RemyDog

15 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

They will be open on the Tuesday. The additional holiday on the 27th was canceled by the cabinet last month due the new covid 19 waive.

I did my annual Extension of Stay and Multiple Re-Entry Permit processes on Thursday & Friday a week ago at Jomtien. Minimal queuing required, fast turn around. I go there mid afternoon and it is always much quieter than their morning sessions. I find Jomtien to be good operators and quite efficient within a very paper based system. 

2 hours ago, Aussieroaming said:

The registration states Australian Citizen and the enrolment  for the vaccine requires an Australian Passport Number. I have been an Australian Permanent Resident for close on 50 years (immigrated in 1972 under the £10 pom scheme with my parents) and thereafter educated to Uni level and then worked and paid my taxes in Australia since that time until I moved to Thailand in 2013. I was just a bit suprised that permanent residents had been ignored.

As a matter of interest, you lived most of your life in Australia and seem to regard Australia as your home base, what made you decide against becoming an Australian citizen and having the full benefits of citizenship?

10 hours ago, Phillip9 said:

With ~200 countries on the planet mostly all using different forms of proof of vaccination, I will bet most countries don't ever mandate arrivals need to be vaccinated.  Or if they do, they will give up rather quickly when they try to implement restrictions but realize it's impossible to manage arrivals with hundreds of different certificates.  

 

Some countries such as maldives and Seychelles already tried to allow vaccinated people to skip pcr tests, but they gave up when they realized it was impossible to decipher or verify all the different forms  of proof of vaccination.

I am sure the copiers of certificates/graduation papers and drivers licences that operate in Bangkok, will be able to produce a nice plausible looking certificate with the details you would like as per your specification. Delivery by pick up in person the next day, full payment on placement of order.

2 hours ago, Misty said:

 

I agree.  And then there's the announcement that the US will send 550,000 vaccines for Korean soldiers...

I agree that China sets a leading example of looking out for and caring about their citizens who are outside of China. Unfortunately, the Australian govt is even less caring than USA govt regarding its citizens overseas. Scott Morrison (the Prime Minister) uses an "us Vs them" approach of treating Oz citizens abroad as expendable in his building of a fear campaign among the voters in Australia - justifying it as Fortress Australia and keeping Australians safe (so long as you are inside the Fortress!). His primary motivation is for his mob to win the election due within 14 months - who or what gets hurt or damaged along the way are easily and without conscience classed as expendable cannon fodder. 

3 minutes ago, Cat Boy said:

Grain of salt taken

You will probably need more salt than that!!

15 minutes ago, T Lee said:

Something for Prayut & Co to think about. -But then who would operate the submarines?

You think too much.

5 hours ago, userabcd said:

Could you not send them a copy of the payment detail and the reference used from your online payment?

 

As for other ISP's, there is True, 3BB or you could stay with TOT/CAT now that the payment confirmation issue may be solved.

We used to be with 3BB who were very poor in service quality - drop outs, low signal and loss of service for hours on end several times a week in our home in Pattaya. Changed over to AIS à few years ago - very miss a beat, strong signal 24/7 and lower cost per month. Fully recommend but may be dependent on your location 

17 hours ago, 1FinickyOne said:

I would shop first and when you find a unit you like, then bring the correct amount of money over... it only takes a day or two for the transfer... it will take longer than that by a lot to get the contract and everything together after agreement... good luck and hope you get a bargain... good tome to negotiate like crazy

Also look into your muddy crystal ball and form a view on how you think the relative foreign exchange rates may move in the likely period between now and an estimated date of the property purchase contract settlement.

Depending on your expectation of the foreign exchange rate and transaction costs as between your source of currency and the THB, you can minimise your risks by bringing in some or all of the funds into THB ahead of the time of the purchase settlement. This may be as one or several transactions.

If you are not pro-active on choosing the timings of the currency conversions, you may be stuck with a bad rate on the day because by then you must have your clear funds in THB by a fast approaching known date for settlement.

I am not one  to incur unnecessary stress in my life, especially when it is quite avoidable - up to you and enjoy the ride!.    

On 1/20/2021 at 9:55 AM, Pilotman said:

do you have any trouble there from prickly burrs getting in the fur of the dogs when you go anywhere near grassy areas ? That a big issue around us.

No pricklies or burrs in the bushland areas that we use - and that is with a long haired Siberian Husky dog. She spends most of the time with her nose to the ground like a tracker dog with her nose working overtime! . 

