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Arkady
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Posts posted by Arkady
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So sad. RIP little girls.
I have often asked the Thai family why, in a country with water everywhere and warm weather all the year round why there is not more emphasis from schools and parents to teach kids to swim. The wife just says there is a lack of funding for swimming pools etc. Her family's solution was to forbid the kids to play in ponds around the house. The wife obeyed and can barely swim as an adult now. Her younger brother disobeyed and went off on his bike with friends to learn how to swim in dangerous ponds.
My reply is that I went to a school in a cold climate and the school didn't have a pool either. But for the two months a year that it was vaguely warm enough for swimming we ran about a mile to another school's swimming pool and ran back for the next class. Every boy was taught to swim. If they wanted to prioritise water safety, the government could build more pools at schools and organise bussing for schools that don't have them. But the sad answer is that they don't care. Their kids get taught to swim and poor kids drown. The natural order of things as far they are concerned.
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19 minutes ago, david143 said:After MOI interview your documents decided by MOI TEAM are you eligible or not, once they passed it forward to Minister Officer, after it will forward to HM King Office.
Once HM King sign your name you will receive a call from SB for OATH
There is one more step. After you have passed the interview with the little MOI committee your application is forwarded to the big MOI committee which has representatives from the same 14 government agencies, 7 of which are parts of the MOI, but more senior levels. There is no interview with the Big Committee and the meeting usually takes place within a couple of months of the little committee meeting. I am told this is mainly a formality as any objectives or queries have usually been raised by the little committee. However, in extremely rare cases, the big committee has knocked cases back to the little committee to interview again to clarify something and could of course knock it back to SB. But cases that are knocked back to SB by one of the committees are usually rejected but can reapply, if they can fix whatever the problem was.
My file was knocked back to SB before the MOI interview and my officer told me I was lucky as I would have been rejected, if I had gone before the committee. The problem in my application was that SB insisted on making me apply on the basis of having a Thai wife instead of PR, even though I tried to insist on applying as a PR because our marriage had not been registered for 3 years. SB claimed that the 3 year rule didn't apply to PRs and seemed to think any risk was worth taking to avoid the singing, even though I sung the songs in front of them with no problem. The MOI sent the file back to change the basis of the application to PR and I lost 6 months and had to redo the salary letter and some of the other documents and make multiple additional trips to SB.
Many of the rejections are due to mistakes made by SB because the MOI doesn't deign to talk to police and I am sure this is much more common for applicants who apply to SB in the provinces.
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My appointment at Samitivej Sukhumvit through Mor Prom was cancelled yesterday morning by SMS. Then I got another SMS last night that I nearly didn't see telling me to report to the hospital for vaccination today. I wasn't sure which SMS was correct but I showed up anyway not knowing what to expect and did get the AZ.
I think many people have not been so lucky as to get their cancelled appointments reinstated and I have many friends who have been unable to register at all though the rubbish Thailand Intervac app. The roll out seems totally chaotic. The next shot is 16 weeks away, assuming vaccine available, which is stretching the AZ first shot protection to the limit.
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31 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:
Though research is ongoing, there is not yet any sign that the Delta variant is more deadly than other variants. Still, that doesn't mean it's less dangerous; as Zeynep Tufekci wrote for The New York Times in an article titled "COVID's deadliest phase may be here soon" on May 28, "A variant with higher transmissibility is a huge danger to people without immunity either from vaccination or prior infection, even if the variant is no more deadly than previous versions of the virus … A more transmissible variant can burn through such an immunologically naïve population very fast."
Saw an article somewhere that suggested the Indian variant appears less deadly because it has been infecting more younger people who have better resistance to severe disease. However, there seem to be nastier complications, such as gangrene and black fungus in the lungs that can occur after recovery from COVID.
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22 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:
And it's more transmissible, more deadly, and isn't stopped by many of the current jabs. Especially the Chinese ones.
Yes. It is very worrying. They sound well behind the curve as usual refusing to recognise the obvious threat from the Indian virus that is now present in many Thai provinces.
