Phuket Thailand

dizbuster · #1 21-03-2006, 20:04

I have noticed that there is a lot of good information and advice posted by BM's who have already been through the Visa process for their TG, but it doesn't appear to be all in one place and I find that I get a bit of info here, another bit there, which makes it difficult when trying to bring all the information together.

I think it would be a good idea to start a thread for visa application information and advice for UK guys hoping to get their TG across the UK. Maybe guys from other countries can do the same, as the visa requirements can differ from place to place.

I would like to start this thread off with some changes that are being brought into effect soon by the UK Embassy in Bangkok, with regards to Thais being granted visas for vitising the UK. The link to the source site is... http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/ser...=1123953328230

and the information is as follows...

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Important Visa Notice

All correspondence to the Visa Section should now be directed to our new email address: Visaenquiries.Bangkok@fco.gov.uk

Change to visa service from 21 April
On 21 April 2006 there will be a change to the procedure for accessing UK visa services in Thailand. Since 2000 we have seen a significant growth in the demand for UK visas. This increased demand has placed pressures both on office space and supporting resources. We are keen to provide our customers with the best visa service possible and to achieve this we have engaged a visa-outsourcing partner. On 21 April 2006 a visa-outsourcing centre opens in the Rajadamri area (close to BTS Rajadamri). Further details will be provided shortly

Notice of Change to Immigration Rules for Child Visitors
With effect from 12 February ALL children applying to visit the United Kingdom will need to declare whether they are travelling alone or with an accompanying adult. They will need to demonstrate that suitable arrangements have been made for their travel to, and reception and care in the United Kingdom. If the child is to be accompanied by an adult, their visa will be endorsed to that effect and will only be valid if the child travels with that adult. If the child intends to travel again to the UK with a different adult a new application will need to be made.

This change has been made for child protection purposes.

The visa application form (VAF 1) and document checklists have been amended accordingly.

Existing visas, issued before 12th February 2006 will remain valid.

All Visa Applications may now be considered on paper alone must be fully documented at the time of submission.

Non-settlement - We now aim to decide the majority of applications on the day they apply. It is therefore important that applicants make sure that the applications are fully documented at the time they submit as they will not normally be called back for interview at a later date.

Settlement – Your application may still be considered on paper alone. There is no mandatory requirement for any applicant to be interviewed by an Entry Clearance Officer. Therefore, please ensure all documents are submitted together and on time with your visa application form in order that your application can be assessed fully on all the documentary evidence available. Be aware that current interview waiting times are approximately two months.

Tuberculosis testing requirement

Tuberculosis testing requirement for anyone going to the United Kingdom for more than six months.

Access to Visa Section
In order to control the current overcrowding of the visa section from 1 August 2005 access to the visa section is restricted to applicants only. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause but are sure you will appreciate that by controlling the numbers in the section we will be better placed to offer an improved service to applicants. To resolve the problem of overcrowding we are now looking at outsourcing options and hope to appoint an outsource partner by the end of 2005.

Last updated: 14 March 2006

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Feel free to add any information or advice that you think might be useful

Crunch · #2 21-03-2006, 22:21

These new UK changes will obviously affect me:

"Non-settlement - We now aim to decide the majority of applications on the day they apply. It is therefore important that applicants make sure that the applications are fully documented at the time they submit as they will not normally be called back for interview at a later date."

Not sure if thats a good or bad thing for successful processing, at least you'll know the answer that day I guess.

"Access to Visa Section
In order to control the current overcrowding of the visa section from 1 August 2005 access to the visa section is restricted to applicants only."

I assume that means me (as the potential sponsor) wont be able to, or even needed to attend the interview.

steve@thaib · #3 21-03-2006, 22:25

Some serious changes there. It looks like the interview process will be skipped by some, and it also looks like they are trying to sub out the process, which may open the door to, ahem, under the table visas?

dawsey · #4 22-03-2006, 02:13

Good thread Diz

I'm sure it will prove useful for BMs, their G/Fs and their visa applications.

