vinny

Good advice from Scouse regarding Denmark.

Good luck on Tuesday.

As Souse pointed out, the "purpose of travel" should be "ACCOMPANYING FAMILY MEMBER of a EU or European Economic Area citizen family member" and not "tourism". The reason for visit falls under "FAMILY: accompanying family member" on the Italian Minsistry of Foreign Affairs' own webpage: Do you need a visa?

A case of the EU falling prey to the "Zohner effect."? See: How Gullible Are We When it Comes to Science ?

Contact details for the Education Counsellor at the Embassy can be found at: OEA London and Officers

From Office of Educational Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy, London

Your wife should contact her loan provider directly to get the figures.

Russia is soon to be one country where Thai Passport holders will not need visas. See: Exemption Pact

More from the Nation 22 Dec 2005:

How Surakiart bungles his own UN campaign

Published on Dec 22, 2005

Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai has never ceased to amaze me with his clumsy, eager-beaver diplomacy. His quest for the position of United Nations secretary-general (UNSG) amply demonstrates his bungling working style.

Surakiart succeeded in receiving Asean’s support for his quest about one and a half years before Kofi Annan’s term ends by running a pushy campaign, particularly in regards to how he went about gaining support from Singapore, the last Asean member to give in. Then he sent his permanent secretary to ask a Taiwanese diplomat to lobby his case with the 25 or so UN members that still have diplomatic relations with Taiwan – even though Surakiart has previously said publicly that Thai-Taiwan relations are strictly economic. However, the most disgraceful tactic was reserved for his treatment of Supachai Panitchpakdi, when Thailand’s permanent representative to the UN in New York was asked to coax various diplomats into complaining to Kofi Annan that Kofi’s appointment of Supachai to the highest position in United Nations Conference on Trade and Development would hurt Surakiart’s chance of becoming the next UNSG!

And just before he lost the foreign affairs portfolio, Surakiart made a major bungle when he tried to force our ambassador in Washington to retain the services of two firms providing lobbying services, which had ties to US Vice President Dick Cheney. To our ambassador’s credit, not only did he refuse to sign the wasteful contracts, he also recommended that Surakiart withdraw from the race.

But such events are minor affairs compared to Surakiart’s dealings, directly or by proxy, with the Sri Lankan government.

Earlier this year, after the name of Jayantha Dhanapala was announced as Sri Lanka’s candidate for the UNSG job, the director-general of the South Asian Department of Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Sri Lankan ambassador to the ministry to hear Thailand’s, or should I say Surakiart’s, displeasure because of this announcement. The ambassador did not put up long with this gesture, and soon left. This policy of deliberate discourtesy continued when the Foreign Ministry rejected the ambassador’s request for extra security for his president for her short private visit to Bangkok on her way home from Tokyo.

After such unprofessional and unfriendly treatment of Sri Lanka, one could assume that Surakiart would not pursue this delicate issue further. However, early last month, Virachai Virameteekul, our vice minister of foreign affairs, who is known to be close to Surakiart, visited Colombo, ostensibly to preside over the Thai Foreign Ministry’s kathin ceremony. In reality his main purpose was to call on the Sri Lankan foreign minister, whom he met on November 4. During the private meeting, Virachai effectively offered this deal to the Sri Lankan side: if the country withdrew its candidate, Thailand would give Dhanapala any senior post in the UN that he wanted.

This astonishing proposal was rejected by Sri Lanka because, it was explained, its candidate was more than qualified to be UNSG. Perhaps Sri Lanka should have replied “We do not take bribes.”

After this event it must have dawned on Surakiart that a major faux pas has been committed. And so it became the task of our vice minister to formally explain to Sri Lanka that the offer was merely Surakiart’s “own personal initiative”.

With such chilling of Thai-Sri Lankan relations, it was not surprising that only a low-key official reception, without the participation of the countries’ foreign ministers, was held at Thailand’s Foreign Ministry on November 21, to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

However, this was not the end of Surakiart’s attempt to get rid of Dhanapala. At the Asean Foreign Ministers Dinner in Kuala Lumpur on December 8, which he managed to gatecrash, Surakiart opined to the Asean foreign ministers that “many think the Sri Lankan is not a serious candidate”, adding his claim that the Nigerian foreign minister had “offered to talk to the Sri Lankan candidate to get him to withdraw”. If this is true, obviously our Nigerian brother was unaware of Surakiart’s failure to convince the Sri Lankan candidate to back down by other means. Otherwise, the Nigerian would not have dared to offer his services in the role of “big brother”. One may legitimately ask whether our African brother really knows what he may be getting into.

