Brewster67

My UK passport expires in March 2023. But because of Covid I have been on 60 day visa exempt renewalls for 2 years now and that is not long enough to be able to send my passport off for renewal because they just give you an 8 week stamp every time. I am trying to do this online, does anyone know of a quicker way to get a UK passport renewed?... For example, can this be done within Thailand?? Thanks in advance.

Absolute TOSH, this grain warfare stuff is a laod of balony invented by the west to push even more propaganda onto the braindead sheep. First off this is NOT harvest season, that does not happen until October, this is PLANTING season. The Russians actually REMOVED all those Ukraine mines and opened up a safe corridor, and last week opened up a second corridor... The facts are there are NO Ukraine ships loaded with grain.... there never were. Anyway, by harvest time, ALL of Ukraine's best agricultural land will be in Russia.... So nothing to see here.

Oh and it aint just the USA, the UK comes a close second, see Myanmar and Hong Kong... Uk and US all over that.

This guy gets it 100%. The US spouts off about freedom and democracy while all over the world they destroy it, sometimes violently through violent street protests, if there is a violent protest anywhere in the world, you can basically bet your house the US has its fingerprints all over it. Thailand has not escaped this either. I suggest people look at Thucydide's Trap... When a current power is threatened by being usurped by an emerging power, it invariably results in war, it has happened 12 times out of 16 through history, that is a 75% record so far, and when you apply it to a murderous, highly armed and militarised regime like the USA you can assure yourself it is going to be 13 out of 17. Brian Berletic is a Bangkok based geopolitical anylist and explains everything perfectly.

Korat imm office... There has only been a non O available at this office pretty recently, before that you had to use an agent that charged 25K for the process, a figure I balked at and refused to pay. Obviously the agent and the office were on the make, the sort of thing that happens when the immigration authorities hand their offices 'discretionary' powers. they monetize it to the max. TIT

It is a long story. I was on non imm O visa based on marriage with 12 month extensions for 8 years continuous. I had to dip into my 400K in the bank because I didn't want to bring money over from the UK as the rate was at an all time low. This was Feb 2020. So I decided to just do a run to the border and get a visa exempt stamp hoping the rate would recover, then I could do a run to Canbodia, get another non imm O and start back on the 12 month extension carousel. Literally 2 days after I got the stamp covid dropped a drama bomb in my lap and I have been on 60 day extensions ever since the visa amnesty ended. I was intending to get the non imm O visa next week now that we don't currently have to leave the country and can get it from my local imm office, but I was unaware you needed to do this with at least 21 days left on your current stay, I have only 12 days. So I will have to get another 60 day covid extension before the May 24 deadline, then I can go back in 1 month and apply for the non imm O based on marriage and kids and then i can get back on the 12 month extension carousel. I have to say it was well worth waiting for the exchange rate to recover, I netted a cool extra 350K, takes some of the sting out of all the hassle. ????

I have linked to a Thaiger article below that states expats have been having trouble getting their covid 60 day extensions. Apparently to deter people from being in Thailand for 'the wrong purpose'. With the new application deadline pushed back to May 24, I was hoping to extend my visa exempt stamp a final time before applying for a non imm O visa in early-mid June. Anyone experiencing problems or have heard of anyone experiencing any problems? I don't think I would qualify for being here for 'the wrong purpose'. I am married to a Thai and have 2 Thai kids. But you never know if you come up against a beligerent imm officer. This extension is now at the discretion of that officer who could basically send you packing out of the country in 7 days. https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/visa/deadline-to-apply-for-covid-visa-extension-now-may-24-immigration-gets-stricter

I am a believer in the four turning cycles of societies and political structures. This phenomenon repeats itself all over the world throughout history. For those unfamiliar with the four turnings here is a good analogy: Good times make weak men Weak men make bad times Bad times make strong men Strong men make good times Having only been here for 12 years I find it dificult to see where Thailand sits in this cycle.. Obviouly cycles can be interupted by substantial interventions such as war, political upheaval etc. So I guess my question is where do we sit at this moment, bearing in mind each turning usually happens over a span of a single generation.

OK... Just checked my PP and sorry I was wrong, it was 30 days.

