CbrLad

As I said before its a total lottery, your girlfriend was one of the lucky ones, but you probably filled out the application well and provided all the proper paperwork unlike most.

WITH A NAME LIKE 'OLLIE' SURELY THERE IS ONLY ONE PRICK IN THIS FORUM!

... rant rant rant...

If every Brit who is going to apply for a tourist visa for his girlfriend in the future does all the paperwork perfectly and fills the application form in properly will the embassy suddenly start saying 'yes' to all of them - I think not because they still can only grant so many visas per week.

So what are the answers?

This post is utter rot. There are no quota's there are no vendetta's. The staff have a job which is to make a judgement. Unfortunatly from time to time that judgement doesn't go the way we would want. Sadly for those who it doesn't go their way they are generally too blind to see the reasons why. And yes the staff make it hard but it is that way for a reason, rightly or wrongly. Also the person applying is the Thai, the Brit citizen (or Australian in my case) are not the ones doing the applying, so get your facts straight.

In the first post it would appear as if the staff suspected that the applicant was lying. None of us can say for sure if she was or wasn't, but that is clearly what the persona interviewing her felt. In that case automatic refusal of the visa application.

Now not all perfectly filled in visa's will get approved and I would be certain that none will be approved if they are not perfectly filled in. But if the applicatant (and remember it is them applying not us) has addressed the issues, and provided proff they can support themselves (albeit with the help of 'us' as their sponsor), have a reason to return and have not lied then the visa application should go through no problems at all.

As I said in the first para the staff have nothing against the applicants at all and there is certainly no government policy except to ensure those issued with tourist visa's will 'more than likley' comply with their visa conditions.

Oh my GF applied, provide honest answers, provided the proof and was granted a visa within the week without interview. No she was not lucky, she addressed the issues honestly and got the visa. Subsiquently she came to the UK, complied with her visa conditions and also with her orginal intentions. Next time it should be even easier.

We got 'married', in the village but never found the time to have it registered, so we got, 'officially', married at a register office in the U.K for the family to attend.

This is what my GF and I are going to do. Thai wedding with her family in Thailand which will not registered then fly to Aus and have another wedding with my family which will be the legally binding one.

....

I am a bit more proactive in this area. When I see attitude or personal judgement displayed from people that are in position to make decisions I react, as I think it is unfair to be treated in a way that is less than what other people recieve. But that is another story.

...

Interesting attitude that one. Personal judgment is what they are being paid to do. They are paid to look at the facts and make a personal judgment on those facts.

I like the bit about the bags not inflating and people hyper ventilating. The bags are NOT meant to infliate, so they could well have been working. As for the hyper ventilatiing, I have no doubt everyone was scared out of the whits, so that would be a natural thing. To me it sounds like a decompression of sort, although it should be noted that cabin pressure is provided by the aircon, so it is quite feasible that there was an aircon problem.

I recall flying from Darwin to Brisbane a few years back on a Qantas 737 that had one aircon pack out of action. As it happened on the ground before flight they decided to take off anyway but flew at a lower altitude.

I had an mms delivered to my phone 3 weeks after it was sent but from Thailand to UK.

That was using the same 2 networks (both phones have AIS sim cards, Voda network service in the UK) .

Maybe they take time?

Anytime I send a MMS on Voda to my GF who is with One 2 Call(AIS) she gets a message that directs her to a website to retireve the message. I am assuming that either she has not subscribed to receive MMS, or for some reason Voda thinks her phone is not capable (networks share this kind of information) so sends the link instead.

Thanks Boof and Mac

I cant begin to tell you how happy I am,I am sure they will have some sort of community here in Perth just a matter of tracking it down,I do know where a Thai temple is so I will be checking it out when I get the chance.I have tried most of the restaurants here in Perth.

Maybe you guys know we were married in Thailand legally according to Australian and Thai laws,what I need to know is do I have to contact birth deaths and marriages here in Perth or would the Oz embassy in Thailand have already lodged it on my behalf.

One very happy Oz farang

Mike

If you were legally married in Thailand, Ie you registered with the Ampole then that is all you need to do. Your marriage will be recognised by Australian law but it will not be registered in Australia as it is registered legally in Thailand. You cannot be registered in 2 places.. As such neither you nor the Embassy need to do any more.

But When you go out Of the Schengen countries Your point of Deprture must be the same as your point of Arrival. If you first arrive in Spain you must leave from Spain.

Never heard of that one before. Where is the reference to this?

I thought that if you applied for say a 6 week holiday visa they put a 6 month one in the passport but they expected you to honour what you applied for?

My partner asked for 6 months in 2006 they issued 3 months but inserted a 6 month multi entry.When i contacted them they said yes by law you can stay 6 months but you applied for 3 we expect you back or it could jepordise any future applications ?

What visa did you apply for ???

