rushdentillidie

Thanks for all you advice, it seems that a visit visa would be a waste of time. But i wanted to make sure of this before we applied for one.

I will hopefully be in Thailand early next month following up a career opportunity so this is something to look forward to. But at the moment i am still thinking if we should submit a new settlement visa application while doing the appeal. I have no problems in doing this, but i worry about how we counter the argument about a past girlfriend who i was a sponsor off, for on a tourist visa. Which appears to be the problem, as we did not mention this during the first application. Which at the time i didn't think it would have much impact, as that was in the past and for a visitor visa. My ex did not have any problems in the UK and did not overstay only cam for a 2 week holiday.

I don't want to spend £600 a be in the same situation 3 months down the line. If we where to reapply would it be wise to mention past relationship? do they still take into account previous applications? because if they do i am not sure if we would ever get a visa for the UK.

But good luck with your application live forever hope you have more luck than us.

Thanks again

I also have concern about the application for a family visa but i am just going off information that i was told. At the moment i would be willing to try this rather than having to wait for 9 months while the slow appeal process runs on. I mean the family visa would cost around 4000 baht so it would not be to much to lose. But i only wanted to do this if we have some chance. I believe that my wife would have reason to go back to Thailand because she would want to apply/collect her settlement visa, overstaying would put her chance of obtaining this at risk for 10 years, so why would she do this, plus a few months in the UK would give her chnace to get used to the country and make sure that she can fit in here.

Otherwise it means that i will have to spend more time with her in Thailand as the only way we can be together. While waiting for appeal, it is annoying that there is no other way. Maybe you are right 7by7 but at the time of the application i did not think this would have any impact on the application, maybe i should have mentioned all my past girlfriends i have had in the UK also. I still fail to see what relevance my past on this topic has on my current or future applications. I know that we can reapply for a settlement visa but i would be at a loss to what other information we could put in. Apart from more recent bank statement, emails, photos ect. If the embassy are rejecting us for the reason i think they are then I am not sure how or if we would counter this, so i feel at the moment would put any application in doubt. We just have to wait now and see what happens with the appeal and review but i wont hold my breath. I think our best chace now is to get a transfer with work to asia and hopefully go on from there.

Regards

At the moment we are waiting back for the appeal news.

It was just recommended to me to try this way, as her reason for return would be to apply for a settlement visa after her visit visa expires, and if the appeal is successful she would go back to collect this visa. She will also have a graduation ceremony to attend so i was hoping that these reason combined would persuade the ECO to consider this type of visa.

Regards

At the moment my wife and i are involved in the appeal process for a rejection for a settlement visa. As you all know this can take up to 9 month to sort out.

So my question now is what other ways are open so that my wife can travel to the UK. I have read that we wont have much chance with a tourist visa since we are married. But i have been informed that she could get a 6 month visa as a family visitor? Does anybody have any information on this and know if it is possible?

After looking over the visa website, it is not clear what visa this would be and what application form to fill in. Does anybody know the cost of this type of visa and how long the waiting times are. Because I am hoping to return to Thailand soon in a few weeks, and it would be a nice thought to be able to bring my wife back with me. I understand that it will mean that she will not be able to work but it would be good for her to spend some time here and get used to the country. But also not be apart while we wait for the long drawn out process of the appeal.

Any advice is welcomed

Regards

So where is this test to be taken? The big question will they be an extra "cost" involved?

I like the idea about been tested to the level of a 7 year old. Looking at most kids nowadays that would not be to hard, most can not read and write when they finish primary school

Just when you think the UK government cant find ways to make money, they shaft you again.

I think i have it all wrong trying to get my wife a visa here, it should me looking for a visa to get out of this hel_l hole

My wife and I are in the same situation, relative small problem and documents been over looked caused a rejection.

But seem to be having less luck getting any reply form the embassy. Our visa agent has sent them a fax requesting a review, although this was over 2 weeks ago. My wife and i have tried to calling the embassy but just keep getting stoned walled, and emails just seem to get lost.

If anybody has a list of contacts or know the best people to speak to it would be a great help. I have seen suggestions about speaking to the local MP but not really sure what if any impact this would have.

But its good to read some good news and gives a small reason to hold out hope. But the customer service of the embassy leaves a lot to be desired, I would like to see the feedback if the embassy was privet sector.

