sandyf

9 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Had to fill out an entry/exit form entering land border from Nong Khai but nothing else. 

I flew into LP and can't remember an arrival card but could have been. They opened the back doors and we were first off the plane, I was through immigration quicker than my wife.

38 minutes ago, PJ71 said:

How does one do this?

 

Thanks

Looks like it has come to an end.

From 1 January 2014, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has discontinued its service of depositing foreign marriage and civil partnership certificates with General Register Offices in the UK. 

https://www.tameside.gov.uk/registrars/births-deaths-marriages-abroad#:~:text=From 1 January 2014%2C the,Register Offices in the UK.

On 4/23/2024 at 8:47 AM, howerde said:

You can not register a Thai marriage in the UK, a Thai marriage certificate/translation is accepted by the UK.

You need to be a little careful on the wording. There was a time when you could deposit the marriage certificate with the General Registry Office(GRO) through the British  Embassy in Bangkok. I did it in 2008.

I should point out it was a deposit rather than a registration, as you say the UK will recognise a legal marriage in Thailand.

I think the embassy stopped handling GRO deposits in 2012 but not sure if you can still deal with the GRO direct.

In reality not a great deal to be gained but you did get an annotated copy of the deposit with the GRO seal which over the years has been very useful in visa applications for my wife.

10 hours ago, Social Media said:

Since last August, approximately 46,000 aircraft, including those of major airlines like Ryanair, Wizz Air, British Airways, and easyJet, have reported incidents of GPS interference over the Baltic Sea.

"major airlines"?

The source text has been rearranged somewhat under journalistic licence, airlines named account for less than 10%.

"More than 2,300 Ryanair flights have reported incidents of GPS interference since last August, according to a report, as well as almost 1,400 at Wizz Air, 82 at British Airways and four from easyJet.

About 46,000 aircraft in total have logged problems with GPS over the Baltic Sea in the same time period, the Sun reported, based on analysis of flight logs with the website GPSJAM.org."

On 4/23/2024 at 9:35 AM, superal said:

Are your speed tests good if you are using Tunnel Bear when connected to say the UK  etc ?

There is an old saying, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Virtually every evening at 5pm I watch the BBC news channel live sat out on the verandah. Probably about 75% of the time there is no problem but the rest of the time it varies from slightly intermittant to unwatchable. Been doing it for some years and what I have noticed is the worst reception is when there is stormy weather in the area. Puzzled me a bit at first until I noticed the satellite details on the screen.

A bit irrelevant to your title, although I have Cyberghost I don't use it when watching the TV app, at the end of the day if something works speed tests and vpn are superflous. If the buffering I see is weather related then not a lot can be done about that.

4 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

Thanks. I was asking if there was an additional sticker. The Laos eVisa has the postage stamp-sized visa sticker in addition to entry/exit stamps, as does Korea and Malaysia.

 

But if there's no sticker at all for the Vietnam eVisa, even better!

There was nothing other than the entry/exit stamps when I went to Laos last year on E-visa.

There was no sticker last time I went to Malaysia a couple of years ago but I did get one back in 2014. Bit of a surprise as I had been KL the year before and never got one. That was by air, was on the train to Penang when they used  the sticker, it had a tear off tab and left part behind.  I was on last page of passport and they put it right in middle of remaing space causing bit of a problem.

Never been to Korea.

3 hours ago, Hanuman2547 said:

It will be a great day when this is extended to Europeans, Brits, OZ, NZ, and the Americas but hopefully it will be for 90 days anytime during the year.

ALL visa exemption into Thailand should be under a Bilateral Agreement with reciprocity for Thai nationals.

My wife has had to pay out 10K baht in order to leave the country for UK and Europe yet some Brits and Europeans, along with others, think they can traverse the globe unimpeded with their better than thou attitude. They come to Thailand with 30 days for free and low cost option to extend, they try and circumvent the scheme regulations then start whinging at the suggestion of a 300 baht tourist tax,  quite unbelievable.

