Expat2B

Top Thai universities such as Chula or Thammasat are well respected in academic world. If you have done well, it is enough to get you in top universities in US, UK or elsewhere. However, I'm not sure about employment prospect. I think it's worthless if you want to use a Thai degree to get a job in London.

Admittedly it's not far: just down the M58 and you're there. I'm just worried about the dearth of pies.

Scouse.

Mr E2B now back from much travelling and work in Europe

Pies It is Prawn Cocktail football for us (well in fairness more carvery football at the JJB). I was going to take Mrs E2B out to celebrate this weekend but since our outing in Wigan last Saturday we have both been a bit off the booze and she doesnt fancy it

Many thanks for all the advice Scouser (and all the others who have helped) , the next task is to try the express route to Citizenship next year

If you are ever in the Canary Wharf area or Wigan on Match Weekends let us know, we definitely owe you a few beverages of your choice.

Hi, thanks Scouser and mrbojangles

No I didn't go to a pub, was there by myself while Mr Expat2B was working from home. The only question asked at the PEO was, "where is your husband today?". The officer was a bit disappointed that my husband wasn't with me (so was I!).

We'll celebrate next time we go up north. Hopefully will also be celebrating getting a point from Liverpool (three would be better but I wouldn't go that far) are you coming to the JJB scouser ?

Just came back from PEO in Croydon. Application was successful

Thanks everyone

Mr and Mrs Expat2B

My bad, I apologise

He is settled but wasn't present and that was the problem. The spouse has to be present AND settled in the UK.

Thanks Mahout Angrit

Just want to give you an update. I went to PEO in Croydon again today with my mother-in-law who travelled down from Wigan to give me support.

Again my application was not accepted. The reason was that I didn't have my husband's passport and they would not accept a certified copy of it so we asked to speak to a more senior officer. We were told that since my husband was out of the country (for three days - back this evening), it means he is not present and settled in the UK; therefore, they could not accept my application and to be honest I could see where they were coming from. However as I argued that I had been wrongly advised by a person on the immigration enquiry line that I was able to use a certified copy of my partner's passport, a senior officer, who was very helpful, agreed to write me a letter saying I am allowed to use walk-in service without appointment needed because there is no appointment available until 04/10 which would be too late.

Before we left, the officer offered to check my documents. He said everything, including the certified translated marriage certificate which was the reason I got rejected last time, looked fine and that I should have no problem next time I go there with my husband's passport.

So tomorrow I am going back to Croydon again with all the documents I had the first time I visited the place and hopefully it should all be sorted! I'll let you know how things go.

Mrs Expat2B

The staff told me that the application could not be proceeded straight away as he was not sure Thai marriage was recognised by the UK law (which I think was <deleted>)

Indeed, see Guidance for British Nationals Wishing to Marry in Thailand:

The marriage will only be recognised under UK law if it is valid under Thai law. For it to be valid in Thai law, the marriage must be registered with the Registrar at an Amphur Office (District Office). A religious ceremony on its own is not recognised as being valid under Thai law.

Also, from Chapter 8 - Family members annexes, Annex B - Recognition of marriage and divorce:

2. MARRIAGE OVERSEAS

The recognition of any marriage which has taken place overseas is governed by the following:

• is the type of marriage one recognised in the country in which it took place?

• was the actual marriage properly executed so as to satisfy the requirements of the law of the country in which it took place?

• was there anything in the law of either party's country of domicile that restricted his freedom to enter the marriage?

If the answers to the above questions are respectively, "yes", "yes" and "no" then the marriage is valid whether or not it is polygamous

See also Chapter 8 - Family members, Section 1 - Spouses.

Thanks vinny, that's very helpful. Maybe I should print out some of the pages at the next visit.

As your student visa was valid for longer than six months, there is no requirement for you to return to Thailand in order to get a settlement visa.

Providing that the relevant requirements of the Immigration Rules are met, there is no reason to think that you will not get the extension, but bear in mind that the BIA does stipulate that the premium service is only for straightforward cases and they are not obliged to accept an application made in person if they perceive that it is not possible to deal with it on the same day. With regards to your husband's passport, you may have a certified copy made and submit that in lieu of the original.

....which I think was <deleted>....

And may I compliment you on your expressive use of colloquial English.

Scouse.

She's a pommy bastard already Scouse

As your student visa was valid for longer than six months, there is no requirement for you to return to Thailand in order to get a settlement visa.

