fester

Apply for a Thai passport for him asap.

When this is ready he has either to exit and reenter Thailand on the Thai passport (swap passports).

Or if you can get immigration to transfer his entry stamp into the Thai passport.

Childs over 8 years have to pay overstay 200B per day or a maximum of 20,000 Baht.

First you must bring passport, photo and your marriage certificate to a Thai consulate or embassy aboard and apply for a Non-Immigrant "O" visa. After entering Thailand you must visit the Thai Immigration with proof of funds, around 200,000 Baht in a Thai Bank.

More info on one year visa extensions in case of married to a Thai citizen here:

http://forum.thaivisa.com/cgi-bin/ikonboar...ct=ST;f=1;t=271

Thai banks does not report to foregin countries tax men.

Have a look at this thread about opening a Thai bank account:

http://forum.thaivisa.com/cgi-bin....account

Packages with free services, tours aim to draw 100,000

To offset the drop in tourists, particularly from the US and Europe due to the impact of the US-Iraq war, Thai tourism agencies have come up with special packages discounted 20% to attract travellers.

Besides the lower prices, the packages will have more value-added features with free services such as spa treatment and give-away tours.

The packages would be introduced in China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, said Sonthaya Khunpluem, the tourism and sports minister.

The promotion is expected to lure about 100,000 additional tourists, generating 2.4 billion baht in foreign exchange in the next three months.

Besides the tour packages, the government and private tourism groups plan roadshows in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia and South Korea.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak will lead the roadshow in April in the southern part of China and will also sign an agreement with tour agencies in Japan to attract tourists, particularly in the Mice (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) market.

Mr Sonthaya said the discount tour packages were a co-operative effort among Thai Airways International and other related agencies, while the Tourism Authority of Thailand would handle marketing, the budget for which has not been set.

Tasnai Sudasna Na Ayudhya, THAI's executive vice-president for commercial affairs, said the national carrier's overall load factor had dropped to 70% from 75% since the war started and when compared with the same period last year.

On US routes, the number of passengers has dropped by 19% while Japanese passengers fell by 10% and the European market declined 5-6%.

Mr Tasnai said that THAI would introduce packages to boost the Japanese market but it had no immediate plan to promote its US routes as the American market was still stagnating due to the war.

---

BANGKOK POST, MARCH 28, 2003

It was considered legal to send passports via agents until a couple of years ago.

The law says:

l“Any foreigner who is found not to have done the process himself or herself, correctly, will be charged with illegal entry into Thailand, and may be expelled and blacklisted.”

Assigning another person to obtain an entry stamp on one’s behalf is illegal under the Immigration Act, 1979.

Here is a few of the best banks in Thailand, )in my own opinion):

Bangkok Bank

Citibank

HSBC

Thai Farmers Bank / Kasikorn Bank

You must be present here to open a bank account. You would preferrable need a Non-Immigrant visa, Tourist visas can work at some bank branches, but NO guarantees. Some bank offices require a work permit to open a simple savings account; just walk out the door and try next branch  

Try to get a Non-O multiple entry straight away. Speak with the consulate and explain the situation. The Houston Thai consul seems to be very reasonable issuing multiples with less paper hassle.

If they don't give you a NON-B, your best option is a Double entry Tourist visa which you will obtain without any problems.

That'll give you 60 days + 30 days extension. After that 90 days a border run will give you an additional 60+30 days. In total 180 days.

You can send to other networks than DTAC and AIS here:

http://www.esmszone.com/

That one works for One2Call etc.

The sender box is for your name, "Brian"

The 149 counter show how many chars you have left to write, it will count down towards zero as you write. The maximum is 149.

Thailand 'safe from deadly illness' (The Nation)

Published on Mar 18, 2003

Thailand is safe from the outbreak of a mysterious form of pneumonia that has hit neighbouring countries and left nine people dead and more than a hundred sick, the Public Health Ministry said yesterday.

"There hasn't been any reported or suspected case of this atypical pneumonia in the country," Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan told a press conference.

However, the ministry has set up a team of experts to monitor the disease and prevent its spread to the country.

Airport authorities have also been put on high alert to prevent the entry of the disease through air travellers from Vietnam, Hong Kong and parts of China where it has surfaced.

Don Muang Airport's disease-control unit has been instructed to stand by around the clock to make sure that all passengers arriving on the nine flights a day from these areas are checked thoroughly.

The symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has labelled it, can include fever, muscular pain, headache, sore throat, dry cough and shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing.

"Since the disease remains unidentified and is still being studied, it's impossible to diagnose directly and treat," said virologist Dr Prasert Thongcharoen, supervisor of the Disease Control Department.

