bkkdriller

Thank you for your reply. I find on https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/new-immigrants/new-life-canada/driving.html that you can drive with a foreign driving license in Canada provided you also have an international license as well. Thai driving license is also valid in EU countries and also the UK.

I'm planning a camper vacation in New Zealand en have 2 questions:

Can I use my Thai Driving license in New Zealand or do I need an international driving license as well? All I can find is that the driving license needs to be in English which is the case for my Thai driving license (both in Thai and English).

What is the Camper maximum gross weight limit with a Thai Driving license? A Full or Class 1 driving license has a maximum of 6000 kg but in other places I find 3500 kg.

Any advise would be much appreciated. I have been searching the internet for many hours but not much usefull info for using Thai driving license abroad.

Best Regards,

henk

Dear readers,

I am looking for a reliable lawyer, preferably a construction lawyer in the Hua Hin area. I need advice for a dispute with my contractor about the non-fulfillment of an agreement for the remodeling of my condo.

Despite good preparation with a detailed contract and construction drawings, a number of things went wrong. Although the contractor acknowledges the mistakes, he is not willing to correct them and the work is still not finished after months of delay.

As a result, the contractor has paid a penalty following a delay clause in the contract. But now he is no longer willing to finish the job.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Best regards, Henk

39 minutes ago, transam said:

Not sure if it has changed, but you can use red plates for 30 days, after that it is an offence.

You can go to LTO for a covering letter if your plates have not turned up.

 

I assume no plates is an offence in its self, but like most things in LOS, the BiB don't do much..

You are right: I read in Bangkok Post and The Nation that you can not use a red plate beyond 30 days (not 90 as I stated earlier, typo). But it usually takes longer than 30 days to get the new plate, hence my question.

What are the latest temporary red car license plate restriction? I read in Bangkok Post and The Nation that you can not use a red plate beyond 90 days and that it is possible to get new car license plate within one day. But my Toyota car dealer is telling me that it can take up to 45 days to get the new car plate. Other (older?) restrictions include only driving during daylight and not allowed to go out of state. This would be ok if just for a few days but not if it takes more than a month to get a new plate. I also hear that you can drive out of state with a logbook? There is other contradicting info on the internet but some may be out of date. Any experience lately?

Thanks Ubonjoe, that was also my understanding. I guess, rather than trying to check what the problem is the officer gives the "no have" response. The problem is that I really do not understand what the problem is as I have done this many times before without any problem (in Bangkok). We had to get new non-O (retirement) visa last year (due to corona not being able to go back to Thailand) and I knew that you cannot do the first 90 day report report online but why it does not work for the 2nd time report is a puzzle.

The immigration officer in Phetchaburi tells me that online 90 day reporting is only possible in Bangkok. Is this true? Has anybody done Online 90 day reporting in Phetchaburi? We moved to Phetchaburi over 6 month ago and I have been trying to do the online 90 day report but get the famous message to go to immigration office. Before we lived in Bangkok and always did the 90 days reporting online (when the system was working).

I sold and transferred my condo in Bangkok last month and this is how it went:

The land office (in my case Klong Toei land office) will provide you with an official receipt stating the sale value, the land office value and the taxes and fees that were paid on these amounts. Show the receipt to the bank (in my case SCB) and make international transfer (took less than 15 min). Because of the large amount you can get (negotiate) a better exchange rate as well (well within 1% of the interbanking exchange rate at that moment). The SCB transfer fee was 500 baht and the money was in my account in the Netherlands in less than an hour.

The taxes and fees were paid by bankers cheque. In my case the buyer paid all taxes (and agent) and deducted my portion from the sales price (this was contractually agreed to avoid me sending money to Thailand to pay the agent and Taxes and then sent abroad again after the sale). Even if the buyer pays taxes on your behalf the land office will issue the receipt in your name.

Thank you for the replies. One more question. In the past I always got the bank letter the day before I went to Immigration office. This was always acceptable but last time there was a bit of extra discussion between IO's about this. Is it still acceptable or does the letter have to be on the same day? The official rule was not older than 3 days but I read on this site that Chaengwattana may require that letter is issued on the same day.

