Guemlum

Very true scouse, very true, but should be "in castlemaine xxxx veritas"

Guemlum

Just read my lost post...a bit out off character for me...must have been the few beers I had last night.

Anyway, thanks scouse and vinny for the posts. Very helpfull and will probably call the college first.

Guemlum

Thanks for the replys guys. It still doesnt help me in determining the right course for my wife.

And about the rant at the end...I agree with it all. My line of business see's me taking charge of different trades on site, many of which are eastern europeans, and they all tell me what they get upto, and how easy it is to milk the system dry. Makes me bloody sick. Its down to me as to who we employ on site, and I'm tending not to use the Poles and the Lithuanians now as they are all money hungry, greedy, bastards. They all moan about the money they are earning and I'll tell you something; there not earning far off what I do, and I'm on a good salary. Despite my own mother being Polish, it still pisses me off. I'm getting a bit off topic now so I'll stop.

Guemlum

So I've noticed there are a couple of posts on this forum about ESOL courses. Whilst we are on the subject, I was wondering if anyone can tell me which one of these courses we should be applying for; or what course is required by the home office/British embassy in order to apply for ILR once our settlement visa has expired.

My wife will be arriving in the UK on the 1/4/08 and I want to get her on one of these courses ASAP. Her English is fine as well as her reading and writing, so we are not sure which course she should be applying for. These are the courses my local college are offering:

ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages

ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages Elementary

ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages Pre Intermediate

ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages Level 1

ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages Level 2

ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages Intermediate Level 1

ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages Intermediate Level 2

ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages High Intermediate Level 1

ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages High Intermediate Level 2

Guemlum

Tuk Tuk takes no more than 5 minutes max to get from the train station to the bridge (where immigration is), depending on how loaded the tuk tuk is. I would have thought it shouldnt cost you more than 60 baht to get there as it usually costs me that to get from the centre of NK to the train station, and thats considerably further.

Guemlum

Well done mate to you and the Mrs....we never got an email of apology but we did receive a phone call asking her to come and collect her visa and an apology for the inconvenience.

If only they new how much their inconvenience has cost me.

Guemlum

Well maybe I'm wrong, but I would have thought that would have carried alot of weight. You might want to wait and see what "Scouse" has to say.

You have to be able to show that you can support your wife and child without recourse to public funds. Evidence of how much savings you have will help as this will show you have enough funds untill finding employment. A letter of job offer will also help.

I believe that a third party offer of accomodation is acceptable in the rules posted on the embassy website, however a third party offer of finacial help is not acceptable.

If you have an offer of free accomodation from you brother-in-law, then get him to write a letter confirming this. Also get him to provide evidence of the size of the property on offer. i.e, council tax bill, property deeds, paperwork from mortgage provider, photo's. Anything that can show that the property is large enough to accomodate you and your family should help and is also owned by him.

I dont claim to be an expert on these matters, but these are a few that I have come up against recently in putting forward an application for my wife.

Good luck

Guemlum

personally i think they wont accept this idea.......as we could all probably find someone well off that could write a letter saying whatever you wanted it to say.

Yes, but surely being related should help. Maybe I'm reading this wrong. Is your brother-in-law Thai? or are you talking about a brother-in-law based in the UK?. I would have thought that a Thai brother-in-law based in Thailand wouldnt have carried much weight, as the sponsor should be UK based. Maybe I'm wrong. Just my thoughts.

Guemlum

Heavy stuff there scotty...It takes alot of guts to admit to that. I don't really know much about bankruptcy but I really do hope you manage to sort things out, and hope you both get yourselve's back on your feet again soon.

Guemlum and Mrs Guemlum

See the advertisement banner for Davies Khan at the top of this page.

Guemlum

Dont panic or give up guys.

We submitted our application on the Friday 15th Feb. It was taken to the embassy from the VAC on the following Monday 18th Feb. We were informed on the 21st to come to the VAC to pick up the passport. We collected the passport on the 22nd. The refusal notice inside stated that the decision to refuse the visa had been made on the 19th Feb.

