billp

The list is not random, it's simply those countries eligible for Visa on Arrival (which is NOT the free visa exemption). The citizens of those countries have to get a 15-day visa at a cost of 2000 baht (fee currently waived until April 30th).

The eVOA has already been up-and-running since November using https://www.evisathailand.com/

Many reports that this has considerably streamlined the VOA process which can take two hours or more when planeloads of Chinese and Indians land, reducing the wait to around 10 minutes.

So I'm confused about this new announcement.

You have to show bank statements for a single-entry tourist visa??? I’ve never had to do that, including just last week in Berlin.

On 1/4/2019 at 6:20 PM, arithai12 said:

show

Did you read my post at all? Only if you’re traveling on a protected connection – one ticket, one PNR can you remain in transit. If you have two separate PNRs, you have to clear Immigration, claim baggage and re-check-in. Then you need a visa.

Are you on a single ticket with a single PNR? In that case, your luggage will be checked through to destination and you’ll be issued a boarding pass for your onward flight. You will be a CIQ passenger in Bangkok and head straight to the international transfer desk without going through Immigration. There are big signs for you to follow. You will clear security in a special line and head straight to your gate. If your incoming flight is late and you miss your outgoing flight, the airline will look after you, getting you onto the next available flight to your destination and issuing food and hotel vouchers if necessary.

If these are two different PNRs booked separately (even if they were booked at the same time for you by a travel agent), you will have to clear Immigration, claim your baggage, stand in a line to check in, and go through security and passport control. If you miss your outgoing flight, you’re on your own. Four hours transfer time is adequate.

In this case, as a Bulgarian national, you WILL need a visa. There’s no problem getting a visa on arrival (VOA), departing the country after four hours, and then getting another VOA three days later. It’s immaterial how long you have stayed on the first entry (as long as it was less than 15 days). You’re eligible for a VOA each time you enter Thailand.

But you could try to get a double entry transit visa in advance, which would cost much less than the two VOAs. Each entry gives you a stay of up to 30 days. You must enter or leave from a third country, as you are doing. Ask the Thai embassy or one of the consulates in Germany if this is possible. I know the embassy in Delhi does issue double-entry transit visas to Indian nationals who are in the same position as you are. At the very least you can get one transit visa and make your second entry a VOA.

You can get a brand new pre-approved eVOA at https://www.evisathailand.com/ This dramatically reduces processing time at Immigration.

And, if you apply for a visa in Germany as a third-country national, make sure you bring a copy of your Einwohnermeldeschein.

Brazilians do get 90-day visa exemptions due to bilateral agreement. So the OP did not require a tourist visa for his 70 days and in addition there’s no need for a visa run to Vietnam. If he wants to make a side-trip there he does not need any sort of re-entry permit. He would get a free 90-day exemption again on his return to Thailand after however number of days.
http://www.consular.go.th/main/th/customize/62281-Summary-of-Countries-and-Territories-entitled-for.html

I get a SIM from the AIS stand at the airport and then they add on a data plan. Currently, this is 12 GB at 4G speeds for 799 baht for 30 days. This plan automatically renews each month, so you have to make sure you top up with enough credit to pay for the data before the automatic renewal. Each time I top up, it extends my validity by a month. DTAC and True have similar deals and coverage, so just go to the stand with the shortest line. Or you can go to one of their shops in a mall.

”Tourist SIM” and “Traveler SIM” are just marketing gimmicks. A SIM card is a SIM card. It’s what you add on that counts.

I recently got a SIM for 1week 4G in Cambodia at the airport in Phnom Penh – unlimited volume for $6. In Vietnam I believe it was $10 for something similar.

Why doesn’t she just get a single-entry tourist visa in advance? All problems solved.

The Thai Embassy in the UK has the following on their website:

Quote

Foreigners who enter Thailand under this Tourist Visa Exemption Scheme may only do so for 30 days at one time with a maximum of 3 times in a 6-month period by flight and 2 times a year for overland crossing.

http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84451-Tourist-Visa.html

As far as I know, this is the only embassy website to state there is a limit of 3 visa exempt entries by air in 6 months. Nowhere else have I seen it stated in such specific terms. I always thought that visa-exempt entries by air were still unlimited. The “2 per year by land” limitation is well-known of course.

