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I know it is not the same....we just went thru the process of returning my wife and daughter back to Thailand (both have thai/cad passports).

Although not "easy" the process was pretty straight forward. 

Speaking with the Consulate General in Vancouver they have been given no directive as of today from the Thai Government. Any information would be speculative. He did say an update was expected on Monday 29June. 

One thing we found was there was no need to produce a covid19 test. The fit to fly letter consisted of a doctor asking basic questions and a temperature check. 

They are currently in quarantine in Bangkok at the Palace Hotel. She has inquired about spouses being able to return and was advised that the hotel was gearing up for added arrivals for July. The immigration official she spoke with yesterday during her first covid test also mentioned he was getting prepared for dealing with additional arrivals for July. 

I suspect details will be announced on Monday. IF the process is similar to what we just went thru it may not be as strenuous as being reported. In parts of Canada they have drive thru covid testing areas in which you can get results within 24 hours and in some cases 6.

As well travel insurance is still possible. The catch is that Canada has a level 3 advisory. So it bans non-essential travel in or out. So Travel Insurance is not available. However if one gets a COE letter it covers one for being classified as essential travel. In which case Travel Medical Insurance may be purchased. Albeit at a slightly higher premium. I inquired at a local travel agent and they did call the provider and they did indicate they are still selling medical insurance as there are still people travelling for essential travel. Just not for tourism purposes. 

Am i mistaken in believing Richard Branson still owns a portion of Virgin Atlantic?

Believed net worth 4 billion. I understand the world is topsy turvy right now, but perhaps he could reinvest some of his cash into the airline.

Versus public taxpayers providing money they will never see get paid back.

Phewww...good post.

I did stop reading after you stated you got married and moved back in with your mom.

My wife is from Nong Khai and we live mostly in North America. 

Biggest issue we have is finding decent ingredients for the style of food she, and to a certain extent, I like 

We have a now 6 year old and an 18 year old. 

The move was not easy , but we both understood the challenges before leaving.

Then again we are adults, both physically and mentally. If you are prepared for parenthood many of the issues you experience are still there, you just deal with them in a responsible manner.

Wife, daughter, and I are looking to move to CM for the next school season, May 2020.

Currently near Nong Khai. Have been for many years.

Youngest will be going into grade two and is being schooled in Canada. 

Believe it or not school systems in many parts of Canada are failing.

I noticed a few posters stating CM is okay for families?

Just curious if a few of those posters could add on some more comments.

We are quiet country-ish folk. Don't need lots. Most time is spent around our daughter and her upbringing. She is a fluent speaker of English and Thai, as is my wife. Spent quite a few years between Thailand and North America.

Understand traffic issues....Canada is car heaven...where we are. Oil and Gas region. Also means we are used to air pollution. We have around Nong Khai now as well p. Past decade or two.

Just asking....you were here on an ed visa. I do assume it was for learning Thai? 

Perhaps you were here studying history.

So, if it was for learning Thai...the Female immigration officer asked her colleague...lets see if he speaks Thai...ask him something stupid in English to see if he understands what we are saying....

And it appears after 2 plus years you are unable to follow a basic conversation between the two immigration officers. 

Just curious is all...

I was a GM for a 3 star property in the N.E. of Thailand. In total 5 years, 2009 to 2015.

15,000bht per month plus room and board. 36 room boutique guest house with about 20 or so staff.

Flat out busy during peak season.

Off season absolutely blissful!

Worked 6 days a week 2x12 hour shifts & 4x10 hour shifts....tuesdays off.

Anybody who has Non Smokers intheir household, and smoke insude with said people, should be jailed.

Fact: smoking kills

Same as a person putting a gun up behind a family members head and pulling the trigger. Only the gun is quicker and less painfull.

But agree domestic violence, sexual and verbal abuse, are part and parcel with the same action. 

Stupid is as stupid does.

Just returned to Canada with AC, and the hkg to yvr leg had 4 flight officers.

Secondly the last leg yvr to yeg started off fine...until the severe thunderstorm over yeg.

I fly a lot and this was one of the only times i have commented to the flight crew upon leaving a genuine thank you. 

