got his visa on saturday and left on sunday. can he do this?

[Wanderer]

let's not forget one of the most famous Albanian, Mother Theresa who dedicated her life to one of service to her fellow humans regardless of race,religion.

Let's not forget that Norman Wisdom is also Albanian, not many people know that.

His films are revered in the UK, because they contain no humour whatsoever, very useful in post-war austerity of Great Britain in the fifties.

Classics such as 'Trouble in Tirana' and 'The Alia Bird' are avidly watched in UK even now.

Leffe talking now....

[sammie121]

Norman J Wisdom was born in the London district of Marylebone to Frederick and Maud Wisdom

Are you sure?

Norman Wisdom is a well-known and loved cult film icon in Albania and was the only Western actor whose films were allowed in the country during the Communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha

[Wanderer]

Norman J Wisdom was born in the London district of Marylebone to Frederick and Maud Wisdom

Are you sure?

Norman Wisdom is a well-known and loved cult film icon in Albania and was the only Western actor whose films were allowed in the country during the Communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha

My slightly inebriated humour, sorry...

[sharonteresa]

Can I just say, it was never my intention to Slate the Albanians especially the men, although I agree my initial post may have come across that way... and for that i apolagise... there is good and bad in every race.

It is the issue though that a few bad spoil it for the good and then wrongly they all get tarred with the same brush.

When I went to Albania they are lovely lovely people and they made us feel most welcome, it is a poor but beautiful country and i am proud my grand daughter is part Albanian.

I would like to think that my son in laws behaviour would not be condoned by his family, but we dont speak Albanian and they dont speak english so it would be hard to let them know exactly what has happened.

To the hundreds of English women that marry Albanian men I am sure that it is only the minority that do this, but it does happen and to the unsuspecting. I wish you all well and I hope you never have to deal with anything like this.

I just think that the ILR shouldnt be given so freely and unrestricting when there is the possibility of it happening.. I dont know .. maybe extending the time married couples need to be together ... say to 5 years, 2 years is nothing but 5 years is, and if the marraige is genuine i dont see what difference it would make.

As for the child support issue... men of all nationalities flout their responsibilities when it comes to this issue.... amd women for that matter... hopefully in time, this man will honour his responsibility to his daughter.

[thirdwave]

So much ignorance displayed in this thread...... And from the comments it is evident that the posters are commenting on a country and society they have no real idea about.

I may not have been to Albania (I have been to several countries in EE) but I have seen enough of Albanians in this country that its put me off visiting the place.

and Mother Theresa was born in Macedonia to an Armenian Orthodox -Albanian couple & was brought up as a Catholic. So she really did not have much in common with most Albanians...

[Wanderer]

So much ignorance displayed in this thread...... And from the comments it is evident that the posters are commenting on a country and society they have no real idea about.

I may not have been to Albania (I have been to several countries in EE) but I have seen enough of Albanians in this country that its put me off visiting the place.

and Mother Theresa was born in Macedonia to an Armenian Orthodox -Albanian couple & was brought up as a Catholic. So she really did not have much in common with most Albanians...

Top Ten Albanian Totty Lads, come on what about it?!!

Err, well, Thirdwave precluded Mother Theresa, so....

[sammie121]

I may not have been to Albania

Enough said!!!!

[jimquk]

Thirdwave said:

Mother Theresa was born in Macedonia to an Armenian Orthodox -Albanian couple & was brought up as a Catholic. So she really did not have much in common with most Albanians...

In fact many families in all parts of the Balkans have mixed origins. I am not naive enough to say that such mixing was painless or welcomed, but the point is that the division of the population into groups like Serb, Albanian, etc is simplistic. Many Albanians are Catholic; there are Muslims who assert their identity as Serbs. There were formerly many of all communities who described themselves as Yugoslavs with no further affiliations.

[clairey]

So much ignorance displayed in this thread...... And from the comments it is evident that the posters are commenting on a country and society they have no real idea about.