I have a 90 day Non O visa and already made the online queue booking for extension of stay based on retirement. Other than the usual requirements are there any additional requirements to apply for extension of stay based on retirement at Chaengwattana immigration office? According to the Thai immigration website all that is needed is:

Documents to be submitted

1.    Application form

2.    Copy of applicant’s passport

3.    Evidence of income such as a retirement pension, interest or dividends; and/or

4.    Account  deposited  (saving / fixed account) certificate issued by a bank in Thailand and a copy of a bankbook

5.    Only in the case of Criterion (6), the applicant must submit documents equivalent to Clauses 1-4
stated above.

From previous experience I remember that immigration office (IO) will also ask for a hand drawn map and complete additional forms and statements (such as penalties due to overstay, statement for why apply for visa, acknowledgement of terms and conditions) which were given to me by the IO.

I can not find any requirements related to the 40,000/400,000 baht medical insurance and the 100,000 US$ Covid insurance for Non O Extension of stay. Can the IO ask for this as well or is this only required for Non OA visa? Any other (new) requirements?

Thanks for any help/advise.

I have used the app many times in the past but can not use it anymore (for weeks already, keep getting message that there is something with the server/connection). I got the same message "Import data in sequence (1) is incorrect" on the website. Tried many times with direct input and also import spreadsheet (that was end December). At the end the problem was solved by switching off google translate before saving data. Try and let me know if that worked for you as well?

I did the RT-PCR test at Medimare (https://www.medimare.nl/contact.html). The are fast (within 24 hrs) and also provide the Fit to Fly certificate and are very familiair with Thailand requirements.  Price for both is not cheap at 211 euro per person.What I did not like is that they did not put my full name as per passport on the test and certificate (only initials and my last name and for my wife only her full last name) as that could have caused problems (fortunately it did not).

The test should clearly state RT-PCR test and quick or fast test are not allowed.

Yesterday (29-Oct) I went to Chang Wattana Immigration to renew my Extension of Stay based on retirement. I have done this many times and well aware of the (ever changing) requirements. Over the years the document requirements have increased significantly and also the waiting time to get the passport back after all documents have been handed in and checked. Yesterday the waiting time was extremely long for ALL Extension of Stay based on retirement renewals. This is my short timeline:

06:00 - Arrived just after 06:00 hrs. Already there was long waiting line and the queue was growing rapidly.

07:00 - Queue tickets were handed out. I got number 150 but there were at least another 300 people waiting behind me. I was told to come back at 07:50.

07:50 - Doors were opened and people were allowed in at groups of 10. I got queue L1-18, not too bad

08:30 - First numbers were called. Someone approached me when he saw my queue number and asked to change it for his L1-08 (he needed some more time as he did not have all paperwork in order).

08:40 - My number was called. Took about 10 min to check all paperwork and all found in order. I was then asked to wait for the supervisor to check documents again but my passport got already stamped with new one year extension. There was some discussion about redoing the bank letter again which I always do the day before. But after careful study of bankbook, stamped bank statement and the 200 Baht receipt from the back I was spared another trip to the bank (My wife always has to update the bankbook on the same day when she applies her extension of stay based on student guardian, same office but different requirements????). I also noted that the IO made additional copies of my passport, TM-8, location map and even the bank book plus some other documents. Apparently this additional set is made available to the police in the event of a house visit.

So far so good an I expected to get my papssport back in 1 to 2 hrs max and drive home before midday rush hour.

12:00 - Requested to leave the immigration office and be back at 13:00. Until then only a few passport had be returned to people in the L1 and L2 queue (families with kids or with Thai partner) but as far as I can tell nobody for Extension of Stay based on retirement. Some retires starting to get a bit upset and pressed IO for information. Apparently the supervisor was in a meeting whole morning to "consider" the retirement application.

13:00 Back in the office.

13:30 First passports were handed back to retires.

13:45  Hooray I got my passport and bankbook back and long journey back home (it takes me 25 min before 06:00 to get to CW but between 1 and 3 hrs to get home dependent of the time of the day).

It took 5 hours from the time that the documents were checked and accepted until getting my passport back (previously it took between 20 min to max 2 hrs). 5 hours in a room packed with people, hard chairs, noicy kids and aircon that cannot cope with all the warm bodies. This is no fun and you could see the stress levels rising in the office during this long, long wait.

Was this just an unlucky day for the retires or is this now the new norm? Other have same experience? What I do not understand is that the IO tells you to "please wait" instead of tell you come back after 5 hours.  Is this "new procedure" just in CW or also in other immigration offices. I plan to move to another location to avoid this ordeal in the future (most likely Petchaburi office).

Thanks for any feedback.

