Lodging UK visa application at Trendy Building

[bigyin]

There is always a lot of discussion about the UK visa process and I fully endorse all the comments about the hoops we have to jump through and how expensive and intrinsically unfair the process is but I felt I should just comment about the actual process at the Trendy Building as there has been some adverse comment about that. I went with my wife and stepdaughter last Friday. We got there about 15 minutes early, went to the desk in the foyer and were swiftly processed and sent upstairs. On the 28th floor there was someone to show everyone where to go and my wife was ushered through with no delay. I hung around outside the lift for 10 minutes but one of the staff took pity on me and invited me inside where I sat in a very comfortable armchair and waited for my ladies. There were staff everywhere and my wife confirmed that it was the same inside. No delays and she was helped at every stage. At the counter they went through all her documents quite thoroughly. She needed new pictures and a little bit of copying..all available at a price.

The whole process took about 1 hour including the biometrics which I thought was acceptable and really I don't think the actual process can be faulted. Now we just have to sit back and wait. Any problems I saw were basically caused by people not having done their homework in advance to provide the required basic documents.

As an aside I was sitting outside the door for new UK passport collection and that also was running like clockwork with no queue and people being processed within 2 or 3 minutes.

[CharlieH]

Good to read as I have to go through the same thing in a few weeks.

Thanks for taking time to report on your experience and updating the information.

[Upnotover]

Same for my wife last week, she went on Tuesday, about an hour in Trendy, no problems at all. Got the "decision" email today so expect the passport back by mail in a few days.

[SantiSuk]

Applied for passport renewal for myself and daughter last week. Agree it's a well-oiled machine in there now. Shame about the passport processing time (yeah shame on you Great Britain).

The only minor procedural frustration was the considerable queue time for a one page photocopy as many Thai ladies from the visa side queued up to have their 50 page passports hand copied one page at a time (well 10 minutes sometimes seems considerable when you are annoyed that (1) you forgot to copy something simple and (2) there's a big waste of trees goin' on - can do 4 facing pages onto one sheet if you do it yourself). These lovely ladies - presumably your lovely ladies mostly - must have money to burn at 3 baht a sheet; more if colour is specified.

[Trevstar]

Last we were there had an appointment booked for 2 after arriving in bangkok very early decided to try our lick and they saw the missus at 9am!

[mikebell]

So all my complaints to Foreign Secretary down did not go unheeded. The bugger is I got a 5 year visa last year to avoid all l the delays and now there aren't any!

[steveweaver99]

_{Hi guys}

_{Same for my partner a good experience. Her appointment was last Wednesday am. Got the decision email on the 3rd March from the UK Visas and Immigration SE Asia and then another one t.oday from VFS Global. However it has not normally been processed this quickly in the past, so I am wondering if the application has been rejected.}

_{Will have to wait and see, it should arrive any time soon.}

[theoldgit]

_{Hi guys}

_{Same for my partner a good experience. Her appointment was last Wednesday am. Got the decision email on the 3rd March from the UK Visas and Immigration SE Asia and then another one t.oday from VFS Global. However it has not normally been processed this quickly in the past, so I am wondering if the application has been rejected.}

_{Will have to wait and see, it should arrive any time soon.}

I wouldn't worry about the speed, they seem to be turning round pretty quickly at the moment.

There certainly isn't a "triage" system where they are given a once over and automatically rejected whilst the others are forwarded for consideration by the ECO.

[NanLaew]

Applied for passport renewal for myself and daughter last week. Agree it's a well-oiled machine in there now. Shame about the passport processing time (yeah shame on you Great Britain).

...

If you are making that comment based on what the Trendy passport agent said, you are in for a pleasant surprise. My friends UK passport renewal came through in 11 days. Both my passports were done and one took 25 days (over the Christmas holidays) and the other 17 days. My son's passport took 19 days.

Word of advice if you are out of Bangkok; don't rush to collect the passport as soon as notified as they send any supporting documents back under separate cover. Wait 2 or 3 days and you will get the passport and the documents at the same time.

[Upnotover]

_{Hi guys}

_{Same for my partner a good experience. Her appointment was last Wednesday am. Got the decision email on the 3rd March from the UK Visas and Immigration SE Asia and then another one t.oday from VFS Global. However it has not normally been processed this quickly in the past, so I am wondering if the application has been rejected.}

_{Will have to wait and see, it should arrive any time soon.}

Mt wife's just came back approved, she was 1 day ahead of yours so wouldn't worry.

[steveweaver99]

@theoldgit, Upnotover - Yes you were right not to worry, spot on. Visa approved.

Thanks guys

:-)

[steveweaver99]

Hi guys

Something just suddenly occurred to me.

In the covering letter I stated:

*****Would also like the Visa to start/valid from the 20^th MARCH 2015.*****

However after speaking to my partner the visa started from 02/03/2015 and expires 02/09/2015. Is there anyway of revising the dates as the return flight date is 13/09/2015 and this would amount to an overstay?

The ECO who processed the application obviously did not read the covering letter.

Is it true that some ECOs ignore effective date requests?

I guess other option failing above is to change the return ticket date which may or may not be amendable without a penalty.

Edited March 11, 2015 by steveweaver99

[steveweaver99]

I changed the flight as I figured it would be too much hassle.

Thanks

[bigyin]

This is a very valid question however and one I am a bit worried about as well. If the ECO grants the visa starting not on the date requested can the visa be changed and if so what is the procedure?

[theoldgit]

This is a very valid question however and one I am a bit worried about as well. If the ECO grants the visa starting not on the date requested can the visa be changed and if so what is the procedure?

If the request for a delayed start date has been missed you can request that a new visa vignette be issued. Contacting the UKVI used to be fairly straightforward, but I suspect now you would need to go back to VFS.

I don't think they ignore these requests as a matter of policy, they just miss the requests, even if you highlight the request or add a bright post it note.

They have been known to change them, but don't expect an apology or anything.

[7by7]

We had the same in my sister in law's application.

We requested both in the online form and the covering letter that the visa start on 21st March; but it starts on the date it was issued, 27th February!

As we had no specific return date in mind, we decided to leave it rather than go through the hassle of changing it; especially as we said in the application that she would be in the UK for a maximum of 4 months.

On another point; despite living in Bangkok my sister in law opted for her passport to be returned by courier.

She received an email on Tuesday last week to say her passport was back at VFS and could be collected that day, unless she had opted for the courier service in which case it would be sent to her.

It arrived Saturday!

[steveweaver99]

Thanks theoldgit

I decided to leave it as to change the flight online there was no charge, although she will be retuning 2 weeks earlier. It is very annoying that they do not read the supporting documentation.

For anyone wanting to defer the date make sure you get your partner to confirm with VFS and they see the request. Having said that they will probably still ignore in some circumstances.

Thanks