Congrats to the OP

Regards

At least a reply was given.

My wife and i have been trying to contact the embassy for the past 3 weeks. After numerous email, faxes and phone calls we have yet to hear anything back.

Regards

I cant comment on your previous application, but I would warn you that the embassy will look for any reason to fail you. The same that they did with my wife, so i would think it an idea to mention you previous relationship.

Although when we first applied like you we did the application ourselves. We both felt that we have a great folder and doing much research and adding everything that we can think off. But after learning that we where rejected i was shocked, and wondering what the hel_l extra we can add. So we are using a agency to do the appeal for us to make sure that we have the best chance. So it might be a good idea just for piece of mind to have somebody to check over the application, although i would look around for the best prices and review if possible.

Because the are many out there who say that they can guarantee the visa for sure, but i can not see how this is possible.

But good luck with the application and i hope that you have better news than we did.

Regards

Thanks for you response.

We are looking at appealing and with the extra documents we should be able to get this overturned. But i am hoping to find a way that this can be done faster than having to go though appeal process. But your idea does sounds promising that an appeal may not get passed the embassy and overturned there, would you have a rough idea how long this type of appeal would take? since it would be changed in Thailand not the UK.

But i have been told by other people, it is possible to go back to the embassy or email and fax my passport to them any extra documents, does anybody know if this will work?

Because all this information was provided in the original application. All flight tickets boarding cards, hotel bookings and stamps where given. So i am finding very hard to see how they an reject on these grounds given the amount of information given, and for them to call our relationship into question i think is insulting. Again we provided 2 years worth of emails, MSN chats and telephone calls so if this is not a relationship then i am not sure what would be.

Hopefully my wife will find out some further information tomorrow.

Thank you for the advice

Regards

Thanks for the update, i have not attached updated documents. Again if anybody can have a read though and offer any advice.

I am reading from different sources that we maybe be able to go direct to the embassy with the passport and have the outcome overturned with out the need for appeal. Is they any truth in this and if so who would be the best people to speak to at the embassy, does anybody have any contacts.

Thanks again,

My wife has just been refused her settlement visa today, but i can not think why and the reason given is stupid.

I have attached a copy of the letter that we where given, if anybody can have a look at this and give me some advice it would be a great help.

What i can make out is that they are refusing the visa because the can not see my stamp in the passport, which i did hand in with the application, other than this i can not understand why the reject. Because since 2007 i have meet me wife over 10 times and i have the stamps in my passport to show this. along with flight bookings and hotels that we have stayed in over this period.

I would understand if they had problems with something like my house or income, but this reason seems to make no sense.

My next question is where do we go from here. If we appeal this can take up to 9 months, which is to long and for such a small thing it seems a long time. Is they anyway that we could take my passport to the embassy to show the mistake that they have made?

As i say i have attached the paperwork if anybody has time to look over them and give us some advice, i have also attached the copy of my passport which shows the stamp for July 2007.

To be honest i am devastated at the moment, because we took a lot of time and care with the application and i really though that we had a good chance. As we often used this forum and other peoples experience to build this case.

I have read about a 28 day admin reviews on the regent house website can this be used. Would they be any chance that the embassy can over turn this without having to go to appeal. But if we do have to appeal how long would this take

any advice that you can offer would be most welcomed.

Thank you for you help

Good afternoon,

My wife is waiting to collect her visa this week, and when she does, we are hoping to travel to the UK as soon as possible. I was wondering if anybody knows any good websites for cheap one way flights or places to book at short notice.

Looking on line its seems that most flights are the same price for one ways as for a return. It seems the LHR is the cheapest place to fly to in the UK and direct flight would be ideal rather than having to change. The best i have seen so far is with Thai for £412 for one way.

If anybody has any ideas it would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance

Regards

Does anybody know if the Embassy or regent house will be open on Monday. Looking and the news it seems that Bangkok is slowly returning to normality with the BTS and MRT open along with banks. Although the UK embassy never update their website till the day after and calling them we always get the same answer.

The reason I ask this is because my wife is waiting for her visa. Which is ready for collection, but was never told it was ready for collection until the day the troubles started. So during the problems her passport has been stuck in regent house with out anybody able to get it. So i am hoping that on Monday regent house will re-open or somebody will at least be able to go and collect the passports, so they can be collected from the main embassy.

