Wales is quite a big place you know axel1974

sure is...... apparently you need a passport to enter the valleys too

will find out where she is going as she is being a bit mysterious about it as she has left her husband

Axel,

I will send a PM, wondering if it is somone I know...

I read this on a web site partly to do with a chef placement service. Maybe it goes some way to answering my question, ie there can't be that many around:

"Opening a Thai restaurant, but don't plan on doing the cooking yourself? We have placed some of the world's most highly qualified Thai culinary professionals on private yachts, and in restaurants in places as far flung as Nigeria, Belgium, Ukraine, The UAE, Brunei, and Malta, just to name a few. For information on our recruitment service click here. (We do not recruit for restaurants in the USA or the UK due to the current strict immigration policies in those countries.)"

My new wife and I having been considering opening a ''thai Take-away'' in our town in Scotland. We've put a Business Plan together and been getting advice from an advisor at Business Gateway.

The advisor reckonsthat as my wife is under 26 she would be entitled to apply for a loan at low interest (4%) from the Princes Trust up to the value of £5000 ; my wifes friend has advised her that she cqannot do this as it would contravene the ''no access to public funds'' conditions on her FLR....please can someone confirm where we stand on this ?

and does anyone know who the major suppliers are for Thai Restraunts in the UK...nearest major city to here is Glasgow..

quote:

Originally posted by Dowza:
... The advisor reckonsthat as my wife is under 26 she would be entitled to apply for a loan at low interest (4%) from the Princes Trust up to the value of £5000 ; my wifes friend has advised her that she cqannot do this as it would contravene the ''no access to public funds'' conditions on her FLR....please can someone confirm where we stand on this ?

Such loans are fine, they do not fall under the legal definition of "public funds". She can apply without fear of breaking the terms of her visa or the Immigration Laws

quote:

Originally posted by Dowza:
My new wife and I having been considering opening a ''thai Take-away'' in our town in Scotland.

My 'old'/ex-wife is currently typing up the Thai version of her menu on my Thai laptop, ready for the 'Gala Buffet Opening' of a similar venture. Thai takeaway/evening cafe in a nice little premises which runs as a daytime cafe and shuts at 6, when she will take over. Outdoor seating on a pedestrianised area for the balmy summer evenings - or has she missed them? Anyway, it will be very interesting to see how it goes, I think she has a great chance of making a real success of it, but .......

quote:

Originally posted by Dowza:
and does anyone know who the major suppliers are for Thai Restraunts in the UK...nearest major city to here is Glasgow..

I am sure you'll get a lot of the stuff at 'Bookers' or similar. There must be Asian wholesale shops in Glasgow. I know there are in South Wales and Glasgow is as big if not bigger than Cardiff.

Here's 3....

http://www.hoohing.com/acatalog/Products__Thai_Products_291.html

http://www.thai4uk.com/index.html

http://www.wingyipstore.co.uk/

I am sure I saw a van deliver to a local Chinese take-away with the 'Amoy' brand written on it.

May I ask you....if you've thought about how many you'll have working there? Are there any other Thai restaurants/takeaways in your town? Good luck.

Tell you what else, you'd best get a move on! The opportunity for Lek arose about 3 weeks ago, she will open in 2 weeks. At the time, there was one, indirect, competitor, an upmarket place which, unusually, actually serves decent Thai food. Owned by a Pakistani, all staff are Thai and all are on contracts with work permits - I don't know how they justify the need for Thai waiters but there you go .... They are also all on duff wages, no holidays, and share a house let to them by the owner of the restaurant!!

Anyway, since then she has heard of 3 other new Thai places due to open within the next month or so, 2 of which are within 100 yards of her place!! I still think she will succeed because the others will not match the quality of her food but it all seems a bit ironic somehow.

quote:

Originally posted by GTG:
Tell you what else, you'd best get a move on! The opportunity for Lek arose about 3 weeks ago, she will open in 2 weeks. At the time, there was one, indirect, competitor, an upmarket place which, unusually, actually serves decent Thai food. Owned by a Pakistani, all staff are Thai and all are on contracts with work permits - I don't know how they justify the need for Thai waiters but there you go .... They are also all on duff wages, no holidays, and share a house let to them by the owner of the restaurant!!

That doesn't sound correct. Within the last year, I heard of a Thai restaurant owner in London who wanted to bring her brother over to work in her restaurant as a chef......he wasn't granted a permit. It is now a lot more difficult for a foreigner (non-eu) to get a work permit for the UK. I can't see them granting them for waiting staff.

Yeah, I found it quite surprising, which was why I mentioned it, but that was confirmed by both Thai and farang sources, the reasoning being that the restaurant was aiming to provide a full-on Thai experience and this could only be achieved through bringing over authentic Thai staff!!

When the place was being converted Lek was offered a job as 2nd chef there and basically asked if she could find a head chef that she could work with, with experience of running a restaurant here. She turned the job down because she didn't want to work for the owner, probably more to do with her inbuilt racism than anything personal. The guy they got as head chef is apparently very good, even Lek reckoned his food was OK!

The farang source put the work permit issue down to the strong influence of the local Pakistani business community, though those weren't quite the words he used!

It is likely the Thai employees on work permits were employed before the new rules came in to play. A work permit for such employment is now most unlikely.

It is also possible some staff hold FLR, ILR, British Citizenship or have Student Visas.

quote:

Originally posted by Tobias:
It is likely the Thai employees on work permits were employed before the new rules came in to play. A work permit for such employment is now most unlikely.

It is also possible some staff hold FLR, ILR, British Citizenship or have Student Visas.

I thought that would be the case or something similar as what CTG was saying didn't correspond to what I had heard and read. When did the new rules come into play? How often are the work permits renewed and would the renewal process employ the new permit rules?

quote:

When did the new rules come into play?

We are in a transitional period where the current WP arrangements have been made much tougher for non-EEA nationals, priority now being given to Bulgarians and Romanians, yes in the EU, but excluded from the A8 WRS arrangements.

But later this year ... exactly date not yet certain ... the current WP arrangements will be ended totally, and replaced by Tier 2 of the new arrangements. The date might be affected by how well Tier 1 starts (for real) on 30.06.08 ... Monday! Once Tier 1 has been bedded down properly, UKBA will move on to the other Tiers.

Tier 2 will include the need for an employer, wanting to employ someone on Tier 2, to register, for a fee, and only employers so registered will be permitted to even make an application under Tier 2.

quote:

Originally posted by John:

quote:

When did the new rules come into play?

Tier 2 will include the need for an employer, wanting to employ someone on Tier 2, to register, for a fee, and only employers so registered will be permitted to even make an application under Tier 2.

Thank you for the reply. I am not sure about what the different Tiers mean but I get the general gist of it.