GeorgeCross

10 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

In the UK 

to visit family or friends in Thailand, voluntary job, retirement, medical treatment, to attend judicial process, to work as diplomat's housekeeper

good luck getting one to visit friends! they stopped that one 10 years ago ????

"don't be evil" ????

4 minutes ago, robertson468 said:

Over exagerated.  Bought a good botte of (South African) wine  for 600 baht the other day and a Friend of mine went to Chaweng on Koh Samui YESTERDAY and bought a small beer for 55 baht.  Our favourite restaurant, which is rated 5* on Trip Adviser serves a delicious culinary experience for less than 400 baht per person, in a lovely comfortable air conditioned restaurant. 

 

Suggest you do your research before firing from the hip with you keyboard!  Another keyboard cowboy!

could be true, or it could be his idea of "average" is not the same as yours 

1 hour ago, saengd said:

I agree with your sentiment but not 100% with the fact. Looking around I know of several westerners who have been here for many years who own nice property, have established families and enjoy a high level of income. I'm sure that picture is not fully replicated everywhere in Thailand but I wouldn't underestimate the silent few/many/some who tend not to post on TVF, albeit a few do. 

yes i am one of them. which is why i pre-faced my argument as follows:

Quote

Thailand has only ever appealed, in volume, to cheap charlie westerners..

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

1 hour ago, DrPhibes said:

Good example of what's going on.  We booked two rooms (connecting) in resort at Karon Beach for a total of $85 USD/nt in mid October.  That same exact 2 rooms are now $619 USD/nt for the time period of Dec 23rd - Jan 3.  They also want mandatory 5,000 baht per person for a new years dinner.   I can see 2x or 3x low season, but over 7x low season?

 

The crazy thing is that when looking for Phuket lodging, a lot of the resorts are showing booked.  Having 5 adults makes it tougher to find rooms for a good chunk of resorts unless you want to rent 3 rooms. Looking at AirBnB now.

 

What dates are you looking at? 

 

a better question might be "has anyone seen my glasses?"

18 hours ago, Monomial said:

 

Not true. Many people who can afford 5 star resorts created their wealth by knowing how to spot good value for money. They care about all the things you've said, but they also want to feel they are getting it for a fraction of its true value. They may not worry about the price, but many are still influenced by it. 

 

Thailand has most definitely lost the perception of being good value for money. That is going to hurt no matter how it occurred. There is still a market niche for travellers who really do completely ignore price, but there is now a glut of businesses fighting for that much smaller crowd. And anyone who isn't absolutely the best of the best is going to suffer in that environment.

 

Thailand has only ever appealed, in volume, to cheap charlie westerners whether it be sex tourists after cheap girls, retirees and snowbirds after cheap living and winter sun or backpackers after cheap beaches and thrills.

affluent westerners, get their pick of European and Caribbean resorts which are miles ahead of anything Thailand has to offer.

so where are all the westerners? well the affluent never came in any numbers and aren't likely too in the future save a seismic shift in thailand's tourist offering and the cheapies value travellers have been priced out or found new travel locations

get a multiple entry non-o from savanakhet in laos, its only 200km from khon kaen and you don't need to show any money in a bank. lots of threads in this section describing how to do. you can extend it next year or after 90 days if you wish once you have 12 months of 40K transfers or 400K in the bank. no insurance requirements

one more for the ever growing pile:

got to say its been a quiet day news wise today. no reports here or on facebook one way or the other. 

normally no news is good news with stuff like this so i wonder if word is getting around and extensions are being grandfathered?

30 minutes ago, lapamita said:

No O-A  need heallthinsurance hmmm

 

and NON O extension dont need hmmmm

 

THE next thing will be the cancelation of all NON O  and NON O MULTI  Visas

 

and this followed byan ADD ON ..for grandaftherd Visas ( i had a nice add on in 2003)

 

..than everybody must apply with o-a , and everybody need special thai nonsens insurance ( 400k for hosiptal haahha 2 days could cost ou this already and a more stupid OPD w 40k)

 

welcome to thailand.........

 

 

 

but i'm married, not retired and under 50 - where do i apply?

2 minutes ago, rwill said:

It seems lots of people are still in denial of what is coming.

ooh ooh i'll take the bait!!

whats coming??!

this is all part of the plan.. make it so hard for westerners to apply for a visa they give up and go elsewhere! the evil geniuses!

** cue evil laugh **

13 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

My understanding is this only applies to any new Non-Immigrant Visa Class O-A issued after 31 October 2019, perhaps your client should go back to see the IO's at Hua Hin and discuss ?

all that red highlighting and october 31st is not even on this quoted page!!

can you please explain how this relates to "your understanding"?

thanks!

36 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

There is no such thing as a retirement visa.

i'm building up a collection of them, here's another possibly chiang mai

7 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Why do they need to be married to help support others? 

well of course you are free to support anyone you want married or otherwise but if you want to extend your visa on basis marriage well you kind of need to be married!

6 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

The premium rate of the insurance is at most Bt800 per person per year

no 40K OPD coverage required then ????

32 minutes ago, Momofarang said:

This would make sense wouldn't? But I'll keep my doubts for myself.

probably need to close the non-o loophole first without setting off a panic visa run to it!

12 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

After Loi Krathong the hotel and especially the hostel bookings are low again. Chinese prefer good hotels and will never stay in dormitories like western backpackers. Also they like Airbnb. If the new ASTRA with more then 600 Condos and the ad, that they are "Airbnb friendly", the hotels will loose more guests.

4 weeks ago I was at the Eat@Rincome restaurant. They told me that the U Hotel (4*) is fully booked - by Koreans. 

i have it on good authority that middle aged westerners prefer good hotels and will never stay in dormitories like 18 year old asians

9 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Unless we see a police order clearly stating that visas issued before 31.10. are exempt the situation isn't clear.

All we have is some evidence that IOs might treat it this way now, we don't know if this is based on a written order, or they just handled it like this. In the latter case we might see a report of somebody else who was denied entry on his OA visa issued before 31.10. due to a lack of insurance.

i agree and any calls to the contrary are irresponsible no matter how much face needs to be saved. 

clear details need to be clarified directly by immigration or in a new memorandum, as signs like this are still up at immigration offices (jomtien)

source: 

18 minutes ago, lkv said:

Fresh report. Third entry on the visa itself and no insurance requirement.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1395920320731833/permalink/2563545347302652/

 

its a good post and he makes some interesting points. if it is an application issue thats great news for anyone thats currently on an OA as they can come and go at their pleasure with no requests for insurance at the border.

it would seem someone at border immigration got a "tap on the shoulder" from higher up!

the one question remaining then would be whether an extension would be considered a fresh application and will a "tap" in that case be forthcoming too.

fingers crossed guys!