@Dave ********

These posts are predictable, and off topic. It was only difficult for you and the ones who get turned down. For the ones who get accepted, it's pretty straightforward. UK government statistics indicate a 77% success rate, down from 86% the previous year, largely down to increased refusals for Russian and Chinese applicants.

@Leo ******

The UK and Thai government are both working towards visa free travel between both countries, so is the EU. Syrian applications, as of 2 days ago, are all suspended. My wife had been imprisoned and deported by Malaysia, and we got a visa no issue. Possibly its your circumstances or your invite letter that screwed things up, not her. We used an agent, but that was good value by the time you factored in travel to Bangkok, a hotel, taxi costs etc. The agent showed me some of the covering letters from some of his English clients, and I found them to be borderline illiterate.

@David *********

My wife has her own massage shop. She does the books. Got a 6 month visa 2 weeks after application. She made sure her shop was registered and inspected by Public Health. Most aren't. There are thousands of visitor visas issued the Thais each year. It's easy to work out how much time VFS take. Not a lot of time. Likely the letter from the boyfriend/husband ruins things, because they don't understand you need to keep to the facts, and keep it concise. No one is going to read 4 pages of A4 from some bloke begging. Also, first time don't say she is coming for a 6 month holiday. Keep it to no more than 6 weeks. It doesn't make any difference on the length of the visa issued. And if she says she is coming for 6 weeks, make sure she goes home after 6 weeks.

@Dave ********

My wife couldn't wait to go home. She liked England, thought it very beautiful, but too cold and the food was terrible. She knows it would be hard for her to get a job in the UK, and she'd have to give up so much in Thailand

@Paul ******

I agree. Not that hard. My wife had been previously deported from Malaysia, years ago. She hawked her gold to get 100k in the bank. She rents a little shop that makes no money, but is properly registered as a business. 1 page letter from me, short and to the point, and full disclosure of prior travel history. I don't live in Thailand. Visa issued.

@Randy *****

Get lost

@Jason *****

Says the person posting on Facebook. Part of a generation for whom STDs and HIV were a scourge due to behavior. Actually STDs have always been around with whole families with inherited syphilis because Great Grandad was a randy degenerate.

@David *********

Irony post.

@Marty ********

Says the person on Meta Facebook. You're just as hooked on social media.

Well, the term has an obscene origin. It has many meanings now. If you drink black coffee, you are rawdogging caffeine. If you don't drink coffee at all, you are rawdogging your morning. It's an example of semantic beaching. To rawdog now means to do something without help. It's not about a made up fad on flight. Many a time I suppose I have rawdogged on a Thai flight (in the context described the OP, not in the context imagined by the disgusting 30 stone oafs) because the in flight entertainment is knackered and the 30 stone oaf in the Chang vest and purple skin is sleeping off the half dozen miniatures he has just knocked back. If something "sucks", we don't think of the origins in fellatio. W**ker is still fairly obscene, but being a jerk is now in everyday speech. Minced oaths are much the same, many falling out of use (gadzooks or gods hooks). For a while, minced oaths are code, everyone knows you are swearing, like fudge, bleep, sugar, frickin', but then it gets forgotten like blimey, gosh. The best one is when your old mum tells her grandson to stop being a berk all his life. She has just used literally (semantic bleaching of latin) the worst swear word known. And she didn't know it.