mstevens

A visitor visa for New Zealand is fairly straightforward. So long as the lady can show that she has the funds to cover her stay and sufficient reasons to return to Thailand (a regular job is best but they do consider other things) then getting a visitor visa is not that difficult. Writing a cover letter to explain your relationship and what you plan to do when she is in New Zealand would help support the application.

Anything by Christopher G Moore is good. He has a depth of understanding of Thailand that few foreign authors writing about Thailand match.

I haven't read through all the pages of replies so am probably saying something others have said. I think it's seriously bad karma to mess around with someone else's wife. If she is married, leave her alone. It's not like in Thailand there aren't other options. Regardless of the circumstances, I think it's bad form to mess around with someone else's wife.

14 hours ago, Billthekiwi said:

Still it's better than on Qatar via Doha, Bangkok to Auckland at NZ$3330 per person one way. I just can't afford for my family to fly home.

Too bad the NZ government can't organise something almost affordable.

FYI, the Thai Embassy in Wellington is organising a flight on Monday, April 27, for Thai citizens to fly from Auckland to Bangkok. Prices not fixed yet but the embassy said in its Facebook post that one-way tickets will cost in the range of 50,000 - 60,000 baht per person. This will presumably either be a Thai Airways plane flying down from Bangkok to pick them up or an Air NZ plane chartered to fly them up. One imagines there will be a flight back from BKK to AKL. You might want to get in contact and see if they have any info on the return flight.

9 hours ago, DaRoadrunner said:

We must remain on lockdown until it dies out or we have a vaccine or better treatments.

And there is no guarantee that any of these 3 things will happen. The vaccine especially strikes me as pie in the sky stuff. A professor from supposedly the world's best university some weeks ago said that that week self-test kits would be available in the UK with an initial production run of 3 million. Nothing ever came. A vaccine in 12 - 18 months? Given there has been no vaccine for other coronaviruses, I am not sure why so many are convinced one is coming.

21 hours ago, donnacha said:

Few things are sadder than a farang who lives in Thailand and, yet, has now idea how it operates.

Probably the best single sentence I have ever read on this forum. Bravo!

Thailand will likely open its borders up some time in the second half of this year so I guess in theory that is when you can get back to Thailand. But I'd expect there will be entry requirements such as a certificate saying you are Covid-19 free / have contracted it already (and cannot get it again) / have been vaccinated for Covid-19 etc.

Other things to consider are when commercial flights will resume. And what will the requirements be when returning to your home country (compulsory quarantine etc.).

It's going to be rather complicated and not nearly as easy as it was pre-Covid-19.

7 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

I expect the borders to open up again, maybe with some restrictions, by the end of April or early May.  Schools are due to open on 1 July and International Schools have been told they can open earlier, with some restrictions.  The State of Emergency decree will end at the end of April, so things should start relaxing after that.  Hopefully.

While that may, or may not, happen to the borders in Thailand, just as relevant is what happens to the borders elsewhere. The likes of the UK, Australia and New Zealand have all said that border restrictions are likely to last to next year in one form or another, and they likely won't return to how they were until there is a vaccine available (and by definition everyone passing can show they have been vaccinated).

So anyone planning to travel between Thailand and those countries, and I suspect most developed nations, might be out of luck this year.

10 hours ago, justin case said:

exactly ... the GREED of BIG PHARMA has no limits

 

how can 1 pill be  1000$ ?   10 cents to produce and the rest is marketing & profits

And all the research and development costs nothing, right?

Some real horror stories of the fares people are paying to get home....but best to pay them and get home because as fewer an fewer flights operate, one imagines fares are just going to get pricier and pricier!

41 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

There is a big drive - as we type - to find suitable people to inhabit/populate the new planned International space station. A mix of races and ages (16 to 30). They want 87 women and 13 men. This is the optimal ratio for breeding from scratch.

Is each person who is allowed on the space station issued with a tin hat?

9 hours ago, Monomial said:

Somebody has to pay for this devastation. We need to decide as a society who it is going to be. Is it going to be the struggling small businesses and individuals, or the relatively wealthy investors?  I know which one should pay, and I know which one is going to pay, and sadly they are not the same.

Send an invoice to the Chinese government.

I get this when I use Firefox, which is my preferred browser. I don't get it when I use Safari - but then there are ads all over the place, to the extent that it actually ruins the experience of tuning in to the forum. I'm all for ThaiVisa to make a good return from advertising but the whole experience now has been ruined by the ads to the extent that if someone opened up a new forum, I'd be happy to go there.

16 hours ago, moojar said:

This week it is just sharks circling, sensing blood in the water - cashed up pr!cks trying to take advantage.  People seem to think the market has already dropped 15% - 20%.

Yeah, that was yesterday. Probably down 25% today and still falling.

3 hours ago, falang1969 said:

Plenty of Thai Air flights leaving for Europe tonight. I wonder how busy they are?

 

 

Friend flew Thai Bangkok to London yesterday and said not a free seat on the flight. 

Yep, here in Auckland the last TG flight flew out yesterday. Nothing scheduled from now until June 30.

18 hours ago, jackdd said:

I speculate that embassies of other countries will start issuing letters to get 30 day extensions soon.

Try contacting your embassy what they say about it, maybe in a few days you can get one and don't need to leave Thailand.

Both Australia and New Zealand have urged their country's nationals to return home, citing the fact that commercial flights are being cancelled. For those who don't act quickly, goodness knows what is coming...

5 hours ago, Patong2 said:

You people just don't understand

 

Jacinda Ardern, NZ's most unsuccessful prime minister is addicted to headlines and that is all that matters. The Covid-19 travel ban and "compulsory self isolation" gives her yet another opportunity to be on the world stage.

"Self isolate" what walk home from the airport? But look at the great press she is getting.

 

The fact that  her major "policies" have been an abject failure means nothing, she gets the headlines and that is all that matters. Impractibility has nothing to do with it.

I'm no fan of Jacinda but most Kiwis - and by that, I mean pretty much all my friends who voted National - agree that what she has done is the right thing. I am no fan of her economic policy but I do think that she truly cares and is trying to do the right thing. I don't think Xoimon would have had the balls to make a decision like this.

25 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Do Australians care about the exchange rate? I thought they were all (property) millionaires.

Many are house rich but cash poor.

22 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

I been coming here around 9 years. When I first came AUS$ near parity with US$.

And now the Aussie dollar is virtually at parity with the NZD.