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You could try colour copying the picture page of your passport and reducing it to a credit card size and then on the reverse copying your current visa and then laminating this. Big C North Pattaya do this for a think ฿100 on the second floor near the phone shops.

Together with as 'Bengt' suggest if you have your driving license with you this has your passport number on also. I have never encountered any problems. On a risk reward ratio I feel much more comfortable doing this than lugging my passport everywhere.

FWIW even without laminating but neatly filed within its own plastic (credit card sized) pocket in my wallet, I too feel comfortable with just this measure when moving around LOS.

* NEVER EVER give cooked, BBQ-ed steamed or in any other way bones that have undergone a heating process, whether the bone is whole or grounded. The heating process changes the chemical composition of the bones. The bones harden, and then when it breaks the pieces can become very sharp, like splinters. This can do (fatal) harm to the stomach, intestines etc.

I came on the forum today to simply ask if anyone knew the cheapest place to purchase a 20kg bag of Alpo?

I have two dogs, one a Labrador mix and the other a poodle. I currently feed them 420g of Alpo mixed with 260g (dry weight) of canned tuna each day. The Lab gets three-quarters and the poodle a quarter of this quantity, which is served half in the morning (around 7-ish) and half at about 6pm.

When the dogs get 'bored' with their food; which usually happens about once a week, I pop down the Soi and buy a whole chicken from 5-star. Your report about not feeding cooked bones though now has me wondering about whether or not I should be doing this in future???

Btw...I've also read forum articles about there being no cheap way to feed dogs well, so that's why I pretty much want to stay with Alpo but would be interested to hear other forum member's dogs' experience with other dried food biscuit mixes. FWIW both dogs absolutely detest Pedigree; don't know why and neither dog will give me a specific answer too!

Any feedback btw will be gratefully received.

From reports we have seen they are not keen to issue any visas.

I'm off to Tokyo in August and wondered if anyone has tried obtaining a tourist visa from the Thai Embassy there? What I'm interested to find out is what period of validity the visa issued from there is for (3 months or 6 months) and whether or not they're happy issuing multiple visas?

If anyone has had any recent experience of obtaining a tourist visa from Japan, I'd be most appreciative of your feedback.

Thanks a lot!

Thank you waveydavey.

Your are right.

--

Maestro

Would anyone happen to know whether or not the Thai Consulate in Vientianne closes for Ploughing Day please?

ohohoho behold!

A Tourist is considered a Tourist, a traveler, someone who comes on holidays, to relax off work, go sunbathing, swimming and is living in a Hotel/Guesthouse etc.

Guess that is why there are VoA and Tourist Visas issued, and fair enough for a lengthy time of 60 days if you go to apply for one and they will give you a second one that gives the applicant a wacking 120 days for a holiday!

Remember it is called a tourist visa because it is considered to be utilized by a Tourist, not for someone who wants to stay in this country, for those there are other, according to the law, a bit stricter options!

Then there are Non-Immi "O" for Other, as in being married, retired.... and there is "B" for people having a Job, running a company etc.

I have the latter, plus a WP and NEVER EVER had a problem and this for the last 14 Years!

aahhhh well, don't understand the mourning, really - nobody does "unfair" things ...it's unfair not to follow the rules and blame the staff of some Consulate or the entire Immigration Police Force or even the countries Immigration Laws....

ohohoho behold!

We always seem to get someone in every tourist visa thread coming in to explain to us what a tourist visa is for.

Thank you for doing the honors.

I have a question for you:

Why do you even read threads that don't concern you? Did you feel the need to brag about having NEVER EVER had a problem in the last 14 years?

Congratulations!

Considering you're the expert, what visa should an independantly wealthy person, or a person who has sufficient investment income who doesn't need to work, doesn't want marry, and who is under 50 get?

Truly a great, GREAT response tropo.

I mean – I was absolutely aghast when I read what Samuian had written and agree wholeheartedly with what you Sir have written.

Samuian (you smarmy, pompous git you wise and knowledgeable sage) Merry Christmas to you! Ohohoho!

