ThomasAJ

You should check if Australians are allowed 15 days visa exempt for Vietnam. I went 2 weeks ago with no visa, straight through immigration, they only asked for proof of my return flight.

Unfortunately we are not yet on the exempt list.

The "letter of approval referred to above is NOT a visa.....it merely gets you on the approval list and you still have to pay a "stamp fee" on arrival by waiting in a queue to pay the fee and get the real visa stamp..

Either way you will need a page free in your passport for the full page visa form.

I am trying to avoid queues at Ho Chi Minh upon arrival.

So are you saying I *cannot* get my passport stamped at the Vietnam embassy in Bangkok and so sail thru to my baggage no matter what I do?

(do you even need for Philippines?)

Thanks for the heads-up. I just visited their website in Australia and no visa needed for citizens of many many countries including Australia.

I will be in Bangkok for a while soon and want to travel to those 2 countries for a week or so at a time.

I have the option of sending my passport to their embassy in Australia by mail but prefer not to.

I have searched posts but of course things change rapidly and there are many old posts.

So is it practical to just walk in and get my passport stamped or are there all sorts of practical problems like long queues, language etc

Don't know about a button, but the quickest way to get attention is ring 1669.

This is the ambulance Emergency services and they have a good response time all over Thailand.

Hope you never need to ring them, but keep that number.

Thanks for the number.

But of course in an emergency time is of the utmost importance.

Given traffic congestion, even if the patient is near the BKK CBD...

I just cannot figure out who responds and where is one taken to?

By "who responds" I understand It's an ambulance but I have heard that the quality of staff/speed varies dramatically.

In a heart attack situation it's absolutely critical the ambo ER team know proper procedures etc etc

Further discussion please as this is at the 'heart' of the matter.

Thanks

Tom

You are aware of Bangkok traffic? In almost all cases getting a local taxi or your own driving would get you to medical facilities faster that waiting for an ambulance to arrive, even if they could even find your address without issues.

If not time sensitive you can call for ambulance service from hospital of your choice - but have never heard of any panic button systems.

Yes indeed and that is what scares me in particular as per this issue (eg heart attack).

So I was hoping that maybe if one pays enough $s to "be a member" that a chopper might be sent.

OK I do realize I am probably maybe dreaming...

I'm healthy but I am 62 and anything is maybe around the corner.

Ideally, and I have not even researched this in Australia (my main place of residence), is there a service supplied by a hospital in BKK whereby for example one becomes a 'member' (for a fee of course) and in the event of an emergency all one has to do is hit a whatever on ones mobile (or even better they supply a special device) and an ambulance arrives.

Eg my wife has a heart attack and I click on the appropriate whatever and help arrives.

Any such thing?

Thanks

Tom

My wife and I went briefly on Sat afternoon and loved it. Especially the singing, dancing, and music.

My take on it is that it is aimed at Bankokians to get them to be tourists in Thailand. There was very little English (almost none) hence my conclusion.

(BTW shocking cynicism by some posters. Awful and useless.)

I live in The River condos next to the Peninsula hotel and got woken at 1AM when a barge full of fireworks did its thing for about 7 mins.

This is 1 AM. Everyone at every nearby hotel and residence would have been woken up.

Was it an official commemoration (I can handle that) or just some rich bastard showing off?

If rich bastard is there any chance this was illegal? Any chance of fines?

Sure I can go to Siam Paragon and similar and pay top dollar.

But no doubt there are other places that sell reasonable quality at reasonable prices.

I need it for NYE and beyond so I do not want custom made.

Just average quality (by 'average' I do not use that word in a demeaning manner - if you know what I mean) and reasonable price.

Somewhere around the Siam BTS or Sukhumvit BTSs or Sathorn/Silom areas please.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Tom

I'm the ....... (you conclusion jumpers who referred to me using various non-complimentary names please insert your favourite. Ha ha hoo hoo...rofl) who started this post.

I wish to thank the small percentage who had contributed in an intelligent, articulate, thoughtful manner.

Interestingly what really struck me over the month or so that I researched the various Thai visas was the absence of the Thai Elite visa. Naturally my research was using the internet and I never came across it once or if I did it's benefits certainly did not jump out in any noticeable manner.

Half of my business interests is associated with the internet (property marketing, not porn - you conclusion jumpers) so I would like to make a comment about Thai websites and their marketing skills.

Awful!

Thai website are well behind the average and years behind the leaders. Thai govt. websites are even worse.

I subscribe to the digital Bangkok Post and read a few weeks back that one of the near economic aims of the Govt. is to have a serious digital economy (this is not just web related but includes all forms of digital businesses). Not gonna happen. Not enough skilled people. Not enough people that are skilled technically AND can read/write English.

For all intents and purposes IT is driven/created by English speaking people.

While I was in Thailand in Oct I asked a few Thai people why English has not been taught compulsory in schools.

English has been a compulsory subject in Thai schools for several decades.