Talbotman · #5 23-03-2006, 02:07

I STILL recomend that anyone who is planning to apply for a uk visa does it with the help of a thai lawyer (personal experience) it does not cost much and they will correctly translate all your docs and deliver them to the embassy for you and also have someone go to the interview with you if you require i recomend the bangkok law centre at the bottom of soi 1 sukhumvit road where it joins sukhumvit .

S1MON · #6 23-03-2006, 02:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talbotman

I STILL recomend that anyone who is planning to apply for a uk visa does it with the help of a thai lawyer (personal experience) it does not cost much and they will correctly translate all your docs and deliver them to the embassy for you and also have someone go to the interview with you if you require i recomend the bangkok law centre at the bottom of soi 1 sukhumvit road where it joins sukhumvit .

But if you read the above from Diz, only the applicant can enter the interview, so the last part you say can not happen.

Crunch · #7 23-03-2006, 03:09

That occured to me as well.
Also, is it actually necessary to have the docs translated into thai for the embassy to deal with?
for me, i'm talking about a tourist visa, for marriage/fiance etc i think a lawyer would be the best route regardless.

r3aps · #8 23-03-2006, 03:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talbotman

I STILL recomend that anyone who is planning to apply for a uk visa does it with the help of a thai lawyer (personal experience) it does not cost much and they will correctly translate all your docs and deliver them to the embassy for you and also have someone go to the interview with you if you require i recomend the bangkok law centre at the bottom of soi 1 sukhumvit road where it joins sukhumvit .

no1 can go into the interview with the girl anyway,and it is easy enough to do it all yourself if you follow the website guide lines.
have all the correct paperwork and it shouldnt be a problem.
steve
ps.regards translation of the thai documents,it isnt necessarty for the visitors visa at least,all my gf documents where in thai,there is a thai national embassy worker present with every application.

Talbotman · #9 23-03-2006, 04:30

I CAN ONLY TELL YOU what happened in my case which was in 1997 i was not allowed into the interview apart from to be asked 2 pointless questions but i can assure you that the lady who went with us from the law office was in the interview with my wife, perhaps things have changed now! and yes all your thai papers have to be translated into english!for sttlement visa anyway dont know about visitors visa

steve@thaib · #10 23-03-2006, 06:24

I think things have changed TM, I did it in 2002 (I think) and it was about the same as you I think, but it seems a bit easier now.

We used an agent \ lawyer and I don't think my wife would have got through the interview process without them preparing her for it. She breezed through and I've always believed it was because she knew pretty much what was coming.

eric-the-viking · #11 23-03-2006, 06:54

guys no point in arguing amongest ourselfs.
anyway i was there two weeks ago,the Embassy have a sign outside now clearly stating that only the APPLICANTmay go into the Embassy,everyone else,i.e sponsor or one of the many agents now have to remain outside.
I also have to say that I agree with r3aps that you do some home work follow al the guide lines then you should be ok.
Having a solicitor is not a bad thing and could be very usefull for an appeal ,but i would suggest you apply yourselves first.
be warned though outside the Embassy the are so many translation /visa touts now that they become a pain in the rear end.the one even tried to follow us back to the hotel,even though we had already submitted the succesfull application .

steve@thaib · #12 23-03-2006, 07:00

I think that's what TM and I are saying Eric. Things have changed, so up to date info is very useful. What worked for me would probably be the wrong thing to do now.

Frode10 · #13 23-03-2006, 08:39

Is it not weird that one of the countries that let most people from the third world pass the immigration control, is the contry that makes most problems for their own citizents when they want to invite their tee-rak to visit them?

Of course I am talking about England.