Both pilots gave a smile and a thumbs up to me and my 6 year old as we left.

Perhaps we have come to think of air travel as being "routine" it was times like this that i am thankful for the skills, training, and commitment most pilots have.

Wether or not a pilot under the influence could have performed as well, i'll hopefully never have to find out. 

Well I just had a return flight from Canada with my 6 year old, and could have not gone any smoother.

I had an injury to my wrist which made it difficult to get my hand in the machine, agent was great, responded in English to use left hand no problem. He even joked with my daughter, who speaks a little Thai, and was ever so nice.

I arrived at 9pm so not very busy however a Thai greeter saw me with my child and ushered us over to quick lane.

Same when we left with daughter and wife....immigration were joking with us and smiling the whole time. We checked thru at 9am and took about 7 minutes. 

I add that we have flown in and out 4 times since February and each experience has been good. 

I do try and arrange flights that arrive outside of busy times, but I have to say our experiences have been quite pleasant.

NOW...you want sour faced, power hungry, racist, immigration....try the CBA's...canadian border services agents....wow....they see a brown face (funny being most agents are of color..asian...indian...other) and you can seem them grin....knowing they are going to be grilling some person with possible limited english skills....

Was the complete opposite of Thailand. My daughter has a very fair complexion being most people would not guess she has a Thai mother. 

So he asked my daughter who this was. Pointing to my wife, her mother...daughter replies...mommy. His question...your real mommy?

My daughter did not know how to answer....that was how the next 30 minutes began????.

Just an observation that ignorant immigration officers work in many countries around the world and not just limited to Thailand.

Just another note...the Canadian process was a joyful experience compared to Irish immigration. My daughter and I carry Irish passports as well..and you think we were committing some high treason or criminal masterminds with the grilling we got. My poor wife has requested we never travel there again.

Not really on the main topic. Just came back from a week at the koh chang paradise resort, on koh chang, and it was very nice. Got crowded last friday thru sunday, but rest of the week was moderate.

Beach was fantastic, restaurants were busy but not full, locals friendly. All in all nice week away. Most visitors seemed to be from Scandinavian countries and other places from around Asia, Japan, South Korean...all very pleasant. Dined with several groups of Europeans all stating they would certainly come back to Thailand.

A little snap shot I know, but from the small sample i talked with most would return.

Got that right. Just the other day I was sitting with a group and said hello. Not one of them understood what I said.

Asked them what they did for a living and all responded they were University English teachers.

Fell off my bar stool and nearly spilt my beer. 

Unless this country gets "real" English teachers it ain't going to grow past the third world crap show it is.

Was in Worksop at the time, but hey apples and oranges.

Have been travelling between Canada and Thailand with wife and daughter (daughter Thai & cad passports)for the past 5 years. 3 times I have been asked leaving Canada for a consent letter when travelling without wife. Three different airlines, Air Canada, China Airlines, Eva Airlines. 2 times nothing. 

We fly back and forth about 4 times a year,  most times together, sometimes no.

Not saying we would not have gotten on the flight, did seem to make it easier. Except Air Canada. The check in agent told me it was required for check-in procedures. I think it is usedmainly to protect the airlines against any liability if accused of letting through someone who does not have proper custody.

I once had the misfortune of working for a company called sine in thailand. We were not allowed to issue any failing grades or even grades just above minimum pass level.

Always thought it strange as well as frustrating. Not that we wanted any student to fail, just that out of the 200 or so students i had a couple would fall into the try that grade again section.

Nope, sine used their 99% success rate to use to sell their program to other schools, so there are people using the system to make money, without the best interests of the child.

I lasted about 3 months before realizing i could be more useful tutoring.

Both my children are fluent in thai, english, and french (not a language i know) just from tutors...they are not special we just work hard at home.

In an earlier report there was some indication these were two drug users. So they probably found a half empty bottle thinking it to be some discarded drugs or what not.

Very unfortunate.

Hi all,

If you have travelled is it possible to provide an update. My family I just came back to Canada and decided not to go via China because there were reports of airlines not taking thais without a transit visa.

I contacted china eastern airlines and they asked for a visa.

Xiamen airlines is asking for visas via Xiamen.

