paully

Should we run the risk of over-running the visa by 3 weeks or should he return to Thailand? If so, what are our options from there?

I certainly wouldn't advise 'over-running the visa' by 3 weeks or even 3 days. Not a good idea if he wishes to remain here in the UK long-term or return here.

His options are either to apply for further leave (FLR) before 18th May and give full reasons as to why you didn't go through with the marriage before now

or: to return to Thailand before 18th May and re-apply from there for another Fiance visa, or a settlement visa if you manage to get married either in the UK or Thailand.

Naturally you don't have long now to decide which to pursue! Good luck.

Jurys Inn Kensington is also a good choice for this area.

I really don't think the airport of arrival matters. You don't have to show the ECO an actual ticket with confirmed flight number and place/time of arrival before the visa is granted, so I don't see it being a problem. One is allowed to change one's travel plans. If asked, she should just explain this as a change of travel plan for the sake of convenience.

Now it seems to me that, although the Visa Section never admits that they have made a mistake ( and cannot do so as any admission might attract a compensation claim), the two refusal decisions were wrong, and the Visa Section knows it. The result seems to indicate this too.[/Quote]

Good result, VisasPlus. But there should never have been a 10 year ban imposed, that was over the top in the circumstances and to not include the advisory note was sheer incompetence by the visa section.

It's badly/loosely worded in my opinion.

Remember that some rules/guidelines and, indeed, some laws are deliberately imprecise to cover a range of circumstances and allow for some flexibility. The use of the word 'reasonable' in a law or rule is a classic example of this. It may seem frustrating, but you just have to meke the best possible case of it that you can.

I dont know where to go from here? as i work fall time and would need to get a fall time carer in while his mother is back in Thailand. I guess we need to legal advice, surely there some sorts of human rights to prevent families being split up like this? [/Quote]

I'm with 7by7. She needs to leave and apply in Thailand for a settlement visa on reaching 21. The issue is that she was on a visit visa which is, by its nature, temporary.

Get them to look at Kruaklabaan.

In my view, yes. She is a natuaral parent and therefore has parental responsibility. She has agreed sole custody - and a document to prove it - so she has 'sole responsibility'. Unless the ECO has evidence or genuine suspicion that the child has been abducted, I see no reason or justification for the ECO to probe further.

she would be able to show she has sole custody as this is a legal document. but how tgo show sole responsibility - so the ECO is happy

[/Quote]

Sole custody should be fine.

^ Is it not clear from the Notice of Appeal that you/the applicant were given? The grounds for refusal should be on there as well as your/their right of appeal and the address to send the appeal to. There is a ten-day time limit for putting in the appeal assuming they weren't asked to leave the country immediately. The appeal can be to the independent adjudicator first, a full appeal hearing can take months. Get legal advice on the appeal if possible. Good luck.

So, there is no visa for someone wanting to stay in the UK for 12 months without settling?

In short, no. There is a student visa - but your wife would need to be studying and would need to show that she had the necessary funds to do so and an offer of a place at a recognised college. So, no.

West Yorkshire, near Huddersfield.

My itinerary would be something like:

Manchester Airport, parent's house in W.Yorks, sister's house in W.Yorks, friends near Gloucester, uncle near Monmouth, friends in Swindon, perhaps a day trip to London to see the sights, and a trip to Cornwall.

You and her should be absolutely fine going where you propose!

Of course I didn't mean to malign Bermonsey or Tower Hamlets, merely to illustrate that not all of Britain is an inner-city 'problem' area where people are terrified to go outdoors.

To be honest the UK scares me, with stories of racist Chavs, lawlessness, xenophobia, petty mindedness...

I'm getting so stressed about it.

Tell me, is it as bad as I'm thinking?

Will my family be safe? [/Quote]

Blimey, it's only for a visit for her - the country's not that bad. As long as your parents don't live in Bermondsey or Tower Hamlets, she should be fine. She may even enjoy it.

^ Have to agree with richard. Can you really work legally on an Education Visa in Thailand? You can on its equivalent in the UK (up to 20 hours a week) but is the same true in TL? I'd want a written guarantee of this before I signed up. The link virtually admits that this is a grey area: "As a student you cannot earn a traditional salary." Our understanding, of course, is that you need a work permit to legally perform any form of work in Thailand, paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time, 'traditional salary' or non-traditional salary.

Caveat emptor here, I'm afraid.

Strictly speaking you need a work permit for any work, paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time.

