Carioca

The US Embassy "normally" schedules 3 trips a year to Phuket, or about every 4 months.

Thai immigration in Phuket recognize this and informally allow 4 months between affidavit and visa renewal. As an example, US Consulate comes here on July 27. I think immigration will accept that income affidavit up until the next US Consulate Visit. If the next visiti was say Nov. 1, then they would allow about 3 months and 5 days. If the next visit by the consulate is Dec. 1, then they would allow 4 months and 5 days.

I think the law is still 90 days, but most of us know the laws are in a state of flux right now as many are being revised day by day, month by month.

Of course if you happen to be in Bangkok, you canget one there at the embassy, but schedule an appt online first.

Not authoritative, just based on observation and chatting with others who submit income affidavits.

I am not at all contradicting other posts here, maybe 6 months is their line in the sand.

I live by the philosophy, primarily asian, that with good always comes bad, i.e. duality of life. I am always careful about trying to correct others bad behavior as I see it as a part of all of us, of course some more than others. Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. What if Thailand figures out solution is to charge tourists prices for all? Hmmm!

The NCPO last night must have used the word "transparency" 100 times in the General's speech. That above all else, if effectively implemented, will benefit Thailand long-term as it will expose those trying to grab "their share" of the government largesse. That the General stressed transparency so repeatedly tells me he is serious about zero tolerance for corruption. Nothing like everybody knowing for a fact you are a thief to completely lose face ( and maybe a earn little free time in your favorite prison).

I agree with others here, the old pols had evidence of corruption and ignored it. Now they are out of power and they accuse everybody of corruption without any evidence.

I'M WTH THE GENERAL UNTIL ...

There are special rules for migrant workers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar because Thailand has a need for laborers.

I would not call it a double standard. Would you be willing to work for 300 baht a day?

Well said. I live in Phuket and have trouble finding thai people for 100 baht an hour, plenty from Burma though.

I know many expats living here 6-12 months a year on tourist visas. Most have the means but not age requirement for retirement visa. These folks are not deadbeats at all, they just have earned or inherited too much money too early in life.

I can only imagine what it would be like to set up an illegal business in Yellowstone or any national park or public area in the U.S. or Europe. A person would be arrested before the first nail was pounded. It is impossible for me to believe that the local Phuket authorities were not "aware" that these businesses were encroaching on public land and it is my opinion that every government official in a position of responsiblity for enforcement of encroachment issues should be fired from their job and be investigated by the graft and corruption council.

Financially, it makes more sense to front-load the corrupt with cash, rather than the USA model of spending 10 times that amount to imprison them for the next 20 years. People outside that arena(i.e. the rest of us) should weight their concern with their pocketbook rather than western morality. Be Here Now.

Sorry mates, all your ideas are good, but you have forgotten that any solution must be run by the tuk-tuk yuck-yucks in Kata-Karon-Patong-BangTao to make sure it doesn't affect their business lest they block that road also.

these overstayers give us law abiding , tax paying farangs a bad name

out with the lot of you

these overstayers give us law abiding , tax paying farangs a bad name

out with the lot of you

Doesn't help the image of us tax-dodging, law-ignoring chaps either

I wondered my entire life when the powers would eradicate prostitution; they have managed to do it by relabeling it trafficking. I am SO happy that the politicians can now say that processing prostitution prosecutions is down worldwide and they are stamping out trafficking now. Not my job to be self righteous, but does anyone in their right mind actually think what happened to these two was okay? Just another example of everyone is now either a perpetrator or a victim. Even the innocent bystanders risk prosecution if they don't say the right things. Law enforcement run AMOK.

Can somebody help me with Riyadh being 10th for " nightlife touring " as I'm not at all sure what it means and probably not what I am thinking ?

I don't see Saudi as being a tourist place except for Muslims and on a recent BBC " Fast Track " programme they said tourist visas were not the easiest things to get presumably meaning for non-Muslims. We're not allowed to visit Mecca.

Can somebody help me with Riyadh being 10th for " nightlife touring " as I'm not at all sure what it means and probably not what I am thinking ?

