Tod Daniels

lagarto, that's the old form. Look at the sample ubon joe posted, (the one I sent him from a photo I took on Tuesday morning,). Totally different form now.

On 1/6/2022 at 5:12 PM, lagarto said:

I did my extension this week and a Covid 19 Screening form needs to be fill and presented at entrance to the building

 

You are correct, fill out the form and go in. I'm triple vaxxed but marked not vaxxed and got right in no problem.

Here's the new 90 day report weblink from the immigration website.

https://tm47.immigration.go.th/tm47/#/login

You can appy from 15 days before (actually 2 weeks exact) before down until the due date. Remember you have to file one 90 day report in person to use the online system

l

90 day reporting is at the Muang Thong Thani Immigration office since July 2020. Counter A, you queue up in the parking garage
https://tinyurl.com/yckjthdd

17 minutes ago, jeffandgop said:

This works...

 

https://extranet.immigration.go.th/fn24online/

I think you've got your wires crossed there Jeff... They are asking about the online TM6 arrival/departure card system (which was far as I know never worked).

They are not asking about the online TM30 system (notification of foreigner in residence)

At the immigration offices in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Buriram and one or two other locations you can apply for a new extension extern extern extension when you have 45 days or less left on your current stamp, must other offices are when you have 30 days or less left.

That "notice" from the agents/agencies came about because of the yearly shuffle of section heads (the higher ups move who runs each office), That's what's taking place at the end of this month AND it will take some time for the 'dust to settle' once the new people get in place.
Believe me the system isn't gonna change (it's too big and generates too much baht). Give it some time so the new section chiefs know how many back-door, under the table, visa/extensions their office does and things will go back to business as usual.    

Overstay days start counting from days on overstay BEFORE March 26th <-(the day they started amnesty) then the days AFTER October 31st <-(the day amnesty ended and people needed to get on to embassy/covid extensions).
They are counted as two separate overstays (to maximize the fine) but the days are counted together for the banning. 
An example would be like this; if you overstayed 40 days BEFORE march 26th & another 40 days after Oct 31st you would get a 20K baht fine for each period (40K baht total) BUT you would only have overstayed 80 days total so you wouldn't be banned.
I know it works this way because I just say a passport that had two overstay stamps one covering the period of overstay before amnesty started on March 26th and another covering the overstay after it ended on Oct 31st

You want the Muang Thong Thani choice for the 90 day (NOT Cham Churi Square)
The google map pin is this link
https://www.google.com/maps?q=13.918806,100.549083&entry=gps&shorturl=1

You actually go into the Central Investigation Bureau police compound
In thai it's กองบัญชาการตำรวจสอบสวนกลาง (บช.ก.)

Sorry in advance for the long post; hope it helps you some!

I've personally met foreigners here who've rented condos and apartments while only having a "30 day visa exempt stamp" in their passport. I also recently met a guy who only had a “15 day visa exempt stamp” sign a 6 month lease at the apartments next door to mine! Go figure ..

Most people and/or companies who rent out condos and apartments here take two months rent as a security deposit. I'd imagine they don't care how you're able to stay here for the duration of your contract. If you bail out early, you lose the deposit plain and simple .

I agree too, the requirements set by the Ministry of Education for studying the Thai language at a private language school averages 4 hours a week (although I think it's stated as 16 hours a calendar month ). Now if you enroll in a 'real university' you can expect to carry a 'real course load' in regards to hours of attendance based on that uni's requirements.

Still after perusing the Thai Embassy's website in Santiago Chile, I think you're further ahead to just show up on the 90 days you're given as a Chilean National and sort things out once you're here.

This actually works out to your advantage if you're contemplating enrolling in a private Thai language school. At least you'd have 90 days to personally scope out perspective schools, or come up with other options available to you if you didn't wanna go the ED visa route.

FWIW: The paperwork supplied by both the Ministry of Education and whatever school you enroll in are addressed to Thai Embassy's or Consulates (of which there are NONE inside Thailand, lol ), compelling you to go to a foreign country to secure the initial single-entry, 90 day, Non-Immigrant, Type-ED visa. The school and the MOE then supply you with paperwork to get 90 day extensions of stay 'in-country' at Thai Immigrations for the duration of your yearly term.

Unless I’m mistaken, a simple r/t air ticket outta Thailand to any neighboring country and re-entering Thailand again would give you another 90 days based on your nationality.

Sadly I couldn't find that if it works like that EVERY time you enter Thailand by any means (air or land). SO I can't tell you if just leaving Thailand at land border crossing and returning would give you the same 90 days too.