Over the past year, I’ve seen a number of postings where serial visa-exempt-enterers were told at the airport “Next time you need a visa.” It seemed rather arbitrary, but could this actually have been the application of a new stealth rule?

For those who can read the Thai text, is this limitation now actually spelled out in the official published visa regulations? Or is the embassy in the UK (and random Immigration Officers at Suvarnabhumi) just, you know, making it up as they go along?

“Even now, after “Chinese restaurant syndrome” has been thoroughly debunked (virtually all studies since then confirm that monosodium glutamate in normal concentrations has no effect on the overwhelming majority of people), the ingredient has a stigma that will not go away.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/dining/05glute.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/aug/12/msg-allergy-chinese-restaurant-syndrome-myth

Just wanted to add for the OP, that since Canadian pension payments are tax-free in Thailand, they should not be declared to the Thais at all. The Thais will not refund Canadian tax paid. For that you have to make a Section 217 declaration to the Canadians as I described above. It’s worth going through the process. In some situations (eg high medical costs), you could get all your paid tax refunded.

The idea that MSG is bad for the health was a mistake to begin with that became an urban myth. It’s an organic product and there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that it causes any health problems.

WinterGael: You only get “deemed resident” status if you work abroad for a Canadian embasssy or CIDA or if you’re a member or dependant of the Canadian armed forces stationed abroad. In that case you’re a Canadian taxpayer 100% on world income and you don’t have anything to do with the foreign tax regime. In addition, you must contribute to CPP and Employment Insurance if you’re working.

“You are a non-resident for tax purposes if you:

• normally, customarily, or routinely live in another country and are not considered a resident of Canada; or
• do not have significant residential ties in Canada; and
  • you live outside Canada throughout the tax year; or
  • you stay in Canada for less than 183 days in the tax year.”

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/international-non-residents/individuals-leaving-entering-canada-non-residents/non-residents-canada.html#rsdncstts

”Residential ties” means:

• “a home in Canada;
• a spouse or common-law partner in Canada; and
• dependants in Canada”

Bank accounts and credit cards are only secondary. For example, I have bank and brokerage accounts in Canada and I used to own a rental property in Vancouver, but I have been a non-resident for many years.

In addition: 

“If you established ties in a country that Canada has a tax treaty with and you are considered a resident of that country, but you are otherwise a factual resident of Canada, meaning you maintain significant residential ties with Canada, you may be considered a deemed non-resident of Canada. The same rules apply to deemed non-residents as non-residents of Canada.” (My emphasis.)

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/international-non-residents/information-been-moved/determining-your-residency-status.html

Because of the dual taxation treaty, your pension income is only taxable in Canada at the non-resident rate of 15%. If 25% was withheld, you can file a tax return to get the excess refunded. You have to file a standard T1 form for non-residents, but write on the top “Section 217” and include “Schedule C, Electing under Section 217,” and “Schedule A, Statement of World Income.”

This return ONLY refers to your “Section 217 Income” meaning in your case only your CPP and OAS pensions and any RRIF income, not interest or dividends or employment in Canada. But in effect for this return, you have to declare your world income from all sources and then go through a process which calculates what your taxes WOULD have been if you were a Canadian resident with all available exemptions. If your taxes withheld are more than this fictitious tax owing, you can claim a refund. You only have to file this if it’s BENEFICIAL to you and it must be filed by June 30th of each year. If you choose not to file, then the government just keeps the tax withheld and you’re good to go.

The whole process is described in detail here: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/t4145/t4145-electing-under-section-217-income-tax-act-2016.html

If you want to get the tax withheld reduced to 15% in the future, you have to file a Form NR5 but then you’re obligated to file a Section 217 return for the next 5 years. Section 217 returns are the devil to calculate, so it’s up to you whether you want to put youself through this hell every year in order to get the tax withholding reduced. And if the Section 217 return shows you owe money (due to non-217 Canadian income) you have to pay it if you’ve filed NR5.

