longevity

More than happy to pay for my own and my family's shots, and will do as soon as available, same like we do every year for flu vaccine. 

1. Probably reported here already, but 90 day reporting has moved out to Meuang Thong Thani.

They provide a map at CW office, but the motorcycle taxi guys at CW know where it is will take you there for 120 baht. It's about 10-15 minute ride.

Make sure you have cash with you (esp if you're going to have to pay a fine) as there's no ATMs anywhere around the new site. There are taxis and motorbikes lining up though. Plenty of car parking space if you're driving yourself.

Good news is service there is much quicker than the old "Counter A" room at CW, with many more officers doing the processing.

2. Went yesterday to CW to do my annual extension for "Thai Wife" reasons, the Counter L dance. Beware if you're needing a financial statement or update passbook service from SCB (aka "Thai Panid") bank as the branch in CW has closed down and moved to the Big C on Chaeng Wattana road.

The kicker is that branch doesn't open till 10.30 am, so you're kind of screwed if you need to do it on the same day and had hopes of getting in the queue at IM early. 

3. Again, this may have been reported here previously, but there is some new (to me, at least) system with QR codes on the Q tickets now so that (theoretically) you don't need to hang around in the office watching the numbers go by, but can go relax downstairs with a coffee and scan the QR code on your ticket to see the latest number. Lovely idea, but it didn't actually work while we were there, with every scan just returning a message about "there's an error, please go to the counter to check your queue number". My guess is it's not compatible with latest phones and browsers. Perhaps needs Internet Explorer 7 and Windows DOS 3.11 to work.

Our total time at CW from start to finish (including run around with the bank issue as noted in no.2) was a little over 7 hours. Waiting for the "Document checking" queue took most of that time, which for some reason had only one officer doing it the whole day, with one very pleasant, English speaking assistant to help. As everything has to go through this desk before you actually sit down for the "interview" part, it's a real bottleneck. Our ticket number was only 131 and we didn't leave till nearly 5pm. At least the interview part was quick and painless. Literally about 10 minutes total time talking to anyone at CW. The rest of the time just waiting.

YMMV, of course (I've been in and out before by 10am in previous years). Guess we hit a bad day and we were caught out by the SCB bank thing. 

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You do not have to do the report. Nobody knows when you will need to do a report.

Mine was due today. It will certainly not be done on Monday. It can wait until they announce when they need to be done.

I think they might just say to do a report 90 days from when your skipped report was due.

Yah, but there is good reason to do it now if you can. 
1. It's quiet now.
2. When they announce that all those who've missed 90 day reporting should now come to IM, it'll be chaos. There'll be a huge backlog, IM will probably say we all have to do it within [nn] days of the announcement (where nn is some ridiculously small number like 3 or 7) or get fined for being late. So there'll be queues out the door and hours of misery waiting.

Mine is actually due today, but I'm not going to follow my own advice only because as soon as it's safe to do so I'm leaving Thailand (after nearly two decades here) for good. Last year's debacle on reporting overnight stays away from home was the last straw. Made a plan to get out then, and it was only interrupted because of Corona. I don't plan on  visiting IM ever again.

I sometimes have to do a beer-run after 10pm. Ironically, that's always seemed safer to me as there's fewer ppl about. Now I'll have to go out earlier, when there's lots of other folk around, to stock up.

I find stockpiling alcohol doesn't work too well. I inevitabley wake up the next day after a panic buy with a stinking hangover and an empty fridge.

3 hours ago, jasonr3255 said:

4. Are there any stipulations on leaving the 400,000 in the bank after the yearly extension is granted ?

 

No, that's right, not after the yearly extension is _granted_, but that's not the same day that you apply for the extension.

For thai dependent visas (wife/child), if all your paperwork passes on the day you apply, you're initially given a 28-day visa, and then after 28 days you go back to get the stamp for the remaining 11 months (theoretically, the 28-days is supposed to be time during which they investigate your claims, interview ppl in your soi, etc to verify your documentation).

I've done these extensions quite a few times now, but the last one was different. I was told that as well as proving the 400k in the bank on the day of application (the usual routine) I also had to prove it AGAIN when I go to collect the full stamp in 28 days. I've never been asked to do that before; I don't know if it's a universal 'new' rule, just a Bangkok rule (this was at Chaeng Wattana) or just a "kon piset" rule especially for me.????‍♂️

They said the second check would require just the bank book update and photocopy of the relevant bank book pages (no need for the additional guarantee letter that you also need for the first check). I'll find out when I go next week whether they actually require that check for real or if it was just a capricious comment by the officer on the day I went.

You just never know with IM what's going to happen, why it's happening, or whether it's happening for all, some or no one but you!!

Thankfully, this will be my last year here, fingers crossed.

edit: on the good side, I will say they have markedly improved their efficiency since last time I went. They got through the numbers so fast that by the time I'd gone and got the letter from the bank I'd already missed my queue (no 27) and they made me get another one. The new ticket was 68, and I was still out of there by 11am. Nice to be able to say, for once: good work IM! 

On 8/17/2019 at 12:23 AM, nontabury said:

Finally managed to repatriate enough money to purchase a house. 

How hard was that? 

I'm returning after 15 years here. Had enough, but was wondering how to cash out. Last time I tried wiring any money to the UK, there was loads of hoops to jump through, and it was only a small amount. 

I send money from my Paypal account to SCB on a monthly basis and it never takes longer than 5 days. 

You need to read the source article folks, where it says at the bottom:

Quote

For alcohol, crime and security checkpoints, the new Bangkok police chief assured that they will be allowed to be set up as usual.

I had this problem with the branch in Chamjuri Square at Sam Yan. The ATM ate my visa debit card and when I went to get it replaced they said I could only have one of the crap Be1st cards. I kicked up a fuss and eventually she went into the back office and came out with a new card. I don't know why they couldn't just retrieve my original card from the ATM but she said they are destroyed (which I didn't believe)..

Fast forward a couple of months and exact same thing happened (I'd changed my pin and forgotten the code, so atm ate it up). Again, at Chamjuri (different woman) I was refused, and the refusal continued even after I made the same fuss and even after I told her what had happened last time. She told me I'd have to go to the BKB HQ on Sathorn Road if I wanted one. With that, I just said forget it, I'm closing my account and she also said I had to go to Sathorn to do that! 

I walked out and have never used that account since. I took the money out with a passbook a few days later and opened an account with Kasikorn bank. They couldn't have been nicer. They even set up a separate electronic web card for making online payments (which is the only reason I wanted the debit visa card anyway) and were an altogether more professional outfit. BKB staff didn't seem to care about losing a customer, so lose me they did. 

Ah, great news, thanks tonray. 

Presumably I can just get the required form at the information counter? 

So my job ended on August 3rd, and according to the notes I have to return my Work Permit to the Ministry of Labour within 7 days.

Is there any special procedure for doing this? I mean, do I just waltz in, dump it at the counter and say 'So long', or is more of the case of "rab bat Q", and submit multiple signed copies of who knows what documents and waste half the morning?

Can't find any info on the netty net, so any clues as to what to expect more than welcome.

Cheers folks!

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