johnsjourney

The online visa is enough for me not to come back.  I was about to return for a few months, after more than 6 months in UK, looked at the site which lost my saved state, and then considered the undefined risk of being turned back as unthinkable.

They offer a METV valid for six months plus last entry, but decline entry to people for staying that kind of duration.  Once they make it clear how to avoid rejection at the border, as other countries do, I'll be there.

I'm not waiting, getting my SETV today.  If they do improve the system, the border runs will make up for not having a double tourist visa.

This seems to be an admission that the change from unlimited border runs, and removal of simple multiple tourist visas a couple of years ago was a mistake.  But whether and how soon they correct it is unknown.

They will be thinking through the evidences needed for easier long stays, like do they ask us to show more money or more traveling plans, hopefully the former as the latter reduces flexibility.

Signed even though I'm not a retiree yet, or even planning to have a regular income when I am, so will do the 800k.  UK really needs to be attentive to it's expats who will be happy to compensate for the service.  We're a growing constituency imo.

Well mine is filling up and it sounds like I will have to go back all the way to the UK for a new one as I don't have required evidence of Thai residence, as I only rent here and in other countries as a perpetual tourist.  It used to be possible to get it done here.

I don't think they will do this.  It won't increase tourism, so it's just a question of how significantly it reduces.

I think the cost of lost tourism will be greater than the money saved from rare medical bailout cases.

They have been doing free tourist visas for this very reason.  A lot of people have considerable savings and will prefer to cut out the middleman who in the long run will make a profit from this, so this is an extra cost for them and a reason to chose another country.  Also a lot of hospitals are actually very good value.

The greatest risk is probably motorcycle accidents, and the insurance I have seen does not cover the case of not having a local driving licence.  The numerous police stops are proof a considerable number of tourists have chosen not to have this (paying police can be cheaper or less hassle for example, especially for a short holiday).

So if forced to pay for a policy that probably won't cover the greatest risk, they'll chose another country or just see it as a cost and hassle in the decision process.

Of course for most people it makes sense to be insured, and to have a local driving licence or international one, but a large minority will see this as enough reason not to visit Thailand.

Technically illegal to work online in Thailand, but in practice it is tolerated at some immigration areas more than others.  I would not recommend Phuket or Hua Hin for example, but Chiang Mai would be fine, but I also agree don't mention it if not necessary.  It is of course a grey area as many high value tourists have to respond online while on a normal holiday.  The key thing in implementation is is it an issue for local people and the sort of tourists an area decides to attract or discourage.

Apparently there is a limit of 6 flight arrival visa exemptions, even in a multi-year period, to avoid extra questioning and showing money or even possible refusal, so I avoid using these myself as it doesn't seem to be a good long term strategy.  If doing this then next year you may need to carry more evidence to be safe.

I think whichever way you do it will be fine.  If I was in my home country I'd apply for tourist visa even if there was half a chance of denial.  All there is to lose is the fee and a couple of passport pages.  It might be more trouble getting one in a long queue in Laos for example.

If you're coming from home country I think it's ok for a month in Thailand, visiting another country and having another month with no visas, that would be normal tourism.  Once the pattern is longer term, I'd continue with tourist visas or land border visa exemptions, since land crossings are limited to two a year they are automatically less risky to immigration as cannot be used forever.  I haven't yet been questioned doing these and my passport is full of tourist visas.

I don't think the Air Asia flight would be a problem, a normal way to travel around.

that's for google.com

Yes google IP address has changed.  Previously half hour ago DNS pointed to 74.125.68.17 in Chicago, and was blocked, now points to 43.245.144.226 in Bangkok, not blocked

google.com back up and running (google.co.th was ok previously) so this seems to be getting restored slowly

http://tech.thaivisa.com/technical-glitch-leaves-3bb-customers-unable-to-access-google-services-on-saturday/21462/

same problem on True mobile internet.

Ping is failing on all the google sites (gmail, blogger, google, youtube) but also apple.com (using Chiang Mai 3bb).  There's an article on Thai Visa News but it's too slow to access.  Was starting to have Apple site issues last night.  I did get a couple successful pings on gmail.com so I suspect it's not a complete block but a bandwidth issue.

$45 would make a difference when booking a flight, it's part of the same package many people will total up when comparing destinations

54 minutes ago, F4UCorsair said:

I can't Imagine $25 making a difference unless a traveler was tossing up between two SE Asian countries, and the visa cost for  the other was $100.00, and he  didn't have a strong preference for one or the other.  Too many If's.

The news item says " had resulted in a 12% increase in foreign tourist arrivals ".

As with any business drop the price even a little bit and get more customers.  It is a surprising improvement though, perhaps they should drop visa extension charges too :)

tribalfusion001: fair point, edited

Here we go for UK travelers. I've just got back from the Cardiff consulate and manged to ask them to print this out. More details on my site on how I think people can run with this especially on the finances. I travel so much for my non Thai business that single tourists between trips would do for me. I thought I'd post the pic here too.

I think the government would take tax from Tesco Lotus and many others over putting pressure on safety for individual tourists abroad.

Don't the embassies primarily support British businesses abroad? I think the answer is in business relationships.

While the government can ignore many voters business is more sensitive to public image. Their Thailand association is affiliated to the government body that is appeasing hazard to expats.

Tefal brand, Baan and Beyond in airport plaza car park.

Looks smarter than usual brands, 800 baht has a near silent quiet mode. I still need the normal number 1 to keep mosquitos away, which is still quiet enough to get used to. I hope this brand succeeds because I think the product is way better than the others.

I doubt this is incompetence, so who gains? And even if they don't gain, who has leverage? This lot? https://members.bccthai.com/bcct/asp/loginfailed.asp Would it give them a fright if their names were associated because of the government's implication that they are?

I use it every month but spend less minutes a day on it than previous years.

Monthly active users might be going there less frequently within the month, perhaps.

We cannot know what is happening in detail but something negative is going on.

It's number of Google searches. So users may be up but the number of times the go in via Google is falling, which only means that.

No scale but you can compare with other sites like YouTube.