khunjeff

Every year they announce these "gifts" from the benevolent leaders that are actually paid for by the taxpayer. I have no opinion on whether these measures are wise or not, but please stop calling them "gifts"....

As others have noted, it varies a lot based on how many other flights have landed at the same time. After people complained online a few months ago about long immigration queues, though, they do seem to be trying to keep the waits down to below 20 minutes by opening more counters when the crowd starts to grow. I arrived last night at about 630pm, and was very lucky - a two minute wait at immigration, and bag on the belt less than ten minutes later (the previous month I waited about 16 minutes). If you want live information on queues at Suvarnabhumi, it's available on the "Sawasdee by AOT" app. The app is large and intrusive, but I've found the estimates of wait times to be pretty accurate. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.AOT

I believe you're thinking of Nichada Thani in Nonthaburi. Yes, it's rather like an American suburb, but the children mostly go to the very expensive ISB - proximity to the school is the main reason that people live out there - rather than any public school. One problem with the OP's dream of "a place sizable enough to have a local public high school with a nationally ranked debate team" (other than the fact that I don't think debate teams really exist in Thailand) is that the very concept doesn't really apply here. Since schools aren't locally funded, and the lack of zoning means that rich and poor usually live very close to each other, you're not likely to find one local school that's substantially better than others nearby. (Of course, any such school would teach in Thai in any case.) Just my opinion.

Of course, it also says "multiple entry" on the rubber stamp visa issued at the One Stop Center, and yet Immigration somehow still finds it necessary to fill up two pages of the passport with additional stamps...!

The headline implies that it's closing forever, and then we quickly learn that it's just shutting down temporarily for renovations...

Yet another reminder that the parties don't actually stand for much of anything.

There have been a handful of similar reports over the last couple of years, but it's clearly far from universal - a friend and I both did the Non-O retirement conversion at CW during the same time period, and neither of us received a visit.

I have no idea what this word salad is supposed to mean, but the jingoism of asserting a connection between TM-30 violations and "crime" is impressive.

"the Bhumjaithai Party, which is the main supporter of the bill, insisted that cannabis would not be re-listed as a narcrotic drug" "vendors’ and buyers’ information will be sent to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)." So, it is not and will not be listed as a narcotic, but information on all buyers will be sent to the Narcotics Control Board? Makes perfect sense ????

That announcement certainly required a fresh flower arrangement on the podium.

I sent them my 401 k details before 3 week . so I called them thinking give it a last try to see if i can get any alternative choice with my 401 k . and the officer was so nice she immediately look into the past emails and told that she will check it and work on approving my application This is interesting, because a friend of mine received a request for insurance info last week, despite having already uploaded it with his initial application. He submitted a letter explaining further that his group health insurance as a retired US Government employee has unlimited coverage and is valid for life - something that BoI could easily verify with a simple internet search - along with brokerage statements showing over $800k in liquid investments. Almost immediately, they sent back the exact same request, but with the additional sentence "Please note investment account could not considered instead of health insurance document."

Congratulations! Others in this thread have reported getting an LTR e-visa, so it should be possible if the Thai embassy in your country is part of the e-visa program.

Back to normal for the company owner, while the lives of the poor cleaners are upended and ruined.

"Urging", "highlighting", and "expressing concern" are so much easier than actually enforcing traffic laws.

It's hard to understand what they're talking about without some kind of diagram. The original master plan (he talks as though one doesn't exist, which isn't true) calls for an additional terminal and satellite to the south of the current facility, and the folks who don't like that plan want to build a new domestic terminal to the north. Going east and west from the terminal you quickly get to the runways, so it's not clear where they would put new buildings.

It isn't wrong - that has been the official policy for over two years now (see the announcement below). The problem seems to be that Chiang Mai is ignoring the policy and making up its own rules.

TAT just can't give up its obsessive focus on organized packages and group tours - they don't seem to realize that the world has moved beyond that.

Odds of completion by 2029: zero

Immigration has no idea how many people visited Phuket, and shouldn't be speaking on the matter. All they know is how many passengers landed on the island on international flights or via marine vessels from abroad, which is a completely different statistic.

I have no strong opinion about the tax itself, but am confused about the fact that the Cabinet has revoked a law, and the Council of State will draft a new one. Do the elected representatives in the Parliament have no role in deciding what the law will be?

They make these forecasts so vague and non-specific as to be nearly useless. A very general outlook on weather trends is useful for an almanac, but for daily use people are looking for a forecast specific to their locality.

Translation: "There are currently no powerful families enriching themselves from the recreational marijuana business. We reserve the right to revise our medical opinion once any such families have been identified."

When I came through last week the queue was indeed 15 minutes, but fewer than half of the immigration booths were staffed, so the line was gradually getting longer as more planes landed. Bags were available within about ten minutes of completing immigration formalities. I see they've now changed the claim about passport processing time from "45 seconds" a few weeks ago to "1 minute" today. And since they previously said that there are 119 total immigration counters, it's mathematically impossible "to process 3,000 passengers in just 20 minutes" - at one minute per pax, the limit for 20 minutes would be 2380 passengers, in a best case scenario.

From what I've read elsewhere, no, they can't. The MRTA expropriated that land to build the subway, and apparently under law it can only be used for purposes related to transit, not as a driveway for a condo project. That seems to be the main (or only) issue here, as the driveway otherwise meets the minimum width requirements (incorrectly mentioned as "length" in the article). Why this didn't come up years earlier, I don't know.

The key words are "could" and "considering".