I'm curious - these guys mandating how much Thais should be paid - how much do they earn. For example Kuhn Panas Thailuan, Chairman of the Labour Congress of Thailand (LCT) - how much is his annual salary please - anybody?

Another suggestion for Thai immigration: Major overhaul of ONLINE address reporting system.

Here goes:

Long term expats who want to report online can go to immigration and fill out a form, request for address reporting PIN number, and receive said PIN for 1000 baht. This PIN is good for one year, until the next visa extension.

With this PIN, expats can logon to national immigration website and file address reports on all due dates and receive an instant email confirmation number and small form. Expat is to print out this confirmation number and form and keep in his passport. The email confirmation also informs the expat of the exact date of the next reporting deadline.

With this system, Thai immigration has the online reporting system FUNDED by the expats themselves (there is no charge when reporting in person), and the expats receive the much desired convenience of reporting ONLINE.

Any expat using the system who fails to report online by the due date forfeits his PIN and must report in person and pay the fine.

Sound good?

I hope you're reading this Thai Immigration!

i had before used jacksgolf service many times.... and was always great service .. as they have lots of staff traveling along ... if there is any problem they weill be beside you ... its almost impossible to get lost ... or run in any problem.

so well the price is high but the service level is quite good ...

also the bus tours (cambodia) very well organised .. they have staff on the field, in bangkok and in the bus.

Name one. Just so I can recommend it to friends.

More then 2 entries? I tried about 8 years ago to apply for a 3xTR in KL but they told me that because the visa only lasts for 3 months it was no point in giving out 3xTR.

What is it about Thailand that you simply cannot bear to be away from ?

I've lived here for many years but if was forced to leave tomorrow

it would not worry me much.

Naka.

If you read my post, I think I kind of answered that question already. I am heavily invested here by my standards and I have no intention whatsoever to throw away that investment without a fight. Why should I? Would you? If you haven't noticed, the condo market for farangs is sheit right now. The posted prices are not much changed, but I do believe very few units are selling. So where is the base of farangs to buy or even rent these condos? It is shrinking and under threat, just like me. If it wasn't for my condo investment (others, you have been warned!!!!) I would have no problem leaving. So the answer is I can leave Thailand but I can't really afford to leave my money.

Caveat emptor you folks still considering buying in this uncertain time.

Are any other internet forums discussing the recent change to retirement rules in Thailand? As other posters have pointed out, the number of retirees in Thailand may be small compared to the number of tourists. But if Tourists, from our countries, are put off Thailand because it treats foreigners unfairly this may have a impact on Thai government policy.

Why would tourists care ?

I've lived here for many years but if was forced to leave tomorrow

it would not worry me much.

If Thailand doesn't want to benefit from our combined monthly spending here, we know other countries close by that do.

Remember the goose that laid the golden egg?? thailand is on the same road. once everyone leaves (and takes their money out of the economy) they wont come back.

take it easy.

Btw, I liked your analogy about "the goose that laid the golden egg"...it's spot-on to what a South-African gentleman said to my partner and I - while we were all people watching and enjoying a cool Beerlao in Vientiane a couple of weeks ago. He told us about a time 20-years ago when Thailand was "begging" for foreigners to come visit and stay. Now, he continued "there's a haughtiness towards farang" and that is the reason he packed-up and moved North.

FWIW as much as I love Thailand and Thai people (well most Thai people ), if the gatekeepers force my partner and I to leave, I think you're right; we won't come back - until of course there's a Tesco/Lotus in Vientiane!

Again then mushepea - Thanks for the report!

Often, you need one of the approved list of "reasons" to get an O visa. That would work if you can get it, but what reason would someone under 50 without relations to a Thai person who just wants to enjoy living in Thailand put on their O visa application?

The new system is 90 days in a six month period and has nothing to do with the number of entries.