Providing that the relevant requirements of the Immigration Rules are met, there is no reason to think that you will not get the extension, but bear in mind that the BIA does stipulate that the premium service is only for straightforward cases and they are not obliged to accept an application made in person if they perceive that it is not possible to deal with it on the same day. With regards to your husband's passport, you may have a certified copy made and submit that in lieu of the original.

....which I think was <deleted>....

And may I compliment you on your expressive use of colloquial English.

Scouse.

Thank you Scouser for your reply and compliment on my English

The annoying thing is probably when I phoned in to book the appointment, I explained the situation clearly that my marriage was not in the UK but Thailand and the lady at the other end of the phone told me it's fine and that I could use the same day service, although I thought she sounded like she didn't have a clue about what she was doing.

Seems like I might be able to use the same day service then if the staff at the reception thinks it should be no problem with the application? The documents I had with me were (apart from the completed application form):

1. Passport of mine and Mr Expat2b's

2. Thai marriage certificate, both the original one in Thai and the translated one certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

3. Bank statements both of Mr Expat2b and mine. Also show address hence prove that we have lived together for the past two years

The above are required according to the application form (I thought there would have been more). Other than that I am waiting for an official transcript from my university which I will add next time I make the application. I have a feeling that they might want to see a prove that I hadn't been taking the piss.

The only question I can imagine being asked is why did we leave for Thailand to get married and come back here to change the visa (why did I not get a new entry clearance in BKK). As I said I hadn't officially finished my study when I returned to the UK after our wedding. I don't think it is unreasonable to come back and see what's going on with your study before deciding what to do on immigration status? If the marriage certificate had not been the problem, I would have thought it should be straight-forward.

What we are wondering here is that, is there any guideline for the staff that says only UK (or perhaps some certain countries) marriage can use the Premium Service? Thinking about it, the staff saying to me that he was NOT SURE about the recognisation of the marriage is not good enough reason to turn away an application. If it is written somewhere then I would understand and not argue about it anymore.

We are planning a trip to Australia in December which I will need to sort out after I finish with this and given that the waiting time for the passport to be returned from the BIA can be up to 14 weeks plus the previous reason on my husband's passport, the postal application is not so appealing to us although time is running out and we may be forced to. I suppose he can get a second passport. How do you have a copy of passport certified?

My mother-in-law suggested that maybe I should try the Liverpool Office (we are Latics' season ticket holders so go up there quite a lot) and she could accompany me. In that case we might give you a visit and buy you a beer we owed two years ago Would we be better off in Liverpool given that we are up there regularly? I would have thought the waiting time for an appointment should not be as long as Croydon.

Regards,

Mr and Mrs Expat2b

Hi all,

I borrowed my husband's login so please don't get confused. Anyway:

My husband (then boyfriend) posted on here two years ago about my student visa application which we received very helpful replies and the application was successful. I have completed my degree course and we got married two months ago in Thailand (had both religious and civil marriage). I returned to the UK with my student visa (will be expired on 30/09) and now looking to switch the visa status from student to spouse.

I had my appointment at the Public Enquiry Office in Croydon today. I proceeded to the reception where all the documents were checked. All went fine until they saw our marriage certificate. I was told that I could not use the Premium Service as I did not marry in the UK and that I should have applied for the Spouse visa in Thailand before I came back here; to which I argued that I returned to the UK as a student; my course hadn't finished then. The staff told me that the application could not be proceeded straight away as he was not sure Thai marriage was recognised by the UK law (which I think was <deleted>) and the application would then need to be passed on to special caseworker (?) which can only be done by post. My husband travels a lot to Europe on business so application by post is not the option as it would mean he will be without his passport for at least four weeks.

The other two options seem to be to A) apply for a CoA, get married in the UK and reapply for the spouse visa, or B.) go back to Thailand to get the Entry Clearance.

I spoke to a visa service company, explained the situation clearly and I was told it could be done using the Premium Service and that they are happy to help me with the case (for a fee of course).

Does anyone here have same kind of experience? I would like to avoid using the company if I could as it is not cheap (circa £600). But if they are confident I can do it (Premium Service application, no win no fee), why was I told by the staff at the Home Office I could only do it by post? Seems to me one of them here is wrong.

Any advice would greatly be appreciated.