The worst aspect is that the Chinese vaccines that have been used to vaccinate medical workers are unlikely to offer much protection from this variant. China is already reporting infections in fully vaccinated patients in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Although Pfizer and Moderna do much better, two shots of AZ have been found to be only protect only 33% against the Indian variant. There is no data on the Chinese vaccines as they haven't used in India or the UK but it's a fair bet that they will be less than 30% effective which means that doctors and nurses will go down like nine pins, as they did in Italy and Spain last year, if the Indian variant takes off here. Several countries have also complained that Chinese vaccines were not very effective in stopping the spread of other variants, namely Chile, Seychelles and Bahrein. The latter had to order Pfizer as a third shot to stop the spread.
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Does anyone have experience of getting a foreign passport for a child born after they got citizenship? I wondered, if it would create any complications with both parents being Thai on the birth certificate since the parents' nationality on the birth certificate can be used as evidence of nationality by passport authorities.
At least with a Thai father on the birth certificate a child will have the opportunity to be promoted above the rank of private, if he or she joins the Thai military or gets drafted. That archaic regulation is a disgraceful piece of racial discrimination against Thais with foreign fathers that is also unconstitutional. I know one look krung who was an officer in the Thai army but it was his mother who was farang, so he was OK.
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3 hours ago, onthemoon said:
That would be a bummer. I'll advise what my bank says, I hope this have changed indeed.
I found this on Tilleke and Gibbon's website regarding a relaxation of the foreign exchange regulations in 2019.
Outward transfers
When conducting outward transfers of foreign currency in an amount less than USD 200,000, the customer is no longer required to provide supporting documentation to commercial banks. This represents an increase from the previous threshold of USD 50,000.
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3 hours ago, onthemoon said:
As a PR, I now remit to my own overseas accounts as "Savings". I would think this won't change once I have Thai citizenship, but I'm happy to talk to my bank about this. Will revert back.
Unless things have changed, Thais cannot just remit savings from their salaries overseas. They need to send for specific documented investments, supporting kids or other relatives overseas. But anyone can send an a small undocumented remittance overseas. The limit for that used to be US$2,000.
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Come to think of it, it may be possible to the overseas remittance with foreign passport and salary evidence without WP. Need to ask the bank if you want to try this.
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2 hours ago, Capiscum said:
Remitting Funds Abroad
Some previous posts from around 2018 (Arkady, Neeranam, OntheMoon) discussed remittance of funds abroad after becoming Thai. I would still want to send funds overseas for investments (not to my home country). Are people with new Thai identities still managing to send funds without any issues ?
How about the reverse scenario, of bringing funds into Thailand once the working life is finished ?
Many thanks again.
I did this when I needed to remit funds in an emergency soon after obtaining ID and had the salary evidence in the form of the year end tax form from the employer and WP which I think had still not expired, as I didn't bother to cancel it, but expired WP showing you had one covering the period of the salaries is I think enough. Also I don't think there is any check to stop you using the same salary evidence more than once. The bank assured me that there was just a box ticking exercise at the central bank and would only attract attention for a very large amount. Obviously this method can only be used for recent new citz. Thais can remit for certain investments and for paying overseas school fees and maintenance for kids abroad but need documentation. Anyone can remit against invoices for import of legal goods for reasonable amounts. For investments in shares you can open an international account with a Thai broker and use onshore funds to buy foreign shares in quite a few overseas markets.
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I guess that retired PRs have less rights than work permit holders without PR in this. PR gives the invaluable right to a permanent right to stay with minimal annual hassles but it is odd that it gives you little or no rights over and above that, despite being so expensive and such a hassle to get. In most countries PR gives you rights equivalent to a citizen, except that you can't vote.
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I have an appointment in the Mor Prom system which is supposedly for AZ on 14 June. I decided to go for the second week to see if any side effects emerge from the local AZ but that was probably unduly cautious of me. Some friends booked for the first day which is Monday.
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17 hours ago, connda said:
Sounds like a press release from the Office of The PM.
No. Press releases from the Office of the PM would make accusations of fake news and threaten lengthy jail sentences under the Computer Crimes Act. 555
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Thai tones really do exist but it is important to understand that they can be modified by several things including where the word falls in a sentence and whether the speaker specifically wants to stress that word or not. The result of stress on one word can mean that the tone of word next to it is completely elided and undetectable.
Tones are also quite different in Thai dialects compared to central Thai. Often the vocabulary is the same but an Isaan speaker, for example, will use different tones for the same words, e.g. Kin khao (eat rice) in central Thai AFAIK is kin (middle) khao (falling) which puts the stress on the khao. In Isaan it is kin (falling) khao (low) with the stress also on the falling syllable which in this case is kin. Someone who is a native speaker of one of the dialects may speak central Thai with an accent that makes them mispronounce the tones in central Thai.