I then employed the services of the Scouse who wrote a letter to the embassy on the 25th Feb. We received a reply back from the embassy on the 28th Feb. A further letter from the Scouse was written on the same day back to the embassy and on March 6th we received another letter and phonecall from the embassy telling us they were overturning their decision and were now granting my wife with a settlement visa.

I hope the above gives you some idea of timescales involved. Should your application be unsuccesfull and dependent on the type of visa and reasons for refusal, I would definately recommend the Scouse's services otherwise you could be looking at a 7 month battle before you receive a tribunal hearing.

On another note, I believe that the ECO's only have a certain amount of time in which to read any application and supporting evidence put forward. Had they read all of the supporting evidence I had provided, it would have taken a couple of hours. Hence, evidence provided was overlooked resulting in our refusal.

Guemlum

Hi scouse. I'm not sure whether she had to sign for anything but she did receive a piece of paper telling her she had to enter the UK within the next 28 days otherwise she would have to pay for and apply for some sort of extension?

I've asked her to bring along everything that they gave her when she picked up the visa. I can always clear up matters when she arrives.

Guemlum

So having returned last night to the UK, from a 4-week stay in Thailand I feel it necessary to praise the hard work and professionalism of the "scouse", from Davies Khan.

Our paperwork that we had put forward for a settlement visa application was as concise as I could possibly make it. I had covered every angle to ensure that things went smoothly. This was our second visa as we had previously been successful in obtaining a tourist visa for my then girlfriend and were now applying for a settlement visa, as we are now husband and wife. The visa was refused.

Upon obtaining the refusal notice, the embassy gave only one reason for refusal, which was based around accommodation here in the UK. We had made very clear in our application our accommodation status and saw no reason according to the rules and regulations that are posted on the embassy website that we should be refused. However, the embassy thought different and overlooked allot of the evidence provided in our application. I knew I had a case to fight the refusal notice and decided that I neither had the time or patience to be handling this myself, and decided that if I wanted this fatally flawed decision by the embassy turning around, I should get in contact with the scouse.

Upon talking to the scouse and giving him all of the information that was required, he went on to produce a literary award-winning letter that was sent to the embassy. The reply back from the embassy was a few lines of text telling us simply that they would not overturn their decision. Once again another hard-hitting letter to the embassy was produced and 6 days letter we were contacted by the embassy and told that they would be issuing the settlement visa for my wife.

At this point I would like to name and shame the ECO that refused the visa but I wont, as I'm sure the mods would not appreciate it and secondly we have the visa granted already.

As for the scouse.... he maintained a very professional service throughout our battle to get the decision overturned. He understands the immigration law and in doing so is able to write down in words what most of us would not be able to. His letters are powerful and hard-hitting to the point as not to be rude in any way. He kept us informed at every stage of the game and was not judgemental or prejudice in any way. He was a delight to talk to and has a sense of humour that can lift you up when you are feeling down.

If you ever encounter any immigration related problems then I would definately 100% recommend his services. Had we have not used his services, I could have been looking at a possible 7 month battle with the embassy.

Here's to you scouse

Guemlum

PS. I have the rice cooker already and the wife will be arriving in the UK on the 1/4/2008

I to have had some good experiences at the Wattana hospital.

I Recently spent some time nursing a sick father-in-law at the Nongkhai hospital as well, and the conditions and treatment in the public wards were terrible. You do not want to be on those wards. We moved him to a private room in the end where we had some privacy. The treatment was no better. I can go into details if you really want to know.

Because of his age and illness, we moved him back home as it was his wish and it made no difference as to whether he stayed in hospital or at home. He saw his last days at home with the family.

Guemlum

Hehe, I was going to say you haven't read my post properly, but you've noticed.

She's visited the UK once before on a tourist visa and we are now applying for the settlement visa.

As for experienced members, I have been in touch with the most experienced of them all....the scouser. We just have to wait and see now as to why they have called her in. We will find out this Friday for sure.

Still bricking it though.