'First, to clear a few things up, the new regulation, which mirrors clauses in the Immigration Act from 2002, only affects people entering Thailand on the 30-day visa exempt stamp. The regulation stipulates that visitors can only spend 90 days out of every six months on the visa-exempt stamp. However, days spent in Thailand on any other kind of visa do not count towards that 90-day total. Further, Immigration only counts the days actually spent within Thai borders, so as long as you don't exceed 90 days in a six-month period, the number of visa-exempt entries are unlimited.

Thanks again for straightening my thinking on this point.

P.S. Thanks to you too Maestro.

My understanding is that the "90 days in six months on visa exempt stamps" rule does not specify that the 90 days must be taken in 30 day "chunks". Any combination of entries that add up to 90 days or less is permitted. 3 stays of 30 days, 9 stays of 10 days, 18 stays of 5 days or any combination that adds up to 90 days.

Once your total count is over 60 days, on your next entry, instead of getting leave to enter for 30 days, the officer should grant you leave to enter for what remains of your permitted total of 90 days. So, for example, if you have 3 visits totalling 72 days in the last six months and arrive for another entry, the officer should grant you another 18 days. There's no reason why your son should have been received less than 30 days given that he only had 11 days in Thailand in the previous six months.

Of course, for arrivals with a lot of stamps in their passports, all that counting is rather taxing on the immigration officer's noggin and there are no government issue calculators. But if your son had only the single previous entry in his passport, even the thickest of a less than gifted bunch should have been able to handle the math.

As much as I preferred the old system before October, 2006 - with the new provision to allow only three visa-exempt entries during any 6-month period, I don't know how Thai Immigration could have made it any easier for people to understand! The fact though that misunderstanding is still extant (11-months after it came into effect) should motivate this agency to embrace the challenge to clarify this point - once and for all.

...and here's the local link from the British Embassy on Wireless Road. Correct me if I'm wrong but the days pages were added to British passports has long gone.

Why not have one set of immigrations rules that apply for the whole country as one, and not one set of rules for that border and another set of rules for this border !?!

Technically when lopburi3 writes "You do not extend a 30 day visa-exempt entry"; you don't - but you can. FWIW my third (and last) visa-exemption was up during the first week of this month but as I felt so bloody awful the day I was supposed to travel to Laos, I extended for a further 7-day period (cost me ฿1,900); which is the maximum allowed (unless of course you get hit by a bus within the intervening period).

IMHO I would heed sjaak327's worthy advice and for your last visa-exempt visa run, hook yourself-up with a visa service which takes you to Ban Laem (aka Pong Nam Ron) and provides you with the ฿200 bus ticket solution.

Have a safe journey!

This is great! Just what I was looking for to get me started. Thanks a lot sjaak327.

Did other people have the same problem?

When I arrived (just over 3-years ago)...the very next day I went to a branch of BankThai and opened a savings account to cash-in/deposit my travellers checks.

Since then, I've kind of stopped using BankThai in favor of Kasikornbank. Simple reason - Kasikorn has Internet Banking; BankThai does not if you are farang.

FWIW with both banks, all I had to produce was my passport and sign a handful of forms. Both banks provided an ATM card on-the-spot. Kasikornbank had me up-and-running online within 24-hours.

Hope this is of some help to you!

Hi diglat! I got back about 10-days ago and wrote an account of my trip just here.

I hope there is something within this post that can assist you in some way and safe journey to you!

So your home country will allow a Thai national to live there on tourist visa just because they want to? I know for a fact the US would not. If your country starts allowing it I suspect Thailand will do the same - just as was the case with New Zealand and is the case with several other countries. Sometimes you have to give a little to get a little. Perhaps we should be talking with our home country?

My apologies then lopburi3 for going slightly off-topic but I'm afraid that by talking with my home country about how we're treated here - that might just be the thin-end of the wedge the authorities are looking for to wind back certain benefits Thais receive abroad, which conversely we would never be entitled to here.

I live and work in Thailand, with a non-immigrant B visa and a work permit. It seems quite straightforward to me - tourist visas are for tourists.

Did someone say "tourist visa"?