Totally humiliated today at our visa checking service for wife and daughters set m visa application

[Dedworth]

Mealy mouthed excuses. I'd still be doing my post # 3 suggestions :-

Demand a refund of the fee - Letter to the Chief Executive (our local mob have changed title to Managing Director ) copy it to the Leader of The Council. Also cc Theresa May as the Home Office should be interested to hear about the appalling service given on their behalf. If no joy then take it up with Local Authority Ombudsman.

[jamesy]

well through my experience i personally feel that we are treated very well by the philippino people ,i can honestly say that i found every one to be nice towards me ,also may i add i am a well travelled person ,who over the years has lived in the middle east iran ,and was also caught up in the revolution there back in the late 70,s early 80s ,and again may i stress although there was much hatred towards the western world in iran at that time ,no one ever mistreated me or any of my friends or family there ,we also knew many of the hostiges who were also captured down in tehran ,and again they were treated humainly , the problem here is ignorance,a lot of people here are totally selfish

[jamesy]

yes that may be true of your experience,i was hoping that i would have also taken some of the stress and anxiety out of the visa application by using this service too,but as i said before maybe you were just lucky ,or yet again maybe i was just unlucky ,personally unlike you i cant honestly recommend all the visa checking services up and down the country ,only the one which i used , i suppose its down to the individual employee,and the way they treat you

[jamesy]

thanks

[grahamw48]

well through my experience i personally feel that we are treated very well by the philippino people ,i can honestly say that i found every one to be nice towards me ,also may i add i am a well travelled person ,who over the years has lived in the middle east iran ,and was also caught up in the revolution there back in the late 70,s early 80s ,and again may i stress although there was much hatred towards the western world in iran at that time ,no one ever mistreated me or any of my friends or family there ,we also knew many of the hostiges who were also captured down in tehran ,and again they were treated humainly , the problem here is ignorance,a lot of people here are totally selfish

That's interesting.

My brother was an Attache at the British Embassy in Tehran, but had moved on to another appointment just before the revolution started. My sister however, WAS still there.

She had only been in Iran 3 months and was working as a nurse at one of the hospitals in the Capital, when suddenly the rockets started flying over her accommodation. She had to be flown out, without pay or other compensation, poor girl.

I still have a letter from her, written during the mayhem.

[sars_notd_virus]

thats very true ,the biggest problem regarding any foreign person,who is living here in the uk ,is that they are looked down upon by the majority of people , i see it every day,i thought that this countrys policy was equality,to be quite honest sometimes i feel ashamed to admit that im british,if i had the means to do it i would move to the philippines in a minuite

Don't let other people bring you down, there's a lot of ignorant people everywhere.
I am also a foreigner in this country whichever i purchased or pay it has to be a good service (if it is not, then i am not paying for it or i'll bring it back).
with regards to checking service , I think they know what they are doing (if you paid for it let them do their job)..and the attitude , yes some people doesnt need to be in that job if they are not very costumer friendly.

Any updates with your wife and daughters application yet??

[Terpe]

.....She had only been in Iran 3 months and was working as a nurse at one of the hospitals in the Capital, when suddenly the rockets started flying over her accommodation. She had to be flown out, without pay or other compensation, poor girl.

I still have a letter from her, written during the mayhem.

I was in Tehran during the Christmas of 1978 and had felt uneasy during trips there for quite some time.
I worked for a US owned company who insisted it was safe despite my doubts.
I was hurriedly pulled out before the new year and barely made it to the airport due to so many people demonstrating on the streets.
Pretty scary stuff.
I remember I had to leave all my tools and my suitcase behind as the airport was under strict control. Just my carry-on.

Sorry for the off-topic. Just jogged my memories.

[grahamw48]

Small world.

[jamesy]

really ,we lived in tabriz had been there since 76 ,my dad god rest his sole actually went back there in the middle of the iran iraq war ,the company he was working with over there ,asked him if he would go back over there as.a representative on company buisness for them ,even although they had made him redundent, he quickly took them up on their offer as all our personal belongings were still stuck in customs over there,and my dad had a lot of good friends he was missing who lived there ,he entered the country on a months tourist visa ,as by that time the iatola komeini ,was against any foreigner working in iran ,after his visa ran out he was stuck in the country for 4 months before he managed to get out ,mike matrinco who was one of the hostages in iran was a close friend of hours but we were very friendly with a lot of them,iran was a beautiful country ,and the people like the filipinos were genuine ,my dad was offerd another job in manilla with the same company,but he declined as he was settled in iran, then months later there was a revolution we were sent home but my dad stayed on for quite a long time before returning back to the uk,im sure we knew some of the british embassy staff who were based in tehran ,leave it with me ill get back to you on that one

[grahamw48]

Interesting story.

Well, PM me Jamesy please, rather than putting his name on here, as my brother is still employed at the FCO.

You or your dad may have met him though, as he used to organise British trade shows in Iran at that time.

