jan2557

So how much are you experts getting for your dollar in the ATM machines?

On 25 February at Asia Green Development Bank in Mawlamyine, I exchanged USD 100 for MMK at a rate of 1235.

On 7 March at a KZB ATM, the rate I got was 1222 kyat per dollar.

Also, on the street in Myawaddy, on 19 February, I got somewhere around 34 kyat per THB -- but can't remember the precise numbers.

Even banks offer different exchange rates -- it pays to shop around, if you can.

Correction -- bank was KZB, not KZO.

Follow up post: spent 4 weeks in myanmar (yangon & points east and south of there), & able to pay for everything in kyat, and also to withdraw kyat from ATM (used KZO, MMK 5000 fee). Did pay for a couple of the guesthouses I stayed at in USD , just to get somewhat better price. Used mint conditi on USD from Superrich (see above), but at one point paid with a moderately used (creased etc) $10 bill, which the guy accepted (though from look on his face, could tell he wasn't happy).

Exchanged USD couple times (bank, guesthouse), no problem.

FYI: ATMs are open only during business hours (despite signs proclaiming 24 hours). And if you want to exchange THB for MMK, do so at border areas -- I exchanged at myawaddy, on the street, got a good rate. Once away from border areas, I think it will be hard to exchange THB for MMK.

Thanks for the info! BTW, I was able to get mint condition USD at Superrich (I used the branch across from Centerworld).

Will soon be going to myanmar / burma for the 1st time, & am trying to figure out how money works there; information on the internet (etc.) can be conflicting and not very recent, so I'd like to get advice & hear about the experiences of people who have *recently* been to the country.

Specific questions would be -- does US currency really need to be in mint condition? (and if so, where's the best place in Bangkok to obtain?) Can I use / exchange Thai baht (and would it need to be in mint condition?) Experiences using ATMs, exchanging currencies in banks, etc. To what extent can I just use kyat? Any other pertinent observations would be appreciated.

Note that since I will cross overland, my 1st destination will be Mawlamyine -- won't hit Yangon (or other larger cities) till later in the trip.

Thanks!

The trouble with this thread is that 9 out of 10 posts are pure speculation. Makes it very hard to find any useful information.

Anything you can do about that moderators/admins? FB has several groups which currently have better METV coverage (because of tighter moderation).

Also difficult to find the info because this thread's so long. Are there no actual reports from people who've applied for the METV?

I think I'll be back in the US later this year, so I could apply for an METV then, but stuff like showing hotel reservations and a letter from an employer (!!) -- just wouldn't work for me.

The other one was deleted since this one showed a reply.

I have read that some embassies and consulates have been issuing non-ed visas instead of the non-r visa for religious studies.

Extensions of stay are allowed in this clause of Police Order 327/2557 basis for extension of stay.

"2.13 In the case of studying Buddhism or practicing religious activities:

Each permission shall be granted for no more than one year. The alien:

(1) Must have been granted a non-immigrant visa (NON-IM).

(2) Must have been confirmed and requested by the National Office of Buddhism, or Office of the Prune Minister, or Mahachulalongkomrajavidyalaya University, or Mahamakut Buddhist University.

(3) Must have been confirmed by the abbot of the temple where the applicant is studying Buddhism or practicing religious activities."

Thanks, Ubonjoe, for this detailed answer. I guess it comes down to the differences between a non-immigration ed visa and a non-immigration r (religious?) visa.

By the way, I've never understood why some non-immigration ed visas are good for one year (with 90 day extensions), whereas others are good for 90 days only.

Sorry somehow this thread double posted -- can the mod please delete this duplicate?

Posting this question for a friend. She has some kind of education visa that she got with paperwork from the Wat (temple) that she's practicing at. She was under the impression she could extend or renew this visa in-country -- in fact some official told her so, only to subsequently turn her down.

So -- anyone know anything about these types of visas? Is there any way to avoid having to leave the country every 90 days?

I should also mention my friend is a lay woman; how would the situation change if she ordains as a nun?

Haven't been on a tourist visa for some time, and need to check a few things for a friend --

1. Are single entry tourist visas still available for US citizens at Vientiane and Savannakhet (my tentative understanding is that the METV is not?)?

2. Need to show proof of anything (finances, hotel reservations, onward flight tix)?

3. Any limits on back-to-back SETVs?

Thanks!

It'll only be a few days late, so should work out. Thanks for the info!

I've been going to chaeng watana every 90 days to extend my ED visa & do a 90-day report. Unfortunately, the 2 dates (for the visa extension & the 90-day report) do not coincide. Question: if I end up being a few days late for the 90-day report, will I be penalized?

If I go to Chang Watana (government complex) for visa renewal and 90-day reporting, how late in the day can I get there and still get queue numbers? Will they process through everybody who they give queue numbers to in the same day, or do they ever make you come back the next day?

@CaptHaddock: Thanks; any suggestions on how to find a "qualified teacher"? I'm looking for someone who can point out to me when -- and how -- I depart from real Thai pronunciation, and who can give advice on what to do to get the pronunciation correct, inclouding, if need be, instructions on how to shape the mouth, etc. I'm looking to get into the details of how the sounds are made, and not just coast by on speaking clearly enough to be understood.