If you can take a vehicle, there are wonderful areas near Lake Maprachan in the water storage reserve. They range from the well lit bike and walking asphalt roadways (no vehicles but lots of bike riders day and night), parklands, children's play areas, good vehicle parking areas, water side areas (people fishing), to both open scrub and timbered forestry.

I personally prefer the area where the entry point is a popular open gate roadway immediately after the overpass on 3240 as you head East and where 3240 goes over the new Motorway going to Rayong.  

We go in a timbered area with trail bike tracks and in the open scrub areas and also down towards the water side. Our dog loves it as she is off-leash and her nose is busy. I love it as that area has few people and it is clear of bikes (our dog has no road sense when her nose is to the ground and working overtime!) and the vegetation is very similar to that in parts of Australia. There are a number of resident dogs near the roadway itself but none of them have been a problem for us. 

We are very fortunate to have such a large recreational space and resource only 5km+/- from our place.

7 hours ago, papa al said:

500

50% for me and the boys, 30% for my big boss, 20% for you! 

On 12/15/2020 at 12:39 AM, JomtienExile said:

After nearly nine months in exile, I arrived in Bangkok yesterday afternoon on the Thai Airways repatriation flight from Sydney. 

I returned to Australia in March and endured a winter of hard lockdown and curfews in Melbourne.  In retrospect of course I should have stayed, but it was impossible then to know what would happen in Thailand with COVID.
In September I applied for the new Special Tourist Visa. I got a pro forma response but nothing ever came of this application. Don't bother with this is my advice.
In November I learned, at this forum, that my non-O Retirement Visa would again be honoured. The Thai Embassy in Canberra confirmed this by email.

I then bought the required health insurance from Pacific Cross. Since I am over 65 I had to have a full medical exam to qualify. Their Bangkok office was very helpful, but this still took two weeks to process.
I then tried to fill in the online application form for the Certificate of Entry, but was unable to make it work. It took many phone calls, with long waits, and many emails, to get the Canberra Embassy to fix this and allow me to submit the CoE form. The staff tried to be helpful but no-one seemed to be responsible for fixing the problem.

My travel agent was unable to find a direct flight. The best she could do was via Singapore with a ten-hour stopover. The Embassy then told me I could take the weekly repatriation flight out of Sydney. The 7 December flight was full but I got on the 14 December flight. I booked and paid for this direct with Thai.

I then booked and paid for a repatriation hotel. I rang through the list of eligible hotels until I found one that had a room with a balcony so I would not have to endure 14 days of hotel air-conditioning, which always makes me sick. This place is expensive by Thai standards but the room is very nice.

Then I had to wait for the CoE to arrive, which it did only on the Friday before the flight. The CoE seems to take two weeks to process even if approved, so the flight must be timed accordingly.

Once I had the CoE I could apply to the Home Affairs Department for an exit permit. I told them I would be away for at least three months. I showed them the title deed to my condo in Jomtien and the one-way air ticket. They accepted this and issued the permit without fuss. Others have not been so lucky.

Then I had to get a COVID test and a fit-to-fly letter within 72 hours of the flight. Since the flight was in on a Monday morning, this posed a problem. My GP is not available on weekends, and most public COVID test sites won't test people who don't have symptoms, and don't issue results in writing. So I had to pretend to have symptoms to get tested on Saturday morning, wait 24 hours to get the result by text message, then find a doctor available on Sunday to issue the letter. Beware that the letter must conform exactly to the wording required by the Embassy or it won't be accepted.

So I then fronted at Sydney Airport a full three hours before the flight, and this was necessary because the check-in process was slow and complicated. I had to show passport, visa, CoE, exit permit, health insurance, hotel booking, fit-to-fly and COVID test to at least five people. All were polite and helpful, but the queue was long and slow.
At Bangkok Airport we were greeted by what looked like half the Thai workforce in full barrier nursing costumes, and went through all the paperwork several times again. We were then dispatched to our quarantine hotels in sealed vans (really) and did the paperwork again on arrival. Again, everyone was polite and helpful but the process is slow. Patience is  required. The Thais are naturally edgy and anyone making a fuss will not be well received.
Nevertheless, here I am on a beautiful Bangkok winter evening, very happy to be back. I will be in quarantine for Xmas but be back home in Jomtien for New Year.
So it can be done. The process is slow, complex and expensive, and requires patience and persistence. I don't think many actual tourists will be willing to jump through all these hoops. 