[jamesy]

was that merrabad ,and what company were you with at the time

[jamesy]

just received a letter today to for the my wife and daughter to go for their biometrics enrolment, im a great beleiver in that people should treat one another with respect ,we all came from the same place ,but some people.whether its money or what ever seem to think that they are better than you ,and to be quite honest that really buggs me ,i have been fortunate in my life to have been given private education ,a good family, oppertunities that some people would give their right arm for etc etc but at the end of the day those are just meterial things and i have never thought my self to be any better than any one regardless of their circumstances ,as far as i am concerned we are all the same ,i would try to help any one if i could ,unlike others who just turn their noses up at people,

[jamesy]

the people we knew at the time were sir anthony and lady parsons who were running the embassy in tehran ,we also met a younger guy who also worked in the embassy around the same period of 75 to 79 ,he was in his late 20s early thirties he came to tabriz at one point to meet all the british exspats along with his wife ,i dont know if that may have been your brother ,cant quite remember his name ,mum will probably have it written in a diary somewhere ,offcourse i wouldnt mention it on here as he still works for the fco ,even although the name may have been changed,the guy who worked for the british embassy it tabriz at the time was a mr bonner

[jamesy]

i find that very hard to believe ,that especially an american owned company ,who were based in Tehran of all places ,advised you that it was safe and actually flew you over there to work even although marshall law had been declared there on the 8th of september 78 ,and also that all foreigners there were actually being advised to leave .although it was unoficial the revolution had actually started around that time , but wasnt actually announced untill january 79 , who was the company you worked for? they obviously did not think much of you,sending you there at that time

[grahamw48]

Hi Jamesy. My (older) brother was born in 1950, but he didn't get married til 1979. I remember it well, because I was his 'best man'. He must have been desperate.

[jamesy]

couldnt have been him then unless he was leading a double life so to speak

[jamesy]

well here i go again ,is it just me and the wife who get all the problems or does every one on this forum get their fair share ,today my wife and daughter and i went in to the post office in st james centre edinburugh ,as my wife received a letter from the uk border agency ,asking her go and have her biometrics enrolled,and take along any dependants whom she had named on her ilr application ,to have their photo and fingerprints taken,i pointed out to my wife when we received the letter that only her name was on it ,and that her daughters wasnt, but we also noticed that there were 2 barcodes on the letter ,so i automatically thought ,ones for the wife and the other one is for our daughter, and as it was a joint application for their ilr then everything will be fine .so when we arrived at the biometrics counter in the post office, the man put the letter with the barcodes on it through the scanner to retreive their details,then he proceeded to take the wifes picture ,finger prints and signature ,once he had finished we automatically asked when he would be doing our daughters as she was a dependant and was inclueded in my wifes ilr application ,he asked us for the other letter that had been sent out for my daughter ,offcourse we replied what letter ,and went on to explain to him what i have just already said ,he advised us to phone the uk,border agency as he said we should have received two letters for the biometric enrollment one for the wife and one for the daughter,the wife phoned them and yes the guy at the post office was correct ,the girl at the border agency ,said she had no idea why we hadnt received my daughters letter ,and as we only get 15 working days to enroll ,they will send another letter out for her giving her a further 15 days to enroll her biometrics ,i honestly thought that as my wife and daughter applied together on one application then they should have been taken on the same appointment as she is a dependant and under 16,now we will have to go through it all again once my daughters letter arrives for her enrolment.what a carry on

[grahamw48]

It's a pity these compensation lawyers aren't able to include the UKBA incompetents in their 'to sue' list.

How damned difficult is it for them to get it right for sake ?

[jamesy]

that would definitely ,bankrupt the country ,if it was possible for all foreign immigrants to sue the ukba for their lack of common sense,

[tone]

Jamsey - thanks for sharing this story - it helped me because I wasnt aware that the LA could do a pre-check and we keep our passports (useful for me because I have to travel abroad for work from time to time) I just remember how long your passports can dissapear for..

Anyway hope you get a better experience in doing the remainder of the ILR - something I need to do in Jan 14!

Cheers

Tone

[jamesy]

your welcome

[jamesy]

happiest day of my life .my wife and stepdaughter now have their ilr ,

[grahamw48]

Congratulations to you all !

Peace of mind at last, eh ?

[Dedworth]

happiest day of my life .my wife and stepdaughter now have their ilr ,

Well done ! Glad it all turned out well in the end

[Terpe]

happiest day of my life .my wife and stepdaughter now have their ilr ,

Congratulations to all, well done

[Michael Parnham]

So pleased for you, Congratulations!

[jamesy]

thanks

[jamesy]

thanks ,was a long hard slog ,we seemed to have problems at every turn ,but it was certainly all worth it in the end , hopefully after my wife and daughter apply for citizenship ,all the worry and waiting will gradually fade away,mind you she will still have to take the new english exam thats coming in around october,as the earliest she can apply for citizenship is next year ,but im 110 percent sure she will pass it ,when she sat the life in the uk test she only got one question wrong ,the staff at the test center were all talking about it when i went to collect her ,shes a very smart woman ,and has the degrees to back it up ,im very proud of her