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fester

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    Residence permit for retired

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    No, it is not possible to get a straight answer from the Immigration Bureau. Period.

    It *seems* to be this way (not sure):

    If you are wealthy enough and can pay up via a laywer or someone, you might get it.

    Others, like me, have to make that bloody 1 year retirement visa year  by year. 6 years now.

    Nobody knows who to bribe there at Suan Pluh these days?

    Any agents?

    I you have THB 10 millions to invest ++fee, they give it to you on the spot, FYI.

    • Like 1

    Non b visa querry

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    Hi Ivana and welcome to Thailand Expat Forum.

    Yes, applicants from your country must be extra smart, because of the "TiT".

    You should definitivly apply for a NON-B in Zagreb beforehand:

    Country of Embassy:

    Thailand

    Embassy: Thailand Consulate

    Address: Gunduliæeva 18/IV

    Town/City: Zagreb

    Postal Code: 10 000

    Telephone: + 385 1 434 982

    Fax: + 385 1 434 982

    Here is an example letter for you:

    http://www.thaivisa.com/332.0.html

    Please let us know how it goes!

    Immodest farangs

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Immodest Khao San Road Farangs worry Thai students

    Whether or not there is a commercial motive behind the planned closure of the Ampornpaisal Anusorn School on Khao San Road, young students at the institution say they really do find the behaviour of their amorous farang neighbours to be disturbing.

    Chutima Tem-amornsup, a sixth-grader, said she sees foreigners "behaving improperly" almost every morning on her way to school.

    "I can no longer walk conveniently to school because I have to avoid farang kissing and hugging on the walkway," she said.

    Pimolwan Khucharoenpaisal, a first-grader, said she also regularly sees foreign tourists being intimate in public.

    "Whenever I look up from the playground, I see farang kissing and hugging inside guesthouses. Some of them use their cameras to take pictures of me," she said.

    "Sometimes, farang women walk past the school wearing nothing but their underwear."

    These accounts appear to confirm the principal's claim that the prestigious 45-year-old school would be shut in April because the surrounding environment had become hostile to the pupils' morals and safety.

    There has been speculation that the real reason the school is being closed is because a businessman has offered to buy the property for Bt1 million per square wah. The school is located on a 800-square-wah plot.

    Principal Phichitra Hengsakul denied yesterday that the school was selling out for commercial reasons, reiterating her complaint |that it was the encroachment of "social-vice" businesses - such as beer bars, pubs and guest houses - that was forcing it to close.

    Phichitra said Thanpuying Yoswadee Ampornpaisal, the founder of the school, had decided in December to shut it down at the end of the term because of the tide of vice that was lapping at the gates.

    Phichitra said the school was regarded as one of the top 20 in Bangkok 20 years ago when government offices were located in Bang Lamphu. When the offices were relocated and entertainment venues started moving in, the number of students began to decline.

    She said the school's reputation began to drop 10 years ago after the May 1992 bloodshed when more offices moved away and the number of students fell by half.

    Still it was not the loss of the offices so much as Khao San Road's transformation into a booming nightlife place two or three years ago that caused people in the neighbourhood to move away with their children.

    Not everyone in the area is buying Phichitra's explanation, though.

    "I don't think the unfriendly environment is the real reason. The school has walls so nobody is able to intrude and harm the students," said Issara Pojanee, manager of the nearby Chusri Guesthouse.

    "The land in this area is very expensive and sells for Bt1 million per square wah."

    Nevertheless, foreign tourists agree that the neighbourhood is no longer appropriate for schoolchildren.

    Michel Sorensen from Denmark said she didn't know the school was located on Khao San Road even though she walks past it everyday. She said it should be relocated because it should not be surrounded by beer bars.

    Australian Sophie Peacock said she was shocked to learn a school was located in the area. She said she had been staying on Khao San Road for a month but had only just found out yesterday that a school was located on the strip.

    She said students might not be harmed but it was not good for them to be exposed to such an environment and to see prostitutes every day.

    Source: Nation Multimedia

    • Like 1

    Adsl in bangkok, anyone?

    in IT and Computers

    Posted

    A friend of mine has satellite broadband from CS Internet - Shin Satellite. It works beautiful, but is very expensive.

