Bird on the Wire

Hey, Potter, have you ever thought about being a politician?

I write that because you've espoused a load of unsubstantiated old flannel that is only intended to obfuscate the issue; i.e. your own lack of knowledge.

To quote Orchid of Siam's signature:-

"One of our OISC registered advisers is a Thai national who also works as a translator for the Home Office, UKBA, Police and HM Customs & Revenue."

Is the UKBA aware that one of their interpreters is also an immigration advisor? Surely that's a conflict of interest?

The way i see it is they can join the Mother can they not just arrive and exercise their rights as family members ?

Hang on, your the immigration advisor. Whyre you asking questions?

.. got the same reply everyone else gets re. applications now taking "around 3 months". im convinced if you complain your hovercraft is full of jellied eels you'd get the same reply....

Further exeplification of the tick box mentality that now pervades the UKBA.

Additional "word on da street" has it that Bangkok was in line to receive two new ECOs, but they failed their exams. How on earth can such an exam be failed? Surely the questionpaper simply requires that the budding ECO is able to tick a sufficient number of boxes within a defined timeframe?

Sources can't be named, but "da word on da street" has it that a manager from the British embassy in Lagos is to take over.

It's also suggested there's a new regional manager in place. She's apparently based at the Brit embassy in BKK and is responsible for UK visa stuff in South-East Asia. It's further suggested she's a bright, young thing who has done a couple of years at Number 10 but has never done immigration stuff.

..also copied it to gerry.grant's (the ECM) email address but got an automated response saying hes "out of the office until 31 august...

"Da word on da street" has it that Gerry Grant's off to Canberra next month for a 3-4 year stint and doesn't give a hoot about any enquiries he gets from the hoi polloi. I'll betcha he's not on his hols, but has just set his email to suggest he is.

..well as she is doing 4 hours a week voluntary work that should help towards that bit

Do you pay her for the other 164 hours?

Exactly What Is Required For Wifes Ilr

For her to be married to another bloke?

Judgin' by yer own posts, mate, all yer need is lots of dosh!

Having read this thread, it escapes me how it can be thought that the OP and his wife are trying to buck the system. That she entered the UK illegally is hardly down to the OP, as they appear to have met following her arrival. It seems to me that they've done the right thing by her returning to Thailand and applying for a visa to return, acknowledging her previously unlawful presence in the UK in to the bargain.

How is the OP meant to have done things differently?

Perhaps the official reason is career development, but the reality is the wheeze of tootling about at taxpayers' expense whilst pretending that one is holding back the hordes.

Your naivety, in these days of cynicism, is quite touching.

Didn't you write elsewhere the tired, old aphorism "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime"? That, to me, sounds as if you have pre-determined the matter.

You state that you can understand why the ECO/ECM have come to the conclusions that they have, but such a standpoint is not reflected in law. Therefore, you are countenancing ill-judged, visceral decision-making by the people at the Brit embassy in Bangkok. Fair enough, but you then must acknowledge that they refuse some applications just because they want to, and they will seek any trumped-up reference to the law to do so.

An immigration judge, surely, is as equally bound by the law as an ECO? If he decides to grant an appeal it's not on a whim, but because he thinks that legally the visa should be given, which, in turn, begs the question why the ECO didn't grant the visa at the time of application.

Oh, that's ok then! It's only a significant proportion of us!

If the cap fits..............

It's not a question of being given a second chance, though: it's a question of having the correct decision, in accordance with the law, made in the first instance. You've evidently already determined in your own mind that these 2 women are deserving of being refused simply because they previously entered the UK illegally, but that mindset is not reflected in the law. An ECO who lets such instinct cloud his view is not worthy of the position.

You see: have a thread on smoking and it brings out the anti-fag brigade.

But, you see, should someone develop loong cancer within the jangwat, they'll blame you: the smoker.

I think your signature speaks volumes.

I quite agree that in relation to other people, "some are arrogant, ignorant and/or inconsiderate and just don't care".

Seeing as uncle is so aware of others' feelings, yet is an admitted smoker, one must presume that he alerts the entire jangwat when he's about to spark up, just in case that someone within 2 yards might, 67 years later, develop "loong" cancer.

Ah, a Texan! Now their lot tried to join the British Commonwealth, but we wouldn't have 'em.

But you miss my point: life itself kills (please forgive the oxymoron). There are many more things to get wound up over than someone having a puff.

There are many "philia" in this world, one of the least worst being anglo.

Don't care what people do to THEMSELVES. Do care that they harm others.

That's an interesting point. How far does one take the concept of what constitutes harm to others? Personally, I have very little time for many other members of the human race, and perceive their very existence as causing me distress and harm (either wittingly or not), but even I would not dare suggest that they should therefore be excluded.

As a man who likes his chish and fips (with or without a gratuitous beer), I've always, perhaps mistakenly, put you in the anglophile bracket. I thought, therefore, you might have an appreciation of things "Blighty".

Nevertheless, there's a real point: that people who whinge about smoking will whinge about it wherever it occurs. Your puritanical streak, as manifested in this thread, is redolent of your Blighty-based forbears who made that voyage so many years ago.

Here in Blighty, the law says that smoking is allowed in public areas that are open on at least three sides. I believe baht buses are both public and open on 3 sides - QED

Double post.

...I have friends who live in Thailand, Are they made to learn to speak Thai? Do they have to sit a test to learn Thai culture?

If they want permanent residency, yes they do have to learn Thai and have a geographic and cultural knowledge of the country. It also costs a minimum of about £2000 and takes about two years for an application to be decided.

I can fully understand where you're coming from, but the EU has also unleashed marauding gangs of British piss-'eds on unsuspecting Dutch, Czechs, Poles etc. If there is a problem it is with the successive governments that have signed us up to such a system: you can't blame the individuals from taking advantage of a legitimate set up.