Arkady

On 5/31/2019 at 10:33 PM, KevT said:

If you have two jobs, say with the combined salary of 81K/mo, would you meet the 80K/mo requirement for PR? Or would the two jobs instead come under the 100K/year taxed requirement (meaning you would instead need a monthly salary of around 85-90K to meet 100K/year, after deductions, etc.)?

I think this is probably a question that is difficult to answer here, unless someone has applied in exactly same circumstances. It is logical that it should be OK but, as we all know, logic and Thai officialdoom are not always hand maidens.  You may have to put your question directly to the PR section officials at CW.

Seems like something of a victimless crime to me compared to all the assaults and robberies that go on in his area.

19 hours ago, nikmar said:

What's Khun Suthep doing in your back garden ????

 

Seriously though, it's a water monitor. Dtua ngeun dtua yai. Or "hia", which also doubles up as a Thai expletive.

The polite colloquial name for it is actually Tua ngneun dtua thong (silver and gold creature) or Water Monitor Lizard in English.

19 minutes ago, Basil B said:

 

If it were the UK, I would expect the Home Secretary to be their in a flash after declaring himself runner number 9 in the race for the top job. 

Sadly there are a lot of question marks about the quality of NHS care given to dementia patients in the UK. One family was suspicious and installed a hidden camera in their relative's room, only to see him being tortured by the staff.  Torture and other abuse is common and the patients who have no one to visit them or care about them are the most vulnerable but none are safe.  It is good that she doesn't have to go to the UK.  I think care in Thailand and the Philippines would be more compassionate.

Very sad but at least they will save costs on the care home, if it is really a third of the cost in the Philippines. That should give them an extra 57,000 baht a month for travel costs to visit her in addition to saving the travel costs from their home in the South of Thailand to Chiang Mai. Thailand loses 85,000 care home costs a month.

30 minutes ago, puipuitom said:

And what, if REMAIN wins ? Looking to the polls, around a 40% support Brexit .

The real fun starts, when the Brits have to line up for a Schengen visa...and see how prosperous their former factories are at Continental EU...

For ME... we had better listened to Charles de Gaulle. Only one solution: 

 

I think we can assume that British passport holders would not need Schengen visas for short term visits to Schengen countries.  They are not required for other Western nations such as the US but they are required to be able show documents to prove the reason for their trip and sufficient funding. The real problem would be for Brits residing in Schengen countries, who would need to apply for residency and might lose reciprocal healthcare benefits. These rights will have to be negotiated on a reciprocal basis and since much of the rationale for Brexit was really about immigration, including from the perspective of Theresa May who voted to remain, British politicians are more likely to want to take a harder line than many EU member states would like, which would have the effect of throwing Brits living in Europe under the bus.

Lucky this didn't end up as a road rage shooting incident. I would see no point in trying to engage in any type of dialogue with people who are obviously not rationale and looking for confrontation.  Maybe wrong but I would not have stopped and wound down the window to talk to the other driver when he pulled alongside in the first instance, thus blocking two lanes of traffic and potentially causing a multiple vehicle pile up. Once the yellow shirted driver had got out of his car, there was an opportunity to reverse out and drive on, which I would have taken without saying anything or showing any expression at all.

In defensive driving courses, as taught to diplomats etc, they teach you among other things to suppress all anger towards idiots on the road and, avoid escalating bad situations and always get away whenever possible.

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

Quote:  "It’s funny how the PR sections at CW have plenty of staff sitting there twiddling their thumbs"

 

Agree with that point, I went there last year to replace my soon to be full white PR book, and then get a new exit/re-entry permit (stamp).

 

The two PR ladies sat there doing nothing for perhaps 30 minutes whilst I sat in a wheelchair outside until they eventually decided to call 'next', then when I went into their cubicle one said 'you should be more careful about what time you come here, it's nearly lunchtime'. They weren't rude but they weren't friendly or accommodation.

 

Then one of the two ladies said '4 days, 4 days', instantly repeated by the lady at the second desk.

 

So I went back, in wheelchair, after 4 days to collect my new white PR book. The reality is that to prepare the new white replacement book needs handwriting, in total, less than about  20% of an A4 page and it's just copied from the old book. And this doesn't include pasting the new photo into the new PR white book, that's done when the PR holder goes to pick up the new white book.

 

When completed (on the second visit), the PR lady called the lady from the desk that takes care of new exit/re-entry permit (stamp) ( 5 or 6 steps way).

 

She came quickly, very friendly and pleasant, pushed my wheelchair for me to her desk, all done and gone in 20 minutes, then she pushed my chair back to the lift area and asked another officer who happened to be waiting for the lift to help me to get to a taxi on the lower floor.

