BritTim

6 hours ago, chris carre said:

Getting angry in Thailand is counter productive.it will get you nowere just laughted at 

Getting angry in Thailand is a high risk strategy with unpredictable consequences. If they start smiling or laughing, it is a bad sign, and may presage an unpleasant aftermath, worse than simple obstructionism. On the other hand, most Thais are conflict averse, and may be inclined to defuse the situation by giving you what you want. I do not recommend it, but making a scene can work sometimes.

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

Correct, if you live in another country it would be evidence of the right to live there. However the local embassy can exercise discretion and London certainly has accepted documents indicating a physical address.

 

The question is in 2 sentences and the word "current" in the second sentence refers to "consular jurisdiction and residency" in the first.

"Applicant must apply for e-Visa via specific Embassy/Consulate conforming with his/her consular jurisdiction and residency. Applicant is required to
upload document that can verify his/her current residency."

 

The Hong Kong website has notes on application completion and they refer to it as "legal residence".

"Confirmation of legal residence, in the context of the Hong Kong SAR, generally refers to (a) Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card (“A” HKID); (b) Hong Kong Identity Card indicating right to land (“R” HKID) or unconditional stay permit (“U” HKID); or (c) valid stay permit issued by Hong Kong Immigration (for “C” HKID holders).

• https://hongkong.thaiembassy.org/en/page/visa-info

I believe the intent of the second question is to prove that those without citizenship are eligible to apply for a visa at that embassy/consulate (the same as when previously making applications in person). If currently having residence in the country was a requirement for making an application, the question about citizenship would be superfluous. There is a requirement that you be physically in the country at the time of your application, but that is a separate matter.

3 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

A retiree here is a consistent spender over time but at a low level of spend, a tourist is a far higher level of spend over a shorter period. Average length of tourist stay in Thailand is about 12 days but the average spend is around Baht 5,500 per day.......long term residents spend closer to 60/70k per month, not 170k per month. 60/70k per month income will attract on average, Thai tax of under 8k per year, assuming only few deductions, for me personally it attracts no tax.

 

If you take the longer term economic view, the retiree is the better economic bet because of consistency and duration. But in truth, the economy needs blend of both, long term and short duration foreigners. I challenged your statement that a reduction of stay to under 180 days per year would crater the Thai economy and I continue to be certain it will not, for the reasons described above. You have now asked why 90 day VOA should be offered. I think the answer is that it attempts to extend the stay of the short duration, higher spending tourists which is what the tourism industry needs right now, in order to kick start the economy.

In general, I agree with your analysis. However, it may have some localised impacts that have a knock-on effect to the economy in general. As an example, if 25% of the retirees in some areas (where they are a substantial proportion of property owners) decided over a short period to sell up and leave, this could seriously affect the local economy, especially the property market. Those leaving would likely be those with higher than average net worth who, in addition, might be removing children from international schools.

1 hour ago, OJAS said:

The French and IT are an equally deadly combination IMHO - in their infinite wisdom they decided to take their Bangkok Embassy website down for supposed "maintenance" all day on Saturday at precisely the time I needed to download info from it in connection with a Schengen visa application for my Thai wife! ????

That is irritating, but much less bad than a hacked website. In this kind of situation, note that you can usually access a fairly recent version of the website using https://archive.org.

33 minutes ago, problemfarang said:

so.. thai immigration doesnt issue it.. ok

they dont let your embassy know? OR when 10000s people go to the embassy and tell them what the IO told them and they dont act?

i think thats more problematic.

Since, officially, immigration offices are supposed to issue residence certificates (and most do) it is a bit difficult to insist that your embassy provide them because of a few rogue offices. That said, regardless of whether immigration offers them, it is hard to understand why, for instance, the British embassy that used to provide them discontinued that service (except that they have, generally, terminated most of their support for British nationals in Thailand, and are being consistent).

4 hours ago, timoti said:

Isn't the cheapest elite four 5 years is 1M now? I think it's a huge difference.

Indeed! 1,000,000 baht for five years instead of 20 years.

4 hours ago, timoti said:

What happened to those people? Their visa become invalid or they couldn't get any other visa afterwards?

Some in Immigration decided to give them a hard time later. They did not do anything that was technically illegal, but they were playing games in a way that could cause problems for genuine volunteers doing charity work. Immigration at some offices and entry points took the opportunity to obstruct their future entries or extensions.

An abusive post and a response to it have been removed.

1. 1. It would be better if she was there. For the initial application (and for future extensions) it is an absolute requirement. To get the stamps at the end of the "under consideration" period, some offices would probably be OK with her absence, but I would not rely on that.
   
   Those wanting to minimise their wife's attendance at Immigration would be better off getting the initial Non O visa at an embassy/consulate outside Thailand where just a letter from your wife asking them to issue the visa is sufficient.
    
2. That depends on the individual office. They might request it.

24 minutes ago, zenobit said:

Am I just mistaken, or do the posts by “Red Phoenix”, “bamnutsak” and “Liquorice” — in which individual paragraphs are discussed in detail — not come to the same conclusion regarding a logical implementation of the TM 30 rules?

 

I would definitely be lying if I said that the topic of TM 30 was explained in a simple, understandable way and that I now know what to do. The opposite is actually the case: I feel more confused about the topic than before and have not the slightest idea whether I am even affected by the regulation and whether, after more than 10 years, I will suddenly face a problem when I next extend my visa will or not.

