theoldgit

There was a piece on the news in the UK yesterday about how the Border Agencies are picking up a lot of 'baddies' (they quoted 4000) thanks to the stricter controls at the airports. One poor sod heading off on his honeymoon was arrested and banged up for failure to appear at court.

There is another thread about this, it's the increasing roll out of the UKBA's much heralded e-borders where the UKBA's warning index

and the advance passenger information supplied by the airlines is being used to detect crime and to aprehend undesirables and fugitives. The system is already linked to the PNC and there are plans to link the borders to the Social Security database, I suspect there will be a fair few rude awakenings in the not too distant future. E-borders has been about the only growth industry within the UKBA of late.

Going back to the topic, a tourist visa is issued for just that, a tourist trip. People do sometimes have long holidays but it is up to the applicant and his or her sponsor to satisfy the ECO that the planned trip is reasonable and affordable and that the applicant will return home after the trip.

And was open to all ROP members from 15th July.

what do you mean belatedly? this offer has been on sale to AMEX card holders for a while.

Absolutely, I booked via this offer nearly three weeks ago, and it's been in the Bangkok Post for a couple of weeks.

No interview?

If I apply online I still need to get all the accompanying documentation to someone. Is it then just a case of turning up and handing in all the stuff and waiting for reply?

I thought after applying online you could schedule an appointment and present your case plus paperwork to an assigned officer.

Yes, there are no longer any interviews for tourist visas.

When applying online the applicant prints a copy of the form already submitted and schedules an appointment for the VFS office in Regent House where the form is submitted together with any supporting documents. There is no assigned officer, they are located in the Visa Section at The Embassy, it's just the VFS staff who check the documents against their check list and then the applicants biometric details are taken.

You then just wait for the news that the passport has been returned to Regent House and then go and collect the sealed envelope with the passport, hopefully, containing the visa.

My girlfriends visa took five weeks and I am aware that there substantially more applications than this time last year, this is normally a pretty quiet time of the year for tourist visas.

I understand that they are processing tourist visas by the declared date of intended travel to ensure that people are able to to fulfill travel arrangements, providing the visa is granted, I presume this is why some applications are taking a few days whilst others a few weeks.

Be careful as UK Visa's actually advise against purchasing a ticket before a visa is granted.

If the staff in Bangkok don't know what it means I suspect you will have a hel_l of a job getting a refund from them down the line.

My girlfriend usually buys her insurance from Worlds Nomads, it's underwritten by BUPA and you can buy and even claim online, the certificate is sent by email so I presume she would have no problem buying now.

http://www.worldnomads.com/allcountries.aspx?country=THA

I posted this yesterday in reply to the question about insurance, coincidentally I got an email from them today offering a discount of 10% until the end of the year.

If it's of use to anyone you have to enter the code WNXMAS

Can anyone tell me when your wife get to UKBA what they need to look at? Do I need to take my application folders with me?? my husband ask them yesterday (when he got back to UK at LHR), and they said just need TB certificate (original) and my husband contact detail, so I can leave my application at home in Thailand, right?, pls any more detail?? I'm going to travel tomorrow

Yes, all you will need is the TB certificate, you will have your husbands contact details anyway, they might want to speak to him but that is rare, they might just need to be satisfied that you are going to the place specified in the application.

You need to remember that the person who issued the visa was an ECO, an Entry Clearance Officer, and that's exactly what they did, clear you for entry on the evidence you provided, for that reason you do not need to have your applications readily available. The Immigration Officer at LHR will probably ask a few questions and if they think there has been a material change they can refuse entry but that is very rare indeed, and even then they have to convince a Chief Immigration Officer who will then check with Bangkok.

In short, nothing to worry about, just have the TB certificate, the contact details, enjoy your flight and look forward to your new life.

Clearly it isn't sensible to undertake such a trip without adequate insurance, but she didn't so there is no point harping on.

