CALSinCM

I think we are all aware that there are two types of immigration agents in Thailand.

1) An "agent" who can expedite paperwork and stand in queue line for you and process your 90 day report for a modest price; and
2) Then there are "Agents" (with a capital "A") who can solve problems when immigration insists that you don't meet their office's particular interpretation of Thai immigration law (even though you know you do, or maybe you don't) for a little more than a modest price.

I know there are #2 type Agents in Pattaya and Phuket.  If there are #2 type Agents in Chiang Mai I'd like to know which agencies they are as I may be looking for "problem solvers for a price" in the future.

Just PM me with a name or names would be fine. 

 

Oh.  And all this may change in the next five years as the projected growth of Nai Muang Lamphun is heading due south of Doi Dtii (Big Buddha on hill above Highway 11) and will run 5 km south where they are building the new government building complex and Chiang Mai Hospital is building a teaching hospital just south of that.  In the 5 to 10 year range that area's is going to built up big time.  If they drop an International airport in at Ban Tii within 20 years this will be a new metropolitan center and manufacturing hub.   In my humble opinion.

Blue songtaws.   In the evening you could probably hire one at a price.
Also check the train schedules.  The milk run that I'm aware of only runs at 9:20am from CM to Lamphun and beyond.  The CM to points south like BKK may stop in Lamphun but I'm not sure.  The milk run headed back from Nakhon Sawan hit's Lamphun about 2:15 if its on time which it generally isn't.  And all this may change in the next two years of so as they are putting in a second set of rails.

However, within Lamphun?   Motorcycle taxis.  Honestly, if you want to live in Lamphun city you best find a place on the Lamphun-CM highway.  Then buy a motorcycle for in-town driving if you plan to shop in anything resembling a mall or Big C. Or just learn to make due living native.  It's quaint and quiet.  But honestly.  You're at a disadvantage without some form of personal transportation. 

On 2/28/2021 at 6:51 PM, Sheryl said:

That link is NOT an authoritatiev source and contains many inaccuracies.

 

I know of no one who did it in that little time.

 

A good command of Thai IS required. The entire interview is conducted in Thai.

 

You DO have to sing the national anthem at the interview.

 

And even meeting all requirements, approval is far from guaranteed.

I've been able to sing Chaat Thai since 2009.  Not that it does me a bit of good, but it is fun to belt it out in the middle of the market place at 6pm and watch all the approving nods and smiles.  Still a farang guy but a curiosity.  Can read and touch type too.  But - no citizenship in the cards in sexist Siam. 
Geez BritmanToo.  Only 15K for a government employee to support his foreign wife and she could actually be the primary source of income? 
Talk about the gravy deal that is!!!  They closed that off for guys married to Thai women.  I believe Thai wives used to be able to contribute to their husband's month income.  Not any more.  Yep.  Sexist Siam sums it up.  If foreign hubby ain't making 2x to 3x what a Thai husband make - it's the Boot In The Behind for you.  And a screwed up family unless your wife decides to expatriate to your home country.  And zero path to residency.  Talk about a screwed up system. 

On 2/27/2021 at 3:48 PM, Leaver said:

This would ensure zero burden on the Thai medical system in the future, and clear out those here that can't afford it, or are ineligible to receive it, thus ending any current risk to the Thai medical system within the next 12 months, covid aside.  

No it wouldn't as virtually everyone at retirement age has pre-existing conditions.  On top of that virtually all new insurance policies will have a 5 year moratorium on "deadly diseases" like heart attack, cancer, stroke, and so on.  So now you are saddled with an extremely expensive policy that pays for next to nothing and the premiums further hamper your ability to pay hospitalization for the things that will most likely put you in the hospital, like heart attack, cancer, stroke, and so on.  So the chances of you becoming a burden on the Thai health system could actually be higher if they force retirees into a Thai only company health plan.
So essentially the health care premiums will be the boot to your butt they they shove your out the door once you're over 75 unless you've got your policy back when your were young, or have a military policy like Tri-Care, and thought a government pension.  Everyone else's ability to remain her past 75 years old is gonna be iffy.  Well, unless you're wealthy.  But if you're wealthy, honestly, why would you want to live here? 