 

This officer asked me where I wanted to go as she pushed me out to the taxi area, she spoke to the driver and she and the driver helped with getting me into the taxi, then she said sincerely in Thai 'are you OK now, do you have your mobile phone ready if you need it?' 

 

Can be chalk and cheese.

 

Things worked better before they introduced the electronic queue number system when you could just breeze into the PR section and sit down in front of one of the unoccupied officers. The queue numbers encouraged them to keep people cooling their heels for a bit, while they shuffle through papers, chat amongst themselves or play with their phones.  I found them generally pretty nice and friendly during 18 years I had dealings with them.  However, I was also once told off for coming too close to the lunch break, even though she had plenty of time to get everything done before midday. Many Thai office workers, especially bureaucrats, regard it as impolite to ask for service in the last half hour or so before lunchtime or going home time but I have no patience with this attitude.  I was once asked to pay a bribe by the Immigration doctor at the old Soi Suan Plu office (I can't remember the exact amount - B200 or 500) because I wanted a yellow fever vaccination too close to the lunch hour and was told I would have to come back at 2 p.m., if I refused to pay.

A new white book has always taken a few days for some reason. Of course a senior officer has to sign and he may too important to come to the office every day. 

When I moved to a different district within Bangkok as a PR in the early 2000s, I did the tabien baan first which was not overly complicated with an official somewhat grudgingly helping me fill out the form.  Next I went to the police station and was told I needed to go back to my original cop shop and get them to forward the file.  They did so but sent the file to the new cop shop, rather than entrusting it to me.  I was told that for unexplained reasons it would take around three weeks for the file to arrive at another district in Bangkok.  I didn't believe this was possible and checked with my new cop shop after two weeks but sure enough the file arrived only three weeks later, presumably in the police's internal snail mail system.  I was actually about 3 or 4 months late in getting around to this process but I think I was fined only 100 or 200 baht, certainly not as much as 2,000. Around the same time I was also fined for updating the address on my firearms licences late - 100 baht for each.

Something similar happened with my red book when I had to change my nationality from "Angrit" to "Britiss", in order to apply for citizenship.  It was done on the spot at the khet for my tabien baan, at the Labour Ministry for my WP and at CW for my residence book but police made the same meal out of updating my red book.  It had to be sent from CW to the local cop shop which again took three weeks.    

The article doesn't comment on why the caretaker government is still passing laws that are not of an emergency nature after the elections, rather than leave it to the next government.

34 minutes ago, Tony125 said:

Don't see a problem for those that have real estate, stocks, money, pension or rental incomes in a foreign country as they don't have to deposit 800,000 baht and keep it in a Thai bank just transfer over 65,000 baht to your Thai Bank every month. US, Britain and Australia embassies don't give out Income Letters any more but all other embassies do and Immigration will accept bank statements of monthly deposits (of 65,000) from the countries that don't give out letters anymore.

I see an issue for those who also have investments in Thailand that generate enough income for them to live on and don't want to remit another B65,000 per month to Thailand. But for them the 800,000 lump sum might be a better option.

6 hours ago, CMNightRider said:

I would like to know the real story behind some of the embassies not issuing income letters anymore.  There are a lot of retirees in Thailand that are in the same situation as "icedoctor."  It is too bad these few embassy officials decided to abandon their citizens.  

 

These retirees have good monthly incomes but their funds are in real estate, stock market, or they have no interest in participating in immigrations Thai banking scheme.  I wish you well icedoctor, and the many others who are being forced out of Thailand.

 

As to the few smug posters who are amused by their fellow westerners being forced to leave Thailand, please leave you lame comments to yourself. ????    

 

 

It seems that Immigration put pressure on the embassies to verify the income, rather than just rely on pension letters that could be forged. Obviously some embassies, particularly the Brits who have been downsizing the list of legalisation services offered to citizens for years and are now moving into an office block, were happy for an excuse to drop this service. There is no way for embassies to properly verify the information, as required by Immigration, without taking on major resources and increasing the fees substantially but his is not what embassies are supposed to do anyway. Other embassies presumably have either taken the view that Immigration's demands were unreasonable and it is in the interests of their citizens to coninue issuing the letters or have yet to take a decision to stop issuing them. I heard the Brits justified their action by saying they are not in a position to take legal responsibility for the correctness of the information in the pension letters.  This doesn't sound like a sound legal argument because the letters are merely based on declarations by their citizens and they couldn't be held legally liable for any incorrect information declared, even if Immigration actually had the temerity to try to sue a foreign government over such a frivolous issue.  

These airsoft pistols can look quite realistic, particularly if the robber had the sense to remove the "MADE IN CHINA" sticker.

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Nice to hear it's easy, I might put the house in my name in a year, if I get citizenship.