Thanks for very relevant and useful content. Enjoy your resumption of a good life here in Thailand. Cheers.

5 hours ago, Dave246 said:

Guys,

 

I am British and have been married to my Thai wife for 10 years + to which she already had 3 young boys from her previous Thai marriage. Around 5 years ago I requested some advice on the subject of legally adopting the boys from the British Embassy (and to no surprise they couldn't offer zero advice) and told me to go directly to the Thai Adoption Agency in Bangkok. I took my wife and boys with me to this agency to find out the process and check if it was even possible. In summary the agency individual was very rude and not helpful indicating that the whole process could take over 2 years subject to my vetting and financial capability to support the boys!! "The Thai father hasn't paid a single baht towards the welfare of the children since I first met my wife over 13 years ago" yet they want to vet my commitment and financial standing - outrageous!! The key factor which put us off undertaking the adoption was that as soon as I filed the application and paperwork my wife would no longer have any parental control over the boys and this would be transferred to me as the Male in the relationship even though the process could take up to 2 years..... The whole system is totally biased to the male (father) having full control. My wife quite understandably wasn't very keen to sign over full custody which is completely understandable so we didn't proceed. My boys are now coming into their late teens and have simply decided to do a name change on their surnames so we are all a family unit carrying the same name. 

Thank you Mac for raising a good topic and I commend members on the good contributions to date. I will address some issues in relation to adoption and Dave246 has addressed some related matters. I am an Australian citizen and my wife (Pon) and I married in August 2014 after knowing each other for some 18 months. Pon has a birth son (born 21May2007) and in brief, the boy's father was a ratbag - Pon has Court papers and certificates granting her full legal custody and responsibility for their child. The father's name is on the birth certificate, he abandoned Pon within three months of the birth, happily consented to her having full custody and responsibility, has never contributed to the child's welfare since and went off to plant more seed.

Pon and I made extensive efforts in 2015 and 2016 for me to adopt her son and be the father by adoption. If I was Thai that would not have been a problem. 

However, for me being an Australian and you being a Canadian, it comes under Thai international adoptions and the rules are totally different and horribly difficult (conceptually, to prevent child trafficking). In summary, the dealbreaker is that neither the Australian Federal bureaucracy or the Thai Social Welfare Department bureaucracy were prepared to cut a bit of slack or concede some ground in order to achieve a result most beneficial for the mother and the child. Thailand's requirement is for a clear irrevocable certificate from the foreign adoptive parent's home government that the adopted child has full and free access to live in that foreign country. Australia's response is that Australia's process is for the Australian citizen to apply for a Partner Visa for the spouse plus dependent child. I do not know about Canada, but Partner visas to Australia are a two-stage process that take 5 to 6 years in total and cost in the order of AUD $12,000 to $15,000 with most of that as upfront fees at the start of the Stage I provisional Visa step. In line with the Australian government's money hungry approach, fees paid are non-refundable should you cancel the application partway through. As we have now successfully completed the 6 year process started in 2014, my wife and our son now have PR (permanent resident) status for Australia which means they can come and go from Australia without other visas, they can work, study and live in Australia until 2024 at which time they can get a 5 year renewal (subject to conditions ) and ultimately lead onto Australian citizenship should they so desire.

In my opinion, Canada is a more caring and compassionate country than Australia (I am in Canada every year for 3-6 weeks as my daughter married a Canadian in 2000, has been a medical doctor in Vancouver since 2003, plus has dual Australian Canadian citizenship as do their two children.)

 In summary, the child adoption option will not get off the ground unless Canada would be prepared to issue a clear certificate that the adopted child would be allowed to live in Canada on a long-term or permanent resident basis. This clearance from Canada would be part of the prerequisite paperwork for lodgement through the Thai Social Welfare Department.

Perhaps a cleaner and easier option would be to provide financial support to the child's mother and the child stay with her biological mother in Thailand.

I wish you well in your decision-making, cheers for now.

23 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

This seems like an excessive and unneeded "benefit" that has been added on just to jack up the price. I realize that the pandemic has probably caused disruptions in air cargo operations, but the coverage amount for this looks to be more than ten times as high as what these services would have cost in normal times - and I have yet to meet a tourist who asks prior to a holiday, "but how will I pay for my funeral?" 

