Eff1n2ret

You appear to have been very badly advised by IAS, or misunderstood the process. If they said you couldn't apply for a "spouse visa", that could be just because it's not a visa application within the UK, but the 2-year "extension" must be for some purpose under the Rules, which amounts to the same thing. Surely you didn't think she would be granted a further 2 years as a visitor?

To answer your questions:-

If my wife did not have the correct visa to begin with why:

1) was the application submitted - You'd have to take that up with IAS

2) why did the UK border except it and take payment of 450 pounds for it. You pay for an application, whether it's granted or not - same with a visa abroad.

3) why did it take 14 weeks to come to a decision. Because they have a lot of applications, and that's how long it can take.

4) why were we sent for a bio reading, which only happens when you are successful Does it? The point of securing bio-info is to weed out the fraudulent and/or multiple applicants.

I am sorry for your distress, but I don't think you've been unfairly treated by UKBA, and I wouldn't hold out much hope of success with a Human Rights application. What did IAS tell you about that?

Incidentally, how long is left on your wife's visa? If the 14 weeks for the decision took you beyond its expiry, then she only has 28 days in which to leave.

Very sorry, can only endorse Charlie B's post.

If it was intended that she should stay here when she applied for the visa, it was a gross error (as well as deception) to apply as a visitor - perhaps you were badly advised at that time.

Your wife should return to Thailand and seek the appropriate entry clearance like everybody else. Pleading poverty as a reason for her overstaying here, and having her removed at public expense, is hardly likely to bolster your case that she can be supported and accommodated here without recourse to public funds.

The Rules are quite clear that visit visas can not be extended or converted into settlement visas, and IAS, who are government-funded, should not be wasting the taxpayers' money on supporting such hopeless applications. They should have given you the honest advice you've been getting since.

If your wife is traveling with you she DOES NOT REQUIRE A VISA . all these people are still ignoring the fact that this is NEW as of March 2009 .I believe your wifes residency is specific, the uk is in the required group and you meet their requirements.

You misunderstand the information posted by the French Embassy, which was previously quoted by the OP but I cut and paste again as follows:

"March 2009 - FAO the foreign spouse of a EU national (except French national):

The foreign spouse of a EU national (except French national) may enter France without visa if they are holding:

a valid travel document;

a valid UK residence permit with the endorsement "family member of EEA national";

and if they are meeting up or travelling with their EU spouse.

However if you do not satisfy the above conditions, you will need to apply for a visa to travel to France (for instance if your residency is not explicit or if you are travelling to France for business). Note that children and parents of EU Nationals still require visas to travel to France."

This clearly refers to those issued with Residence Permits as Family Members under the EEA Regulations, not granted entry for 2 years or ILR as a spouse under UK Immigration Rules. Unless the visa in your spouse's passport carries the endorsement highlighted in bold above, he/she has to get a visa.

Well done Scouse for sorting it out.

There is the letter of the law, and there is common sense and compassion. You need to be proficient in all these things when working in that sort of job.

Trouble is, they were not even proficient in the letter of the law. The Immigration Rules provide for a bereaved spouse in a subsisting marriage who is on Limited Leave to be granted ILR. No judge, irrespective of the Human Rights aspect, would have agreed that it was correct to deny this lady the opportunity to make such an application.

This case is a worrying symptom of the dumbing down of the Border Control by an over-reliance on technology, so that the uniformed muppets at the desks are looking at computer screens and not at passengers, and have a shallow knowledge of the Rules as well.

Was the application submitted before 31/3/09? Student applications made after that date will be considered on the points based system and do not attract a statutory appeal right.

Yes, it was before that date. However, with typical Thai optimism she's decided to apply again immediately rather than appeal, because an appeal would be slower. Apparently, the course she previously applied for was 20% study and 80% work, so she's going to switch to one with a 50/50 ratio. I don't think she has much chance, though, particularly as she doesn't want to use an agency this time.

I'm not surprised she was refused if she appeared to have the expectation that she could go to the UK as a student and spend 80% of her time working. The requirements are to be enrolled on a "full-time" course which includes a minimum of 15 hours day-time classroom study, and as an incidental there is a permit-free concession for those on student visas to work "part-time", which is defined as no more than 20 hours per week - and the earnings therefrom should not be counted towards the funding of the course or accommodation and support, although once they are in the UK caseworkers don't usually make this distinction when looking at applications for further leave.

It has been a laughably lax system, but ECOs have tended to cast a beady eye over applicants for English courses particularly in places like Bangkok, where there are loads of English courses available.

Cyril G,

You left your American Express account details on display in an internet cafe in Banchang, Rayong today.

I've deleted them.

Just thought you ought to know.

I'm not crowing - as someone who left the front door of our house here unlocked the last time we went back to uk in December and only found out when we came back yesterday, I'm probably as absent-minded as you are.

Hope everything's ok

Hi All,

My wife is living in the UK on a 2 year settlement visa, we are hoping to go on holiday in the summer, but would like to know are their any other countries which she can travel to without going though all the trouble of applying for a visa,or any where we can go where getting a visa is easy, as she would like to travel somewhere different than England and Thailand.