I normally use XE.com to estimate exchange rates for conversion into GBP. XE.com has always proved highly reliable for this purpose across a broad range of countries. Since using my Visa card I get something very close to the commecial exchange rate, the XE.com rate is typically highly accurate.

XE.com has been reporting an exchange rate of c. 1 GBP = 65 THB for some time. Whlst I was quite surprised at the rate given recent Thai economic problems and the relative strength of the pound I have never really queried it. 2 weeks ago my other half had to make a Western Union payment into Thailand and obtained a rate of c. 1 GBP = 67.5 THB. I thought this was strange after all why would Western Union give a higher rate than the commercial rate shown on XE.com.

I started looking at the Thai Bank websites and noted that their exchange rate was closer to 1 GBP = 68 THB which was again puzzling since this is above the rate quoted by XE.com. Finally earlier today I checked Visa International's currency exchange estimator which tells me that I can reasonably expect a rate of 1 GBP = 69 THB, yet still XE.com shows the rate as 1 GBP < 65 THB.

Does anyone have any understanding of why this is happening? Either XE.com is just getting its sums completely wrong for conversions to THB or the bulk exchange entities (e.g. VISA, The Thai Banks, Western Union etc.) are somehow getting a much more generous rate via some sort of parallel market.

My Fiancee and I will be getting married in BKK (Civil) and Krabi (ceremony) early next month. She has been studying in the UK for the last 2 years and upon our return to the UK will be applying for a settlement visa (as she still has a few months remaining on her existing visa). I will pick up the visa queries in the Visa forum.

As I understand things I need to take myself and with my passport and (original) divorce certificate to the UK Embassy with a completed declaration, which and they will then issue (the following day) a freedom to marry form.

We then get this translated (any translator recommendations appreciated, I have had Master Class Translations in Wireless recommended), and take the translation with original copies of my passport, divorce certificate and the UK Embassy certificate to the MOFA who will for an appropriate fee turn around the certification on the same day. As I understand it I do not personally need to be present at the MOFA while this is done (My Fiancee could do this for example).

We then go to the Amphur (any one it seems) with the paperwork for my Fiancee (ID and Tabien Baan) and registration is completed. We get registration documents in Thai, which it is advisable to translate into English for legal purposes in the UK later. We thus obviously get the translation done after the registration.

We then have our religious ceremony in Krabi and the whole thing is completed.

Am I missing anything above (e.g. does my divorce certificate need translating)?

My plan is to arrive on a Sunday, attend the embassy on Monday morning, collect the UK embassy certificate on Tuesday morning. Get the translation done on Tuesday then off to the MOFA to complete the final authorisation. We can then attend the Amphur on Wednesday to do the registration and go on to our ceremony (leaving Thursday but with the Ceremony on Sunday). Are we likely to have any issues with this timescale?

After the registration do we need to do anything with the MOFA for final legal certification of the marriage for use in the UK.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

You can hire the suit and dress as well.

Since I knew I would never ever wear the trad thai wedding suit I hired mine for 2K for the full kit which included having it fitted. It was a perfect fit. She could have hired a dress for 2.5K.

My wife had her dress made as she can wear hers to weddings in the Uk etc.

She was quoted 7.5K but did a deal with the dress maker on the side and got her to make it for 5k. I have to say she looked stunning and the dress is beautiful with a lot of hans-stitched bead work.

There are several places around Bkk where you can hire. We used a place outside the centre but easy to get to. PM me if you need the address and I will ask the wife.

Thanks for this we know you can hire and that is our fallback option, but we would really prefer to buy.

The issue is we will only be in BKK for a few days before heading off to Krabi with the guests, so turnaround time is key for us. For the future mrs E2B it would be nice to have the dress so she can wear it in the UK when I wear evening dress. I have dropped you a PM, but I think that any location significantly outside central BKK (and I mean Suk really) will make things really difficult since during the same period we also need to sort out the legal paperwork, entertain our guests and I will need to be in regular contact with the UK and do some work.

My Fiancee (Thai) and I are looking to Marry in July and after spending a few days in BKK will be heading to Krabi for our ceremony and registration (after sorting out the initial paperwork in BKK). Since we both live in the UK time is of the essence and we are looking to have a Traditional Thai Dress made for her and a Thai Style Suit for me. Given the time that it takes to make a dress we think we will start this process remotely with final fitting and alteration for her when we arrive in BKK. Several dressmakers seem to offer this service but any recommendation would be welcome (especially around the Sukhumvit, Wireless to Asoke area).