I don't see Saudi as being a tourist place except for Muslims and on a recent BBC " Fast Track " programme they said tourist visas were not the easiest things to get presumably meaning for non-Muslims. We're not allowed to visit Mecca.riyadh

I thought it must be a mistake. I lived in Riyadh for 3 years and not only is it expensive, mixed couples are still banned in public, mixed meaning sexes unless married. So if you want to go out for a great meal and atmosphere, Riyadh is great, but no girls or booze, only men and coffee. If caught with a western woman, they will harass you, if caught with a muslim woman, they will talk about punishment and body parts. Westerner can only go to Mecca during the Hadj and if they are or profess to convert to Islam. But on the brighter side, they have open gay cruising areas.

No money to take care of them. Better they starve in the 'safety' of an unfunded shelter (over 70% of those intercepted died of starvation) than provide protein to poor people, money or plastic buckets to those who don't want to take care of them, and deprive traders of a livelihood supplying a market. Is starvation a more merciful death than a quick death at the hands of a skilled butcher?

There are truly needy people, including children, who don't have enough to eat every day in Thailand. What caring person would donate to feed and vaccinate dogs that no one will ever adopt when there is so much need among the human population. Some people need to get their priorities straight. I can hardly wait to hear from those who value stray dogs more than human children.

Well said, and I have two stray dogs that I am feeding now.

While an old jaundiced hardass now, I still remember the true love of my youth. Its real, at least for the young. I give them the benefit of the doubt, that the families just had to deal with it.

Am I the only one confused by this? Did a crime actually take place or was only talked about?

Notwithstanding my thoughts on how pedophiles should be dealt with (which would earn me an instant ban if aired here), are we now heading down the road toward thought crimes?

Actually, we are already well down the road of thought police, been in place for about 5-6 years in the USA and Britain, not sure about Australia. In the USA, once a sex offender completes his sentence, he can be "civilly committed" for what they "think " he will do if released. The committment is for life and he can only be released under a judge's order. Most of the human rights in the USA are built around unlawful "criminal Prosecution" so the government made this a civil law instead which eliminates the accused person's criminal rights such as (1) face your accuser) (2) guilt is not beyond a reasonable doubt but now a preponderance of evidence(3) shrinks opinions are counted as fact even though the psyche profession barely gets more than half of their evaluations right. The issue that scares me is not that the government does this for child molesters, everybody agrees thats okay, its they have the law in place to extend it to other crimes, just as they did with the conspiracy laws which now apply to every two bit criminal but were originally intended only for top mobsters in orgranized crimes under the RICO act back in the 1960s. These and the liberties that we have lost in the USA including the Patriot Act post 9/11. Most of us agree with the intent of these laws, but as Reese Witherspoon found out in Atlanta, our so-called "right" to go about our lives has been severely constricted. So the responder about Minority Report is one I totally agree with. Tthe day when our darkest thoughts or fantasies (please don't deny you have them) are enough to put us in jail is already here, you don't have to discuss them with anybody and its not a crime, its a indicator or mental problems according to the government.

In most western countries if you are dying to unfit for trial then the courts won't bother with you. They just won't put you in jail.

They also tend to let you out if you have a life threatening illness.

If guilty it will probably be better for the hang em highs to have him kept in Thailand because if he went to Oz he would never be put in jail because of his age and illness.

Well, "most" may let you off the hook with this naive statement. If you happen to know about USA though you would be totally wrong. Today indigent mental patients are no longer put in the nuthouse, they are put in prisons and treated "exactly" the same way as the most hardened criminals(this without committing ANY crime whatsoever, or even an accusation of a crime. Merely a shrink saying a person could committ a crime. Same is true for medical deficiencies. They will house you in a prison and grant compassionate leave only when you can prove you have less than 3 months to live (try to do that with any "competent" medical board, forget it with a government bunch of hacks. I am unsure when the informed public became the ignorant, but I can assure you that statements such as "innocent until proven guilty" no longer have any relevance in modern criminal justice systems. The sad facts are that "if arrested, you are guilty automatically" no matter what we wish to believe about are human rights. The difference between honest citizens and criminals is only the degree in which we avoid the police's attention.