I have transferred two pieces of land within family in two different provinces since becoming a citizen.  One was from my mother-in-law to myself and the missus jointly.  The other from my wife to the two of us jointly, i.e. she transferred half to me.  In both cases I found out that the discounted transfer rates for family members didn't apply to me.  The reason was a particular piece of Thai logic but it was consistent between the two cases.  Looking at my documents, including naturalisation certificate it was determined that I was not a Thai citizen at the time of the original purchase by the family member.  Therefore full fees and tax should apply.  If I had been Thai on the date of the original purchase into the family, I would have qualified for the idiscounted rates.  The first time this happened I thought it can't be right but didn't bother to argue because it was a fairly low value transaction.  The second time it was much higher value and I did argue and got the explanation as above.  In the first case where the land was transferred to me and the missus jointly by the MiL the higher rate was only charged on my half.

So be warned that, if you are a naturalised Thai, the discounts will not apply unless you were Thai at the time of the original purchase by the family member. I guess that is a carefully thought out way of spiting foreigners who bought in family member nominee names before becoming Thai but at least we can own our own land.  This practice could go either way, if someone ever took to the Administrative Court, as I doubt it is specified in the Revenue Code and it seems to be not treating all Thais as equal.  The logic that we weren't Thai at the time of original purchase seems rather tortured.

On 4/28/2019 at 1:42 PM, skippybangkok said:

Doubt it

Usually apply December one year, and get November next


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

The current government seems for the most part to have  got the application timeline back down to what it was when I applied in the 90s, i.e. complete it within 12 months.  When I applied the first batch was announced in June following the December application and there were a couple more batches until the last one in November or December.  In the 2000s they managed to stretch it out to 5-8 years which situation still prevailed at the time of the 2014 coup.  Under the next government it is anyone's guess.  If Prayut stays in power and is able to appoint a crony as interior minister, things will remain as they are now.  If a politician gets the portfolio it will probably revert to what is was in the 2000s.

It is surprising that anyone travels without enough cash to cover emergencies and with two or three credit/debit cards in case one goes caput, as they often do, or get lost. But the farang embassies see cases like this all the time.

On 4/18/2019 at 11:29 PM, uhuh said:

It used to be like this,  but for a couple of years now my post office/ customs will charge me about 500 baht if price over 50 USD.

This means i must go to the post office to pick up my package,  no delivery to my condo anymore.

 

So now i keep my orders very small,  under 45 USD.

The exemption from tax for small packages coming by post is up to 1,500 baht.  Since we don't know what exchange rate they use, it is advisable to err on the side of caution.

I was told by a friend of my brother-in-law who used to work at a post office in Bangkok that they x-ray every package that comes via registered mail to check for illicit products but rarely steal registered packages for obvious reasons.  Small unregistered packages, he said, were never x-rayed unless they looked suspicious but were more often stolen by post office staff as  an accepted perquisite of the job, since they are untraceable. Technically supplements and vitamins or anything that looks like medicine can be blocked by the FDA which has officials working with the postal customs, as overseas products are usually not licensed by them, or if they are, should be coming through the official importer. It seems better to use low cost unregistered mail, since these are low value items anyway. I have only lost about 3 packages sent by unregistered mail over the years for all types of products, not just iHerb (probably about a 1% loss rate which may may be around the intended theft rate to keep it low enough to avoid investigations).  But I think the shipping options offered by iHerb to Thailand are both unregistered.  DHL handles the shipment on the US side and delivers to Thailand Post for local delivery for both methods offered.  The more expensive offers limited local tracking and the very cheap one doesn't. Both should avoid Thai tax under 1,500 baht.  I use the cheap one which may be less secure but has always arrived quite fast without losses in my experience to date.

41 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Its also useful every 6 years to renew your drivers license, proof of address. Saves a trip to immigration.

 

I agree, it's pretty useless, as is the non-Thai ID card. 

 I never had a yellow book or a pink ID card but it seems nice that the government allows foreigners to apply for these, if they want them but with no effective obligation to do so, even though they are in fact required by the the 2008 amendments to the Civil Registration Act which is not properly enforced.  I think you are all right.  The yellow book is only useful in applying for citizenship or renewing a drivers licence. With a certified translation it might also do as proof of address for legal matters abroad.  I did this once with my blue book. 

The pink card seems only useful as ID in those banks that accept it but for account opening, they will reasonably require passport, WP and the whole shooting match.  It can also be used as ID for domestic air travel, if you don't have a Thai drivers licence. Some people have said they can use the pink card for admission to things at the Thai price.  If so, that is an added bonus because you are clearly not Thai, if you have a pink card. I think it looks rather degrading with the prohibition against leaving your district on the back but I guess it has its uses. 