It seems far more difficult to locate a decent mens tailor to make an outfit for me. Again I would really welcome any recommendation fo good quality tailors to make this type of thing. I had thought that it should be possible to have something ready for say a Wednesday if I have the first measurements taken on the Sunday we arrive in BKK, but probably would like to start off the process remotely (as per my girlfriend) as a safeguard.

I would really appreciate any recommendations. Cost is far less of an issue than reliability and quality for us.

I went through the new airport on the 1st October together with my other half, one of us flying BA in Business and the other flying with Austrian back to the UK. I have to say I agree with much of the OP's comments. The airport is a definite step backward from Don Muang in our opinion. After Immigration Don Muang was quite a nice airport for the Business or First Class Passenger with good lounges, wide spaces and effective air-conditioning (something sorely lacking at the new BKK airport).

The design of Suvarnabhumi isn't even a great example of Shopping Mall design, the shopping area is hot busy, narrow and just unpleasant, certainly not a place to linger. The lounges were not ready and seem to be struggling to contain the number of Passengers using the lounges. What was worse was the length of the Thai Passport Holders queue at Departure Immigration apparently caused by computer faults.

I would infinitely prefer the old Don Muang airport. It looks like Suvarnahumi will need at least 6 months to become fully operational.

To pay the UK rates for higher education, as opposed to 'nasty foreigner' rates, you need to be living in the UK for 3 years prior to your proposed course of education. This applies even if you hold a full British passport.

I applied recently to study (by distance-learning), an MSc in renewable Energy Systems. The intention was that with this knowledge, I would be better equipped to develop some form of renewable/sustainable energy system for the benefit of Thailand etc. (It wasn't for my own benefit - I'm happy with what I'm doing right now...)

Imagine my horror when I was accepted immediately onto the course, but told that I would be classed as a nasty foreigner and required to pay 6,420,234 pounds each term in fees......

I was able, by blatant lies, to get the university to accept me at UK rates. But it is worth bearing in mind if you have a son or daughter with full British passport who currently lives in LoS, and who intends to study in the UK at a later date.

(The answer is clearly to send them over to the UK at 11 or 12 years old and get them to work as child labour in a Thai restaurant for 3 years....)

Simon

I had understood that all Masters courses in the UK were charged at a single rate for both foreign and UK/EU students. Bachelors courses tend to be subsidised by the Government (at all but 1 UK University) and thus differential fees are charged. Masters courses on the other hand tend to rely upon students paying the full costs of their course. When I did my MBA the fees I paid were exactly the same as foreign students in my class.

Since Bachelors courses are funded (at least in part) by the taxpayer it is only reasonable that foreign students do not benefit from this subsidy. At my girlfriends Uni British Students pay approximately half the rate of foreign students, (it costs me c.£12k PA) but then even the British Students have to pay.

The asset value is what it cost to replace the equipment, leasehold equipment. The buyer is getting this all for free and in Thailand, most sellers will include the inventory in the selling price as well.

If you are looking to buy a business that is not generating a high enough profit, the norm is to pay 50% of the replacement value. A seller would love to get the replacement value even though he has worked his butt off. He has to be prepared to lose half of his investment or more.

This is the biggest load of nonsense I have ever read. the "value" of fixed assets is what they are worth not the replacement cost. By this measure the "value" of a 3 year old BKK taxi cab is the price of a new car. This is just so self evidently BS. The value of a piece of equipment etc etc. is its realisable price on the market and not its replacement cost.

You missed a step.

This value is a simple starting point. When you value a business assets you have to start from the same point. The reason it has to be done from this point is because leasehold improvements make up a certain portion of this value. If you value what it is worth now, it is zero for the leasehold improvements as the landlord keeps this when the owner moves out but it has a value to the buyer who will be using the leasehold improvements when he acquires the business.

Otherwise a brand new restaurant the day it open would go from 6 million to 2 million in value and of course most would not value it at 2 million that first day. The owner certainly wouldn't after he pulled his hair out 5,000 times in the past 120 days getting ready for the opening. He would want at least 2 million Baht more for his hair.