You can often get away with trying to ignore the tones and speaking Thai tonelessly which may be the only choice for those who are "tone deaf". I have heared a lot of farangs speaking Thai that way and they are usually understood in the same way as foreigners speaking English with thick foreign accents can usually be understood. Whatever works is good.
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21 hours ago, jaiyenyen said:
I explained that I'd been using the salary method for the past 4 years. The officer suggested I get my employer to get me a work visa.
I told her that I wanted to keep my original visa and also explained that I needed my marriage extension as part of the requirement for my Thai citizen application.
Her only answer was "Why do you want a Thai passport?"
A very inappropriate response from the officer. Since the law allows you to apply for Thai citizenship, it is not her business to ask why you wish to apply.
The important thing in applying for Thai citizenship is that you should have continuous visas and work permits without any gaps for the three year qualifying period. It doesn't matter if you use extensions based on marriage or NON-B visas or change seamlessly from one to the other.
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3 hours ago, jakestevernson said:Hi guys,
In regards to Thai Citizenship, do you need a property in Thailand in your name, or can you simply be on a Tabien Baan (yellow book) of your spouse's house/condo?
Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks JS
Getting a yellow tabien baan (or blue one if PR) is a fairly simple procedure, if the householder signs the form to confirm you are allowed to live there, even if you live somewhere else. A large proportion of Thais don't live at the address of their tabien baan which makes it a rather pointless legacy system, dating back to the 1950s, when censuses and civil registration began, almost unchanged. But this saves them the trouble of re-registering when they move to a new home. Time was that they had to go to the place they were registered to get a new ID card or to vote but that is no longer necessary, giving even less incentive to be registered at the place they actually live.
Given the above it is not going to be a problem if you get on a tabien baan of friends or family. As David suggested above many people, who live in the provinces, do this to get an address in Bangkok so they can apply to Special Branch in Bangkok, being the only dedicated citizenship application office in the country. In most provinces applying to the provincial SB office, as required by law, is simply a non-starter. They either just refuse to do it, saying they are not the right place, or try to help you but screw it up because they don't have a clue and don't want to go to a lot of trouble and lose face by asking Bangkok for coaching. Some provinces with more foreigners like Chonburi, Phuket and Chiang Mai will accept applications which can work but there are sometimes problems reported by people who have applied in other provinces, e.g. demands for fees and additional and unnecessary procedures not required in the ministry guidelines. Many people have given up after several frustating months trying in provinces with few foreigners and got a tabien in Bangkok. It is a weakness in the law that doesn't take into account the impracticality of forcing SB provincial offices to handle the applications when they might have never had to do this before. It would make much more sense to accept reality and make SB Bangkok the centre for all applicants which is what happens with PR that you have to apply for in Bangkok. They have plenty of spare capacity. But nobody cares about fixing this.
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4 hours ago, connda said:Mr. Anutin knows he has painted himself into a corner with his promises and assertions that vaccines are plentiful.
When he makes statements about "contracts" with AstraZeneca and that AZ will need to step up and fulfill "contractual" orders if Siam Bioscience fails to produce, what he is doing is setting the stage to save his own bacon.
When this house of cards folds on June 7th he'll be jumping up and down in feigned consternation loudly blaming AstraZeneca for the failure to fulfill their "contracts." <pulls ass out of frying pan>
Yeah, I may be wrong. I may see pigs flying overhead in the twilight migrating to the North tonight at sunset.Unfortunately AZ cannot supply from anywhere else after India stopped exports. They have already reneged on second doses ordered by Canada which has to switch to Pfizer or Moderna for second shots. For the quantities they need for first shots in Thailand June to September (about 46 million) it is unlikely they get them even from Sinovac, if local production turns out to be a complete lemon. Most likely they will just have to delay the main thrust of the roll out until either Siobiosciences can get up to speed or they can get enough Sinovac, Sinopharm, Sputnik & etc instead. This could get messy.
I expect that AZ has only signed agreements committing to best efforts to supply on time which would have been the sensible thing to do in the circumstance and the buyer nations would have had no choice. Oxford insisted that AZ had to distribute the vaccine on a no profit basis for the first year. AZ has no vaccine production and of its own and took on the supervision of production by licensees, some of whom had little or no experience, as in Australia. It would make no sense for a public company to take on huge financial risk on a no profit humanitarian project to produce and distribute a vaccine under emergency approval. Therefore I am sure that in addition to taking on no liabilities for side effects, they will not take on responsibility for licensees failing to deliver.
