sandyf

It was a bit coincidental that the HO took overseas passports away from the FCO and gave them to VFS in 2014. In 2014 it won a major contract with the UK to administer around 70% of the UK’s visa applications. https://www.financeuncovered.org/stories/vfs-the-exploitative-dubai-based-firm-fuelling-a-massive-surge-in-home-office-profits-from-uk-visas I was one of the first customers in April 2014, had to get the Embassy to intervene to get my passport back. Went back to UK in Sept to do the renewal. Unfortunately not so easy with visas. since 2009 I have done 11 UK visitor visas, one Canadian and 4 Shengen through VFS and have had a few problems over the years, very difficult company to deal with.

It is against the forum rules to make things up, at no time have ever said VFS was a government agency. I won't hold my breath on an apology. VFS is a government puppet and has flourished on gross profiteering. UK Home Office turned a blind eye to the data breach and the offshore status in pursuit of profit and in doing so created a global problem. Ukrainian refugees suffered huge delays because VFS couldn't or wouldn't handle an issue that was the responsibility of the UK government, but you want to shrug that off as commercial business. The OP is the tip of the iceberg and in due course we will all rue the day Thailand allowed them in the door. Under the contract, obtained by Finance Uncovered through a Freedom of Information request, the Home Office pays VFS contract fees; it also shares the extra revenue derived by VFS from charging applicants these new premium services. And the UK’s contract was not with “VFS Global”, but with VF Worldwide Holdings, a company registered in Mauritius – an African tax haven where obtaining useful annual corporate accounts is not possible. https://www.financeuncovered.org/stories/vfs-the-exploitative-dubai-based-firm-fuelling-a-massive-surge-in-home-office-profits-from-uk-visas

There is one born every day, no government ever does business on a commercial basis. The word used in the last statement nearer the truth, a bunch of collaborators.

No the text quoted by the OP is on the VFS site https://thaiextension.vfsevisa.com/information and replicated on other sites. The VFS site is linked on this Immigration site promoting the E-Extension. https://www.immigration.go.th/?avada_portfolio=15-sep-2022-electronics-extension-of-temporary-stay-in-the-kingdom-e-extension#service The URL used by VFS is misleading in that it uses "evisa" as opposed to "e-extension" which could be confused with the MFA e-visa platform.

Wrong it is a government supported business. Pritti Patel lied to the House when she said she was doing everything she could for Ukraine refugees, VFS was calling the shots. Any commercial business has to put service first or they will not have a business.

I would agree. Cracks like that are quite common alongside pillars and beams, usually caused by differential contraction and more evident when the builder has been in too much of a hurry.

I am about 30km from immigration, the other side of Mueang Chonburi. I first came in 1999 and came to live 2008, did the first 7 years on ME visas and leaving the country every 90 days had it's good points but not without problems. I got caught up in the UK passport fiasco in 2014 and couldn't leave the country for re-entry so did marriage extension to get another 30 days, passport came back 3 days before ETD time. Sri Ratcha immigration were very helpful, they were also very helpful when I had a ME visa during covid and couldn't leave the country. The UK embassy stopped doing the letters some time ago, the first if I remember right. The transition from gross income to nett was problematic but you have to live with it, I didn't have a problem doing the monthly remittances with the bank statement. The UK and I believe other e-visa countries have stopped doing the ME visa which may be a sign of things to come. Unfortunately time does not stand still and you have to learn to adapt, friend of mine in UK is computer illiterate and every year has to get someone to do his visa for him, but they call it progress.

Aedes mosquitoes prefer to feed on human blood rather than animals so common sense would be to avoid being near other humans. I got it when bitten in the toilets of a Pattaya hotel, you could say a dengue dump.

Fees are the main priority for VFS rather than service. As far as the 30 days is concerned I can't see them circumventing the need to send it to head office so any "priority" service may well be minimal. When I did my extension recently I was given a phone number and told to check before coming for the 12 month stamp. My wife phoned them twice a day for 3 days before getting a positive reply. One of the IOs told her there was a backlog as they were having to investigate agent applications a bit more to ensure funds were not being manipulated. If there is any validity in that there would be an argument for a 2 tier approach irrespective of VFS.