    Setup: 20,000 Baht

    Monthly: 7,000 Baht

    Speed: 256K home / 128K upload

    IP Star Satellite Broadband in Thailand

    It works everywhere in Thailand, even without a telephone line. My friend lives on an remote island near Krabi with only electricity.... It's called Star Express light and has a 120cm parabol for bothe send and receive.

    How do i know if i am png?

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Some info from the excellent phuketgazette.com website:

    If a person is deported for fighting, being permitted to re-enter Thailand depends on how serious the injuries sustained in the fight were. If nobody is seriously hurt, then the person will be allowed to re-enter Thailand.

    However, if you seriously injure a person, then you will not be allowed to re-enter Thailand.

    On the same issue, in Thailand, as in other countries, murder is a crime. If you cause the death of a person, you will definitely not be allowed to re-enter the country.

    People deported for drug use will not be allowed to re-enter Thailand.

    People deported for overstaying a visa will be granted re-entry to Thailand. ”

    Saturday, February 8, 2003  Pol Lt Col Uraiwan Meeinkerd, Phuket Provincial Immigration Office.

    Crazy questions

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    1. Your home university would be able to issue you a letter as evidence for a Non-Immigrant visa.

    2. You can apply for a Thai visa in Quito:

    Royal Thai Consulate

    Robles 653 y Amazonas, Edificio Proinco Calisto, of 806

    Apartado 9400 Sucursal No. 7 Quito

    Tel: (005932) 563053, 560937

    Telex: (308) 22541 CALMQ ED

    Fax: (005932) 560937

    3. The Thai Consulate in Quito would be able to assist you, so you don't need to contact a Thai Embassy/Consulate in the US, even if that could be possible.

    Entry after deportation

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    Don't ask for access to the PNG-list (Persona Non Grata-list), they will propably not do this check for you.

    Just say nothing, apply for a Tourist visa, and see what happens.

    There is never any gurarantees, Thai Immigration included.

    I assume that you have changed passport since the deportation. What does the red deportation stamp in the old passport say?

    Easy to get multiple "o" in penang

    in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits

    Posted

    I just back from doing my first visa run to Penang, Malaysia in a long time. I normally go to the Thai Embassy in Cambodia, but of course that is no longer an option for the time being. I haven't written a trip report like this in a long time, but I think some of this infomation may be useful to some of you out there. So if I leave any important info out or if you have any questions, please let me know.

    On Tuesday night, I took the sprinter train to Had Yai at 10:50pm from Hualumpong Station in BKK. (*Note: there are no sleeper cars and dining cars on this train at all. All cars contain only 2nd class seats. The fare was abourt 570 baht one way.) I arrived in Hat Yai at about 12:30pm. As soon as I was off the train, I got approached by a dozen or so touts telling me about minibus service to Penang. I

    followed one just out of curiosity to see how much they are

    overcharging us farang these days. At the office the guy took me to (the one farthest to the left side across from the train station) told me it would cost 500 baht one way. I laughed in the guy's face and walked away to another office where I saw no touts leading farangs to.

    The woman there told me 350 baht, and I purchased a seat. Meanwhile 3 touts from the first place had followed me and started mouthing off to me in Thai, not realizing that I am pretty fluent in Thai. When I politely told them to "go to hel_l" in Thai, they left. :o

    The minibus was supposed to leave at 3pm, but they picked me up at 3:15 and took me to another travel agency first. I was told to get off there, fill out the immigration forms, and that we'd be leaving in "5 minutes". 45 minutes later, we're still there. Everyone had their forms filled out, but our driver was busy eating and watching TV. I guess it would have been too much to ask for the driver to eat before

    the scheduled departure time. Anyways, the minibus ride to the border took about an hour. We all hopped out of the minibus and walked up to the Thai immigration officer. He quickly stamped our passports and we hopped back in the truck and we continued down the road to the

    Malaysian Immigration post. (*Note: my minibus driver on the way down to Malaysia did not ask for an extra fee there at the border, but one of my guidebooks did warn about reports of some minibus drivers asking the passengers to pay 10-50 baht each as an extra fee for immigration at the border, and in fact I did get asked for one on my trip back.