But other cities it is unclear.

Going via China is usually cheaper but prefer using JL with good flight times.

I always chuckle whenever I hear western businessmen going to Thailand for a "golf" "work" break. 

Any partner of someone doing this should avoid sexual relations for at least 6 months until test results have come back.

Probably told his wife...just going for quick trip with lads. 

How many thousands of others are doing this every week?

I could'nt give a rats ass what he or she does when going away. However full disclosure should be made to ones partner of what they are doing while away. Only fair in my opinion. Screw whom ever you want just have the balls to tell your partner, and if they are okay with it fine.

On a side note it is being said the uptick in married women having relations while away is climbing quick. So guys just remember the next time the old lady is heading to Blackpool for the weekend with girls she is probably banging some Jamaican stud. 555.....but not my wife....

I am always intrigued by people who ask about leaving their home country to come teach here. If you are between 30 and say 50 years of age these are supposed to be your high earning years. Why on earth you would waste this time working for nothing.  If your over 50 with one foot inthe grave...who cares, phone in the class doing as little as possible and most schools will still live you.  Better yet get a job with sine and just read the crap off of the board...noneed to have any knowledge of anything.  If under 30 spend a couple years having fun, earn a bit of cash and then go home a be a productive member of society.  Life really is too short to be doing something as mundane as a foreign teacher in Thailand.

And yes i taught here. With a few exceptions "teacher" is a very loosely applied title to what the average person does here. 

Currently in koh chang and used the services of iamkohchang. Driver was excellent (ie. Did not fall asleep like others i have used). So highly recommend. Was 5100 from bangkok hotel.

14 hours ago, rkidlad said:

This must be all the Buddhism I keep hearing about. Calm heads and all that. Never really understood how you can get angry with a child. Annoyed, sure. But it's a child. You don't like kids then don't have them and don't work with them. Simple really.

 

At the end of the day, it's all okay as long as you say "it's my culture". A perfect excuse for being a <deleted> which other <deleted> will agree with. 

Yep...just like those good old Christian values people hear about...it has nothing to do with religious beliefs.

We went thru this process severak years ago so this is just based on our experiences.

Number one - she must be abke to provid if her return back to Thailand. Either a return to work letter. Ptoof of her looking after family. Assets showing ties to Thailand, car ownership, home ownership, going to school. You need to think in terms of a tourist. Say you were going to Mexico for a month from Canada, what would you need to do at home while away. Look after your home mail, employer gives you appropriate time off, somebody to look after any house pets, chikdren, other family. The onus is on the applicant to prove they are not going to stay in Canada.

Getting married would not help, as being married to you is a stronger tie to Canada than what she has now.

Being pregnant I have no idea how that may sway the decision. 

My wife and I had been married 4 years and our youngest was 9 months old when we got her first TRV. 

Canada Border Services are the people you need to worry about. If you do get a TRV your bigger hurdle is answering all the questions upon arrival in Canada. A couple of wrong answers and it can be problematic. Even with a 5 year visa in her passport we get grilled everytime in Vancouver. 

I have used a Visa Agent and it worked just fine. However you still do most of the work gathering paper work, photos, background info on the applicant etc.  Agents mostly just do translation of documents and the online applucation.

NO visa agent can guarantee a TRV.  Not possible.

I would recommend her/you slowly putting money in her bank account. We started with 100,000 baht and that was ok for the consulate in bangkok.

Good luck, not impossible to get a TRV just making sure you can prove she will return and you should get one no problem.

I actually ended up taking my daughter back to Canada to have some work done. Her 4 front uppers needed to be pulled and some other work. Dentist in Nong Khai (who were nice) just not at the same standard. 

She was given general anesthesia and we were in and out in less than an hour in Canada. Has had zero problems since. 

We did look but could not find this type of dental surgery around Nong Khai perrhaps Bangkok. 

It was not cheap but money well spent when it comes to my children. 

And i do not believe that children do not feel pain the same way. They do not have the same long term memories of the experience. But during the procedure they certainly feel pain like adults do.

Good luck with getting work done. It can be a traumatic experience for younger children which can lead to an unfortunate dislike of dentists later in their lives.