sambum

1 hour ago, Artisi said:

Do you really think there was any turmoil likely to effect the overall running of the country by a change of the rules regarding foreigners and money. 

Far too many TVF members think their presence in Thailand is important, well guess what, it's not. If all expats left tomorrow, the effect would be equivalent to you not peeing into the ocean. 

Bit of an exaggeration on your part, as well as TVF members overestimating their importance!

But to put it in a nutshell, take the numbers of TVF members (mostly retirees I presume), add them to the non TVF members who are retired here, add in the numbers of other Western nationalities retirees, and then multiply that by an AVERAGE of 500,000 baht a year that under the new rules are to be deposited in a THAI bank, and I would suggest that it's not like "peeing in the ocean"!

54 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I say again, they don't care that much, if at all. Yes, its all very irritating, and it winds me up as well, but it is what is is. Jai Yen Yen as Mrs P keeps saying to me when I get enraged at one more idiocy.  

I think that they do care! In that they have found another way to make it more difficult for the farang - it seems to be a game with some of them! 

1 hour ago, sfokevin said:

Under the present rules these average retirees do not meet the 65K cashcow rule and should be deported... 

Depends if they're married to a Thai national or not! If they are, then 40,000 baht a month is the requirement, but don't ask me why a farang married to a Thai would seem to need less money than a single one!

1 hour ago, jlwilliamsjr18 said:

GOOD! Now can we roll back to more reasonable, reliable and friendlier retirement visa requirements.  Best news would be going back to allow embassies to issue affidavit letters.  Logic would dictate, the more money a retiree has access to, the better for the country.  

I hope that you are right, but I heard (from an ex British Embassy employee) that they weren't keen on doing the letters anyway, due to staffing problems, and the fact that they are moving to smaller premises would imply that the problem would only be exacerbated.

Also, a bit of "face" and "spitting out the dummy" is involved, so re the letters, I wouldn't hold your breath.

However, the acceptance of Bank Statements from one's home country would be a good thing, as a previous statement from Immigration implied that a Tax statement would be acceptable, so it shows that they can  read English when they need to!

2 hours ago, inThailand said:

Transferred... 

 

Due to the turmoil created by the new visa money rules? 

Hopefully, his replacement will have a bit more consideration for the LEGAL retirees here that have abided by the rules for years only to have themselves tarred with the same brush as the illegals that caused "Big Joke" to come up with his new rules designed to make things "easier and more watertight" for retirees to live here!

44 minutes ago, chrisinth said:

It depends at what level you are looking at the figures and classifying it as 'a considerable sum'.

Over the year an ex pat spending 50,000 baht a month = 600,000 baht a year.

How many Thais spend that a year, or indeed how any tourists  (no matter how well heeled they are) spend that on  a holiday?

7 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

because he couldn't care less. Expats really do have to leave their western head behind when they come to live here.  Yes, these things irritate me too, especially the inconsistency of applying the rules, but this is Thailand, it's the price we all pay for the privilege of living here. 

I (being a Westerner!) would have thought that it would have been in the country's best interests as a whole, for Immigration to have a set list of rules for all their Officers to work to. Sorry - I've just realised that they do have such a set list of rules, but how about they stick to them instead of making all kinds of "adjustments" as they go along - usually to make it more awkward for farangs to get extensions to their visas? (Nonsensical Google maps of where you live AND a hand drawn map of the same being just one example!)

3 hours ago, Tony125 said:

Same as banning shirts with beer logos on them saying they are illegal. I just came up from Pattaya and at the malls there and even  hi-end malls/stores in Bangkok they are selling them everywhere. Why do they even get involved in such matters? How about  just making sure party venues are properly set up and safety inspected rather than just ban everything because of 1 accident last year.

Sounds like the banning of all alcohol on all trains because one of their employees rapes and murders a young girl! 

national police deputy commissioner Pol General Chalermkiat Srivorakan said on Friday, "not to collect bribes from foreign migrant workers travelling back to home countries during Songkran"'

How about instructing them not to accept/ask for bribes AT ALL! NEVER EVER!

At least by his comment he can't turn round and say that there is not a problem with corrupt Police Officers!

They need this guy as the present PM can't manage to do it:-

"If implemented the money gained would be used to pay for improvements in traffic and public transportation in the capital." ????

How do you make "improvements in traffic"?

55 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

The guy has parked his bike (surely for some reason). Would it ease your agony if he'd 'rotate' the bike 180°?

And obviously ignoring the guy in the white Honda car driving on the wrong side of the road?

