Thanet

I'm sure that all the ambassadors will attend this meeting, smile, pose for photos, and agree with the dictator --- if they are forced to at gunpoint.

The generals just don't get it. The whole world despises them.

It depends on your definition of tourist, and whether immigration believes your definition

I think the basic concept is a good one, but for some reason its attracts some real nut cases, and the blackshirts and jack boots dont help either

The ones that pretend to be customers and help bust Go-Go bars really bug me.

Turning your own kind in to foreign authorities is a weird mentality. A bit like that of the Jüdische Ghetto-Polizei in WWII Poland, I guess.

Right - subsidies amount to fiscal suicide, in that they bet against uncontrollable and volatile global market forces, be they rice subsidies, fuel subsidies or whatever.

The cost of providing a welfare system is easier to predict, and targets segments of the population who need help the most.

Interesting that the Junta is copying the ruinous fiscal policies of the previous government.

you do realize that every government in the world subsidises its own agriculture in sensitive areas,

from usa to china, brazil to england you name it, their doing it.

and you can include many other industries

You are quite right. Many governments do subsidise agriculture. Look at the EU, for example.

That said, the EU is practically bankrupt, partly as a result of its unsustainable and flawed fiscal policy, and even the EU doesn't subsidise highly volatile commodity prices like oil and gas.

In the end, subsidies that have gone wrong and blown out the budget have to be paid for somehow, usually by higher taxation, which in turn puts a further brake on the economy.

The EU and also American system is more than just putting money in peoples hands, it also performs important social benefits and also replaces other types of payments that would be necessary if it wasn't paid as a subsisdy.

Without these payments there would be huge swathes of countries entirely enemployed and in poverty. The lot of a rural Greek, French or Italian farmer is not some gilded life of wealth.

By paying this money it keeps people in the villages where they live, it keeps a certain level of wealth in a town and maintains the social structure.

If the farms are in poverty everywhere arohnd will be in poverty. Then instead of paying the subsidy. What do you pay? Housing , unemployment benefits, and all the rest.

It is not a case of all subsidy bad, like fox news likes to portray.

Thank you for explaining. The EU social benefits programme and various other related policies must be working very well too, with youth unemployment approaching 50% in some EU countries, not to mention the recent implementation by the ECB of negative interest rates in an effort to forestall a deflationary spiral.

Utopia or hell on earth? I suppose that it depends on your point of view and personal circumstances. Personally, I'd rather be looking at it from afar than having to live within it.

The most sensible idea so far.

Right - subsidies amount to fiscal suicide, in that they bet against uncontrollable and volatile global market forces, be they rice subsidies, fuel subsidies or whatever.

The cost of providing a welfare system is easier to predict, and targets segments of the population who need help the most.

Interesting that the Junta is copying the ruinous fiscal policies of the previous government.

you do realize that every government in the world subsidises its own agriculture in sensitive areas,

from usa to china, brazil to england you name it, their doing it.

and you can include many other industries

You are quite right. Many governments do subsidise agriculture. Look at the EU, for example.

That said, the EU is practically bankrupt, partly as a result of its unsustainable and flawed fiscal policy, and even the EU doesn't subsidise highly volatile commodity prices like oil and gas.

In the end, subsidies that have gone wrong and blown out the budget have to be paid for somehow, usually by higher taxation, which in turn puts a further brake on the economy.

The most sensible idea so far.

Right - subsidies amount to fiscal suicide, in that they bet against uncontrollable and volatile global market forces, be they rice subsidies, fuel subsidies or whatever.

The cost of providing a welfare system is easier to predict, and targets segments of the population who need help the most.

Interesting that the Junta is copying the ruinous fiscal policies of the previous government.

George, I know I am not allowed to criticize the moderators, but as the puu yai baan (headman) of ThaiVisa, actually more akin to the phuu wa ratchakaan (governor) now that your website has grown from the early days, posting that particular political propaganda piece under the news section was, in the politest term I can come up with without being banned for life, terribly unbecoming.

At the risk of also being banned for life (but who cares if this is a biased forum) ....

Excellent response Johpa!

Thai politics is like a bucket of sewage - the Generals are giving it another stir so some new pieces of excrement can float to the surface.

The propaganda video got off to a very bad start by quoting Tony Blair, and got worse from then on.

Utter nonsense.

@ Thanet, there is always a danger in hijacking a thread that your question may be missed, it's always better to open a new thread or ask on a thread that is more relevant.

I suspect that a foreign currency account could be used, providing it meets the required standard required by the UKVI, thinking it through, if it didn't, a couple living together in Thailand with their savings here couldn't go down the savings route if they wanted to relocate to the UK.

The Entry Clearance Guidance mentions that a bank must be regulated where the funds are held.

1 The account is held within a bank or building society

2 The bank/building society is a financial institution regulated by the appropriate regulatory body for the country in which that institution is operating

3 The bank/building society is not on the list of excluded institutions under the Immigration Rules

4 The account is a current account or a savings account

5 Regular bank statements are provided

6 The statements cover the necessary time period required in the Immigration Rules

7 The savings are held in cash

8 The savings can be immediately withdrawn (with or without penalty)

9 The funds are under the control of the person and/or their partner for the necessary time period required in the Immigration

Rules

10The source of the funds is legal

11The source of the funds has been declared

The rules are fairly complex when using the savings route, so it's better to seek advice..

Thanks all, and apologies for the hijack. I'll start a new subject next time. I also just found this, which appears to answer my question (paragraph 3.5.1....