As an official candidate of a government which is known to be anti-UN, as well as of a regional organisation with one member annually being condemned by the UN for human rights violations, Surakiart surely has enough problems on his hands – problems which he needs to explain to the international community, especially to members of the UN Security Council who in reality are the ones will who determine who will be the next UNSG. I am therefore puzzled why he would want to aggravate further his already wobbly international standing by running such a clumsy, unethical and uncouth campaign.

One may conclude from his campaign that Surakiart not only wasted vast amounts of Thai taxpayers’ money, but also destroyed the good reputation of Thai diplomacy – both as a refined method of civilised communication and as an honest method of attaining foreign policy objectives.

Diplomacy is now an instrument of the maverick, the uncouth, the ignorant and the egotist, who apparently are primarily interested in fulfilling their personal ambitions.

Asda Jayanama was permanent representative of Thailand to the United Nations from 1996 to 2001.

Asda Jayanama

Special to The Nation

A word of warning.

A friend had a French student visa to study in France for a year. Before leaving for France, she applied for a UK visitor visa at the British Embassy in Bangkok. However, they did not issue her the visa because she was going to be in France for a year. They advised that she should apply at the British Embassy in France during her stay there.

So, while she was in France, she had to travel a long way to the British Embassy in Paris. There, after seeing the date stamp placed by the British Embassy in Bangkok, they refused to process her visa application. They said that they would have to send all her documents back to Bangkok and it would take a few months. She tried to point out to them that the British Embassy in Bangkok had told her to reapply in France. They just would not listen.

She decided to forget it and the UK lost a tourist.

Look at the visa. If it says "MULT" next to "NUMBER OF ENTRIES" then the holder can enter the UK as many times as he/she likes, within the validity of the visa. "MULT" is stands for "multiple".

Thanks scouser.

You are quite right. Entry clearances for Schengen countries are endorsed "Schengen" irrespective of the purpose for which they're issued. Looking at the Schengen visa application form, there are indeed many types of visa:

Airport transit; Transit; Short stay; Long stay; Individual; Collective.

There are also many purposes:

Tourism; Business; Visit to Family or Friends; Cultural/Sports; Official; Medical reasons; Other (please specify).

Perhaps Guesthouse can enlighten us as to what type and purpose his wife's Italian (Schengen) visa had.

After an hour of back and forth she was eventually told that becuase I am not yet an Italian resident that she could only get a tourist visa for no more than 90 days duration, not exactly the news we wanted to hear.

Isn't a Schengen visa equivalent to a tourist visa? Guesthouse's wife got a 1 year Schengen visa while Lordsux's wife was offered a 90 days tourist visa.

Schengen visas may be useful for you. In particular, Right of Union citizens and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States

Rereading Guesthouse's comments, his wife was first given a Schengen visa:

My wife was issued a FREE 1 year Schengen Visa and instructed to report to the Police for registration within 8 days of arrival in Italy.

We reported to the police station where both my wife and I registered for residence. My registration was simply sign here. Her registration was full finger/palm print and photograph. A slip of paper was stapled in our passports and three months later we received the permanent residence “PERMESSO DI SOGGIORNO PER L’INTERESSATTO”.

You can even see what's going on from their live feeds in the comfort of your own home.

See Checkpoint Webcam and, in particular, Bangkok International Airport

Italian Embassy Diplomatic personnel can be found at: Directory and Office Hours

Perhaps the person conducting your wife's interview at the Italian Embassy was not familiar with EEA family permit rules. EEA family permits are not very commonly asked for. For example, in 2004-2005, the British Embassy in Bangkok received 43,511 visa applications. Of these, only 61 were for EEA family permits. See UKvisas Global Statistics 2004-05.

I would get in touch with someone senior at the Italian Embassy, such as Mr. Gianluca Greco, Counsellor, or Ms. Sabina Santarossa, First Secretary, to see if they can review your case.

In general, if she has completed her education, then she should really pay back her loans. If she does not, then her guarantor (parents?) will have to pay them.

If she pays back in full, out of Thailand loans will be calculated at the current exchange rates.

She should read the conditions of her loan. It may be that her loan repayment conditions are extremely generous, implying an extensive loan subsidy. Example: Repayments are spread over 15 years following a two-year grace period, with the repayment percentage fixed at very low rates initially and rising progressively over time; repayments are in nominal terms and the rate of interest charged is only 1 per cent.