If it is a cash flow model, you are getting the assets for free. The assets are included in the acquisition price. However most buyers would like to know what the seller paid for them and can prove that. This includes the leasehold improvements. You want to know the fair market value, go 30-50% this value as a rule of thumb.

Example: A business has assets( non real estate) that cost the seller 6 million. They could be worth 1.8 million to 3 million Baht. but it does not matter as the cost to you would be zero. The business makes 2 million a year and has a rule of thumb value of 5 million Baht. No additional price increase should be added for the assets as the assets were how the seller obtained the cash flow.

If it is a asset value model. You take 30-50% of this replacement value to determine the fair market selling price.

Example: The business has assets that cost the seller 10 million. It is breaking even. The business could be worth 3 million to 5 million Baht.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

The business is worth only what a buyer is prepared to pay, the reality is no more complicated than that. A buyer can (for example) set an asking price and a minimum acceptable offer price, but neither of these figures are values. Leasehold improvements once made become a sunk cost in the business and I would not expect them to be recovered except in respect of any additional profitability they brought to that business.

In your example the restaurant owner that had spent B6M on opening his business would still have a business that was worth zero as a starting point IMHO until he had demonstrated that the business was capable of generating profit in at least the medium term. Of course you will not agree with this, since if you did many of the businesses on your books would be clearly worthless (which IMHO is correct).

My starting point in valuing a business which was breaking even only would be an assumption of zero value. If buying this business allowed me perhaps to take out a competitor then buying that business adds value to my own and thus I would perhaps value the increased profitablity I would accrue as a result of the acquisition. If I was a new entrant to the market I might look at those costs I may avoid in setting up from scratch and value on this basis. In any scenario I would consider a reduction in any valuation I arrived at to reflect my perception of the the accuracy of the financial information I had received (and where possible been able to verify).

Fundamentally any "valuation" mechanism is used merely to assist the vendor/purchaser negotiation process and to de-personalise negotiations. The valuation of a business is rarely a simple "scientific" exercise unless the sale is one of tangible business assets only. The vendor (or his agent) will try to justify his sale price by reference to "objective" formula or pricing models, the purchaser (or his agent) will use a similar basis to support a lower price. The 2 parties will either eventually come to an agreement or they will not, one thing is certain however no model or formula exists for accurately and objectively valuing a business which will satisfy all parties.

The asset value is what it cost to replace the equipment, leasehold equipment. The buyer is getting this all for free and in Thailand, most sellers will include the inventory in the selling price as well.

If you are looking to buy a business that is not generating a high enough profit, the norm is to pay 50% of the replacement value. A seller would love to get the replacement value even though he has worked his butt off. He has to be prepared to lose half of his investment or more.

This is the biggest load of nonsense I have ever read. the "value" of fixed assets is what they are worth not the replacement cost. By this measure the "value" of a 3 year old BKK taxi cab is the price of a new car. This is just so self evidently BS. The value of a piece of equipment etc etc. is its realisable price on the market and not its replacement cost.

We went cruising with Loy Nava in May for my birthday and it turned out to be quite impressive. Food and the staff were nice and helpful. The cruise wasn't filled with crowd because of its size so it was quiet and peaceful. No other Thai customers when we went there.

Had a very good evening and would definitely do the cruise with them again.

As for the price, I'll ask Mr Expat2B when he comes back.

But from  i read in TH  forum 80% of them said , Miss TH world look ugly and  look like  Katheoy  ..for me i have  no idea

If you are talking about Pantip Forum, no one ever says good things about Miss TH World/Universe anyway . Remember what happened with Miss TH Universe?

Shame its not a week earlier guys, the other half and I are up in Bolton for a family do. Much as we owe scouse a drink for his visa assistance going "oop north" twice in a week is a bit much

Would be nice to meet up some other time tho.

Can anybody recommend suppliers of good quality sausages (english style)...Phuket based if possible

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Yorkies do frozen english style sausages, and they sell via Villa etc. in BKK. I have never tried the sausages but have used the sausage meat when making Xmas dinner and it was reasonably authentic, so they could be worth a try.