"But don't panic . . . You won't die if you go to the doctor the minute you develop flu-like symptoms," he said.

A Suan Dusit poll of 2,000 Bangkok residents yesterday showed that nine in 10 people knew of the disease through media reports and 50 per cent feared they could catch it.

Meanwhile the United States' Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) together with the WHO are investigating the outbreak around the clock in the field and in the laboratory.

The WHO recently declared Canada, China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand affected areas.

But with no reported cases, Thailand yesterday called on WHO to remove it from the list for fear its reputation would be affected.

We got this in an email to the forum, so I publish it here as requested. /Fester

---

NAME James Pearson

E-MAIL [email protected]

PHONE    01-6931409

MESSAGE Fw: muslim faction pushing for deportation,for removing their anti-american sign

Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 6:10 PM

Subject: muslim faction pushing for deportation,for removing their anti-american sign

i am an american viet nam service honorable discharge. my home has been the

far-east since 1966 and for the past seven and a half year phuket thailand.

now they want to deport me for removing one very ugly anti-american sign.

please!!! can everyone please forward this to the local newspapers :joe

leiberman ,j. lenno, president bush. larry king , oregonian. l.a. post.

washingtion post.the VFW american legion amvets. etc.etc.

, thank you

best regards,

john t. baker expat at large

>Subject: Fw: Gazette News: Gulf War of words ends in court

>Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 09:11:07 +0700

>

>

>----- Original Message -----

>From: The Phuket Gazette

>To: Phuket Gazette News

>Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 5:35 PM

>Subject: Gazette News: Gulf War of words ends in court

>

>

>Gulf War of words ends in court

>

>PHUKET TOWN: Around the world protestors are turning out in their thousands

>almost every day to protest the prospect of a US-generated war on Iraq.

>

>There was the protester at a recent international golf tournament who held

>up a sign saying "Make par, not war" and a woman in a street demonstration

>who held a banner saying, "The only bush I trust is mine."

>

>Now Phuket has its own quirky take on war protests. Sixty-five-year-old

>American John T. Baker, a long-time resident, has been charged by police

>because he took down an anti-war sign on a wall outside a mosque in Baan

>Bang Tao.

>

>The sign said, in somewhat eccentric English, "Alah...my God, please save

>all our pained and pure brothers from being ruined by santaic (sic)

>leader."

>

>Underneath were the words PEACE NOW and an image of two hands shaking, one

>marked "Bush, USA", and the other "Saddam, Iraq".

>

>Mr Baker removed the sign and left his business card - and his own sign

>with the words "No desecration".

>

>Police called him today to the Cherng Talay Police Station, where he was

>told he faced a charge for removing the sign.

>

>Later he told the Gazette that he had put up the "No Desecration"

>sign because he objected to America being called "satanic."

>

>"This sign only stirs up hatred, not goodwill and peace," he said.

>

>"I'm not a devil. I just think it's not right. I didn't burn [the sign]. I

>just pulled it down. My action was more emotional than political."

>

>Representatives from the mosque were in court late this afternoon as the

>outcome of Mr Baker's actions were being discussed. A decision is expected

>shortly.

>

>Brought to you by:

>The Phuket Gazette

>18:33 local time (GMT +7)

China offers information on fatal health threat

The outbreak may be tapering off in the place where it is believed to have begun.

---------------------------

By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN

The New York Times

---------------------------

Chinese health officials Sunday gave the World Health Organization the first sketchy details about a mysterious respiratory ailment that is believed to have first broken out in Guangdong Province last November and that Chinese officials say has tapered off in recent weeks.

Although the information hints that the outbreak might be tapering off for unknown reasons in Guangdong, WHO officials say they need more information to be certain.

"If it has burned out, it certainly will give us optimism over its control" elsewhere, Dr. David L. Heymann, a WHO official, said in an interview. "That is why we need more information to know what the natural history of the illness has been since November."

The WHO, an agency of the United Nations, on Saturday declared the ailment "a worldwide health threat." The agency calls the ailment severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and says it has caused at least nine deaths in Canada and five other countries in recent weeks. The spread of the ailment, a form of atypical pneumonia, has been aided by international travel. New cases, including those of many hospital workers, are being reported daily in affected countries, a WHO official said.

Laboratories in at least five countries have failed to detect any known infectious agent as a cause.

