Deaw

Wow, thanks a lot Ubon!

A friend actually told me to send you a PM when I sent him a letter about all this, what a coincidence you replied!

cheers

6 hours ago, yogi100 said:

Thanks everyone. In my passport it says it's a Non Immigrant Visa, Category O.

 

The Embassy web site is about as clear as mud.

  Boy, do I agree with that! And every city seems to have a different set of rules on their site. Some clearly haven't been updated.

Yank here, same as the OP I never had a problem getting the Type O Non-Im Visa at the consulate in Boston, 4 or 5 times; as recently as early 2014 I got it and spent the year there, but have spent all of 2015 and most of 2016 in the states. Single guy, 54, no family there.

Want to go back again  from November till next October but everyone tells me the rules have all changed, and I should try for a MREV instead which is only 9 months. I really liked the Type O....going out every 90 was perfect, by then I was ready to go out for a few days anyway. Not ready for the long-term retirement deal and would prefer not to tie up 23K in a Thai bank if possible.

 Thanks

I lived on Koh Phangan for 5 years and saw this a dozen times; Thai men/boys always attack in groups, it's like they never heard of a one-one-one deal or they are too wimpy to engage someone on their own.

Once the punches and feet start flying their spineless buddies start in and it becomes mob rule, usually 4 or 5 or more guys against one hapless, usually drunk farang.

The name for a female cat comes to mind, I hope these clowns get a taste of their own medicine in the monkey house.

Alcohol is the worst drug in the world by far

She has 2 brothers who are uneducated; they will be wanting/needing money some day, as will cousins, uncles and nieces.

Family always number one to a Thai family. Be prepared to help.

How old is she? What's her educational background? Does she have children? How wealthy is the family?

she''s approaching 40, got a degree from Ramkemheng, her dad passed away when she was young, her 2 brothers aren't as well educated, I wouldn't describe them as rich or high so, just an ordinary work a day family, she's not got kids, not been married before (at least not admitting to it), having seen her visa application I believe that to be true.

the rules of engagement...

1. buy an golden engagement ring

2. present the wedding ring with a small amount of cash, 50k would do, in presence of her daughter, to the mother and hold a small traditional engagement ceremonie..

3. set the price for the dowry and a date for wedding. if she is a caretaker of her family, and never been married, then it ranges between 100k and 300k

4. respect her Thai traditional values , the same as you would like her to respect yours in your country...

5. take care of the mother financially, same as the girlfriend did before... monthly between 3 and 6k.

follow the rules, be an happy man...

And once the family back in Thailand finds out what kind of money the guy makes- even if he's working an average job he's wealthy compared to the typical Thai - you really don't think this monthly rate will go up? You think Mum will be happy with a measly 5K baht when her friends and family members find out the western guy makes 2 million a year?

Despite a few of the "my relationship/marriage with a Thai worked out great in the long-term" stories, from what I have seen in my 16 years of travelling to and living in Thailand it's more common that THIS happens;

Friend from Canada meets a "good girl" from Buriram - they agree to get married desoite her being 22 and he being 45 [ who do you think is getting the better end of that deal?] and him being from a country thousands of miles away with crappy weather half the year. All in, from courting to marriage in Hong Kong, to immigration lawyers and bribes [she was Cambodian by birth] airfare, etc..... it costs my buddy 25 grand US dollars. I don't think he paid any kind of dowry but can't really be sure.

So she gets to Toronto and for the first 6 months everything is great! Honeymooners, you know......but then she wants to go home to "see Mum." Ok, at first the visits are for a month or so, and she comes right back. Then the trips to see Mum last 2 months, then three; the last time she went before they split up was 6 months! And while the weather was great in Canada and rainy in Thailand, from June to November.

She finally announces she's had enough - hey, she gave it 3 and 1/2 years, give her a break - and moves to Montreal where she gets work in a strip club and makes 500 bucks a night. Someone has to tell me the incentive for her to stay with the guy twice her age in Toronto; and don't say Love, that's completely absurd as well all know when it comes to feeding their family.

The guy was heartbroken and bewildered; he thought he had met the girl of his dreams to settle down with and have kids, etc......she knew she found the proper sucker who would take her away from poverty and give her what she really wanted; a western passport.

Moral of the story; dowry or not, you start taking Thai girls to the west and if you finally marry one they will get what they want in the end. They always do.

Pattaya all by itself brings shame to the country.

very questionable what he is doing with the girls.

You mean extorting poor Issan people of the little income they have for "protection"? Protection from what, exactly, I have no idea. Most of the sex workers are more street smart than this moron will ever be.

Taking them to his room and posting semi-nude photos on his multiple social networking accounts? Naaaaa, he's a great guy, deserving of our gratitude for taking on the mean ol' police department! Reading here is sometime a head-shaking experience, how anyone can defend this POS is beyond me.

