Jaggg88

here's my house in Nakhon Sawan

Does not look good, do you have insurance to cover the damages or does it not cover disasters like this?

yes we have insurance but don't know if it will cover this. It flooded a little last year but locals say they haven't seen flooding like this for more than 20 years.

Thanks for the help guys.

I looked on the Border Agency website and I can see where she got this exempt theory from as the listing of exempt ppl is badly worded. It says parents of uk citizen are exempt but doesnt say these parents must be dependant or have extreme emotional circumstances eg your recently widowed mother in law.

I'm getting conflicting info so can someone give me a definitive answer please. My wife is on a two year spouse visa which runs out next March. We have a son born here in the UK last August so when she applies for ILR next March does she need to have Knowledge of Language and life in the UK certificate or is she exempt being the mother of a UK citizen (our son)? I know she will have to do the KOL if she wants citizenship but we are just interested in ILR for now and dont want to do the KOL if she doesn't need to.

There's no hard and fast rule. Some officials say yes some say no. Coming back to Manchester in Jan this year I was told to join the Non EU line, even tho me and son both have UK passports.

Ban Nawai is even cheaper.

Not sure it qualifies as a city with 700 inhabitants.

You need to have a 711 to be an official 'City'

Looks i good idea the cash plus card just had a look at the fees

Looks like £3 for atm transactions plus 2.99 foreign exchange fee

I was looking at this site also http://escape-travel....com/index.html

Current rates and best buys

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money#prepaid

Since we can't really comment on the charge then, who is the falang looking guy in the background with all the badges on his shirt?

Is it Colonel Sanders?

My wife has just returned to Thailand and renewed her passport - it only had 2 months left. When you get back to the UK it would be wise to use your UK passport for entry so you will have to renew that as well. The airlines insist on 6 months remaining on your passport but this will not apply to a Thai national travelling to Thailand.

Good news for when I retire next year

Koh Samet by a long shot...! Apparently according to the guide books Koh Samet is supposed to be the driest place in Thailand because of it's micro climate, however it has recently over the past few years seen more rain than any other area in Thailand and also has a wicked cool breeze most nights.

I've just come back from a week in Koh Samet via Pattaya and can confirm Samet was much cooler!

Thank you everybody for showing how incompetent the government is in this country. Honestly, as much as I don't think Thaksin should come back, he would have the balls to do something about a situation like this. Unlike the current PM who sits in his office and gives empty threats of a crackdown. Maybe the reds are right. Abhisit has sure shown it the last few weeks that he's unfit to handle any critical situations. How can a government be in power that can't even maintain order in its nations capital.

I’m not disagreeing that the current government is showing incompetency, but that is not really the full reason to this ongoing dilemma. What Thai military, law enforcement, and government have in common is a passive nature that reflects on the entire nation. Thai’s are typical passive in manner and would go to extremes to avoid a physical confrontation. As a result, protesters are allowed to carry on, push the limits and press their luck to achieve their goal. Indeed a sterner government is needed to end this conflict.

If Thai's are so passive why are the Reds demonstrating so aggressively? What is needed is not a sterner government but a democratically elected one. An election in 3 months is the only way to avoid escalating violence or even civil war. The current government and yellow shirts have virtually no support outside BKK so it is Thailand verses BKK and civil war means we ALL lose!

What are the yellows??

Burr,

the Yellows are/were the crowd the Bangkok Bandits wheel out when they lose an election. Unlike the Reds, the army does not shoot them when they occupy an airport, etc.

Most of the farang posters here seem to be right-wing authoritarians who have not a clue about democracy. In a real democracy, ultimate political power is the will of the majority of people, as expressed at the ballot-box. It is not some elevated elite possessing unlimited money, troops, tanks, guns, & English-language newspapers.

I see one of the latter has dubbed the Red-supporting majority of Thailand as 'terrorists'. Nice one for all authoritarian anti-democrats. It's a simple 'law 'n order' situation, so bring on more firepower! Were Adolf Hitler & Joe Stalin alive, they would be cheering behind you.

By all means let the legal attrition against Ole Squarehead continue. Meantime, howsabout a free election, dudes?

