MrMuddle

TomBKK Did you have to go to the Embassy to get the letter? It's a full days trip from where I live.

Jas21, According to the UK passport website, your UK passport is automatically cancelled by them , when your application for a new one is received. I offered to cut the corner off my old UK passport, but the officers said even if I did that, they wouldn't put the stamps in the new one.

Interesting about the "proof of address" letter, I needed one for my Thai driving licence, and they charged me 1000 baht, last year, which kind of confirms my assumption that they are looking for "tea money".

Lopburi3 Thanks for that, I was worried that I was somehow illegally staying here. I always try to conform with whatever regulations are necessary, which is why I'd gone to the office in the first place, the officer we saw last year told us to, when I got a new passport.

I went to my local immigration office, earlier this week, armed with my old and new passports, plus copies of relevant pages, photos etc. The officers refused to transfer the retirement and other 'stamps" to my new passport, as they said the old one had not expired. i explained that when I applied for my new passport, the old one is automatically cancelled by the UK government and was no longer valid. The officers explained in Thai, to my wife, that if I needed to leave Thailand, that I should take both passports with me, and explain when I got there. I explained that I do not intend to leave Thailand before the visa expires, and again asked them to transfer the stamps.

I realised at this point that the officers English was not good, ( the officers were all new to me, I've been going to the same office for a few years, and have never had problems before).

What I am worried about is what happens when I go to renew my retirement visa in a couple of months. Will I be in trouble for not transferring the stamps over?

Talking with my wife afterwards, it seems that she had said (in Thai), that when we were at the office last year, the man we dealt with said we should just come to the office, and the stamps would be changed over for free. I am wondering if they expected some "tea money", and once they realised they weren't getting it, couldn't be bothered to help me. Any comments / suggestions appreciated.

I haven't mentioned which office I went to deliberately, I don't want this to come back and bite me where it hurts in the future.

The chap with no legs could be charged with bumming around.

I've just got my new UK passport, and I need to get the stamps transferred at my local office. Am I correct in thinking that I can get my retirement stamp, and my re-entry stamp put in my new passport for free?

Also what do I do about my last entry (into Thailand) stamp, will the local office replace this, or do I just use the one from my old passport for 90 day renewals, re-issuing of retirement visas etc ? Finally, will my 90 day reporting start from the day I get the stamps transferred into new passport, or does it just continue on from the old passport ?

Thank you for any help / advice.

Mr Ban would be better having a holiday, instead of wasting his time with this. Israel simply does not want peace, all they want is continual expansion of their 'territory", while at the same time restricting Palestinian food and water supplies.

I've lived in Phetchabun ( 25 kms from the city itself), for 10 years or so. The flooding where I live was less this year than in all the time I've lived here. As for the temperature, it's anywhere from 15 degrees to 42 degrees, depending on the time of year. The times I've worn long trousers and a warm top can be counted on one hand, in all the time I've been here. I can't advise on teaching jobs, but there are a couple of Universities now, several colleges, and private schools. nightlife is fine, if you like eating, but not on a par with the big cities. Good luck in your search.

Those explicit 'kissing on the lips' scenes will be the downfall of Thailand...

totster

Not sure what you mean by this, perhaps a bit of plain speaking is needed, instead of trying to be a cunning linguist !

Typical USA bully tactics, it's time other countries stood up to them and refused to extradite people. As a reward to New Zealand, for selling out one of their citizens to corporate America, I won't be buying anything they sell.

We had to buy a piece of light grey material from the local market, to use as a backdrop for the photo, the photography shops in Phetchabun only had blue or white plain backgrounds. Don't forget to fill out the form in black ball point pen ONLY. We had a he_ll of a job finding one ! The advice on the passport site states do not trim photos yourself. I drew a box, 45mm x 35 mm on a sheet of paper for the photographer to print to that size, as the sizes in the shop were all too large for UK government requirements. Good luck !

