Direktkaoz

On 2/6/2021 at 9:05 AM, soisanuk said:

I am a bit surprised they didn't require you to watch the "video" as part of the process.

90% of the foreigners I was with during the reaction test had to watch the video.

The difference between them and those who didnt have to watch, from what I observed was the color of the queue cards we received after handing in the documents.

Those with the black queue cards didn't have to watch the video and those who got pink queue cards were sent into the room. 

Unfortunately, I don't know what the discerning factor is in getting the black card vs the pink ones.

2 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Great post and we can now believe reservations months in advance are no longer required?

That is correct. I prepped all my documents beforehand and I just showed up to the DLT. Got the whole ordeal over with in a single visit.

I put this in the Pattaya forums but I thought it could help others out.

Renew 2 year License to 5 year. Pattaya Report 2021 February
Today I went to renew my drivers license for both car and motorcycle at Banglamung DLT. I didn't make any reservations beforehand and it was my first time coming here in 2 years.

Arrived at the DLT around 8:10 AM and there was a small line outside for foreigners. A lady outside will give you a queue number and you wait until your number is called. She will call out numbers 5 at a time. I was number 15 on the queue, so I got to go upstairs on the 3rd call.

After going upstairs I gave the lady my documents.

Here are the documents I gave her, she took them all and returned none:

1 Passport
2 x copies of passport info page
2x copies of my current extension stamp
2x copies of my TM7 arrival card
2x copies of my entry Visa
2x copies if my drivers license front and back (1 if car license and the other of motorcycle license)
1x hard copy resident certificate from immigration + 1 color photocopy of it
1x hard copy medical certificate + 1 color photo copy of it

After I handed her the documents, she handed me a black queue card. I was number 8 in the queue. 
I had to sit down and wait by counter 14 where they give you a color blind test, brake reaction test, and the 2 sticks test. 

I waited about 10 minutes for the Thai group to do their test and I was the 2nd foreigner group to get tested. Our test began at about 9:30. 

After the test, I waited for another 10 minutes for my queue number to be called out (the man testing you takes your queue card so remember your number), he will then hand you your passport along with some documents to sign. You then go to counter 2 to pay. I paid 760 baht (or 740, i forget). 2 minutes after that I got my photo taken and then after another 5 minutes was out of there with my brand new 5 year license.

This is the most recent info at Banglamung DLT as of February 5 2021.

Hope this helps.

The cheapest and fastest way to transfer money from abroad would actually be through the use of blockchain technology. You can create an account on bx.in.th and link your thai bank account there. You can purchase Litecoin using USD from coinbase and wire it over to the bx.in.th wallet. The wire usually takes 5 minutes. You then sell the LTC that you received on the Thai exchange for THB and withdraw it to your Thai bank account. Using this method you can send as little as you want or as much as you want and only incur about 50 cents in fees for the transfer. You may incur fees when purchasing Litecoin on coinbase but you can avoid this entirely by just using gdax and setting limit buy orders which has 0 fees. (Reason I say Litecoin and not Bitcoin is that Bitcoin fees are very high)

Also if I were to bring in a hard copy of a signed resignation, would you happen to know if it can be in just English or would it have to be translated to Thai as well?

You don't have any rights, you left your employment.

Are you saying that I don't have any rights to the salary that I busted my arse for the entire month of March?

My main goal here is to get what is owed to me without getting screwed over. I am not trying to give the school a hard time, nor am I seeking severance pay from the school.

It's hard to believe that I don't have any rights to the money that is contractually owed to me, when I've fulfilled all my duties during my tenure.

I am sorry, I was not clear but this isn't a visa issue. I already flew out of the country on the last day of my tenure and came back with the proper visas.

Sorry, but a test message is not an official letter of resignation. Surprised an adult would think it is.

In the United States all forms of electronic communication including e-mail and text messages are acceptable forms of resignation, as long as you make it clear to the other party of your intent.

At the time, I wrote the resignation letter, I was out of the country and was just informed of my family obligations. I thought the most professional thing to do here was to get the message across to the school in a timely manner so they could find a replacement as soon as possible. Writing an e-mail would not have achieved that goal since the school never checks their e-mail.

Over the course of several jobs in the States, I have given resignation letters in person and some by e-mail, all of them on good terms. The difference with the States and in Thailand is that in the States, my boss and I would communicate via e-mail on a regular basis, whereas in Thailand we communicated through text messages. My text resignation wasn't like "F you, I quit." Rather, it was a very long text message thanking them for the opportunity and informing them how much I've enjoyed working with them, and how I learned so much. I don't see how what I did was unprofessional, except for the fact that it had to be delivered in an electronic format due to the circumstances.

What seems to be unprofessional is the school's response to my resignation and their threats of withholding my salary. Maybe consider contributing to the topic by giving some advice instead of flaming me without seeing the whole picture.

I have been teaching at a private school for the past two years on a fixed term contract of which starts in May and ends on the 30th of March.

Due to family obligations, I've decided to not renew my contract and I've sent the director of the school a letter of resignation via text message on the 3rd of April; in which he told me that he understood.

