ColdSingha

I am in a similar situation doing 10weeks on/off and due to fly back in on the 13th August. I have an 1yr extension of stay based on ED at the moment with multi re-enty permit as there was no other real option for me.....getting a bit worried reading the stories online at the mo! I've printed out my contract, bank statements payslips etc so can hopefully prove that my earnings come from offshore and not illegally working in Thailand if questioned.

I shall post how I get on.

You may be questioned about your Thai knowledge level, where do you go to school, and why you have been away so long.

Working abroad is clearly contrasting with studying in Thailand, so be prepared for that.

Better would be you obtain a Tourist visa to avoid any unpleasant situation.

It is very difficult for me to get a tourist visa as when I get off the boat I just fly straight back to Thailand. I may just not mention my 1yr ED extension of stay and re-entry permit and just pass through swampy on a visa exempt stamp. Just sat in the lounge in Dubai waiting for the last leg trying to decide which option to use. I read in another thread that the 1yr ED extensions obtained through agents are exactly what they will be clamping down on.......Think I might just bite the bullet and go for the Thai Elite card when I get to Thailand.

is there not a thai embassy/consulate in dubai?

In the year 2017 there will be no expats or long term residents under 50 years old left in Thailand. Good for the old man , can keep the young chicks for himself.

i think you are underestimating the resilience of those under 50, they'll adapt.

as for the young chicks, i've seen the ones you old guys hang out with.. you can keep em

Since we have the ED visa and previously the visa runs Thailand should already be teeming with these illegal workers stealing jobs from honest thais right? Where are those people and what jobs have they stolen?

a few industries come to mind.. diving, teaching, tour guides, music, prostitution, go-go

tongue in cheek on the last couple but i think a trend has been growing for the last few years in samui, pattaya, phuket

remember most of this all started when the locals got pissed in phuket at the foreign tour guides

It gets tiresome hearing people harping on anyone on an ED visa because they assume they must be doing something illegal. Thank goodness I'm only 14 months away from switching to retirement extensions.

and then you'll become a fat old sexpat with an 18 year old girlfriend.. gotta love thaivisa

my advice to the OP would be to save up the money and extend based on 400K in the bank. then he won't have to go to the embassy every year.

he'll only have to get a letter from the bank confirming the amount which is usually 100 baht

in the meantime, get married and get a non-o multiple entry from savanaket in laos while you save up the cash and get it seasoned. currently he will

not have to show any financials

i use beautiful optic opposite the hilton. about a month back i took my glasses in for repair and they did the job for free even though the glasses were two years old, i had no receipt and they were purchased from their samui branch. the girl said she recognized the brand as one theirs and didnt need anything else. fixed and returned next day.

who says cant get great service in thailand :)

fake ed visa users are no longer wanted. you are not welcome here anymore,

I would hazard a guess that old guys who married young Thai women, because they couldn't get a girlfriend in their own country might be next.

I hope I'm not alone in thinking I'd rather see a student walking down the road with a bag of books under his/her arm on the way to school.

Rather than a fat bald headed unshaven guy in a t-shirt that doesn't fit with a young Thai bride on his arm that can not understand a word they say to each other.

One looks perfectly normal, the other turns many a peoples stomach.

Thailand.. making old folks happy for 30 years

When is read "having explored all the visa options, it seems that the Marriage visa is the one which makes the more sense" and "I make about 80,000 baht monthly, and I am doing that for at least the 4 years I am in Thailand permanently."

I understand the OP may only have a tourist or education visa right now, and he got this money while staying in Thailand for 4 years without work permit, so I'm not sure it's wise to show the bank book for the 80,000 Baht he earns monthly to apply for a marriage visa. Or maybe I'm just mistaken.

before we string him up he did say in another thread he earned money selling software on the web.

this could be both residual and offshore

it's only working without a work permit thats illegal in thailand not receiving money for work done/created elsewhere

These new laws are making Thailand far less desirable. I no longer feel welcome and don't want to stay.

I'm leaving in two weeks, I'm sure millions will be too. What I find so damn annoying is how many grey area there seem to be. Nothing is clear cut, it's just up to the immigration officer on the day..

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

i understand what you are saying but the problem with defining the rules is one also defines the loopholes

i'd imagine they'd like to keep a modicum of control for the IO to review case by case

^ Repeating myself but you can't work online 'legally' with the TE card (says in the terms employment is prohibited) anymore than you can or can't with a TR / ED visa (they're equally grey areas). 

 

It's doesn't outright solve the issue of being 'legal' for onliners (like OP), it just guarantees border officials won't ask questions.

 

Many TV posters who stress the importance of getting 'legal' (a framework they make up) also recommend the TE card to online freelancers which isn't really consistent. Onliners who could afford and would buy the card, would continue working, they aren't retired yet.

 

you're right of course but it still might make sense for onliners who are not working but collecting the rewards of earlier work done.

