Legal firms & their services

[Guest]

A friend of mine in U.K is using a legal firm based in pattaya, who say that for 40,000bht they will arrange his marriage and also carry out all paperwork and services to provide his to be Thai wife with a visa. I know that this process of obtaining a U.K entry visa is very complicated and even then a visa is not guaranteed but this firm give a 95% chance of the girl obtaining visa. The girl is also a BG and he's only known her 1 month. I know, Ive warned him already but hes going ahead. Is he gonna get screwed by the legal firm as well as his girl? cheers

[Guest]

This is a Visa to the UK, right? And I assume this is a Thai law firm with Thai qualified lawyers but no UK qualified immigration lawyers.

Assuming I am right, how can they guarantee getting a visa to the UK? Eligibility for that Visa will be determined under UK law by UK officials. I suggest your friend ask for a recommendation for qualified counsel from his Embassy or seek assistance from a UK qualified lawyer who knows something about immigration law. Good luck finding someone like that in LOS.

[OldAsiaHand]

The quick answer to your question, and almost cetainly the right one is, yes, it's a complete scam. Lawyers are worse than useless in dealing with foreign embassies in Thailand. If your friend has deep pockets, he ought to go the route of initiating the visa application through a qualified solicitor in the UK. Otherwise, he should save his money and take his chances locally himself, but from your summary of the facts, I sure as hell wouldn't put down any side bets on him.

[Guest]

I agree with OldAsiaHand, but there is one area where your friend might benefit from local assistance: getting the marriage properly registered in Thailand. You should not need a lawyer for this, and it certainly should not cost 40,000 baht.

I don't know much about getting girlfriends Visas to the UK except what I hear from UK ex-pat friends, and what I hear is that it is actually harder than the US.

[Sukhumvit]

quote:

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Originally posted by OldAsiaHand:

If your friend has deep pockets, he ought to go the route of initiating the visa application through a qualified solicitor in the UK.

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None of the solicitors I know in the UK would have a clue about getting a Thai bg a visa for the UK. I know a couple of immigration solicitors and they are few and far between. They tend to deal with the likes of asylum seekers and refugees.

Before spending any money, if your pal is reasonably clued up then he should do some internet surfing/research on boards like this as there is often quite a lot of practical info eg about establishing a proper relationship before approaching the embassy in LOS. If he's still in the UK then he could try the home office web site. The Thai embassy in London may have some info. In the north of England there is a Royal Thai Consulate in North John Street Liverpool, (above Boodle and Dunthorne's jewellers, useful for expensive engagement rings), who may be useful.

Agree that 40000 baht sounds like an awful lot of money. I doubt that you'd pay that in rip-off Britain even.

[Guest]

Tell your friend to go to an Asian lawyer in the UK. They have a lot of experience in this area, and quite probably won't charge him anything.

[Sukhumvit]

Snakehead

55555.

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Sukhumvit:

Snakehead

55555.

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I'm being serious. I went to an Asian lawyer in London who had a lot of experience helping Bangladeshis, Pakistanis etc coming to England. He gave me excellent advice and refused to accept any money even though I offered to pay him.

[spirit_of_town_hall]

There are specialist immigration solicitors in most large UK towns.

A solicitor myself I am pretty certain a UK solicitor would be next to useless ;

They in the main deal with asylum seakers in the UK ie people who turn up in places such as Dover and plead asylum.

A good BKK firm would probably be far better, but all said and done the best advice is to ask people who have gone through the process.

If the Pattaya firm could obtain it by paying a bribe as the visa companies do then that would be worth it.

However with the British embassy that I am pretty certain would be impossible unless the decision maker is Thai ( no disrespect to Thais intended)

[Sukhumvit]

Spirit,

agreed. I too feel your pain (Chrisleton for my sins), and what a bonk job it is too.

 

Snakehead,

you may well get some useful info on the Indian sub-continent. I used to work in a largely Indian Asian community in West London, Hounslow. I was told that the DSS has an office employing 30 staff in Delhi to deal with the needs of returned Asian Britons. The links between India/Pakistan and the UK are far closer than between UK and LOS.

I checked in the latest 2001 Bar Directory (which lists individual barristers nationwide and their specialities). There are a fair few able to speak Indian languages, Mandarin (the Malaysian connection), but no entry for any Thai speaking barristers. I checked the local Legal Services Commission manual which details local solicitors/law centres and their specialisms. Very few immigration lawyers. One firm was listed as having a Thai speaker (that was in Runcorn!) but they don't do immigration.

So I still think that you'd find more pertinent anecdotal info on boards like this.