Asiantravel

As is common nowadays in Thailand, the one who will be fined will be the dentistry student. The farang waitress will also be investigated and thrown out of Thailand for doing one of the 17 xenophobic job protection schemes.

Collateral damage by creating another victim is the Thai way to save their face.

where does it say anything about a farang waitress?

You can also make a mental note of the last three digits of the serial number. Then call tourist police and refuse to leave until they get there. That's come in handy for me with taxi drivers on two occasions.

and / or lodge a complaint with these people ( and the Thai's do do react to this ! )

http://job.ocpb.go.th/

I dislike this stuff very much, but I question whether anything can ever be done. This stuff is set in motion and it seems to me to be an issue for Federal Courts and the Supremes, both if which have already endorsed or rubber stamped too much erosion io the 4th. You guys bash me for whining about the Bush appointments, but our current Court will be 5-4 now on these issues assuming Scalia hold ground and refuses to erode the 4th (6-3 if not). Breyer may be viewed as a liberal, but not so much on criminal issues.

The problem is judges and courts somewhere have deemed this acceptable. Secret or not. Perhaps the secret is just courts set up that are not public record. Not sure, but this is great stuff arouse the consipacy dudes.

Anyway, the point is you can blame the president all you want, but thus is a judiciary issue just as much if not more.

Same as in North Korea, I see

NSA spying whistleblower Edward Snowden’s statements have been verified. Reporter Glenn Greenwald has promised numerous additional disclosures from Snowden.

What other revelations are coming?

http://www.christopherketcham.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/The%20Last%20Roundup,%20Radar%20Magazine.pdf

ooops ! Such an unhelpful remark after a harmonious meeting between Obama and the new Chinese leader just last week

Cheney hint Snowden is a Chinese spy 'sheer nonsense', says China

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1262929/cheney-hint-snowden-chinese-spy-sheer-nonsense-says-china

Iran has announced that it will send 4000 combat troops to Syria to support Assad.

The new Iranian President now has his first tough decision to make. Does he cancel the deployment or allow it to proceed, most likely plunging the region into war.

Do you support the decision by the USA to arm the Al Qaeda terrorists in Syria? Plunging the region into war? The vast majority of the so called rebels in Syria are not Syrian, they are Jihadists from countries all over the Middle East and beyond, The UK, all over Europe, Libya, Iraq etc. Why are you cheerleading for Al Qaeda? A couple of questions for you. What is the penalty for a US citizen giving material support to Al Qaeda? What is the penalty for a US citizen arming Al Qaeda? If you or i did it where would we end up? Guantanamo Bay? There is a very good reason why Iran are supporting Assad in his fight to rid his country of these terrorists, they know that they are next if the USA get their way. The legitimate Syrian government have as much right to fight Al Qaeda terrorists trying to invade their country as do Israel, the USA and the UK. The Obama administration have clearly lost any moral high ground here, the ends justify the means, never mind if they are using Al Qaeda terrorists as their boots on the ground. Absolutely disgusting, have you seen the footage of the 'rebel' leader who the West are supporting ripping out the internal organs of a Syrian soldier and eating them? Cannibalism? These are the people you are cheerleading for. You should be ashamed of yourself. Thankfully the Russians are not going to be conned again after Libya, a country where chaos and anarchy reigns after the last misguided Western intervention. They are not going to allow the US to destroy another sovereign country in their never ending quest to establish hegemony in the Middle East. It is coming to something when Putin is recognised by the rest of the world as the only adult in the room.

Putin has been sending sophisticated missiles.

You speak as if the Weat likes or agrees with the rebels. Nope, we don't. Both sides are savages and the West would perhaps just let them off each other until no savages were left if there wasn't a threat to Israel et al.

What sux is these little peon countries, culturally, intelectually and mentally incapable of joiining the 21st century, filled with savages and whack jobs creating so many problems for the rest of the world.

But I seem to remember you saying in another thread a few weeks ago that neither Russia nor China would get involved or care about what happens to Syria?