However, it has to be said that a fair amount of teachers in Thailand do part-time work directly or through agencies without work permits amended to cover that employment - even teaching staff employed by Thai government departments

should we ask her boss to retract the lies she as told in writing and have a lawyer to witness it being signed?

Good luck with that! I fear any further application is doomed. Sorry to hear that the boss was so nasty.

Regarding salary, I do not have a specific number in mind but I have heard of numbers from 42k - 70k/month.

Personally I wouldn't give such a wide range of potential salary - it tends to invite a offer by response of 42K, being the bottom figure that you might accept. Make it say 55K - 70K and make it clear that this depends on teaching hours, outside teaching hours, programmes taught etc.

Oh, and of course sound enthusiastic about the job, of course

Covering the ECO concerns would include further evidence from her employer etc.

But why would the boss refuse to confirm that they signed the letter ?

Yes - but a 'letter' in support from the employer has already been tried by the OP - and found wanting. So a witness statement is a logical next step. There are lots of reasons why an employer might refuse to confirm they had signed a letter, more difficult to refuse to confirm that he/she signed a witness statement (the original could be in Thai and then translated) and had it sworn in front of someone else. The second reason for a witness statement is that if a second application has to go to an appeal after initial refusal the statement can easily be adduced into evidence at the appeal tribunal as if the employer had been present at the hearing.

[i'm comparing the salaries of professors and high school teachers actually. HST get about 60% of the salary they get in the US and professors get about 25% in Thailand. The point is that international schools probably pay about the same as the US adjusted by cost of living (including the ability to save the same amount of money), whereas universities pay way less.

But that's the point. Things in Thailand are different. The Thai university won't care what professors are paid in the US, or that top international schools pay their overseas-hired teachers more than Thai professors receive. It's a different market.

[Does it matter what a Uni is in Bangkok or the sticks paywise?

Yes, government universities in Thailand tend to pay less than private universities, although the 'international' programmes (those taught in English)on offer at both government and private universities pay their lecturers more than for standard programmes taught in Thai. Salaries at government universities, including Bangkok, are fixed for standard programmes - but you won't be teaching on these (I assume you're not teaching in Thai).

You can certainly ask for 70K or 80K but don't assume that they will automatically give it to you whatever you've invested in your specialty. I've already suggested that you ask the uni which programmes you will be teaching - PhD programmes are rather better paid than undergraduate ones - and what outside teaching you will be doing, you could easily get 2,000 baht per hour for this. It all goes towards the overall salary.

Unfortunately, I think it would be extremely difficult for her to successfully apply again. With all due respect to ThaiVisaExpress, apparent use of a forged letter in support - for that is effectively what it was held to be - is a very different matter from a failure to include documents in the application. You would certainly need, in my view, to include a sworn witness statement from the employer explaining the position fully and accounting for the phone transcript.

At 60K, it's already pretty low when you compare it to what high school teachers at international schools are making.[/Quote]

Don't compare yourself to what top international schools in Thailand pay their teachers. 60K baht - if you get this, or a bit more - isn't a bad salary for outside Bangkok. You won't exactly have much stress or many teaching hours at a university.

The exact salary also depends on which programmes you are teaching: undergraduate, masters' or PhD and how much 'outside' work, work outside the usual teaching load, is on offer. Ask them directly about this.

I asked again for more details on this and was told...

[*]It is a Higher Education Commission rule

[*]It was approved by the Senate 2 years ago (Thaskin era)

[*]Three years from implementation Thai universities are to be within 50% of this goal

[*]Eight years from implementation Thai universities are to be within 70% of this goal

This is highly unlikely to apply to foreign temporary teachers/lecturers teaching on language programmes at Thai universities, for the reasons already advanced. It's a long-term wish list anyway.

Your friend could take a look at King's College of English, they've had a branch in Central Bang Na for some years. I'd expect them to be rather cheaper than Wall Street and, frankly, better in terms of quality.

She's recently finished her education in the Philippines. She had to learn English first before she could take on the course; once she had, she started the diploma in approximately September/October 2009 and now she's finished she's going straight back to Iran.

One issue the ECO in Manila had was that she did not, apparently, include evidence of completing her course in the Philippines in her last visa application:

"Since entering the Philippines you have only submitted evidence of enrolment on a 1 year photography diploma from Sept 2009-2010. There is a letter from (College name edited) dated 4/11/10, however this does not confirm that you have completed the award, it only confirms that you enrolled on the short course."

Do remind her that she needs to include full details and full supporting evidence for a future visa application.