I spent some time the last couple of days and read the same info you posted in the thread and yes it seems straight forward although the app form seem so long just for someone passing through a country and only staying a couple of hours for their connecting flight. They actually do know where he is going and why and he has to provide a bag of supporting documents for a lot of different things.

One issue will be to show bank statements since he does not really keep money in the bank as I mentioned before and a lot of what he gets paid is cash in hand. This is why I posted this thread, to find someone that may have gone through the same process or someone that has got a friend that has, just to get an idea of how difficult it is and things to think about when filling out the forms. I'd consider myself superlucky if someone on here had a friend who were a tradesman and applied for a similar visa or even a tourist visa in the UK just to understand what they went through.

I would hate for him to pay for the flights and the visa app fee only to get turned down.

Thank you guys a million for your comments and links and yes he would be flying via Gatwick. i have been looking at other countries too like flying via Dubai, but then he would still have to stop in London Real pain in the backside if you ask me since the dude aint looking to migrate just to go on a holiday. It's in times like these I really feel thankful for my European passport