk-where-falling-in-love-with-a-foreigner-is-only-for-the-better-off?

I noted they didn't mention the exorbitant cost of the many visas needed to bring a spouse here and stay here.

I was chatting to a colleague and his spouse who is from New Zealand and she was saying how shocked she was at the cost of the applications for Settlement/FLR/ILR etc.

I think you local constituency association is massaging the figures somewhat!

[...]

1 minute ago, Laza 45 said:

...for 300 or 350Bt a day..  not a lot left over for treats..

Spot on. That's exactly what my TGF earns. With only public holidays and her other days off are basically the bridging days between switching from day to night shift and vice versa

It makes me realise how "feather-bedded" I am in the West in comparison.

I can't say I've personally been aware of those around me using drugs but the TGF says that yaba (a form of meth I believe) is an increasingly common amongst Isaan younger people both in Isaan and among the Isaan people in BKK. I can well believe it when you're doing 12 hours shifts 6 days a week in a factory in Pathum Thani or Ayutthaya with only enough money for a room, a TV and meals from the 7-11, life must seem pretty grim.

The TGF when she was in UK last year couldn't get over the cost of green papayas in UK (which, from looking at the box they were in, had been shipped from Thailand a couple of weeks earlier). It would be good if Tesco started stocking more Thai produce as it would give my local Chinese supermarkets a run for their money as they charge extortionate amounts for Thai delicacies and alike e.g. green papaya £8 each (!). 

On 11/01/2017 at 2:01 PM, steve2112 said:

30 degrees in febuary is a swedish tv show about a bunch of swedish people who have found their way to our little part of paradise. just watched ep1 and it was ok, i loved the swedish guy meets a bangla bar girl on the internet, gets off the plane, goes straight to the bar and, well you have to watch

Just heard about this series today and I just watched the first episode. I like it, though some of the plot situations seem a bit clichéd it's nice to hear Thai being spoken and see some bits I recognise i.e. BKK airport (though as the show progresses no doubt I won't recognise anywhere as I've yet to visit Phuket and the south of Thailand). Nice programme for me as I'm having withdrawal symptoms having returned from my last LOS holiday 5 weeks ago.

I'll be binge watching both seasons of this show this week now. :)

On 12/08/2016 at 9:36 PM, berybert said:

Yes because sitting down after a long time sitting down is all anyone wants to do.

That's OK the usual 45 minutes spent walking from the plane, standing in long queues for passport control and then standing around waiting for my luggage make up for the 12 hours in a cramped "cattle-class" seat unable to sleep.

I love learning Thai and I enjoy building up my vocabulary, so much so that I get frustrated when the TGF and other Thais reply in English when I try to speak to them in Thai but I understand why they do this if their English is better than my Thai, which generally it always is :D

The only downside of learning Thai is that even if I became fairly fluent I'd still miss out on what the TGF and her family and friends are saying because for her Thai is only the language she had to learn at school and is for formal circumstances and HiSo environments. Back in Mukdahan her family all speak Sô (from the Kaso tribe) and elsewhere Lao is very common (not just in Isaan but BKK too). In the various factories she's worked in, in Ayutthaya, Lao (Isaan Lao) is spoken everywhere.

A good friend of mine is fluent in Thai and also reads and writes Thai fluently. A thing he once said to me about Lao (which his wife and family from Sakon Nakhon all speak) has always stuck in my mind and always makes me chuckle.

"The Lao language is like the Geordie version of Thai"

There's a grain of truth in it and Isaan people are from the North East. Also it made me chuckle because my family in UK are all Geordies.

20 hours ago, IMA_FARANG said:

This obsession is not limited to Thailand.

I once knew a Burmese woman whose family lived in Burma when it was still part of the British Empire, before WW2.

She told me that when a child was born the first question that was asked by the relatives was, "Is it fair?", meaning does it have fair skin.

This was back in the 1920's and 1930's when she was a small child.

So you see how far it goes back in history.

 

 

 

My ex was Goan it was common for family members especially females who even if they were extremely beautiful would be considered less attractive than their particularly "plain" sister or cousin because "ah yes but Angela is very fair" ie the gorgeous one wasn't considered pretty because she was dark.

My Chinese ex's family were from Shanghai and it was the same with them. My Chinese ex used to say that when she went to HK (where she was from) HK Chinese used to say she was very dark or asked her if she was Thai (she didn't look Thai and certainly doesn't have the milky latte coloured skin of my current TGF).

When TGF came to Farangland for the first time I had to persuade her not to go out with talcum powder all over her face. She looked like a ghost or a Goth! :D

I explained to her that UK no one cares and that her natural skin colour is beautiful. This worked while she was in UK but here in LOS she won't go out for a special night out without her ghost mask on even though I gently tease her about it.

It's sad but I'm no better, when I was in my 20's and used to work out in the gym I tried a sunbed. Never again! I came out in terrible heat rash and got bad sun burn. Idiot!

On 26/01/2017 at 1:57 AM, rwdrwdrwd said:

 

Having worked for 20 years in the industry, I know personally at least ten contract 'web designers' or 'ui designers' or 'graphic designers' that regularly have contracts with UK orgs on a 350 - 400/day GBP rate and 4 or 5 on around 800 USD with US orgs, and a number of them work remotely.

The biggest earner in that field that I know is an extremely talented guy (world class) German guy in his mid twenties that is on 200k USD in a long term rolling contract with a Bay area startup. He worked remotely from Bangkok until very recently. He does have some good ui dev skills as well to be fair, which helps bump his rate.

These are all very experienced and highly talented individuals of course, but their rates certainly are not low as you claim - plenty of well paid web design contracts on offer https://www.cwjobs.co.uk/jobs/ui-designer?Sort=4

Not that I think this guy was earning his income from web design..

[Fx: Zippp...]

25 years experience of working in IT.

Which is generally utterly irrelevant as I know loads of colleagues with less than 10 years experience who earn way more than me.

I don't dispute that some web designers (UI design wasn't what was mentioned originally and commands more) can earn good wedge, a lot don't though and in fact the majority don't.

ERM pays telephone number salaries as does Oracle architect, Storage specialists and Cisco CCIE (especially CTI specialists). Most of these chaps (inevitably very male dominated) don't "get out of bed" for less than £1K a day. Which is hilarious when they turn up on site and no one's prepared for them and they can't go into the data centre "white space" without H&S training (for those specialisms that need physical access to kit). So they sit drinking coffee and perusing Jobserve on their laptop on £££'s day rate waiting for the client to sort themselves out, which normally takes a couple of days. :D

Not dissing your knowledge, you're right, excellent web dev guys are rare and worth their rate but I'm wishing to counter the general perception that web devs are automatically rinsing it, most aren't in my experience.

For real print your own money earnings though, nothing comes close to barristers especially contract law and patent attorneys. Incredible hourly rates. :)

2 hours ago, fruitman said:

If he was a webdesigner working for UK-companies he could buy a new porsche like that one after a year working as a freelancer.

 

 

Nonsense. I know plenty of well paid IT contractors and web designers are probably one of the least sought after skill areas. They're paid a lot less than other more sought after skills and there are so many web designers the market's saturated so contractor rates are low. SAP or other ERM skills, especially architect level are top dollar. Contractors at BMW (they're not even employees) used to get 15% off a new one so effectively it was free as you ditched it after a year and got your money back. The car park was wall to wall Beemers except two Porches, belonging the SAP contractors.