A note about discussion forums: There's lots of discussion forums on the internet
where the members offer immigration advice and help of one sort or another. These can be
helpful for learning about the personal experiences others have had, but it's a foolish idea
to base your immigration strategy solely on advice from an internet discussion forum. Why?
- Discussion forums very rarely (if ever) issue a retraction or correction when they give poor advice.
- Inaccurate or misleading information is often vectored on the internet from one forum to another.
- There are major changes to UK immigration law at least once a year, but more often two and three times a year. It means that personal experiences are often out of date.
- There are a number of intangible factors that make each case unique: age, position, standing in the community, and so on which may be radically different from your situation.
- Like any other policy administrating function, the FCO is subject to changes in personnel and changes in the political climate, and these affect the degree of rigor applied to various applications.
- The IND is under pressure to demonstrate a fair and uniform treatment in the processing of applications across all countries; this makes it axiomatic that there will be at least some refusals in each country.
Having said that, there are a few high-quality discussion forums on the internet worth mentioning.
These forums have a track record of giving high quality advice and/or having a regulated advisor who monitors the discussions:
- UK-Yankee. has an up-to-date FAQ, and is monitored by one or more regulated advisors. It's a very good resource for enquiries about visitor, fiance, spousal, and student visas. Although this forum caters specifically to UK/US issues, they have handled enquiries from UK/"other" quite professionally.
- Immigrationboards.com covers all aspects of UK immigration except asylum. This forum has a highly informed set of moderators, and is monitored by one or more regulated advisors. Of particular interest is their HSMP board, which has an up-to-date FAQ. This forum is not aligned to a particular nationality.
- Gay.com UK is a solid internet resource for enquiries about student, visitor, and unmarried partner applications. This forum is aligned with Stonewall.
- The Thailand-UK Forum is oriented towards UK/Thai relationships, but it's a "must read" for any visa national contemplating a visitor or settlement visa to the UK. There's a FAQ, and a permanent thread entitled Build your own settlement visa supporting evidence folder. A well presented site, and sympathetic moderators make this a valuable internet resouce!
- Immigration Processes in the UK : The goals of this campaign is [sic] to provide a forum for all travellers who have been subjected to the undignified treatment by immigration officers at Heathrow.
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