Oh well that's not what I was told and the results of those courses leaves a heck of a lot to be desired.

However if that is the case then what were the students doing during the courses?

I'm the ....... (you conclusion jumpers who referred to me using various non-complimentary names please insert your favourite. Ha ha hoo hoo...rofl) who started this post.

I wish to thank the small percentage who had contributed in an intelligent, articulate, thoughtful manner.

Interestingly what really struck me over the month or so that I researched the various Thai visas was the absence of the Thai Elite visa. Naturally my research was using the internet and I never came across it once or if I did it's benefits certainly did not jump out in any noticeable manner.

Half of my business interests is associated with the internet (property marketing, not porn - you conclusion jumpers) so I would like to make a comment about Thai websites and their marketing skills.

Awful!

Thai website are well behind the average and years behind the leaders. Thai govt. websites are even worse.

I subscribe to the digital Bangkok Post and read a few weeks back that one of the near economic aims of the Govt. is to have a serious digital economy (this is not just web related but includes all forms of digital businesses). Not gonna happen. Not enough skilled people. Not enough people that are skilled technically AND can read/write English.

For all intents and purposes IT is driven/created by English speaking people.

While I was in Thailand in Oct I asked a few Thai people why English has not been taught compulsory in schools. I got several different replies that really didn't make much sense to me until..."because of loyalty". "misplaced-loyalty" I said. Answer was "yes". Loyalty to what? He explained that the Thai people were so loyal to their country that that felt they would betray it if they learnt such a dominant language. A sort of capitulation. If they really feel that way deep down then, oh boy.

When the military govt. created their ministry I looked hard (in the very detailed article in the Bangkok Post) to see who was the minister for education. That person was not even in the article. I concluded that education must be a department under one of the ministries listed. Perhaps I am wrong but I have a very strong suspicion that education is not really well understood.

In Oct on a plane trip from Spore to Thailand my wife and I were sitting next to a very affable person. So we got talking. He was Thai, spoke fluent English, was a big wig for an international carrier. But previously he was a big wig for Microsoft. He bugged Bill Gates into trying to help Thailand move forward in the IT world. Bill agreed to donate US$2mill to the Thai Govt. to do whatever with it - no strings, other than must be IT. They did nothing with it - they did not know what to do - the offer lapsed. I wonder if anything has changed?

Why do you guys post, such misleading headlines? True, in the future, at Brisbane and other locations, they may not be available, but that doesn't apply to all locations. One has never been able to work by having a "B" Visa, a Work permit is required.

*Not* misleading at all in the context of what we were told.

I was told "this will no longer be available".

You have no right to say "but that doesn't apply to all locations" because you cannot possibly know.

said the girl at the Thai Consulate in Brisbane Australia as she was handed our application forms for a 1 year unlimited entry visa.

We did not enquire about any more details so cannot offer any more info other than a heads-up.

We received the visas for "Business and Travel" but cannot work there - whatever the true definition of work is?

I guess it may be in the context of being employed.

Thank you all again.

Can someone please direct me to the meaning of the short cuts used here. Example 'non-o' and some others that I cannot think of at the moment.

50 years old or over

I am 61

You should check with the honorary consulate in Brisbane about getting a multiple entry non-o visa, It would give you unlimited 90 day entries for a year.

The embassy or the official consulate in Sydney will not do them.

Thank you. I will do that.

50 years old or over

I am 61

You would a apply for a tourist visa.

It sounds like you would only need a single entry visa that would allow you to get a 60 day permit to stay on arrival that can be extended for 30 days immigration.

For your trips out of the country and back you would get a 30 day visa exempt entry by air or 15 days by land.

If you you have not gotten a ticket yet just leave the flight number blank and write a approximate date for your trip.

For an address you do a search and pick a hotel where you might stay and use that.

Thank you for the reply.

But I am still very confused.

I got 2 replies by very experienced forum members with 2 seemingly different strategies. Or am I misunderstanding?

A double entry Tourist Visa will give you 6 months with extensions from Immigration and a border run in the middle.

Thank you very much.

"6 months with extensions" - does that mean I have to have it extended whilst in Thailand?

"a border run in the middle" - does that imply just 1 out/in?

Pardon my ignorance but is there not a simple visa that lasts say 1 year from a start date (as determined at time of application or similar) and allows any number of exits and entries?

Or does it just not work that way?

I have been reading posts here and also Thai consulate websites in Australia but am totally confused.

So I want to go to T then stay for a few mths, go to Spore or maybe Vietnam or wherever.

I am not retired and I do not want to work in Thailand. Then I plan to return to Aust in 4 or 5 mths.

Also I noticed on the application form that they want to know where I will be residing in T and by what means I will be getting there, flight no. etc. But how can I book these things with knowing first that I can get a visa. It seems a chicken or the egg thing to me.

I am currently in Aust and plan to go to Thailand mid Dec.

What visa do I apply for?

Any help appreciated.

Many thanks

Tom