It looks like the US will end up getting involved. Bill Clinton bad-mouths president Obama and two days later his administration announces that we are going to arm the rebels.

In a rare split over foreign policy, former President Bill Clinton said President Obama risks looking like a "total wuss" if he lets public and political opposition to intervening in Syria dissuade him from taking decisive action to help rebels topple the Assad regime.

"If you refuse to act and you cause a calamity, the one thing you cannot say when all the eggs have been broken is, 'Oh my god, two years ago there was a poll that said 80 percent of you were against it,'" Clinton said in a question-and-answer period first reported by Politico. "You look like a total fool." http://news.yahoo.com/bill-clinton-cautions-obama-beware-looking-total-wuss-111000924.html

and it also look like Iran is getting more involved

Iran to send 4,000 troops to aid President Assad forces in Syria

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-to-send-4000-troops-to-aid-president-assad-forces-in-syria-8660358.html

All you wanted on your visit to immigration was conversion to non immigrant visa entry and then you would have returned 60 days later to extend - if he refused you could go to Bangkok to have it done so he would not refuse if office normally allowed. But expect you did not know that. I believe you will be able to obtain a single entry non immigrant O visa (don't ask for a multi) on your trip to PP.

Thanks again. I will report here as to what happens in PP for the benefit of other readers. And thanks for your tip about just asking for single entry

I said I would post comments about the outcome of my visit to the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh last week. In the section at the top of the visa section webpage is a thread entitled “Latest reports of getting a visa in the region “. In this section a number of posters have described how the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh is very tough to deal with and i would say they are correct. It's lucky I read this before I went because I was well prepared for the frosty reception you receive from the staff there.

One thing I noticed was on both of my visits ( i.e. to submit my application and then collect my passport 6 days later ) there were no more than two other people-so hardly anyone else, which is such a contrast to the Savvanakhet consulate for example, where there are often hundreds of people.

When I tried to submit my application , including my bank book showing over 1 million baht for a single entry non immigrant O visa firstly, I received a somewhat hostile response and she asked “ why do you want an O visa “ ? I told her I wish to retire in Thailand and then she asked me if I had a letter from my embassy to confirm that. Coincidentally, this is the same letter that they had already asked me for at the consulate in Savannakhet.

As I didn't have this letter I then said how about a single entry tourist Visa then ( on the basis that I just thought it was going to be quicker and easier to convert when I came back to Thailand ) and immediatelyher hostility evaporated and she was much more friendly. I still had to supply her with a copy of my bank book just to get a single entry tourist Visa!

So for some reason the embassy in Phnom Penh don't like issuing single entry non immigrant O visa’s even if you think you have all the documentation.

I really don't know, but they do say in the instructions that if you apply from Thailand you should send both.

They also say that as soon as the application is processed that passport is cancelled and no longer valid for travel.

Do I read it that you have two passports and one is being renewed?

Yes, that's correct I have dual citizenship.

The British passport is full and has only six months left until expiry

In that case, maybe I will also take a photocopy of the page which has my most recent Visa for Thailand and if in Hong Kong they want to to ask me about this and why it will have expired when they receive it they can easily e-mail me to ask me about my current status.

Did it last month, just sent copies of the bio page and the page with my extension of stay.

Received my new passport exactly ten days after my card was debited in Hong Kong.

Thanks old git.

I'm in a different situation because in a few days I am flying to Cambodia and will be presenting a second passport in PP with an e –visa for Cambodia.When I then return to Thailand I will be using my second passport.

So I will no longer have a valid visa stamp page to Thailand in my UK passport because on the date of exit from Thailand, it will expire.

Because of this I can't decide whether they would still process my application if i I just send them a copy of only my bio page or given the circumstances whether I should in fact send them the entire passport?

In other words how significant is it for the Hong Kong passport office to verify your visa status for Thailand?

To anyone who has recently been through this exercise of sending the application to Hong Kong, could
you please just confirm which pages from the passport do they need you to photocopy and send with the application?

