Finding ILR Vignette number

[Richard W]

What is the document number of an ILR vignette from 2000? There seem to be three ID 'numbers' on it:

Top left: Passport number (as on passport - no country-identification included in the number)
Top right: A number in the format 0123456A, in black, not red.
Bottom - a 3-field identifier in the format ABC 42 045

My best guess is the number in the top right, but I'm not sure.

[vinny]

For reference: example-image.

[Richard W]

For reference: example-image.

Thank you. That's the type of vignette in question. So is the document number in this example "0439415A" or the handwritten 'unique number' "AFF 034 55"? I'm given the answer in the context of an alleged NTL application, for which one has to choose between declaring that one is replacing a BRP or is replacing a BRC, a tricky question when one has never held either.

[vinny]

I suspect that the vignette number is the printed one "0439415A". The bottom handwritten code may be a Home Office reference number for the applicant? Do you still have the accompanying letter?

Can you get pass the tricky, not applicable, question?

[Richard W]

I suspect that the vignette number is the printed one "0439415A". The bottom handwritten code may be a Home Office reference number for the applicant? Do you still have the accompanying letter?

Can you get pass the tricky, not applicable, question?

Alas, the letter has gone into hiding. A long search has failed to turn it up, though it doesn't seem so long ago that I found it exactly where I expected to find it.

We couldn't find any way to get past the question.

I have more questions, which if I understand the rules correctly, have to be asked here.

In order to be able to travel from Thailand to the UK in 2025 by public transport, will my wife need to have an 'e-visa'. Her sole nationality is Thai. She holds a vignette recording ILR in an old Thai passport. She also has a current Thai passport, a current full British driving licence, a NINO and is in employment, the vignette being grandfathered. She has lived in the UK since receiving the ILR.

Is the vignette definitely a visa? I think it wasn't when it was issued in February 2000, but terminology seems to have changed since then.

Has the mechanism to progress from a vignette to an e-visa yet been announced? It was supposed to be announced this Summer, but I can find no announcement.

As the only route to an e-visa seems to be via a BRP, she submitted an application for one today. To my surprise, she seems to have been told to book an appointment with UKVCAS to take biometrics and for an identity check. The lowest charge for this is about £143, which doesn't really gel with the statement that 'No Time Limit' is now free. Is this inevitable, or might we have made a mistake somewhere?

[meself2]

In order to be able to travel from Thailand to the UK in 2025 by public transport, will my wife need to have an 'e-visa'.

Yes, seems so.

To my surprise, she seems to have been told to book an appointment with UKVCAS to take biometrics and for an identity check. The lowest charge for this is about £143, which doesn't really gel with the statement that 'No Time Limit' is now free. Is this inevitable, or might we have made a mistake somewhere?

You're mixing up UKVI fees and UKVCAS fees.
UKVI does not ask money to pay for your application (which would be eg a good bit of money for spouse visa). However, UKVCAS is a 3rd party provider. For example, if you take you car to a mechanic to replace the part, you buy a car part separately and pay for it (which in this case would be free - nTL BRP), but you still have to pay the mechanic for the job they're doing (which is UKVCAS), for which part manufacturer (UKVI) has no responsibility.

There are free appointments, though, but they might be far into the future and are very sought after. See https://www.ukvcas.co.uk/help-support/o ... ppointment

UKVCAS offers a range of non-chargeable and chargeable appointments. You can book an appointment up to 28 days in advance.

Non chargeable appointments are mainly available from 10:00 Monday to Friday.