JayBird

On ‎7‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 10:50 PM, delgarcon said:

Yes, I was taken there from KP, the KP doctor suspected a heart attack, they wanted me to sign a contract agreeing to a 68000 baht nightly charge which excluded treatment. I asked them when I would see a cardiologist and they told me that there wasn't one on the Island until Tuesday (it was Saturday). When I asked the administrator why they ripped off tourists in this way she just smiled. Anyway, got the gf to call a taxi to the gov hospital where I was very well looked after at a total cost of 7000 bht including meds for the weekend. Fortunately, no heart attack.

And people complain about Taxi Mafias......

On ‎7‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 6:26 AM, roderick17 said:

Hi Jaybird Which International broker would you recommend?

I think it's pathetic that they come from Europe to a 3rd world country and have to effectively beg on the streets.  They must have made some horrible life choices.

That being said: The government removes the street vendors and their yummy tasty food and would leave these people with baby pics... something is not right here

I do not think it was Racism.  In the sense that typically they either don't care about your race or lump you into one of two categories (Thai and Not-Thai).  So nothing more specific than that.

If it was Racism, there would be so few Indians here, because they are not looked fondly upon

What is concerning is that they state you did not have 20k in cash, and you say you had 20k in cash.  Can you confirm it was at least the equivalent of 20k THB in cash in your hand and you were able to show it to them?  Did you show it to them?  Did you ask for their supervisor?

Maybe they will open an office at the new Terminal 21. Would be suited theme wise at least :)

it sounds like they suspected you are living in Thailand, and to be fair: You are.

What was the official reason for denial, and was a note written in your passport.

I do believe suspect of living in Thailand without correct visa. (metv is not) is a valid reason.

Time to move on to Elite, retiree, or something clearly intended for long stay / resident.

Lie.  Say that her aunty and Thai friend are right. But UK make new law this year and accept thai marriage because so many uk men marry Thai women now.

She's happy. Aunt is happy. And you won't care they had to be lied to.

in Bangkok I would often see Young Thai couples holding hands while walking.

So things may be changing by the generation.

The issue is less of being accurate (since it debatable what the correct spelling is) and more about being consistent.

Same rules as other major cities. Avoid obviously dodgy places at late hours. All the touristy places, malls, main streets are perfectly safe during normal hours. Might be some pick pockets going on, but be sensible.

Gone there often, never a hint of a problem. Worst is taxis who don't like meters, but I never had a problem finding one that would. Often their quoted rates are close to meter

I have yet to find a bank that will let you manage your foreign currency account online. So if you are out of country and want to wire money out of Thailand from your fcd account, you can not. Personal presence in branch in Thailand required.

Confirmed at Bangkok Bank and UOB.

If someone else knows better please share.

3 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

the only correct visa for under 50 is the elite visa which is too expensive for most. thailand is missing out not letting those stay who just want to spend money. a simple visa available to those who can show funds or show income would be a win for everyone.

They may be missing out, but probably not enough to Care about.

These people are let in, but long time expats without 25k in cash aren't.

If I have three laptops in my luggage, I wonder if they will believe they are used and for personal use (which they are) or just charge me tax on the belief that no one would have more than one.

I mainly shop in malls so do not notice much of this. Very common in all shops that the girls are busy on their phones and the guys busy chatting or watching TV. The small shops, yes, often it feels like you are interrupting their phone time. So I don't shop at those places. Problem solved. Plenty of good shops with good sales staff to go to.

Bigger shops, rarely had attitude problems. Usually the worst it gets is if you ask if they have something they say no have, instead of I don't know. So I just find it myself. Usually they try to help if they can, but give up easily if they have no English (which is fair as they can't explain much)

I don't bargain unless it's a street vendor or the like. But I usually have my TGF with me so often get the Thai price.

Overall, a million times better here than the attitude I get in France.

Perhaps the amulet got caught in the steering wheel and chocked him awake when it turned, waking him up in time to control the vehicle into a more stable crash?

Quality Expat (n): Presents monthly credit card receipts from any major mall, international hotel, or qualified restaurant totalling at least 50k THB.

With costs like that I'm not sure Thailand can be a medical hub. Much cheaper for people to have surgery in USA or.... Anywhere?

