Regent House

[silverdales]

Soon we will attend with my wife to Regent House but to make an appoitment online is hard, there is none available for August at all..... They can say you can just turn up and wait if we do that will we definitley be seen? and any idea are there big queues?

thanks in advance!

Steve

[theoldgit]

It's the luck of the draw on the day, but if you go early and pick up a queue number you will probably be seen before lunch.

Edited for typo

Edited July 12, 2010 by theoldgit

[silverdales]

Thanks but will we be def seen, I remember in Spain getting my NIE number (ID number) I queued for 3 days every morning only to be told every day at 12pm thats it for today - come back tomorrow! -- obviously time is precious in BKK - I suppose once you are in and they look through the docs it doesnt take too long?

Thanks in advance

[theoldgit]

Obviously I cannot give a guarantee, but they are pretty efficient and I have never heard of anybody every being turned away, unless maybe if you get there just before they shut.

I have never waited more than an hour.

[silverdales]

Thanks very much, strange how the online booking system has no vacancies for August!!

[bobrussell]

If you are happy to wait a few hours it is better to just turn up. I do not know of anyone who has gone quite early in the day and not been seen within a few hours. Presumably they do not pre-book that many appointments as they know most people will just turn up.

They have always been quite efficient with us at Regency House. Do not get taken in by the 'agents' nearby. If your paperwork is correct they will be a waste of money.

[7by7]

Even if the paperwork is not correct those agents will still be a waste of money, IMHO!

From what I've read here and elsewhere, if one does fall into the clutches of these 'agents' they will do their utmost to convince you that the application stands no chance without their assistance; for which they will charge you an arm and a leg.

They may also try and convince you that they are VAC staff; they're not. Remember that if you are in the VAC office there will be signs telling you that you are and the staff will be in uniform. No signs, no uniform and you are not in the VAC office and there is a good chance that the person talking to you is a scammer.

[silverdales]

Yes one of my friends got duped - the agent told them to lie!!! - they quickly said no and their visa was granted!

[Thongkorn]

The question begs Why are they aloud to be so close to the visa application centre, Maybe tea money crosses hands.?

[theoldgit]

The question begs Why are they aloud to be so close to the visa application centre, Maybe tea money crosses hands.?

The trouble is Regent House is a public building and anybody can rent space or lurk about there, membership of Thai Visa ought to be a prerequisite of applying for a visa there.

[chiang mai]

Thanks very much, strange how the online booking system has no vacancies for August!!

We had the same problem in June, no bookings available for the entire month. We showed up for 7:45am, had to wait before they opened their doors but we were all done by 9.45.

[silverdales]

To Chiang Mai

Do they go through the application to make sure you have filled it out correctly and all the necessary documents are there? - I would hate to submit then wait for ages only to get refused because "x" was missing!

Any pointers greatly appreciated!

[chiang mai]

To Chiang Mai

Do they go through the application to make sure you have filled it out correctly and all the necessary documents are there? - I would hate to submit then wait for ages only to get refused because "x" was missing!

Any pointers greatly appreciated!

They check to ensure that all the relevant documents have been supplied and copies made, takes about fifteen minutes and is all very straight forward. There's really nothing further to add, show up for 7:45 and wait forty five minutes, Mrs CM was number 11 in the queue at that stage and was all done before 10:0am - partners etc are not generally allowed to accompany applicants into the room so take a book and go get a coffee downstairs and relax.

[sumrit]

The question begs Why are they aloud to be so close to the visa application centre, Maybe tea money crosses hands.?

Maybe the question should be 'why isn't the VFS Centre better signposted once you get inside Regent House?'

Do they go through the application to make sure you have filled it out correctly and all the necessary documents are there? - I would hate to submit then wait for ages only to get refused because "x" was missing!

The VFS staff will check what has been supplied against a checklist similar to this one

Spouse check list.pdf

but they won't check that the content of what's supplied is adequate. eg; they'll confirm you've included finance details but not that there's sufficient finance available, and they'll confirm you've included housing details but not that the the housing is adequate.

And as Chiang Mai says turn up before they're open and you should be near the beginning of the queue and seen quite quickly..........and don't speak to any of those touts

[chiang mai]

The question begs Why are they aloud to be so close to the visa application centre, Maybe tea money crosses hands.?

Maybe the question should be 'why isn't the VFS Centre better signposted once you get inside Regent House?'

Do they go through the application to make sure you have filled it out correctly and all the necessary documents are there? - I would hate to submit then wait for ages only to get refused because "x" was missing!

The VFS staff will check what has been supplied against a checklist similar to this one

Spouse check list.pdf

but they won't check that the content of what's supplied is adequate. eg; they'll confirm you've included finance details but not that there's sufficient finance available, and they'll confirm you've included housing details but not that the the housing is adequate.

And as Chiang Mai says turn up before they're open and you should be near the beginning of the queue and seen quite quickly..........and don't speak to any of those touts

The VFS girls that Mrs CM spoke to were all bored out of their skulls and this was at 9:0am, goodness only knows how they are by 2:0pm. But one of the side effects of this is that they like to amuse themselves, in Mrs CM case it involved the VFS checker pulling out the copy of my Decree Absolute and quizzing Mrs CM about my previous marriage, was he married previously, when, to whom, all needless questions since the information is on the form and anyway, it's not her job to query and check such things. I surmise that the reason they do this is to see if the applicant actually knows about the previous marriage since most partners will prepare the visa application/pack and not the applicant, if they do not then the checker has the element of surprise and is able to shock the applicant with this surprising news - the equivalent of typical Thai female gossiping or ninta. I complained afterwards to the head of VFS Aisa via email about the checker's actions and the reply I received tried to suggest that it is her job to do such things. I didn't buy that at all and we got into an email exchange which I duly copied to the UK Embassy in BKK - magically, after the third or fourth email I received a grovelling apology from VFS and later an email from the UK Borders Agency in BKK thanking me for the information.