sandyf

Chonburi, but you are asking the wrong question. Chonburi has 3 immigration offices and I use Sri Ratcha.

We have booked many trains around Thailand over the years and at the local railway station it has always been that tickets were only available up to 60 days in advance. We usually wanted first class and as they were in short supply it meant going at 60 days for outbound and then back a few days later for the return journey. Policy may have changed but wouldn't be out of the question for some stations to still be as it was. If you used 1 2 Go Asia, they would take bookings at any time, but their office was in the station and they just bought the tickets when they became available.

Good deflection, but your implication was more than obvious.

You shouldn't generalise like that, nothing "needs" to be moved unless you need it to be. I came back last year on new passport and new visa. 90 day was done with the extension, I moved my TM30 from 2015 into the new passport, immigration never even saw the old passport.

You are quite right. I returned from UK on 31st May 2023 on re-entry permit and then did a 90 day online on 15th Aug 2023. I have mentioned that a few times when some say it couldn't be done. As I mentioned in a previous post I was rejected this year following a trip to the UK, I believe a change in policy.

I have done 90 days online for many years without a problem, including returning with a new visa, but this last time following an overseas trip i was rejected and told to do it in person.

Indeed. https://www.thaicitizenship.com/thai-citizens-entering-thailand-on-a-foreign-passport/#:~:text=For natural born Thai's%2C the,a foreign passport is fine.

It may come as a surprise to you but immigration management and airport management have completely different objectives.

It is entirely up to you how "straight away" you have to provide any information. I go to a govt hospital and there is no "they" involved, you do it yourself and hand in the printout. If your appointment is with internal medicine and go into the waiting room with a BP over 150 the nurse will wheel over her machine and do another test just before you are called in to see the doctor. When i was seeing the plastic surgeon for skin cancer on my ear BP often in the 150s but he wasn't particularly bothered, horses for courses.

Fairly obvious how you have spent your time in Thailand, creating a blinkered view with everything under the same umbrella, completely ignoring what was said. The OP is about temporary relationships, dating apps in a nutshell, but according to you they are only "prostitution apps" in Thailand. That falang mentality again. Prostitutes date back centuries but it was the western prudes that attached a stigma. In biblical times goods were often used in payment for sexual favours, not much different to the ways in many countries.

Nothing trendy about the name. It nothing more than the ignorance of some to put them all alongside rent boys. There is no dispute that Thailand has, like every other country, many involved in prostitution, but there is also a great number of girls just trying to escape poverty. A foreign husband is a fairly common way out and bar scene was little more than the origin of "dating apps", now widely used in the west. In the UK, Wetherspoons have a "try before you buy" arrangement on real ale, nothing wrong with tourists taking a similar approach.

In every country. Surprised you are not aware that very little in this life is ever free. The "headache syndrome" is nothing more than prostitution in disguise.

The OP is not referring to E-gates, they have been in use in departures for a while and working quite well so far. I used one to leave in Sept. You have to bear in mind you arrive as a foreigner which requires a visa status check. The first arrival E-gates for foreigners are supposed to come with ETA.

Indeed. Check in procedures are being revised all over. I came back from Gatwick in June with Emirates and things were as they had been for some time. When I came back about a month ago all different, well for economy, all the desks were self service. I said to the guy hanging about that i had checked in online but had no boarding card, he just sent me to one of the other desks where there was no queue. I used to print off the boarding card but they always gave me another so I stopped doing it. Won't bother again if it means hassle free at a business class desk. I don't think the OP has anything to do with immigration, facial recognition is already in place with the E-gates, if they can't be used it is manual facial recognition at the counter.

There were no such signs when I went out end of Sept, there was an IO looking at passports and directing people to counter or E-gate. No queue at E-gate and straight through. I had no problem on re-entry with re-entry permit at end of Oct. I use the Thai side on re-entry, only 2 counters now and when I came only one could be used by foreigners. One had a foreigner already at it so I went to the one not in use and told Thai only.

You are making the assumption that legislation cannot be infallible, if that was the case gay men would still go to prison. The government will only right the wrongs of the past if they are pushed into it, on frozen pensions there is very little pushing.

I did write to the veterans minister a few years back, Johnny Mercer at the time. I got a reply from his wife, his secretary, saying he would be looking into it but never got any response from him, even though he put his name to the APPG. As far as the government is concerned, if you want to live in certain jurisdictions, you are no longer thanked for your service. The discrimination became very obvious when this was said in 2019. "Work and Pensions Secretary Dr Thérèse Coffey said: Pensioners in Europe who have paid into the system for years deserve peace of mind over their future finances." Yes, GP and SERPS are added to state pension but also frozen, although being specified as pension schemes.

Indeed, I have just seen the thread. There is little doubt that getting the e-visa before travelling would have been best option. Under the circumstances your best bet now is to travel to Thailand visa exempt and deal with things there. I would suggest you go with your wife to her bank and say you want to open account in your name and want to transfer funds from her account into the new account for a Non O visa application, very unlikely there will be a problem. As suggested by immigration best to have residency certificate as they will want that for their records. It used to be quite easy to get account but now much more difficult, main thing is to approach bank in a sensible manner. Once you have the account you will need to convert your visa status from exempt to Non O for 90 days and then apply for a 12 month extension. Some offices will do both in one go, why you may hear some talk of a 15 month visa. Your understanding on entry to Thailand was perfectly correct but very unlikely that immigration would refuse entry just on the basis of no onward travel, they realise many will leave Thailand by land borders and that mode of transport cannot be used in visa applications. The bigger hurdle is checking in at the airport, some staff will follow the rules to the letter and may refuse boarding if no onward travel and no visa. This is why all the talk of low cost booking arrangement as an addition to your single ticket to Thailand. In 25 years I have found it to be very hit and miss on passport checks, better to be safe than sorry. Good luck.