On the web page of a visa company they say the following :- “ we only send a photocopy of the face page “

I just wondered if everyone else agrees with that?

Thanks very much

Not at all! Again, Iranians visiting Pattaya are a DIVERSE crowd. People are being VERY FOOLISH if they imagine they can know the politics of any particular Iranians they encounter in Pattaya. The same could be said about Americans you might meet here. We are DIVERSE politically.

I have ALREADY been crystal clear that I perceive the majority of Iranians here as being friendly towards random GENERIC American people.

However, I am not a GENERIC American. I am also gay, Jewish, pro sanctions, and VERY SUPPORTIVE of the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. The Iranian regime wants to crush the Jewish state, and I think its very naive to assume that position isn't quite popular in Iran, even among anti-regime Iranians. I also know the vast majority of Iranians are supportive of the regime's nuclear program, yes, even the anti-regime ones. So my potential political discussions with Iranians in this country need to be taken in that context. Its VERY naive to think the majority of Iranians here would be so friendly to me if they really knew me.

I perceived the drunken crowd on the bus would likely have been welcoming to a random generic APOLITICAL American. But they also wanted some PABLUM political speech about the political tensions between our countries; I could tell that by the way they respond to the Brit. I just wasn't up to such a BS act that I do not believe on that particular evening.

And what about Muslim Chechnyans ? Those Russians that so often sit next to you on your bus ride may

not be the apolitical Muscovites that you assume they are?

They could equally well have a similar kind of " sentiment " to Iranians?

Would you make a big deal out of that also?

Is there a vaccine to prevent Dengue Fever?

If so, is it available at clinics & hospitals?

Nope, best treatment is to cover up and avoid being bitten, particularly at dawn and dusk when the mozzies are feeding, long sleeve shirts and long cotton pants are helpful as is deet spray and similar..

I understood dengue fever mosquitoes only bite during the daytime , and that they are a different type of

mosquito to the ones that carry malaria which bite during dawn and dusk. Or have I got this all

wrong?

I've been going up there for years and tried a couple but nothing really great there ,The best one I've found is just off the 222 coming from Sawang daun din ,it's on the a a small road on the left just before Wanon Niwat Hospital ,Sorry I don't know the name has air on etc and only 400 baht per night

Thank you for that cableguy. At least I have something to go on now

Well somehow I thought Saturday was the last day for food and found myself quote disappointed when I show up and found that they are closed.

Sent from my GT-I9100T

Went past the place last night and there is a sign in the window saying it is closed now again until 30 June!

Passed the place several times in in the past couple of weeks and on virtually every night the place was totally empty with not a single customer. The one exception was one night when one table was occupied.

I really can't work these people out. If they likePattaya why not just come here for a holiday ? Having an entire restaurant to cater for a very few customers which is only open occasionally seems like a complete waste of time

I'm in the one beside you, Sawang Daen Din, prob too far to commute

hi

no, I don't live in that area. But I am interested in finding the details of this place or indeed any other place where I could stay.

I don't understand how people who own and accommodation business don't seek to maximise their exposure to the outside world as much as possible to get as much occupancy as of their rooms as possible

I wondered if anyone in this forum lives near Wanon Niwat District in Sakon Nakhon Province ?

I would like to find short-term accommodation in this area and I was told there was a reasonably good place called simply “ Jimmy’sResort “. But after many different attempts to find any information using Google I haven't got anywhere. If anyone happens to be in this area and they know of this place, I would really appreciate your suggestion how I can contact them.

All you wanted on your visit to immigration was conversion to non immigrant visa entry and then you would have returned 60 days later to extend - if he refused you could go to Bangkok to have it done so he would not refuse if office normally allowed. But expect you did not know that. I believe you will be able to obtain a single entry non immigrant O visa (don't ask for a multi) on your trip to PP.