On 2/27/2021 at 1:07 PM, BangkokReady said:

 

Yeah, that's kind of a weird requirement.  Invest a ton of money, get married, have kids, own property (through wife), but no permanent residency if you didn't pay a little bit of tax.

Everybody here pays taxes.  7% VAT taxes on purchases.  If you have a saving account they deduct 15% of the interest paid to your account.
I pay taxes.  You pay taxes.  We all pay taxes.

On 2/27/2021 at 12:17 PM, BangkokReady said:

 

Do people here long-term not ultimately aim for permanent residency?

Go to Google Advanced Search.  Enter "Permanent Residency" "Thailand" and in the domain box enter "thaivisa.com".  Enjoy your read (or laugh).

On 2/27/2021 at 11:49 AM, Stevemercer said:

There have been a few threads recently highlighting a potential problem for those on retirement extensions using the 800,000 Baht method.

 

The problem is when the IO retrospectively checks that you have met the holding requirements for the 800,000 Baht and the 400,000 Baht at your extension (e.g. you must prove you maintained the correct balances over the previous year).

 

If someone inadvertently let the balance dip, their extension will be denied. In theory they could be given 7 days to leave. 

I've read about that happening a couple of time be never heard how it was resolved.  If in Pattaya or Phuket it would be time to get an agent.  But if you live in the rural rice fields,  I'm not sure where you're gonna find an agent.  But.  I'd sorta like to know how those guys whose funds dipped below the required numbers ended fairing. 

On 3/4/2021 at 8:55 AM, RR2020 said:

Every single person I know who has had Covid (confirmed by PCR test) (and thats around 16 people now) all have said its nothing, not as bad as flu. A couple of rough days but overall nothing much and all recovered fully within 10 days.

 

They are obviously all below 60 years old and all in relatively good health (not obese etc...).

 

If your fat, or sick, or old........worry about Covid.  If your normal then it does not appear to be any real concern.

 

I know one person who got it and was confirmed.  40 year old niece.  She was under the weather for a couple of days and then felt fine.  So physically it wasn't a problem at all. 
Mentally and emotionally?  She was sure she had infected everyone who had been in contact with her and she was a mess as she figured that she had possibly killed her mom and other older relatives and their deaths would be all her fault.  She was a mess.  No body else in the family got it.  She recovered, quarantined, then went back to work. 

So yeah.  Covid is dangerous. 

On 3/5/2021 at 6:48 PM, sdweller said:

Strange that some on this forum somehow believe that vaccinated people should NOT be allowed into Thailand?  Do you really believe that someone who has an approved vaccine is STILL a threat?  Time to get over your irrational fear, because that is all it is.  The chances of a vaccinated person getting/spreading Covid is minuscule. Time to come out of your cave.

Yeah,  Read the vaccine literature from the manufacturers themselves.  Vaccinated people can get and spread the virus. It's not a silver bullet. Vaccines make the symptoms less intense.  But vaccines will make everybody without an inquiring mind "feel safe" and perception is 99% of the rule when solving the Covid problem.  If everybody feels safe, then the 40 cases here 120 cases there suddenly don't make people freak out and then they can get back to living in the New Normal with masks and supposed social distancing (which pretty much every Thai I see ignores except in the malls on the escalators or when lined up to get into the mall - sometimes).  Then people will be told that vaccines will create herd immunity guaranteed which makes them feel 99.9% safer. 
So see - vaccines work!!!  No fear, no problems.

On 3/2/2021 at 8:49 AM, webfact said:

The petition is open to anyone in Thailand or around the world who would like to see the country reopen.

That's Ok. Chiang Mai is nice an quiet.  Just the way I like it.  Tourists would just muck up the works again.  Quiet.  Laid-back.  Relaxing. 
Priceless.

On 3/6/2021 at 11:37 AM, rooster59 said:

The Internal Trade Department plans to require private hospitals to inform people of the prices of an additional 100 medicines and medical services related to the pandemic so consumers can view them before deciding whether or not to receive them.

What is the Thai law regarding price disclosure at private hospitals as it stands today? 