On 7/24/2019 at 12:11 PM, bkkdriller said:

I registered a condo in Bangkok and one in Cha-am (Petchaburi), both more than two months ago. In both cases received the e-mail confirmation immediately. Petchaburi responded with login and password with a few hrs. Still waiting for Bangkok (CW) immigration login and password, now more than 2 month.

Guess what, today after 2 1/2 month I got the login and password from CW.

I registered a condo in Bangkok and one in Cha-am (Petchaburi), both more than two months ago. In both cases received the e-mail confirmation immediately. Petchaburi responded with login and password with a few hrs. Still waiting for Bangkok (CW) immigration login and password, now more than 2 month.

My last 90 day report via registered mail took exactly 30 days to get the receipt. Normally I get within 1 to 2 weeks from CW.

3 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

still waiting for the user name and password two weeks after registering, IT is not a Thai strength

Same for me. Entered all info on the website including copy chanote, passport, etc. Now waiting for weeks already to get approved. According to the website info the process should not take more than 7 days.

I own a condo in Bangkok and did the online registration (https://extranet.immigration.go.th/fn24online/) for TM30 notification of myself and my family. Completed all the info in the form and added my scanned passport copy and a copy of the condo chanote. I received an e-mail confirmation of my e-mail address. I have now been waiting patiently for more than 2 weeks to receive the approval and get the login information. When I check the status online is shows: "Waiting for approval". According to info on the website it should not take more than 7 working days to get approval.

Has anyone successfully registered his condo in Bangkok using the same website and was able to do the online TM30 notification? How long did it take to get the login information?

Any other suggestions to get my condo registered with immigration?

Thanks for any help/advise,

That means we should be able to apply for retirement extension of stay on the same day? First cancel guardian extension at the "education visa counter" and then proceed with a new queue number and apply for retirement extension of stay.

Dear Ubonjoe,

Unfortunately not as easy as you (and I) would have thought.

We did as you suggested but were told by CW Immigration that my wife first had to cancel her "Guardian" extension of stay. For this we need a letter from my daughter school which we did not have with us of course.  Turns out that my daughter school is indeed familiar with this procedure and can provide us with the cancellation letter. However the school also warned us that cancelling the "Guardian" extension of stay may take up to two weeks and there is no guarantee that once cancelled my wife may or may not be approved for extension of stay based on retirement.

The school acknowledged that they are not so familiar with extension of stay based on retirement so would appreciate your opinion or any other TV member of his experience in this matter.

On 4/23/2018 at 11:16 AM, ubonjoe said:

It might be that you have a pop up blocker that is blocking a popup message that there was a problem with page 2.

Others have had the same problem when doing page one when the message to contact you local office was coming up.

Thank you for the advise but this was not the case (I did double check). I tried again today using same computer and explorer and this time all 3 notifications went through without a problem. I guess there was a clitch on the immigration website/server (would not be the first time).  Also got the approval back in a few hrs.

I have successfully completed the online 90 application many times in the last few years. Today I entered all info in the 1st and 2nd page without any problem but when hitting "submit" on the 2nd page a blank web page shows up, preventing me to complete the application. I have tried several times on Explorer and also Chrome but every time the same issue.

Anybody knows what is going on and/or having the same issue?

My wife has had had an extension of stay based on being a guardian of our daughter studying at an international school in Bangkok. Both need to renew their extension of stay in a few weeks at CW. How easy is it to change her next extension of stay from Guardian to retirement (she is now 50 and complies with all the requirement). Is it just a matter of filling in the new reason on the application form and go to the queue for retirement or is it more involved?

On 11/11/2017 at 5:26 PM, AJBangkok said:

Did a lawyer tell you that or is just something you read on the internet. 

 

Unless you own more that 4 condos in the building and are renting them all out for less than 1 month periods then the hotel act does not apply. 

 

The only thing that can actually stop you renting out on a short term basis is if the majority of the condo owners vote to disallow short term rentals for less than 1 month at an AGM or EGM and it is subsequently included in the condominium rules or bylaws.

 

Hotel Act

The Hotel Act (2008) requires any place that provides accommodation for less than a period of one month in exchange for payment is defined as a “Hotel”, regulated by the Hotel Act, and requires a hotel license.

There is a limited exception to this. A license is not required if:

1) the said place has less than five rooms; and

2) cannot accommodate over 20 guests at a time; and

3) the income being earned for such is merely “additional income”.

This was checked by our lawyer and the land office. I have also seen several condo's where an official announcement was sent to all co-owners with this info.