Now that the elections have passed, albeit inconclusively, and the NLA has stopped its last minute rush to approve the government's hasty legislative agenda, it seems that the E-Commerce bill got stuck in the Council of State and was never made it to the NLA, despite efforts by the Finance Ministry to chivvy up the Council of State's review.  Let's hope the next government will let the bill die or at least delete the clause calling for repeal of the exemption of VAT on small packages valued at less than 1,500 baht that come by mail (not through couriers).  Thailand Post and the Customs Dept don't have the resources to open, inspect and tax every single small package and the law would have led to chaos.  Thailand Post offices storage space is already chokka full with the packages that have to be taxed and await collection by the consignee under the present law.  The bill probably would have required storage and collection by consignees of every package which would also have strained the limited parking available at post offices.   

In addition the concept of trying to make overseas sellers register for Thai VAT and pay non-refundable tax, which would be refundable if they were based in Thailand, to the tax government seems totally impractical and unacceptable to the foreign sellers and their host governments.  It would be far better policy to do what China does and encourage online exports by Thai vendors by giving them subsidized postal rates.  If Thailand could develop a competitive e-commerce export business, it would not want to encourage protectionism from other countries that might retaliate with protectionist measures against Thai vendors.  I would not be surprised, if it was considerations such as these that caused the Council of State to take its time reviewing this bill, although that might be too generous when one looks at the legislation that did make it past them.

Fortunately the Thai E-Commerce bill that was going to repeal the VAT exemption for packages coming by mail valued at under 1,500 baht got stuck in the Council in State and the Prayut appointed legislature was unable to nod it through, as planned. Let's hope the next government will let it die. Thailand Post and the Customs Dept don't have the resources to open every single package anyway, as is required when tax is charged, so it would have probably led to chaos. I couldn't see iHerb agreeing to register for Thai VAT and paying nonrecoverable tax to the Thai government either.  They probably would have just stopped shipping to Thailand.

I have discovered that on some or maybe all products iHerb offers cheaper pricing for US delivery than for Thailand delivery and probably to other overseas destinations.  I went into the website by chance using a browser that I had not used for iHerb before, so it had none of their cookies in it. I located the product I was interested in ordering, put it in the cart and it showed the price for US delivery with free shipping.  When I changed the delivery destination to Thailand, suddenly the base price shot up 11% and shipping was added on top of that (as expected).  I emailed their customer services about it and got back four emails denying there was differential pricing for different countries. Finally after I sent them screen shots with the evidence I got an email containing the following admission, "We have a different promotion for a different country so some products are marked different price." 

I had been wondering how they could charge only $3.43 to ship two bottles of supplements to Thailand. Now I know.  They mark up the base price, so that they don't make a loss on the shipping.  Once you have gone into the website and requested a price for shipping to Thailand, they will put cookies in your browser, so you cannot see the US prices again without using a clean browser.  

If the prices are still OK, I will still buy from them but will be more careful in comparing local prices and prices from other US sellers in future. I can accept that they shouldn't make a loss on the shipping but I resent the deception and differential pricing (we see enough of that here already).  I would prefer if they charged us the real product price and the actual price of shipping and asked customer services to pass on my comments to that effect to management, although expect that they won't.  

5 hours ago, Bangel72 said:

As people are mentioning the 3 year work permit requirement, thought I'd share what I witnessed.

Application went in okay and was approved 6 years later, on picking of the work permit the guy did not have a current work permit.

Now they gave option of cancel application, i.e leave country immediately as application visa also cancelled or pay a fee and get fast tracked through process with a bit of help.

Sounds like they were just trying it on as I believe the qualification is based on prior to the application date and not on period after application or on permit granting date.

I am not entirely clear what you mean by "on picking of the work permit the guy did not have a current work permit".  But, if you mean that on going to collect his PR documents it was found that he didn't have a WP, yes, that would have been trying it on.  Applying for PR is different from applying for citizenship in that it is your status at the time of application for PR that counts, although it is advisable to be still working when you are interviewed at Immigration.  After that you are free to retire, if you like and it won't affect your application. Many people have told them openly they have retired when they went to pick up the documents without problem, as documented in this thread, and it was not surprising during the period that PR took 5-8 years to approve.  In contrast, when you apply for citizenship you are expected to maintain your working status throughout your application and can be rejected, if it is found out that you no longer have a WP.

4 hours ago, Neeranam said:

I think a bigger problem would be if the visa was not continuous.

Perhaps if you could prove that you were working, it would be ok.

 

I  should add that my experience in applying for citizenship with a three day gap between WPs, mentioned above, was base on applying for citizenship as a PR.  So I didn't have an issue with my visa being cancelled because I didn't have a WP any more, which could happen to those working on a NON-B visa, I believe.