Thanks again. I will report here as to what happens in PP for the benefit of other readers. And thanks for your tip about just asking for single entry

Asiantravel, I think you're making this W-A-Y more complicated than it needs to be. Lopburi3 is giving you good advice -- convert your current entry into a 90 day O visa at your local Thai immigration office and then return during the final 30 days of that 90-day O visa to obtain a 1-year extension of permission to remain due to retirement. You'll just keep doing the same thing every year, extending the permission to remain of a long-dead visa.

You can turn it into a "multi-reentry" by purchasing a multi-reentry permit at your local Immigration office which will be valid for the life of the current permission to remain. When you get a new 12-month permission to remain (after your previous one expires), you'll need to buy a new re-entry permit.

hi Nancy

thank you for your response. Don't get me wrong I always really appreciate Lopburi’s really valuable and useful advice because I dont enjoy weaving my way through this maze

If you read my reply to Lopuri maybe you will understand more why it seems I am making it more complicated. The changeover in passports has probably made it more complicated than it otherwise would needed to have been.

The other thing you should be aware of is when I visited my local immigration office to do what you suggested ( i.e. convert over ) when the guy on the desk saw that my 800,000 hasn't been in the bank for 60 days he proposed I pay him a fairly significant sum of money for him to have done it on that day

( and I am talking a five digit sum here !!! ) which, in my book is nothing other than a bribe . He calculated the amount based on the opportunity cost of what I would be spending by leaving the country and going to a consulate or embassy in a neighbouring country and quite frankly I simply wouldn't do that as a matter of principle. I would rather go on a short break to another country than give someone in the Thai immigration office a fat bonus.

If you plan to extend for retirement why not just go to immigration and convert your current entry (with 15 days or more remaining - they may even do with less). Cost is 2,000 baht you you get a 90 day entry so plenty of time to season money and it does not have to be seasoned for the conversion stage. If not apply for a single entry non immigrant O visa.

Thanks Lopburi but unfortunately that is the crux of the matter. You see I don't have 15 days or more.

And with regards to the conversion you might remember my conversation with you regarding the proposition I received to pay the immigration officer a rather large sum of money for doing this which I wasn't prepared to do ( because my money had only been in the bank at that time for about 10 days ).

It is also a bit more complicated because of the following factors :-

1. Last week on the 28^th my previous tourist Visa expired. I didn't see the point of getting another one because next Wednesday I have to go to Cambodia on another matter. So it would have meant paying for a tourist visa that I would only need for a few days.

2. So the other day I got just 15 days and walked across the border from Laos back to Thailand.

3. This actually suited me perfectly because simultaneously I now want to swap over from one passport which is now full and almost expired ( with just 6 months left ) to a second passport ( I have dual nationality ). They wouldn't allow me to change passports while walking across the border.

But they did let me back into Thailand with the full passport , which I was happy with and now I can fly out to Cambodia using my second passport, which has lots of space in it . I already have an e-Visa to Cambodia for the second passport, which I want to use for my “ O “ visa application.

4. I could try to apply for an “ O “ visa at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh but I'm not very hopeful because I have been reading some very negative remarks in the reports section of this website about the chances of getting an “ O “ visa at the Phnom Penh embassy. But of course I will give it a try.

There is never any obligation to accept an application but I would suspect there would have been a very good chance a single entry would have been provided with passport showing you over age 50.

I am going to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh next week to get a single entry tourist Visa to wait for what's left of the 60 day period to lapse ( about another 40 days ). So while I'm there I'm going to carry out the same exercise as I did in Laos and just as a matter of interest to see what they claim to be their requirements as a comparison.

There is no need for a multi entry visa for retirement from them - you get a single entry and extend your stay for 1,900 baht from immigration during the last 30 days of your stay.

So if I had applied for just a single entry “ O “ visa the other day would she have been obliged to accept my application even though i didn't have the letter from the embassy that she kept going on about?

Once in bank you can request change of current status to non immigrant O visa entry which gives 90 days stay (and plenty of time to meet the 60 day bank deposit requirement) for the extension of stay application later.

Are these all the documents I would need to take to the Savanakhet consulate ?