Apologies, I recognised the name and thought that was what I had been given when I had the hearing problem but I still have some of the medication and when I looked it was actually Mometazone Furoate. I do have Betamethazone but that is a cream that I got for the scorpion sting. Sorry for the mix up. About 18 months ago I had skin cancer,BCC, removed from my ear and following the operation I couldn't hear properly in that ear. I was referred to the ENT and they did various tests including camera up the nose and a variety of nasal medications with mometazone being a metered spray, all to no avail. I was a bit concerned about flying back to the UK at the time but she said it wouldn't be a problem. It wasn't , I never went back to the ENT and just lived with the problem. About 4 months later I flew to Hanoi and as I came in to land there was gurgling noises in the ear and the problem disappeared, so much for doctors. I have never been to Pattaya City but have heard it is not very falang friendly, the one in Naklua may be a better bet. I live in Chonburi and use Bang Saen which I would recommend if you could handle the travelling. They built a brand new block and outpatients moved into there so all quite new and well organsied.

Indeed.Some have become fixated on the 2016 reforms that turned the state pension into a single tier arrangement. They seem to think the previous years also became a single tier arrangement under those reforms. Following the 1975 pension reforms the politicians had allowed themselves and a selct part of the population to take money that should have gone to the national insurance fund and put it into their own workplace pensions. I doubt it was coincidence that this came at a time the UK was experiencing the highest inflation rates in it's history. The arrangement quickly came to an end when investment returns became much lower, with the government issuing the COPE guarantee. Those that opted out of the government additional state pension scheme are now receiving their additional state pension as part of an NI enhanced workplace or private pension, which is effectively indexed linked worldwide and for some protected by the DTA. Your comment that you did quite well from SERPS is a bit speculative. The government has never revealed how much individuals paid into the additional pension schemes so no way of knowing how it compared to the returns of a private scheme. In 1988 when contracting out was widened to greater part of the population the government even started bribing people with taxpayers money to opt out the additional state pension scheme. Until 1988, people could only contract out if they were members of a defined benefit (DB) occupational pension scheme. In 1988, the government extended this to defined contribution (DC) or money purchase occupational schemes and personal pensions. For the first five years of the scheme, the government paid an extra 2% of your earnings into your personal pension. By 1992, more than 5 million people had left Serps for a personal pension. https://www.which.co.uk/money/pensions-and-retirement/state-pension/what-was-contracting-out-ascMg4t2I7Hk

The issue of VAT came up some time ago, about Easter I think and was supposed to be implemented on all postal packages from May. I get a package from India every 3 months through Thai Post and fully expected a charge on the August delivery, didn't happen. Didn't happen either on the one I received yesterday, may well a hit and miss affair depending on source or area where received. You are quite right about the contents, some prefer their interpretation but strikes me that personal use is not seen as importation, intention to sell may well be the criteria. I have been buying medication online for many years without a problem, the customs label has always been specific. There is also a copy of the prescription inside in case it gets opened, but never happened. The cost of medication can vary quite a bit. I used to use Fascino with discount card but then saved quite significantly when I started using the pharmacy at the government hospital. I have had the steroid nasal spray so it is available, but came from the hospital pharmacy.

Every year the politicians attend memorials or stand in parliament and express their eternal praise and gratitude for the armed forces. Every year those same politicians vote to deny some miltary veterans uprating on all the pension components of their state pension. Anyone who would attempt to ridicule the situation should be hanging their head in shame. https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister-meet-with-my-99-year-old-ww2-veteran-mum-fighting-to-end-frozen-pensions/u/33061322?cs_tk=A3pmQq8wR_hGDGIwS2cAAXicyyvNyQEABF8BvGRiNWI5YjZhYTAzZGI0NGY3NmU0ZmQwZjc3ODI3Y2NkMjczNWFhNzNmZTYyNTk1NmRmOTY1ZDUxNjFmMTBkOTg%3D&utm_campaign=b2ab8bc8671d4bc290ec5607dceb1bf6&utm_content=initial_v0_9_0&utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_term=cs

The forms are US orientated, W-8 & W-9 have been around for a long time, I am from UK and can remember having to submit them over 20 years ago. Think the IRS wanted info on any funds held in the US. FATCA is also to do with the US citizens and been around a long time, now that CRS is about it is probably an update to the name of the FATCA form. Best to wait for something HMRC related.

Your link was from 2016 and far from credible. The government wants people to believe the "state pension" is a single entity and you have fallen for it. It may come as a suprprise to you but the injustice from previous years has not been wiped out by the changes in 2016. Those that contracted out get the proceeds from their second state pension NI contributions paid out as part of an occupational or private pension, index linked world wide. They do not want to acknowledge the discrimination that was perpretrated by that arrangement. Everyone is perfectly free to support the discrimination, but the hypocrisy lies in denying it.

Because you jumped in without any consideration to what was said.