You are kinda right. You are legally allowed to enter for what ever the visa says, not what you tell them. The issue is next time. If you said 6 weeks but stayed 6 months they may think you lied in the first app or have doubts about your true intentions. The rule is to do as you say and IF there was a reason to change document it and provided as part of the 2nd app.

I'm in Spain now and we were able to get my Thai girlfriend a Shenzen visa to come over and visit. She picks it up in a few days and she is permitted to travel to Madrid and the other Shenzen nations. I'm curious about some logistics if anybody can help.

Specifically, how soon after she arrives can she leave Spain and is she allowed to re-enter? Is her Visa the same as mine (I'm American) where I am allowed to freely roam around the EU countries as I please, or are there restrictions?

What I'd like to do is leave now (bored of Paella...) and go to Holland and have her catch a flight from Madrid to Holland when she arrives and meet me over there. Is that possible? Would she then be allowed to go with me to France and back to Spain later?

Any details appreciated.

And this forums participants are awesome. You guys have been extremely helpful in me getting this visa, both through direct questions and from old threads...I'd be glad to provide any information I can on how we were able to get the visa...either here or via PM, even if you see this thread in a year Thanks a lot for the help guys. You've brought some happiness to this farangs life.

For one it only allows travel to other Schengen states, not to all EU members. Notable exceptions being the UK and the Rublic of Ireland. There is a major difference so just be clear about that. 2nd the way the whole thing works is there is no border control so she and you can travel to any Schengen state as easily as you can move between states in the US for example. Even the flights will be just like a domestic flight. So what you proposed is fine so long as she doesn't enter a non Schengen state.

Hi not need to have a translator for wedding unless she cant speak or understand english, we didnt have one and wasnt issue at all...you can also get married on tourist visa without any problems.

I applied in Thailand for my girlfriend and she got a 12 month TV with mutilple entry.

on her second trip july 07 we got married in church and then applied for spouse visa no problem. now she has bridging visa should have new PR visa by mid OCtober.

notice of intent to marry form has to be filled out and signed 31 days prior to marriage with whoever will marry you

Enjoy and good luck

It is funny I should see this reply, as I have just received one from the celebrant I have choosen with the same advice. So long as he is happy she understands then no problem. I cannot see him any issue so should be good. Date now set for Feb which will be good.

We've also used wood / orchids / chocolate as declaration items.

Before you start, I know chocolate doesn't need to be declared, but it is done to point out the stupidity of one of their rules.

As a side line, the Aussie (and NZ) shows of Border Security have been a great help in explaining what can't be brought in & sometimes why. TW watches regularly & generally now can pick out what they have done wrong. She now understands it's not right to bring back a large qty of pirate DVD / CDs or Thai foods.

Well actually chocolate does need to be declared, it is food. Just because they will allow you in with it doesn't mean next time you can just ignore it. All FOOD needs to be declared. I always laugh at border control with the people who bring in food, I can imagine chocolate, no this not food this chocolate.

The question about your misses though what is wrong with bringing back food? So long as you declare it and accept what AQIS allows you to bring in you are doing nothing wrong. It is only wrong to not declare it.

The Aussies can be pretty bad too.

I agree with that - Sydney can be a right pain.

When the 'random inspections' have you asked for by name, randomness ceases to be.

I now ask for their photo ID card before handing anything over. That seems to put a scare into them, & they'll call their boss with preference to providing the ID.

The boss will happily point out that complaints against their staff *MUST* be done there & then & only on their forms. Guess that makes it easier to shed the evidence & say there was no complaints.

These days, I just say I was on a farm - whether I was or not.

As for the US: Wouldn't go there. I don't appreciate the way tourists are treated & I don't willingly go to countries controlled by terrorists.

You don't get random searches in Australia, well Sydney anyway. If you have some to declare you go to the red line and show them what you have. If you don't you go to the green line then your bag is x-rayed. If you are specificaly asked to go to the red channel it isn't random it is because you have been targeted for some reason, THAT IS NOT RANDOM. This has happened to me once when the sniffer dog found something, which I later found out was fruit residue in the bag I take to work every day, it was enough to set the dog off. But that was a not a random thing, it was as a result of the dog. Others get targeted by the myriad of people who are looking and watching what is going on, the sad thing is if someone fits the profile once they will probably fit it everytime so will think they are being victimised, but sadly that is the way it is.

Oh one trick if you have something to hide take some wood in. AQIS will always want to check wood and for some reason after they see it they very rarley check anything else in your bag and then send you on your way without a bag x-ray.

cbrlad, we plan for her to return to the UK in December, which will be 4 months after she returned to Thailand after only staying for 1 month in England. I'm not sure whether this is too soon or not, I don't think it is, but I don't have any real experience in this. Our reason for her to come back to the UK is so that she can stay longer in the UK and experience winter time with a view to getting a settlement Visa next year if she is sure she can live in the UK. This is similar to what I put on my original sponsors letter.