If you go to Laos.or any other embassy/consulate, you have to bear in mind you are dealing with the MFA and not immigration. If you could apply for the Non O ME marriage in London you would have to have £10,000 in the bank, so why should any other country be different. Historically embassies/consulates have had a bit of a free hand in dealing with visa applications and have imposed there own interpretations causing a great deal of confusion. Those now on the e-visa platform have more of a standardised format which will probab;y become more widespread as time passes. I also use Sri Ratcha and not really a problem, went in Dec for marriage extension and very straightforward, doubt I was at the desk 20 minutes. I used to do the income method there and that wasn't a problem either.

Yes, it is to do with the e-Extension arrangement that came in a couple of years ago. Run of the mill visas for most expats are not included hence not been much debate. I have been dealing with VFS since 2009 and not the most ethical of companies, a bit concerning to see them get a foot in the door.

That is not true. In 2020 during the first 3 months of covid, Thailand was about the only country in the world where excess mortality decreased. The reduction due to the cancellation of Songkran was greater than the effect of covid.

Even matchstick men wouldn't get through the caps on our plastic tanks, wife goes inside the concrete ones.

I got a piece of steel tube, flattened the end and stuck it on the end of the hose. A bit like a pressure washer and blew the sediment out through the drain hole. Also cleaned off most of what was on the walls. Algae needs sunlight to develop so take it you have a plastic tank. You should shade the tank which will also make it last longer as the UV in the sunlight makes the plastic deteriorate. A drop of bleach in the tank now and again will also deter algae growth.

Agreed, there shouldn't be any seasoning or bank location requirements in respect of visa applications. There is a tendency for some to see local embassies/consulates as immigration rather than MFA. In 2018 it was the target of the MFA to have the Thai e-visa system rolled out to all embassies/consulates within 3 years. I often wonder what happened to the normal practice of ridiculing the government for not meeting targets.

You may have changed the address on the account but you didn't transfer the account, as in the OP, due to it being branch specific. My bank account in the UK has been transferred twice due to branch closures but the account number remained the same as it is not branch specific. What changed was the IBAN and SWIFT codes which are branch specific in the UK. Retail banking in Thailand uses 8 char SWIFT codes which, unlike the 11 char codes used elswhere, do not have the branch code so that is picked up from the bank account number.

That is where it went wrong. As @alanrchase has pointed out account numbers are branch specific and if you need a local account just open another. When I built my house a few years back the PEA wouldn't allow direct debits from outside the area. I went to the bank thinking I could just transfer the account but it wasnt possible and I just got another account. It wasn't a problem as I already had an account and came in handy some years later when I started dealing with immigration.

I was at the doctor one time and the nurse puts the appointment card for the next patient on the desk. A large monk was behind me in the queue and I coud see from the card his BP showed 212.

I suspect many will misread your post. I did one in HCMC just before covid and also found them very efficient, had a very nice 5 days there. Having a visit to Hanoi in a couple of weeks so will see the difference first hand, main destinations are Sapa and Halong.

Always one xxxxhead, at my age nothing more than a shortcut. There is a place on beach road at the bottom of soi 6 I have been using for 25 years, used to call it the Kodak bar, one of the few places in the old days you could sit and look out to sea with a large Chang.

Of course it was presumptuous, you took the view that we didn't know anything about border passes or had any experience. My wife worked for years in HK, Singapore and Vietnam, quite experienced in Asian visas and border crossings. I made a simple comment that last Jan my wife had to pay on re-entry to Thailand and you decided to go overboard with the rhetoric.

Years ago it wasn't a problem in Thailand generally. I had been to Koh Chang a few times and then went back one year and all the normal bars were shut in the afternoon, had to have a late breakfast in the Monkey bar? to get a beer. Bit the same in BKK, all the afternoon watering holes that I usually used dried up, but some may have escaped. In Pattaya the only area I am aware of that closed down in the afternoon was Soi 6, but on saying that at new year I took a shortcut down there and there was some activity but nowhere near the old days. At the end of the day it's all about how blind is the eye.

I understood perfectly well what you meant. I wouldn't be in Thailand if I had to live in Bangkok.

The lecture is a bit presumptuous. A few years ago we took her neice to Vientiane and as the neice had no passport my wife did the border pass with her, they never had to pay anything on re-entry.

You shouldn't believe what is said about airbnb on here. It is all about licence requirements and that has nothing to do with airbnb, it is the responsibility of the owner to comply.