 

writers, landlords, developers, website owners, investors or anyone collecting residual income would fall into this category and they can still go "home" to improve/work on their business for a few weeks anytime they want and come back and spend freely the rest of they year

If you think about getting married for the visa, you better think again.

The 500K elite card is way cheaper!

my life is much cheaper as a family man and with 2 incomes to share

ED Visa is not meant to be a way to learn a language so that you can stay in the country. Imagine how many people would go to UK if all they had to do was learn English a few hours a week for the rest of their lives.

You think it's to much hassle to use to just stay in the country, but that is the whole point. They want genuine language learners, nit people learning it just as a way to stay here. So they have succeeded if you and others are put off.

Why on earth would ANYONE learn a useless language like Thai, if they were not planning on staying in the country? It's a totally useless language outside of the magical borders of the country.

Thanks for learning Thai, we can see you are now fluent. Now get the hell out of here, falang. Unless of course, you want to shell out 500k on an Elite Card, or have a baby with a flip flop wearing prostitute, or start a business and hire 4 Thais to sleep all day. Be thankful we have provided you so many options to use your new learned language.

Dont need baby. Marry is enough

Theres non prostitutes girls as well...

as we're generalising i think they only "go" with the young fellas..

Do those of you one a marriage visa still have to check in every 90 days?

My mate in Vietnam married a girl there, got a 5 year visa with no hassle. You have something similar here, or are you waiting in line at 6am with all the others every 90 days?

There are companies that provide this service for you. I believe they charge around 200 Baht per 90 days or you can pay in advance for the whole year.

Hardly a big deal.

send the wife, buy her lunch

Do those of you one a marriage visa still have to check in every 90 days?

My mate in Vietnam married a girl there, got a 5 year visa with no hassle. You have something similar here, or are you waiting in line at 6am with all the others every 90 days?

yes still every 90 days though i've never had to wait more than 5 minutes at my local immigration office as they have a separate desk to handle 90 reports

 

 

... by the way I am retired and  I am an internet savvy guy. My showing up on the first page of a generic Google search to prove it.

 

JL's crab legs, Jacksonville, that's you? 

 

No I said generic search -- like 'Crab Legs' without the city or name. You think it's easy to put in that kind of search and still be several times on the first Google search page?

 

 

you are not mentioned anywhere in the top 100 for the google query "crabs legs"

 

try turning google personalised search feature off

 

 

 

Every time I boot Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, or InDesign there a few Thai names as principal developers.

 

Which ones ?

 

photoshop-splash-screen.jpg
 

 

 

lol

does indeed appear to be a direct response to the "visa mills" out there, those schools marketing easy visas in return for fulfilling the basic requirements of immigration law (or worse)

The question is whether just the right to be able to stay in Thailand worth 100k+tax per year or not. By the way, does anyone has info about universities offering international evening classes for adults here that give degree of some short? Some of those curriculums cost 40-50k per semester. I'd rather study there and get something "real" once if I have to pay more.

8 hours per week + travel time to and from school + the immigration check-ins + the added expense and the headache of it all, just to learn Thai, makes no sense unless someone REALLY wants to learn Thai. Like you said, you could learn something else, something of real value, and be able to extend it past the 18 month limit (if I understood that correctly).

what 18 month limit?

Before you had a 3 years course time allowed to study Thai and off you go, back to your country, although we could extend again if you wanted to further your studies.

Now since we are studying twice the amount of hours,the course finishes in 18 months instead of 3 years

i thought ED visas were extendable up to 10 years at least thats what all the adverts i see for language schools have been marketing in my area

study thai and get long stay visa 1-10 years

?

The question is whether just the right to be able to stay in Thailand worth 100k+tax per year or not. By the way, does anyone has info about universities offering international evening classes for adults here that give degree of some short? Some of those curriculums cost 40-50k per semester. I'd rather study there and get something "real" once if I have to pay more.

8 hours per week + travel time to and from school + the immigration check-ins + the added expense and the headache of it all, just to learn Thai, makes no sense unless someone REALLY wants to learn Thai. Like you said, you could learn something else, something of real value, and be able to extend it past the 18 month limit (if I understood that correctly).

what 18 month limit?

Just levy a tax for every day one spends here. I.e.100 baht a day.

i think we pay more than that in VAT already

i wonder if a two tier system will develop now? 8 hours a week for ED visa students and a slower, maybe night class system of 4 hours a week for those who just want to learn.

studying 8 hours a week plus homework and revision/memorization time will be a lot of for someone who may be working or running a business full time already

OP's visa options just got that bit smaller too, 100K/year or 8hours/week study now

i'm assuming he and his friends aren't starting a business or getting married anytime soon

@Mario

if you don't mind please, what is the source of these new rules and also why is there no official statement from immigration especially considering new police orders were released only a few days ago?