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globalThailand

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  1. I fear great number of people will be on one salary as their partner looks after kids and miss the cut. I'm somewhat surprised the 18600 didn't have any increases since it was introduced but this jump is astronomical! Sad day for the UK
  2. Applied end of May this year - Got the decision around 4 months later. Ceremony was booked I think around 3 or 4 weeks after that (we went for a group one) Passport application took a surprisingly short time - around 2 and a half weeks. Some people may be asked for an interview for first pp but didn't happen for my wife (I had heard it can be 10 weeks). One small piece of advice around the timing of your application. You can travel out the country once you make the application, but once you do the oath (ie officially a UK citizen) you will need to get the UK passport in order before any overseas travel. In our case we were ready to apply in Feb, but had plans for Thailand in the summer - I felt it was potentially cutting it fine if we got a it granted then had to arrange ceremony and passport in time for the trip so I waited until May to send in the application
  3. The current plan looks to be an increase to £1035 per year! That's an eye watering 66% increase - way over inflation and disgusting IMHO. The last 6 years my wife went though the whole process up to citizenship at a cost of nearly £10k. Looking at the latest price increases just the very first 2.5 year spouse application will be around 5k (£1846 + (£1035 x 3)). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-health-surcharge-ihs-equality-impact-assessment-2023/immigration-health-surcharge-equality-impact-assessment-2023-accessible
  4. You are not wrong! Hadn't really thought about it until we started the process. My half sister is married to a policeman which, while technically family, I figured it was distant enough from my wife to be ok - but got warned against using as referee by an immigration lawyer.
  5. Many thanks @bigyin. I was advised to check into the UKVCAS website for appointments from about 9am when they update the site - the first available free appt was a day after we fly ????‍♂️ I found an £85 express appointment though - still a bit shocked we have to spend yet more cash - pretty sure this takes us to around the 10k mark for the 5 year process ????
  6. I've hit submit, paid the £1330 and the UKVI website has now pointed me to UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services to book an appointment. This was a surprise as my wife has had her biometrics done before - the ILR was appointment free, just uploaded scans etc no problems. Going in person is not an issue but the Sorpa Speria VCAS thing is asking for £150+ for the privilege of handing in documents! Is that normal? Some afternoon appts are like £250! Also do you know if passport and BRP are returned on the day? We have flights booked in a few weeks time and I really don't want this to be a spanner in the works
  7. Thanks @rasg. I feel like we've pretty much been in lockstep since the initial spouse visa application some years back so I'm sure I'll be knocking on your door for advice again before I submit the citizenship thing ???? Good luck with everything!
  8. We are just about to go for citizenship here and one question I asked an immigration lawyer for clarity was the 3 / 5 year thing. While we are on a 5 year route ourselves (ie. need to have lived in the UK for 5 years to obtain ILR) the citizenship will dial back 3 years from the date of application to check that Mrs Global was in the UK at that time. This is because she is applying for citizenship as the spouse of a UK citizen. Personally I think that's an odd one, I can't actually think of a scenario where you can get an ILR in 3 years. As for evidence - The citizenship form asks for all travel details to the UK (like since forever) and we have immigration stamps in passports to prove that etc. I haven't quite got to the submission stage yet but I don't think you need the usual gumph (council tax bills, utilities etc)... I may be wrong / naïve but isn't the fact we have ILR and a BRP evidence itself that the applicant resides in the UK?
  9. A friend of ours did the same for their five year old! I didn't even know it was a thing and was very surprised myself when they told me but apparently the flight chaperone thing is not uncommon. (This was some time back - their kid is a young adult now) As a parent myself I can appreciate it would be pretty nerve wracking - and personally would only consider it on a direct flight - but 12 year olds are pretty savvy these days and I'm sure the airline would take a lot of care to see he gets there safe. Also good to check in with the kid too and see how he feels about it (which I'm sure you already have)
  10. Hoping this is posted in the right thread. I'm travelling back to Thailand this summer with wife and son. My son (dual nationality) Thai passport expires in '24 but we're not sure if we'll all be back next year to renew. Is it possible to apply for a new one when you still have a year to go on the existing PP?
  11. Can confirm that guide was a great starting point for me and gives pointers to where to go for more info - the folks here are very helpful here too. Started this process 5 years back and gone through the initial spouse visa, FLR and ILR successfully.
  12. While it doesn't follow the guidance to the letter you can of course infer from the information you will provide (bank statements / payslips etc) that you are earning the required amount in the required time frame. That said I wouldn't want to give any definitive answer here - there may be others on the forum in a better position to answer or, perhaps you could contact an immigration lawyer for proper legal advice? One thing I can say from experience - I had previously (for the FLR) asked my employer to write this confirmation of employment letter and a separate letter verifying the payslips as this was what I had gathered from the guidance notes was the requirement. BUT I have been told by an immigration lawyer for our ILR that a single letter for both things, as you have, is sufficient.
  13. I think that may well be true. My lawyer made an offhand comment about our application saying any day after the 19th means I'd need another payslip. I didn't pick him up on why at the time but it makes sense as I too had the early Xmas payslip As for marking the statements - would suggest not trying to direct the ECO attention anywhere and leave things unmarked - it's what they are paid to look at after all (and the amount these visa's cost let them earn their crust ???? )
  14. Word of advice for anyone filling in that online form.... there's a 25 minute timeout if you are inactive - and apparently it doesn't register keystrokes as being active. So the epic treatise I was writing in response to 'other considerations on why you want to stay in the UK', (It was Shakespearean I tell you! An essay on how we'd all be affected and what impact a refusal would be) has now been lost! ????‍♂️ Tl;dr = Long format questions you want to ponder an answer to please use notepad / word etc first and copy it into the application ????
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