Couldn't agree more. If we were back in our home free democratic countries we would be cheering on the protesters who basically want a free democratically elected government and not the military backed current Junta. The blatantly obvious propaganda I witness on state controlled TV is laughable if it were not so serious. The Red Shirts only failing is their misguided support for Thaskin, who did more for poor people than any other Thai Leader but unfortunately he lined his own pockets at the same time.

The agent we spoke to recommended that as we have only known each other for 9 months, we would be better gettng a tourist visa first, then when we applied for settlement visa, we will have lived together in Uk for 6 months and our case will be stronger. But obviously this means paying twice for everything including agents fees!

We really just want to be together here, and so want to be successful in whichever visa application we submit. Is it really so difficult to obtain a settlement visa?

I only knew my wife for 9 months before we applied for a settlement visa. The first one was refused because we didn't supply enough information to support a sustaining relationship. Like you we hadn't kept enough MSN logs (msn only keeps logs if you configure it to do so) or documents of my visits etc so with the next application we included statements from our respective families confirming our relationship plus anything else we could get think of (lots of pics). My advice is supply all the documents the website asks for and then at least double that amount of information. Quantity appears to impress the ECO more than quality. chok dee

Quote

Where she got flashed it was a temp speed limit from 50 to 30 due to roadworks on a 3 lane carriageway(no school or houses etc) just about a mile after the M3 and normally people are still doing motorway speeds and the junction you have to do a least 40MPH up a ramp from under a blind bridge to join and no markings until you were on the carriageway(i checked it out)and then the cameras are right in front of you.Nice money earner,over a Millionpound!!! Unquote

When she got the NIP (notice of intended prosecution) pity she didn't give an address in Thailand that could send it back to her in England. The "safety camera partnership" would probably have written to her address in Thailand and she could have replied that she was indeed driving at the time but wasn't aware of any offence caused. After that the matter would have been dropped. After all, what more could the SCP do?

Ah! I have to admit it was probably one of my colleagues risks assessments that set the speed limit on these road works. Gatso cameras do almost nothing to protect the work force (but did raise lots of revenue) as most drivers slow down for the camera and then speed up - that is why we now use average speed cameras.

My cousin is a USA citizen and visited a number of years ago where she hired a car using her USA licence and subsequently was flashed by a Gatso speed camera. As she had used my address for the hire company they sent all the letters to my address which I forwarded on to USA. She was asked to pay the statutory fine and warned about her driving when next in the UK. If she should wish to apply for UK citizenship a CRB check or even a DVLA check would not show this incident. Indeed even the National Audit office would have difficulty tracing this transaction.

Anyone now how I can get the "Certification that the applicant has no criminal record in his or her overseas domicile", I'm originally from Canada but have lived in Thailand since 1994, haven't been back to Canada since 1995.

Appreciate if someone knows of a way to get this in the shortest period of time, I would like to apply under the spouse category, I have over 10 years continual stay uninterrupted, but I don't have the above certificate.

Thanks in advance for all that reply.

I am from the UK. I wrote to the central police department (found it on the web) and they wrote back saying they are not allowed to say if someone has a criminal record. They did write that to the best of their knowledge I did NOT have a criminal record and local immigration accepted that.

In the UK under the Data Protection Act everyone is entitled to a copy of their criminal record or proof the isn't one. I did this a couple of years ago and it cost £40 plus I had to send ID to the local police HQ in Manchester where I live. No doubt the current government has increased the fee since then.

Does anyone know the nearest imm offfice to Nakhonsawan?

It's been a while since I posted so here is a brief summary of my situation. Applied for settlement visa in April and I came back to the UK in May. My wife got refused (accomodation and my work). Got about 70 pages of evidence together and Appealed. Got a letter in September from Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in England saying 'Appeal was lodged on 17th August 2009, The Tribunal directs that you (the ECO) to send all the evidence of application etc back to the UK by December 7th.

As it's now the 1st of December I thought I would ring the embassy to see what was happening. The woman told me that the evidence had already been sent back to the UK and that it still hadn't been reviewed locally, the review should be done by the 20th December.. I then phoned the Tribunal office in the UK and they told me that they hadn't received the bundle yet, but it was common practice to sometimes send the bundle back to the UK before it had been reviewed....

