d0om4gloom

How will that effect Sterling???

I wouldn't pay too much attention to it. Anything could happen in the next 6 months so gambling on a weak dollar/strong baht at the end of the year is crazy.

Considering the dollar has just broken out of its long term declining trend of last year I'd say the odds are higher that we'll see a strengthening dollar for the rest of the year. There's no room for the Euro to get any stronger and in any case it has the pressure cooker of the 4 southern counties to contend with. Sterling is already weak and shows little sign of recovering, further downside is quite possible although we're more likely to see it move against individual currencies as its the Dollar/Euro & Dollar/Yen which are dictating the trends these days. Yen is now seen as the weakest of the 4 so quite how the article concludes the dollar will weaken against a basket of currencies is beyond me. If the Yuan was allowed to appreciate normally we'd see fireworks fly throughout asia but just isn't going to happen.

No mention of tackling the elephant in the tuk tuk then?

Yep everyone knows it's the tuk tuk that cause the real traffic problems here. I'd be only too happy to see the back of the rental cars as well - like it says, they do take up all the beachfront parking slots. At least what's available is free though, any other country would have the dreaded parking meters

The missing stat here is how many of those deaths and injuries are due to head injuries that might have been avoided if a helmet was being worn ? Ok so a large number were motorcycles and 33% didn't wear a helmet but without that final stat how can you really know the best way to target this problem ?

Targetting drunk drivers has a well proven track record but targetting people who dont wear a helmet or don't have a license is an unknown and might be a complete waste of time

Well upgrading their access network will just cause a problem for the rest of us unless they invest in their backbone as well - particularly their international Goering arrangements

I expect "good Viking stock" is a kind of soup?

I'm not in the least surprised you can't understand me....especially if you are a simplistic as your views on immigration suggest.

To attack the Original poster as someone quoting the bnp manifesto quite simply shows how politically correct you feel the need to be without understanding the slightest thing about them. The bnp is a vile and dangerous organisation and the original poster made no comments associating with them other than voicing an opinion which he/she is perfectly entitled to hold - albeit we might not all agree

At last some press coverage, let's just hope it's not dropped for the next story too soon. Only continuous coverage will bring change. Let alone the prices which are nothing short of harrods or prada, have you seen how they block the one way system at night in Patong. Not just the tuk tuks but the motorcycle taxis are backing the same game.

I wonder what the dark forces are, the article investigates and reveals them so well. Oops did i just stumble on the reason why corruption here is systemic ?

Guidance is guidance, but rules are rules.

The rules say a minimum of two years, and you are over that; not by much, but you are.

They cannot refuse you because you have not been living together for long enough (providing you can prove it, of course).

Yes by the rules we certainly qualify. I think with the evidence we can produce we'll have a very sound application but its still a worry as the outcome is life affecting.

Do you think its worth writing some explaining notes to accompany the application or would that create unnecessary barriers ? Should we write additional notes specifically about any peices of evidence we're producing ?

Its a shame we dont have any feedback from either successful or unsuccessful applicants of this particular visa type. In the meantime it seems to me the best chance of success is to produce as much as possible in line with the guidance and hope the person assessing the application does allow some leeway given that it is only guidance.

The trouble as always is that someone who doesn't know you personally has no idea about the relationship other than what they see in front of them. From what I've seen of other types of applications people have discussed here, that tends to mean guidance gets enforced to the letter.

We still have decided whether to go straight for the UMP visa or build further evidence over the next 6 months by applying for another tourist visa first and return to Thailand and make the UMP apllication later on.

The other option would be to go straight for the UMP visa and use the tourist visa as a fallback option if we're refused. However, the concern then is that they might very well refuse a later tourist visa application on the grounds that she might not return to thailand at the end of it since we'd have already signalled our real intent is to move to the UK.

Oh the joys of red tape !

Looking into this further I'm still concerned about the documentary evidence we can provide during the first 6months when my gf visited me in UK.

We had no joint commitments during that period as she came to stay in a house owned by myself and her visit was entirely sponsored by myself (financially). I have proof of a family holiday we took together while she was there and there is of course the original tourist visa she was granted which also spoke of our relationship. Why on earth would anyone have put all the household bills in joint names or immediately opened joint bank accounts etc under the circumstances at the time. She did open a personal bank account there which links us to the same address.

