Brigante7

I am sure this must of comed up before, but i am fairly new to this. So i just have to ask what you guys think of this "Black Man" toliet brush , mops, etc etc????? What is that about? i am not black but still offended by this, ay more racist comments about thais, pls feel free to post>

Thanks

(It actually has a picture of a black "slave" looking man holding a duster etc) WOW

Yes, it has come up before. And if you're sensitive to that, then I think Thailand is not the place for you.

Don't you think he looks a bit like Obama?

Could be a new Obama catch-phrase "I'm going to clean up US politics!"

Wow,i didn't know Obama endorsed products..........

But Obama isn't black?

If a FLR is obtained due to not passing the citizenship test, would it not be possible to avoid a ILR and go straight to Citizenship,( 3 years resident in uk) therefore avoiding the £750.00 fee.

No because you have to have an ILR visa for 1 year before you can get a UK passport and you need to be in the UK for a minimum of 2 years before you can get an ILR visa but you must get the ILR before you can get a UK passport.

Hide your son's passport and seek the advice of a good lawyer.

If I opened a restaurant for people from Africa called the "golliwog connection" I think they'd do a lot worse than make few untrue emails.

LMFAO, nice one.

Unless you satisfy his concerns you will not get a Tourist visa maybe you should of considered a fiancee visa.

That's what happened to my g/friend (Now wife), she was refused 2 tourist visas and in the end got a fiance visa.

Just wanted to let everybody living in the UK who has a Thai wife or husband know about my wifes efforts to get her indefinite leave to remain visa (ILR). She arrived in the Uk in October 2006 on a fiance visa which lasted for 6 months (March 2007) at which point she got a limited leave to remain visa which lasts for 2 years but what she really wanted was her ILR visa and in order to get this she had to either go through the life in the UK test which involved answering lots of questions on, yep you've guesed it Life in the UK, I looked through the book and tried to answer some of the questions myself, fu_ck they were hard, lol.

Another option was to do an ESOL college course which is 2 hours a morning and 4 mornings a week, and once you had reached the required level you get a certificate stating that you had achieved the required level in order to apply for your ILR visa, so the wife started the course last September and 2 weeks ago reached the required level an as such recieved her certificate in the post meaning she could apply for her visa.

From the moment she arrived in the UK we made sure that we kept every letter with either my name and address of my wifes name and address and after we were married she applied for and recieved a national insurance number and also she opened a bank account and so she kept every piece of paper that she recieved including utility bills, bank statements, letters from doctors, dentists, credit card statements, goverment, council and such.

last week, February 4th I phoned the UK immigration office to arrange an apointment, and we went on Wednesday 11the February in Glasgow toapply for my wifes ILR visa.

Our appointment was for 13:30 but we arrived at 12:30 and were taken straight away as it was very quiet, we were given a number and waited 30 minutes before we were called, we handed all our paper work along with the application form, our passports, photos, marriage certificate, basicly everything we had, better to have to much than not enough I always say, and were told to wait again another 30 minutes then called back to get the decision, she got her visa, then told to wait again while they put the visa into her passport, another 30 minutes, picked up the passport and we were out of there having been told that after 1 year my wife can apply for a UK passport.

Sorry for such a long post, just wanted to let others in the same situation know our experience, and if anybody has any questions then feel free to ask or PM me, take care all.

Brigante7

The price in the UK has risen twice in the last 4 weeks

Your passport does not belong to you, it belongs to your country of origin. Go talk to your home country embassy, they will know what to do.

Yes go to the English embassy.

Tell the window licker of this fascist run regime to <deleted> off and mind his own business, it's nothing to do with him. They can't do anything to you for taking your money to spend on holiday.

John.....

How much more useful advice can one possibly ask for, not!

If I choose to carry my life savings around with me and that includes going on holiday, I'll be dammed if some jumped up little hitler on a power trip is going to tell me where I can take MY money that I've worked for, paid tax on, and will spend as I see fit.

So what would your advice be Chiang Mai?

The idea of carrying my life savings around with me doesn't make sense hence I simply wouldn't do it in the first place, in fact, I seriously doubt that I would carry more than a few hundred Pounds at any one time. I suppose that if I wanted to take the risk of losing it and/or being set upon and potentially killed I might do otherwise but again, why should I.

As for being stopped by the UK Police and asked questions about where the money came from: if I really had no other choice but to carry a large sum I would also make sure I had some form of paperwork with me that substantiated where the money came from and/or why I was carrying so much - I certainly wouldn't be inclined to tell them to <deleted> off simply because that's counterproductive for everyone and risks me having the money confiscated until I had learned some manners.