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/299103/Financial_Requirement_Guidance_20140324.pdf

Quick question, just supposing I ever wanted to take my Thai wife to live in the UK: Can foreign currency savings that exceed 62,500 pounds count towards the financial requirement? Most of my money is in Aussie dollars, but would not want to transfer it to the UK until partner visa was approved.

The money I have has been in my Aussie account a lot longer than six months. Can I show that as evidence, or do I have to transfer it to the UK and start the clock at zero?

Hi All,

I've got the old lifetime driving licences - one for a car and one for a bike.

They are both getting very old and shabby, and the photo no longer looks like me.

Can I still exchange them for new lifetime licences, or do they only issue replacement 5 year licences, even to lifetime licence holders?

Cheers,

3 months for each visit. My wife did it a couple of years ago.

Thanks for your reply. It was the reply I was hoping for.

BTW I just noticed I made a mistake when I typed Visa Grant Date 22.May 2015. It should have said 22.May 2014. Last date to Arrive is 22.May 2015. I will now have to rethink our itinerary for the next 12 months. We were planning to apply for a permanent residency visa later this year. I don't know if that is possible with her tourist visa expiring in May next year.

If you apply for PR, the tourist visa will still be valid until a decision is made on the PR application. Any substantive visa like PR, once granted, will cancel a visitor visa.

Well they have rounded up the 'opposition', given them a week to ponder their mistakes and sent them home, without travel documents.

More tellingly, the army has set a precedent here in removing a whole boat load of police officers. I may be wrong but I don't recall the army messing with the police in previous coups, much beyond replacing the high profile chiefs in Bangkok. This has been a wholesale 'slaughter' going as far as to eventually abolish the name Royal Thai Police. In addition, they have dismissed many governors and others from pretty much all the jurisdictions with any significant 'red' leanings. For all this ranting about reform and Thai politics being totally corrupt, I am not too surprised that the army has found absolutely no need to shunt any policemen or governors aside in the great blue south land.

So, with all the bastions of Thaksin support sufficiently swept clean, the army can set a timetable where we can be assured that the Democrats will inherit the earth (again)... up until the first democratic elections (again).

This is how the technique that the "Democrats" use to get their go at running the country. Elections never work for them, so they orchestrate a power grab instead, coerce opposition, and then take years to rewrite one or another constitution to replace the one that they wrote in the first place.

I think that the word for this system of government is "authoritarianism". Thailand calls it politics.

Immigration Commissioner Pharnu just got 'transferred' by the junta ...

Source...

Here... reported as part of a purge to install junta friendly figures in the police force.

let's see how farang friendly the new guy will be

EDIT: linking and quoting of bangkokpost is not allowed.

Immigration Commissioner Pharnu just got 'transferred' by the junta ...

Enjoy that wonderfull English weather ...

Washed down with a warm ale.

Warm Ale? You must be an Aussie.

We call it Real Ale. We were drinking it before refrigerators, and Australia for that matter, had been invented.

I wonder whether she will be treated as well by the Australian media as Schapelle Corby was.

Soldiers have guns, and know lots of people who have guns.

I'd swallow my pride and move out.

Such a different story to what is in the press outside of Thailand on this issue

Any links?

The BBC report it as a gateway problem,

Reuters quotes the Junta as confirming that they blocked Facebook. The article goes on to say that the Junta will be asking social networking sites to 'cooperate' with them (or else, presumably) ....

QUOTE

We have blocked Facebook temporarily and tomorrow we will call a meeting with other social media, like Twitter and Instagram, to ask for cooperation from them," Surachai Srisaracam, permanent secretary of the Information and Communications Technology Ministry, told Reuters.

"Right now there's a campaign to ask for people to stage protests against the army so we need to ask for cooperation from social media to help us stop the spread of critical messages about the coup," he said.

UNQUOTE

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/28/thailand-politics-facebook-idUSL3N0O91GU20140528

Posting this from the UK, so not sure whether those of you in Thailand will be able to access the above link.

I'm Thai and travelled from Bangkok to the UK on 24th May.

There were no problems leaving Thailand at all. I used the automatic gates at Suvarnabhummi and they were working normally.

For ordinary citizens, don't worry.

The Royal Thai Police may be dissolved and turned into a ministry ...

Wonder if they'll call it The Ministry of Love

He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.

Check his/her ID card - the new issue ones are in English and Thai.

If it says "Mr." then you can be reasonably sure that have just kissed another man. If is says "Miss" or "Mrs", then you are in the clear. Well, perhaps not in the clear with "Mrs" if her husband is still around.

Better to know now, than later though.

If in doubt, bail out.

I still come back to my previous post & another post I made re the topic of PR in LOS.

The information I received was that it was a no-go w/o a current WP. OA ("retirement visa") - NO -GO!

The paperwork - ridiculous.

Time - same -10 years.

"Tips" - I detest.

As per a previous poster, is it REALLY worth the effort given the above?

Of course, I would grab one if the task was not so great - 3 month checkup, 12 mth extension - not a gigantic task - BUT, I would be happy to do without.

Why on earth would you grab one, even if they gave them away for free?

You don't even like it here. You say that it's like an oven, nothing to do in the daytime, etc.

You only pay the 7600 baht application fee. Then you pay the fee for residence certificate after approval.

After you have residency getting divorced dose not change anything.

Good point - many other countries require that you pay the whole lot up front and you lose it all if your application is declined.