thuisinthailand

They will now do the google map thing for you... now!

Do they? Great! However, I still have the copy from last year, so will include it anyway, but thanks for telling.

It's in your interest to redact bank details etc but you'll be sent home like a naughty schoolboy if they notice. Failure to do so leaves you open to falling victim to fraudulent activity as explained in multiple recent threads.

HTH

What do you mean by this?

I am sure you have thought of everything although why a marriage certificate/child's birth cert. is required to to renew an extension based on retirement is a mystery!

In addition to your list a a complete TM7 form with photo and the 1900 bht fee will be needed.

A TM30 may also be required.

Marriage certificate because my (Dutch) wife is staying with me, she "follows" (so to speak) my extension based on retirement (if you both want such an extension, you need to be both over 50 and need 2x 800,000 baht in Thai bank accounts). Birth certificate: our son goes on the same extension, but we have to proof he's ours.. So, that's why.

And yep, of course the TM7 and passport sized photos.

Hi all,

We currently have an extension of stay based on retirement that we have to extend within a couple of weeks. Any new requirements compared to last year? As far as I know, I have to bring:

- copies passport (including all relevant pages and departure card etc.).

- certify letter from bank

- copies bank book last 3 months

- print-out from bank containing overview account activity of last 6 months

- marriage certificate (I have dutch wife)

- birth certificate of our child (born here)

- google map print with location of house and coordinates

- copy house book + copy rental agreement

Did I miss something?

Thanks in advance.

Al.

I cannot speak about Samui immigration from personal knowledge but it should be possible to renew the extensions and do the 90 day report in one visit.

I suggest you check with the office.

I take that you have already notified your change of address.

We did not change address. It's just that on Samui matters always seem a little different then elsewhere...

Clearly you are well informed.

If you now live in Samui and have not notified your change of address then you can expect problems.

As I said, we did not change address. Lived on Samui last year and still do.... We'll check with the office anyway. Thanks all for replying.

I cannot speak about Samui immigration from personal knowledge but it should be possible to renew the extensions and do the 90 day report in one visit.

I suggest you check with the office.

I take that you have already notified your change of address.

We did not change address. It's just that on Samui matters always seem a little different then elsewhere...

Hi all,

Our current extension of stay (based on retirement) is due to expire beginning of June. However, we are due for address reporting on May 15. Now I have read somewhere that it is already possible to apply for extension of stay within the last 30 days of the current extension (that would save us one address reporting trip to Immigration), but I have also read it is only possible within the last 7 days.

Now we are also on Samui, so maybe some more specifics for this particular Immigration?

Any advice much appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Al.

Does anyone has any idea if (and if yes: when) AIS will shut down their 2G service? It might have been posted here before but they seem all outdated. My i-mobile Hitz and my wife's old Nokia are still working up til today. Should we do something? Any advice much appreciated.

The certification only needs to be done one time. No need do it again.

I was asking, because in The Netherlands, a marriage certificate (which is in fact an official copy of the original marriage certificate) can only be used for official purposes until 6 months after it has been issued. Thereafter, should you need it again, you have to apply for a new copy, because "you could be divorced in the meantime"... So I was just wondering if the Thai Immigration officers are going to ask the same question if I use the certificate that, in our case, is dated January 2015.

Hi everyone,

My family (being myself, my Dutch wife and our child) is currently on extension of stay based on retirement. My (Dutch) wife is not yet 50, but last year, we both got our first extension of stay based on our Dutch marriage. For that purpose we used a Dutch marriage certificate (translated into English), that we had certified by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Thai embassy in The Hague. So 2 stamps on it.

My question is: for our extension this year (due end of May 2016), can we use the same, already certified, marriage certificate, or do we have to apply for a new certificate (date stamped 2016), and do the whole certification process all over again with that new certificate?

If anyone of you has some advice on this that would be much appreciated.

Thanks for all your comments, appreciated! Will do some local research too of course.

