sandyf

You were taking a bit of a chance at 6 weeks. I went back to UK in Sept 23 to do mine and the estimate then in the UK was 10 weeks for standard applications. I did the 5 day option. The reason I went back to the UK was the experience of VFS/PO problems. I was one of the first to apply to VFS after the renewal of overseas passports was moved from FCO to PO. After waiting about 10 weeks I had to get the embassy involved and the passport arrived a couple of days before permission to stay ran out. I had been on ME Non O and had applied for marriage extension to get another 30 days, I was under consideration and immigration said if no new passport don't bother coming back. It was never necessary to send old passport, Thai law requires Thai nationals to carry ID cards and the knock on for foreigners is their passport. On renewal old passports should be retained for proof of ID. One would have thought that after a decade things would be running more smoothly,hope you get sorted.

What does a statement say? My TTB book is coded for "No Book" but the statement has "INTERNATIONAL" on it.

One of the other problems in Thailand is they only use the 8 characer SWIFT code which means the funds have to pass though the recipient bank head office. An 11 character SWIFT code is required for funds to go direct to a branch.

Of course the fall back on this forum is always the "brown envelopes", it has to be taken that high rise construction elsewhere is impeccable. Grenfell Tower fire inquiry blames deaths on incompetence and greed https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/grenfell-tower-report-detail-what-led-deadly-2017-london-blaze-2024-09-03/ It may come as a surprise to some but corruption is not unique to Thailand, the more advanced economies have got better at hiding it.

Quite. My father in law died on Christmas day 2011 and was interred, with his wife whose remains had been exhumed, in a new tomb. This week being Quing Ming we went to the tomb yesterday and dined with them as we have done every year. Normally it would have been the weekend which gets quite busy but as my BiLs wife is having chemo they decided the weekday would be better. Whatever one thinks of the Thais it cannot be denied that they have a great deal more respect for their religion and customs than the so call "advanced" economies.

You really need to get a grip on perspective. I can remember being down walking street when there were no toilets open because of the water shortage. Up until a few years ago we never saw any rain between Nov and May, but you claim "Thailand " cannot cope with the floods. Been more rain this year than ever, coming to the end of the dry season and instead of buying water all our tanks are full. Unfortunately some provinces lack your foresight and the resources to deal with a continually changing weather pattern. Reality is, it is 14 years since any major problems on a national level due to flooding and I hope it is something you never actually have to experience.

It is my understanding that Wise has a peer to peer arrangement. Money does not actually move from Wise, when a transfer is requested the funds come from a Wise partner in Thailand, then payments are made the same way in the opposite direction. That being the case, the timing would be affected by the local circumstances.

Apples and oranges. Wise is a money transfer service, SWIFT is a protocol for interbank messaging, doesn't actually do anything. The UK and Europe dropped SWIFT and adopted the more secure coding arrangement of IBAN. Thailand only uses the 8 character Swift code for retail banking.

You are perfectly free to believe what you read in the media. After living here for 16 years I have a fairly good idea of what goes on. Unlike most, we do not have mains water and rely on rain collection, not always as much as we need.

Indeed, an investigation may well conclude that the incident is Thailand's "Grenfell". From the AI. "The Grenfell Tower fire inquiry concluded that the fire was a "culmination of decades of failure" by the government, construction industry, and other bodies, leading to the deaths of 72 people, with blame spread across a wide range of parties. "

So you believe that IOs should spend more time processing arrivals so that you can be relieved of your responsibilities. It is up to each individual to check the regulations regarding their own visa status.

Remind us, how much of Thailand gets flooded every year. Bangkok is an individual situation and cannot be classed as Thailand. Same with 2011, not an "every year" event. Tell us how many buildings fell down in Bangkok during the 2008 earthquake. Why do some feel compelled to indulge in Thai bashing at every opportunity.

Are you trying to say all Chinese high rise buildings will collapse, China's tallest bldg evacuated after earthquake 05.12.08, 3:11 AM ET China -SHANGHAI, May 12 (Reuters) - China's tallest building, the Jinmao Tower, and other highrise buildings in Shanghai's financial district were ordered evacuated on Monday after tremors were felt from a strong earthquake in southwestern China's Sichuan Province, witnesses said. On Monday, an earthquake measuring 7.5 rocked Sichuan province less than 100 km (60 miles) from the provincial capital of Chengdu, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties or damage from the tremor. The tremor, centred 92 km northwest of Chengdu, was felt as far away as Beijing and Shanghai and in the Thai capital Bangkok, where office buildings swayed with the impact. (Reporting by Joseph Chaney; Editing by Edmund Klamann) https://web.archive.org/web/20080517123807/http://www.forbes.com/reuters/feeds/reuters/2008/05/12/2008-05-12T071126Z_01_SHA237317_RTRIDST_0_CHINA-EARTHQUAKE-SHANGHAI-URGENT.htmlp

You are free to believe that Australia is a world trendsetter and every other country was going to follow.

Bit of an exaggeration, Mueang Chonburi is only 40 miles from Chatachuk and never felt a thing. Not till about 4 pm I saw the first reports.