Have a read: Student loans in Thailand (English Language)

Comments from Scientific American regarding the Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division website:

Despite a newfound sympathy for the plight of the employed, one can still wonder just what the heck the people with the job of being city councilors in Aliso Viejo, Calif., were thinking in March. They had scheduled a vote on banning foam cups at city events, because the dangerous compound dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO) is used in their manufacture. DHMO is, of course, a clever chemi-calumnious way to say "water." The council members were probably all steamed up by a subtly satiric Web site (www.dhmo.org) that lists some of the dangers associated with DHMO and points out that it is used in the production of Styrofoam. The Web site also includes warnings such as a danger of "death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities"; "prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage"; and DHMO "is a major component of acid rain." That's drowning, frostbite and the rain part, for those keeping score at home.

The Web site also states that "research conducted by award-winning U.S. scientist Nathan Zohner concluded that roughly 86 percent of the population supports a ban on dihydrogen monoxide." In 1997 Zohner was a 14-year-old high school student in Idaho who won a science fair with his survey about DHMO. He cited the potential negatives, as on the Web site, and 43 of the 50 people he asked thought the compound should be banned.

Some Web criticism about the Aliso Viejo ruckus was aimed at environmentalists, who were accused of having engendered a sky-is-falling mentality across our great nation. I just assumed, however, that the ease with which Zohner's subjects and the city council got punked showed the need for better science education. Which might also decrease the misunderestimation of some jobs, such as quarterback or global climate researcher.

in the 3 years from 2000 some 12,000 Thai students were smitten by cupid's bow whilst in the UK and contracted marriages which led to their gaining residence.

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Can you give the source of your information?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, according to my recollection it was in the Times circa Sept. 2003.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank you. I think that your source was incorrect. According to Control of Immigration: statistics United Kingdom 2004 (cm 6690) the total number of people from Thailand granted settlement (should include students via marriage, etc) were:

Year: 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004

Number: 955; 1,260; 1,335; 2,020; 985

See Table 5.5 Grants of settlement by nationality, excluding EEA nationals and Switzerland, 1994-2004, page 78.

It is nowhere near 12,000.

in the 3 years from 2000 some 12,000 Thai students were smitten by cupid's bow whilst in the UK and contracted marriages which led to their gaining residence.

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Can you give the source of your information?

We just had the birth certificate translated. They translated only the front of the birth certificate.

I rather liked the comments (in bold) made by Peter Knight, printed in the Bangkok Post Postbag on 06/12/2005:

British Embassy (the ongoing saga)

I totally agree with the letters in POSTBag with reference to the attitude of the staff at the British Embassy in Bangkok.

On submitting correct and complete documentation for my long-time partner's third holiday visa to the UK, I too was very rudely addressed by a young, officious and arrogant Brit.

I reminded him that he represented our Queen and I would not be spoken to like that. I had no further problems.

Incidentally I wonder if our Ambassador reads the Bangkok Post?

PETER KNIGHT

Rangsit

We used the Interlanguage Translation Center in Bangkok. I'm not sure if they are licenced or not but the British Embassy accepted the translation. A birth certificate translation from Thai into Engish costs 300 Baht. You can call them on 02 254 1677, 02 252 3877, fax 02 255 1998, for their nearest branch most convenient to you. You can fax them the Thai Birth Certificate beforehand and collect the translated one when they are finished. Don't forget to write down the correct names of Father, Mother and Child in English for them.

If your child has dual British-Thai nationality, I would not get him/her a tourist visa for the UK. I would get the child:

1. Thai Passport with a Certificate of Entitlement to the Right of Abode placed in the Thai Passport by the British Embassy; or

2. Thai Passport and British Passport

For Thai Passports, see Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand

For British Passports, see: Passport Services

For British Passport photo requirements, see: Vital information for all customers on Photograph standards and, in particular, Passport Photo Guide. One photo has to be countersigned by someone acceptable who knows you or your wife for at least 2 years.

See also Dual Nationality Kids for more opinions and experiences.

If your baby is to be born in the UK, make sure your GP knows as soon as possible so that he can make the necessary arrangements. I have read that some hospitals require 10 months notice!

Hi,

Just a quickie here;

when applying for a settlement visa for a thai wife to the uk does she have to provide proof that she will return? as with the visitors visa?

surely if your planning to SETTLE then you dont plan to return?

thanks,

Ross.

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You are correct. If she applying for a settlement visa to the UK, then she does not have to provide proof that she will return to Thailand.