Hi Andy,

Thanks for leaving your comment – nice to hear from you and thank you for your comments of appreciation about the website. I do put a lot of time and effort into making the site as honest and as informative as possible plus adding humour and insights into the Thai ways where I can.

About a settlement visa for Nud. You are right to forget it – at least for the time being. The British Authorities are very strict when it comes to issuing visas to Thai women wanting to stay in UK. Let me tell you our story – briefly.

We (Kanyah and I) had been married over 25 years and she had stayed in UK for about 20 years and had an “Indefinite Leave of Stay” visa. With those credentials she was eligble for a British Passport.

Then she went to Thailand for a few years and her Thai passport with the visa in it was stolen.

After a lot of hassle and letters of support she was eventually granted a visit visa in Bangkok and returned to UK. We thought it would be a formality for her to get an “Indefinite Leave of Stay” visa and a British passport but not so.

In the meantime the UK had tightenend up on people wishing to legally remain in the UK (Whilst at the same time allowing millions of Eastern Europeans and illegal immigrants in) introduced new legislation to make it harder for foreigners to take British Nationality.

In short Kanyah was treated as though we had just been married and she had never lived in the UK. The laws had changed and she had to take the “Life In The UK” test and stay here for 3 years.

The “Life In The UK” test is a test about knowledge of the UK, it’s history, it’s laws and even about europe and Europena Law. it is an equivalent of at least a GCSE O level and probably an A level. I have shown the test questions to several UK born brits and they could only answer about 10% of them! I couldn’t pass the test unless I took lessons.

What’s more it isn’t written in plain and simple English. Just to undertand the language you need to be at GCSE O level and probably an A level in the English Language.

And as if that wasn’t enough many of the questions are trick questions – use of the double-negative being a common trick.vJust look at these sample questions I picked out at random:-

Why were specialist immigration centres set up in the West Indies in the 1950?s?
To recruit Train Crews
To recruit Shop Workers
To recruit Bus Crews
To make bridges

Civil servants can on occasion be pushed into open support for party policies they think to be either impractical or incompatible with other policies
True
False

In the Old times The House of Lords was more powerful than The House of Commons
True
False

I discussed the test questions with several people high up in the UK education system and they admitted it was deliberately written to make people fail!

So the average Thai girl from up country has no chance to pass the test.

Kanyah did and now she has a British Passport but to do so she studied 8 hours a day for about 6 months and took thousands of test questions. She also started out with a good knowledge of English and could read and write. Her English is much improved now of course.

There were plenty of times when she gave up and in a fit of rage threw the book and test papaers across the room! I had to back away and let her temper simmer down on many occasions.

Enough of that, Andy.

Not quite. I wish you well with your retiring in Thailand plans but have you looked at the Thai retirment visa requirements? No, you don’t have to pass a test in the Thai language but the requirements are quite strict and you need a lot of money to qualify.

The requirements are set out as clearly as I have ver seeen at:-
http://retiringinthailand.net/thai-visas/thai-retirement-visa-requirements
And while I’m in a mood for warning people about retiring to Thailand please make sure you check out this web page before you jump in with both feet:-

http://retiringinthailand.net/about/dont-retire-to-thailand
Sorry about all that, Andy, but the truth is the truth. Retiring in Thailand isn’t easy – unless you are very wealthy – and bringing a Thai wife to live in the UK is also extremely difficult. And that’s just the start – Thai wives don’t assimilate very well to a life in a country far away from Thailand – Oh! Sorry don’t start me off on that one!

Andy, just one more thing. Can I post this on the website on the Visa page? People really need this kind of honest information. Of course I won’t display any of your personal data – I’ll just refer to you as Andy and your wife as Nud.

That’s all for now and good luck

Alan

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