I wouldn't carry my life savings with me either, what I meant was for all they know I might be carrying my life savings with me and while we still live in a free(ish) country I don't have to explain myself to anybody, I pay tax & NI and so they can check up on me any time they want so why should I tell them anything, fuc_k em.

It's actually £750 by post.

I agree that these fees are way to high.

£515 for a settlement visa.

£395 for FLR.

£750 for ILR.

Back in 2000, when my wife applied, the settlement visa was £260 and both FLR and ILR was free; yes free!

These ripp off charges charges can be laid squarely at the door of Blair and Brown.

Remember that when the next election comes.

it is going up by £1000 in April I think,

Where did you read/hear this?

My wifes tutor on her college ESOL college course told my wife to get her ILR visa before April as the prices are going up by around £1000.

I've never voted labour in my life and never will.

I don't know what is the more laughable. This garbled account of confabulated nonsense or the fact that anyone could be so gullible as to take it at face value.

While it seems things have changed in regards to how a visa application is submitted, this is what happened to my wife when she applied for a tourist visa to the UK and on the 3rd application she applied for a fiance visa and was granted it 1 day after the coup in 2006. She was informed in writing both times that she was refused a tourist visa explaining why she was refused, now I don't know if the receptionist was just trying her luck or if she really did have any influence over the decision of visa's but that is what happened to us.

There was no agency involved, everything was dealt with through the embassy and the applicant, sure there were people outside offering there services but lets be honest, would you really trust them?

Like people keep saying TIT and so I was expecting corruption but £1000? They musn't have realised I'm a Scotsman and as such I am tighter than a camels arse in a sandstorm.

The coup was near the end of September in 2006, VFS took over the process of accepting UK Visa applications around May/June time in 2006.

Again, never heard of VFS, the wife never left the embassy when applying for her visa, she handed all her documents in and went back for her interview 2 days later at the embassy and was told there and then that she had got her visa.

Don't go there wearing your rolex watches.

I used to work at Esso(Exxon Mobil) port offices and felt threatened occasionally at night on the outskirts of the slum area, however it's not as dangerous as Leith when the pubs close.

Have to agree with you on that one Neeranam, Porty used to be bad but not so much now, I assume you're from the area?

Tell the window licker of this fascist run regime to <deleted> off and mind his own business, it's nothing to do with him. They can't do anything to you for taking your money to spend on holiday.

John.....

How much more useful advice can one possibly ask for, not!

If I choose to carry my life savings around with me and that includes going on holiday, I'll be dammed if some jumped up little hitler on a power trip is going to tell me where I can take MY money that I've worked for, paid tax on, and will spend as I see fit.

So what would your advice be Chiang Mai?

Tell the window licker of this fascist run regime to <deleted> off and mind his own business, it's nothing to do with him. They can't do anything to you for taking your money to spend on holiday.

John.....

Hear Hear, well said, tell them fu_ck all.

Vodaphone Pay-as-you-go offers calls to a Thailand landline for 5p per minute and mobile for 15p per minute. You won't find better on Pay-as-you-go in the U.K.

Actualy you will, Lebara 4p a minute to a landline and 6p a minute to a mobile, buy a sim card, top up with £20 and get £10 free, couldn't be easier.

i card

1.2p to 0800 number. Only 0.2p to 0845 or 0207 number.

http://linkstochina.com/RingChina/cgi/iCar...l=&des_in=t

Is the i card not for use from landlines? I'm pretty sure that using your mobile to call an 0845 number will be pretty expensive. Vodafone charges 20p a minute to phone an 0845 number not sure what the others charge.

I don't know what is the more laughable. This garbled account of confabulated nonsense or the fact that anyone could be so gullible as to take it at face value.

While it seems things have changed in regards to how a visa application is submitted, this is what happened to my wife when she applied for a tourist visa to the UK and on the 3rd application she applied for a fiance visa and was granted it 1 day after the coup in 2006. She was informed in writing both times that she was refused a tourist visa explaining why she was refused, now I don't know if the receptionist was just trying her luck or if she really did have any influence over the decision of visa's but that is what happened to us.

There was no agency involved, everything was dealt with through the embassy and the applicant, sure there were people outside offering there services but lets be honest, would you really trust them?

Like people keep saying TIT and so I was expecting corruption but £1000? They musn't have realised I'm a Scotsman and as such I am tighter than a camels arse in a sandstorm.

