sumrit

I thought if you were out of the UK for more than 6 months you were nolonger entitled to NHS treatment. Assume he is being billed for his treatment here.

Am fairly sure the NHS will cover his medical costs ,as he is clearly a British citizen ,and has no money .

The NHS can't afford to,they're broke, they've spent all their money on the east european immigrants.

Hi,

Does anyone know the current expected turnaround times for VV applications please (assuming everything is OK with the paperwork etc) ? The application should be going in next week via the courier centre in Udon Thani.

Thanks.

I took my gf application into the UK visa centre in Bangkok last Friday and it was issued and ready for collection on Tuesday afternoon. Last year was the same,ready for collection two days after we took it in, but last year they phoned me to clarify a couple things first. This year it was issued without even a phone call.

My gf has just got another tourist visa to go over to the UK again and we're going over sometime in July. I'll let everybody know if we have any problems and I'll definately be going through the non EU gate with her this time.

Actually since LCD panels already are considerably cheaper to manufacture than CRT's and CRT based TV's are still costing a fraction of LCD TV's the current pricing has more to do with market forces than actual production costs.

No they're not. As an example over 12 years ago I remember a 14" crt costing just £7 to produce by CPT in Malaysia (which was/is part of Tatung), I can't remember exactly how much a large screen CRT was but I believe a 29" was about £25/30 and I know that they're cheaper to produce now(down to less than £20 as far as I can remember), or at least they were two years ago when I finished work. Just recently my friend from Tatung was telling me that since full production of LCD panels had commenced in China the cost of a 32" panel had come down from over 100$ to 75$ (US dollars) and they would continue to come down in price as production increased but at the moment they're still more expensive.

Test for a driving license takes one day and the cost is about less than 1% as in your home country.

And you are driving legal!!!!!

Gerd

I don't think they'd let him apply for a license with a Tourist Visa only, Gerd.

A friend of mine got a Thai driving licence in Pattaya in February whilst he was here on a tourist visa. Didn't have to take a test either, just produce his UK licence and do eyesight and perception tests. As far as I know you can only renew the licence for a 5 year one if you have a non immigrant visa. If you renew your licence whilst on a tourist visa they will only give you another one year licence. At least thats what he was told when he got his.

Hi!

I'm on the lookout for a new LCD/Plasma HD ready TV. Can anyone recommend which shops in Bangkok offer the best bargains? Also, for something around the 30,000 Baht mark, does anyone have any make/model recommendations?

Thanks!

Jez

The Bangkok Post of 29 May had a front page ad for a Tatung 32 inch LCD TV 'Onyx' at 19,900 available at Power Buy and Home Pro. Take a look if money is tight.

I used to work for Tatung in the UK several years ago (in fact thats how I first got involved with Thailand, they also have a factory here in Chonburi). They also make both LCD and Plasma TV's for Hitachi and Panasonic. A Thai friend of mine who still works there says that the cost of LCD panels are going to drop even further over the next year or so, so shop prices should come down even more as well.

There's also an organic 'system' that sounds impressive. I retired as a TV engineer two years ago so I haven't had much information since then but was told recently that Sony had started to put it into production.

You're thinking of OLED

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oled

Lifetime problems and a patent minefield - won't be showing up anytiime soon.

This was part of the article I had read. It was in one of the UK on line newspapers.

In the race for ever thinner displays for TVs, cell phones and other gadgets, Sony may have developed one to beat them all - a razor-thin display that bends like paper while showing full-colour video.

Sony Corporation posted video of the new 2.5 inch display on its' web page.

In the video, a hand squeezes the 0.3 millimetre (0.01 inch)-thick display, which shows color video of a bicyclist stuntman, a picturesque lake and other images.

Sony will present the research and video at an academic symposium in Long Beach, California, for the Society for Information Display this week, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said.

The display combines Sony's organic thin film transistor, or TFT, technology, which is required to make flexible displays, with another kind of technology called organic electroluminescent display, it said.