Anyway, the 'December 7th' date which I have been clinging onto as a last hope seems to be meaningless... So do I sit and wait until the 20th and call the embassy again? Do I book a flight back to Thailand and spend Christmas, January and February with my wife in Thailand (assumming the application isn't overturned) and wait to hear when the UK tribunal date is before deciding whether to start a new application? Or do I freeze my arse off in the UK knowing that the visa will eventually be granted and everything will be ok?

I'm so sick of waiting and not being able to plan anything. It's been going on since April... and I feel like I'm going mad..

My GF's application was refused in August and somebody at the Embassy convinced her it would be better to apply again rather than appeal as this would be quicker. I jumped up and down screaming they just wanted more money from me but she convinced me otherwise. We re-applied on 27th October and it was granted in two weeks. I suspect re-applications are just checked on the area you fail. A more expensive option than appealing but am glad she talked me into it as we are now settled in the UK and planning our wedding in January. We both wish you the best of luck with your appeal Ridgydidge.

<font color='#000000'>Thanks for that, it does work for free on a 56k dial up.

Now then, have you got another one for bbc1, bbc2, itv ??</font>

Try this one and let meknow

http://www.timezonetv.com/

I'm over in the UK now so the misses will be travelling alone. Fingers crossed she doesn't get lost!

Not sure where your TW is transiting through (if at all) but when my TW came through Doha she got a bit caught out. She can read english at a slowish speed but the departure boards switch between English and Arabic so quickly even I have trouble catching it. I'd advised her (it was a quick transit) to find someone friendly on the first leg who was going on to Manchester and follow them! Which is what she did and arrived safely. only to have a bit of an inquisition at Manchester airport (as mentioned in an earlier post)

shame shes coming for winter not summer (I made sure my wife came for summer didn't want to scare her back!)

Good luck with your future life,

Regards,

Exotic Matter

My wife insisted on a direct flight for just that reason. She's still concerned that she will get lost on Heathrow but I've assured her that it's just a case of getting off the plane and following the crowd.

I agree, summer time would have been a better time to come and if we'd got the visa when we first applied that would be the case. Ho hum, at least she's coming!

My GF is in the UK now and she also wanted a direct flight so I flew her into LHR - £376 was the best price I could get. The drive from Manchester was a small price to pay after the previous stressful 7 months. I was also reliably informed the Border Agency staff aren't as petty as in Manchester and am glad to say she sailed through. I know how you are all feeling but just stick with it as it's worth it in the end. Good luck to everyone applying from Ian and Chotika.

PS My heatings also on full blast and she's still got two coats on.

Got the visa!!!!!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Total of 8 months since we started this and I'm glad it's over. Best of luck to everyone who is waiting, at least the waiting times are coming back down to a rational level.

Off to get very drunk.. Strongbow here we go!

Congrats Fluidfusion......It took us 7 months...but now feels like we won the lottery..lol

