jaylord

Great feedback guys thanks a million, much appreciated! Just want to ensure we make the most of the trip so all your advice will be taken on board.

Thanks again

Hi Guys

Just after a little itinery advice from the resident Phuket experts

I have been to LOS a few times now but have generally stuck to Bkk, Pattaya and Samui. This time i am going with a couple of friends who have never been before and we really want to check out Phi Phi and some of Thailands other great beaches.

I have heard that Phang Nga Bay and Ao Nang are great - can anyone suggest a route that would encompass all the best bits with suggested methods of travel and rough costings? We fly into Phuket and will probably stay Patong or Karon for 1st couple of nights and then we have about 10days before heading back to Bkk. So we are happy to spend a few days travelling around the islands and enjoying the beack experience.

Also, we were going to spend about 6days in Phuket before flying to Samui for the last few days - do you think this is worth it or would be better concentrating our efforts on Phuket and Krabi?

Thanks for any advice and sorry for all the questions but just a few suggestions would be really helpful

Thanks Mac - that was a stack of useful info.

No there are no other issues at all.

As an afterthough, would anyone know if my marriage is even recorded in the UK? We registered the marriage in Thailand but have never done anything similar in UK.

I guess what im asking is - do i even need to get a divorce? Could i marry again in the UK without going to Thailand for divorce or would i then effectively be commiting bigamy?

Cheers

Well - 15mths of marriage and 12mths together in the UK (not to mention around 5yrs of previous rollercoaster ride history together), and we have decided that we are not destined to be together! Its all amicable and we remain friends, she has already returned to BKK and we are in friendly contact.

The next step is divorce which is both in agreement with, so we can both move on and i understand the process should be relatively straightforward by going to the amphur were we registered our marriage. However the time we spent together in the UK has left me somewhat in debt and i could really do without the cost of a trip to Thailand to sort this.

Does anyone know if we can actually do this without me having to be physically present?

Thanks

Ok thanks for your thoughts everyone. You have all certainly confirmed my feeling that this is a sensitive issue and one that should be treated carefully.

Proceed with caution is the overwhelming advice unless we have hard physical evidence. The hospital have issued a report but it is unclear whether this is a full autopsy report, and i dont know the exact content (We are in England, which makes obtaining info even more difficult). But yes it certainly would be comforting to have a definative answer as to what casued the death

There is no thoughts of taking independant action - but it is frustrating to know that nothing will be done unless you actively pursue it and even then justice based on fact and evidence still doesnt seem to be enough. This is the first time i have been in a situation which has touched upon the darker or greyer side of Thai life and you do end up feeling helpless and alone.

Thanks All

Thanks both - is anyone able to recommend a reputable lawyer in Ubon area?

Cheers

Hello

I wonder if anyone can recommend a good lawyer in Isaan or perhaps offer some advice on a tricky situation?

My wife's father recently passed away and this happended soon after he had suffered a beating at the hands of a village policeman and a couple of the village teenagers. Its not clear why they did this to him - maybe a gambling or women related dispute.

Anyway, my wife's father was a very sick man and has been for long time mainly due to alcohol abuse and has been in and out of hospital over the years. He was certainly in no fit state to defend himself in a situation like this so it was no surprise to anyone when he was hopitalised as a result. Nobody expected him to actually pass away however, which he did within 36hrs.

Seemingly the report from the hospital confirms that he died from his injuries but there seems to be no case going forward to prosecute those responsible. As with anything thai, the details are a bit fuzzy but it seems that the witnesses from the village are unwilling to come forward and make any kind of statement. I'm sure it doesnt help that it is a policeman involved as this has probably created a fear factor among them.

Has anybody had any similar experience of this or can anyone make any kind of suggestion? We would like to see justice done but at the same time we dont want to endanger anyone. My wife's mother, brother and neice are still in the village and we would not want to see them persecuted as a result of anything we do.

Thanks

Hi - my wife and I were told we had upto a 12wk waiting period but then 2wk later we had the passport complete with visa returned. So i think these waiting times are only indicative and assuming your application is water tight you could expect it back much sooner hopefully. Good luck.

Jbd

If you look at the bottom of my post number 7 you will see a link entitled support docs. Just double click and you should be away!

Hello All

As promised please find attached copy of the letter I used for my wife's settlement visa application. As you can see the outlay of the document as based heavily on the format offered on this forum by Rob (who i must thank for being kind enough to put on the site). The only real difference is in the 'relationship history' section obviously.