The 60 day stamp you get in your passport at the border, which I believe is visa exempt

Actually it is rather freaky, I had been on the 12 month marriage non-imm O visa for about 9 years, but had to dip into my 400K money in the bank temporarily and just thought i would do a quick land border run to get the 60 day stamp and then when that expired was going to do a visa run outside of LOS and get back on the 12 month extension system.. That was Feb 2020, and literally 2 days later Covid struck and eveything shut down... You know the rest. Basically I didn't even need to go do the border run for the stamp because we were all put onto visa amnesty.

If that is the case, great, my visa lasts till May 25th Can I ask where you saw that though because i can't find any info on that update anywhere. Thaiembassy.com still showing March 25th as their latest update on the covid extension and that site is pretty good at updating info fast. https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel-to-thailand/covid-19-guide-for-travelers-in-thailand

Now that Thai imm has stopped the covid extensions I will have to get a non-imm O visa from cambodia. Around 8 years ago last time I did a visa run to Phnom Penh there was an agent opposite the Mekong on the waterfront. Is he still there? Or can someone recommend a decent agent, I really don't want to sit among the crowds for a day at the immigration. Also, I have not heard of the land borders reopening, been trying to find info on that but will almost certainly be flying anyway. Thanks for any advice.

I live on the other side of town from the airbase and never hear anything other than the occasional plane maybe once a month, but over the last 5 days the rumbling is probably closer to 30 times per day... Also Cobra Gold is over and even during the exercises you barely heard anything.

Having lived here for 12 years, I have to say I have NEVER heard so much activity in the air here in Korat. There is a Royal Thai Airbase here on the other side of the city from me yet I barely ever hear any aircraft. For the past 5 days or so I am hearing constant activity right above our house, in fact we have just had a 30 minute wave of it and I can still hear it as I type. The Cobra Gold exercises were going on here but ended on the 5th and they were seriously scaled down and were based on humanitarian relief and included virtually zero air assets. What with all that is happening at the moment in the world, you have to wonder if certain people know something nobody else knows. Are air assets of war being not so 'quietly' put in place?

Good, now they need to go after and take down the 'real' insurgents, being the leaders of the protest groups that are US backed, funded and trained to take down the China friendly and democratically elected Thai government.

By the very nature that crypto is decentrilized makes it IMPOSSIBLE to regulate. The USA runs the current global banking system and even THEY can't do anything to regulate it, so what chance does Thailand have? ZERO

Yawn.... That is NOT the type of dancing I am talking about. You basically named a list of traditional show dancing for the viewing of others. I am talking about disco dancing in places like bars and nightclubs. How the hell did you miss that in my pretty specific post?

I have been here for 12 years and have been all over tourist places where western music blasts out of bars, but I can't ever recall Thais actually dancing on dance floors or if dance floors even exist. Maybe i just havn't noticed because I don't dance myself any more. Don't get me wrong, I used to be a right mover in my youth and would usually dance for about 70% of the time I was in a nightclub. But now I have two left feet and would never want to embarrass myself by shaking my bits in public. I have been to many Thai music venues and Saturday night bars, even in high student populations, the music plays but I have never noticed Thais dancing... Am I just not taking notice?... Or are Thais just too conservative to do their thing? Oh, I am not talking about stage shows and pole dancing, that is for money and entertainment of the watchers and is organised.

Recently a pack of around 7 wild soi dogs have decided to make the end of my street their territory. Mostly encouraged by a selection of my more retarded Thai neighbours who leave out food scraps from their dinner leftovers for them to eat. These dogs are particularly viscious and have randomly attacked on more than one occasion. Not only humans, but also other tame dogs that managed to get out of the gardens of my neighbours. One of the farangs living in the street used to enjoy keeping himself in shape by riding his bicycle daily, but has not been able to take his bike out for weeks. I myself have to drive my car the 150 metres to the local shop if I need anything. Not to mention the noisy barking that goes off all times of the day and night that also triggers off all the tame dogs in the surrounding area. You can literally hear 20 dogs barking and howling all around your ears and it is driving me nuts. If the authorities don't do something about it soon, I am going to be forced to take matters into my own hands.

Strange how the covid stats were cut in half overnight like a flick of a switch. Much like everything to do with this virus, nothing makes sense at all. Just saying.

