Jonathan Swift

1 hour ago, George K said:

Loei Immigration also refuses anything but 800K baht deposit. I showed the Thai Govt. printout that stated other options, to the supervisor. She merely glanced at it and handed it back to me. Until our embassies grow a pair, and make the immigration offices follow their own laws, they will continue to write their own rules. 

There are some immigration employees who for whatever illogical reasons are misinterpreting the law, or don't understand it, I had exactly what happened to you happen to me, in my case the supervisor corrected the employee. "Our embassies" have absolutely no standing or lawful basis to "make" the immigration offices do anything. They never have, never will, that is not their purpose. The only recourse when such problems occur is to go to a different immigration office. 

18 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Who told you this would not be acceptable? Was it an immigration officer? And did they tell you why it would be unacceptable?

 

While there is some variation in interpretation with some IOs, in some offices, the rule says "income, such as...". There is no requirement that the source of the income must be from a pension.

 

Yes, there have been a few reports about prickly IOs demanding "pension or else", sometimes in an effort to steer a customer towards the 800K option, or the marriage option, or the agent option.

 

As long as the monthly transfer is 65,000 or more, and shows as coming from outside of Thailand, this is sufficient.

 

I too receive one-time annual retirement annuity payout (in addition to SocSec), usually on the first business day of the year in January. I then wire transfer at least 65,000 baht each month. I've done two extensions so far (ext stay/ret-inc at CW) successfully. Imm wants to see my passbooks, and I provide a bank-issued summary letter of the twelve transactions.

Same same me, 2 years now, no problem. At times a less experienced employee may come up with some temporary nonsense, but a request for a supervisor usually clears that up. 

Just now, ubonjoe said:

The OP wants to apply for a non-o visa at immigration.

You have been doing one year extensions of stay (it is not a visa) based upon retirement using the 65 baht option proven by transfers into the country.

Thank you for pointing out the obvious, I am well aware of the status and details of my continued residency under my non O retirement visa and my yearly extensions, as I am also aware of all the forms and what they mean. I did the entire process myself from the beginning to end at Chaengwatthana in Bangkok, converting tourist visa to non immigrant, and from non immigrant to non O retirement, without help. I also navigated my return to Thailand during covid and quarantine rules, certificate of entry, insurance etc.  without any problem. If I sounded uninformed or confused rest assured I am not. The only important point here is that the transfer and bank statement income verification method is valid for the questioner's purposes, and accepted by immigration, as I have been doing it for going on 3 years.

58 minutes ago, kiteman9 said:

My immigration office wants a letter from the social security and the veterans association stating the amount I receive each month. So a letter showing you receive an annual payment from Merrill Lynch should be what you need to back up where your funds are coming from.

There's nothing to stop immigration employees from making up their own rules, but I use bank statements showing 67,000 baht deposits once a month, and that is supposed to be sufficient according to every reliable source of information, including what officials have all told me without exception. I have been doing it this way for 2 years, ever since my embassy stopped issuing income verification letters

1 minute ago, Acharn said:

I think Thailand has a treaty with Great Britain to send long-term prisoners to serve their sentences in their home countries. I know they have such a treaty with Australia. Not sure about America, but suppose they do.

Never heard about it as a US citizen of 64 years, so I don't think so. Should be easy to research

18 hours ago, worrab said:

And what about those who do not live in Bangkok or nowhere near?? I'm 66 and live 6 hours drive away and I am sure there are many more in the same situation! Absolute shambles of the first order!!

If I were you I would be extremely grateful that a vaccine against the horror of Covid even exists for you to complain about. Never in the history of medicine has a vaccine for a deadly disease been created in such a short time, in the past it would take up to ten years between research and development and clinical trials. You need to get things in perspective bro. If I had to, I would frigg in  WALK 100 miles to get one and I would do so with a smile on my face because I would live and survive where many did not. So be patient and do the best you can, because the medical profession has stepped up to create and provide these vaccines, and if the government has had trouble and been disorganized etc. remember that nothing like this has ever happened before, even the flu epidemic of 1918 had little in common with covid. For you in particular, just obey all health guidelines and lay low until the vaccine is available near you, as it surely will eventually, and sooner rather than later. Or, take a bus to Bangkok.

12 hours ago, Excel said:

Frankly I am surprised he was suggesting 10,000 cases per day by years end. Given the transmissibility of the Delta strain, then as witnessed in India, UK etc I would have thought 10,000 cases per day by end of September would be nearer the mark. However we will never know the true numbers given the extent and organised corrupt reporting mechanisms put in place by this appalling administration.

Says Dr. Excel, noted epidemiologist and pandemic expert. 

On 7/3/2021 at 2:30 AM, RotBenz8888 said:

#5 (called the "kwam Jing" or the reality): a few thousand tourists, IF they're lucky. 

#6: They'll be lucky to even get the exiled expats back. That would be me, but yes, I'm coming back October

18 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Unless the timid ones gain some courage, and open the nation to tourism, with no restrictions, no quarantine and no sandbox, they will only get 10-30,000 tourists, for the remainder of 2021. 

 

Require double vaccination, with a quality vax, unlike the Sinojunk being used here. And require a covid negative test. And restrict only the nations that are at the top of the covid list. That is all.

