theoldgit

I look forward to reading the book in due course

Don't know about a mortgage but I had no problem with a car loan. I purchased a new Honda and they organised the finance from Tisco.

As I am retired I don't have a work permit, my income being my pension. I put down a 40% deposit and nobody was asked to co sign.

I guess if you want to stay on Samui, you have to pay the "Tea Money".

Often wonder why they call it "Tea Money", it's actually extortion, and I would have thought a criminal offence.

I suppose "Tea Money" sounds quite innocent.

I think most people have missed the point here, the OP is trying to find out load factors here so a Staff Concessionary Ticket can be used.

This might help http://www.seatcounter.com/

A mate of mine who travels with Thai to and from the UK regular basis was told in their London office last week that flights from LHR-BKK are pretty empty over the coming couple of months. They believed that whilst people who had already booked were not cancelling in vast numbers, people are not booking.

I don't know how accurate this information is, but he is normally right. Of course we don't know where your friend is hoping to travel from or what carrier.

To be honest I think you might as well get your visa in the UK before you leave as it would save you time on your travels.

The Thai Consulate in Hull is very user friendly and you can apply by post, visas are free until March 2011, though you will have to pay a small service fee of £8 by post and £10 in person.

http://www.thaiconsul-uk.com/

All that said, I really admire your tenacity and compassion, you certainly went the extra mile.

What do they say? you can choose your friends.............

Colonizing is in their blood.

Can I still get there for £10?

'we have 4 months to decide and we intend to take the full 4 months'

That is really sad and strikes of vindictiveness, we have the power and we will use it.

Really hope I am doing them an injustice.

Shall we give the Aussies their topic back now?

Thanks for that, wish I had known about them, but it wouldn't have made such an funny story.

Thanks for that, OG; do you know when it changed? (Not that it matters really.)

Not sure when it changed but it was certainly in place for last years campaign.

I think cost certainly came into the equation, an experienced Immigration Officer would be selected to work as an ECO and would receive a number of allowances, including shift disturbance premium payments and overseas allowances etc. I think an experienced IO earns in the region of £27,000, though it's probably a lot more with all the extras. So you might say an IO could cost in the region of 175,000 Baht per month, and that's only an educated guess, don't forget you have to add on all the on costs. I only glanced at the advert, but as I recall they were offering in the region of 50/60,000 Baht per month, so that is a substantial saving in cost, very important in these austere times - though you might ask why the application fees are so high.

It's not unusual for retired IO's to be locally employed as ECO's, there are a number in Thailand, including some active forum members, to supplement their pensions. IO's used to be able to register their interest to be employed as casual ECO's, though I'm not sure if that's still the case.

just like to thank you all for your advice , its a stressful time right now and sometime you dont think straight , i will be posting the appeal by the end of the week along with a new letter from the sister in laws company in and translated to english and signed by both her bosses, also my account and a letter from the sister in law explaining that she was only try to do everthing correct.

Good luck with the appeal, I suspect that it will go all the way, though I hope I'm wrong.

I think that your sister in law will need to convince the adjudicator, whether it be the ECM or the tribunal that the bosses were confused by the call from the ECO or one of their locally employed Thai speaking staff.

I needed to pay a very small sum, a little over 6000 Baht, to a mate in England, he loaned me the cash as my atm card didn't work on the day I needed the money.

What a hassle, for a bit of fun it went like this - don't read if your easily bored :-)

OG - I would like to make a telegraphic transfer to a UK bank.

Girl 1 - The rate is 48 Baht, and she sticks her hand out.

OG - What do you need?

Girl 1 - The money you want to change.

OG - I don't want to change money, I want to send money.

Girl 1 - Blank look.

Girl 2 - What do you want to do?

OG - Explained again.

Boy 1 - What to you want to do?

OG - Explained again, with Girl 2 prompting.

Boy 1 - Do you have invoice?

OG - It's to pay back a loan to a friend.

Then gave details of his account, including the SWIFT code and copy of my passport.

Boy 1 - I need a copy of Mr *** passport.

OG - He is in England, and no I don't have a copy of his passport.

Boy 1 - Oh, proceeds to collect all the details again. How much do you want to send? Do you have an invoice?

OG - £125. No, I still don't have an invoice.

Girl 2 - That will be 6100 Baht plus 500 Baht for the SWIFT charges. You will also have to pay 1000 Baht for the UK to receive the money. Do you have an invoice?

OG - Santander have advised that there is no fee to receive the money, and no I still don't have an invoice.

Girl 2 - Why do you need to send the money?

OG - Explained again.

Boy 1 - Completes the transaction and takes money.

Girl 2 - I need to get manager to approve.

Boy 2 (Manager) - Why do you need to send money, do you have invoice, do you have copy of passport Mr ***.

OG - Explained again, and still don't have a copy of his passport.

Boy 2 - Signs it off.