As with CRT and CRT back projection, the panel suffers from burn-in effect (high contrast in certain area of the screen will gradually wear out that area, appearing darker).

Unlike CRT's and back projection that use CRT's the image burn on a Plasma is not permanent and can be removed. Some plasma sets have a facility to do this built in to the customer menu although, especially if the image burn is particularly bad, the procedure must be repeated several times to be successful. Having said that I agree with you that Plasma TV's are on the way out and LCD TV's are improving 'daily'. There's also an organic 'system' that sounds impressive. I retired as a TV engineer two years ago so I haven't had much information since then but was told recently that Sony had started to put it into production. One other point, I'm surprised you didn't mention Sharp. They were always world leaders in LCD technology.

Sawasdee Sumrit,

Last April, 2006 i came through LHR airport with my then Thai fiancee. I went through the EU passport control and she went through the non EU passport control. She was then asked questions by the IO and i was waiting behing the IO The IO realised that i was waiting and the IO called me over to ask a few questions . The IO officer told me that i could have come through the non EU passport control with my fiancee to make things easier.I said that the signs had pointed me to the EU desk, but i was told it was ok to come through the non EU desk.

good luck

Scooty

Hi Scooty, glad to hear you had no problems at LHR. Itoo have been through LHR in the past (with a previous partner) without any problems and was able to stand behind the I.O.'s deck to wait, although this was several years ago. I'm sure most I.O.'s are very good I just happened to get a difficult one on a bad day. To those who suggest that in my situation I should have stood my ground, complained,etc, I am the sort of person that would do just that but my gf had already been waiting along time, I didn't know why, and the thought of me being taken off to a room somewhere to pursue the matter leaving my gf, when she did eventually get though, in the baggage hall with me nowhere to be found and her not knowing what to do made me bite my tongue and walk away. I think most people would have done the same.

I'll certainly go through the non EU queue with her next time we travel though.

Guys, my missus will be coming to the uk on her first visit via Gatwick - should I send her some money to stick in her wallet and also whats this business with TB - does she need a cert?

Not if she's on a visit/tourist visa, or any visa for less than 6 months for that matter.

The staff at the Immigration desks are instructed not to split up families so they are entitled to enter with you via the EU national desk.

I can understand the staff not wishing for a build up of cleared passengers hanging about behind them.

So can I, but when, after waiting patiently in the baggage hall for over 45 minutes, I go back through and politely ask how long she is likely to be I do not expect to be told "I've spoken to you once already, now piss off before I call the police and have you arrested" pointing to the door as she said it. Now I don't care how harrassed she was because they were short staffed, politeness costs nothing and in the time it took to be offensive she could have said the I.O. had been temporarily moved and there would be about an hours delay. We would have known what was happening and just sat down and waited. Somebody from within the baggage dept. had already asked what was wrong because we'd been hanging around for so long then he went to ask but came back without an explanation, saying he couldn't find out why there was a delay. She was just a typical British Jobsworth.

edited just to add that when I came through passprt control my girlfriend was about tenth in the queue and one of the other guy's wife was fourth. We should have only been waiting a few minutes and thats why, after more than three quarters of an hour we were getting concerned and went back through to ask. And we were polite when doing so.

From reading some of the answers here does it mean that I as a UK citizen/passport holder am allowed to go though the non EU passport checking desk with my Thai girlfriend? We've just applied for her second visit visa for July and I don't want last years experience to be repeated. Last year we arrived at Birmingham just before a load of tourist flights from Europe. I left my girlfriend in the 'non EU' queue while I went through EU queue, which was much quicker. After waiting the other side of passport checking desk for about 5 minutes I, and two other men waiting for their wives/gf were told we couldn't wait there and had to go through to the baggage hall. We stood the other side of the doors looking through for them but after another 15/20 minutes one of the I.O's came over, told us to move away and shut the doors. There were plenty of people coming through but not our girlfriends and nobody would tell us what was happening so after waiting another half hour we went back into the 'passport hall' to see if we could see them, only to be told by the same I.O. that she had spoken to us before and if we didn't leave immediately she would have us arrested. My gf finally came through 45 minutes later. I had been waiting for her for over one and a half hours and during that time nobody would tell me what the problem was. My gf said there was no real problem,they just seemed short staffed, and when all the tourist flights arrived they took the I.O. off the 'non EU' desk to help process the tourists. All the non EU passport holders were left standing in the queue for an hour and a half. Simple explanation, why the hel_l couldn't they just tell us!!! To add insult to injury when we finally got our bags my girlfriends was damaged. At least Emirates were very good, they promised her a new suitcase and one was delivered to our home within a few days.