Maybe a more learned poster than me could answer that.

EDIT

P/S: One other option I didn't think about is;

You could call the Thai Embassy in Santiago and ask them if they'll issue you a year-long, multi-entry, Non-Immigrant, Type-O visa. You could use a reason along lines of "exploring business opportunities', blah-blah-blah.

Some Thai Embassy's and/or Consulates around the world will issue 'em, and some won't, but you're out nothing by asking.

With that type of visa in hand (or in your passport), you'd hafta leave the country every 90 days and re-enter, but you'd get another 90 day permission to stay stamp upon re-entering. If you work the dates right you can get almost 15 months outta those types of visas.

I'd email or call 'em and ask about it.

<SNIP>One that I hightly recommend is Pro Language School.<SNIP>

I agree !

The PRO Language location I visited here in Bangkok at the Times Square Building on the 10th floor had really good materials, friendly support staff and really motivated teachers.

I was there last month for 4 1/2 hours and they let me sit several different levels of classes. They also had more material than I've seen at ANY private Thai language school in Bangkok EVER!

I give it a "very good" in terms of "bang-4-the-baht" (a term I coined which means "what you receive in regards to what you pay").

People should drop in there, see their material for themselves and sit a 'sample' class too!

BTW: I am NOT affiliated with ANY Thai Language School!!

Although my experience is ONLY at Chaengwattana in Bangkok;

IF you can prove you're gonna be outta the country when your retirement extension of stay will come due, like with a booked itinerary etc, they'll renew it quite early (in fact WAY earlier than the 30 days for normal early renewals). I think the earliest an 'acquaintance' I accompanied there did it was about 4+ months early.

I'd go to Chiang Mai Immigrations with your travel documents and try it. I mean you’re returning on the day your extension expires. Even Chiang Mai Immigrations might see that it’s not entirely feasible to wing it on into the country then trudge to Immigrations to renew your extension of stay.

You're out nothing but time tryin' anyway.

In un-related other news; (a day or five late ain’t always the same everywhere)

A friend from American just returned to Thailand after a 3 month holiday outside the country. His extension of stay had expired 5 days before he returned here. He was stamped in on a 30 day visa exempt stamp, but went to Jomtien Immigrations, paid the 5 day 'overstay' on his 'old' retirement extension and with the correct documentation he said they issued him a year's extension of stay! While I didn't see his passport, I've no reason to doubt him either.

Go figure! Different places, different people, different interpretation of the rules!

Sorry, I’ve got no knowledge of Piammitr's Japanese course.

You also don’t mention your nationality (so the following may not apply to you), but;

The school known as TLS in the Times Square Building offers a Japanese course for Thais.

Here's their website;

TLS - Japanese Program

The class I observed was taught IN Thai (and Japanese). It used a Thai based phonetic system along with the Japanese and Thai script to get you speaking pretty quickly.

I can’t read or speak a SINGLE word of Japanese ; but I can read Thai pretty well .

When I sat in on their class, I was able to read along in the books, understand what the teacher was explaining and reproduce the vocabulary words pretty well.

The Thai students in that class sure got a kick out of an American native English speaker learning Japanese by using the Thai language . After the class the teacher even told me, for a foreigner , I was pretty close with my pronunciation! (I didn't bother to point out as far as learning Japanese the Thais were actually "foreigners" too.)

Do you keep a little notebook of Thai idioms to hand so you have an appropriate one for every situation you may encounter, or do you just commit them to memory?

I hope the above comment was posted "tongue in cheek" especially given the emoticon .

I've found Thai idioms are a great 'ice breaker' with strange Thais (not "strange" strange , but when meeting Thais I haven't interacted with before ). ..

Every Thai has heard their idioms used over and over again, just like I've heard American idioms used since Hector was a pup.

What I find most interesting in Thai idiomatic expressions is; once you factor in geographical and cultural differences into the mix, almost all the Thai idioms Ive heard have a close if not an exact equivalent of English ones.

Benjawan Becker even put out a c/d and booklet to go over the most popular Thai Slang and Idioms in her Speak Like a Thai series Volume 2.

They are handy to know and I get a lotta mileage outta em. ..

Now the kidz-slang which has cropped up and into the Thai language throws me for a complete loop.

I sometimes prefer to use old peoples terms too. These are phrases and ways of saying things which most younger Thais grandparents still say. At 52 years old, sometimes saying things that way seems to 'fit' better with my age.

I finished reading the book เรื่องเล่าคุณหนูไฮโซ.