1 hour ago, Ireland32 said:

Hospitals are rip

offs for prescriptions where you find a great pharmacy in Korat , Siam Pharmacy order online or call or LINE delivered for 1/10 the price 

That would be wonderful.  But I've used Google and DuckDuckGo to look up Siam Pharmacy and Siam Pharmacy Korat and can not find any link to the shop no less an online shopping portal.  But I'm not the sharpest tack in the box.
Could you supply the link?  I'm always interested if I can by meds cheaper than I'm getting them now.  Thanks.

Can't the legally double (or triple) price Farangs?  I thought it was pretty much open season on gouging foreigners with the blessings of the authorities.

I don't know.  Am I wrong?  Do they need to keep those stated prices for all patients regardless of nationality?  Or is there a tiered pricing schedule for private hospitals?  Inquiring minds would like to know.

On 2/15/2021 at 2:09 PM, Guderian said:

Meanwhile, at the TT exchange booths.....

 

 

.....it seems that everywhere else has had a worse fall in its economy than Thailand, at least to judge by their currencies relative to the Baht.

This is why any comparison with 1997 is moronic.  Soros and friends destroyed the THB and the Thai economy.
This Covid blip on the radar is a minor downturn.  Tourism is taking it in the short and probably will never return to "normal" but money is being pumped into the Thai economy.  ASEAN economies will continue to grow after the Covid stupidity is dealt with.

2 hours ago, Surelynot said:

..........perhaps he is referring to the astronomically high murder rates and ruinous drug culture?

Somebody is living in La La Land. 

New Normal Neo-Pattaya will become a Potemkin Village whose charade of splendor will simply cover up the underlying rot.  It's takes capital to create a Miami, or Singapore, or Dubai all which were build on solid underlying infrastructures and economic bases.  None of which Pattaya has ever had nor ever will have.

Like they said.  Get over the economic reliance on foreigners.  New Normal tourism will be a shell of its former self, and the few Thais capable of understanding reality know it.

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Phuket – there has never been a better time to visit

If you like ghost towns with closed and boarded up stores indicative of economic devastation - I'm sure Phuket as well as all the other former tourist detonations in Thailand are just your cup of tea.  The so-called second wave ended any plans I had for touring domestically along with other expat I know well. So why make plans again?  They'll just end up pulling a third wave out of their hats, start freaking out again and closing provincial borders.  No thanks.  No vaccinations until June for the general public?  And it will probably be a slow rollout at that.  No reason to make any further domestic touring plans until the end of the year or 2022.  And Phuket?  That about the last place in Thailand on my list of places to tour.

16 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Doesn't get old because it equates to the life they know unfortunately.

It pretty sad when you look deep into the culture and society and see that the lives of Thai people simply emulates their TV soaps operas and Lakhon.

9 hours ago, Soikhaonoiken said:

Not surprise with those figures, with borders closed, and hoops to jump through to get a visa, plus the 14 days quarantine, tourists just won't come. 

But TAT comes up with these ridiculous estimates that they'll be 10 million visitors by the end of the year.  These people aren't too good at looking at the current situation that they themselves have created and then projecting that forward by 10 and a half months.  How are you going to get a million visitors a month in this restrictive climate?  They'd have to completely dismantle the wall of regulations that they have set up that has choked the life out of the tourism industry.  Bureaucracies are extremely efficient as setting up restrictive laws, but once in place, its a slow, painful process to unwind those restrictions if not impossible.  It's the power junkies dilemma.  The power to control other people like foreigners goes to their heads like an aphrodisiac.   Maybe they eventually relax some of the restrictions, but they'll keep a bunch too if not add additional ones. It's power man!  Once you've taken a big hit of power it's like a drug.  Those now addicted to power aren't willingly going to give it up.  They can't give it up. 
The New Normal in Thai tourism will be to flex their bureaucratic power muscles and show foreigners who's in charge if they try to enter Thailand while citing that all foreigners present an extreme risk to Thai national security now and for every more and all must be strictly controlled like never before in Thai history!  And in doing so they'll simply throttle the number of tourist arrival numbers indefinitely. All the while moaning and groaning about the good old days of tourism (that they destroyed), although they may praise each other and hand out awards and take photos and pat themselves on the back for now having a handful of "well-heeled" wealthy tourists who will provide about zilch to the tourist based economic that's been destroyed beyond decimation.