We are currently having the 3BB 10MB package. It is quite ok, but there are disruptions from time to time, and sometimes the line gets very slow, without any apparent reason. So, we are considering to upgrade ourselves to the FTTHx 30Mb package (some call it a dedicated line). It will raise our monthly cost from about 600 baht to 1284 baht. That is in itself not a problem, but it's only worth it if our connection then really gets a speed upgrade. We are about 200 meters away from the nearest fiber 'station' in our village (we are living on Koh Samui), and according to 3BB we should experience the speed upgrade without any problems...

So, my question is this: does anyone of you have any experience with the 3BB FTTH package? Does it really boost the internet speed or is it just a marketing thing? Expert comments appreciated!

To all who replied to this topic: we have solved the issue. First, we installed the durgo valve, as suggested by @properson. It did work (the vacuuming improved), but did not entirely solve our problem. There was still some obstruction from time to time. Then, we also bought ourselves a snake tool, as suggested by @sirineou. Since then, our toilet is working very well. So, at least for the time being, no new toilet or opening up of the files on the floor required....

Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions!

Here's a quick test for you:

Fill a nice size bucket full of water and tip it all at once into the bowl.

The immediate large about of water should quickly leave the bowl, and a good siphon effect should leave only a small amount of water remaining in the bowl.

Repeat this test 3-4 times should have the same result.

If the bowl evacuation worked properly each time with the full bucket then your actual issue will be with the clean-water flush cycle mechanism, where the clean-water isn't entering the bowl with quickly enough with enough water volume to execute the evacuation-siphon action.

Depending on how the water enters the bowl, you may need to clean excess mineral deposits from the water pathway. Some DIY sites recommend using a nail or a loose drill-bit to help clean the many rim holes to increase the rate water flows into the bowl during a flush cycle.

Ok, did the test. Here's wat happens:

When tipping a nice full bucket of water into the bowl, the water is leaving pretty soon in about 4-5 seconds. Test nr 2,3 and 4 had the same result. After, I flushed the toilet and noted almost the same time for emptying the bowl, maybe a fraction of a second slower, but I think that is because it is not the exact same amount of water as in the bucket. The only noticeable things that happens at the end, is that the toilet empties itself completely, before bringing back a small amount of water into the bowl. Oh, and one additional remark, I thought that with only water the toilet is working perfectly, but this evening I emptied a full glass of orange juice in the toilet, and after flushing a slight orange colour remained.

So, any ideas?

Not the toilet itself but a venting problem after all?

I think we narrowed down the possible reasons for our toilet issue. I don't think the venting is the problem, but I think now it is an issue with the toilet itself.

I'll answer to some of your replies first.

Can you better describe your system?

Septic Tank or City Sewer system?

What floor is the toilet on (Feet or Meters above ground level)

Toilet Type (Gravity-feed water reserve tank of >5 liters, or Direct water jet system)?

Is it the only toilet on the line?

We have a septic tank. In our kitchen there is a device on the floor we can open in order to 'enter' the tank. Toilet is on the ground floor and it is the only one we have. I think we have a gravity feed water reserve tank, our toilet does look exactly like the image in your post.

Firstly did it always do that or did it just start?

if it always did that your problem is most likely an improperly installed vent line, in order that the water flows properly

the air in the drain pipe needs to be evacuated via the vent pipe

Inspect the vent pipe for obstructions and or proper installation

Before we moved into the house, the problem existed already. We had the bathroom completely renewed, but re-used the old toilet as it seemed ok. The Thai plumber himself suggested that we needed a vent pipe (apparently that did not exist before... so I thought that was clever thinking of him, it was just a pity that he only came up with the idea after completing the tiling first....), so he made one. And it works great, as long as we only flush the toilet with water inside, the venting / vacuuming is good. Now since the problem existed before, and is here again, I am thinking the problem might be the toilet itself. We did not inspect it before we had it replaced on the same spot after finishing the new bathroom. So I think the snake tool that you suggest might be a good thing to try first.

sounds like you need a durgo valve:

http://www.diydata.com/plumbing/air_admittance_valve/air_admittance_valve.php

i've got a spare one (new - never used) if you're interested...