It was an interesting if difficult read. It wasn't that the vocab used in the book was all too tough, except for the idiomatic stuff. Like I mentioned in a previous post, it was the almost ALL real-time spoken conversations that got to me. Still once I wrapped my head around that part of it, it did turn out to have quite a good (if somewhat shallow) story line with an interesting "twist" at the end.

The one I've just started is เรื่องเล่าสาวข้างบ้าน.

This one is about a guy married for a long time who runs 'amuck' with a young(er) girl who lives next door. So far it has all the components to make it a good story; an all too friendly young Thai girl, a lonely middle aged thai man (married to a nagging wife) coupled with the angst, heart ache, and longing situations like this can bring out. I think it's gonna be a good read too.

As always I'm going slow, writing down vocab (which I usually guess in context) but haven't really been exposed to, so I can look it up later and confirm the meaning(s).

What I like now about both these books (which I didn't like earlier) is that they're written so "contemporarily colloquial" in "today's speak" versus some Thai books I've tried to wade thru written with antiquated vernacular. I'd put these books firmly under the "young adult fiction" category and/or light reading.

Still they're good for increasing your reading comprehension speed in Thai. I think anyone who can even read basic Thai could get thru em both quite easily. Especially if you had a Thai-English dictionary or a spare "english speaking Thai national" handy .

Actually because of these books, I bought the Thai-English dictionary put out by Domnern Sathiengpong. I have a Se-Ed Modern English-Thai and Thai-English dictionary, but I so rarely look up English words meanings in Thai now I just leave it at home.

The books I mentioned are published by a company called ANIT Publishing and Ive seen them available most places. I think they've got quite a few in the เรื่องเล่า category.

Anyway, that's what I'm readin' now.

I remember a few years ago there used to be a Japanese guy who stayed at the Nana Hotel a coupla times a year. He wore what looked like a 'fly-fishing' vest which was just covered in carabiners; I mean there had to be 30 on it ! Each one had something of value (to him at least ) attached to it. Some had a wire lead and the valuable thing was tucked in one of the plethora of zipper pockets on the vest.

He was referred to as "Carabiner-Man" , and seemed to take it in stride.

His 'claim-to-fame' (if any of the dinosaurs staying at the Nana Hotel can have a claim to fame ) was that he took pictures the guests of hotel, and the next time he would show up he'd show the picz to them to prove he knew 'em.

I haven't heard of him in a while though.

Perhaps on an excursion he fell into deep water and due to the weight of the carabiners was unable to surface!

Sad actually because he seemed like a nice guy who just wanted things at his fingertips!

Plain and simple there aint no money in it.

Touring is usually a money losing endeavor (for most bands out there). To make money on a tour you need to do many dates close together. It's especially tough, in S/E Asia where a lengthy tour necessitates the need to play in MANY small countries and get in and outta them quickly. Factor in the inherent problems logistically moving equipment, support staff, etc around those countries and it can turn into a nite-mare. This is unlike the US or even the EU where bands can and do put on super successful multi-state (and in the case of the EU multi-country) 50 - 60 city tours which go off without a hitch.

Most of the real money made from touring comes not so much from ticket sales as it does from selling merchandising; t-shirt, tour programs, live c/ds of the show etc.

Bangkok just doesnt have the demographic make up to support the BIG bands comin here during a world tour, unless its a Farewell Tour where bands play secondary markets just to play them.

Now granted there are a more than few big acts thatve played here, and come back time and again. I doubt its a real money maker in terms of the profit compared to a similar sized city in the US or EU where a band can often sell out an arena for multiple nites.

I guess were resigned to being a one buffalo town in S/E Asia as far as real acts are concerned.

Heck, the last time I saw KISS (which I've seen well over 100 times, ) was their "Rising Sun Tour" back in 2006. I had to fly to Osaka as Japan was the closest they ever got to Thailand.

Self awareness. How would you might define this term?

I wouldn’t call it self-awareness. I think I would use the term; “spatial awareness” (and/or lack thereof ).

To me it means where a person “is” in space and time in relation to other people and or immoveable objects which share the “same location” in the “space/time continuum” (to coin a phrase from Star Trek ) .

This is something I see very little evidence of here.

Then again I could possible exist in an alternate yet parallel universe , one that is just slight outta sync with the one the Thais seem to exist in ..

Really, I can only remember one guy I accompanied accepted the "shoe-horning" . He took an extension based on retirement. He had sufficient funds too, so it flew thru without a hitch. His reasoning was, IF he divorced his wife, his extension would end , but as he's gonna be retired until he dies, it was a better way to go (for him at least!).