Thanks for the reply, Ive just looked again at the player manual

and it say's ....This Player cannot play the CD-R / RW disks which contain other

than CD-DA or MP3 / DivX data the player is a Panasonic CQ-D1703W CD / MP3 / DVD player

I've got the same system in my car (it was already installed by Mitsubishi when I bought it) and I've had no problems. It plays any disc in any format, CD,VCD,MP3 and DVD, both original and copies. For converting/copying discs I use a'Roxio Easy Media Creator 8' program. Maybe it's the program your using to do the copying thats the problem. I had a friend recently who was trying to put all his home video recordings onto DVD. He was using Nero to do this but found the DVD's would only play on a computor and some 'cheap' DVD players (badly, kept blocking), they wouldn't play on any quality DVD players. I recopied them using Roxio and then they would then play on any machine. I didn't burn from his original video I just copied his faulty Nero disc. Try it, you've got nothing to lose, except a couple of blank discs.

I've just been able to get back onto TV for the first time since Friday (I live in Chonburi) although I could access any other web site. One thing I did find out was when I did a broadband speed test I got a good speed from any server I tried except Singapore. The Singerpore server gave no response at all.

Hi Sumrit,

By issuing your girlfriend her first visa, the embassy has accepted that you are in a relationship, so all you need is to "top up" that evidence and show that you are still together. To be honest, I wouldn't bother with the photos if you have other evidence that you're still together. Having said that, it would do no harm to print off a few and submit them with the application.

I'd have the tenancy agreement and your residency certificate translated into English. I'd also spell out your circumstances, too, in the covering letter, stating that your still together, you have the funds, and your circumstances have otherwise not materially changed.

Scouse.

Thanks again Scouse, I was going to put everything in a covering letter, just wasn't sure if they would need proof of our relationship from the beginning or just since the last visa.

Hi Sumrit,

You will have to submit evidence of your continuing relationship and up-to-date evidence of your financial standing etc.

Scouse.

Thanks Scouse,

Finance is no problem, I've money in the bank in the UK plus a 'medical pension' from the company I work for. As for proof of relationship i've got our house rental contract in her name along with my residency certificate for the same address from theThai immigration (their both in Thai, will they have to be translated into English?), flight details from a recent holiday we had together, about 300 photo's from a village wedding we had last December and 300+ photo's from our recent holiday and other places we've visited. All the photo's are on my PC, will the embassy insist on printed photo's, and if so how many is enough, or will they accept me just putting them all on a memory card and giving them that?

Hi,

My gf is soon going to apply for her 2nd visit visa to the UK. Our situation is this, I have lived in Thailand with my gf for almost two years but have to go back to the UK every year for a medical. She got here 1st visa when I went back to the UK last July and we stayed for about 10 weeks. I have go again this July and want to take her with me again, for about 1 month this time. What I'd like to know from anybody whose already been through this is do we have to resubmit all the information again to prove our relationship etc or will the embassy have kept a record of it from her visa last year?