Could be that we need one of those. I looked at the link you send, but I don't really understand how this device works. Where do you put it in a toilet? Or do you put it in a toilet at all?

If this device is the solution to our problem, I would be certainly interested in your spare one. But I think we first have to establish if the problem is in the toilet itself. Because every time I solve to issue with the drain glogging device, the toilet works fine again and keeps on doing so as long as we only flush water-like items...

So next stop is Home Pro to get a snake tool device. I'll let you know the results of that.

Thanks everyone for your replies so far! Will have a closer look tomorrow (into your replies as well as the toilet itself...).

We have an issue with our toilet and at the moment and I do not exactly know how to solve it. I hope some of you here can help.

Our toilet is flushing ok, except when there is poo inside (toilet paper we throw in a separate basket anyway, otherwise it gets stuck). When we flush, in 'normal' situations (meaning with only water/pee in the toilet), directly after flushing a small bubble appears in the water, and then during the flushing the water goes away in circles (meaning the vacuum does work in some way), at the end there is a short gurgle. But in this case of only flushing with pee/water inside the toilet, the vacuum that gets the last water out should be much stronger and quicker (imho) then it does. But then when there is poo in the toilet, this process does not go smoothly at all and only after some 5 times of flushing (or sometimes even more, depending on the volume...) the toilet is clean again.

I have been thinking of what might be the problem, and came up with a few ideas:

(1) the air inlet into the toilet is not properly installed or too small (a pipe goes out from the toilet and up a bit into the air outside our house), and causes the vacuum to be too weak. Or

(2) the pipe from the toilet to the sceptic tank is too small. Or

(3) we have an issue with the sceptic tank itself.

Now I'm inclined to think the problem here is the air inlet (because of the weak vacuuming), but I'm not sure, as I'm no expert in this particular field.

So, any thoughts or ideas will be very much appreciated!

(PS: I don't think it is relevant, but he toilet brand name is American Standard)

You can also try to get a Non B business Visa in your home country.

Your reason would be to explore business opportunities in import/export or something like that.

It is valid for a year. Every 90 days you have to do a border crossing.

I did this a few years ago in Holland and had no problem obtaining the visa.

This policy at the Royal Thai consulate in Amsterdam has been changed since about mid 2013. They are only issuing Single Entry Non-B visas. No exceptions (even if your passport is containing a Non-B multiple entry visa that has just been expired...).

Did the OP also had to show:

- copy of rental agreement and copy of house book

- health certificate

or are these documents no longer required on Samui?

And I suppose OP is referring to the TM.7, not the TM.47

Paper provided by Samui Immigration confirming the paper needed to apply.

Have to go to Nathon immigration on Samui pretty soon for my extension of stay based on retirement. I thought the health certificate was not needed for the extension application?? Is this a specific Samui rule?

If so, can anyone on Samui confirm this and tell me what is the cheapest option to get a health certificate? And does it have to be very recent (can it be 1 month old for example?)

And another issue: OP is stating that you can apply for extension of stay within 7 working days of expiry of the current permission of stay. However, as far as I know you can do so during the last 30 days of the current permission to stay? Or is this another Samui specific rule?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks everyone for all your valuable comments. Much more info then I expected, so much appreciated.

My Thai neighbour says that I should buy a 250W Daiwoo pump. Never heard of tgat one. He says: more then enough power for the tank and our house and saves electric. Any thoughts?

Yes, the account is in my name only. As for the passbook update (and the copies of it), is that something you ask the bank to do? At the same moment you ask for the letter?

Ok, that seems clear. And what exactly does the letter of certification by the bank then say? They confirm the account being above 800K on the day you ask for the letter I suppose. And do they also include the original transaction (coming from abroad) in the letter (in my case a good 3 months ago), or is that something that has to be taken from the copy of the bank book (that you ask the bank to provide the same day as the letter)?

You must make sure that the balance of the account never falls below the 800k not even for one day !

Is that all to worry about? So if the balance today is, say, 825,000 baht, I can add another 100,000 tomorrow without any problems (as this latest addition to the account was made 4 only weeks before the application?).