19 hours ago, lungbing said:

Tell that to Khon Kaen office.  I haven't left Thailand for 11 years and I think it's five or six since I went out of Khon Kaen province.  Yet last September in order to renew my extension they asked  for  a new  TM30.  Fortunately my wife had her tabien baan with her.

It is indeed all about the office and the number of times this comes up you would think it was common knowledge.

I have only ever done the one TM30, in 2015 and still in passport. Last October I came back on a new passport and new visa fully expecting to be challenged but when I came to do the extension nothing was said.

3 hours ago, transam said:

I remember that, I was charged 500bht on exit at the airport, think it was 2007/8..

When the new airport opened Sep 2006  the introduction of PSC was not far away so they never moved any of the machines from DM. Think it likely the fee went onto tickets 1st Jan  2007

In the first few months it was chaos with someone going up and down the check in queues selling the 500 baht tickets, of course the majority had no baht left so had to leave the queue causing massive disruption.

Fortunately it wasn't for long and took the exit ticket away for good.

However the thread is about tourist tax rather the PSC, just booked an overnight stay in Brussels an that included a 4.24 EUR tourist City Tax. You wouldn't get many nights for 300 baht.

20 hours ago, wood78 said:

The essence of my OP was to warn all prospective non imm o's that due to the new "rules" monies in does not necessarily mean monies out - so be prepared for this scenario.

Nothing "new", the Thai baht has been a restricted currency for long enough. It is subject to currency control regulations and it can be very difficult to get a Thai bank to remit THB to an overseas bank. 

There are other options that can be considered.

19 hours ago, Denim said:

Plant based meat .

 

Can't they just call a spade a spade ' plant based food ' 

 

Why do they have to drag meat into it at all. 

Who do you mean by "they".

Nothing new here. In the early 80s I built a prototype conveyor oven for a food company in Norfolk to make plant based chicken. The factory works manager had fixed views on meat and said it would never work. When we did the trials he was pleased to see some of the pieces with slightly burnt edges and said the proverbial 'told you so'.

The company research dept however disagreed and asked him when was the last time he took a chicken out of the oven that didn't have brown patches. They were pleased with the trials and the rollout of the product was very successful, a couple of years later we got the order for a production unit, by that time they were doing both plant based chicken and beef for canned curries and stews.

At the end of the day I would suggest that there is little difference in the concept of plant based meat, zirconia diamonds or alcohol free beer, all tailored to suit a market.

5 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Is the Vietnam eVisa a similarly small sticker or is it a full-page sticker like a regular visa?

The Vietnam e-visa will come by email, it is a single page PDF document that you need to print off and have available on arrival. 

Your passport will only be stamped in and out as normal.

14 hours ago, dauu said:

 

Has anyone heard of a new law?

 

Entering the Kingdom through air land/sea/air border checkpoints under Tourist Visa Exemption Scheme is permitted only twice in a calendar year, except nationals of Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, and Singapore who may enter Thailand through such checkpoints more than twice in a calendar year.

The statement you quoted appears in this update from one of the US consulates, it refers to a government meeting late last year so up to date rather than old.

Historically the has been a difference of opinion between the info from Siam Legal sites and other sites that refer to the bilateral agreement with no limitation by air. I think there has always been a bit of confusion over the visa exemption scheme that apllies to the "majority" and bilateral agreements, but the table in this update indicates a distinct separation.

On the basis that the 4 countries mentioned in the OP have been singled out from the rest of the "majority", I would suggest that it can be taken as the current requirement.

The 4 countries in question have a bilateral agreement on diplomatic passports which may well have been extended to ordinary passports.

https://thaiconsulatela.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/visa-exemption-and-visa-on-arrival-to-thailand

Enforcement however is another matter entirely and many will contine to take their chances.

.

On 4/19/2024 at 3:04 PM, Crossy said:

So long as we don't get a repeat of 2022!

 

Not quite as bad as 2011, when supermarket shelves became empty and DM had to close.