Thanks techno, I think that was the sum the girl quoted me at Silom. hopefully everything will all go through with EMS OK. I suspect that I was stressed due to the upcoming hospital tests, and perhaps I didn't understand properly. I have to say the whole renewal thing has been a nightmare, we had difficulty finding a photographer with the specified background colour for the photos, (only light grey or cream are acceptable), plus the form MUST be filled out with a black ballpoint pen - we searched every shop in Phetchabun for one, they only sell fibre tipped pens, so I ended up completing the form in a cafe in the centre where the DHL office was - absolute nightmare !

A number of people have reported sending their applications via EMS, or the International equivalent, without problem. Don't forget you are only send the application and a passport copy, so I would wonder what, if any, documents Hong Kong would need to send back.

The passports are sent from the UK so I doubt very much if the Hong Kong manager would have any say as to how your passport is dispatched, I believe you have to pay about twenty quid for the IPS to send your passport, via DHL, from the UK.

I suspect the person in DHL in Silom didn't really know how to answer you, so made something up.

Thanks for your reply., much appreciated. Although the girl spoke quite good English, I did suspect she didn't really know how to explain how things worked to me. We're going to try EMS on Monday, fingers crossed !!

Having been caught in Bangkok's rush hour traffic yesterday, I couldn't believe the waste of natural resources, absolutely ridiculous the amount of fuel wasted everyday in major cities around the world.

On a more positive note, I would be quite happy to fit solar panels at the back of my house, if they were available in my area, but having looked several times, I haven't seen any.

That's good news. Another nail in the coffin of the USA / Israel alliance.

I think it may depend on where you live, as to how much help is available. My wife (Thai), went to a place set up by Stockton on Tees council, called the International Family Centre, which had volunteer teachers to help immigrants to learn English. She went a couple of mornings a week, did really well, and made many friends, who were originally from various different countries.

Depending on how much time you have available, you could help her along yourself. I taught my wife phonetics, which she grasped fairly quickly, and made it much easier for her to read. You could also try asking your local Library, for any audio courses, that your wife could use, and possibly buy her any she finds easy to use. Good Luck.

We went to Silom DHL office yesterday, while in Bangkok for medical checks, to send off my UK passport renewal form. The girl in the office did all the paperwork, and then charged me 639 baht. As I'd read on here the price was over 1000 baht, I asked why it was so 'cheap". "We only send one way", was the reply. "The British Consulate in Hong Kong does not like the way we deliver in Thailand, so we can only offer a one way service", I said that I'd read on here that people had recently used DHl with no reported problems. "This just happen", she replied. "So how do I get my new passport back", I asked. "You must telephone Hong Kong and arrange with them", was the answer. I didn't post the form, I've tried contacting Embassies before, it's like "Mission Impossible".

Unfortunately due to time restrictions, I had to have a lot of medical tests which took most of the day, and I did not have time to try any other DHL offices in Bangkok.

So, my questions are

Is it correct what this girl told me, that the "service" is one way only.

Can I use Thai Post EMS International service instead, (my health is not good, and I need another trip to Bangkok like I need another hole in the head). I live in Phetchabun, we set off at 4a.m. and got home at 11.30 p.m.

Have I got something tattooed on my forehead that others can see, but I can't when I look in the mirror ?

(Politeness and forum rules prevent me from saying what is written there).

Thanks for any help / advice.

Hi, I'm coming to Bangkok tomorrow for a check up at the St Louis Hospital, and would like to send my UK passport renewal while I'm in town. Can anyone advise of the nearest DHL office to St Louis Hospital please? I got a list of DHL offices, but as I don't know Bangkok at all, I'm no wiser. Thank you.

I like the idea that Thai students and teachers will be encouraged to speak only English for one day a week, but I think they will struggle to do this. I'm not a fan of Tony Blair, but it seems a little rude of the reporter to refer to him continually as "Blair", while using the Thai Education ministers' first name throughout the article, surely it should be Mr Blair.