The shocking thing is that they embassy can not even say if her visa has been passed or not. Surely they most know this information as it will be on computer and could let us know rather than having to wait 2 weeks.

Any updates would be most welcomed.

Regards

Coffee-mate on toast most mornings,

Although the chicken feet is the worst thing that i see her eat. Just makes me sick thinking about it. I mean there not even any meat on them lol

Yes women and children do occupy and can be seen at the protest site. This is why i believe that a deadline should be set and time given for people to leave the site in safety. Or is it that the Reds and want to keep women and children at the site, to act as human shields so this kind of action can not be taken. If this was to be the case i think that it would say it all about the red shirts mentality.

I think its about time the government and army grow so balls and dealt with the protests once and for all. As the softly softly approach has not work, the time for diplomacy is over and action needs to be taken.

How can a mob hold a country to ransom, the Reds have been given ample time to offered negations and a road map for pace which they turn now. I think the time has come to fight fire with fire. I dont understand why the army can not use tanks to clear the blockade and move in to clear the area. I would imagine that the rules or engagement allow troops to fire back if fired up on. If the reds had and sense that all the true protesters and one's who want peace would leave the protest site in safety. Only the die-hards and mercenaries would be left behind, and in my view the soon these guys are dead the better. and sooner the country can get back to normal

The reds should be set a deadline to clear up and move out, or action taken. But any threats should be carried out and they government not back down like they have done before. Could you imagine this happen in London or any western capital for 8 weeks its does not give Thailand a good light on the worlds stage.

I understand that the reds have a right to protests and make they voices heard. But they are ways and means of doing this holding a country to ransom is no the way to do this.

OK rant over lol

evening all,

My wife has finally heard back from the embassy regarding her settlement visa for the UK. So she travelled down to Bangkok today, only to find that regent house was closed because of the protests. Looking on the website for regent house it says that they are closed and not taking applications. But what is the situation with collecting passports. Because my wife is hoping to travel to the UK over the weekend should the visa have been granted.

Is they anyway that the passport could be sent out but courier or collected from a different area, the staff on the phone mentioned that she could collect from the main Embassy, so she will check this tomorrow. But does anybody have any information or contacts that would be able to help out in this situation.

I understand that the closure is down to the red shirts, but gods knows how long this will go on for going by the past 8 weeks. As i sure you cant believe the waiting is now killing us after waiting for the visa to come back we just dont need these extras days of waiting and soon to be weekend . Or even if they was a way just to see if the visa had been granted or not in this situation, at least then we could start to plan for flights and the like.

Any advice or help you could give would be most welcomed.

Regards

Yes we are in the same position, my wife has the text saying that her passport is ready for collection. But Regent house is shut today, although when she phoned they said that they would send her passport to the embassy and collect there, and would call her back. But surprise surprise they did not call her back, so we are hoping that she can collect from the embassy on Friday. Because she is hoping to fly to the UK over the weekend, does anybody know of anyway way to contact the embassy section phone or email or if it is possible for them to hurry up the visa? I was thinking maybe they can courier the passport to my wife's sister;s where she is staying, surly this would not cost so much?

But after 8 weeks of waiting, this is the last thing we need now with the Reds, we just want to know the answer and the waiting is killing us lol.

Yes whenever we tried to use the system it never worked, whatever number we used. So in the end we just gave up. Although today my wife got the text saying that her visa is ready to be picked up, but we never got the frist text lol.

So she is traveling down to bangkok tomorrow morning to collect the passport, hoping that it is granted. I know this will be the worst and lost 18 hours of my life. Although the embassy did call my wife last week to ask some questions so for the passed week i have been on end. Fringers crossed it will be ok, i will keep you all posted. We applied on the 12th of march so it took around 8 weeks.

Regards

My wife and I applied for a settlement visa on the 12 of march but we are still waiting. Although the embassy did call her last week to ask hear few questions, so i was hoping that we get a answer soon. As it seems many people who applied the same time as us are now getting an answer, so i hope we should here this week.

Although my wife paid for the text alerts when we applied, so i am not sure if we will get one. But has anybody tried the on-line tracking for the visa. because for some reason we can not get it to work whatever reference number we put in.