Guemlum

My wife received a phone call today from the British Embassy, asking her to attend an interview this Friday. I suppose this news could still be deemed as good news as they haven't given an outright "no" to her application. Then why am I bricking it?

When we applied for a tourist visa last year, we put a very very thorough application forward, and she was asked to attend an interview back then. She was granted the visa and visited the UK for exactly 1 month.

This time we have supplied the original folder of information, and more, trying to make everything as clear and detailed again. We have tried to cover all eventualities. We cant see what reasons they would make her go through the very stressful experience of having to attend another interview. Maybe we are panicking about nothing.

Lets hope she has the very polite and helpful lady at the embassy who interviewed her before.

Guemlum

We recently spent 10 nights at the Koh Chang Cliff Beach hotel in Kai Bae and paid about 4000 baht per night for a cliff view room. I think their prices range from about 2700 - 6500 baht per night.

Lovely secluded beach which did neighbour a couple of other resorts but we had a very peaceful and relaxing stay. The staff were more than helpfull on many an occasion and its not to far from restaurants and bars if you need a change.

We've stayed at quite a few hotels on Koh Chang over the years and this was up there as one of our nicest stays.

Guemlem

Thanks scouse, I'll forward them the link to this forum so they can read your reply. Thanks again.

Guemlum

Ok, a little bit of a tricky situation here, and I am asking on behalf of a friend of mine.

My friends, who are husband and wife moved from Thailand to the UK almost 2 years ago. He is English and she is Thai. She was granted a settlement visa for 2 years and was in the UK for 8 months before moving to Costa Rica, South America with her husband to start up a business together.

Her settlement visa runs out on the 29th March this year, and they are wondering what their options are regarding her visa status, and what she will need to do prior to and arriving in the UK. They are returning in March.

Hope the scouse is about, as I'm sure he can advise accordingly.

Thanks

Guemlum

Thanks for the info guys.

We've used a translation bureau opposite the embassy before, but unfortunately the wife lost his business card and couldn’t call him to find out a price. I just wanted to pre-warn her of the cost involved.

Unfortunately there are no reliable translation bureaus up in Nongkhai that I am aware of, and since she is going for her TB test on Tuesday and to submit her settlement visa application on Wednesday, it made sense to get the wedding certificate translated at the same time.

Thanks again guys.

Guemlum

Hi Guys, It's probably been asked a thousand times and I've done a search around the forum and cant find what I'm looking for.

Basically need to know how much it costs to have the Thai marriage certificate translated into English?

Are there any other documents required by the translation bureau in order to do the translation?

How long it takes to do the translation?

Any recommendations for a good translation bureau?

Thanks

Guemlum

Some pretty good pics G', the one of the underside of the umbrella had particular artistic taste, I thought and just put my mind at rest, you weren't involved in the Lorry destruction derby were you?

I did like the pics

Moss

Thanks mossy and unfortunately had nothing to do with accident. Was dam_n funny though. The guy pulled of the ferry, drove fifty yards, slid backwards into the ditch. I think he never gave the 3 compulsory toots of the car horn for good luck that your supposed to do when arriving on Koh Chang.

Guemlum

I think I might be due for some comission Changian

Guemlum

Saw a German guy in a ditch only yesterday. He had come off his bike after sliding on loose soil/sand that had fallen off the back of a truck. Stuck him in the back of the pick-up and took him to the local clinic where they patched him up. He wasnt drunk and had ridden bikes before, but the back wheel just went from under him on a corner and there was nothing he could do about it.

Best to drive the largest vehicle you can afford to, and if that's a small scooter then ride as though you expect everyone else on the road to kill you. That way you'll stay alert.

Guemlum & Cuban - thanks for the mention of me & the site.

Hi Changian, probably remember me as Gary...nice to see you on the forum. Have posted a few pictures in this forum from Koh Chang, including one or our boat trip with you.

Look forward to reading any of your future posts.

Guemlum

White Sands is now (IMHO) quite a down market resort, lots of European back-packers with out of date Lonely Planet guides seeking "The Beach" experience etc etc.