I don't think it has been mentioned elsewhere in this thread but one possible reason for the move is the need to accommodate the new Airbus A380. Most major airports in the region (i.e. Changi, Chep Lap Kok) are gearing up to host the new aircraft which will in all likelihood become a common sight on the routes to Australia from Europe. Without the facilities to handle both the aircraft and process the large number of passengers disembarking from this aircraft (can you imagine 600 people being bussed to a terminal?) BKK would become a much weaker option for SQ, QF, EK etc. who all have these aircraft on order. The turnaround time of an aircraft is a significant factor in overall operating profitability (and thus becomes almost the sole focus of the low cost operators). Put simply the major operators cannot afford to have expensive assets sitting around for 2 or 3 additional hours while the Thais do the typical Thai thing, and mess everyone about.

If the infrastructure is built to accommodate the A380 from day one then the problems recede and BKK stands a fighting chance of retaining some regional hub status (although in my opinion it is delusional to think of BKK as a true hub, since it simply does not attract the number of business travellers as Changi ET al). Put simply though without either major investment at Don Muang or the new airport, overall flights from major carriers into Thailand would probably reduce rather than increase, with perhaps a greater use of codeshares between the various alliance partners to secure onward connections to BKK from HKG, SIN and other regional hubs.

The reason that the current departure tax is collected manually is due to a huge and presumably ongoing dispute between AOT and the major airlines about landing fees at BKK. The refusal to collect taxes as part of the ticket price was as I understand it part of the airlines response to what they considered to be outrageously high landing fees for the region. The landing fees (as distinct from the departure tax) are collected as part of the ticket price and are usually included as PSC or Passenger Service Charge on those airlines (e.g. BA) who separate out charges in this way. This being Thailand there is no reason to suspect that landing fees will reduce at the new airport (runway cracks or not ) so collection of airport taxes in the now customary way is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Given the reports on the construction of the new airport it is almost inconceivable that the major airlines will jeopardise their assets and safety reputation by flying aircraft into an airport with a runway in poor condition. AOT will HAVE to allow the representative engineering experts of the major global airlines to conduct surveys of the airport and its facilities prior to opening, this may lead to even further delays, although it is unlikely in this case that the true cause will be widely reported. It is also possible given the ongoing issue of landing fees at BKK that the major airlines will use the issues at NBIA as a major stick with which to beat AOT to secure landing fee concessions.

Expat2B, congratulations and hope things work out.

I guess a few people have been following this topic, so would you care to explain what method you used in the end for the sponsor's application?  Private sponsor or did your company succeed in sponsoring her?

I have a Thai member of staff based in London (Chula and UK uni grad) who works for me while on a student visa.  I would consider trying to obtain a work permit for her, but for the last two years she's been very good at renewing her student visa as she's fallen in love with the freedom of English life while I do similarly in Thailand :-)  It works out well.

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Firstly to GU22 this was a genuine application. My GF is now attending a UK Uni to study a BA, the only thng that may be slightly untoward is disassociatng myself as sponsor to avoid questions of intention to return. As it happens I don't intend to stay in the UK any longer than I strictly have to, and it would have been unfair and unnecessary for my GF to face this line of questioning.

Now CarlBKK I sponsored my GF via my UK company, and things seem to have been very straightforward apart from hmm "preparing answers" around the "selection" process my company followed to recruit my GF. I followed scouse's advice and had documentation prepared and ready and my GF had her confirmation of study.

Within the sponsorship agreement I made no reference to work, merely to "training" with the company during her vacation periods. If you want any more info pm me for further details.

No, the ECO wouldn't be looking for any legally binding sponsorship by your company but evidence of the company's ability to do so should be provided, perhaps in the form of letter from the company accountant. Also a letter from a director (presumably your good self  ) explaining the business need for such a placement and how your g/f happened to be selected from the multitude of applicants for this prestigious opportunity .

I don't think you could call this scenario duplicitous but perhaps disingenuous ?

Best of luck,

Scouse.

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Sorry to ressurect this thread but wanted to use the opportunity to say a big thank you to scouse. My GF has been with me here in the UK for almost 2 weeks now and starts her Uni course next week. Your help was invaluable and I am sure we wouldnt be together now if it hadn't been for your advice. A heartfelt thanks from both of us. Now time to crack on with the schengen visa application

If you come from the UK - I'll agree Subway is nothing special (possibly why they never took off in the UK).

However, this is not the UK. There are no M&S sandwiches, or Pret a Manger's here. Neither are there any corner sandwich shops.

So... it seems like the market is ready... for a new big player in the sandwich business..

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O'Briens have already opened up in Urban Kitchan at the Hyatt Erewan. I know I prefer them to subway and I suspect further expansion will happen.