Kick him out of the country. Let the Aussies deal with him. If guilty, they can afford to house him humanely thereby extending his life and his time in prison.

Much rather go to the beach at 2 pm rather than waking up sweating at 3 am

What a feel good story this is, the bib, worried about tracing travelers, good work boys

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Actually, Immigration Dept.'s Police Major-General Kritsada stressed the recent crackdown was to enable tracking of dubious characters impersonating legitimate tourists as well as finding those that have committed crimes in Thailand and who are trying to escape from police.

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Well, though not very humorous, yours is the only comment that seems to make any sense. I sincerely feel a bit more comfort about this. Maybe it will keep the more dubious elements out of my hotel, present company excluded of course.

Okay, I confess my role. Even though my maid is paid to clean everyday, I must pay extra or else they won't do it. This is a good start, eh?

If they had bins, then all the stray dogs would starve. I watch as the bagged trash is put on the street, a pack of strays show up and tear it apart, then another thai is employed to clean it up and put it back in the bags, AGAIN.

Not caring a whit about whether I know what I am talking about but why is the thai governments responses so much more idiotic than other nations. Maybe they don't say it as well, but I don't see their statements any more stupid than others.

To wit, not whit, it costs more in resources to recycle a can or bottle than to make a new one. So where is the savings. Recycling is only about running out of rent money for landfills.

One can either play the thai way or, as in the west, eliminate corruption by paying government officials such exorbitant salaries and pensions that its in their best interest to NOT steal.

I can only speak for the US. Exorbitant salaries and pensions do not slow down the corruption of the politions there. If requested I can supply many examples.

Yes, you are exactly right, but importantly, it gives the politicians a whipping boy --government employees-- to draw attention away from their graft. Also it does legitimize graft which enables the US to preach to others.

One can either play the thai way or, as in the west, eliminate corruption by paying government officials such exorbitant salaries and pensions that its in their best interest to NOT steal.

In the US there is a law...forget the name of it, where you can whistle blow on any organization if you believe that corruption has led to the awarding of contracts etc. If proved, the whistleblower gets 30-50% of the amount the company is fined. The guy the law is named after was the first to press to test and the company concerned were fined upwards of 150 Mill. Sorry, details are hazy, I will google and check. Anyway, point being IF the Thai Government awarded a similar incentive and companies were fined and those individuals guilty of corruption had their assets confiscated, then corruption would end quickly.............mmmmmm or blackmail would increase significantly.... come to think of it.....forget it !

Edit...out of interest it could be Sarbanes–Oxley Act, enacted on July 30, 2002 (for corporate fraud whistleblowers). Still searching though as that name does not sound correct. I think this was just for protection of whistle blowers rather than reward.

It is Qui tam which is Latin for "in the name of the king". And you may google it and get quite the history on it. It is derived from English Common Law. There was an official who had some notoriety back in the 80s for being the first to bring it forward, I don't remember his name either, but I am sure it will surface if you research qui tam. Ernest Fitzgerald was the biggest whistleblower but I am not sure if he collected under qui tam or not.

unfortunately it happens time to time , that is the sad reality of Thailand , greedy pedophile foreigners and poor people . Good action from the Labor Right Promotion Network Foundation.

Do you mean that it only happens in Thailand and not in other European or Western countries?

Actually, the USA is No. 1 in the world. When you think about all the headlines here about sex, it seems to mostly be westerners. I'm sure there predilections only exist when they travel, never in their own countries.

Thailand, Cambodia, India, Brazil and Mexico have been identified as leading hotspots of child sexual exploitation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Thailand

I can only speculate as all I can find on sex crimes statistics is rape.

"2/3 of all prisoners convicted of rape or sexual assault had committed their crime against a child".

-BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991.

And from Wikipedia

most rapes in 2010 were 90K from good old USA. Of Course, for rapes per capita, USA is a paltry 7th place behind Botswana, Australia, Grenada, St Kitts, Nicarauga, and UK in that order.