I may not have been to Albania (I have been to several countries in EE) but I have seen enough of Albanians in this country that its put me off visiting the place.

and Mother Theresa was born in Macedonia to an Armenian Orthodox -Albanian couple & was brought up as a Catholic. So she really did not have much in common with most Albanians...

How narrow-minded to not want to visit a country by judging some of its people.

And what did Mother Teresa not have in common with most Albanians? She was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu to an Albanian mother and Arumanian (i.e. Vlach), not Armenian, father, in what is now Macedonia, and what was then the Ottoman Empire. Until religion was banned by Enver Hoxha, Catholics, Muslims and Albanian Orthodox families lived alongside each other. I am guessing by your previous comments that you believe she didn't have much in common with other Albanians as she was brought up a Catholic. The majority of the north of Albania were Catholic, the centre of the country was mostly Muslim, and the south was mostly a mixture of Catholic and Orthodox. My husband's family were Orthodox before the ban on religion. Nowadays it is rare that you will find people who practice their religion. People if questioned might say they are Muslim, but they probably have never set foot in a mosque, and they probably eat pork and drink alcohol. If you asked my husband's family what their religion is, they would say "We are Orthodox", but my husband had never set foot in a church until we went to Paris and we went inside Notre Dame.

And as for your previous comments about the level of domestic violence in Albania, are you trying to suggest that it's only a matter of time before my husband attacks me? I'm afraid you won't find many countries in the world where men "hold their womenfolk in high esteem". Sadly it isn't exclusivly an Albanian problem.

I'd be interested to know what exactly has caused your hatred of Albanians.

[clairey]

Can I just say, it was never my intention to Slate the Albanians especially the men, although I agree my initial post may have come across that way... and for that i apolagise... there is good and bad in every race.

It is the issue though that a few bad spoil it for the good and then wrongly they all get tarred with the same brush.

When I went to Albania they are lovely lovely people and they made us feel most welcome, it is a poor but beautiful country and i am proud my grand daughter is part Albanian.

I would like to think that my son in laws behaviour would not be condoned by his family, but we dont speak Albanian and they dont speak english so it would be hard to let them know exactly what has happened.

To the hundreds of English women that marry Albanian men I am sure that it is only the minority that do this, but it does happen and to the unsuspecting. I wish you all well and I hope you never have to deal with anything like this.

I just think that the ILR shouldnt be given so freely and unrestricting when there is the possibility of it happening.. I dont know .. maybe extending the time married couples need to be together ... say to 5 years, 2 years is nothing but 5 years is, and if the marraige is genuine i dont see what difference it would make.

As for the child support issue... men of all nationalities flout their responsibilities when it comes to this issue.... amd women for that matter... hopefully in time, this man will honour his responsibility to his daughter.

sharonteresa, sorry, I didn't mean you were attacking Albanians, it was directed at others. I'm glad you enjoyed your time in Albania, and it shows you are the bigger person by not judging everyone by what your son-in-law did. Where does he come from in Albania? If you want any help communicating with his family, please let me know, and I'll do my best to help in any way I can.

[thirdwave]

Clairey, I do not 'hate' Albanians but it so happens that people I have met from that region have in general been unpleasent ...I cannot go into too many details but I even had one instance where the individual I was involved with was granted asylum & received loads of support from SS towards setting him up in this country (they found him a nice flat in a private estate, got him help with his substance misuse problems etc) but he then threw it all away by raping a 12 year old boy...

Add to it the well known fact that terrorist organisations like the KLA, which a lot of Albanians/Kosovars claim to belong to or support, has been involved in drug trafficking & prostitution across Europe for decades & its not hard to see why I do not have a lot of regard for Albanians in general..

Maybe I am making sweeping generalisations but the nature of my job means that I have dealt with quite a few asylum claimants from Somalia, Kosovo & most recently, Darfur & a good proportion of them have no grounds for being here (apart from the fact that they might face criminal prosecution if they returned to their countries)...Its possible that the attitudes of my client group do not reflect the true nature of their compatriots or the country that they hail from & I am willing to reexamine my opinions in this respect...

