No cash, nor personal or business cheques.

John Botting wrote:

No cash, nor personal or business cheques.

Curious. At the British Embassy in Budapest, the visa fees are only accepted in cash!

Ah but, it's not the Embassy. British Visas are handled by a private agency here in Bangkok (contractor).

John you should have been able to buy bankers draft at the VFS office albeit for twice the price that a local bank charges.
You should also have been given an application reference number which you can use to track the visas progress on line, it wont tell you if you were granted the visa but will tell you that the passport is ready for you to pick-up, otherwise you can phone them and good luck to you getting through, or you can also drop by to see if its finished, not an option from Pattaya. It will be a nerve racking time for you over the weekend, we can only wait and see how it all works for you both good luck.

JJDeed wrote:

John you should have been able to buy bankers draft at the VFS office albeit for twice the price that a local bank charges.
You should also have been given an application reference number which you can use to track the visas progress on line, it wont tell you if you were granted the visa but will tell you that the passport is ready for you to pick-up, otherwise you can phone them and good luck to you getting through, or you can also drop by to see if its finished, not an option from Pattaya. It will be a nerve racking time for you over the weekend, we can only wait and see how it all works for you both good luck.

VFS have now stopped this service as of this month (I believe).

We are off tomorrow (Tuesday) to collect his passport. No interview! Lets see if he's got the visa.

Well it looks like my luck has changed at last. Sold the business, and now Thip gets his marriage/CP visa, no problem in just 2 days, no interview!!!

Very surprised at how quick it was granted and how easy it all went.

If anyone is interested I used Lloyd Associates 087 804 3943.

Congratulations guys, and good luck in a chilly Blighty...

Congratulations John...
and Thip too :-)

That is absolutely wonderful news to hear...

Good Luck & Much happiness to you both ...

Please take good care...and,

Stop by this forum...from time to time...
and let us know how both are doing in the UK.

TJ

My best wishes to you and your partner, John.

I hope the move back to the UK goes well.

Cheers!

Thanks guys. I must admit I still can't believe how easy it was to get this visa. Without giving too much info here about Thip, he has no property in his name and no job in Thailand. The very least I was expecting was for him to be interviewed. I know many people who have had problems, and these are straights! What with us requesting a marriage visa and being a same sex couple I thought possibly we'd be picked out for interrogation. But nothing. Just 2 days and the visa.


TJ, don't worry I'll still be posting here (much to same peoples horror I am sure). As someone who has lived and worked in Thailand for over 5 years I have something to say.

In regard to the visa, I get the distinct impression from my own recent experiences that the Brits are trying very hard to be politically correct, and the authorities appear to be very supportive (within bounds) to same sex couples who want a civil partnership.

Hi John
Congrats to yourself and Thip on the Visa...

As soon as you get settled I'll be over to meet you both for a night on the town in London!

Maybe i should get you to apply for my BFs next visa... You obviously have a better knack than i do!

Thanks Mr G and London is a date! Thip has already been asking about London and when will we go.

As for Khun T's visa, unfortunately for you I am not Irish, therefore can't assist. Anyhow you have it off pat now with success several times in getting him a visa.

Personally JB represents the kind of expatriate view of Thailand that I find most unappealing. The moving to Thailand in the belief that operating a business/life there would be just like doing business in the UK, with the bonus of all those beautiful boys! As if business in any country, even within the EU, is just like doing business in the UK.

The mixing in almost exclusively expat social groups, boyfriend excepted. The unwillingness to learn the language, or approach understanding the culture, the characterisation of the locals as dishonest crooks, while wading through the sewers of Pattaya. The kind of blinkered middle England mind that moves to a foreign country, then complains that it is not more like home.

It is hardly a suprise that this transplanted English rose, has withered and will now return home to where he belongs. Good Luck in Blighty.

Brad the Impala wrote:

Personally JB represents the kind of expatriate view of Thailand that I find most unappealing. ...
It is hardly a suprise that this transplanted English rose, has withered and will now return home to where he belongs. Good Luck in Blighty.

Brad...
Gone Fishing...
and fellow Sawatdee Members

Regardless what you may or may not think of the man JB...
I truly believe that each of us ...JB included...deserves the respect and support of us all..
in our time of crisis and hours of need.

Those hours of need are of JB's now!

This is no time to be chastizing JB for this or that!

Please recognize that JB is fighting for his life...
having discovered last year JB has Colon Cancer..

JB is completing his 3rd stage of chemotherapy at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital...
and it is costly cancer medical care!

And now ...with the funds for such costly medical care now coming out of his own pocket...
for JB ...has and had ....his so-called wonderful multi-million baht "BUPA Medical Insurance" policy...

BUPA stopped paying after JB's medical bills hit 600,000 baht (that is another tragedy...one must always read the fine print in an insurance policy - especially the BUPA policy!)...

It is for JB's personal health care that he needs to return to the UK...
and it is wonderful that his longtime bf ..and soon Partner...Thip,
has been approved for a UK partner visa to be with JB.

JB will need all the proper medical care and loving attention he can get from Thip..
his Mother & Father and Family members back home in the UK.

Friends, when a man is battling for his life...I do not understand...

Why are some seeking to nail him to the cross on trivial issues of past?

It is time...a long time passed the time ..
that we rally around JB ..wish him well..
and keep JB and Thip in our thoughts and prayers.

Life in the UK will not be easy for JB..or Thip...
JB has yet to win his fight over Cancer.

I wish them all well ...and God speed!

Enough said!

TJ