coolhandjoe

In order to demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation you need to:

• have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least three years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and
• have been present in the United Kingdom three years before the date of your application; and
• have not spent more than 270 days outside the United Kingdom during the three-year period; and
• have not spend more than 90 days outside the United Kingdom in the last 12 months of the three-year period; and
• have not been in breach of the immigration rules at any stage during the three-year period.

In my opinion you can apply for citizenship now as you satisfy the rules, i know it's a worry because of the £851 un-refundable fee, i know some Philipino's who applied straight after ILR and recieved citizenship 5 weeks later.

All the best

@ Star Dust.....I still have chills after reading your OP.

I agree with you that the general tourist has no idea with what goes on behind the scenes in whatever country they visit.

Thank you for sharing with us, and I can only wish you well in your recovery from this traumatic experience. I know the nightmares will be suppressed for a while, but they will come.

Take Care.

Cheers.

Indeed +1

You are fortunate that you are young and less than a year time served can be put down to experience.

I know it might not seem like it now, but in a few years time this will be a distant memory.

So please share your stories and enjoy your liberty

Hi TV members,

I've just been searching on-line for a romantic poem in Thai with an English translation and i haven't had much success at sourcing a suitable poem or message.

I would be grateful for the knowledge and experience on this forum by members and i'm sure a few other members might decide to surprise their other half with a card written in Thai.

Thanks in advance.

Being the only farang in the viliage i can honestly say i rely on TV for mental stimulation and intelligent conversation in Thailand, I would have gone ting tong without the web here.

If i was on the bones of my arse in Thailand i would turn to religion, Then i'd soon be back on the straight and narrow with a pocketfull of cash.

I nominate Pseudolus for his "Dog Poo Is The Reason I Will Leave This Country....From My Own Dogs" thread among others....

19 nominations left folks

How about a troll of the year 2012 award.

Once we have 20 nominations of members we shall have a poll?

This is for original funny/memorable wild windups.

Not sure if this is allowed mods but it would make an amusing thread!

Retired this year at 39, looking forward to my mid life crisis in LOS.

Desperation in a politician is a poor mandate for popularity, no matter how much they amuse me.

They boil them.

We bought 9 of them as an offering to a temple several years ago.

Then took them back to the in-laws afterwards where they were eaten and washed down with saki.

I took a pic cause no one in the west would believe me.

I think u 2 should get a room and work of that aggressionnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

I don't care where people perceive I met my wife twenty two years ago. They can think what they like.

Walk the streets of a western city like Sydney or London and 90% of those who see you will gleefully think you're with a BG anyhow. You could go to the mall with Yingluck .... and they'd STILL think it. Who cares?

Good Point - So i'm correct in the assumption that all falangs think because you have an Asiatic wife you met under less selubiuos circumstances.

This sterio type is a hard one to crush in the western world no matter how hard you try.

If I read this thread correctly.

OP can't speak to his in-laws as there is no common language.

OP kids live in Australia and speak English.

The grandparents have no real link, no real contact and no means of meeting or communicating to the grandkids apart from sharing some DNA.

The grandparents have other children and other grandkids.

The grandparents did not request the photos but had them foisted upon them.

Perhaps

The grandparents feel sad when they see photos of grandkids they can never know, can never communicate to and will rarely if ever meet.

The grandparents feel as if their daughter's husband and children are total strangers whose culture and language they can never understand.

The grandparents feel that to put up the photos that they never asked for would be weird. Would you put up photos of cousins you had never met in your house?

I grew up barely knowing my uncles and aunts and the OP's reaction seems to be overly sensitive to me.

Best post of the tread - imo

That is a good summary thanks

There seems to be a certain viewpoint on TV that where you met you wife is of importance.

Yes it's important for memorable reasons and nostalgia.

I personally met my wife on an island called Koh Chang nearly 12 years ago in a beach bar where she was working as a chef cooking the best Thai green curry ever tasted in Thailand.

Yes! It was a bar but people asume a bar as in gogo pattaya etc

It cheeses me off when we meet other falang/asiatic couples who meet in bars that are shall we say less reputable .

As anyone else had similar experience ?

The 'I can understand Latin and will post in Latin to show my intelligence' brigade.

Or if your selling a second hand car here "Caveat emptor" - Buyer beware

I've heard it described as many things ... but never a 'car'

But to follow your lead ...

Never buy your car down by the Beach Road ... the lighting is terrible at night and many inperfections are hidden by the Moonlight.

Some can even be completely tucked away ...

Friendly advice only.

Your comparing buying a second hand car to buying a ladyboy in Pattaya, Excellent!

This thread just keeps getting better

I hope this isn't the voice of experience

Tom Jones often altered his songs specifically for certain countries.

"He's a lady" was a huge hit in Thailand.

Abu Hamza is being deported to the States.

It's been a long time since the Americans have been excited about a Muslim flying towards them.

Timeshare scratch cards ...

Everyones a winner and it only takes an hour of your time to visit your free holiday resort!

8 hours later and 500,000 baht lighter the shark will leave you more drained than a Pattaya hooker.

It's cool it's quite, i've chilled and come to the conclusion that sons are held in high esteem in Thai families especially the eldest. Also in law! Thats why if the parents die everything goes to the eldest son unless a will is made.

Younger siblings are further down the pecking order, with daughters last.

off topic - Yet why is Thailand the only country in the world that has sin sot for daughters if they are so low in the pecking order?

We don't visit very often that is probally why they refer to us as falang.

As for money i paid several years ago to upgrade/renovate their house and nothing since.

The good thing about the in-laws is we don't understand a word each other says, how many people would wish for that scenario in the West,lol.

Just returned from a visit to the wifes parents house and i'm fuming.

We gave them some framed pictures of their grandchildren and some family pics of us and our children together. So they could hang them up next to their other family pics.This was a few months ago when we stayed for the weekend, they ended up in the bottom of the wardrobe covered with various household items. I offered to hang them next to the pics of the 3 eldest sons on the wall in the main room as they are a similar size picture and frame, which they agreed to.

We visited them this last weekend and guess what my kids pics are back in the bottom of a cupboard, my missus was shocked but kept quite. I feel hurt and insulted but kept quite.

Is this a culture thing? Because the pics were placed next to the pics of the 3 eldest sons, i don't know!

They are good quality portraits but the in-laws dont wish to have them on their walls which incidently i paid for along with the rest of the house. They call our children,their grand-children farang and not by their names.

Are they taking the mick or have i blown this out of proportion? Letting off steam!!!!

very thin line between gift-giving and bribery/corruption...

It's a lot thinner in Switzerland than Thailand.

Just remember that you're not in Geneva anymore. Where I come from, numbered bank accounts used to hide assets from the tax man are considered "corruption".

But on a bigger scale - nazi gold etc

Standard Thai SUV.

So the opinions from those of us that live with our families in Pattaya shouldn't count?

Right on. Many of my friends live in Pattaya with their families. If you don't like Pattaya Central, don't go! Easy.

Of cource everyones opinion counts!

Especially those that live in Pattaya with their family.

However much a minority you are.

At the end of the day you have to consider the best possible enviroment for your family.

The majority on here have chosen eleswhere!

Minority? I bet there are more foreigners with children either living or visiting pattaya than any other city in Thailand sans Bangkok.

Russians?Arabian? Chinese? Certainly not western Europe, Americas and Australasia.

Very true , aka Englands world cup bid.

This topic will be deleted pretty quick.