Lee

That is why I put too soon in inverted comma's, who is to say what is too soon? The problem could be if it appears as if she is 'living' in the UK by default by using tourist visa's. A lot of that will depend upon how long she stayed the first time (regardless of weather she complied with what she said the first time) and because it is still a tourist visa if she has a reason to return and all the other business. I hope it turns out ok, you clearly are doing the right thing to give her as much experiance in the UK without going through the steps to get a spouse visa which would be a waste if she got there only to find out she couldn't hack it.

Can't you just wait 3 more days and apply for the 2nd visa on the 5th November?

Jimmy

In this case it would seem to be the obvious thing to do, but I am curious about the answer. My GF (soon to be wife) will be applying for a 2nd UK tourist visa with about 2 months to run on her current tourist visa. Her 2nd entry will be about 4 weeks after the first has experired.

My concern and I would think for the orginal poster too is not that the old visa is still valid, but because a second trip is planned "so soon" after the first.

what I forgot to mention is I am Aussie, I am in the UK on a contract that has about 2 years to run. After that we will either extend, if we still both like it (the UK drives me nuts so don't think that will happen) otherwise we will head back home to Aus or off to where ever the work is.

Why does it drive you nuts? Is it cos we have a better Rugby team than you Sorry, couldn't resist.

Good one, that game was god awful, neither side deserved to win. But no that isn't what drives me nuts but it doesn't help!!!.

What drives me nuts is the general attitude of people. People seem so selfish and bad mannered, it has me amazed. Specificaly people in the service industry over here really get my goat, especially in shops. They give crap service, are generally rude and you are not allowed to have a go at the lazy bastards because everyone is entitled to work without any form of harassment. (see one of my other posts about my Boots experiance). Maybe it is a London thing, I don't know but it really gets my goat. Oh then don't start me on the manner in which people travel on the tube in particular, anyone would think they are the only people in the world.

Give me good old Asian or even Aussie service anyday. Although Aus is going the same way in terms of general selfishness, but at least service is ok and supermakets chicks will pack your bag as you scan rather than scan so fast you cannot pack properly then sit on the <deleted> for a minute whilst you catch up.

In terms of job openings for Thais in London, outside of the restaurant trade its hard to think of many. I know a few Thai grads here, one or two doing similar jobs, or even better ones than they had back home. However, most of them took the further study route & part time work, bar/restaurant/shop etc for a year or two before trying to get their feet on the ladder. Thai Airways, Tourist Board etc.....you would probably be wasting your time, its who you know, lots of applicants. Very few other jobs where Thai is needed.

Having said that there are opportunities here for her, there are lots of funded training schemes available via jobcentres that lead to job placements and a look at some of the possibilities should be one of your first steps. The important thing to realise is the fact that the countries are so radically different that there is a familiarization curve that is quite steep, especially when you want to step into the workplace. You, or rather she, have to lower the sights a little in order to gain that experience, one Thai I know now has a very comfy banking job but she would be the first to admit that working behind a bar was at least as important as the M.Sc she did here. And that can be a problem because not all Thais, especially graduates, would be prepared to do such a "low" job, and not all husbands would be happy with it either. But there are alternatives to bar work, anything with lots of interaction, more familiarity with colloquial English is a help.

Making Thai friends, especially at the start, is something that should be done with caution as many of the posts here and on similar threads will bear witness to. Contrary to expectations it also often exacerbates feelings of homesickness rather than helps. English friends, maybe via work or college is a better route to go down.

Its not always so easy but it can work out. Good luck.

Thanks for that it is more or less what I though. The GF currently works for a smallish company that has its roots in Europe and has an office in London. I have been telling her she should use those contacts to get contacts, but she tells me she hasn't told them she is leaving yet because she is scared they will replace her early if she tells them now.

As for setting up a business as someone said, what I forgot to mention is I am Aussie, I am in the UK on a contract that has about 2 years to run. After that we will either extend, if we still both like it (the UK drives me nuts so don't think that will happen) otherwise we will head back home to Aus or off to where ever the work is.

This has been an interesting thread, it shows how adaptable Thai people can be. I wonder if much of that is because many move to larger cities away from their family at a young age.

This is something that has been worrying me about my relationship with my girlfriend, who all things going well will be my wife in Feb. She knows that marrying me means she will have to move away from her homeland, there is just no way I could move to Thailand just at the moment (I am only 30, she 28), maybe in the future. The thing I love about this women is she is a smart lady and very self motivated, our reltionship wouldn't last very long if she sat around the house all day being the perfect 'housewife'. Dong that would drive her crazy, and I don't think the stongest of relationships could last under that strain, let alone a new marriage in a new land. Reading this thread it is clear that many ladies find work and make new friends which is good to see, that is exactly the kind of thing I would want my GF to do. Make new friends, both Thai and local, get a job and have a life of her own outside marriage.