Another thing, at the moment an ILR visa is £950 when applying in person or £700 when applying by post but it is going up by £1000 in April I think, robbing cu_nts.

I know that they had thai's working at the embassy and it was them who were knocking back applications just so that you had to reapply and thus pay again with every application, robbing cu_nts.

Rubbish. What would a Thai employee at the embassy have to gain? They are not on a commission! All the money from visa fees goes to the Treasury!

The decision on visa applications always has been made by British employees working at the embassy. This is still the case. All VFS do is collate the paperwork, collect the fee and forward the application to the embassy. Their staff are not involved in the actual decision making in any way. Although they will advise applicant's not to submit the application if the paperwork is poor, they must forward the application to the embassy if the applicant asks them to.

Goonerthegooner, if a member of the VFS staff did act as you say then you must make an official complaint to the embassy. They will take the complaint very seriously.

Many people on this board and others have submitted applications over the last few months. Not one of them has reported similar treatment from VFS staff. This includes my sister-in-law who submitted a visit application just before Christmas and has been in the UK with us since early January.

Why is it only you who has had this problem?

The scammers from VWC do all they can to make people think that they are VFS staff. They do not identify themselves and there are no signs to say that you are in the wrong office. You would not be the first Brit to think you were in the VAC when in fact you were in the wrong office. Unfortunately, you wont be the last.

I don't know who VFS or VAC are but my wife handed all her paper work and visa fee to the receptionist (Thai) at the british embassy and waited for her interview, she never left the embassy, she was refused twice but each time they were happy to tell her that she could reapply again as many times as she wanted as long as she paid the correct fee. The first time they said they thought she was lying on her application, visa refused, end of story, second time they told her that her boyfriend (Me) was an illegal alien in the UK and I had a fake UK passport and I would be sent back to my home country, you couldn't make it up, I was born and raised in the UK. The receptionist was located in a small waiting room and made it clear to my wife that for a fee, At the time £1000, she could guarantee her application would be succesful and she also made it clear that if we didn't pay then there was a very good chance her visa application might fail so don't tell me I'm talking rubbish. When I sent her the 3rd letter to pass on to the embassy asking them to give her a visa to visit me in the UK I explained that I had spoken to my MP about her being refused twice and about them selling visa's, I hadn't but they didn't know that, it worked and she got her visa.

Well no one is listening to me... the 0844 number I gave in full will do the trick for 1p a minute - make it as complicated as you like

That's what I use from the landline at home but I can't see it being 1p a minute using a mobile.

Hi everyone. i'm new in town.

Just wondering where's your favourite place in Bangkok.

-your favourite friendly bar for a nice, ice-cold happy hour beer after work.

-your favourite clubbing joint to see some action on friday nights.

-your favourite chill-out place with a nice band.

none of the touristy patpong kinda joints pls

Beer garden, sukhumvit soi 7, no bar fines, big screens to watch the football, good food and lovely ladies.

If you're in an area that is cabled for Virgin Media you can get cable tv, internet and phone whilst avoiding BT altogether. Go to http://allyours.virginmedia.com/ and stick your postcode in to see if you're in their area.

I'm with Tiscali, I pay £15 a month for broadband and line rental, the line rental is payed to Tiscali not BT, the line rental is £10.50 a month so the broadband works out at £4.50 a month for up to 8 meg with unlimited downloads, can't fault the service.

www.tiscali.co.uk

Hello All.

My wife has a pay as you go phone in the uk and we are looking for the cheapest way to phone thailand by this means. My friend says that this is an expensive way but we dont have a home phone at present as we are in the middle of moving house. Any answers will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Slippery

Hi Slippery, tell her to get a Lebara sim card, it's 4p a minute to phone a landline and 6p a minute to phone a mobile. just visit any phone shop and they should have one, they have a promotion on at the moment if you buy a £20 top up you get another £10 free. My wife got one 2 months ago, it's great when she is out of the house.

Brigante

I wish for nothing, I'm 100% happy with my life.

If you need a ride to the asylum, I am sure a taxi will take you.

Alternative comment: can I have some of what your smoking?

LOL, I have a beautiful wife and son who are both healthy and happy and I am healthy and happy what else does one need apart from material things?

Don't you all agree that the buses and cabs drive erratically and rather dangerously here in Bangkok? We ride on a motorbike and many times the buses or cabs would just switch lanes without looking at their side or rear view mirrors! CRAZY!!

Hmm, not only in Bangkok!!

And not only buses and taxis, in fact motorbikes are the biggest culprits. Pain in the ass when people just change lanes without indicating or looking, isn't it?