I've gotten to the point where I can speak (and understand) Thai at more than just a basic level, though I wouldn't consider myself fluent by a long shot. When using language that I've really assimilated (i.e., gotten the hang of), I can usually make myself understood. For what it's worth, I'm sometimes told that I พูดชัด

But I'm realizing more and more that when I speak I'm distorting a lot of the Thai sounds -- I think I'm anglicizing them to a certain extent. (Thai) Friends are sometimes helpful in pointing this out or giving me tips on how to improve, but there seem to be limits to the help they can give. Sometimes I'm just not sure of the mouth mechanics -- like how to move my tongue to produce a certain sound; I also think I'm sometimes running up against the limit of my ability to actually hear the differences between the sounds that I'm producing and the sounds that native Thais produce.

I've been thinking of maybe trying to get a tutor or language teacher who would know how to help me address these issues so I can lose (or at least lessen) my accent. Or maybe a speech therapist? Has anyone here tried this? I'm also not sure how I would go about finding someone like that.

Or any other advice? Anyone here find ways to improve their pronunciation?

Anyone have recommendations / experiences they'd be willing to share regarding Bangkok hospitals? I'm not going for anything really serious (so far as I know!) - just a checkup & want to get my shoulder and back looked at. Thanks!

Well, please let us know what happens... for future reference.

Just reentered at DMK on the second entry of my double-entry tourist visa -- no problems, the IO didn't say anything to me at all, just stamped me in. What a (pleasant) contrast with 3 months ago!!

It's a complete mystery to my why anyone being asked for a bribe for some normal paperwork does not report the crooked official immediately.

And who do I report it to ?

I would start with whoever is in charge of that office. Failing that the main office in Bangkok.

So has anyone actually done this? Been asked for tea money and then, instead of paying, asked to speak to the supervisor & reported the corrupt IO's behavior?

I also had a great experience... I queued up and the guy stamped me in... fantastic, cant fault them!

Er! What exactly was you expecting? It's probably less than 1% of arrivals that are trying to take the P##S

If you go back through the Visa forum, its not hard to find reports of people being interrogated at Swampy re the number of 30-day stamps and Tourist visas in their passport. Hopefully Immigration and their overlords in the provisional govt now feel that the crackdown has achieved it's objectives, but that's a topic for another thread.

"Hopefully Immigration and their overlords in the provisional govt now feel that the crackdown has achieved it's objectives" -- hopefully, as I'll be reentering the country through DMK next week with quite a few previous visas in my passport; but it's tough to know what's really going on. Immigration's actions seem to vary somewhat arbitrarily, and I regard reports on TVF as being anecdotal but not necessarily reflecting the overall picture of foreigners' current experiences in Thailand.

Do you really think that things have changed for the better?

Came through DM recently. My passport is full of stamps and visas. She said sorry i can only give you 30 days this time which is all i needed. All my out and ins were of no concern.

I think many who have problems look like a problem.

"She said sorry i can only give you 30 days this time" -- So, did you have a visa which should have given you 60(+) days but she only gave you the 30 day visa exemption stamp??

Hi, I'll be taking my first trip to Cambodia later this month, entering Phnom Penh on a flight from Thailand. I'll be getting there late afternoon.

Is there any benefit to getting an e-visa instead of a visa on arrival? What would I need to get a visa on arrival, other than a passport photo? And lastly, what scams should I be aware of?

Thanks!

I got a double entry tourist visa at Hanoi 2 months ago; but I think you'll need to show air tickets for travel in & out of Thailand.

There is no rule that says you cannot do multiple entries on tourist visas. They could only deny you entry if you could not provide financial proof of 20k baht to prove you are not working here illegally.

Then perhaps IOs aren't constrained by the rules? The IO I initially spoke to at DMK (when I entered the country in early Sept) asked me some questions about what I was really doing in Thailand etc, but never asked about finances. I showed her bank statements proving that I'd been making ATM withdrawals in Thailand from my U.S. account, but she didn't seem all that interested. I'm actually not sure what she was going to do, but she seemed to be saying that she was not going to honor the visa -- maybe that I couldn't come into the country? Eventually I got to speak with her superior, and he told her to stamp me in.

So has this kind of thing happened to others, or was my experience totally anomalous? That's why I'm looking to hear from other people with similar visa histories.

I'm wondering about people who've been in Thailand longterm on back-to-back tourist visas: have you had any problems lately, either with getting a new visa, entering the country from abroad, or anything else?

The background to this is that I've been in Thailand for most of the last 3+ years, first on ED visas, more recently on a series of tourist visas. In September I got a new double-entry tourist visa (in Vietnam) with no problem, but then when I flew into Don Meuang (after almost 3 weeks out of Thailand) the immigration officer told me I had too many tourist visas & couldn't keep staying in Thailand on tourist visas; eventually, they let me in. (I posted the full story here).

Yesterday I got my 30 day extension no problem, but next month I need to exit and reenter Thailand to get the second of my two entries. To this end I had booked a 6 day trip to Cambodia, flying in and out of Don Meuang, but I'm kind of nervous about how this is going to go down. That's why I'm looking to hear from other people with similar visa histories about their recent experiences.

If when I land at Dong Meuang the IO doesn't want to honor the visa, would I then be forced to buy a ticket on the spot to go back to my native country (the US)? That could be quite expensive. Or would they just stamp me in for 30 days?What happens if they refuse to accept the visa at an overland crossing -- would I be better off trying to reenter by land instead of by air?

Anyway, looking to hear others' thoughts and, especially, experiences; thanks!