FEB'S APPLICATIONS

Rob01792 02/2 granted 30/3 - (8 weeks) MONDAY

Chris41 10/2 granted 16/3 - (4 weeks 6 days) MONDAY

Kooyoonii 10/2 granted 04/5 - (11 weeks 6 days) MONDAY

Pikwik 11/2 granted 27/4 - (10 weeks 5 days) MONDAY

Xiengmieng 17/2 granted 24/3 - (5 weeks) TUESDAY

Lindty 18/2 granted 24/4 - (8 weeks 6 days) FRIDAY

Tahaan 18/2 granted 13/5 - (12 weeks) WEDNESDAY

Eddiebabyyeah 20/2 granted 01/4 - (5 weeks 5 days) WEDNESDAY

MARCH'S APPLICATIONS

Tlusername 04/3 granted 15/5 - (10weeks 2 days) FRIDAY

Tricknicky 09/3 granted 23/4 - (6 weeks 3 days) (Special Case) THURSDAY

AnyaDharu 09/3 granted 19/5 - (10weeks 1 day) TUESDAY

Tango7 10/3 granted 12/5 - (9weeks) TUESDAY

Johnson83 11/3 granted 22/5 - (10 weeks 2 days) FRIDAY

Chanthas 12/3 granted 25/5 - (10 weeks 4 days) MONDAY

Gypsymoth 13/3 granted 25/5 - (10 weeks 3 days) MONDAY

chrisspuresbkk1 13/3

Friend Boo 16/3 granted 18/6 - (13 weeks 3 days) THURSDAY

Dave W 16/3 granted 17/6 - (13 weeks 2 days) WEDNESDAY

Stonewall 62 17/3 granted 19/6 - (13 weeks 3 days) FRIDAY

Kennkate 17/3 granted16/6 - (13 weeks) TUESDAY

Chewy 18/3 Granted 07/08 20 weeks and 3 days

PeterHThai 19/3 granted 19/6 - (13 weeks 1 day) FRIDAY

Pingit 19/3 Refused 19/6 - ( 13 weeks 1 day ) FRIDAY Decision overturned 15/07 WEDNESDAY

TheFiend 20/3 granted 18/6 - (12 weeks 6 days) THURSDAY

Jaja 20/3 granted 9/7 - (15 weeks 6 days) THURSDAY

Pudsey 23/3 granted 10/7 - (15 weeks 4 days) FRIDAY

Sumrit 24/3 Granted 26/6 - (13 weeks 4 days) FRIDAY

Merangue 25/3 Granted 03/6 - (10 weeks) WEDNESDAY

Domm44 27/3 Granted 22/7- (16 Weeks 5 days)WEDNESDAY

Fluidfusion 27/3 Refused 03/06 - (13 weeks) WEDNESDAY

TickTock 30/3 Granted 19/6 - (11 weeks 4 days) FRIDAY

George & Dragon 30/03 Refused 26/06 (12 weeks 4 days) FRIDAY

Delboy 30/3 Granted 22/06 - (12 weeks 1 day) MONDAY

APRIL'S APPLICATIONS

Borodave 01/4 Granted 24/6 - (12 weeks) WEDNESDAY

JasonThai 02/4 Granted 25/6 - (12 weeks) THURSDAY

Mikeyp 03/4 granted 26/6 - (12 weeks) FRIDAY

Mrburb 03/4 Granted 26/6 - (12 weeks) FRIDAY

Feasantplukka 03/4 Granted 14/7 - (14 week 4 days) TUESDAY

Muaylaosfalang 03/4 Granted 26/6 (12 weeks) FRIDAY

Lerningcurve 07/04 Granted 30/6 (12 weeks) TUESDAY

Bigsy94 07/04 Granted 30/6 (12 weeks) TUESDAY

Kate46 (son) 08/4 Granted 22/7 - (15 WEEKS) WEDNESDAY

AndyJoy 08/4 Granted 21/7 (14 weeks 6 days) TUESDAY

Marcjaiyenyen 08/4 (Applied in Jamaica) granted 7/7 (12 weeks 6 days) TUESDAY

ExoticMatter 09/4 Granted 23/7 (15 weeks) THURSDAY

Dolphy 21/4 Granted 29/7 (14 weeks 1 day) WEDNESDAY

Scotland 22/4 Granted 24/07 (13weeks) FRIDAY

Jes5133 24/4 Granted 24/7 (13 Weeks) FRIDAY

Lee888 28/4 Granted 22/7 (12 week 1 Day) WEDNESDAY

CinnamonRoll 29/4 Granted 22/7 - (12 week) WEDNESDAY

Gena 29/4 Granted 22/7 (12 week) WEDNESDAY

Rolypies 29/4 Granted 10/6 - (6 weeks) (Special Case) WEDNESDAY

Castor83 29/4 Refused

TDM 30/4 Granted 24/7 (12 Weeks 1 Day) FRIDAY

MAY'S APPLICATIONS

Nelson111 04/5 Granted 23/7 (11 Weeks 4 Days) THURSDAY

Marky1600 05/05 Ganted 28/7 (12 Weeks) TUESDAY

Wayne Mcclymont 06/5 Granted 04/08 12 Weeks 6 Days TUESDAY

Alanr 07/5 Granted 28/7 (11 Weeks 5 Days) TUESDAY

Suprich 07/5 Granted 28/7 (11 Weeks 5 Days) TUESDAY

Buzby 11/5 Granted 27/7 (11 weeks) MONDAY

dean999 12/5 Interview 27/7 10 Weeks 6 Days/rejected 6/8 (12 weeks 2 days) THURSDAY

