mfd101

2 minutes ago, allane said:

I have now become aware of someone who left Thailand about a month ago and returned shortly after. About ten days ago, she was in the Surin Immigration office. The reportedly scrutinized every page of her passport, but did not tell her that she had to do a new TM30, or fine her for not having already done one. 

My experience too. Was o/s late June. Did 90-day in late Sept & extension of stay a couple of days ago. Nothing mentioned re TM30.

I did ask them at Kap Choeng a couple of years ago whether they wanted me to do one each time I returned from BKK. They laughed and said: Why would you want to do that?

But that was a couple of years ago ...

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

I can't think of a single scenario where a declaration like this needs to be signed and witnessed for a UK citizen.

 

For legal documents you can have a lawyer witness and countersign a signature like a will or something.

Sure, but where's the lawyer? In Thailand or in Britain? If in Thailand, does the British legal system recognize a Thai lawyer as a nominated person to witness a signature? If not, are there British lawyers in Thailand who can do it? Personally I should have thought the obvious place to look would be the British Embassy but apparently that's a silly idea ...

7 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

The value of THB is determined by demand, demand is found in three significant areas, tourism receipts, exports and capital flows. As already said, one economy watcher is suggesting a 20% fall in export values plus the demand from Chinese tourism has fallen, as has the value of capital flows, significantly I might add. If those three factors don't combine to stunt the growth of THB I don't know what will.

Fine, but there's no predictive value in that. What does 'stunt the growth' mean for, say, the next 12 months? Instead of, say, 10% growth in the Baht's value, it'll grow by only 7%? or 2% or fall by 3%? ...

21 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

Surely ALL embassies should have agreed that they were unable to verify the information provided, and therefore made the same announcement? 

No, not all. Only those Embassies that had hitherto pretended to verify or perhaps in some cases had even indeed verified a citizen's income. In the case of those Embassies that don't do this, there's no change.

27 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Maybe Brits don't do the 'statdec' as such?

 

Pretty much the same as a Notary Public is a fairly unique American legalization.

Doesn't matter what its NAME is. The concept is the same: A citizen wants to make an important statement that requires his or her signature, and the signature has to be witnessed by a nominated person in authority, which requires the citizen's & the nominated authority figure's physical presence in the same place at the same time.

So the question is: How do Brits manage this when they live in Thailand and their Embassy (apparently) doesn't do the witness bit? Are there Brit Justices of the Peace available here?

26 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

That's not my quote, that's a quote from the Nation.

Sure, but the thread is about the Thai baht. The concept, as I understand it, is that the US/China trade war will damage the Thai economy as collateral damage (much as the Oz economy may suffer).

The question is: How much? Noone knows. And how will this affect the value of the Thai currency? Noone knows.

5 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

A trade war between the two will result in losses for both the US and China". 

And the losses for Thailand will be? ...

1 hour ago, dick dasterdly said:

More than a few of us (I suspect) would find it v. difficult to travel to Bangkok to have our signatures witnessed - making this possible 'solution' far from ideal.  Consequently, I'm going to have to pay an agent to get my passport renewed ☹️.

 

The postal service worked well previously, and the BE stands alone in deciding to stop issuing proof of income letters.

 

 

I wonder how all the elderly Aussies have been coping all this time.

1 hour ago, pontious said:

So what does a British citizen living in Thailand do when, for whatever purpose, he needs to make a statdec for use back in Britain? He has to fly back to UK? Or to Singapore? Or KL? Or Delhi? ... (Surely not!)

31 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Fantastic. Why can't the British embassy do the same?!?

As I have suggested earlier on either this thread or its parallel one, the obvious thing for Brits to do would be to check whether & where their Embassy witnesses signatures on statdecs/affidavits/affirmations or whatever they're called under British law.

Assuming this is not ALSO done by mail (how could it be? given that it NECESSARILY involves the author of the statdec being physically present), then they can simply do what we Aussies do: Make your statement of income as your declaration & get the Embassy to witness your signature on it. This would get round the embassy's problem and, until further notice, Thai Immigration's!!!

I've never done one yet (in 2 years here & 2 in BKK). I don't think they could care less.

However, if you get the boss guy on a bad day (which is just about every day) ...

I attended Kap Choeng office at 0830 this morning for my annual renewal based on retirement (+ 90-day report). Out the door all done at 0930 which, considering that I was 1st up, counts as some kind of success, I guess.

With one exception, everything was as usual - chaos as papers, passports & photocopies shuffled around at snail's pace between half a dozen people. And as usual it felt like time travel back to The Lucky Country 1965. Not helped by the unpleasant individual in charge who seeks to make everything as difficult as possible. My papers were immaculate (I wasn't a bureaucrat for nothing) but he didn't know what "$A" on the statdec meant & didn't agree with us when we told him ... Like last year they weren't interested in my lovely photos of me scowling at the camera near our front gate.

The exception to the usual was that, right at the beginning, as soon as I handed him my wad of docos he demanded to see my bankbook (which of course was irrelevant as I was using the income method). Fortunately, in light of the hysteria on this site over the last 48 hours in relation to The British Problem, I had brought along backup just in case. So I handed over my bank book, which was then photocopied page by page. They appeared not to notice that it currently has only 22000฿ in it and certainly made no connection between that and my more-than-ample monthly income. Which shows what a load of mindless process it all is.

The fact of his asking MAY be a sign of things to come (or he may simply not have noticed first up that I was using the income method). Anyway there'll be plenty of time to find out whether The British Problem is to be generalized or not. Till then I shall let sleeping chihuahuas lie.

5 hours ago, alant said:

Why is he flying the union flag upside down? Does he even know it is upside down?

Flying any flag at half-mast (as he is) & upsidedown is an internationally LONG recognized sign of distress. Which, on the whole, seems entirely reasonable to me: O woe O woe is me! I am suffering through my own folly! What can I do?

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

The wife has just spoken with immigration,(kap choeng) they will accept letters of confirmation from embassies, if the UK wont issue them it's up to them

Phew! I'll be there tomorrow morning for my annual pleasure-filled visit.

14 minutes ago, smedly said:

and if what we are hearing here is correct then that will be the last time you will be doing that...……………..no more letters 

 

at this time nobody knows what immigration will need going forward, I assume they will clarify that in due course - although they have left it a bit late for UK Citizens if you ask me - barely 3 months notice

In the Australian case it's NOT a letter and NOT a letter from the Embassy. It's a statutory declaration (affirmation or affidavit) written/typed by ME and the Embassy merely witnesses MY signature on it. It may be that this will soon no longer be acceptable to the Thais but for the moment there's no announcement of any change at all.

52 minutes ago, Lovethailandelite said:

Are you stupid to think this has just been put out on a whim without the UK speaking with Thailand? The requirements are there on the government website. I have no idea what other information you need? It's easy enough to understand. Money needs to come into a Thai bank account. That's it.

So why haven't other embassies put out the same 'information'?

1 hour ago, Gudge said:

When I go to the Canadian embassy in Bangkok for a letter confirming income I take my income tax forms from last year and have never had a problem as it is guaranteed proof of yearly income. In and out in a couple of hours

When I go to the Australian Embassy in Bangkok for a lovely stamp on my statutory declaration which they witness me signing, I take my superannuation statement for the current year which they barely glance at though this year they did keep a copy of it. In and out in 7 minutes 2 weeks ago.

12 minutes ago, tropo said:

It’s AUD 71 converted into baht at start of month. Currently about 1700 baht. Prior to 1 January 2017 it was around 500 baht.

 

 

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1680฿ 2 weeks ago (but the xrate has worsened since then) ...

There is an election in the offing ...