There have been no reports of the illness in the United States. But a 32-year-old doctor from Singapore and his 62-year-old mother-in-law were being treated for pneumonia in isolation in a German hospital after having attended a medical conference in New York. Officials believe the doctor might have contracted the illness in treating the first two cases in Singapore, where there are now 20 reported cases. The doctor had a fever and a slight cough, and the mother-in-law had a high fever, doctors at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Hospital in Frankfurt said at a news conference Sunday. Health officials say they believe it takes direct and sustained contact to transmit the illness. But they have asked doctors to be alert to patients with flu-like symptoms who have recently traveled to Asia.

The ailment has affected hundreds of patients in Hong Kong and China, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the WHO said. In Canada, where two patients have died, there are eight other suspected cases.

According to the information gathered by the Chinese government over recent months, SARS has behaved differently from past outbreaks of influenza, which can cause atypical pneumonia. Chinese scientists at first thought the cases might be avian influenza but could find evidence of no flu virus. The current outbreak, in Guangzhou City, the capital of Guangdong Province, involves clusters of cases, particularly hospital workers and among family members of patients.

Chinese officials reported earlier that there were 305 cases, including five deaths.

The cases have involved men and women in all age groups, but most have occurred among young adults.

The outbreak began in November and was at its peak Feb. 3-14. "The number of new cases decreased markedly after Feb. 15, and no new cases were detected in other cities," the Chinese reported.

The only exceptions are (according to the quite clear law, http://www.doe.go.th/workpermit/aliens_act.htm ):

--- snip --

Section 4. This Act does not apply to the performance of a specific duty by aliens in the Kingdom in the following capacities:

   (1) as members of a diplomatic mission;

   (2) as members of a consular mission;

   (3) as representatives of member countries and officials of the United Nations Organization and its specialized agencies;

   (4) as personal servants coming from foreign countries to work regularly for persons in (1),(2) or (3);

   (5) as persons who perform duty or mission under an agreement concluded between the Government of Thailand and a foreign Government of international organization;

   (6) as persons who perform duty or mission for the benefit of education, culture, art, sport of other activities as may be prescribed by the Royal Decree;

   (7) as persons permitted by the Government of Thailand to enter and perform any duty or mission.

--- snip ---

A nice letter from a major Thai hopsital would do fine everywhere, Penang or Kota Baru. Try to ask them for a copy of company registration as well and attach to your application (they love paper!)

Where you go is up to your travel prefrences basically. I would fly to Penang, less hassle with taxi and border crossings. But that's just my five baht.

NGO work is work, and are interpreted as work, and requires a work permit.

The Thai law defines "work" as:

" to engage in work by exerting energy or using knowledge whether or not in consideration of wages or other benefit"

If it's a United Nations or Thai Goverment sponsored organization, foreigners might not need a work permit.

So your friends appears to work illegal.

Prepare a letter describing that you are visiting Thailand for business research and a business setup later on here. Visit the Thai consul in Hull, UK. He will propably give you a multiple Business visa (NON- valid for one year with unlimited entries. This will give you 90 days allowance on each visit. It looks better.

If you have too many TR30's on arrival, it can be looked as suspect.

With a proper business visa you show that you are here on business research.

Forget the London embassy, they will only give you a Tourist visa, the smaller UK consulates, especially the Royal Thai Consulate in Hull, are very farang friendly.

Another option is to marry your fiancee and apply for a Non-Immigrant "O" multiple entry visa.

Step 1 Just lose your current passport, apply for a new passport so you get a new passport number and a new expiry date.

Step 2 is to apply for a Thai Tourist visa at a Royal Thai Consulate or Embassy. They check your application against the PNG (Persona Non Grata List). If you get a visa issued you are not on the blacklist.

If you are refused, you are propably blacklisted.

How do you know that the actually blacklisted you?

Have you tried to apply for a new Thai visa with a new passport?

From khaosanroad.com web site today:

"FARANG Magazine is organising a Bangkok Beatbus Special to the concert on April 8. Tickets are available at Bt1,500 or Bt3,000 from Olavi Tours - opposite reception in Buddy Lodge on Khasoan Road or opposite Gulliver's on Chakrapongse Rd. Transport to and from the concert (advisable as the venue is miles out of Bangkok and getting back is a nightmare) is available for Bt200 return.

For more info or advance booking contact [email protected]

Sorted!

Rinrada, thanks for the travel updates.

Do you have the iternary (time tables) for these airlines as well?

I assume that these travel agents arrange the necessary electronic visa to enter Australia as well?

(Western passport holders don't need to visit an Aussie embassy to get a tourist visa toa Australia, the travel agent can normally fix it for you.)

As soon we have all info I will do a Aussie visa run FAQ and put up here at the forum

This topic is closed, but continues here:

http://forum.thaivisa.com/cgi-bin/ikonboar...t=ST;f=12;t=462