Dont panic 13/05 Granted 29/07 (11 weeks) WEDNESDAY

Zim 13/5

True blue 14/5 Granted 27/7 (10 weeks 5 days) MONDAY

Spot 15/5 Granted 31/07 (11 weeks) FRIDAY

uaelaelil 20/5 Refused 14/8 12 Weeks 2 Days FRIDAY

Johnokk 25/5 Granted 04/8 (10 weeks 1 day) TUESDAY

moodysufc 26/5 Refused 19/8 12 Weeks 1 Day WEDNESDAY

Ade2007 29/5 Granted 04/8 9 Weeks 4 Days TUESDAY

leefreight 29/05

JUNE'S APPLICATIONS

Ajsp9 02/06 Granted 10/8 (9 weeks 6 days) MONDAY

Globaleyes 08/06 Granted 17/8 10 Weeks MONDAY

Bukseeda 09/06 Granted 02/9 12 Weeks 1 Day WEDNESDAY

Hawkinsschris 19/06 Granted 09-09-09 11 week 4 days TUESDAY

Thongkorn 23/06 GRANTED 11 Weeks 3 days Thursday

Dowman73 30/6 Granted 10/09/09 10 weeks 2 day Thursday

JULY'S APPLICATIONS

tjthai 2/07 VISA GRANTED FOR WIFE BUT DAUGHTER REFUSED (APPEAL SUBMITTED AS EMBASSY DOESN'T CARE) - 11 Weeks 2 days FRIDAY

simiUK 6/07 VISA GRANTED 12 Weeks 6 days MONDAY

bobrussell 13/07 VISA GRANTED 23/9 10 weeks 2 days

Jaggg88 14/07 Refused 11 weeks 1 day

scousemc 28/7 VISA GRANTED 9 weeks 1 day

Bananaman 30/07 GRANTED 8 Weeks

AUGUST'S APPLICATIONS

learningcurve 13/08 VISA GRANTED 08/10 8 weeks THURSDAY

idmilla 14/08 VISA GRANTED 7/10 7 Weeks 5 days TUESDAY

Enquirer 19/08 VISA GRANTED 1/10 6 weeks THURSDAY

horacegoeskiing 25/08 VISA GRANTED 09/10 6 weeks FRIDAY

SEPTEMBER'S APPLICATIONS

chris1616 18/09

OCTOBER'S APPLICATIONS

InspectorGadget 05/10

Pauly and Aomy 21/10

Fluidfusion 27/10

Jaggg88 27/10 granted 11/11 2 weeks 1 day

NOVEMBERS APPLICATIONS

Steverino's app. wife & child dox submitted 12 Nov

Hey guys...yes we are back as well. Our original application was refused in August and the Embassy convinced my GF to re-apply as this was quicker than appealing...of course I had to pay again :-( but boy 2 weeks! we waited nearly 12 for the refusal.

Good luck to you Fluidfusion I hope your quick decision is positive too.

Just some thoughts on my application experience and things I found valuable.

For those thinking about using Visa company (I also used them to organise the marriage as well) I have found removed weblink proactive and did great job especially since my application had some week areas-

- limited company

- 6 Month Relationship

- Living in a houseshare at time of the application.

I used localphone.com to do all my calls to Thailand, this gave me a full itemised bill, vital to proving my relationship. In addition they provided a local number I could use on my free mobile minutes.

I made sure when visiting Thailand I used mine and my wifes name (and when she was my girlfriend) on all hotel bookings (again for evidence)

If your girlfriend/wife moves accommodation try and get your name on the tenancy agreement, again this proved useful for the embassy.

I ordered two Tuxedo mastercard (same number). One was given to the wife, I kept the other for taking to the post office and loading it with money for her to withdraw on hers. Online you have full statement information for the visa application.