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Could this be the reason why they don't enforce any of the road traffic laws? Because they don't even know them? Marvelous excuse that one. Why didn't you book that guy who jumped the lights? Oh, I didn't know it wasn't allowed.

They sure know how to pocket tea money though, no lessons needed on that one.

Yes, they have to recoup the money somehow that they forked out to become a "police"  in the first place! Once they've paid to "join the club", it seems the minimum amount of training is required, and not necessarily in the rule of law!

2 hours ago, ttrd said:

Have mercy - the law was changed back in 2008 raising the age from 18 to 20 so not that easy to remember ...

As usual - stepping backwards in an attempt to resolve the problem!

I remember when they brought in "all day" drinking in Scotland, and the cynics said that the numbers of "drunks" would "go through the roof", but astonishingly - the opposite happened, and the numbers actually went down!

The reason apparently is that, when you are not governed by strict time limits on when you can consume alcohol, you tend to drink at a more leisurely pace. I think Scotland's evening opening hours were from 5 pm until 10 pm, so it was straight from work into the pub until closing time for many. Also, the amount of money available to spend on alcohol played a significant part in the reduction in figures, and people were spinning their "beer money" out over a longer period of time, hence less "drunks".

There are obviously exceptions to the rule, but for the most part, the streets of the likes of Glasgow are a lot safer than they used to be when all the pubs spewed their customers out at the same time!

2 hours ago, Captain 776 said:

The __________ that use those spray guns made from 1.5 inch PVC pipe should get a yr in jail.

I love a good time just like many, but then can shoot a powerful stream of water a good 10 meters and capable of causing injury and the dumb _________ using them will shoot u inthe face with them even if you are riding motorbike.

 

One yr in Pattaya I wanted to go back there beat the ________ that shot me in the face and chest with one loaded with ice water but I know I would have gotten the worst of it.

 

Songkran is really meant to gently dump a small container if water over the shoulder ofa person, not the nitwit antics that go on.

I lived here 14 yrs and inly gone to Songkran twice and no intention of attending another.

We usually leave Thailand from 12-20

"Songkran is really meant to "gently dump" a small container if water over the shoulder of a person, not the nitwit antics that go on"

Not even that - the theory is to "sprinkle" a little scented water over the hands of the recipient, and dab some talcum powder on their face.

3 hours ago, roo860 said:

Make sure there are large lumps of ice in it as well.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

And washing up liquid!

7 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Where are you getting these figures that tourism is in decline in Thailand, Indonesia and India. Any statistics show a year on year growth. 

What people are "freaked out to come here now"?

And your current viewing topic is ?

2 hours ago, biggles45 said:

The london embassy website says single entry 60 days is £30. The £150 Is for a METV, valid for six months. You dont pay anything for a 30 day stay

"METV"? Sounds like a line from a Dire Straits song!

(Sorry - presume it means Multiple Entry Tourist Visa?)

7 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Where are you getting these figures that tourism is in decline in Thailand, Indonesia and India. Any statistics show a year on year growth. 

What people are "freaked out to come here now"?

"Where are you getting these figures that tourism is in decline in Thailand" Not from TAT that's for sure! But probably from looking up and down the empty streets in various tourist destinations!

"What people are "freaked out to come here now"? Anybody intending to retire here from the UK for starters!

4 hours ago, pontious said:

I will only have 10 months. I thought they were told to be lenient  this year.

Yes, I think the wording was  "for this year only", and a note was to be made accordingly in your passport saying that you had been notified accordingly, and that the next application would need to have the full 12 months complement of deposits.

3 hours ago, hargri said:

What is acceptable evidence of funds coming from abroad? I have made 5 transfers since the new rules commenced and 3 show as foreign transactions. I have plenty of documents to prove the overseas source of funds as long as immigration are prepared to take the trouble to look at them. If it's Thai bank book/statement only then I'm 60% compliant.

A friend of mine was told by an IO that as long as he had a bank book showing a deposit of 65,000 baht a month going into his account, and a covering letter from the bank, that would be sufficient. (He mentioned withdrawing it from an ATM from his UK bank account,  and then paying it directly into his Thai bank account - but that was a couple of weeks ago - things may have changed since then! ????

4 hours ago, mokwit said:

Does the tax reference not refer to funds from Thailand having to be from a taxable source?

 

I think he is making the point that funds from a taxable source in Thailand will be viewed as equivalent to funds brought in from overseas.

Yes that's the way I read it "12 months income from abroad or from  a taxable source in Thailand."