[clairey]

Thirdwave, I'm sorry that you have had the misfortune to have met such horrible individuals. Were you to tell any decent Albanian about this kind of behaviour, they would be horrified. All I can tell you is I have been to Albanian three times now, and each time I have been overwhelmed by the love and kindness of the people there. My experience has been very similar to that of MarieB's.

Having grown up in London, I can remember the bombings carried out by the IRA. Have I allowed it to cloud my view of Irish people? No, because the vast majority are good, kind people. I was once verbally abused and threatened by a group of Israelis when I was working in Greece one summer. However, it has not put me off ever going to Israel.

Unfortunately, murder, rape, prostitution, domestic abuse - it happens in every country in the world. It is not exclusively an Albanian problem.

[jimquk]

Thirdwave said:

Maybe I am making sweeping generalisations but the nature of my job means that I have dealt with quite a few asylum claimants from Somalia, Kosovo & most recently, Darfur & a good proportion of them have no grounds for being here (apart from the fact that they might face criminal prosecution if they returned to their countries)...Its possible that the attitudes of my client group do not reflect the true nature of their compatriots or the country that they hail from & I am willing to reexamine my opinions in this respect...

What is the nature of your job? I am wondering if you are in the right job, as it seems to give you a very negative view of the world. I am also in contact with asylum-seekers from many countries. My experiences of them as people have been ovrwhelmingly positive; of course they are not all angels, and I know that in the eyes of the Home Office many have no "good" grounds for being here, though I count wanting to work to make a better life as good enough for me.

It is true that asylum-seekers are not representative of their countries - neither are British ex-pats or HSMP people in the UK representative - but actually they're just a mixed bunch like any other group of people. Some are toe-rags who should be dealt with as such, but some are wonderful. You are making sweeping generalisations that are really unhelpful.

[badmaash]

hi jim
need some help in regards to applying for ilr (financial test) using savings ?

[thirdwave]

Thirdwave said:

Maybe I am making sweeping generalisations but the nature of my job means that I have dealt with quite a few asylum claimants from Somalia, Kosovo & most recently, Darfur & a good proportion of them have no grounds for being here (apart from the fact that they might face criminal prosecution if they returned to their countries)...Its possible that the attitudes of my client group do not reflect the true nature of their compatriots or the country that they hail from & I am willing to reexamine my opinions in this respect...

What is the nature of your job? I am wondering if you are in the right job, as it seems to give you a very negative view of the world. I am also in contact with asylum-seekers from many countries. My experiences of them as people have been ovrwhelmingly positive; of course they are not all angels, and I know that in the eyes of the Home Office many have no "good" grounds for being here, though I count wanting to work to make a better life as good enough for me.

It is true that asylum-seekers are not representative of their countries - neither are British ex-pats or HSMP people in the UK representative - but actually they're just a mixed bunch like any other group of people. Some are toe-rags who should be dealt with as such, but some are wonderful. You are making sweeping generalisations that are really unhelpful.

I would not want to discuss the nature of my job but I can assure you it involves a lot of responsibility & I manage to make a decent fist of it.I think we`ll leave it to my employers to decide whether I`m in the right job, rather than debate it on this forum..suffice to say that my job brings me into contact with asylum seekers, among other people.

As I've stated before, I do not have any objections to people genuinely fleeing persecution & or economic migrants wanting to work & lead a better life.However, I do occasionally get the feeling that some of them cannot work-would not work, for whatever reason... be it communication difficulties or just plain laziness..It is possible that the AS you deal with belong to a different group to the ones I have contact with & hence the difference in perceptions..In any case, I think we`ll have to agree to disagree on this one & move on.Its not fair that we are hijacking the thread & feel we should stick to the original issue raised by Sharon..Claire's idea of contacting his family back home might be a good one..