Hope this is useful to somebody

Thanks Horacegoeskiing..wish I'd read your tips before I applied...some good advice. Short relationships are not grounds for refusal but they do tend to attract closer scrutiny. I've stayed in many hotels with my GF but never kept the bills. She also owns her own house which is where I stay when visiting but am now finding it difficult to prove that. The ECO mentioned this is his refusal so I will have to come up with something.

Might it help to have letters (fairly short and factual) from members of her family, and from friends, testifying that you stayed with her? Possibly with affidavits? I do believe that anything that shows that you have gone out of your way to prove the facts is useful in helping the ECO to come down on the right side of assessing "the balance of probabilities".

Who knows what were the factors in making our application successful (I prepared it, with advice from a specialist solicitor), and in such a comparatively short time.... However, I did include two letters from UK friends of our couple testifying to the strength, length, and mutual supportiveness of their relationship.

We also had a wealth of photographs. I forget the length of your relationship with your fiancée, but many of our pictures included the couple with my various grandsons, visibly developing from baby to toddler over about three years. My daughter-in-law spent a lot of time arranging these photographs in albums with clearly printed labels explaining the different venues and people and dates, and pointing out the children's development. Were your photographs clearly mounted with similar labels?

I hope that a factor in our success was that I imagined a harrassed ECO riffling through a mass of papers with no time or incentive to work out what the papers were trying to prove. I therefore sorted them out into logical sequence and placed those that belonged together into plastic envelopes with two sides open (easier for ECO to pull them out and replace them) with large clear labels showing their purpose.

For example, my son produced a great mass of skype records, meaningless to the uninitiated - these had to be stapled into a "booklet" and explained by a clear label informing the ECO that they were 12 months of records showing that he and his wife spoke on skype daily and often for several hours. This is not clear from the records themselves unless you study them for ages.

I read here that however carefully you arrange your papers in order, the VAC tips them out into their own containers. My daughter-in-law was warned about this, and was careful to place the papers in their labelled plastic envelopes in the right order into the VAC container. I also used staples or treasury tags to keep the papers within the plastic envelopes in the right order, in case the plastic envelopes were taken off and lost.

Bank statements: I highlighted relevant entries (eg Housing Benefits payments to prove he had accommodation and income with Tax Credit payments) with a simple key to the different colours; I thought the ECO would find it difficult to pick out important payments among all the rest, and would not give it enough time.

Forgive me if any of this is irrelevant to you, but it may help someone else.

The ECO has refused to reassess our application unless we re-apply and as the appeal process is swamped at the moment we have little choice. That should make Gordon Brown happy as he will get another 3300BHT from me but don't worry Gordon, if you're reading this, as your ass wont touch the ground next election.

We just included all our pics in one album so presentation is good advice. I can get her uncles to write letters that they attended our engagement party and her brother is a senior civil servant with the Thai government so a letter from him could be helpful also. We use MSN to chat and it doesn't save the conversations unless you set it to do so (which I didn't know) otherwise we would have ample evidence, but we do have some email and phone records. Anyway thanks for the good advice.

Just been speaking to a Thai friend who says her husband is returning to Thailand to adopt her 2 children (12 and 13). She claims this will make it easier for a visa...don't know if this is true

It isn't, in fact may make it more complicated, although this is unlikely as he is married to their mother.

in fact don't forget almost everything is possible in Thailand

Maybe so, maybe not; but remember that the visa application will be decided by British officials at the British embassy using British immigration law.

There is no disputing who makes the decisions but the onus is on the applicant to prove their case, which is very difficult, so any official status will help. All the decisions are based 'on the balance of probabilities' and any extra status will tip this balance in your favour. For example; if you are married to your partner a settlement visa is easier because the subsisting relationship is clearer to establish than just Fiancée status. So to gain a visa for step children you must prove your partner has sole responsibility and under Thai law adopting your step children commits you to that responsibility too, which should 'on the balance of probabilities' help prove the genuineness of your application.

The genuineness of visa applications should be a paramount priority of Entry Clearance Officers but the applicant has very little information on how to do this which is why these threads exist and we have thriving private agencies. I for example have to prove I stayed with my Fiancée on my visits to Thailand but have no idea how to do this - any suggestions?