"It is about time something is done. Publicly telling the world how you break the law in your host country should never be accepted in any country. IMHO"

Let's hope other posters have little more common sense

Ouch, coming from some clown hiding behind his keyboard reading Thai Visa, that really hurts.

So, you have all the proof you need to convict the local police just by reading a few articles on the internet, the legal process be damned.....are you this dumb in real life, or just online?

"It is about time something is done. Publicly telling the world how you break the law in your host country should never be accepted in any country. IMHO"

Well, that's my point as well. This guy seems to be a minor celebrity in certain ex-pat circles, when all he is is some law-breaking pimp who is admitting to breaking the law in numerous places, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube amongst them. Doesn't seem to have a work permit or any visible means of legal income, and he's surely not naturalized.

Lets flip the tables here and say there was some large, loud, obnoxious Thai dude hanging around Bondi beach; no Aussie passport, not working, admitting to breaking laws and screwing hookers, "protecting" {IE extorting} them, doing steroids, acting like a total A-hole to the police and local authorities, etc......just how long would you Aussie's put up with it? My guess is that Thai guy would have been shipped out a long time ago.

So, Thailand, what are you waiting for? Trash like this needs to be swept into the gutter once and for all.

So you bothered by what he is or what he says but NOT bothered but blatant police corruption and cover up ?

And you know this, how? Because HE said so? Because HE took two Aussie guys to the police station with cameras to complain?

Not sure if you'd want to be hanging your argument on some guy who freely admits on a daily basis that he is a law-breaker in a foreign land.......now he's complaining that the people who aren't able to bust him for doing all that illegal crap every day are now doing illegal things to him.....where I come from we call that "the pot calling the kettle black" or even "you reap what you sow." And frankly I trust this clown about as much as I trust the Thai police.......meaning, of course, zero.

Hey, if he has a legit complaint hire a farang lawyer and go through the legal process properly, as we all know yelling and making a scene is NOT the way to do things in Thailand.

"It is about time something is done. Publicly telling the world how you break the law in your host country should never be accepted in any country. IMHO"

Well, that's my point as well. This guy seems to be a minor celebrity in certain ex-pat circles, when all he is is some law-breaking pimp who is admitting to breaking the law in numerous places, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube amongst them. Doesn't seem to have a work permit or any visible means of legal income, and he's surely not naturalized.

Lets flip the tables here and say there was some large, loud, obnoxious Thai dude hanging around Bondi beach; no Aussie passport, not working, admitting to breaking laws and screwing hookers, "protecting" {IE extorting} them, doing steroids, acting like a total A-hole to the police and local authorities, etc......just how long would you Aussie's put up with it? My guess is that Thai guy would have been shipped out a long time ago.

So, Thailand, what are you waiting for? Trash like this needs to be swept into the gutter once and for all.

{Hey Tim, if you're reading here, bet you had to look up "troglodyte"didn't ya?} So did I.

Fits him perfectly, eh?

I only heard of that loser by reading here; he seems to fancy himself as someone important on those youtube videos but he's really just a knuckle-dragging cretin, the worst kind of people Pattaya is world-famous for.

This guy's been kicking around Pattaya for years, anyone know what he does for cash?

Work permit? Real job? He seems to just go to the beach and walk around all day with no shirt on.

Apparently he claims to charge bar girls 500 baht a week and in return he offers them protection from there punters, basically a PIMP, not my words but his.

Apparently he takes care of 350 girls so thats 175000 baht a week tax free. No wonder the police are pissed at him, hes treading on there toes.

Go to you tube and type in Tim Ward and then watch his video named pimp, its all there.

So, no work permit, no visible [legal] means of support.

Ship his pathetic, ugly, troglodyte, steroid-filled ass back to Oz. {Hey Tim, if you're reading here, bet you had to look up "troglodyte", didn't ya?}

He's admitting on Youtube he's breaking the law, I hope the creep gets deported.

This guy's been kicking around Pattaya for years, anyone know what he does for cash?

Work permit? Real job? He seems to just go to the beach and walk around all day with no shirt on.

Shouldn't be too hard for these clowns to doctor the evidence, no?

After a week or three the Brits go home, convinced that their Thai counterparts have been upfront and truthful with them, while those 2 Brmese boys either rot in a cell or ''commit suicide'' somewhere along the way.

Does anyone really believe the BIB will allow British authorities to overturn their findings in this case? Not bloody likely!

So what's the plan, then? Anything constructive would be welcome.

It just seems to me that by now the Thai police have been able to doctor/fix the evidence any way they see fit, so that by the time the Brits look it all over it will be perfect.

You really think they are going to willingly show them any evidence which does NOT support their case 100%? I don't know what 'the plan' is, I don't work for CSI, but being truthful and upfront is not part of it!