As you will read, i have been frank and honest in this section. I tell of how our relationship was pretty much non existant before we married as i could see no other way of explaining the last year. As out success shows - honestly is the best policy.

Please also note that we submitted as much support documentation as we could - which ended up with the application being a very hefty package!! It cost £20 to post to Thailand but was obviosuly worth it. But we figured it was better to submit something rather than leave anything in doubt. basically i tried to answer any question the embassy may have either in my letter or with supporting documentation.

My wife commented that when she submitted the application there were several other couples there with very thin folders and she was lugging in this encyclopedia thick wad of papers!!!

I hope some people may find it of use and please dont laugh at the end where it does get a little soppy! If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask i will do my best to help based on our experience.

Thanks all

Support_docs__1_.doc

Thanks all - i will make a point of getting the docs online over the weekend!

Hi All

Just wanted to let all who may have followed my story or offered advice know that today my wife picked up her passport complete with brand new 2yr settlement visa, and we are both extremely happy after an anxious couple of week of not hearing anything from the emabssy.

Not even an interview or a phonecall - just 2wks after submitting the application we had a message on the UK Vac website saying the application was ready to collect. Initially we thought it was a rejection as it seem to emphasise that the application was ready to collect rather than the passport more importantly. My wife jumped in a taxi after i called her to tell her something was ready to collect, but that it may well be bad news. Instead she collected a large envelope containing all our papers along with passport and complete with visa!!! Amazing really and im still a little shell shocked at how easy it has been!

To be fair i put a lot of effort into the supporting documents and if anyone would like me to upload them please let me know. I will be happy to edit out the personal bits so people can see the template we used and use it if they like.

One quick question - are we able to purchase a one way flight from thailand to UK or will she still need a return to satisy passport control?

Cheers all!!

Thanks - i will check air eygpt for prices!

Just a heads up to the guys that have offered advice as i have been gathering all the support docs etc for my wifes settlement visa application.

I posted the docs off to the Mrs's today so she will sign and submit as soon as she gets them after adding IMO cert and marraige cert etc to the pile of docs contained within. Kind of a weird feeling knowing that i have now done all i can and that it is now entirely out of my hands.

Anyway i will let you all know what happens in the near future and i was wondering that should we be succesful - would the population here find it helpful if i attach a copy of my support letter for future reference? I know i based my letter on Rob's as attached in this forum and found it very useful!

Cheers

Jas

I have searched the site and checked out the various suggested sites and to me the prices seem quite similar whether you book in the UK or Bkk. We have just submitted a settlement visa application for my wife and assuming we are sucessful (hope, hope) we will be looking for her to fly out here toward the end of August if all goes smooth.

The best ones she has found in Bkk are between 60-70k THB and the best ones i have found on global websites are between £8-900 GBP. Is it really this expensive in August or is there a better way to obtain cheaper fares? I recently paid £450 thai air UK to Bkk but that was in June.

Anyway any pointers gratefully accepted its an expensive affair this whole visa process!!!!

Jas

Moss - that was a long time ago we have all we have all grown up now! Incidentally my wife is not that girl!!

Scouser thankyou for the advice - do you think it is important that i show phone bills and emails from the early years? They will be quite hard to get hold of enough especially as i have since changed banks and cell networks etc. I am hoping that our story and the strength of our time in NZ will be enough. I have got copies of early airline tickets which i can use and lots of photos.

Also in the section about my wifes current employment details - is it necesarry to go as far as providing copies of her bank statements? And any copies of passports etc i send is it vital they are certified or is this not really vital? And finally - i am aware that this is asked many times - but with regards a ticket for her to england - do you think it is advisable to explain in the application that this will be purchased afterwards if successful or would you advise going ahead and making a booking so we can show an itinary?

Sorry for all the questions i have read alot of your posts and they are always full of excellent infomation!

Just looking at the paperwork now and there does not seem to be a specific application form for me to fill in as the sponsor - is this correct? And if so is it just a case of me laying out a covering letter with full support documentation for the wife to submit with her VAF4?

Thanks very much for the reassurance - we were thinking of just going for it as we are able to prove a solid history, we were just worried about the lack of contact in the past year.

Thankyou

Hi All

I have just recently returned from thailand and what was a whirlwind holiday for me and my new wife! The questions I have relate to what steps we should take next so she can join me in the UK so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

We first met over 3yrs ago while i was on holiday in bkk and when i returned to the UK we maintained contact. I returned to Thailand 6mths after meeting her to visit and we stayed together travelling to Samui and also becoming engaged on this visit. I returned to the UK and we maintained contact for another 6mths and i also was able to send a little money over every month or so to help support her. After this i moved to thailand for 2mth and we lived togther in a condo in Bkk and had a great time in which we visited her family and decided we absolutely had a future together.