The rest didn't take all that well to being 'shoe-horned'. They all got their month "under consideration' stamp, then went back and got their year without incident.

Strange huh?

Yeah, that “they are a Thai official, so even if they’re wrong, they’re right and I can’t question them” mindset drives me up a wall too!

Thankfully, being American I don’t seem to suffer from that affliction. If I get an answer which I think is wrong I’ll politely ask in Thai to speak to another officer, one who is "standing on the next higher rung of the ladder” in Thai bureaucracy. This can often be disconcerting to the Thai you put on the spot by questioning them (as it just ain't done by a Thai national), but I’ve never had thingz go completely sideways by doing it.

Thankfully, I’ve dealt with Thai Immigrations at the old Suan Plu and now Changwattana, a coupla times a month for several years now.

The O/Ps situation is NOT unique, and happens quite a LOT.

Ive personally seen it in 15 - 20 cases. ..

In fact it happened a LOT more when Thai Immigrations at Suvarnabhumi (in their infinite wisdom ), decided to stop selling re-entry permits for a while. As they now do sell re-entry permits at Suvarnabhumi, (from 6:00AM to 12:AM) its happening less. It still trips people up who need to leave for emergencies etc.

In other news; I recently accompanied an acquaintance to Changwattana to secure a Non-Immigrant Type-O visa. At the time he was only here on a 15 day visa exempt stamp. He'd left the country without geting a re-entry permit and that canceled his old extension of stay.

They issued a 90 day Non-O single entry, and told him to return in 60 days to apply for a new yearly extension of stay based on retirement. Even though he met the financial obligations at the time the Immigration Officer wouldnt do the two-step process (issue the Non-O and then the extension of stay) at the same time.

Sometimes they do, and sometimes they dont . ..

While only anecdotally related to the O/P's post;

I know of an American who wrote a letter to an honorary Thai consulate in the US on his own company's letter head, stating he would be coming to Thailand to explore business opportunities. He went on to say, while he was here he would be enrolling in a private Thai language school to further the objective of business opportunities and therefore was requesting an ED visa.

He was NOT enrolled in a school at the time, nor did he possess ANY documentation normally provided by the school or MOE.

Quite surprisingly, his request was approved and he was issued a year long, multi-entry Non-Immigrant Type-ED visa. Now this was from an honorary consulate in the US (which will remain un-named). But I saw the visa in the passport with my own eyes when I ran into him at a private Thai language school I was scoping out (which is NOT an MOE approved school as they cater to business clientele and don't fool with ED visas at all).

So, it CAN happen, but it sure don't usually work out like that, not by a long stretch.

Even given the O/P's stated "adversity to travel", they're out nothing emailing consulates around where ever it is they come from, and seeing if any of them will meet their needs. Some consulates have a much more lenient interpretation of how the rules read in regards to issuing visas. Then again, some don't. .. ...

A real "international school' or Thai university can supply paperwork from the MOE (Ministry of Education) which allows enrolled students to convert to an ED visa in-country.

A private language school does not get the same paperwork from the MOE. The documents they get are addressed to a "Thai Embassy or Consulate". Seeing as there are NO Thai Embassy's or Consulates inside Thailand; this necessitates a trip to another country to secure the initial ED visa.

Just a note, the Thai Embassy or Consulate doesn't check with the MOE to see if the school is approved (as there're HUNDREDS of 'em scattered thru-out this country). The student is give paperwork from his school and support documentaion issued by the MOE stating they are attending a registered school.

IF they're attending a private language school, they'll most likely get just a single entry 90 day ED visa. This is extended at Thai Immigrations with the paperwork the school provides the student every 3 months for the duration of the year.

IF they're attending a real uni or international school quite often Thai Immigrations will issue them a visa which is good for the entire year, (although a re-entry permit is needed to keep this visa 'alive' should they leave the country and return).

Hope it helped, some at least .

I'll answer the question "Do I like living here?" two ways;

The short answer is; Nope, not particularly or overly fond of it.

The longer answer is; While it’s true, I don't like living here all that much, after being here almost 6 years now, I can say, I'm 100% sure I'd like living back in America a WHOLE lot less!.

As far as other countries I've lived in or contemplated living in, Thailand ain't all that bad or all that good. It just "is what it is", after all "This Is Thailand", right?

You learn to deal with their idiosyncrasies, the Thai mindset or you die . Thankfully I dealt with that stuff a while ago.

One thing, with 65+ million native Thai speakers; since I learned to speak and read Thai it sure has got a lot easier to live here . The jury is still out on if it's easier for the Thais or for me though. .. I think it's a draw