    But, my advice is - do not pay! The drivers just pocket the money for themselves. 50 baht *12 people in a minibus adds up quickly. There is no fee necessary here. If you are asked to pay one, you are being scammed!) Again we got out of the truck, and this time took all our baggage with us inside the building. There was a longer line there, but it went pretty quickly. We had to put our baggage through an x-ray

    machine there, but that was pretty pointless, as the lone security guard there was more interested in reading the sports section of the newspaper than actually looking at the x-ray machine. Citizens from most countries are able to get into Malaysia free without a visa. I just showed him my passport and the immigration officer gave me a one

    month "social/business pass". Then I went out the other side of the building and got back in the minibus. The ride down to Penang from the border is about 150 kms, but the minibus driver was much slower than your average Thai driver, so it took about 2.5 hours. The first thing I noticed was the lack of chaos on the roads there in Malaysia compared to the roads in Thailand. The roads were very well kept - no

    potholes, no craters, undulating waves of asphalt, no undriveable left lanes that you find on all highways heading in and out of Bangkok, and even the grass and shrubbery all along the sides of the road were perfectly manicured. Everything just seemed a lot cleaner, more orderly, user-friendly, and more efficient.

    Malaysia is an hour ahead of Thailand, so we arrived in Georgetown (the main city on Penang island) at about 8:30pm. We got dropped off at KOMTAR (the tallest skyscraper in the city), and I took the #93 bus up north from there to Batu Ferringhi, a beach resort area about 30

    minutes from Georgetown. It was very busy up there, as lots of Malaysians were still enjoying their Chinese New Year holidays.

    (Penang in particular has a large Chinese population, in addition to the large Malay and Indian populations). There are many nice hotels in Batu Ferringhi, and if you have the bucks, I would highly recommend the Shangri-la. It looks amazing. I didn't have the bucks, unfortunately, so I booked a room online for the Ferringhi Beach Hotel for 118 Malaysian Ringgits a night. That's roughly about 1,300 Thai Baht a night. It was a very nice hotel, probably in the 3-4 star range. But, if you don't have your own transportation, it's kind of a

    pain, as it's isolated from the main area of Batu Feringhi by about 3 kms and you can't walk there to the main area of Batu Ferringhi because the road there is very narrow, windy, dangerous, and has no sidewalks. I spent lots of money on taxis going back and forth from the hotel to the main Batu Ferringhi area (10 Ringgit one way). From the hotel back to Georgetown costs about (18-20 Ringgit one way). The

    bus only costs about 1 Ringit to the main Batu Ferringhi area and 1.7 Ringgit to Georgetown, but they don't come around so often. Next time I go there, I will stay in a hotel right in the central area of Batu Feringghi or perhaps right in Georgetown. I had some delicious Indian food there and did some shopping. There are lots of street vendors

    selling all kinds of things. You can find DVDs there for 8 Ringgit each and audio CDs for 5 Ringgit!(much cheaper than in Thailand) But I wouldn't buy any new release DVDs there. Just like in Thailand, they're going to be the ones shot with a camcorder in a movie theater and really suck.

    The next morning I woke up early, had my free buffet breakfast at the hotel (*Note: don't expect any real ham, pork, or bacon there - it's a Muslim country. I had some eggs and turkey bacon, which wasn't that bad.) I took a taxi to the Thai Embassy in Georgetown (about 25 Ringgit) when it opened at 9am. There were several other farangs

    there doing their visa runs, too. What happened next really surprised me, though. I went there hoping only to get a 3 month non-immigrant visa. I am married to a Thai woman, so I brought a copy of my Thai wedding certificate down with me to show the consulate staff. The last time I had been down to Penang (about 6 years ago) I had to bribe some Indian guy outside the consular office to set it up so I could

    get a double-entry visa. Well this time I didn't see that Indian guy there again, so I figured I would only be able to get the single entry visa. And, sure enough I overheard the consular officer giving out mostly single entry visas and just one or two double entry visas to the farangs ahead of me in the line. One guy in front of me even asked the consular officer "what's the maximum amount of entries I can