1. Application form T.M.

2. Copy of passport

3. One 4 x 6 cm photo. 4/. 500 baht fee.

5. proof of money of 800,000 baht in a Thai bank

6. medical certificate

That would be the requirements at immigration to get an extension or a non immigrant visa entry. An extension costs 1900 baht and non immigrant visa entry would be 2000 baht.

A medical certificate would not be required.

For Savannakhet all you would only need your passport and copy of photo page and pay 2000 baht for the visa.

Any got a multi entry non O visa from Savannakhet for retirement purpose?

I thought I would just pass on my experience from a re-visit to the Savannakhet consulate just this past week.

As everybody here says so frequently i agree they are simply superb regarding processing double entry tourist visas. But I'm not so sure now about multi entry non O visa’s .

As I happened to be in Savannakhet with nothing much else to do I thought I would just double check with them in person at the consulate as to what they would need from me after my 800,000 baht has been in the bank long enough and i was ready to apply.

The lady I spoke to seemed to be a senior official first she looked at my bank book and then she said I would need a letter from my embassy in Bangkok which would say that I wanted to retire in Thailand. The requirement for this letter doesn't seem to have been discussed before in this thread? Then she said the letter would need to say how much I get in pension!

But then I told her I was advised I didn't need that if I had 800,000 in the bank instead ? Then she

counted the number of zeros in my bank book and appeared to realise it was over 1 million and not 100,000.

So then she corrected herself and said the letter from the embassy wouldn't need to say anything about money because obviously I had enough in my bank account but it would still have to say I wanted to retire in Thailand. It would have been very unfortunate if the Savannakhet consulate of all places would have turned me down last week just because i didn't have that letter but it seemed to me they would have .

This really surprised me a lot because they seem so relaxed and lenient regarding the issuance of multiple entry tourist visas.

A neighbor of mine is a high ranking Immigration officer. He is implementing a scheme whereby people asking for extensions of ED visas are not spoken to other than in Thai --- they are asked simple questions like " Do big fish eat little fish" !

I am told many applicants are refused !

they have also imposed age limitations in the Chiang Mai area over a year ago which means anyone over a certain age can't qualify for an education visa. like being told you are too old to learn

MacWalen started this thread and has succeeded in provoking a storm.

Clearly there are some very strongly held opinions.

MacWalen does not assist as he is consistently evasive,

Maybe it is time either for the mods to lock this topic or for us to refrain from responding to MacWalen's provocations.

If anybody wishes to give 50,000 to MacWalen after reading this thread I say "Up to Them" !

Maybe he has the same narcissistic compulsions as Kathryn Hepurn when she once said “ I don't care what they say about me as long as they are talking about me “

So, can you give us that list I asked for ??

Maybe you missed my post above !!

It is a comprehensive ALS 120 lesson course which includes theory and practice lessons. After this course you will teach faster and also students will learn faster. It is a life long benefit. Some people here do not know what they are talking about or are belittling me, or try to be overly academic. What we teach works very very well and is worth the money. If someone has a budget to open a school they may even be able to start their own business. I am very confident in our ALS course. Perhaps the best investment you will ever make if you want to make teaching your career. You will be learning from one of the best paid teachers in Thailand. If you get good at ALS you will make very good money.

Excuse me but how do you account for the fact that if you type “Walen Scam Thai Language School in Thailand “ into google you are provided with a thread in which many contributors contradict a lot of what you have said?

Asiantravel, Hater's posts only, it is not a secret that some people do not like me, that thread has been discredited long time ago. We offer free demo lessons, you can come and see how we teach without paying any money. Also there are always lots of students around, you are welcome to talk to them and get first hand reports. People can write anything on the internet. If you want to believe this it is up to you.

I am sorry but I just can't believe people would waste their time sitting at a computer writing negative

comments about your business just for the sake of it ? Maybe one or two but not

all the ones in that thread. You wouldn't spend time doing that unless you were

motivated by something to do it or you were aggrieved by something specific.