Shouldn't be too hard for these clowns to doctor the evidence, no?

After a week or three the Brits go home, convinced that their Thai counterparts have been upfront and truthful with them, while those 2 Brmese boys either rot in a cell or ''commit suicide'' somewhere along the way.

Does anyone really believe the BIB will allow British authorities to overturn their findings in this case? Not bloody likely!

1 think I am sure of, I'm yet to run into anyone Thai or farang who believes this ending yet. I don't mean nameless and faceless trolls on here, I mean real people.

........and you certainly won't run into any Burmese who think this is the real ending, either.

I lived on Phangan for 6 high seasons and met dozens of Burmese, always really friendly and nice and just there to earn a decent living, doing jobs the Thai's wouldn't. Of course there are bad apples, there are in every nationality, but it stretches the limits of credulity for one to believe this was done by some kids from Myanmar. Rape and murder just don't seem to be hard-wired into their DNA.

Some lawyers and investigators from the UK or at the very least the United Nations need to get involved in this. Scotland Yard?

I think you can take to civil court. I would go and face them directly and ask for the deposit. Go in with a few mates and not leave until you receive.

If I were there that is what I would do, in fact I am quite sure I would have my money by now had I just moved to another location in Jomtien.

Fact is I am back in the states now and no plans to go back there, maybe for good, but at least for a year or three.

Understood Jay, if I had time to give a one-month notice I would have, but I had to get out of there quickly. I would think [but of course be wrong] that the month I paid for in July when I was not even in there would kind of work as a notice. Managements DID know why I came home and I made it clear around the 20th of July that I wouldn't be coming back.

I would think under the circumstances, which I laid out for them in detail and even included a service card from the local newspaper for my ex-wife, along with a scan of my passport, that these guys would be nice and understanding about things. As usual, TIT

Good luck dont let them off easily as that just gives them a green light to do this again.

As I said, I am retired; this is literally just the first step of many and I won't leave these guys alone until I get that money, I have plenty of time.

Why are there so many scammers involved in property here?

Honestly, I was going to start a thread with a title similar to this, but I know a lot of the sponsors for this forum are real estate companies.

So that may not go over so well with the management here. But for sure, I noticed it this past year when I moved into the Pattaya/Jomtien area; seems as though many of the farangs who operate down there are short on scruples and large on greed.

Oddly enough, I spent 2006-2012 on Koh Phangan - of all places - and never had an issue; in fact, my last landlord down there was from Germany and was a really nice guy.

These guys......jeeesh, they have photos on their website of them accepting some kind of half-arse awards from the local chamber of commerce; I wonder if those chamber people would still be giving them awards if they knew they basically ripped off their customers?

Quick backstory here, and no names as I know the mods wouldn't like that;

Been going to Thailand for 12 high seasons now, spent this past one in Jomtien. Was planning to stay longer this time and was on a one-way ticket. I am 52 years old and retired.

On June 25th I got the awful news that my Ex-wife, and the mother of my 2 grown children, had tragically passed on. Only 48 years old.

Naturally my kids were devastated and I told them I'd be home asap, to Boston USA. I needed to tie up some loose ends before I left and also {I thought} maintain my apartment.

Booked a flight, got all my gear ready, and gave the rent money for July and my apartment keys to a mate from Scotland; he dutifully paid the 16K on the first of July, the day I arrived back in Boston, and also paid for my internet and electric and water to maintain my residency.

I called their office that day and spoke to the Thai office manager. She offered me sympathy, and agreed that my rent was paid and I told her I'd likely see her in August.

Once I got back here to the states I realized there was no way I could leave. My 22-year old daughter especially is really lost right now, her best friend in the world is gone. I can't, in good conscience, leave this area to go back there and anyway I wasn't getting anything done and being a beach bum gets old.

On July 20th I called the lady and told her my story. Since my lease had long expired {It ran November to May, then I was doing month-to-month}I figured it would be no issue getting my deposit back, which is 32,000 baht. Before the first of August my Scottish mate cleaned up the place, removed anything I had accumulated over the winter, turned in the keys and paid my remaining bills for electric and water, etc, which were minimal. Even with the cleaning fee [1000 baht] and any remaining incidentals, these people owe me 30K baht and now they are avoiding me and not replying to my emails or phone calls, etc..... extremely frustrating.

2 farangs run the place - I have written to both direcly and spoken to one on the phone, 8 days ago - and their attitude is probably "why should we pay that back, we will never see him again." Super nice guys.

If it was 5 or 10K baht, I'd let it slide; but 30K? That's almost a thousand U.S. and I could really use that! And, frankly, it's mine; the lease was long over and they are basically stealing my money at this point.

Is this common? Do I have any recourse, outside of hiring a lawyer which would likely eat up most of the 30K?

Any thoughts or help appreciated, Thanks