    get here." The consular officer said "two". THat's why I was really surprised when it was my turn and the consular officer asked me how many entries I would like and if I'd like a one year, multiple entry visa. I, of course, said yes!! This is the first time I have ever been offered a one year multiple entry visa in a Thai consulate/embassy here in SEA. I have only been granted them before in the Thai consulates back home in the USA. And, I have heard from many other expats living in Thailand that getting a one year, multiple entry visa for Thailand here in SEA is basically impossible. But, he gave one to me, and I didn't even ask for it! He offered it to me first! I don't know why he gave it to me and not the others. When I

    asked the other farangs on my minibus back to Thailand, none of them got multiple entry visas. They all got single entry visas. It may be because of my marriage to a Thai woman, but I used that same marriage certificate before at the consulate in Penang 6 years ago and had to bribe someone to get the double entry visa. And, when in Phom Phen, I was actually denied even a single entry non-immigrant visa with my marriage certificate. I had to request a special meeting with the head consular officer there and plead my case to her before she finally gave in and gave me one. So anyways, I was really psyched that I was able to get a one year, multiple entry visa this time in Penang. If

    anyone else goes down there for a visa run, please let us know if you are offered the multiple entry visa, too. It's so much better to have a multiple entry visa, since you can just make a quick run to the border every 3 months, instead of having to request a new visa in a Thai embassy or consulate every time.

    I did have one small complaint about the visa application process there, though. You can only request the visa between 9am-12pm in the morning. Then you have to wait to pick it up between 2pm-4:30pm the next day. I asked and pleaded to be able to pick it up faster, but unfortunately I wasn't lucky with this one. It particularly sucks for

    those who are on a quick visa run and need to catch the train back to Thailand that same day. The train leaves Butterworth (the city on mainland Malaysia directly across from Penang island) at 2:25pm. It's impossible to get there in time. It takes about 40 minutes to drive to the Butterworth train station, due to traffic. So, the next day when I picked up my passport and visa from the Thai consulate, I took

    a taxi down to the Chinatown area of Georgetown and found a travel agency that arranges minibuses back to Had Yai. It cost 35 Ringgit (nearly the same as what it cost for the trip down to Penang). It left Georgetown at 3:30pm, and we got to the border at about 6pm.

    Again, it was very quick and easy leaving Malaysia. But this time when we got to the Thai border, there was a lot of traffic. It was a Friday night, and I guess there were lots of Malaysian guys heading up to Hat Yai for some fun they can't have in their own country. When we finally got to the immigration post, our minibus driver asked us to pass all of our passports up to him and give him a 10 baht fee each.

    Well everyone did so, except for me. I got out of the minibus and got my passport stamped on my own - without the ten baht fee. The Thai immigration officer never asked me for 10 baht, so obviously the minibus driver was just pocketing the cash. I don't particularly care about 10 baht. I can survive without it, but I don't like feeling scammed, especially knowingly being scammed and not putting up a

    fight. Nor do I like giving the scam artists the satisfaction of

    thinking all of us farang tourists are stupid and that they can cheat us at will. You may think I am being harsh, but I can speak Thai. I don't usually tell them at first that I can, because I want to hear what kinds of things they are saying about us and what they are truly thinking. I am often amazed at the unpleasant Thai words coming out of their mouths, all the while at the same time flashing us their famed

    "yim Siam" (Thai smile) to us and later saying something so sweet in English. Yes, Thailand is the "land of smiles", but you never know what truly lurks behind them...

    Well, it took another hour to get back to Hat Yai. Because of the time difference, we arrived at the train station in Hat Yai at about 6:15pm. (Thai time) The train leaving for Bangkok was scheduled to leave at 6:25pm, but I decided not to take it. I decided to take an 8pm bus instead.

    The bus is much quicker than the train. The train

    was due to arrive at 9:55am in Bangkok. I arrived in Bangkok at 6:30am. The bus fare was around 550 baht (one way).

    Well I guess that's it. Let me know if you have any comments or questions.

    Dan

    soc.culture.thai

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