Actually they’re microscopic and transparent jellyfish larvae, popularly known as “sea lice.” And when they get caught between your bathing suit and skin, they continue to sting. This stuff is expensive, but it seems to genuinely offer protection: Safe Sea. But it’s expensive and I don’t know if it’s sold in Thailand.

You could buy shares in Sino Thai Engineering. They’re sure to get a piece of the action. And Thailand Cement of course. As for ETFs, do a search for an infrastructure fund specializing in southeast Asia. Huge projects underway across the region, especially Indonesia.

The Bangkok Flight Services paid lounge is actually the Air France/KLM lounge. Pretty nice, although the food isn't anything to write home about - just canapés.

For AIS, you can use 005 but the cheapest prefix is 00500. So 00500442030248211

007, 008 and 009 can be used by all phones.

Arandora is correct. Air Asia and Nokair (and other LCCs at DMK) are point-to-point carriers which in principle sell you one ticket to one destination and do not do transfers of you or your luggage to any other flight including one of their own. The sole exception is Air Asia, which offers a limited number of "Fly-Thru" connections in which it transfers baggage from one of its own flights to another Air Asia flight, NOT to another carrier. (And yes, "Fly-Thru" is the terminology Air Asia uses.)

Full-service airlines which have interlining agreements (not just alliance partners) do make transfers from one airline to another IF both connecting flights are on the same ticket. If the flights were booked separately, they MAY offer a transfer as a courtesy to passengers, but they're not obliged to. As an example, Bangkok Airways used to routinely interline luggage from intercontinental full-service carriers onto its Siem Reap, Chiang Mai and Samui flights at Suvarnabhumi Airport even if the flights were booked separately, but put a stop to that earlier this year. Now passengers on separate tickets have to claim their baggage, pass through Immigration and check in landside.

I'm shocked at the amount of outright misinformation in this thread being passed off as advice to a traveler who would have gotten into hot water if he had followed it.

Did you know that as a New Zealand citizen you can get an APEC card which gives you 90 days visa-free in Thailand? Here's how to apply: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/apec/

A new SIM in every country is always going to be the cheapest option, especially since cut-rate supermarkets like Lidl and Aldi almost give them away, but of course that means you have to keep changing your card. "Global SIM cards" are super expensive. They sock you with a big up-front fee and then huge calling rates. Vodafone, which owns a wireless operator in most European countries, offers "Vodafone Passport, a good deal on roaming charges and local calls across Europe, but I don't think there are any price breaks for calling Thailand: http://www.vodafone.co.uk/shop/pay-as-you-go/travelling-abroad/vodafone-passport/index.htm

To get cheap calls abroad, visit a phone shop in an immigrant district and pick up a cheap international calling card, in which you dial a local number to get an international connection.

This is one of three Grand Tower Inns. The other two are at Thonglor and Ari. This one's near Sathorn Bridge on the Thonburi side. All cheap hotels where you can get a room for 800 baht and stay for a month for 11,000. Last July, a Tripadvisor reviewer came up with what might very well be behind today's fire: "This hotel is right in between the tallest sky-scrapers in Bangkok. It's obviously doomed to be demolished to make space for another sky-scraper. It's ran-down [sic] and the entrance smelled bad."

I've cross-posted this on a number of forums and social networking sites. Let's see if that bears fruit.

Bangkok police say the honest driver of an orange-yellow cab turned in the equivalent of 100,000 baht in US dollars and Burmese kyat, which he said a passenger had left in his taxi this morning (Jan. 22). The driver, identified as Soodjai Chaihabutr, said he picked up a 50 to 60 year old caucasian man at Sukhumvit Soi 31 from 07:00 to 08:00 and drove him to the airport. Only later did Soodjai discover the yellow bag with the money in the back of his cab. He returned to the airport but was unable to locate the forgetful passenger.

If anyone knows who that passenger may be, tell him to call the police at 1644.

Source: http://khaosodenglis...-x-none_22.html

Thanks very much, theolddigit, that's exactly what I wanted to know.

To the others: (1) no, I don't want to take a taxi all the way because I want to experiment with using the ARL, and (2) of course I looked on Google Maps and other, much better maps (because I actually consider Google Maps a steaming pile of inaccurate codswallop). I wanted to see if there was anyone here who had actually tried it - and there was, so thanks again.