The kids all look cute though.

business visas

ed visas

marriage visa

retirement visa

"All of these are certainly guaranteed to be renewable."

By who, you?

I can't think of anyone who could guarantee that 'certainly'.

business visas

ed visas

marriage visa

retirement visa

1. If you have a WP

2. If you attend a school

3. If you are married and have the requested income

4. If you are 50 or older and have the requested income

Can't see what your concerns are?

4. If you are 50 or older and have the requested income

You've obviously never banked with the Bangkok Bank in Phetchabun, getting the letter from them for renewal is a major ordeal every year.

Can I use the credit card form to pay by direct debit ? The information is confusing on the site.

Having spent time in India in the past I am in agreement with Clarksons comments, indeed the sanitation and hygiene standards are somewhat primitive if in fact actually non existent,

Good job Clarkson never mentioned the Caste System eh what . The memsahib would not have been amused.

Alert the Memsahib. " Dalits on the horizon."

More than 160 million people in India are considered "Untouchable"—people tainted by their birth into a caste system that deems them impure, less than human.

Human rights abuses against these people, known as Dalits, are legion. A random sampling of headlines in mainstream Indian newspapers tells their story: "Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers"; "Dalit tortured by cops for three days"; "Dalit 'witch' paraded naked in Bihar"; "Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool"; "7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash"; "5 Dalits lynched in Haryana"; "Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked"; "Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits".

India's Untouchables are relegated to the lowest jobs, and live in constant fear of being publicly humiliated, paraded naked, beaten, and raped with impunity by upper-caste Hindus seeking to keep them in their place. Merely walking through an upper-caste neighborhood is a life-threatening offense.

India needs to put its own house in order before casting stones at others.

Well said. I've never understood why the British government doesn't give this kind of answer, whenever countries like India make trifling complaints, such as this one about Clarkson. I also agree with the poster who complained about the UK government giving vast amounts of money to India in aid, when the UK is in financial trouble itself. Aid to India comes seemingly with no strings attached, to help these poor, unfortunate, "untouchables". Beyond belief really, especially when the same government wants to stop giving aid to certain African countries, unless they acknowledge rights for homosexuals !

On a brighter note, on BBC Knowledge yesterday, there were advertisements for this Top Gear India special, apparently it is going to be shown here soon.

Police chief says detained Lebanese man admits planning attack in Bangkok but aborted, no fertiliser for bombmaking found; will be deported without charge /MCOT

So apparently Thailand doesn't have any "conspiracy" laws. It can be worth 25 years in the UK, if proven. Don't know about anyone else, but I don't feel safer now, knowing this chap is going to be let go.

Thankfully though, we seem to have gotten through Childrens Day without any major incident, that was my biggest fear, when the warning was issued.

There was more on this on the BBC yesterday, including a photo of a Jaguar with a toilet seat in the boot and a roll of toilet paper on the aerial - Clarkson described it as "perfect for India because everyone who comes here gets the trots".

While I think it's fair to say that Clarkson's generalisation isn't 100 % true, a lot of people do suffer from various "botty" related illnesses when in India - hence the phrase "Delhi-Belly".

I was once on a flight and got talking to a British chap, who was from an Indian family, who was on his way to India (via Doha), he had been sent there by his company and hated going to India, because he claimed he was always ill from the minute he got there to after he went back home .

Maybe India like Mexico, need to lighten up a bit.

According to the BBC tonight, all four soldiers have now been identified. IF they have committed these acts, ( and nothing is proven yet), they should have the book thrown at them. It doesn't matter what others do, if you claim the moral high ground, as the US and it's allies do, then you have to behave accordingly.

We have the Gold package from Truevisions. We asked in our local shop how much it would be for BBC Entertainment and were told 963 baht. I assume this includes the upgrade to Platinum, but for me, it's not worth the extra cost. If it was 200-300 baht a month, I'd get it.