Many Thanks

cfrmatt

Anybody who's been granted more than 1 year LTE/R in the UK can visit Gibraltar without a visa. Trouble is, you're kicking your heels after a couple of days or so, and even to do a side trip on the ferry to Tangier she'd need a visa.

To add some more problem to my situation i was previously married 7 years ago with another Thai girl in Italy and i still close to her, that's why I decided not to divorce in order to make it simple for her to gain nationality despite being with my current girlfriend and the mother of my baby for over 2 years now.

Should i mention that to the British embassy or as I was married in Italy is none of their concern?

If you/she were applying for a settlement visa, that would be of fundamental importance, and failure to declare it would result in refusal or cancellation of the visa/LTR if/when it came to light, and a lengthy ban on further applications.

However, it is not of relevance to an application for a short visit, and nowhere on the Visit visa application form is it required to state the sponsor's marital status. So don't complicate matters by mentioning it. As long as you can show plenty of evidence of an enduring relationship and her intention to return to Thailand, as well as the usual support and accommodation criteria it is likely to meet the requirements of the Rules.

If she was asked directly about your marital status in an interview she should tell the truth, and would have to take her chances on whether the ECO considered that was fatal to the application. You don't actually say so, but if you are intending to return to Thailand with her, there shouldn't be much of a problem. If you are intending to stay in the UK, things could be more tricky.

"My situation is also rather imperfect given

another dynamic to the situation: although having now lived together for

fifteen months in Thailand my girlfriend is an illegal – no passport or visa!"

Very sorry to say this, but that single fact looks like an absolute killer of any UK visa application.

Illegal presence in one country pretty much suggests to any visa officer that the applicant is likely to become the same in the other country, and for a visit visa that would be curtains. For a settlement visa the bar would be set much higher to prove that the marriage/engagement is not regarded by the applicant as a means of emigrating.

As you say, the best advice is likely to come from anyone who has succeeded in a similar situation.

I can't see much advantage to you activating your UK ancestry entitlement while you have a work permit for Norway, in fact it might work to your disadvantage in the long run. This is what the Entry Clearance Guidance says about offshore oil workers:

"Chapter 18.8 Offshore workers

UK immigration legislation does not extend to installations operating wholly at sea on the UK Continental Shelf. Therefore, there is no prohibition on overseas nationals taking employment on offshore installations. However, because offshore workers usually work on a rota basis, spending so many weeks working then an equal number of weeks shore leave, they normally tend to base themselves and any dependants in the UK, so although they do not require a work permit for off-shore employment they and any dependants do require leave to enter or remain.

Entry clearance

Subject to normal visa requirements, off-shore workers are allowed to live in the UK during their shore leave exceptionally outside the Rules and their dependants are also exceptionally allowed to base themselves in the UK.

Entry clearance is not mandatory for non-visa nationals except if you are a national of one of 10 non-visa countries and intend to stay in the UK for more than six months. A work permit will only be required if any part of the work is on-shore.

Entry clearance endorsement

For only off-shore employment entry clearance should normally be given for 12 months Code 2"

So, you don't need a work permit to work outside the 12-mile limit, and unless you're coming ashore for more than 6 months at a time, you could enter as a visitor.

I suppose you could enter with the UK Ancestry visa and argue that your base is the UK, and it's immaterial whether you're working in the Norwegian or the UK sector. However, when you come to apply for settlement in the UK after 5 years they would probably discount the period for which you had a Norwegian permit.

One can only assume they think there's a problem about a UK passport-holder entering Germany from a third country with no evidence of their stay in that country. It's total nonsense, but you can't argue with ignorance.

Check out "Domestic Workers in Private Households" under this link to the Immigration Rules:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyan...ionrules/part5/

That provides for employers coming to the UK to bring their domestic servants with them. But if you're looking at getting a Thai a job here as a nanny for a new employer based here, forget it.

[

"Family' is defined on the back of the Family Visitor form. It includes your parents and siblings but not children.

My parents are dead so in going to UK together we are going to visit my adult children. Living together in Thailand travelling together to UK, is my Thai wife visiting me and should she complete the Family Visitor form and thus get a right of appeal?

You would think so but there's no way to find out.

Andrew

Andrew

Children are included - see the notes on the form

"Definition of a family member

A “member of the applicant’s family” is any of the following persons

(a) the applicant’s spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, grandfather,

grandmother, grandson, granddaughter, brother, sister, uncle,

aunt, nephew, niece or first cousin; (NB: “first cousin” means, in

relation to a person, the son or daughter of his uncle or aunt);

b)the father, mother, brother or sister of the applicant’s spouse;

c) the spouse of the applicant’s son or daughter;

(d) the applicant’s stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter,

stepbrother or stepsister; or

(e) a person with whom the applicant has lived as a member of an

unmarried couple for at least two of the three years before the

day on which his application for entry clearance was made."

c) is grammatically infelicitous, but the son or daughter has to refer to the spouse, not the applicant - it wouldn't make much sense the other way round.

