sambum

Thank you for your post - you make some valid points, which I agree with. The point I was trying to make is that there are lots of people who apply for visas, get rejected, and then decide to "go underground" and take their chances. (Which is borne out by the number of illegals in Thailand or the USA or the UK) Certainly there are those who will go by the letter of the law and return to their countries and maybe try again at a future date, but I feel that most of these will not try again - especially with the air fares being so expensive these days, and they have travelled a long way to get there - not from Myanmar or Laos to Thailand, but for instance the USA, which has been mentioned in the thread. I think (and I emphasise that word, because it is merely an opinion) that if you put yourself in the position of say a young woman who has travelled a great distance to get into the USA or UK, that she will not have travelled there "off her own bat", but no doubt has a few friends (accomplices?) that are already there that will be willing to show her how to live life "under the umbrella". Similarly, (and I agree with your point here) there are unscrupulous employers that will give these girls/women jobs because they can, and no doubt the wages will be well below what they should be paying for the services. Slightly off topic, but with the same principle in mind, I am originally from the UK, and we have a similar problem with illegals, and official figures show an alarming trend:- "Provisional operational data shows that between 1 January and 21 April 2024 there were: 6,265 small boat arrivals compared to 5,049 in the same period last year, an increase of 24%" And that is just by boats - there are thousands more who get smuggled into the country in the back of wagons etc. The problem here is that if they are just sent back to France, they will just try again tomorrow, and eventually, a great number will succeed, and I doubt very much if these thousands are intent on getting work permits, and if refused, go back to where they came from - on this we disagree. The latest plan by the UK Government is to relocate/ship them off to somewhere in Africa, but they don't want to go, because "they don't feel safe there." My own suggestion for a solution would be to stick a big sign in the middle of the ENGLISH Channel which reads "SORRY - FULL UP!", ( but of course I am being flippant!) Maybe a change in Government may bring new ideas to rectify the situation but somehow I doubt that "The Nanny State" will change overnight!

I heard of a journalist that was posted to the Middle East for a while, and he was intrigued by the fact that it was not an uncommon sight to see a man walking with a few of his wives walking behind, so he eventually found one of the ladies who spoke a bit of English, and asked "Why do the women always walk behind the men over here? Is it because you see him as your superior - a sign of subservience to acknowledge the fact that he is your master, and that because he is a man, he is therefore in some way better than you and the other women in his life?" The answer was very short, but to the point:- "No" she replied "Land mines"! 🙂

And there would probably be a few more if you weren't on "Ignored" lists! 🙂

"It's no wonder the US is so strict about giving visas to certain demographic groups." Which in itself merely exacerbates the problem. If someone already in the country applies for a work permit and gets rejected, do you think they are going to say "Oh, that's a shame", and return to their home country? No, I think they are just going to stay and remain part of the "Black Economy", and I am sure that there are plenty of unscrupulous employers willing to employ them at reduced wages!

And 99% of the "proper criminals" remain undetected - apparently seeming to bypass the requirements quite effortlessly - maybe brown envelopes involved? 🤣

In the UK, one Working Men's Club Concert Secretary told me that they were making more profit off 2 "one arm bandits" then they were off the bar!

It's like someone from a small village in Northern England going to Birmingham for the first time, and going to an area where all the men wear pyjamas in the street, and you can't see the women because they're all covered up from head to toe! 🙂

I agree but I am sure that the bosses at TAT will be horrified!!!

TAT pull out all the stops and manipulate the figures to show what a good job they are doing, and then along come some do gooders from the WTTC trying to undermine all their good work! "Too many tourists? What on earth can they mean?"

"......it would enhance sales to be able to say it was tested and approved." I don't think that the majority of people, especially tourists, would be interested in buying "Mary Jane" with a less than 2% THC content.

Posted 3 times? Fault in the system or are you just trying to ensure that you get your point across? I do, however agree with your post - "Now Even More Amazing Thailand - the "Hub of Turnarounds"!

Anutin concludes, "We must listen to our citizens but also ensure that our policies are based on a combination of public input and scientific evidence. I trust Minister Somsak to integrate these principles in his final decision." "We must listen to our citizens..........." When did he ever? "I trust Minister Somsak to integrate these principles in his final decision." The brown envelope is on its way. Anutin has spent too much time, and invested too much money in the marijuana trade to let it slip through his fingers. Watch this space!

Then why are so many Esan people flocking to Bangkok/Chonburi to find work?

"........................Luckily we have left all that behind us now." And then you woke up?

Don't go much on sarcasm, then?

".....the "hub" of paper shoveling......." Have to agree! My first application for an extension by way of Marriage to a Thai national involved (coincidentally, a maximum break in snooker!) 147 photocopies!!! And the following year was almost as bad - duplicating the photocopies that I had done the year before (Marriage License, Passport, Wife's ID Card, photographs of the house where we were still living etc etc etc - "Bureaucratic Bumf"!!!

For "Sad" and "Confused" :- "After the 3 months in jail, a public flogging with advertisement made in the media with his name and what he did. I doubt they would do it again. If they did, double the penalty and so on. If recalcitrant, and continues 4 or 5 times more, put them to death. For "stealing"/ "finding" 30,000 baht?

Wow! The Spanish Inquisition would have been proud to have you on their payroll!

How do you know it wasn't? Silly me, if it had been, it would have been pointed out in the article. As there was no mention of nationality (e.g. "foreign couple") one has to assume that the couple were Thai. And if it was a taxi driver, he would have handed it in by now!

I wasn't 100% convinced by your answer so I did a quick check on Google, and came up with this more logical explanation:- "In the UK, there was a spate of dangerous dog attacks in the 1980s, many of which involved Pit Bulls. The breed was also used in illegal dog fighting. As a result, the government introduced the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991, which prohibited the ownership, breeding, and keeping of the breed."

To those that are "Confused" by my post, it was to primarily show how dangerous these dogs can be, and secondly, how ridiculous it is, (from a "civilised" point of view) to have a dog apologise to the corpse of his owner that he has bitten to death:- "Sorry I killed you by savagely biting you to death, Boss, I was just having a bad dream"! To be honest, I am "Confused" as to how people can defend these "accidents" - these dogs are bred to be aggressive killers, and no matter how well they are trained/domesticated, they are known to be unpredictable, and can suddenly turn viciously on even their owners/family members who have loved and cared for them.

Let's put this in perspective, shall we? "The top dog breed in the UK in 2022, as measured by number of registrations, was the Labrador Retriever breed. Some 44,311 retrievers were newly registered in the UK in 2022." Divide the number of Labradors in the UK by the number of dog bites/attacks, and divide the number of Pit Bulls in the UK by the number of dog bites/attacks. Oh, sorry, Pit Bulls are illegal in the the UK - I wonder why?

"As long as you don't over do it." Being the operative word. Maybe she just fell asleep, and overexposed herself (No sarcasm needed thank you), but yes, staff should check periodically to make sure that customers are "safe".

I can just see the headlines now:- "Drunk foreigner/Brit/Aussie/Russian urinates in public outside 711"

Sorry, the article was on ThaiVisa, but I can't find all the details, but this should suffice to prove it's not "B.S"! :- Giant, aged 2, the Pit Bull breed or Ban Dog that savaged its owner to death last week has been taken to his funeral in Pattaya. He took part in a ceremony called "khor khama" in which he apologized to the corpse.