4 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

If Shaw had ever travelled to Singapore, and had he ever listened to the English gibberish there, his quote would have been longer, and harsher.

Had Singapore been in existence during Shaws lifetime, he may well have done. 

5 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Your state pension can be higher than the allowance.

Possible I suppose, but that would be over £240 a week, I'm not sure that many get that.

As you'll be aware, but maybe @Mac Mickmanus isn't, the Personal Allowance is reduced by the total of the State Pension, thus ensuring, those with maybe an occupational pension, pay tax on their total pension income.

I know a number of people who actually pay more tax than their State Pension on their total pension income.  

Post in breach of Forum Rules removed.

26) The Bangkok Post and Phuketwan do not allow quotes from their news articles or other material to appear on ASEANNOW.com. Neither do they allow links to their publications. Posts from members containing quotes from or links to Bangkok Post or Phuketwan publications will be deleted from the forum.

As I say the UKVI website is cumbersome and can be very misleading.

VFS play no part in the actual decision making process, which is not carried out here in Thailand, so probably wouldn't offer any advice regarding the status of the application.

I think the advice that the paid for enquiry service will give her no meaningful advice either was sound and she should wait, though it does seem to be taking a while.

You'll need to factor in the Easter break and the fact that the UKVI are diverting resources to deal with Ukranianian applications.

Your wife will need apply for settlement from outside the UK, she could apply from inside the UK if she was given leave to remain in the UK for more than 6 months, which she wouldn't have been when she was granted entry as a visitor. 

As a matter of interest there is no such rule that only allows a holder of a longer term Standard Visit Visa to remain in the UK for six months in any year, but a visitor would be asked searching questions if they attempted to visit too often, the Border Force Officer would need to be satisfied that they were not seeking to use the visa to stay in the UK semi permanently, through "frequent or succesive visits".

The UKVI website is notoriously cumbersome, and can give misleading information.

You're right not to pay the two hundred quid for an online consultation, if you want to pay for local professional advice, search for an OISC Advisor in your area  https://home.oisc.gov.uk/adviser_finder/finder.aspx

3 hours ago, mnomad said:

We uploaded a screenshot of google flights with the name plannediternary.pdf with nothing booked to the broken VFS portal (you get a link after completing and paying the app on gov.uk) but pretty sure it wasn't required and we definitely told not to book flights in advance during the app process.

9. Documents you should not use as evidence

Some types of documents are less useful as evidence in visit applications. These include:

• bank statements or letters issued more than 1 year before the date of application
• credit card statements
• driving licence
• educational certificates that are not listed as required for your visa
• evidence of car ownership
• personal photographs
• notarial certificates
• business cards
• hotel bookings
• flight bookings (unless transiting)
• photocopies of bank cards
• certificates relating to leisure activities, for example sports trophies
• travel insurance
• sponsor’s utility bills
• sponsor’s council tax bills

You may be asked to provide additional information by a decision maker.

@SidJamesThanks for pointing out the expired link, and for others for pointing you in the right direction.

I've corrected the link, and will review the whole post as soon as I can.

I’ll move your question to the appropriate forum where someone will, I’m sure, advise.

This forum is for those seeking advice for travelers from Thailand. 

23 minutes ago, kickstart said:

But shorley it will be the same amount of tickets but online ,say if you what 77 as the last 2 numbers 077 as the last 3 numbers ,which most Thais look for, and they are sold out that is it.

Just said to the wife ,they are going to do the lottery  online she said ,I will just buy my tickets from the underground lottery ,I would say a lot of other people will be saying the same thing. 

But even with the underground lottery, the "lucky numbers" sell out when the operator decides they would be at risk if too many of these numbers actually came up. 

You really need to give us a clue as to what you’re asking.

What do your family want to travel to the UK, to settle, study or visit, and how long for?
 

As for the requirements for you traveling to Thailand, I don’t think people could give meaningful advice beyond the next few weeks, and certainly not what the requirements might be in 2023.

Nonsense troll post removed.

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

So, one of the most under utilized airports in SE Asia will have some flights again?

There are currently two flights a week to Chiang Mai.

6 hours ago, Onerak said:

Not in the UK but I have rented cars all over Europe using my US DL. They never asked for an IDP. 

I've rented cars in the UK using my Thai Driving Licence for well over a decade.

12 hours ago, AjarnMartin said:

Sorry, but hotandsticky is correct. When visiting the UK, one is able to drive legally with a FULL Thai Driving Licence for up to 6 months.????

No I'm sorry but you're both wrong:

For those moving to the UK

 

https://www.gov.uk/driving-nongb-licence/y/a-visitor-to-great-britain/any-other-country

38 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Also be aware, if there is a significant age difference (normally anything over 7 years) between you and your wife this will result in a reduction of the pension she is paid.

This isn't set in stone and can vary from different Pension Providers, or even an individuals status within the scheme.

It's certainly something worth checking, this is the response I got from the Civil Service Pension Administrators last year:

An age difference reduction to widows pensions is only applied to member's who are in the Premium/Nuvos/Alpha sections of the pension scheme. The rules of these sections of the scheme state a reduction must be applied if the spouse is over 12 years younger than the member. However as you are in the classic section of the scheme no such ruling applies and a spouse is entitled to the full widows pension regardless of age difference.

The advice to enlist the help of a friend or family member to assist when it's time to claim is really good advice and something we did a few years ago, enlisting a close friend who has recently retired from the Civil Service and my neice who is a current Civil Servant, we keep them supplied with all new comminications and a they both have a letter entitling them to act on my wifes behalf.

I wasn't aware that the issue of a tax number was automatic, it was certainly something I was concerned about, with the current personal allowance that would have cost my wife/widow £2,500 a year, and like the OP I got the same response from my pension provider and HMRC.

On 3/30/2022 at 4:40 PM, Lolothai said:

Is there a way to contact Kasikorn without calling from abroad or the call center. Is there an email? I can't find any way to contact them on my kasikorn online account.

Have you tried using their contact form https://www.kasikornbank.com/th/contact/Pages/contact.aspx

The contact form also suggests contacting them via their email address [email protected]

9 hours ago, Pmbkk said:

FYI, a Thai wife can go through the UK Customs queue with you if you didn't know.

I understand obv' a gf won't be able to do that, but maybe of use to someone.

I'm not sure that I've ever come across a queue in the Customs Hall, which is after the check at the border, people enter and are selected at random, Customs/Border Force Officers, already have a good idea who they're going to stop for questioning.

At the Border it's certainly prudent to present yourselves to the Border Force Officer together, I normally go for whichever line is shorter. If the officer wants to ask more questions it's better if a family group, including girl/boy friends, are both together.

There's nothing written down, but Border Force Officers are encouraged not to split up families, and it certainly makes it easier for them.   

Please think about any responses carfully before giving advice.

I'll be monitoring responses closely.

Thank you