Yeah mate, because we all know how super-streamlined Thai processes are and how this place is the great bastion of efficiency. This is sarcasm by the way.... just in case I have to point that out to you.

I am also a Geordie mate and my head is firmly in the real world. My passport is almost full and as you should know, you have to sign a photocopy of EVERY page, and i had to do that twice. trust me, it is about 30 signatures when I take a trip to immigration. Edited to add, I just counted the passsport pages and there are 26 including the bio page.

My recent experience opening a bank account and paying in a UK based government cheque. First my wife's experience opening a UK bank account as a Thai citizen with UK residence status. Walk into bank, ask staff to open account, ushered into a small office immediately. Staff asks to see wife's residency permit, staff taps a few things into computer and printer spits out a document, wife signs document..... 5 minutes total..... Done. My experience in Thailand. Walk into bank, and wait half hour in queue, see staff who tells me I need to go to immigration to get proof or residency. Go to immigration and wait in queue, fill in a reem of forms, all the photocopies of passport pages photos etc... Signed my signature minimum 30 times, asked to return in 3 days. Return to immigration, wait in queue, pick up half inch thick pile of documents now stamped and signed. Go to bank again wait in queue with proof or residency to be told it is wrong and needs correcting. Go back to immigration wait in queue, go through the whole process again as above 30 signatures etc etc.... Told to return 3 days later to pick up documents. Go back to immigration, wait in queue, collect stamped and signed documents. Go to bank, wait in queue, only to be told that a member of staff was tested positive for covid and almost all staff have been quarantined for 2 weeks and boss not there to be able to sign off the account then directed us to a different branch in town. Go to other bank branch, wait in queue, start the account opening process, wife explains to staff member about covid and no boss to sign off account at main branch, to which girl says she lied and couldn't be bothered to do the job and that no boss is needed to sign anything, but anyway, around 45 minutes and at least 15 signatures, oh and staff asks to go for a quick toilet break and comes back 15 minutes later after probably spending 12 of those minutes on Facebook, I eventually have a bank account. Hand over UK government cheque (tax refund). Staff says we have to go back to the main branch to pay it in, by this time there was no longer time in the day to do that. Go home and supping a beer, phone rings and it is the bank to tell us that they have put the wrong name on my passbook and that I probably won't be able to deposit the cheque, so I need to go back to that branch and get a new passbook (my first and second names were reversed and did not match the name on the cheque}..... sigh Go back to branch, wait in queue, new passbook issued after about 7 more signatures. Go to main branch, wait in queue, eventually hand over the cheque and told it will take 2 to 3 months to clear. Done. The wife didn't have a foreign cheque to deposit, but I have had many in the past and it takes the same amount of time as any UK cheque, the only difference is they charge a tenner to negotiate it... So... UK experience..... 1 x 5 minute trip to bank one piece of paper, one signature and all done. Thai experience.... 4 x trips to immigration plus 6 trips to bank, 80ish signatures, over 100 pages of paper and about 3 weeks. One has to wonder if Thailand is really worth all these bureaucratic headaches. Seriously need to sit the wife down and talk through where our future is best.

Because it will still dump the same amount of rain, just over a wider distance and the water will make it to you regardless eventually. It all depends on the size of your catchment area. For example, where i live we have a catchment area of over 100km radius, so rain falling 100KM away will always make its way eventually to our city. So even though the rainfall decreased for that day in this area it is now falling across a much wider area and all that water will instead of creating a flood quicker it will be more gradual as the runoff accumulates but that flood we will still get.Our two local dams are already at full capacity and have been letting out water for a week, the levels in the city are massively high and the water table is peaked out so the ground can't soak any up so runoff will be quick and relentless as it makes its way towards us. But what is going to do us in, is the fact that the main dam for the province is not letting out water at the moment but is bursting at the seams and we know eventually they will have no choice and when coupled with the fact we still have best part of a month of monsoon season left and everthing is topped up to the max, then a major flood is almost imminent. I remember the flood of 2010 where a usual 10 minute drive tirned into a 4 hour adventure wading it water up to the chest through the streets of Korat city. inlaw's house was slightly flooded and sister in law's house was 3 feet of water in the living room... This is coming again... I keep warning the inlaws to get prepared, move stuff to higer parts of the house, but they won't listen till it is lapping at their front door.