falang07

Everyone should move away from Phuket for some time, that would teach them a lesson. Very soon they would be sorry for these "crackdowns" with the local people left with no work and money from foreigners.

Also, one can be fertile, and trying for many years without success (like my unfortunate cousin). So this topic can be safely closed as not true, if there was any denial, definitely for some other reason.

I'm with immigration on this one,

No kids would mean no extension, unless a doctors certificate of infertility produced.

Lots of pretend foreigner marriages in Thailand.

This is very stupid comment. It is the couple's personal decision if they want to have children (especially in such a country as Thailand) and immigration and TV users who think otherwise should just mind their own business.

then do not go there and one number in the queue less

not for the tourist visa, I guess

http://www.thaiembassy.org/penang/contents/files/news-20140312-140619-382939.pdf

Just a quick note for those doing the calculations, do not forget there is also a yearly fee of 27,000 THB so it is 540,000 THB more for the 20 years option.

gerry1011, if you stay 11 years on TE already, it means you have the life-time version for 3M baht which was really worth it. Not comparable to the current offer at all. At the moment, much better to go with the investment visa, e.g. buy a condo for 5M and put 5M on a fixed deposit, or just simply put 10 on a fixed deposit and instead of loosing money, make even more.

Perhaps because it is an alternative to long term visa for those who need it. And TE gives you only 1 year temporary driving license, too. So it is really a temporary solution and some demand a permanent one.

Thanks, Joe, much appreciated. I will consider Ban Laem, too.

What if he did not get the visa and entered on a visa exempt entry, could he change to Non-B in Bangkok?

I need to go to Aranypratet and I go with my car since it is just about 3 hours of drive. Cambodia visa is no problem but I need to know if I get 30 days going back (I am from a country that should get 30 days on land borders) on a visa exempt and if I can go back the same day.

I want to change visa exempt entry into Non-O in Bangkok but since I currently have ED visa, I need to go out of the country (I wonder why ED can not be change to Non-O but tourist visa or visa exempt can). Can I do a trip to Aranyaprathet, cross to Piopet, play at casino a little and return the same day to Thailand? Anyone has a recent experience?

good to hear that no queue @ immigration, seems like the tourism authority was (again) telling the "truth" that tourism is recovering, as usual

Do not get me wrong, I spend over 1M baht a year in here so the money is not the biggest issue for me. I just do not like to feel like an <deleted> paying them 500k for a few temporary visa stamps without any guarantee for the future. I can fly (1 hour flight is no hassle at all) to get such stamps myself and enjoy the trips, too. I have better ways for spending my money than for this.

Yes, but I doubt this will stay long (having to go every year to get new visa), TE card sales were very low (much, much lower than estimated) and it seems they needed this crack down to stimulate the sell. and next year with ASEAN, I expect more options, too.

PS: ED visa extension 3800 baht every 3 months? Standard price is 1900. Re-entry is 1000 (if you need to leave Thailand).

Also do not forget that you can put 500k in a bank @ 4% for 5 years and after 5 years you get 608326 Baht, i.e over 100k more. And 2M after 20 years is 4.38M!!!

This means that paying upfront for many years instead of year by year is much more expensive than it would seem by simply dividing the price by the number of years.

...and multiply this by the number of years you plan to use TE (5 or 20) and you will see the big difference. I admit, though, that it is suitable for people who are lazy or unable to do it themselves, and prefer everything served, even though for exaggerated prices.

Just thinking out loud with some Math

Direct flight to Vientiane - 3k, in flight wifi

Agent to secure double entry with higher degree of success and deliver to your hotel - 5k

c'mon, your math has serious flaws:

Agent to secure double entry with higher degree of success and deliver to your hotel - 5k? 5000 baht for agent in Vientianne where everyone gets it anyway?

My math: ED visa 2000 Baht, school 15k per year, 4 * extension @ 1900, trip to Vientiane (flight to Udon Thani 2 x 690 Baht via Airasia) + bus to Vientiane a few hundred Baht, total not over 30k. Hotels are cheap there, make a trip from this and you get added value, too.

EDIT: PS: with the tourist visa it would be even cheaper

Well, this time they stumbled upon some of the actual decryption keys (and they admit they were a little lucky this time), no backdoor was used since they did not recover all of them so not everyone can be served with the proper key.

Indeed, ubonjoe, thanks for pointing this out. I did not realize the validity of visa is important only on the day of arrival to Thailand, not during the whole stay.

And after one is 50, TE is just useless.

Curious about your comment.

Why useless?

Simon (55 years old and very happy with my Elite visa)

I think that falang07 was just helping to keep this thread alive with yet another useless comment

After 50 one can get retirement visa very easy and for peanuts + it is guaranteed. That was my point. And 100k per year can be spent on other things.

if anyone is interested, here is how they did it: http://justhack.co.in/tag/evgeniy-bogachev

I wonder how they managed to find out the decryption keys...

this is very important information which basically means it is equivalent to single entry visa unless you need to travel abroad