Something else for men to consider when working out if you've paid enough contributions. Between the ages of 60 - 65 any man not working and not claiming any unemployment benifits will still have his contributions credited free. So, for example, if somebody retires at 55 on a private pension/means after working full time since the age of 16 they will have made 39 years worth of contributions. the government will give 5 years of contributions for the years when they're 60 - 65 making the required total of 44 years to qualify for a full state pension. So that person would not have to make any contributions from the age of 55. The only downside is that you must be living in the UK during the '60 - 65 year old' period to qualify. If you are living abroad they will not give the contributions. Not sure if living abroad only means outside the EU or not but it might help in deciding whether to make contributions for the earlier 'retired years'. I think you also have to ask for the contributions to be credited, its not done automatically. If you don't ask you will get the standard request to make class 3 contributions to meet the required number of contributed years.

Nora Jones - Come away with me

There has been some talk about teams fielding weaker sides in the league because of other commitments.

Take Liverpool today for example....hardly any regulars in the side ...saving all their best players for the European Cup Final and that is not till 23rd May.

Is it just lucky for Fulham that they played them on this particular day? Or is it VERY unfair on the teams around them.

Who would have predicted that Fulham would win if Liverpool were playing their first team?

There was a lot of hasle when Boro left Mark Viduka out of an EPL game a month or so ago because they were saving him for the cup replay with MU?

Boro could have fielded a weaker team against Wigan today, but they did not , and they have nothing to play for,

Are Liverpool guilty of showing dissrespet to other clubs by their team selection?

Fulham winning a match they had no right to win (no wins in 10 games and beat the European Cup Finalists ) could cost another side their Premiership Status worth MILLIONS.

What do you guys think?

All clubs have a squad of players these days not just a first team. Manchester United recently had eight players out injured including their entire first choice back four and one of their first choice strikers. They had to play squad players then, including playing a midfielder at fullback because they'd run out of fit defenders (and they kept on winning). Nobody would let a club postpone a game until their first choice players are fit would they. If these players are good enough to play then, then the manager should be able to pick them for any game he wants to without fear of being punished for doing so.

Just another thought, I wouldn't mind betting Chelsea play a team full of reserves tonight just so that John Terry and co. don't have to suffer the indignation of clapping the Manchester United team onto the pitch. I hope Fergie puts out a team of reserves as well.

I rent a two bedroom/two bathroom detached house in Chonburi for 6500 baht per month. I believe a two bedroom town/terraced house is about 3000/3500 baht per month on average.

When my girlfriend applied for a visitors visa last year somebody from the embassy phoned me, not her, to clarify a couple of things (I live in Thailand). She got her visa without any problems. Talking to other people it seems the embassy phone people in this way quite often instead of arranging a time consuming formal interview.

Good luck.

They won't issue Thai licences to tourist visa holders as of 1 Oct 06.

Driving licences have never been available to holders of Tourist Visas. ....and that's the truth.

I went to get my Thai licence last month at the Bang Lamung office and had no problems but while I was there I'm sure I read a notice saying that people with a tourist visa can renew their Thai licence but it will only be renewed for one year and not the five years we get with a one year non imm visa.

Thanks folks,

I figured it would be a confusing issue once they get to Thailand, I think the main problems is the fact they would only be shipped from my office in the UK to the docks in Bangkok, I chose this option because it's dirt cheap.

Maybe I would be better off taking the door to door option, but then it gets a lot more expensive, most of this kit depreciates fully within the next 12 months and if it costs me a small fortune to have it sent over I may as well just dump the stuff in the UK.

I'm not really too bothered if anything gets damaged, if it isn't here in Thailand it's useless to me anyway so it's a small risk.

http://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/ looks interesting though, cheers.

Shipping door to door may look expensive but its still a lot cheaper than paying tea money to get your belongings out from the port this end. Before I was told about seven seas I shipped a large box containing my PC etc. and other personal items from the UK to Thailand. I paid £150 to send everything to the port in Bangkok and over 11000 baht (about £160) in tea money to get the box out of the port and delivered to my home in Chonburi about 60 km away. Providing the quote is not exccessive I would definately go 'door to door' to garrantee the price and give somebody else the problem of dealing with Thai customs etc.

Try getting a quote from this company, they collect and deliver door to door so they should advise you and include all costs in their quote. I've been told they are also very competitive pricewise.

http://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/