ianwuk

Thanks again for the great advice TOG!

It is much appreciated.

ianwuk

Thanks for replying TOG!

I have a letter of invitation and proof of ownership as well as the other things mentioned as I want to be thorough.

I won't get penalised for too much information will I? (silly question, I know!)

Thanks again.

ianwuk

A new question please.

I got the letter of invitation from my parents in the UK except my mum's passport has expired. Therefore only my dad has provided copies of his passport, driving license, council tax bill and proof of ownership where me and my wife will be staying - is that enough or does my mum also need to provide a copy of her passport?

Thanks.

ianwuk

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. It is much appreciated. I will let you know the outcome as I am still collecting the supporting documentation.

ianwuk

You seem to have things covered, the reasons to return are the most important, your partners employment, your employment in Thailand should cover this.

Just to clarify, there's actually no point in pitching up at the British Embassy, if you did manage to get yourselves inside by saying you're going to the Consular Department, you wouldn't get to see anyone from the UKVI, they're in a separate office and don't see the likes of you and I.

It also really doesn't matter whether your wife applies for a General or Family visa.

Thanks for replying TOG!

We did go to the embassy and they confirmed that, as said on here, the embassy service to to register a marriage in the UK is no longer offered. Furthermore we then went to VFS who, as also said on here, confirmed that a General Visitor Visa will be fine and so it turns out that I was right in my pursuits but at least I was officially agreed with.

Thanks again. I just need to get the remaining documents sorted out. However I have one more question. My fiancee was blacklisted when she visited the USA for overstaying (since then she has been living in Thailand for the past six years) and the priority visa service at VFS states that only those who have been to the US and UK before can apply (my fiancee has been to the US and the UK) but I am just concerned that the blacklisting from the US may be a red flag? (there is nothing in her passport from the US saying she is blacklisted).

Thanks.

ianwuk

Your list doesn't mention your Sponsor's letter, although I know you know about it! Don't forget it, as it's a key document.

Hello Brewster.

All the supporting documentation listed is referenced in my sponsorship letter and the sponsorship letter for my wife which we will obviously include.

Thanks.

ianwuk

Thanks very much Brewster. Seems I am on the right track after all but I will go to the embassy tomorrow just to confirm what I suspect - that we will get no help at all.

Thanks.

ianwuk

I already have the affirmation of freedom to marry notarised from the embassy. I then got it translated in to Thai and legalised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and it is these documents that I will take to the Amphur next month, along with my passport, to get married. When I am married am I correct that my wife's visa status in the UK will not be affected meaning that she can still apply for a general visitor visa or to visit family (both short stay tourist kind of visas)?

I was told that, because she is my spouse I would need a different visa to bring her in the UK because she is now officially my wife. Also I was told that the marriage had to be registered at the embassy but I have read that this is no longer offered. I know this has already been answered but there is just so much conflicting information I am just trying to make sense of it all.

I don't actually have an appointment at the embassy. I was kind of hoping to just turn up with my fiancee (I understand she may not be allowed in) and talk to a real person and get some real information. The issue I have is that as soon as we land in the UK my fiancee will stay with her family under the date of the blessing and I will stay with mine until the date of the blessing ceremony.

After the ceremony my wife will then spend the rest of our time in the UK with my family. So my questionns are this:

1 - Because she will be staying with her family for a period of time and then mine she needs a letter of invitation from both places, this is my understanding - am I correct? Could I just say she is staying with my family for the entire trip which is pretty much true?

2 - The reason to return is employment for me and my wife. I have already obtained six months financial data from my Kasikorn accounts but how long back does the six months have to be (i.e. when they review the financials obviously my accounts will have had money deducted and deposited in it and so the six months data will be out of date?).

3 - My supporting documentation to include is thus:

Me:

• Letter of employment for me stating position salary and date to return
• Thai bank statements for the accounts I will be using to finance my wife’s visit to the UK - see question above
• Thai work permit for proof I am legally working in Thailand - is this really needed?
• Letter of invitation from my parents - this is where we will both spend most of our time
• Letter of invitation from my wife’s cousin - this is the first place my wife will be until the ceremony
• Copy of my British passport
• Copy of my Thai marriage certificate as proof of my marriage
• Proof that the blessing ceremony will be taking place in the UK

My wife:

• Letter of employment for her stating position, salary and date to return
• Letter of invitation from my parents - this is where we will both spend most of our time
• Letter of invitation from my cousin - this is the first place my wife will be until the ceremony
• Copy of Thai passport
• Copy of Thai marriage certificate as proof of my marriage

Thanks so much for all the replies!

ianwuk

So, if for example, as per my original plan, my wife gets a general visitor visa and, during her time in the UK, will be staying at two different places she would need a letter of invitation from both places, is that correct? She will only be staying at the first place for a few days before spending the remainder of the time at my parents place with me. I gather that they need a letter of invitation from both places otherwise they may start asking questions?

Tomorrow we will both go to the embassy (only to be turned away and told to go to VFS in Sukhumvit most likely) but we have to try because there is so much conflicting information on the internet about this to be honest and I just want some real answers. It seems a lot of it may be outdated also.

My original plan was this:

Get married next month at local amphur
Apply for general visitor visa for my wife (reason to leave being we both have employment in Thailand and have to return)

Get visa approved

Book flights

Go to the UK

What may be a spanner in the works though is that in December, at a church where my parents live, we will just be having a blessing ceremony to commemorate the wedding because I know the wedding is recognised in the UK and it is illegal to remarry. How would this affect things in terms of applying for a visa, visa type and such?

Thanks so much for all the replies.

ianwuk

Thanks everyone.

Let me explain my situation some more. I am basically getting married next month and I want to take my wife to the UK for Christmas.

