ferdis

My wife has traveled with me to the UK several times over the past ten years on a 6-month visitor visa. She now wishes to apply for a 10-year visitor visa.

Vfsglobal says applicants should complete and pay for the application on GOV.UK. And after payment, they will be directed back to the VFS Global website to book the appointment. 

Unfortunately, this did not happen for us.

GOV.UK did not send us back to VFS Global after the PayPal payment. However, PayPal took the money from our account.

It has happened twice now. We have contacted GOV.UK multiple times by email and telephone, but they ignore our questions. The only solution they can offer is to request a refund, clear cookies and cache, and try again. They have also suggested using out-of-date web browsers (see attached).

Vfsglobal is unable to help either. They say GOV.UK handles all email and telephone inquiries. They did however, send a link for visa technical issues that no longer works www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/Home/ViewFAQ

The refund process takes up to 6 weeks, so we don't want to risk paying another £820. For all we know, it could happen again.

Has anyone else encountered similar issues? We have called and emailed the UK visa office many times but don't seem to be getting anywhere.

The crowd reaction here is a complete contrast to that of the Koh Tao re-enactment where skeptical onlookers watch on in silence as the scapegoats are forced through the motions. 

It may look like a mess but it works.....most of the time!

They already have a detailed map to my house, my wife's house papers, ID card, copies of passport, telephone number, bank book, bank letter, personal photo, photos of me and my wife in every room of the house including the bedroom, a witness, interviews with the neighbours, 90 day reports, address, passport number, copy of TM.7, marriage papers, children's birth certificates, details of parents etc. Plus all of the above signed and copied x 2. And then submit the same information every year!

I don't see why they need more information other than the above.

This could have ended a lot worse if it happened down some back ally away from the public eye. Fortunately the family were not seriously injured.

Good on you Laura for having the courage to speak out. I hope her facebook post goes viral, sadly it's the only way to make the relevant authorities sit up and take notice these days.

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Andy Hall‏@Atomicalandy

Samui court finds Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo guilty and sentences to death. Defense will appeal.

Disgusting

OP - would be most interested to hear how you get along when you return after your "under consideration" period. Were you stamped in for the rest of your extension period without any ado? Or were you, say, threatened with a further "under consideration" stamp unless you likewise made a 1,000 THB "donation" to the upkeep of their tea club?

Apart from her pocketing my 100 baht change and not giving me a receipt, everything else went smoothly.

I'll let you know how I get on when I collect my visa in 30 days time.

When I asked the officer why that was, she said "because we don't have kids we have to provide a witness". However, I'm not sure if this is the real reason.

My wife and I have two children together so this should be compelling enough evidence that our marriage is legit. Asking for a witness after the 3rd extension seems unnecessary to me.

This is just a heads-up to people doing marriage visa extensions at Udon Immigration, after all it may save you a little time and money. This particular officer has been known for shady practices over the years so it's good to be one step ahead.

I recently applied for my 1 year marriage visa extension at the Udon Thani immigration office. This is my 3rd year extension.

All my paperwork was in order however the lady immigration officer said I was missing a witness (with signed ID and house paper documents) to complete the application. I told the lady that I thought the witness was only required for the 1st year visa application however she insisted that this wasn't the case.

I didn't make plans for this so I was kind of put on the spot. The immigration officer then offered to be the witness for a fee of 500bt. My wife ignored this and luckily we were able to contact a friend of hers who had to drive across town with her ID and papers.

Can anyone confirm if witnesses are required or not for visa extensions? My visa has already been sent off to BKK for consideration however I'm curious to know if what she was saying was true or just a method for her to extort 500 baht out of me.

The immigration officer already took 100 baht from me when she failed to return my change from 2,000 baht. I will remember to take the exact change with me next time.

This was posted by an officer of the department of civil aviation. The lantern was stuck inside the A320 engine. I personally think they should ban the lanterns full stop.

Your photo show a bit of rice paper left by the lantern.....I wonder if the lantern was ingested as the reactor was winding down on the tarmac... in flight I think nothing would be left ,,especially rice paper...but I am not an aviation technician.

These lanterns have a wire frame at the base, you can see part of the lanterns metal frame if you look closely. The paper may not be a problem but the wire may have the potential to cause damage.

This was posted by an officer of the department of civil aviation. The lantern was stuck inside the A320 engine. I personally think they should ban the lanterns full stop.

6 tourists under 40 years old all dead on 1 island in 5 months. Where else in the world does that happen?

London, over 100 murders every year?

Do you know how many of those murders involved tourists?

Also London's population is considerably larger.

London population = 8.3 million

Koh Tao population = 1,300

Tourists visiting London 2014 18.4 million

Koh Tao tourists per year = 100,000

London average population including tourists per year = 26.7 million

Koh Tao average population including tourists per year = 101,300

It appears on the Thai language forums that 90% of people are dismissing the arrests as a cover up. From a Thai message board today. Translated into English:

"Come and ask me here. Come and ask me there. I am a Koh Tao resident, although my mom gave birth to me at Surat Tani. My family is very close to all the influential figures on this island, including the owner of this resort.

I want to tell the truth. I can't hold it any longer. I would like to tell "Trasher Page" that the murderers are not Burmese."That's all I want to say" and What "CSI LA Page" published, it is very close to the truth 97.8769%.

I would like to say that Koh Tao is just like a Kingdom of its own. The local mafia family can do whatever they want and get away with it. For example, in 2011, a bar owner got shot to death. Everybody in the island know who did it, but never had the nerve to speak out. People here are strange. They are wiling to cover up wrong doing for the local mafia. Thailand might be a democratic country, but in Koh Tao it is Feudalism."

A link is always welcomed...

Go into Facebook and type in "CSI LA". This is where a lot of the info is, as well as links to other sources.

You need to type "CSILA90210"

The time-stamp in photo that the lawyer is holding is white. Whereas the time-stamp in second corridor photo is a mix of white and black.

They could be different cameras with different settings, however if it's the same building with a single CCTV system I would have thought the time stamp would be the same on all images.

They both look like they're taken from the same camera because you can see a box in the far left of the corridor when you zoom in.

A photo visualisation of the beach safety zone...