I have completed my obligations until the last day of my contract, however, the school is refusing to pay me my salary for the month of March unless I go to the school and sign another letter of resignation written by them and also stipulated that I hand in my work permit which has already expired.

I am a bit reluctant to sign such a document fearing that I will give up my rights in doing so, especially since the document will most likely be in Thai.

Should I just sign the letter and collect my salary? Or should I write my own letter stating that "as of April 1st I will not be renewing the contract"?

Or should I just not sign anything because I've already sent a letter in which the employer has already acknowledged, and demand my salary which is rightfully mine?

Also, should it be a problem handing in my expired work permit to school or should I not worry about it?

Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a million.

Thanks for the replies. I will just write student as I plan to go on to graduate school. I will let you know what happens.

I have been going to Lopburi immigration for over three years. 90 day reporting is very fast, takes about 5 minutes on average. Ive had it done in less than 2 minutes on some occasions where I was the only person reporting.

Extensions can take up to an hour depending on the amount of people ahead of you. I find it more empty around 10 am to 11:30 am than it is on the afternoons.

And yes, I almost flipped out once doing a 90 day report as I was the third person in the queue and the two people ahead of me brought in like 40 passports each.

I will be applying for a tourist Visa on the 31st of March and noticed on the occupation section it says to specify current position and name of employer.

My teaching job ends on the 30th and won't be renewing a contract.

Should I just write unemployed or do I write my last job?

I was going to write teacher but theres that part that says current position and employer so I am not sure.

Any input would be appreciated.

So my situation is that, I asked immigration if I can cancel the extension on my own if I bring a receipt of cancelling my work permit and they told me "not without a letter from the school." Which I wont be able to obtain.

I still am officially working as I still need to hand in the grades and my employer has not yet notified the department of labor.

It seems that a border run for a tourist visa is not an option in my situation... am I correct?

What would then be my best course of action?

Would handing in the grades at the last day of my wp/extension of stay and then immediately flying out to Vientianne be an option? It is to my understanding that if I flew out on the last day of my extension it would automatically cancel my extension, would it not?

Also if I did it this way would I run into problems getting a tourist visa in Vientianne the following day?

Also one last thing, would I have to come back to cancel my wp after it has expired?

Thanks in advance.

Thank you ubonjoe.

Assuming I cancel the wp and extension on my own and my employer doesn't cancel it on her end. Could I do this on the last day of its validity? Or should I be cancelling on the 17th of March; the day after my last day of work?

I have a work permit and extension of stay which ends on March 31st. I will be working until the 16th of March. My school wanted me to stay for another year but, I politely declined. The school director is not happy with this and is now refusing me a letter of termination.

I am planning to do a border crossing and apply for a tourist visa to stay here for another couple months but from what Ive read from the forums I will be sent back if I dont first cancel my extension at my local immigration office. Also in order to cancel my extension I require this letter do I not?

What are my options?

Also if I were able to cancel it on my own would I be able to cancel it on the 30th/31st and apply for a 7 day extension? Or would I have to do this on the 16th?

My school director is very lazy so I doubt she would cancel it on her own.

I know I can cancel a work permit on my own but I'm not sure about the extension

Thank you in advance.

Update: First of all thanks to the people who replied to my post.

Today I went to the ministry of labor in Lopburi, with my receipt. As digitalchromakey said, I was expecting to get rejected because my permission to stay in Thailand has expired for two days.

When my turn came up they asked me for my passport, and I was thinking "crap , here comes the rejection lecture". Instead, they just put a stamp in the back of my passport, took my 3000 baht fee and sent me away with a brand new work permit.

However, my worries didn't end there as I still overstayed my non b Visa and I still had to clear things up at Lopburi immigrations. The biggest worry being; the issue of extending a non b that has been overstayed.

At Lopburi immigrations, the same lady who advised me to overstay the two days took care of me. She looked through all my documents and my new work permit and asked me why I came in so late. I then explained to her about how she was actually the one who told me to come in today, and thankfully she remembered. She took my 1000 baht late fee along with the 1900 baht application fee and after a few minutes she stamped my passport with an extension to be allowed to stay until March 30, 2014. I also signed 3 or so documents written in Thai, (looked like a criminal report form) and I'm pretty sure it was related to clearing up my 2 day overstay.

All in all it was a pretty good experience, the lady at Lopburi immigration was super generous. I really didn't want to do another non b visa run as the school would've taken ages just to get the papers in order. Saved me around 10k baht.

Thanks to Ubonjoe once more, your advice was right on point.

Thanks for the quick reply ubonjoe.

I was a bit confused because I read on another thread that your work permit expires when your non b expires. I just wanted to be on the safe side. If that means paying an extra 900 baht to save the hassle from getting a new non b at Laos, I would rather go that route.

I went to the the Ministry of Labor and applied for a work permit this past Friday. All documents were in order, I paid 100 baht. I' ll be able to receive the blue book on Thursday August 22nd.