The bottom line: Are they going to roll back restriction and allow the tourism flows to resume this year?  I seriously doubt it.  They'll be lucky if a couple hundred thousand are extended the privilege to enter their beloved county for a price that most tourists will be unwilling to pay either monetarily and in acceptance of restrictions that simple make touring Thailand neither relaxing nor fun.
Normal tourists who seek to economize and have a hassle-free vacation and a fun time will seek out more accommodating countries who are open for tourism business.   Mai bpen rai.

This becomes a dystopian form of fascism where corporations protect their factory productivity by dismantling the basic human rights of the workers with the blessings of the government.  What a sad, sad 'new normal' era where governments and corporations prey on the average citizens of the world.  This is the tip of the iceberg. 
As Klause Schwab's WEF states: "You'll own nothing and you'll be happy."
Translated:
You be shackled to your machine on the factory floor and you'll be happy to be alive.

Very ugly times are coming.

Factory prisons for the common masses.  How special. 

On 2/6/2021 at 5:57 PM, Puwa said:

Never thought I'd see the day when the good people of Chiang Mai didn't know where to shop.

 

There are a few entrepreneurs whose licenses are still, ahem, under consideration. Basically, anything can be ordered online and delivered to home-- CBD oil, flower, edibles, concentrates.  You have to find a friend who's down and get the secret password to a group. Then it's easier than Lazada.

This is more of the same unhelpful posting.
"All you need to know are the right people and have the secret handshake and you're in!"
"All you need to do is online searches in the Thai language and they're clinics everywhere!"

If you know, then why not just post the clinic's name and location?  Instead you get these childish posts.  It's like when we were kids and there was always kids out there saying, "I know something you don't know and I'm not telling."  I assume people grow out of that behavior by adulthood.  Maybe not.

If there is a clinic other than Nakornping Hospital that is currently open or opens in the future and some good-hearted member knows about it, please share with the rest of the CM community.  This isn't about 'getting stoned', it's about trying to find medical grade CBD oil in Chiang Mai for a medical problem from a legally licensed clinic.

On 1/30/2021 at 1:39 PM, clokwise said:

 

There is a small clinic in CM, operated by a very friendly English speaking doctor, his wife is the receptionist. He's a psychotherapist and is authorized to prescribe CBD and THC to his patients. I was one of his first cannabis patients, so I can confirm. I am reluctant to name him here because he successfully treated my wife who had suffered for years from severe bipolar disorder. She had been misdiagnosed by countless local and foreign doctors and he was the very first doctor anywhere who actually dealt with her like a human being and treated her without leaving every session with a big bottle of pills. Plus, he's already overwhelmed with his regular (non-cannabis) patients and I'd hate to be responsible for unloading possibly hundreds of TV members on him. His website is definitely searchable on google, I've probably already given more than enough detail for you to find him, so I'll leave it at that. I will also mention that although his was the first authorized such clinic in town, if you search hard enough, perhaps in Thai, you'll probably find there are a handful of other similar small clinics around town offering the legal Thai medicinal cannabis tincture.

 

And yeah, the tincure is expensive af. Better just to have your medical certificate on hand in case you get p¡ss tested, if you catch my drift.

 

What is the purpose of dangling an answer like this out there.
"Yes.  I know a clinic but I'm not going to tell you the name.  You'll just have to find it yourself if you can."

It's both unhelpful as well as smug.  Why bother answering.  Do you find this amusing? 

So for those of us out there, like Folk Guitar and I and perhaps others, if someone really knows a clinic or doctor prescribing cannabis at this time, be a helpful and compassionate human being and simply tell us who and where the clinic is?  Please?  Thank you!

Convert to Buddhism.  The Buddhist Sangha doesn't have a moral hangup with gays like so many other denominations and churches do.  The 10 commandments in Buddhism are pared down to 5:
Don't kill.
Don't steal.
Don't lie.
Don't take intoxicants.
Don't engage in sexual misconduct.  That doesn't mean don't be gay. I know many gay Thai Buddhists.  It means to be faithful to your partner.  Don't cheat.  And don't take sex to the point that it becomes addictive like an intoxicant. 

Buddhism is easy: Be moral and meditate.