Where would you recommend as the best beach these days on Koh Chang, if not White Sands?

Last hotel we stayed at was the Koh Chang Cliff Beach. Had a beautiful private beach... and IMO much better than the beach in Klong Prao, or Whitesands. There are lots of superior beaches to those that have been mentioned, but they obviously belong to hotels. Remember, you can always walk into most of the hotels and use their services, or failing that, just say you want to have a look around as you're thinking of visiting another time. Another option which we have done many times is to rent a private speed boat and visit some of the smaller Islands, such as Koh Maak, Koh Wai etc. Beautiful beaches and depending on the time of day, you get the beach to yourself.

On another note and back to my original post, that picture is one of mine. Lorry rolled backwards after hitting oil...lost road grip and ended up in a ditch. Happened only 50 yards from the ferry point.

You are lucky not to have witnessed any accidents on the island or to be involved in any.... however, I'm very surprised you've not heard about any. They happen on a daily basis. Just look at the number of farrang sporting huge scabs and cuts on their arms and legs. They are not called Koh Chang tattoos for no reason.

I'll quote an article written on www.iamkohchang.com

Motorcyclists. "There are two kinds of riders on K.C. The bad farang riders and the bad Thai riders. Their traits differ however, the Thai rider will more often than not be a danger to other road users because he places all his faith in not having an accident in the small amulet his grandfather gave him rather than following any rules of the road. This amulet gives him superhuman powers and makes him indestructible. Think about it, how fast would you ride if you thought you had eternal life? Farang riders pose an equal threat, not through speed, more through lack of it. Lobster tanned couples wobbling around on a 100cc scooter and eventually stalling and falling underneath the wheels of a pick-up when attempting to climb a hill are an all too common cause of tailbacks".

Roads. "An asphalt road almost circles the island. Around the east coast the road is flat, on the west coast there's a very step climb between Kong Son & White Sand Beach, from there it's flat road until you leave Kai Bae and the road becomes a mini rollercoaster until you reach Bailan. The 11km between Salakphet and Bangbao is a dangerous, narrow gravel topped road for motorbikes and bicycles only . . .or it would be if the central section had actually been completed. As it is, the road just stops in a dead end in the jungle after a couple of kilometres. A lot of complaints are made about the roads on Koh Chang being too narrow but plans have been approved to add footpaths and widen the road in certain places on the west coast. In early 2005,there were a lot of surveyors out on the west coast roads, apparently deciding where to put footpaths . . .I don't need a troglodyte to know that adjacent to the road would be a good place to start. And by mid-2006 the road was widened from White Sand Beach to Kai Bae to include an additional footpath / bicycle lane / parking area / area for setting up market stalls".

"Garbage is piling up on the hillside and along the road. Wastewater is being discharged from hotels and construction sites to the seashore, where tourists sunbathe and swim. The 70km road, the only main road on this resort island, is in terrible condition. Without street lights, the number of road accidents continues to rise".

And another from another well-known Koh Chang website...

"When you arrive at Koh Chang, the first precaution is to drive carefully. Koh Chang is very safe place where the most trouble is self-inflicted with drink driving. Most accidents are fairly common so you should always wear helmet and shoes; most of the roads are concrete now so they are crucial, jeans and jacket are advisable. The sharp curves are mostly around Klong Son, White Sand Beach, Lonely Beach and Kai Bae Beach. Except Klongprao where is almost plain area. Theft is uncommon, but if it does happen, go to police station and get a report for your insurance.

And from another...

Roads - A two-lane tarmac road circumnavigates 90% of the island. Sections of it are very hilly, so it pays to be cautious- especially at night as fatal accidents do occur with increasing frequency.

The list go's on.

Regarding the OP's original message, don’t hesitate in taking a car or renting a motorbike on the island. Just be aware that Koh Chang is no safer than any other island or town/city in Thailand. You may be the best driver in the world, but then there's always the other driver. And more often than not, accidents are a daily occurrence on Koh Chang. Please drive with care if you do visit Koh Chang.

Guemlum