Does anyone have experience of this or care to offer an opinion whether they think this would be a fundamentally flawed application given the documentary evidence required - see the previous post.

Would we be better building another 6 months of history together by going for another tourist visa first - or would this actually be detrimental given that you have to convince them she would return to Thailand at the expiration of it. How could we maintain thats its a permanent relationship akin to civil partnership when we're saying she'd return to Thailand ?

Half the poor inside prisons have confessed to a crime they did not or not commit on their own

and that statements based on fact is it ? You'll find miscarriages of justice all over the world but half ? I think not ! Some would argue thailands system is better than many because here at least the burden of proof is not so great that large numbers of guilty simply get away with it - the most common miscarriage of justice we see in the west. Shot me down for speaking the truth if you will.

You may find the following useful:-

Maintenance and accommodation

SET05 - Unmarried and same sex partners

Thanks 7by7, theres some good info in those links and I hadn't found them before.

In case anyone has else reading this thread needs similar answers, the above links do confirm that couple who have lived in different countries parhaps using visitor visas to maintain a constant 2 years living together DO qualify - which is good for us :-) It also states that periods of up to 6 months apart might still qualify if it was for reasons of work or family commitments - you'd read to read the advice to see if that covers your own situations but again for my 1 month while we moved i'm sure its not a problem.

Hmmm....until facts are freely available, speculation is both inevitable and guaranteed, no?.

Shut the thread until the data comes in or allow peeps to express their views,based often on previous experience or reporting.

Move along folks, etc....... no known factual news here.

RIP.

sadly,

Brewsta

I agree about the conjecture. However, I also feel 'brainstorming' scenarios surrounding her death may also produce some kind of conclusion. To not comment is surely to anticipate, and by inference acceptance, of some kind of 'accident' bulletin from BIB. Think everyone agrees, 2 days in the water, lady must have been staying somewhere, probably local, who's missing her? Publicity is important, especially for the family.

Maybe it was foul play. I favour the dive shop theory myself, maybe she hired the weights and somewhere there's a dive shop owner cursing her for not bringing them back, seems a good line to investigate first. Maybe she lived here on her own. Well all this brainstorming when we know absolutely nothing seems so worth while ! Not !!

I wonder if anyone can tell me their experience applying for this tpye of visa. I'm specifically looking for people with experience applying for UK unmarried partner settlement visa rather than married partner.

Its not so much the rules as the experiences getting it approved that I'm after. ie:

Has anyone been approved after living together exactly 2 years rather than several months over 2 years ?

How many documents proving living together do you need ?

How many queries were made when they assesed the application ? What queries did they make ?

Are they likely to just turn you down flat or do you get asked for further evidence ?

Is it much harder than getting a married partners visa or doesn't it make any difference ?

etc etc

In my case we will be applying 2 years & 1 month after starting to live together. The first 6 months of that was when my gf came to the UK on a tourist visa and the next 1.5 years was when i came back to live in Thailand with her on expiration of her tourist visa - In fact there was a months gap while she returned to Thailand and set up home for us and I followed as soon as I'd sorted out my UK affairs. Does anyone see this as being a hurdle when it comes to the 2 year cohabitation rule ? ie. Would you say the 1 month apart consitutes us not living together or would you class that as continuous cohabitation as I do. It was most certainly a constant relationship/unmarried partnership before anyone queries that.

We've actually been together 3.5 years by the time of the application but i know its the all important living together in the same relationship as if we had been married that matters for this application.

All advice greatly appreciated.

I am wondering if the alternative method of applying for another tourist visa, getting another 6 months behind us and then returning to Thailand to apply for the settlement visa after that might lend aditional weight to our application as we'd have been together even longer by then. Clearly the embassy will have on record the previous tourist visa so i'm hoping that goes a long way to proving that we lived together from that time.

Well dispite the somewhat 'politically incorrect' language in this announcement its a surprisingly accurate summation:

a) Of course illegal workers avoid paying tax. They do work for less and generally do undermine native workers who are of course trying to push up wages to pay for a better living standard.

Yes, its well known that tea money is gets paid so there's always tip offs before the authorities step in.

c) Every country is currently trying to shore up its tax revenues and protect its own workers jobs wherever it can. Its a sign of the global climate that illegal workers will always be targetted much more heavily in the bad times than they will in the good times.