F

Talbotman · #14 23-03-2006, 15:53

FRODE 10 you have just made my day by stating something obvious we are not allowed to make remarks like that in the uk or we are branded racist but really its just stating the obvious wrongs in the uk system. When i think of all the sh-t and hassle i had to go through with the uk embassy in bangkok and meantime any ethnic minority person living in the uk could have an arranged marriage and have their spouse in the uk within 3 weeks ,it just make s my blood boil, i always used to say when i lived in London i dont want any more benefits or rights than them i just want the same. anyway hopefully the uk embassy has changed for the better now and things might be easier.

dizbuster · #15 23-03-2006, 16:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frode10

Is it not weird that one of the countries that let most people from the third world pass the immigration control, is the contry that makes most problems for their own citizents when they want to invite their tee-rak to visit them?

Of course I am talking about England.

F

Basically it's because Thailand is not a Commonwealth country, whereas all the others that appear to "freely come and go" are from countries that are in the Commonwealth

CeeGee · #16 24-03-2006, 02:23

For anyone who has had a GF refused a visitor visa.(UK guys only)

It clearly states on all the paperwork and on the British Embassy website that there is no right of appeal if a visitor visa is refused.If you contact the Embassy itself they will tell you the same.They are wrong.
If you feel that a visitor visa has been refused unfairly,as a British Citizen you are entitled to ask your MP to write the the FCO in London to review the decision. They even have a special section to deal with this type of appeal.
You will have to supply your GFs written permission and additional evidence( the refusal doc will tell you want they think is missing).Then write to your MP asking him to request the FCO review the case.The evidence presented is then reviewed again and you have a second chance to supply things that were missing from the original application.
There is no certainty this will work but you do get a second bite of the cherry without having to submit another application.

ps dont tell the British Embassy in Bangkok I told you.Its supposed to be a secret nudge, nudge wink wink

dizbuster · #17 29-06-2006, 21:47

A company called VFS now handles all UK Visa applications and there website is at http://www.ukvac-th.com/

There even the possibility to "track" an application online !! Shame my GF sent me the wrong numbers but insisted they were correct, I was quite looking forward to seeing how that part worked.

I have recently heard of 2 people getting their GF's visa by using the Chiang Mai branch of the UK Embassy. One of them was a mate of mine who said that compared to Bangkok, where the application was refused, CM was a doddle. Perhaps this is a better way to apply, especially if your GF lives in the north.

sishow · #18 29-06-2006, 23:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by dizbuster

A company called VFS now handles all UK Visa applications and there website is at http://www.ukvac-th.com/

There even the possibility to "track" an application online !! Shame my GF sent me the wrong numbers but insisted they were correct, I was quite looking forward to seeing how that part worked.

I have recently heard of 2 people getting their GF's visa by using the Chiang Mai branch of the UK Embassy. One of them was a mate of mine who said that compared to Bangkok, where the application was refused, CM was a doddle. Perhaps this is a better way to apply, especially if your GF lives in the north.

Good luck on the visa application. Hope that it all goes through!

dizbuster · #19 30-06-2006, 02:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by sishow

Good luck on the visa application. Hope that it all goes through!

We've been told that the passport is ready to be picked up, but they didn't say whether she got the visa or not !!

We find out tomorrow when the GF goes down to the offices. Hopefully it's good news which means I'll be over in 2 weeks for a couple of days to collect her

jimholio · #20 30-06-2006, 15:56

I dont get it, is the UK visa hard to get compared to schengen? Schengen was realy easy, took 5 days to get it for 3 months. extendable another 3 months here.

Mav · #21 30-06-2006, 16:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimholio

I dont get it, is the UK visa hard to get compared to schengen? Schengen was realy easy, took 5 days to get it for 3 months. extendable another 3 months here.

A lot harder......Schengen is well known to be a the easiest of all Western Nations

LivinLOS · #22 30-06-2006, 16:45

Yeah and your schengen seems better than NL or belgium where you get 3 months then they have to leave the country no extensions.. Then after being back in Thailand for 3 months before they can try to come back again..

Schengen is easiest..
Then possibly Oz and NZ
Then UK (might be a tie here)
Then Fortress USA.

jimholio · #23 30-06-2006, 17:01

So going to Sweden on Sunday again, and this time ill