Hope everyone hears the good news that we are waiting for.

Good evening,

Does anybody know of any contacts at the UK embassy in Bangkok, either phone number or email. The reason i ask is that me wife and i are still waiting for the answer about our settlement visa which we applied for on the 12 of march. Looking over recent posts it seems that most other people who have applied at this time have received passports back. My wife also got a call from the embassy last week asking some questions, so it seems that they are looking at our visa. I was hoping that we would have a answer on the visa by the end of last week early this week.

One of my wife's friends says that when she applied a few years ago she was able to call the embassy and ask if they could rush they visa a bit. does anybody know if this is true and can be done.

I know that applying for a visa is a waiting game but we are into our 9th week now and starting to get a bit anxious to the answer.

Thanks for your help

Regards

Thanks for the website help, I have a quick look and the prices seems very good. I hope that we will be able to use very soon, as still no word on the visa yet but still hoping that we hear soon .

Thanks for you help

Applications at this time of year can take a bit longer than at other times due to the embassy being closed for Easter and then Songkran, plus they usually get a lot of student applications in March/April.

The disruption to the service due to the demonstrations in Bangkok has added to this, too.

They have obviously now looked at her application, otherwise she would not have received the phone call. I would say that this call is a good sign, as it means they are minded to grant the visa but want to clarify some points first (otherwise they would have simply refused!). As long as her answers were consistent with the written application, I think you should have some good news in a few days.

Can't help you with where to book a ticket for her, I'm afraid. But, if she is nervous about traveling on her own and maybe worried about getting lost, when you book the ticket or when she checks in you can ask that she be accompanied to the flight when boarding and then when arriving in the UK met off the flight and accompanied through immigration, baggage reclaim and customs until she meets you. Most airlines are happy to provide this service free of charge.

She shouldn't have any problems at UK immigration; she will have a valid visa. However, she may be asked a couple of questions, and should keep her TB certificate and the application supporting docs with her in her carry on bag. Also a note of your mobile number so you can be contacted if necessary.

If she is questioned at immigration and doesn't understand, she must say so and if necessary ask for an interpreter.

Although this thread does contain some silly posts, others do give an indication of what to expect.

Thanks for the help, I think that it is a good sgin that the embassy has called like you say. So i am hoping that everything should go ok although until we know for sure i am still worried. The questions that where asked where just small things which to be honest all this information is listed in the pack. But i just have my fingers crossed just that we have been waiting so long now.

I was hoping to travel back with my wife this time, but because we do not have the visa this is not the case. I have no worries about my wife flying and getting to the airport ok. I just wish that i could be with her at passport control, as her english is good. But looking over the posts it seems that some staff are not the best of help.

But hopefully things should be fine. I will keep you posted how i get on.

Regards

Hi all, I have just returned from a great 4 weeks in Thailand, thanks to the icelandic volcano . Although i was hoping to be able to bring my wife back to the UK with me this time. Even more so since i had a extra 2 weeks. Because of this i have a few questions, since i have not been able to find any information that relatives to us. We applied for the settlement visa in early march, I know that the embassy says 12 weeks to do the visa. But looking at the past postings it seems at the time the waiting list would be about 5 weeks. While at the moment we are into our 8th week and still not had much feedback. Apart from today my wife got a phone call from the embassy asking her some questions, about how we meet and my job. Has this happen to anybody before? as all this infomration was put in the application we sumbitted, and any ideas about what this could mean. Also any idea about how long the current waiting list is about approx. Also now because my wife will have to travel by herself, can anybody think of any problems that she might encounter coming though passport control. Does anybody know the any good website or the best way to book one way flights to the UK form Thialand at short notice. As i say as soon as my wife gets the visa we are hoping to get a flight the same or next day. Sorry if i am repeating questions that i have been asked before. Thanks for your helpRegards

In my experience it has been hit and miss, both from and to the UK. Although we never send any thing of value in the post. I often send things to my wife like documents. Over all i would say that 80% of the package get though. In most case i used special delivery form the UK, and that seems to do the trick. Although on occasions I have had mail returned to may saying the address is not found.

For more important things i would try a courier company like Fed ex, maybe costs more but more chance of it reaching its destination with out been tamped with.

Good luck

Regards