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"Mr Anutin said AstraZeneca is obliged to source the vaccine from other manufacturers to fulfill the order of the Thai government, should the local plant fail to make the expected delivery."
Yes, but AZ is not going to be able supply AZ vaccine from elsewhere on time, if Siam Biosciences fails to fulfill its commitments. So the only recourse would be to sue which they probably can't do, as they wouldn't want AZ passing the blame to Siambiosciences or even suing them in return to recover damages. Anutin should ask his counterpart in Canada what happened there. They have already done millions of first AZ shots but can't get any more for the second shots because AZ can no longer export from India and has never been able to export from Europe. The plant in the US seems to have screwed up and apart from that they have only small plants in Australia and Japan for domestic consumption, as far as I know. Canada is now planning to give Pfizer or Moderna as a second shot instead of AZ as it can't wait for AZ to deliver.
Anutin emphasises that they can substitute Sinovac for AZ, even though it is not adequately tested in over 60s, and they ordered another 3 million of that. It seems that they are preparing to give the public the bad news about late deliveries or non-deliveries of AZ and emphasing that it is the responsibility of AZ to deliver lrather than SB.
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14 minutes ago, hotchilli said:
Lost or sold?
There were cases in the past where the local defence volunteers were given a choice: either leave the weapons unguarded and unlocked or we'll kill you and your family members to get them. But those were shotguns that were good for shooting policemen off their motor bikes. These will be good for ambushing army trucks and assaulting police stations. Can get more ammo from over the border in Cambodia too.
They got about 400 M16s from a big raid on an army camp about 10 years ago when most of the troops had been allowed on leave for Songkran. A few were recovered but they still have most of them.
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1 hour ago, PETERTHEEATER said:
Compared to what?
From where does the Thai Government source ammunition for these weapons?
They are high powered compared to a pistol. Less powerful than an M16 or AR15 but uses a heavier bullet that compensates. I would not want to use one of these as a sniper rifle to pick off targets at 800 meters but for what they are designed for, close combat up to about 150 metres, they are deadly.
The government can easily source cheap 7.62×39mm AK ammo from Eastern Europe, China, N. Korea, S. Korea. There is lots of it around.
They used to arm these volunteers only with pump action shotguns for close quarters self defense, which are less likely to cause collateral damage or to be used effectively against them, if stolen. Now they have provided insurgents with perfect weapons for ambushing police and military from the side of the road.
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Very sad. I remember the looting was only stopped at the insistence of some hi-sos whose relatives had perished in the crash. In addition to the Chiang Mai governor, I think a couple of the Queen's ladies in waiting were amongst the victims. But the police stopped it far too late. I remember one rescue worker was caught coming down the hill in an expensive looking sweater which turned out to be covering up valuables strapped to his body. I remember there was another crash of a flight to Samui around the same time where locals were allowed to rummage through the luggage and no hi-sos intervened.
"This led to much national soul-searching at the time centered around the moral ethics of Thai people."
Some may argue that this soul searching passed in a few seconds without changing anything.
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Prayut was reported yesterday saying that appointments might have to be rescheduled but today Anutin says AZ has assured it will deliver on time, although he doesn't say where from or mention the local licensee by name. However, that is the only option for AZ, as it has shortfalls everywhere. Canada has a large number of people that have received one shot of AZ but cannot get the second because AZ can no longer be exported from India and Europe has none to spare either. So Canada will have to give them another vaccine as the second shot. Let's hope the local AZ supply will come on time.
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So they will have a lot of double bookings with the Mor Prom app but they want to do their own thing anyway. Also some private hospitals that are taking bookings for Moderna at B3,000 for two shots.
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17 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:
Which businesses absorbed these displaced workers is the bigger question.
The increased numbers cited as absorbed by the agricultural sector is just a plug as they have no way of knowing the numbers. Most are casual day laborers not in the social security system. Thai agriculture is hugely inefficient with lots of underemployment and seasonal unemployment.
Third wave of Covid-19 devastates Thai hotel industry - May/June only 6% occupancy
in Thailand News
Posted
There is a price for everything.