After this 2mth period i returned to the Uk and she moved up country to her family home in Ubon while i made visa arrangements for her to stay with me in NZ for 3mth, for which we successfully obtained. (I am a dual national and we stayed in NZ with my father who also sponsored her stay in NZ as i was initially out of work). In NZ we successfully applied for a 9mth extension to her tourist visa which also included a work permit and we stayed in in NZ in total for almost one year before i returned to the UK and she to Thailand.

This is where it gets a little bit sticky as when i got back to the UK our relationship cooled. I got a new job which took alot of my focus and our contact really dwindled as time went by although we did keep in very limited contact. I went to thailand 3wk ago on holiday and when we met it was like we had never been apart, so happy to be together again, that we, decided to get married! I admit that we were reckless and it was rushed but it was great and we are very happy. We had a great wedding in Ubon with all her friends and family and i even had to extend my stay by 2 days as we didnt know i needed an affirmation of my freedom to marry which we had to get after the wedding in Bkk before we could register and legalise our marraige. Very rushed and very stressful as it felt like we were applying for a visa just getting the marraige registered so inquisitive were the staff at the lumphur.

So now is the tricky part i guess. I am back in the UK i have about £1000 left after paying the dowry and for the wedding, rings etc. I have about 2k on my credit cards and i live in a shared house, but i do have disposable income of around £7-800 a month after all expenses which should be enough for us, especially if she can work also. We should be able to show a lot of evidence of our relationship particulalry the early stages, ie phone bills, flights, photographs galore, but the past one year will be far more difficult. She has no land or assets and works in a salon.

Do you think we can successfully apply directly for a settlement visa in the UK or should we start with a visit visa? Any advice would be great as i start to put together all the paperwork!

Thanks all!

Hi all, got a couple of weeks booked in thailand in june which cant come soon enough! I know my first 3-4 days will be spent blowing off some steam but after that i really want to get out of bkk to a more laid back place with a nice beach where i can chill out. Anyone have any ideas? I have done the usual phuket, pattaya, samui etc but would like to try something a bit different this time. Somewhere quieter that i can relax during the day on the beach but still with a bit of a night-time action would be perfect! Really appreciate any suggestions for something a little different, Cheers!

i bet my life that 10 baht jewels at vict mon dont go for anything like 20-30 nz! in nz. no wonder people lose so much money.

You would be surprised Blizzard!! Either way, a box full of 10B jewelary aint gonna hurt anyones pocket! OK thanks guys I guess this ones a none starter!

Yes I am from the UK but have lived in NZ for a number of years where my gf joined me!

Like I said we weren't talking 1000's of boxes, more like a big box full of nick nacks that we could sell as a hobby. Can we simply get someone to buy a box full of things and ship it over or are there rules for that sort of thing, as i guess this would still be classed as an enterprise of sorts?

Thanks for the feedback though - this is where the idea comes from - we see crappy jewelery for sale everyday in NZ for $20-30NZ that u can buy at victory monument for 10B!!!

Hi all, I was looking for some advice regarding the possibilities of exporting various products from Thailand and into NZ for re-sale. This is something my gf (thai) is interested in doing as she thinks we could make a little pocket money selling jewellary, clothes etc on the internet in our spare time - so we are not talking about a large scale operation at all! Can anyone help with regards the various rules that would apply, costs, info sources etc. And if anyone has any ideas as to what product would be most profitable would be real helpful too! I am basically trying to find out if this is a feasible idea as my gf is quite keen on the idea!

Thankyou

She doesnt have a job in thailand just lives up north in the family home! In NZ she had three jobs during her time here - one as a motel cleaner, a waitress in a thai restaurant and finally at a Macdonalds!!! But she did get a reference at Mcd's!! I guess some time apart may be inevitable i just kinda hoped that once she had a succesful visa history things might start to get more easy!

Thats the unfortunate thing, in terms of property or funds i have nothing to talk of and neither does she in thailand. All my family are in england so that is one thing but we will struggle to provide any concrete reason for her to return to thailand! I will however, have a good job which comes with an apartment so that is another thing i suppose but otherwise it seems that the fact we have already succefully applied for visas in NZ will count for nothing?