The trouble is that these very same illegal workers are only here to try and better their own lives. They are doing exactly the same as the poor from the north who come south for better wages, the only difference is they cross a border. Can you really blame them.

Perhaps you know more than I do regarding the meaning of "R&R" but why should it be "degrading to to your wife and father-in-law" that the US Navy takes R&R in Patong? It's as if you're blaming the victim rather than the perpetrator of a crime yet to be committed.

It's almost as you're saying (and I've heard rationized by the Thais before) that if the foreigner were not here, any crimes perpetuated against the foreigners (or accidents involving foreigners) would not have occurred so, in essence, it is the foreigner's fault for existing or being here.

Please go back into the hole that you (and your inlaws) crawled out from. Excuse me for my lack of "diplomatic wording".

Your lack of diplomatic wording is spot on. You and several others have shot this poster down in flames exactly as they deserve.

And no offence intended because you are not alone, but that is exactly why Post Publishing, and other publishers, are likely to increasingly adopt measure to protect their copyright. Because you're not visiting their website they are missing out on possible advertising revenues - at the expense of this website which gains.

In other words, Thai Visa is stealing "some" traffic from BKK Post.

Be fair, people.

Actually I believe that news is public domain there there is no copyright on it. Thats why news feeds work. What exactly a newspaper can copyright i dont know - maybe the article ? If they are posting something saying 'this is news' how can that be subject to copyright ?

Does anyone have any advice?

I am currently a tourist on holiday in Karon Beach.

Our hotel staff laughed at us when we asked them for advice and said that the Tsunami was in Samoa and not here.

run like the wind or put your head in the sand, take your pick. What a stupid question !

Forgive me, I do not know you but then neither did the imigration person who processed your application. From what you said in your original post and some of the responses you later posted it doesn't sound like you did provide evidence of a REAL relationship.

We have to believe the office was in fact refusing your gf on this specific point as thats what they told you. However, everything you said suggests that YOU were the one behind the application not your GF !!! Simply sending money and supporting someone, even visiting someone a couple of times might very well demonstrate YOUR intentions towards the relationship but it most certainly does not demonstrate HERS.

My personal advice to you both is on your next attempt just change the way you are approaching the application : 100's of pages of documents wont help you. You doing everything will not help you. In your case using an agency might help the way you present the application but generally be aware any agency will do nothing you cannot do yourself.

Its all about your GF not you.

Let me finish by saying my gf got her visa applying directly in similar circumstances to yours although i'd known her slightly longer and had visited more and longer. What i believe truly got her the visa while we know others were refused was that she was totally believeable, her story fitted and was honest.

What's illegal about seeking employment? I thought only working with a tourist visa is illegal?

And I also thought that also a tourist 60 day visa can be applied for 3 times within a year only. No?

That means that you can never travel to Thailand to seek work unless you have been invited to do so, and have a letter that approves your non-B.

So a job in Thailand can only be found online or by connections with people that live in Thailand. Is that what it means ?

Then people have to provide you a non-b letter before your interview. And that is impossible! In some immigration offices they don't just ask you a letter, but all the information of the company. How will you ever get this when they haven't even hired you??

Yes I am aware of the huge amount of illegal workers in Thailand, people that will never get a pension, or maybe even drink so much that they cannot practically be alive at the time they cannot work anymore (and normally would receive a pension). What are they all doing here then....

All I can say is that Freedom does not exists in the world, and Thailand is a great country to learn this.

Thai Nationalism will make sure that you will always be and feel like an outsider, Thailand should favor you being here and the other way round, who cares!

What you favor about thailand is probably not the thing that Thailand is proud off, so everyone who will contribute to Thailand's bad reputation should go in the first place. Or you could do that job that illegal workers normally do, like the Burmese. Thai just want to make clear that Foreigners don't own this country, even if some think they do. Everything seems so easy, as if they can play gods. While this behavior is not possible anywhere in the world, why would anyone expect it from Thailand. Maybe they're not so fast, but they learn by mistake, that's all.

Please do not place all 'Farangs' in the same basket... Not everyone thinks that Thailand should favour us for being here. I love Thailand and the people, and appreciate being able to live and work (legally) in such a beautiful country, with such a wonderful culture and hsitory, and I have many friend who also think and feel this way. One thing that is the same for all countires all over the world... we all need tourists... they are what provides money for the country, I do agree that there should be laws around working illegally anywhere, not just in Thailand.

