sandyf

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.

Not a Wise transfer, I just used the Wise card. I happened to have some THB as I sometimes use it on Lazada, if I hadn't they would have just taken it from the main currency. You don't really need to hold foreign balances but if you do transactions in other currencies you can make the conversion when rates are favourable.

Typical falang, paint all Thais with the same brush.

I used to see an immigration building near the traffic lights, is that where you mean. I seem to think the stamp I got at Ban Laem was marked Pong Nam Ron. I went into no man's land and my passport appeared to go into Cambodia, not 100 % on that.

Pass through Thai immigration and give the guy at the desk 200 baht. Head for the duty free and 20 minutes later guy is waiting with passport in hand, then back through Thai immigration. Out and in 30 - 40 minutes. We got held up one time when the Thai IO asked my wife to help her put some carpets in back of her car. Bit of a sleepy hollow Ban Laem, mini buses went to Ban Pakard.

As I said in the post, paid by Wise, from THB balance. Fairly sure the payment is now local and if I had used my HSBC credit card would have been a good bit more. Will be paying again in a few weeks time. UK.GOV are a bit inconsistent, GBP on this page https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor/apply-standard-visitor-visa

Must be luck of the draw. i did about 7 years on MEs in and out of Cambodia, mainly Ban Laem and never came across that. But then I never actually went to immigration. Many moons ago my wife took us on a bus trip to Pakse and leaving Laos they asked for 50 baht. Bit of a surprise and I had no change, Swiss guy behind me that I had been talking to paid for me, said it was free for Swiss. My wife and the other Thais had just stayed on the bus, tour guide sorted it for them.

No, and nobody else behind her to see.

We went to laos last Jan and when we left across the bridge my wife(Thai) had to pay 20 baht, I wasn't asked for anything.

Writing was on the wall when they announced the spouse visa income threshold. The government has been emboldened by public opinion and now out to penalise legal migration.

That's not true, last Feb I paid 4208 THB from Wise for the visitor visa, merchant shown as BB-UKVI which I assume is Bangkok Bank. Going by the amount, looks like converted from GBP on the day, my previous payment was 4325 THB.

I recognise the withdrawal issue but with HSBC it is not complete loss of interest, you get the basic rate rather than enhanced rate for that type of account. I would be very surprised if there is not somewhere in your settings where you can request a statement without creating any account activity. I acknowledge itis a spouse visa but I have done 11 visitor visa applications and have only ever used an online print of the savings account without any problem. At the end of the day, up to you.

Journalistic licence?

How many back to back Non O conversions are being done in immigration offices.

The OP has stated he will be applying for visas in the UK.

It hasn't been a problem but who knows going forward you can only try it and see what happens.

Using visas doesn't involve any immigration office. I was here for 7 years before I found out where the immigration office was.

You could think about flying to Hat Yai and taking the shuttle train to Pedang Besar, about 50 baht and takes under the hour. Immigration is on the platform and you can exit then come back on the later shuttle. If it is a bit busy there is a chance of getting back on the same train, otherwise about 4 hours between the morning one and the afternoon. I just went across the road, had some lunch and a wander round the market.

Would be better to have confirmation from the condo management for the booking.

Visas often require a letter of invitation, hotel bookings are quite often used instead. All can be seen as documents.

If someone is planiing to join you in Thailand and requires a visa to travel, rather than visa exempt, it would be a question of sponsorship/invitation rather than the property that would be required to support the visa application. You would need to write a letter outlining what support you would be offering such as accommodation/financial with supporting evidence.

Different people, different experience. I have had various issues over the years and they have been helpful with resolution, I was recently compensated over £100 when they made a mistake. Greatest help was when Agoda renaged on a refund for my quarantine hotel, although protracted HSBC did manage to get the money back.