I think the key question is if the nature of your work requires or benefits from being in Thailand. For example, if your Tech support work could only be done if you are in Thailand (need meet clients locally, or require access to people or equipment located in Thailand) then you may require a work permit.

If your work benefits in no way from you being here and could equivalently be accomplished from any other county, then you may be ok.

Keep in mind, if you work as Tech support from home while living in the US you need a license or permit and to pay taxes. So there may be a similar concept but not something that is feasible to set up.

At the risk of hijacking my own thread:

For those who are having problems getting a Visa card, has anyone tried *phoning* customer service and asking about getting a Visa card.  It's possible that they will confirm you can get one on the phone, and when you go into the branch you can simply dial-up customer service and have a three way conversation.

On ‎7‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 0:15 PM, Gumballl said:

I have a Be 1st VISA ATM card (I'm not sure if it is a debit card; I've never used it for such).  The card expires October 2019, however from what I have read above, that may not mean much if Bangkok Bank is phasing out the card.

 

I am not in Thailand at the moment, but will be there in about 48 hours.  Will I be able to withdraw money from an ATM, or should I wait to go to the bank to perform the transaction at the counter?

Good point: My VISA Debit card was not due to expire for many more years in the future.  I was expecting that it would be forced into a Union Pay when it expired, but they swallowed it up many years prematurely.  And they indicated all non-chipped cards (regardless of expiry date) would be phased out this year.  So I would be cautious of being in a situation where you rely on using your non-chip Debit card.

53 minutes ago, Mattd said:

I think it is becoming more and more obvious that Thai immigration have been instructed to look more carefully at those people who are using Tourist Visas / Visa Exemption entries to reside long term in Thailand, especially those under 50, who do raise the suspicion that they could be working here, the onus would then be on them to somehow prove that they are not and that they can support themselves independently of Thailand, a trip back to their own country of birth does lend credence to proving this.

If somebody is spending an extended period of time here based on tourist visas, extending these, then going to a neighbouring country and getting another, repeating this several times will seemingly now raise flags and they could be investigated on the suspicion of working, plus, quite possibly the IO will be thinking why does this chap not go home, what has he got to hide!

 

Perhaps they need to introduce a new class of visa for the wealthy long term tourist, ooops sorry, they have with the Elite Visa!!

 

Seriously, there are very few countries in the world where you can live utilising just tourist visas indefinitely, UK for example, the maximum a visitor is allowed to stay in the country is 6 months in any given year, if different is needed, then you need to have a different reason and class of visa.

 

Those who are on rotational jobs and using Thailand as a base and are not married or qualify for a retirement visa, should be OK so long as their stay outside of Thailand is 2 weeks plus and eventually they get a tourist visa, I'd even consider having a covering letter from my employer explaining the job and so on, just something to show the IO or supervisor as a backup if questioned.

I'm super cool for them looking closely, and trying to discourage people from using the wrong visa to stay here long time (or effectively live here).  To me, that is not the problem.  To me, the problem is that their rules are not published well.

If they would publish that you could only have 2 SETVs per year, or you could only be here 90 out of 180, or you are capped to 180 days per calendar year, etc. etc.  And if these rules were consistent in all consulates, then I would have no problems.  But they do not publish the rules that they use (which differs from the ones on the websites), and they do not enforce it uniformly (Penang/Vietnanne vs Singapore for example).

In either case, back to the OP: I don't think they care you went back home, but they probably will be happy if you spent at least the last 6 months continuously back home.  Or if you just never come :)

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

As I wrote there has never been one for tourist visas. From 2006 to 2008 there was a rule for visa exempt entries that limited them to to a total stay of 90 days within 6 months.

Then she was fabricating a rule that was only 50% obsolete (90 within 180) but even when in existence would not be applicable (since I was on SETVs).  On either case, despite showing a 3 month continuous stay in the EU an excuse was used to disallow an SETV.

So I'm not entirely sure they care :)

2 hours ago, blorg said:

My understanding is that rule only ever applied to visa-exempt entries, never to visas.

 

I think the issue was more that you applied in Singapore.

I agree, but that was the rule she decided to say to me (even tho I knew full well it was not applicable).

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

You should of written their rule. There has never been a 180 day rule.

I believe the was a rule a few years ago about maximum of 90 days in 180 days. I think they removed that limitation when they removed the triple entry visas.