This isn't limited to Thailand. The world is in crisis and will continue to be for years to come. All this talk of green shoots is rubbish and will be proved to be next year after certain European elections have concluded. The Japanese already know it, the Thais are learning it and barriers will continue to be erected throughout the world until Economies genuinly start to improve - thats when the doors will spring back open. Does anyone really think this announcement doesn't driven by the current woes ?

Well despite the article, something has changed. I came through last weekend and it was the first time i've ever walked from ground floor arrivals to top floor domestic without being accosted one single time. I didn't even have to avoid eye contact at all costs like i normally do.

I have to say its the first time i've ever felt entirely at ease going through that airport. Normally i'm watching my stuff like a hawk and have my hand firmly over my wallet and have to push past hawkers left right and centre who are determined to stand in my path or crowd me from both sides.

I bet thousands of tourists have already been prey to them but somehow I bet this new norm will last little more than 2 or 3 months before the attention has moved on and things return to the awfull past.

Its clear from this thread how little confidence we all have in it ever really changing

I'm a Brit living in Thailand and I have to say I agree with the comments above. Too many Brits come here and use the country like a playground wherer anything goes.

I have been coming to Thailand for many years and have recently noticed some Thais becoming a little tired of farangs in their country. I don't blame them, I'm tired of some farangs being here and I'm a farang!!

Agreed, I also am British living here in Thailand and on some occasions I have pretended not to speak English so as not to get in a conversation with people who were behaving in a manner which was completely inappropriate. I am talking 2 guys shaved heads, shorts, sleeveless shirts and flip flops, The Sun newspaper tucked under one sweaty armpit, on a bus at the airport going to the aircraft (on the way to Thailand) preaching loudly to some young students about the merits of Pattaya. These people are an embarrassment to the Country and the human race. One of them was also loudly trying persuade the other to share a taxi with him when they arrive, so as not waste his "short time money". Lucky I don't speak English!

What does that have to do with Thailand coming top of the list for being dangerous ?

I think the earlier comments were more apt - how many of the those motorcycle accidents were due to drunk driving ? How many were due to holiday makers learning to drive motorbikes ? How many of the arrests were due to drug use and drunken behaviour ? Those statistics might very well answer why Thailand features top of the list both on safety and arrests.

I for one will continue to think Thailand is very safe - but then I dont ride motorbikes drunk and loose my cool when i'm drunk. I also ride defensively. That said, I have no doubt other nations would report similar statistics for their visitors to Thailand.

Living here in Phuket, I see every nationality is let down by the few - I can see no reason why this thread should become a Brit bashing nor Thai bashing thread as so many seem determined to make it. Lets talk about jumping on the bandwagon instead !

hardcore... strapped with c4 with a remote trigger.

how doesn't that warrant a massive search and crack down.

Agree 100%.

If crimes like this go uninvestigated or are just accepted ('well it happens in the US ') then our society is beyond farked...

Whoever committed this crime (If it wan't suicide; I don't know.) needs to be caught and sentenced extremely harshly; life, meaning life.

What makes you think there isn't a massive search going on ? Its possible they dont need to because they already know exactly which mafia is responsible. Getting proof is much more difficult though....

Maybe your suggesting that just because there a tea money culture in Thailand they dont care about anything like this...I would argue very strongly that is NOT the case and this incident will be taken very seriously indeed.

if only i could see their little white socks as well !

The over use of Playing Computer games by children of school age is serious in Thailand and damages their education . As a teacher here , playing Computer Games always comes top of students leisure time activity.

Why ? What should they be doing ? Reading educational books for the 6 hours instead ? Would you rather they go out on the streets and get into mischief ? Just what exactly should they be doing with their leisure time ? This law may be ridiculous in its unenforceability never mind the debate about the states/parents role in society but it at least it recognises thats what kids do !!! Why dont you recognise the skills that online gaming do develop ? In a computer age whats so wrong with developing enhanced hand/eye coordination, fast reactions etc etc. Yes 6 hours a day is excessive for any child to be doing any one thing but do tell, just what would you have them do with their leisure time ? Oh - I know, you'd introduce your own set of ideal laws on them instead.

Our individual loss of freedom is the worlds greatest unfolding disaster of the 21st century.