Now a question, does anyone know how hard it is for a lady to get a good job in London? I am not talking about as a cleaner or working in a shop, but something a little more substantial? My GF is a uni graduate and currently works as a personal assistant for a Thai company in Bangkok. The thing I realise is she wouldn't be able to do the same job in England for an english only speaking company, her english skills despite being very good would not be good enough to work as a PA in an english company. So does anyone know if oportunties exist for a lady like this in London? Are there many Thai companies in the UK that have a need for a Thai speaker? Anyone with any suggestions for companies that might deal/specialise with recruitment for Thai's in London?

Guys it is true that it so popular to hide slightly off food. Most spices of this type actually orginate from Africa (Ethiopia for one) of all places (along with coffee BTW). Spice to asia was introduced during the times of the spice trade. I am not sure who brought it to Thailand, but it could have been any of the countries that were plying the spice trade.

Thanks guys I will have a look at some of the others, I wasn't sure if they would work on a TomTom. BTW TomTom don't have a Thai may, that was obvisously the first place I checked.

Old thread I know, but does anyone know if you can get a map of Thailand for a TomTom One XL?

Thanks for the advice guys, gives me and the GF some futher things to think about. The tourist visa issue is an interesting one. I personally would have been fully honest, stating the reason for the trip was to get married, but after getting married we would be leaving Aus to live overseas until my contract runs which is years away. I would have thought it was a good reason to visit and a compelling reason to leave. It will be her first visit to Aus, but she does have a good visa complience record of returning to Thailand, having been o/s about 8 times in 2 years and never been away from Thailand for more than 4 weeks at a time.

Will also have a chat to a celebrant closer to the date about the translator issue and see what she thinks. My GF has good English having studied English/business management at uni, but it is sound advice I will follow up on.

Anyway thanks again guys for you advice and opinions, sometimes just asking simple questions helps and triggers more issues to think about.

I was in Index the other day and saw this safe that used a fingerprint scanner to open it. I pointed it out to my wife and said what a cool idea it was. She said "Cool until someone cuts your finger off to open it".

Most of them require that the finger be attached to a living body. The bad thing though is the theives wouldn't know that until they have cut it off. Anyway with all safes the whole idea is to slow somone down, not to stop them getting in. In fact with all physical security that is all it is there for. So yes the bolts to the wall floor are good but not fool proof. The shear weight is another as well as the lock itself.

You can marry on a tourist visa.....the Notice of Intention to Marry must be signed at least one month before the wedding date with the person conducting the wedding.

My thoughts are that you would be better to apply for a spouse visa when you are ready to return,

She will need her passport, A notice of freedom to marry (she can get this from her Amphur and you can get it translated) or a stat dec from her stating she is free to marry. Divorce papers if she was registered married before.

She will need a translator for the ceremony, it only needs to be someone who can translate not an official translator, this person will need to sign a form at the ceremony to state they have translated to the best of their ability.

I have just married my wife here in May, she was on a tourist visa.

Contact one of the celebrants from Vinny's links from the area where you intend to marry....they will be able to answer all your questions

Thanks guys for advice. Didn't think it would be too hard.

Just one futher question, what does the translator do at the ceremony. My GF is quite fluent in English, shit her writting ability is better than mine? If it is a legal requirement any recomendations for how I find one (Canberra area?).

I have a few questions about marrying a Thai citizen in Australia, would appreciate it if anyone has some info or some views.

Some background, my Thai GF and I intend to marry mid next year. Currently she lives in Thailand and I live somewhere else that isn't Australia. We will have the buddhist ceromony in Thailand with her family and then latter have the 'legal' mariage in Australia with my family. After the wedding we intend to live in a 3rd party country. The visa for there is not an issue I am worried about at the moment.

So the questions, does anyone know if a tourist visa is sufficent for a person to marry in Australia, considering she won't be residing in Australia afterwards? My gut feeling would be it would be ok. Now if it is ok to marry on a tourist visa, is there any advantage to applying for a prospective marriage visa instead as we do intend to move back to Australia in around 5 years time or is it better to just wait and apply for spouse visa when we are ready to return? Also does anyone know if there are any special procedures for a Thai to marry an Australian in Australia, like the ones when an Aussie marries in Thailand?

they aren't too bad with the citizenship and passport services. They are sticklers though for having the i's dotted and the t's crossed, especially for getting the passports.

Yeah always remember that the consular section (passports etc) is run by DFAT. The visa section is run by DIAC (the old DIMIA). So many people just think of the embassy as one which is not true at all. Each seperate section operates to the rules of their parent department in Australia. All they do is share the building and share some services.