In 2011, heavy rain combined with multiple tropical storms throughout the extended rainy season led to severe, record-high flooding across 66 provinces in Thailand, including the Bangkok metropolitan area and its surrounding areas. Overall, the floods affected more than 13 million people and resulted in more than 680 deaths. The total damage and losses from the 2011 floods in Thailand amounted to THB 1.43 trillion (around USD 46.5 billion). The manufacturing sector bore roughly 70 percent of the total damage and losses due to the flooding of six industrial estates in Ayuthaya and Pathum Thani from mid-October to November 2011. Overall, approximately 90 percent of the damage and losses from the 2011 floods were borne by the private sector.

https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/2011-thailand-floods-rapid-assessment-resilient-recovery-and-reconstruction-planning#:~:text=Overall%2C the floods affected more,(around USD 46.5 billion).

6 hours ago, mikebell said:

122 different­ nations around the world – many of them Commonwealth countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa – the state pension entitlement is frozen at the point of departure. 

Obviously you have a problem seeing the difference between apples and oranges.

On 4/20/2024 at 12:53 PM, john donson said:

I doubt the airbnb willl have tm30 you for short stay as that is still illegal and would be easy to track and fine...

You should refrain from making false and uninformed statements.

3 hours ago, Chongalulu said:

You are of course correct about taxes which distort prices. Actually domestic U.K. wine is more expensive than say Australian. U.K. really doesn’t have the geography to efficiently produce wine to compete with the likes of Australia and southern Europe (I worked in the industry). It costs more per bottle to truck a container across Europe to U.K. than a shipping container on a ship from Australia to Southampton docks! 

I have been to a couple of the Thai vineyards and still very much in their infancy. Silverlake has grown signifficantly since I first went but still a cottage industry and you effectively pay through the nose for "hand made". 

I don't really fault the government for protecting the industry as more than likely it would disappear. Rather than buy a box as I used to, now just enjoy a glass now and again.

7 minutes ago, nauseus said:

 

Bexit! BLS. You just can't help yourself, Sandy.

More and more are realising the truth but feel free to keep your head in the sand.

https://www.london.gov.uk/new-report-reveals-uk-economy-almost-ps140billion-smaller-because-brexit#:~:text=The average Briton was nearly,jobs in the capital alone.

6 minutes ago, Furioso said:

I'm wondering if wage theft is simply slamming the Brits way more than other western countries? 

Quite, but why "wage theft" when pension theft is more prevalent. Not only does the UK have a froxen pension they also have a frozen tax threshold. This year workers got some offset with a reduction in NI contributions.

8 minutes ago, impulse said:

Asking because I don't know (not to be a smartass)...  Did London-BKK used to fly over Russkie airspace, or did they veer south? 

I have been going back and fore for 25 years and in that time the majority of flights have been through the middle east and across India. Some direct flights have gone to the north of India and in the days of USSR would  have been in Soviet airspace.

Not sure about the northern scandanavian countries, and of course there is always Aeroflot.

19 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

A few months back, for other reasons (not the Win 10-11 issue), I bought my first ever Chromebook laptop... I wanted something lighter to carry when traveling vs my heavier and larger Win 10 laptop at home... Have taken the Chromebook on a few recent domestic trips here in Thailand, and it's served the purpose as a traveling stopgap... But I could never see it as a replacement for my full-time home computing needs.

Agree with the sentiment. I bought a Lenovo Chromebook a few years back for travelling but didn't like the operating system. Replaced it about a year later for the same model with Win10.

Much easier for travelling but not a lot of use at home other than watching TV on the verandah.

1 hour ago, bigt3116 said:

 

Never heard of this, when did it change? (seems unlikely as how could you have a valid permission to stay with an invalid passport?)

 

Generally speaking passports become expired, not invalid, people often travel with both old and new when needing to use stamp/visa in the old.

Expired passports are still a valid form of ID, in the UK you can fly domestic on an expired passport for up to 5 years after expiry.

1 hour ago, Captain Monday said:

Passports are never renewed. They are replaced. 

Another generalised statement.

In the UK, "Renewal" and "Replacement" are different application categories.

21 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

I have no hidden agenda to pursue and I did not alter your comment nor its context in any way.  Perhaps your context was not as clear as it could have been?

Fair enough, you must think entries and extensions mean the same thing.