 

And remember, with the daily count rising here, international tourists are taking a far greater risk by being here, and being exposed to the Thais, than the Thai people are taking by being exposed to them. Lastly, Thailand needs the world right now, 20X more than the world needs Thailand. This is not the COTKU (Center of the known universe). The locals are in a world of hurt, economically. And it may last a very, very long time. I predict five years, and the fallout will be worse than 1997. And most of it appears to be sabotage. Willful or not.

Spidermike007 for Prime Minister in 2022! Yay!

On 7/3/2021 at 2:13 AM, ezzra said:

Scenarios are dime a dozen and so are dreaming, reality however, is what will happen tomorrow, not in a 120 days, and so far things are not looking good for Thailand as far as vaccinating their population...

Life is what happens while we're making other plans. John Lennon.

23 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I really wish they would give details of exactly where these international tourists will be coming from.

 

 

There may be life on Mars

3 hours ago, Crusader said:

If and when places do re-open, it would be great if the businesses just accept what has gone and do the right thing. Unfortunately, it is likely that many will be adding a few extra baht to prices to try and make up for losses.  I am sure those who keep the prices right will do better for themselves (no one enjoys getting ripped off - regardless of the situation which brought the inflated prices about). 

Raising prices to offset losses is simply against the laws of economics. The law is that of supply and demand. If you raise prices when demand is falling you will soon have much less or nothing. What you are describing is a myth, very likely a misinterpretation of the facts. The last thing you said is the truth of the matter - the ones with the most attractive prices will do better than their competitors, and those who can't or won't compete will disappear.

I have skipped over all comments because I have a tendency to have kneejerk responses that are really not (ahem) productive, but this I'm sure is no surprise and to be expected. I have no expectations of normalcy in any way until October anyway, and I don't think it was ever practical in the first place to think that Phuket or any other place would be normalized this soon. I'm sure that when they increased from 7 - 14 days they knew full well there would be losses. regardless of all criticism I grant Thai officials the right to make these decisions on the fly, given the nature of Covid and its unpredictability

16 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

Wow !

Phuket seems to be bottom of the heap for Tourists.

You would think with all the C##p then Americans have been through with this awful Covid, they would be busting to get away to the Sun for a few weeks.

Maybe they are getting away, just not to Phuket. 

Americans are economically stressed because of Covid, not likely they can afford vacations, especially risky ones where the rules and costs are unclear. I think most Americans will happily settle for modest but enjoyable vacations in the US. I have a retirement visa and residence in Bangkok, were that not the case I would not be planning to come back until everything is well settled. That said, I won't be back until October with vaccine certificate in hand, and only if no quarantine. I don't have $1000/30,000 baht to pi$$ away

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

I, that usually have plenty to say on ThaiVisa am dumbfounded and flabbergasted as to this idea...

Yup, almost as bad as Trump telling us to drink bleach, ALMOST

It would seem that bulletproof vests were not used by those serving the warrant. Gunshot to the lung and spleen would likely have been prevented. I hope the police review their protocols for such things. I sure hope he recovers. 

7 hours ago, worgeordie said:

The response from those in the house was very excessive,

maybe they should have tried a bribe, before opening fire.

 

regards Worgeordie

Very likely they panicked, therefore reason would not have prevailed. 

6 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

A giant Flop backwards.  Why is he so against a walk-in center? Is their not enough sinovac vaccine to go around here in Bangkok.  Someone seems to be a little over controlling in my book.  Lets roll out the vaccine, lets put Viral posters on the news and in ads showing the vaccine is safe and all Thai's must do their part, yet lets also just Sslloowwllyy roll out a vaccine to those that really want it.  I think he is afraid there will be few that show up and then vaccine will be wasted and need to be tossed in the bin, or better yet he is wanting the mor prom app up and running so that when folks sign up and then do not show up he can have them arrested.  So tired of this fricking game these folks are playing.  Looking at booking a flight back to the US, getting vaccinated and then returning after taking care of some personal business I have placed on hold before returning here and doing a 14 day quarantine again even though vaccinated.  Ugh, what a true fool this man and his fellow government officials are, well thats my opinion.  YMMV

It's back to the US for me as well, 30 May. I will come back in October when hopefully the quarantine issue for the vaxed will be sorted. It has always been my plan to go wherever the vax was first available. I also think that delays such as these were quite predictable and that no one should be surprised. 

13 hours ago, ourmanflint said:

Want to bet that you have to be vaccinated fully, have proof in form of certificate, translate certificate into Thai, buy covid insurance, have test 72 hours before and test 5 days after entering Thailand all at your expense

Certificate won't have to be translated into Thai

22 hours ago, Mitkof Island said:

Another foreign criminal some how makes it into Thailand. How many thousands more of various criminal types are hiding in Thailand? Thai Immigration makes it next to impossible at times to deal with a simple expat retirement/marriage visa yet somehow with all the bureaucracy red tape and hoop jumping guys like this are far more common than you think.

And I was worried that a 10 year old drunk driving misdemeanor conviction would prevent my settling here. You are exactly right of course. I am American, and I took refuge here to escape the carnage and ugliness of the US, exemplified by this animal. ... But, to be fair, there are always people that fall between the cracks in a bureaucracy. This is so sad, the pain of the relatives. I have had people in my life violently murdered, it's horrible. 

8 hours ago, tonray said:

Just what we need for the image of foreigners in Thailand...oh brother. hit him with 6000 baht fine...if he transgresses again....throw him out

Must be an American. People like him are why I tell people "Ma ca pracanr" I'm from the moon