I then took the receipt and went to Lopburi Immigration on the assumption that I can receive an extension based on the work permit receipt. According to the immigration officer though, she said I must have the physical blue book in hand to apply for an extension. She asked me when my visa expires and I told her it expires on Tuesday August 20th. Instead of recommending me to get a 7day extension, for 1900 baht, she recommended me to come in two days late with the blue book in hand and 1000 baht for overstaying. She said she would be able to extend my non b for 1900 baht, even though it would have expired for two days.

My question is, is this even possible? Should i go tomorrow to extend my visa for 7 days? Or should i take the immigration officer' s advice?

Any help would be much appreciated.

I am sure that there are many people in this world that use cannabis for medicinal purposes that have been backed up by doctors and clinical trials, however it is sad to see how some countries' laws have labeled a rather harmless plant as a hard drug. Everybody knows that the use of alcohol causes way more problems than cannabis. Alcohol users are known for their violence and their inability to make reasonable decisions if drank over their threshold.

The use of medicinal cannabis is often looked down upon and disputed but there are many proven and known benefits of it to treat glaucoma, to piqué an appetite in AIDS and chemotherapy patients, and for pain relief. (I'm sure there are other benefits that I can't think of off the top right now.)

Knowing that there is a legal alternative for these benefits is great news for people who are living in a country with strict drug laws. They can get relief without the harassment of the law (at least for now.)

To my knowledge even if medicinal marijuana is prescribed in their home country from a doctor, under no circumstances would they be able to legally obtain it here as it is a category V controlled substance.

SWIM just got his order of spice today without any issues.

In fact there is a supplier in Thailand that imports a lot of this stuff and indeed has a website promoting these legal products. For now I'm guessing that there is no problem as far as obtaining these products.

Also SWIM had a phone conversation with the supplier and was told that JWH 018 is 100% legal in Thailand, and that there are many people that order into Thailand from their website.

Of course SWIM is not the authority on the law and YMMV.

Thank you for the response guys.

Clokwise, I know exactly what you mean regarding the law in Thailand. Even if something wasn't explicitly illegal in Thailand, the way the Thai authorities are, it can be very difficult as they seem to just make up their own rules and regulations. After all "This is Thailand."

BTW SWIM knows that JWH 018 can be very unpleasant past his threshold.

SWIM's friend who weighs around 35 pounds less than SWIM experimented the same dosage as SWIM, around 5-7 milligrams.

SWIM's friend started to have heart palpitations and felt extremely nauseous as if SWIM's friends' world was spinning.

SWIM's friend is a regular cannabis user and claims that it is the highest he's ever been albeit, it was his first time trying JWH 018.

I heard that salvia divornum is completely legal in Thailand from this forum and people get it mailed from the U.K. all the time. Customs even checks it and just puts a duty tax on it.

To my understanding, salvia divornum is a hallucinogen, so wouldn't that classify salvia divornum as a psychotropic substance / narcotic?

After reading the link you provided meom, I'm guessing that since jwh 018 is a chemical it would be illegal to import it into Thailand without a license.

But if SWIM were to buy some of the legal herbal smokes, the ingredients would only contain dried herbs that are legal worldwide.

Albeit there MIGHT be some trace amounts of jwh 018 sprayed on the legal herbs: however weight wise it would be at a ratio of 1 gram of LEGAL herb to perhaps 3 mg of JWH 018.

Would someone really get arrested for having 1 gram of dried basil / green tea leaves on them?

Could there be technicalities that would allow someone to order this in Thailand?

First of all, the main use for JWH 018 is as a bonzai plant fertilizer. (it just happens to react with the cb1 and cb2 receptors)

Also when it is sold, it is clearly marked that it is "Not for human consumption."

Under these grounds, could someone be able to order it for the purpose of fertilizing plants?

I don't know if you guys are aware of it, but there is a synthethic cannabinoid known as JWH 018.

It is supposed to react with the cb1 and cb2 reactors, the same way as with THC in marijuana.

The stuff is supposed to be several times more potent than THC itself.

But it is legal in most countries as it doesn't contain THC itself; it is usually sprayed onto legal herbs such as damiana leaves and marshmallow leaves or smoked in the pure powder form itself.

What I wanted to know is if this substance is legal in Thailand. As of right now JWH 018 is banned only in a few states in America, S. Korea, Japan, Australia, and the U.K. (as with a few other countries that I haven't listed) and the legislations for the bans have been made only recently, in the last year or so. However, no matter how much I searched the Internet I couldn't find any literature, regarding Thailand and JWH 018. Nothing on google and wikipedia didn't mention anything about it being banned in Thailand.

Any ideas?

I wanted to order some online and the supplier insured me that it is legal in Thailand and referenced me to the website of the royal Thai embassy of Canada, and indeed the chemical (1-​pentyl-​1H-​indol-​3-​yl)-​1-​naphthalenyl-​methanone (which is the chemical structure of JWH-018) was not listed in any of the banned substances.

Is this the legal alternative to marijuana in Thailand?

Would I run into any problems with the authority if I were to get some mailed to me?

Does anybody know the legal status of JWH 018 in Thailand?

What do you guys know / think?