A couple of days later I got a phone call to say the guy I was sending the money to was on a UK watch list and we need his full name, date of birth and the reason you are sending the cash. Now if you you knew who this guy was you would know how laughable that was. I told the girl I had the datails to hand and could give them now, she said no, you can call me back in a couple of days, I really had to insist that she took the details as I wanted to repay the loan, I really think she couldn't be bothered. The money was in his account a couple of days later.

Why is nothing ever simple in Thailand, and is there a building somewhere in Thailand full of copies of passports?

I'm just glad it wasn't for a large sum.

The visa section at the UK embassy does employ local staff; but only as clerical staff and interpreters.

All the decisions on applications are made by British staff who are direct employees of the British government and recruited in the UK; they are career civil servants. I imagine that for Australia it is the same (except for them being Australian, of course!).

Actually they are not all career Civil Servants as they do employ locally employed staff as ECO's, they recruited a number last year and they are about to recruit more, they don't even need to be British.

That said the criteria was that applicants should have worked in a visa issuing environment and were able to obtain UK security clearance, which rather narrows the field.

Also noticed a set of ads in the Bangkok Post recently for staff to work as Locally Delegated Officers in the visa section of the Australian Embassy, whilst these ads did not say that potential applicants did not say that they needed to have worked in a visa issuing environment it did say they needed to be able to obtain Australian Security Clearance, as I recall it did say what nationalities would likely to be able to do so.

Entry Clearance Officers and Locally Delegated Officers don't need to be career civil servants or even nationals of the country concerned, but they do need to prove that they can apply immigration law fairly and consistently to all applications and be able to obtain security clearance.

20 minutes?! More like 2 minutes. BTS is definitely the quickest and easiest way to go.

For sure, it's only a couple of minutes, leave the station in the direction of travel and exit to the right and you just cross the road to the embassy compound - or you can walk through the shopping centre on the right, think it's called Blue Wave, it's a Home Pro, down the escalator, turn left and entrance to the embassy is across the road, it's easier to cross there.

Obviously I cannot give a guarantee, but they are pretty efficient and I have never heard of anybody every being turned away, unless maybe if you get there just before they shut.

I have never waited more than an hour.

Hi theoldgit…no that is incorrect, and not stated…I wasn't offered and excepted Thai airlines –Because there was not an EVA representative to offer me , or the other people there anything. Thai airlines had a flight leaving about the same time—near empty—84 passengers on the whole plane, I made the decision to take it and pay for it.

Indeed you didn't say that, I just assumed that AA had endorsed your ticket for Thai.

Sorry about that, good luck.

It's the luck of the draw on the day, but if you go early and pick up a queue number you will probably be seen before lunch.

Edited for typo

Well, it didn't take long for an illustration as to why the HC is is a difficult and thankless job. Look at one has to deal with. Seriously, don't people think? The poor chap isn't even in a position to do something now and yet it starts with an unreasonable demand. Perhaps a collection will need to be taken to pay for the antacid and calmative potions that will be required. Fortunately, the designate is bald, so he won't be pulling his hair out in frustration. Sheesh, give the fellow a chance.

Exactly what I was thinking when I replied to the post, but I wasn't brave enough to say so.

Good points "geriatrickid"

I have been looking at the various FCO Web sites and wondered if, with your TV Channel, if you were interested in producing a programme on how Careline Services, a private company, has been providing UK passports since 1 January 2009. It actually took this company 2 months to give me my last passport and they do not answer the London number given out by the Hong Kong Consulate nor answer emails.

Careline Services do not provide passports, they are simply a company that handles the passport enquiries.

Whilst I can understand your frustration about the length of time you have waited for your passport the Consultate General in Hong Kong does advise that it can take up to four weeks, I make it about two weeks so far.

For sure open up a debate, but it needs to be accurate.

^^^

I agree, and whilst some of the goods will be symbolically destroyed, I'm sure most will find their way onto the market, for a small consideration of course.

Just be aware of one important thing with the turnstiles on the Skytrain, if you are carrying bags or luggage hold them up as you walk through the turnstiles. If you carry bags in front of you they trip the switch and close the gates pretty quickly - can be pretty painful (spoken with a high pitched voice)

Thongor Police Station seems to have a bit of a reputation, BKK James has mentioned it a couple of times.

I needed to go there to make a complaint, not about the police, I mentioned it to a friend who happens to be a Police Sergeant there, she advised me to never go there without a lawyer, I was pretty amazed by that statement but took her advice.

I've noticed recently that I'm losing my temper over little things that get my knickers in a twist. People not knowing how to do their jobs, or some over officious little plonker that can interpret a rule several ways but decides to do the way that will make the most trouble for me (just today). How do you keep your cool?

I'm almost at the point of getting medication because I'm losing it daily, with shopkeepers, the wife, at work, people dithering,

Thanks for posting this, I was begining to think it was only me that had this problem.