Tapster

Hi,

I am British and 54 years old. My wife is South African and is 39.

My wife and I are staying in Phuket for seven months to see how we like it. We like it!

We are currently here on three-entry tourist visas. I know how these work so no problem there.

I want to change my visa to a non-O with retirement extension and my wife's to a non-O dependent visa, rather than apply for an OA visa (the only one offered by our local Thai Embassy in Johannesburg) and go through police clearance, medicals, etc. in South Africa, where we 'permanently' live at the moment. Also, if I can do this in Thailand we'll be set up to move here as soon as we return to SA and have sorted out our affairs there.

The problem:

When doing a 30-day extension on our visas yesterday, I asked the western guy who was assisting Thai Immigration (wearing a uniform with Thai Immigration credentials) how I would go about changing to a non-O visa. He said:

• I can convert to a non-O visa and apply from within Thailand, then, within the three-month validity of the non-O, apply for a retirement extension.
  No problem there. I know how to do this and the requirements for it.
  
  BUT
  
• My wife cannot apply for the non-O dependent visa while in Thailand!! We must leave for somewhere like Penang and apply from there.
  

Does anyone have any experience of this situation?

It clearly adds much complexity and expense to the process of arranging to settle here long-term...........or is it easy to do?

Another possible issue which I'd like an opinion on, please:

My wife is travelling on a passport in her maiden name as we are recently married and the new passport in her married name hadn't arrived when we applied for visas in SA.

We don't have a passport in her married name but we do have copies of our marriage certificates.

Does anyone know if she will be able to get the non-O dependent visa with her current passport and the marriage certificate copies?

Many thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Front row.

We arrived without passport and visa copies and without photos.

The helpful western guys filled in the forms for us (cool!) and sent us downstairs to get photocopies and photos. (B100 for 8 photos and photocopies B2 each).

No problems and no sign of right-wing tendencies anywhere in the building.

My wife and I did a 30-day extension at Phuket Town yesterday.

It was crowded but the immigration people were efficient and helpful.

There are two helpful western assistants who help smooth the process.

I'd go there - it only took us 40-60 mins and was no stress.

Will she face the death penalty? Is it mandatory for crimes of this sort?

Cheers

Hi Macahoom,

Many thanks for the recommendation. He looks good.

The tooth isn't very painful today and we'll probably go on Monday.

All the best,

David

@andreandre

I am very chilled, thanks, mate.

However, I am allowed to find your drivel unhelpful when my wife is in pain. Next time you have acute pulpitis I hope you meet a dentist like me who has no cliches in his mind about moaning patients.

That's all from me.

'thepool'?

Mmmmm.....is that the pool with the Liver birds in it?

If it is, we have something in common. I used to be a dentist in Anfield!

Thanks for the suggestion. These guys will be well qualified for sure and able to do anything we need. I am still looking for a personal recommendation of someone who has a great chairside manner and is painless but I'm sure the Bangkok Hospital people will be clinically OK. I might well give them a try.

Cheers.

BTW, I'm not returning to dentistry. I rather like living without the stress. As the old cliche goes....nobody lay on their deathbed wishing they'd spent more time at work!

Besides, I think my brain has atrophied too much to do exams in Thai!

Well, I don't mind it being the weirdest post of the year (...so far)

but, andreandre, it's not me with the problem. I'm trying to help my wife! Thanks for your unhelpful input (that's sarcasm, by the way. Your humour doesn't even get out of the cliched and old hat!)

My name is David and I am a dentist! But I'm trying to kick the habit and so I'm not practising in Thailand.

(very happy about that last statement!)

I need a good dentist. Can anyone recommend someone, please? I'm looking on Phuket only.

My criteria for such a dentist are (equal weight given to both):

• Explains everything; shows you your x-rays; good chairside manner
  
• Painless

I have already diagnosed the problem and need an approachable person with no superior ego, to confirm my diagnosis and carry out the treatment.

(I very much don't want to sound superior here, myself. The problem is a common one and it's not rocket science to diagnose it. Any dentist who doesn't get it right isn't the one for me anyway)

Many thanks in advance to any contributors.