A person travelling overseas (on holidays or for any other reason) and not taking out travel insurance at the time of buying the tickets or making other bookings, is foolish and inexperienced.

All travel insurance policies I have read/considered include a death benefit cash payment plus cover for the cost of "repatriation of the bodily remains" to the nominated country.

A principle of indemnity insurance is that you cannot be paid twice for the same loss or incident - for example, insure your house or vehicle with 3 different companies, the house or vehicle is a total loss, then you only get the value paid once with the pay out cost shared by the 3 insurance companies.

The approved Thai Covid19 policies on offer should have the "death benefit" as an option with a separate pricing of that extra cover option. While this is logical, the counter argument is why pass up an opportunity to cream some extra cash from foreigners when you have them in a captive market??

On 6/6/2020 at 3:41 PM, Peter Denis said:

Hi,

No problem sending you the info, I actually sent it just now > so look in your PM-messages.

The main reason I prefer sending all of the Guideline documents I compiled PM is that it allows me to integrate any user-feedback when updating the document.  Having sent the info PM, it is then easy to contact me when users have questions or suggestions for improvement, and so when interested TVF-members contact me first time they always get the latest version of the document.

Top idea and process you are using, Peter.

Please drop me a PM of the TH30/TM28 notes that you have compiled.

Cheers and thanks, Richard.

On 5/31/2020 at 9:54 AM, 4MyEgo said:

From the research I have looked at this is what it says, word for word.

 

"You can us a notary public to witness your statutory declaration even if they are called something different under another country's legislation". For example, they may be called a notary or a public notary.

 

"Before using a notary public overseas, you should check the person has been appointed by a government to witness documents.

 

I believe when I weigh everything up including going to the Australian embassy, the only choice I have is to get a notary or public notary to sign the stat dec, as for the cost I think it's about 1,500 baht, unless anyone knows of a JP floating around my way in Udon Thani/Sakon Nakhon who would be prepared to witness my wife's signature.

I am a fair way down the road from you at Pattaya. I am a Queensland JP(Qual) and I am current with my JP and other registrations. I am very happy to assist if you and the document can take a trip to Pattaya or come up with other options. 

6 hours ago, theonetrueaussie said:

Don't listen to the haters, the thing you need to realize is that most people who have moved on and are much much happier by the way no longer visit these forums. Many people have found that thailand is no longer the place it was 7 years ago...let alone more then that, Why live here when quality of life is constantly going down, Nearly everyone I know here has moved to either vietnam or Philippines and is much more content with the quality of life.

As for which is better you will have to do some travel and stay in places for 2-3 months and then determine which place you like best. Don't be miserable and stay here hoping things get better and return to how it was in the past...it's just not going to happen!

Very wise and considered words. Try before you buy as suggested for 2-3 months in potential locations. A good tool to help in assessing each place is to develop a simple checklist of criteria or factors that are significant to you in your longer term decision making. Across the page or spreadsheet have 3 columns and rate each factor as one of :

A. Must have,

B. Must NOT have

C. Nice to have ( = an added benefit)  .

Do/use that template for each location and then, depending on your mindset (left brain or right brain) you could weight the importance to you of the different factors and come up with a numeric score per location, OR, use your page per location to come to a short list of preferred locations and then follow your heart to pick the winner.   Male logic is very different to female logic.  

A little away from Central Pattaya is "Rabbit Place Restaurant" on the eastern side of the Pattaya By-pass Rd that has the railway line in the middle. It is down towards Route 36 end. It re-opened on the 17 May and is a lovely spacious outdoor restaurant (with private rooms with Karaoke facilities off to one side), water features, fans at each dining table set, good food (Thai & international) and good value. We were there again on Thursday night (21 May) for our son's 13th birthday, and it was great to come out for dinner for the first time for ages (and ages!). Phone number is 09 4432 1313. Give it a shot. 

21 hours ago, n00dle said:

Truly ridiculous post, befitting an oddly phrased question.

 

It is safe to assume that no one with direct experience will be popping by the thread to answer.

It was a great post - would have to make the Qualifying Finals for "Post of The Year 2020".  Cheers and have fun.

17 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

The reason your wife needs to be with you is part of the proof needed to prove you are living together as husband and wife.

This from clause 2.18 for the police order. "(3) In the case of spouse, the relationship must be de jure and de facto:"

If divorce your extension ends on the day it is finalized.