Turning to the wider point, that it's not clear whether a spouse with right of abode himself visiting the UK can be classed as a family member for the purposes of sponsoring an application, one should perhaps look at category e) above. Granted that it allows for an unmarried partner to have gone back to the UK separately up to a year before the proposed visit, but it also could not exclude a partner who is still living abroad and travelling with the applicant on the same occasion. Therefore, a fortiori a spouse travelling with the applicant should also qualify as a family member

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you claim credentials as a former lawyer? Couldn't you have worked this out for yourself?

Yes but as you say only postal ? This is what the office in Bangkok are giving me as the email complaints address...

[email protected]?

surely it would be either .com or .co.qa?

Back in December I sent them some comments about the way they handled the airport shutdown - part complimentary, part suggesting how they might have done better with their phone service. I can't remember any specific email address, I just used whatever link I found on their website. I got a reply after about 3 weeks, framed in reasonable terms. I didn't ask for, or get any sort of compensation.

Saw attached TIT sign in korat the other day, thought it was funny thai signage.

I wonder if Khorat specialises in such signs.

A few months ago on the road south from Khorat approaching the Khao Yai hills, at a bend in the road we passed a sign which said

"ARE YOU BEARABLE?"

I still haven't figured out whether it was some religious exhortation to deep introspection, or I was supposed to check the car's suspension and tyre pressures. We had passed it before I could alert the memsahib to what it said in Thai, but I felt my day had been strangely enriched.

This is what it says on the UK Visas website:

"Where can I apply for a visa for the UK?

Applications for visit visas and EEA Family Permits for the UK can be made at any visa application centre or visa section. Other applications should be made at a visa application centre or visa section in your home country, or where you are normally and legally resident"

Hi,

I helped a friend of mine prepare a visit visa for his Thai gf last year which was successful. however, on the application he asked for her to stay for 6 weeks and she ended up staying for 3 months. She was granted 6 months, so technically she did not overstay.

I'm now helping him to prepare another application for visit visa and he's concerned that they might flag up the fact that last time she returned after 3 months when she only asked for 6 weeks.

Should he put something in the cover letter to explain why she stayed longer, or not mention it and hope that no-one asks.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Lee

She's not an overstayer, she hasn't committed any offence, and she left the UK 3 months before she was legally required to do. That's a big plus when making a repeat application.

They may note from the Thai departure and entry stamps in her passport that she was away for 3 months, but unless she's applying less than 6 months since her return to Thailand, I bet they don't bother overmuch to look at her previous application. If her circumstances in Thailand are similar to previous, i.e. she can still show that she's got something to go back to, she's not obliged to offer any explanations up front. If asked, she should be prepared to explain how she can afford to spend 3 months away from whatever occupation she has in Thailand., or why she ended up doing so last time. But there's no need to draw attention to it.

Stand it upside down

Why-o-why do we put valuables in our checked luggage.

Because the carry-on limit (7kg) is so low. Although I push the envelope with bum-bags, jackets of many pockets etc., I still have to put some things wrapped up amongst the dirty laundry. Never lost anything though. Used to lock my luggage, now use cable ties.

Pardon my ignorance, what's the benefit of cable ties? They're easily cut.

My wife has three sisters; two of them are running their own businesses, the other is (in her forties) studying for a law degree.

She has two brothers; one is crippled by a lifetime of drug and drink addiction, the other is a terminal alcoholic.

She has a son and a daughter, both around 30 years; the daughter has a degree and has started her own business. The son is an empty-headed p155-artist who scrapes a living as a motor-cycle courier.

I've no idea whether that is typical, but from where I'm sitting the distaff side seems to make all the running.

If you google U Tapao you can find some links to Servicemen's Associations of the US forces who were there during the Vietnam war - all very interesting. There are a number of tatty buildings around the terminal complex which obviously date from that period.

But a serious novelist would research that by going there. Why not book a flight to Samui or Phuket, then you'll get first-hand detail. But be careful what you photograph, it's still a military base.

I've looked a the various postings but I'm a bit confused about the date(s) on which my Thai wife can apply for ILR.

1)She was granted a fiance visa on 1 May 2007

2) She arrived in the UK on 8 May 2007

3) We got married and she was later granted a 2 year settlement visa on 19 July 2007

Does she apply for ILR within the 28 days before 8 May 2009 or within 28 days of 19 July 2009?

Thanks

Jim

I would say 2 years from the date of your marriage. The Rule says:

"287. (a) The requirements for indefinite leave to remain for the spouse or civil partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom are that:

(i)(a)the applicant was ....... given an extension of stay for a period of 2 years in accordance with paragraphs 281 to 286 of these Rules and has completed a period of 2 years as the spouse or civil partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom;"

In that context, the grant of an extension of 2 years stands separately from the duration of your marriage.

I would bang in the application a couple of weeks before your wedding anniversary. Perhaps this overlaps with 28 days before 19 July.

".....he of the mysterious stab wound that was rumoured to be as a result of being caught shagging another bloke's wife."

I didn't know that was a prerequisite for obtaining British citizenship. What a mine of information you are.

The memsahib has a Thai driving licence.

She can't drive.

Paid the examiner 1500 baht (she did, I didn't want anything to do with it)