I will be marrying my girlfriend next month by civil registration at the local amphur. I was under the impression, after we were married, because the marriage is legally recognised in the UK and Thailand my wife could enter the UK for Christmas on a general visitor visa. However a friend has done some research and said that once she becomes my wife a different visa is needed (not sure why?). They also said that I need to register my marriage with the UK embassy as well, is this true?

A little confused by it all right now.

Thanks.

ianwuk

Hello All.

I am currently in the process of collecting all documentation for a UK general visitor visa but I am worried about purchasing flight tickets now (so I can include the itinerary as supporting evidence) before the visa has even been granted in case it is not granted and I waste all that money on flights.

I am sure I read somehere (maybe the UK GOV website?) that they say it is not advisable to book flight tickets until the visa has been issued but I cannot find anything official confirming this - can anyone point me to something official please for an answer to this?

Many thanks.

ianwuk

Sorry tog, but which settlement visa should be applied for?

'Apply to remain in the UK with family'

or

'Apply to join family permanently living in the UK'

Many thanks.

ianwuk

Hello again tog.

This is where things get a little murky from what I have read.  Which UK settlement visa should we apply for based upon my unique situation?

Thanks.

 

Thanks for replying tog.

So, to go to the UK to have a blessing ceremony what visa would my wife need?

Thanks.

ianwuk

Thank you very much for replying.

I have another two questions please.

Once we are married in Thailand, if we are to go to the UK (the Thai marraige is recognised in the UK also) at Christmas I know that we cannot get married again under UK law because the marraige is valid in both countries and that would be bigamy in UK law (correct me if I am wrong?) so we are looking at a kind of blessing ceremony only - would that still require a spouse visa? Is this what the UK government calls 'registering a civil partnership' in the UK?

Also, whenever we are granted a UK spouse visa I understand my wife is entitled to start off by living in the UK for 2 years.  If, during those 2 years, she returns back to Thailand what happens to the visa?  Can she still go back to the UK within that same 2 year period without any issues or, once she leaves the UK, regardless of whether or not the 2 years is up, does she have to reapply from the start of the entire process again?

Thanks - ianwuk

Hello all.

I am looking to take my Thai girlfriend to the UK for Christmas and get married to her in the UK whilst I am there (I am a UK citizen currently living here in Thailand).  I have looked at the UK visas available and the marraige visitor visa I believe is what we need although I have some (mosty likely) really silly questions about the documentation needed as it seems unclear and I want it cleared up so I can start collecting it all.

1 - What documentation does she need to provide?  Does anyone have a checklist?

2 - What documentation (if any) do I myself need to provide or my parents who reside in the UK?

3 - (really silly question) but the supporting documents PDF that is on the UK Visas website (e.g. evidence of employment, payslips, detauls of accomodation) is that for her or me or both?

4 - It states on the website these two additional requirements for supporting documents can also be supplid (also, does that mean it is not mandatory?  I guess more is better?):

• details of the marriage or civil partnership and proof that you’ve paid money for some of its costs

Again, is this me/her or both and what would examples of this be?

• proof that you have given notification of marriage to the registry office in England and Wales

Again, is this me/her or both and what would examples of this be?

If someone can kindly give me some sort of structure or outline or checklist to follow so I can start collecting all the required documents to get this visa then I would be very grateful as time, due to ti taking up to 3 months to be processed after application, is definitely of the essence.

Many thanks - ianwuk

iTunes Match worked fine for me here in Thailand. However I had to leave my laptop on for months to upload all the songs to the cloud that it could not match and the upload process would routinely fail. I then had to make a new iTunes playlist with songs that met the criteria of being uploaded or matched by iTunes Match to avoid duplicates and such. It takes a long time to upload everything and sort it out but it is worth having except when the internet is slow or dies then your music collection is useless which is why I now just use an iPod Classic (more space that iTunes Match as well).

Go through all your current songs and edit the ID3 tags (artist, album artist, track number, album, genre and artwork) so that they are all correct otherwise iTunes has no clue and it just goes nowhere. That would be the first thing to do. Once you have cleaned up your local music then start adding it, little by little, to the cloud. I do believe your purchase history and all that is not really relevant, just make sure the Apple ID you use to sign in to iTunes Match has a valid credit card attached to it.

I am 30, run 10km four times a week and 21km every Sunday. I have only been running this much for a year (did the Bangok Marathon full last year as my first ever marathon) and sometimes I experience tiredness in my legs too like the OP.

I put this down to either over-exertion. not enough stretching beforehand (I tend to stretch afterwards anyway), lack of hydration beforehand and during so all of the advice given here is valid but, for me, like transam said, I had to learn to breathe properly first whilst running to ever be able to run without issues. Once I did that I could then regulate breathing with running pace and run further, pain free and in safety.

Genesis - Drum duet.

Sadly I just sold mine to a shop in MBK and it was in great condition with lots of games. There are plenty of game shops there selling 3DS's. You need to get a US ones as all game shops in Thailand sell US based 3DS games. With the 3DS not being region free a US system is the way to go.

I recently read that Hutch had the CDMA lines in Thailand (with CAT involed also) but these got bought by True and so I was wondering, is it possible to get any monthly plans on a Thai network operator that is CDMA and not GSM?

Many thanks.

ianwuk

Quite old but give Supreme Commander a try.

I am looking to get a Nintendo 3DS but I want to trade in my PSP 3000 first (slim + 16GB Sony memory stick). Are there any shopsI can go to either just trade it in (I will not get much, I know) or trade it in as part exchange (+ cash) for a new Nintendo 3DS and games?

Many thanks.

I had to swallow my pride and pay the 6000 at MCC to get a battery. It was replaced the same day so that was something and my MBP has been fine ever since.

What is MCC?

Sorry, my fault.

http://www.maccenter.co.th/