My girlfriend usually buys her insurance from Worlds Nomads, it's underwritten by BUPA and you can buy and even claim online, the certificate is sent by email so I presume she would have no problem buying now, also they are reasonably priced. Obviously she should have purchased before the trip but she might be able to purchase now for anything that happens from then onwards, though if there was a major claim they might cry foul.

http://www.worldnomads.com/allcountries.aspx?country=THA

If she was unlucky enough to get swine flu, or any flu, as you have suggested you could get a private appointment from many GP's or even from one of the myriad of private walk in clinics, though I suspect they would prescribe little more than paracetamol. In the event of a serious illness I doubt very much if she would be refused emergency treatment at any NHS hospital.

Congratulations to all those who have just received the news you have been waiting for, now enjoy your new lives and put this behind you.

For those still waiting take heart, stay strong and hang in there.

yes he can

Isn't what I said?

Just a quick question, when they say that the visa is ready to pick up will my son be able to pick it up for his wife...it is a 10hr train journey for him her & baby it would be much easier for him to collect it himself.

I thought maybe a letter from her (in Thai) giving permission and the receipt

Thanks

Yes, he, or anybody else, can collect the package.

As you say she needs to provide a letter, in Thai or English, giving permission for it to be picked up, together with the receipt and signed copy of the ID or passport of the person authorised to collect.

It actually advises how to do this on the receipt.

I found out today that it doesn't count, despite the Immigration Officer telling me that it did.

You will see another thread from me complaining that the Immigration Officers mistake resulted in me having to pay a 2000 Baht fine, the fine receipt actually said "failing to notify address" which of course was not true, because I had, albeit not to a second desk.

They couldn't understand that it didn't make sense that after waiting in excess of five hours to renew my leave to remain I would have simply not bothered with a duplicate process that would have probably only taken a few minutes and saved 2000 Baht.

I didn't argue and remained calm and polite, there is no point losing it with people without an ounce of common sense between them.

You're not the first or the last that have been poorly advised by immigrations.

When in doubt ask

You are of course correct, silly me expecting an Immigration Officer to give accurate advice

Applying for an extension only counts as a 90 day report the first time. After that they are two totally different processes.

Yes, I know that now, but that wasn't the advice I was given by the Immigration Officer who processed my extension, and I didn't deem it necessary to question his word.

I moved to Thailand a couple of years ago, arriving with an O Visa which I extended for 12 months based on retirement last year and extended it again in April this year.

I have never needed to report my address every 90 days as I had always left the country before the reporting date, with the clock ticking again on my return.

Not travelling as much now so my last entry into Thailand was late January, I extended my leave to remain on 21st April, the process took over five hours, I asked the Immigration Officer who processed my application where I needed to go to do my 90 day report, but he advised me that the extension of my leave to remain counted as a notification and there was no need to notify my address again, I needed to come to report 90 days after that date. I didn't deem it necessary to doubt his word as what he told me seemed eminently sensible.

I went to the Bangkok office today to get a re-entry visa, and having already submitted an application online I was pretty pleased with the turn around of about 10 minutes.

Thinking I was on a roll I only needed to wait a further 10 minutes of so to be called for my reporting, only to be asked by the work experience girl where was the previous report to which I pointed out the extension of leave to remain adding that I was advised by the Immigration Officer that counted as a report. She called a real Immigration Officer and I had to explain it again, she told me that I had been wrongly advised and I had to pay 2000 Baht. When I asked why I was being fined when acting on the advice of an Immigration Officer she sent me to room 206 where I had to explain it to two more people. They told me that the Immigration Officer was wrong and that it only counts on the first extension, my complaints that it seemed unfair that I should be fined after being wrongly advised by one of her experts all she could say was "no exceptions". I asked for the email address of the man in charge so I could register a complaint, "you have to fill out a suggestion form", "where do I get one of those?", "you have to go to room so and so".

Of course when I went downstairs to pay the fine I was told you have to come back in one hour as we are just closing for lunch, talk about needing to have the last say.