I feel your pain. It is a fact that Immigration at many offices has become much more serious recently about TM30 notifications. Short of local knowledge, it would probably be prudent for you to make a new TM30 notification now out of an abundance of caution.

49 minutes ago, K2938 said:

What is meant with "line Minister", please?

That is a good question. The BOI operates directly under the aegis of the Prime Minister's Office. I assume it means that the person supervising the BOI from the PM's office is one of the Deputy PMs.

You should have no problems. It seems all your planned entries into Thailand will be by air and (as you say) you are clearly a short stay tourist. With travel plans like yours, the only concern would be if you wanted more than two entries through land crossings.

1 hour ago, timoti said:

It's also mentioned here by someone else. It's from thai visa center. I thought that place was advertised here a lot.

 

 

That thread was highly confusing. On the face of it, he received a one-year extension of his permission to stay from a visa exempt entry without the previous necessary Non Immigrant visa. That would be out and out illegal, not just dubious.

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

Has he even looked at requirements to set up a company.

Rhetorical question.

No such animal that you describe. 

Scam 

Such a scheme would be possible but, as I posted earlier, dubious. They make you a director of a Thai company and provide the documentation for a multiple entry Non B visa as a director of the company. If the scheme gains traction, a crackdown is likely.

Just now, timoti said:

I was quoted 110K for the first year because of the initial things that needs to be done.

There are also ongoing costs. In the past, a Thailand Elite visa worked out cheaper. With recent changes, Thailand Elite is a less attractive option than before.

1 minute ago, timoti said:

That makes sense. Another friend said he set up an actual company by a lawyer so I guess that's more legit compared to this one.

That is definitely more legit, but also a lot more expensive if actually paying the required four Thai staff. It is never a good solution unless you want to actually run a business here.

23 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

The main two requisitions I find banks want these days are a personal reference and to confirm your address, either a Yellow Tabien Baan or a residence certificate issued by Immigration. The days of accepting a landlords TB and ID card now seem defunct.

Those definitely help. They do not make or break an application. I have this year opened an account without either. It is hard.

58 minutes ago, Middle Aged Grouch said:

Amazon also had issues a few days ago with their double authentification OTP sms that was down.

 

Looks that there is a load of issues or problem either technical with all the recent updates due to eventual cyber attacks ?

 

Gets scary to use an Android phone as they sometimes seem to need almost daily updates on the apps.

 

iPhones seem the most secure...for the moment.

 

Of course you will always have the nerd comming over, not minding his business and claiming it's not true, that iPhones are bad and ugly and bla bla...but seeing how many updates are needed on an Android, I prefer by far my iPhone that seems to have better protection agains all the cyber criminal scum.

That is one point of view. The other is that apps that are promptly updated to address security issues are lower risk than those where security updates only occur months after an exploit is reported. The fact is that all online systems are potentially vulnerable. Apple has tighter controls which (from a security viewpoint) lowers risk. Android is more transparent and addresses critical issues faster once reported.

5 hours ago, Nedrapter said:

So reading all this about the banks has lead me to new confusion (and I thought I finally had things sorted out)... Reading the requirements for a foreigner to open a bank account in Thailand, I found these in multiple sites:
 

• Your visa or a work permit. (assuming a METV works, this is fine?)
• Your passport. (that's fine)
• Proof that you’re living here in Thailand, such as a lease or rental agreement. (that should be fine too)
• A letter from your employer confirming your name and title, and that you are currently employed in Thailand. (that seems impossible as I will not be employed in Thailand...)
• A reference from the bank account you have in your home country, or embassy. (is this easily obtainable? I'm not aware?)

 

So if the marriage visa ultimately needs a bank account 2 months prior (at least) but I'm not able to work in Thailand prior to getting the marriage visa... how does this work?

Opening a bank account these days is tricky. Most banks will (at least initially) tell you you can only open a bank account if you have a work permit. The requirements, in fact, are not cast in stone. Using an agent is simplest. If you want to do it yourself, be well groomed, explain that you need the account to deposit a large sum of money for immigration purposes, and will be maintaining a large balance. Then, sweeten the deal by stating that you will buy bank accident insurance (about a 3,000 to 5,000 baht premium) if they will open the account. The insurance is not completely worthless. (The bank employees get a small commission for selling insurance.) This will not always be sufficient, but will sometimes work.

8 hours ago, camko said:

I'm planning to go to Japan from the US before heading to Thailand. Would there be an issue if my flight on the visa application was from Japan instead of my home country? Or would it be better to apply instead while in Japan to the local embassy?

Do not think of trying that (unless you have a Japanese residence permit). The Thai embassy in Tokyo does not accept applications from foreigners.

11 hours ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

Actually, you have read more into what I posted than what was actually posted... you painted my statement with a broad brush rather than understanding that my comment was not about "everyone" but limited to those who, and there are many, who abuse the system.

You specifically identified those applying for multiple entry visas in Savannakhet as an example of abusers of the system, and (by implication) accused consular officials at the Savannakhet consulate as guilty of corruption without any evidence.

9 hours ago, Liquorice said:

You can apply for the Non Imm O single entry and the same for your wife from London.

https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/page/retirement-visa

The problem is that an application for a Non O (dependant) visa will be rejected unless the spouse already has a long term extension of stay or a Non O-A (long stay) visa. It is a bit of a catch 22 situation.