If your wife dies your extension would be valid until it expires and you would need a different reason to apply for it.

Thanks, Joe. my wife and I both have Thai Wills. My Australian Will recognises my Thai Will, which is an attachment to my Australian Will, and my Australian Will covers everything excluding my assets etc in Thailand or in THB. Under my wife's Thai Will, her residence where we live (funded by me and mortgaged to me before we were married in 2014) and all her other assets are then held by me in Trust for her now 13 year old birth son until he is 26 years of age. If I die while in that Trustee role, her younger sister (who is mid 30's in age and lives with her family in the next suburb) becomes the Trustee of my wife's assets until her nephew (my step-Son) is 26 years of age. 

My questions are, if my wife pre-deceases me,

1. How does my Visa extension, currently based on Marriage, then stand at that time as I would be living here in Thailand as the appointed guardian and Trustee for the birth-Son of my deceased wife and the Son is still a minor in legal terms. Our plan was for full adoption of her birth Son but that was derailed by conflicting requirements between the relevant bureaucracies in each of Thailand and Australia with neither prepared to cut some slack in recognition of requirements in the other jurisdiction.

2. I am on a "Non-Immig O visa" granted in early 2014. Would rolling over to a retirement based visa extension be the only option? To keep clean with possible voluntary activities, I would strongly prefer to be in a position to apply for a work permit if a combination of circumstances were to eventuate. 

3. To my understanding, an advantage of the marriage based extension is that one can potentially be eligible for a work permit, whereas work permits are prohibited for holders of retirement based visa extensions. Please confirm. 

Thank you, Joe and others, for your knowledge and contributions over time. 

I am in a similar but different situation to the OP. In late July, I am due to go from BKK to Canada (Vancouver BC) in late July to visit family for a month during their school holidays. All travel has been booked and paid in full with Philippine Airlines (BKK-MNL-YVR) and returning in late August to Manilla & then down to Brisbane Australia for 10 days and back to home to Thailand (YVR-MNL-BNE-MNL-BKK). I do this trip every year since 2015.

Two days ago, speaking with my daughter, who is a specialist frontline medical doctor at a large hospital in YVR, she is not optimistic that the trip will happen in those time frames. The original Covid19 virus "D" has already mutated into the more virulent and "improved" virus "G614" - so the second wave is not only coming, it is already in place, waiting to spread whether we are ready or not!! (Domestic or global political objectives and posturing are irrelevant).

I expect I will be rolling over those travel bookings as a voucher to be used in the 12 months after the original travel dates.

As they say in the classics "up to you".  

I understand from Universal Gym (Pattaya) that from May 1 only open air gyms (= ? non-air con) may resume at reduced operating levels plus Covid19 social distancing and wearing of a mask. Their current expectation is that as an air conditioned gym, it will be mid-June before they will be allowed to operate. Life is tough in small business as well as for the population at large.

I had THAI flights BKK-Oz for our family of 3 on 23 March returning from Brisbane (Oz) on 12 April. These were booked directly with THAI Sales Centre in person on 27 January 2020 and paid for in full on Visa card at the time direct to THAI (no booking platform or travel agent involved).

Five days before travel (18 March) THAI cancelled the outbound flight and a few days later cancelled the return flights.

What is very damaging to THAI's reputation is that in an email to me on 9 April THAI (replying to my email of 18 March after they had cancelled the flight) said "the refund to the Visa card will be credited within at least 6 months" (amazing!!)

They can put through a charge to your card for many thousands of Baht in less than a minute while you stand there, BUT to reverse the same transaction will take them "at least 6 months" more than the 3 weeks after they already known that they had cancelled the flights.

 My concern is that THAI may well be bankrupt before they get to do the refund and down the black hole goes my cash paid to them in January for services in both directions that they cancelled in March.

The business principle I quoted to THAI in my reply email of 9 April is "do the right or good thing by your customers and you build a good reputation; do the wrong thing by one customer and letting that fester, means they will tell the world their story and that causes immense damage to your reputation".

It is now three weeks since my reply of 9 April with no acknowledgement OR refund - THAI have let the matter fester and effectively elected to incur damage to their reputation.

Moral of the story - BEWARE OF THAI AIRWAYS AND DEAL AT YOUR OWN RISK.    (In years past, they were quite good.) 

.