soalbundy

9 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

There is an election in the offing ...

I don't think Brits or other farang are high on the average Thai radar but if then we are rather seen as a cash cow who shouldn't leave the pasture.

4 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Just stepping back from the details of the British Embassy announcement for a moment, has it occurred to others here whether the timing of this latest kerfuffle is merely coincidental with Big Joke (Prawit's man) taking over as head of Immigration, or perhaps NOT!  And Prawit being in the news just in the past day saying how he'd ordered Immigration to quickly deport anyone found on visa overstay. And Joke's track record of visa overstay raids.

 

If one were reading the tea leaves lately, it wouldn't be too hard to conclude that there's a definite anti-foreigner campaign/shift underway. Add into that the police's recent verbal and threatened legal assault on the British teenager's KT rape allegations.  And various other foreigner in the news prosecutions.

 

I don't know that such a change of government sentiment is occurring/has occurred. But it might not be too hard to conclude that it is/has.  It's one thing when the government/Immigration proclaims "Good guys in, bad guys out," which in the real world is a joke with loads of actual foreign criminals running around Thailand untouched. But depending on whether Thai Immigration starts demanding new and onerous forms of income documentation, it may well result in a lot of "good guys out" as well.

 

I don't find this too far fetched, I wrote a post some time ago about new hoops to jump through when 'big joke' became boss but I still think this is a British inefficiency problem, the muddle through attitude, like the Tory election, the brexit vote, it will be alright on the night negotiations with the EU, the Thais have caught them out.

3 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Thanks, I think this may have something to do with the whole thing. Other countries letters (declarations/affidavits) are written/signed by the claimant and the consulate witnesses the signature etc.

One is a letter from a consulate, the others are letters from the individual applying for the visa.

Immigration can ask an individual for more proof, they cant ask the consulate for more proof (what the OP says)

I don't sign at the German embassy either but they want proof of income, ID etc which I believe they copy into a computer, they make additional copies of everything you present to them and will only accept originals, the letter that they print out seems to have a safety strip (like a bank note) on it. Once you are in their computer you are a yearly customer so to speak, they can follow every application you have ever made. I always go personally every year, the good thing is that you don't deal with some stuck up Thai as with the GB embassy but with a German, the same guy every year. 

3 minutes ago, blackhorse said:

Why are you letting facts get in the way?

Gotta feel for the brits though first brexit and then the currency crash and now even their own embassy dumps them.

I think we are quite used to the latter point in your post, the British embassy is merely a gin tonic fortress.

I have just read the announcement on the British embassy website, they say ''they no longer issue the confirmation because THEY are unable to fulfil the Thai authorities requirements'' seems to be a purely British thing to me and not something the Thais have dreamt up. Possibly too many Brits have been caught out using dodgy schemes.

I have just sent an Email to the German embassy, they usually reply very quickly, unlike the British embassy who normally don't reply at all. I have looked at their website and have found nothing regarding this matter so perhaps it's a s0d you ex-pats from from GB only.

6 minutes ago, pagallim said:

More a case of other Embassies seeking further clarification from Immigration before making their own announcement, nothing to do with UK Embassy staffing.   Their system of requesting letters on-line from around a year or so ago is pretty slick.

I will write an Email to the German embassy tomorrow and get the wife to ring up immigration (kap choeng) I'll let you all know what comes of it.

We ought to wait for Ubonjoe on this one.

I always use the German embassy, they verify my German pension from the yearly letter concerning the annual pension increase, they also verify my small British pension onhand from the original letter and the Thai account where it is deposited. Quick (15 minuets) and cheap.

Maybe in future the original letter from the DWP may be enough combined with ATM slips, who knows, it will be sorted out no doubt.

6 hours ago, mauGR1 said:

Same here, apart from the occasional thunderstorm.

I always thought that most Thais hate noise as much as foreigners.

They do, unless they are making the noise then it's OK.

Renovating with a vengeance, strip down to the basics, I presume they were well insured, renovations can be expensive.

If he says it then it must be true, he'll be watching...ooops.

Does this mean that there will shortly be no immigration officials? All down the labour office looking for a better paying job.

Road runner had the last laugh

6 hours ago, nikmar said:

the bone / cartilage is apparently good for you....calcium I think. my Thai Mum sits there with a raw foot in her mouth while she watches TV. It looks disgusting but she loves chewing and sucking the damn thing.

She could try toe nail cuttings, just as much calcium but so much more discrete.

11 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Did you think he might have mental health problems?

 

He could have had serious depression.  

 

Mental health illnesses not have to have an accumulation of life's problems to happen, and they are not related to how much money someone has or has not.  

 

You might want to research a little on mental health before saying this guy did not have a good reason to kill himself.  You don't even know what was going on in his life so how can you be so sure he was wrong?

 

 

I agree with what you have written, I have been with my cousin when he has had one of his bouts of severe depression, my argument was with the words 'good reason', it could have been the cause, the why, the reason, but that doesn't make it 'good', just understandable.

On 9/29/2018 at 9:33 AM, Easy Come Easy Go said:

Obviously there's a good reason.. 

There was obviously a reason but I doubt that it was good. The only good reason would be a painful terminal illness but as an Australian he would get good palliative care in his own country, too young to have accumulated a lot of life's problems, a girl perhaps ?

I don't know if all this Thai child thing is still valid, I read somewhere that for instance getting a visa to support your Thai child has been rescinded.

16 hours ago, Argus Tuft said:

 

Nobody was bowing backwards, but the guard lost his cool.  Could have been handled better methinks

an example please

On 9/28/2018 at 2:18 PM, Antonymous said:

 

Then again he could equally make his mark by streamlining the service, making fewer forms to complete, fewer hoops for us to leap through. Let's hope!

That wouldn't be Thainess.

Should we be worried ?  I mean if he gets the immigration job he has to make his mark, a new hoop to jump through perhaps, another useless form, a new regulation etc.