We've looked in many 7-11s and not found them but maybe it's possible it was lost in translation!

We're going past Boots/Tesco Lotus on our way to Khao Lak for our dive trip. We'll check it out.

Many thanks.

Phew!!

After looking in many shops for tampons, all we can find are pads which are the external things with wings!!

We're leaving on a dive trip today and need proper tampons or it may all get very messy and unpleasant.

Please will someone tell us where to get tampons (the internal ones)? They must be available somewhere in Phuket, millions of women use them.

Grateful thanks in advance!!!

Just for completeness, here are images of the plug I bought.

49 THB from Home Pro, Chalong

@The Oracle

Thanks for that suggestion. I've done that with my own laptop and have UK, SA and the two-pin option which fits Thai plugs and some others.

Unfortunately my wife's lead has a weird kettle-type plug at the transformer end (it's not a normal computer kettle plug) so I've not even tried to get an alternative.

The Final Solution has been a three-pin Thai plug from Home Pro which I'm fitting this morning.

All the available multi-socket options had adaptors but nothing that would take a three-pin SA plug.

So, many thanks everyone. I think we can say that there is no easy way or perhaps no way at all to procure a South African plug adaptor in Phuket!!

:0)

Cool!

Thanks, everyone!

We're going shopping today and will look for the power strip as mentioned above. Failing that, I'll just fit a Thai plug. I'm not sure my wife will be overjoyed by the mutilation of her mains lead but at least she'll have a laptop that works!

It seems a South Africa is regarded as something of a third-world backwater! When I wanted to send Rand over to my Kasikorn Bank account recently, they insisted I change to another currency first, goddammit!

Hi

We're in Phuket for seven months and can't find an adaptor to convert the South African three-pin mains plug to the Thai two-pin plug.

Can anyone help us, please??

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Hi,

I'm renting a Honda Jazz for seven months, with insurance. 14,000 THB/month.

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to name names on the forum so maybe pm me if you'd like details.

Cheers

........but it looks like you have to hire the car for more than FIVE YEARS to get that rate.

Exact quote for my seven months is pending.

PS.............

and then I saw Felt35's link for Avis.........9,999THB a month??

I'm certainly going to check that out!

Thanks, man!

Many thanks gentlemen!

I have arranged car hire with full insurance for 14,000THB per month and it's not an old banger but a nice Honda Jazz.

Happy New Year, guys!

Thanks, guys!

I knew about the foreign exchange transaction form but thought it was for transferring large amounts, as for a condo purchase for instance, and then ensuring that you can take it out again if you sell in the future. However, I can see it would be useful for me.

A complication is that I won't be in Thailand when the transfer is made. Do you think I could get a FETF by arranging it by email?

I think I've just got to try it by email and see what happens.

@SheungWan

I haven't done the transfer yet but my understanding is that to transfer in foreign currency and then convert into Baht in Thailand is the best way to do it, so that's what I'll try to arrange.

Cheers

Hi,

I opened a K-Bank savings deposit account in November 2013, on a tourist visa.

I'm transferring approximately 700,000 THB into K-bank in January 2014 to fund a long stay in Phuket.

If I don't spend all the money, is it easy to transfer it out again to a foreign bank?

I haven't read of any exchange control issues but would value advice from those who've done it.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi NKM,

The rate is a reduced one because it's long term.

Yes, I'm not really cool with paying everything up front. I like your idea of two months up front so they are always ahead. I think they should be happy with that.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Hi LivinginKata,

Thank you for the opinion.

The company says it includes 'first class insurance' but I'll check for sure by email.

I don't know if you'll have an opinion on this but, as it's a local company, should I expect to have to pay the whole rental amount up front?

That's approximately 112,500 THB

Cheers

PS

I have one offer of car hire for 15,000 THB per month from airportcarrent.com

Nissan NV 1.6 Automatic 1.6 liter, 4-cylinder, 2-door, power steering air- conditioning, Seats 4, Holds 4 large suitcases.

Does this seem reasonable?