You old hands will probably have a good old chuckle over this, but I have to say that I was seriously pi**ed off, it's not about the 2000 Baht, well actually it is, the only good point is that I will not need to do another 90 report for at least a year because of future trips.

PS - does anybody know the contact details of the man in charge?

It seems doing everything the legal way still doesnt get you into the uk, why not go to Calais and try to get yourself into a truck or get on a boat into the canary islands,once in there,s plenty of ways of getting a uk passport, unemployment money and free housing...

Chances are that you will not make into the UK and if you do you certainly will not qualify for a UK passport and benefits, though you may get free accomodation whilst waiting for your return flight, care to check it out?

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/managing...removalcentres/

I did notice that an exchange booth in Siam Paragon actually has a sign saying "Only Thai American Express TC accepted"

Does anybody know what the tax is from other European countries, it might be cheaper overall to fly from elsewhere even if a tad more inconvenient.

Last month, I flew last minute with Qatar for less than 28,000 THB (Bangkok-Paris).

They also had a promo running for about 5xx Euro, a bargain in July/August, from Paris to Bangkok.

You got done!!!! Considering at the moment stands at 350GBP return London-Bangkok.

28,000THB = 550GBP

Yes, but it's always cheaper to fly from Europe to Bangkok that the other way round - well recently anyway.

Yes, it means it's ready to collect and the decision will be in the envelope.

Interviews rarely take place these days, hence the need for a robust application.

During these busy times UK Visas have indicated that applications are being considered in order or requested departure dates, it would seem that they are as good as their word - for tourist visas anyway.

Missus had to fly home the other day in a hurry so we could not book by phone anymore (online doesn't work anyways because I have UOB credit card...not verified by visa )

Now SHE flies and I want to pay by credit card at the counter. Not that easy. I have to produce my passport. As I am not flying myself, I have no identification with me. No (sufficient) cash either as I expect to pay by card.

Eventually I find my diving license which sports a picture of mine and we can pay. Never had that before in all my years of having a credit card. No explanation why they have this procedure in place either.

I on the other hand have booked Air Asia flights for others using my credit card when not flying, and there was no problem. I had been led to believe that AA were one of the few that allowed you to do it, oh might be a problem if it's a late booking.

150 baht surcharge for disabled passengers that need wheelchair assist (like me). I guess there is no Asians with Disabilities Act.

I really don't see why passengers shouldn't be charged more for using an extra service, other than that leftist liberal politicians call it so called "discrimination" (and get votes from yet another "voter niche" in the process).

Of course Ryanair were taken to task when they started charging for wheelchair assistance, which is illegal, they got round it by charging everybody the fee, that was legal and they still do it.

It's ridicoulous that you have to pay 50 bath extra for a seat. And 50 bath to carry luggage on board.

That's not strictly true is it? You only need to pay 50 Baht to reserve a seat, possibly if there are two or more travelling together, otherwise the seats are assigned on check in. You don't have to pay 50 Baht to carry your luggage on board, you are allowed to carry up to 7kgs free, you do however have to pay from 50 Baht if you want to check your luggage.

I don't doubt that Singapore Airlines can sometimes be cheaper, I suppose it depends when you book and the load factor when you book. I have recently booked return flights to Singapore for 1,400 Baht return - no more to pay.

Yes the seats are not the biggest in the world but no worse than any other budget carrier, I feel they are adequate for the short hop to Singapore, and whilst I probably wouldn't want to travel much further I recently paid 2,400 Baht for flights to Bali, that was for two of us and included checked luggage and pre-paid meals - Thai was 35,000.

It means that the sealed envelope is languishing in Regent House waiting for your girlfriend to collect and open to find out the result, the staff at VFS will have no idea of the result, as I say the envelopes come sealed.

The visa could have been approved or it could have been refused, I'm afraid you will not know until it's collected but you will have an idea about how strong the application was.

The good thing is the short turn round time, though that is not indicitive of the result.

Good luck.