Tapster

Wow!

His English was very good as well.

????

Richy Williams is a builder from Liverpool. His work isn't the cheapest but it is properly done in my experience.

He should have access to carpenters.

Haven't spoken to him for a year or so. His number (available via PM)

Good luck.

????

I was there on Tuesday and was helped by a young Thai guy.

I had to go again yesterday and there was an older Thai guy who looked like an immigration officer.

????

Southern Big Bike in Patong sell good helmets and riding gear.

I've bought some there myself.

http://www.southern-bigbike.com/

Good luck.

????

OK, whatever you like. It's a (relatively) free world.

?

Gingivitis isn't serious gum disease, and that price is ridiculous, I agree.

Please share where you are going to now? Have you been before? Are they any good?

I need a very straightforward crown done and I'd like a cheaper-than-Rang-Hill one, so long as it's sound.

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@eezergood

"Ello Geezer.

I don't know what they were quoting for but someone got the wrong end of the stick, pricewise.

Their website says 800-2,500 THB for cleaning. It's not as much as in the UK and a reasonable fee for the time taken.

The only way someone might need to spend 13,000 on their gum health is by having multi-visit work, cleaning a quarter of the mouth on each visit. If you have gum disease, you might have been prescribed four visits. 

What did you understand them to say???

Rang Hill Dental Clinic

Not the cheapest but very good clinical standards.

I went north up Viset at 09:35 this morning.

To my surprise there wasn't a queue until after the school bridge/walkway. Fortunately no coaches were doing a U-turn.

The single lane after that moved as fast as it has for the last few months.

I went up Chao Fa West and did the U-turn, to go to Chao Fa East. At busy times that U-turn would probably be bad as it's the same junction where many vehicles coming the other way turn right.

Altogether not too bad at 9.30 am.

?

We often go north up Viset road to Fisherman's Way (the original one) on a Sunday.

On Sundays there have been long tailbacks heading north, for many months now. I don't think Sundays are quiet at all.

On Sunday 29th, same day as LiK, we went north on Viset at approx 2pm, this time going all the way to the circle.

The tailback was no worse than the average Sunday, maybe a bit better. However, as we approached Makro and the area where people were doing U-turns, the traffic slowed significantly. We waited while two big tour buses did very slow U-turns to join the northbound lane. It was obvious that the traffic flow was much slower than before the circle's recent restrictions.

With a greater traffic volume, the tailback on Viset could easily go all the way back to the lights at Sai Yuan!

I went round the circle at 4am this morning after watching England fail to get into the World Cup final...sob!

Chao Fa West was open. It is this road that was supposed to be closed overnight.

?

Definitive answer, should anyone ever ask this question:

Update:

Thinking that it will be very difficult to get an answer to my question, on which I will be basing a significant move, I have paid the enormous sum of 5.48 GBP to ask the question by email, to the UK.gov official portal. It took a bit of finding!

I wrote:

"I will be applying for a Family Visa for my South African wife. I am British.

We need to sell our house in Thailand before we can move to the UK. That may take some time, so we won't know what our date of entry to the UK will be; that is, the date when we take up long-term residence.

For the visa application, will it be OK to select an entry date, dated before we move to the UK long-term? Thus, my wife can enter on our chosen date, collect her Biometric Residence Card, and then return to Thailand to sell our house. Once the house is sold, we will enter the UK to stay for good.

If we cannot do this it will be virtually impossible to give an accurate entry date on my wife's visa application."

I will report back with the answer.

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@theoldgit

Thank you.
That's what makes sense to me.
As you say, you can't point me to something official saying that it would be OK.

I just don't want to find that she should have remained in the UK at the designated address, and then there's some immigration cluster****!

?

Once I receive a family visa for my South African wife (I'm British), she has 30 days from her chosen date of entry, to enter the UK and then 10 days to collect the Biometric Residence Permit.

My question:

Can we choose an entry date a few months before our approximate date of leaving Thailand, fly into the UK, collect the BRP and fly back to Thailand, then return a few months later on a date that suits us, with no time pressure?

I can't find an answer to this anywhere.

?

No, from 2-year to five-year.

Did I get that wrong?

Medical certificate is required in Phuket (March 2018).

.....and I tried to do my wife's again this morning, after I had received my 90-day approval

So it seems that having two requests in the system, from the same computer, isn't a problem, as I hoped it might be.

I entered all my wife's details again, from scratch and double-checked them.

No luck!

I even tried it on the Chrome browser, not Internet Explorer.

I think I'm cursed, and will have to visit Phuket Immigration!

?

From personal experience, I would recommend not doing it.

Firstly, it is illegal and, unlike prostitution, there is a government department which deals with policing it: the Department of Business Development.

I was investigated by this department last year.

The first thing my accountant did was to stop answering my calls, emails and she essentially disappeared. This was presumably because of the falsified accounts that she had had to provide every year.

I engaged a lawyer who found the accountant and I now have signed share transfer certificates that I can assign to a more trustworthy Thai.

The lawyer also dealt with the aforementioned govt. department and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. There has been no response for six months. They won't tell you if all is well, only if they want to go further with the investigation. No news, is good news.

I wish I'd rented! We're thinking of selling soon and may have to wait a long time to get a decent price.

I feel that buying property here is a nightmare (except maybe a good condo), unless you have a lot of spare cash to pay for unforeseen problems.

Don't do it unless you can afford to lose!

@wimpy

Sorry, I must be half-asleep!

Yes, mine is still pending.

You think that maybe when it's approved, I might be able to do my wife's?

That's all I can think of.

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@ubonjoe

Many thanks, Wise One!

That's very helpful.

My wife's details have worked online once before but it was a while ago. I haven't used the online system for at least a year.

I'll enter her details again and if I get no joy, it's off to Phuket Immigration when the 90-day is due.

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@wimpy

As I posted in #4004, I got the message of death.

You get that before your application is received, therefore it didn't get to pending.

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@Sheryl

Thank you. Yes, I have seen this message when the system is down.

In this case I tried my wife's 90-day just moments after successfully processing mine, and within 30 minutes of that, tried restarting IE, then the PC, with no change.

Most likely the site was up, but it's possible it was a very unlucky coincidence of the service going down as soon as I had processed my 90-day.

?

Last week, I did my online 90-day for the Phuket immigration office (I don't know if they do the online thing centrally, or at participating immigration offices. The URL/web address doesn't mention Phuket).

Anyway, I immediately tried to do my wife's 90-day as well (same date as mine) and was referred to the immigration office. It wouldn't process her application.

I have now tried four or five times and I get the same dreaded message: "for further information regarding the 90-day notification report service, please contact the immigration branch office in your residence area".

I've restarted my PC, restarted Internet Explorer but still can't get it to process.

Is this a known problem?

Am I doing anything wrong?

Please help!      ?

What I've heard, in the south of Phuket, is that you may get your gear confiscated if you're thought to be doing anything that brings more business into the bar.

My friends and I have been offered several places to play at, for fun and no money, but have declined. The professional bands that play here (and there are successful all-farang bands) either have work permits or some sort of 'special arrangement' with someone. We don't have the contacts.

As for "having to take some chances in life", I'm not taking a chance that someone will confiscate my gear.

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