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jimster
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Posts posted by jimster
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On 4/17/2017 at 1:08 AM, oldcarguy said:
Asean community, Bangkok welcomes skilled workers, while agreements with immediate neighbours, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, have seen millions of unskilled labourers allowed to work in Thailand.
Why is the Philippines not included ?
Looks like having English speaking skilled workers would take real jobs away , not the slave labor jobs the unskilled workers take ,
Thailand does love to have it both ways ,
Well for starters, the Philippines is not a direct neighboring country. Although neither is Vietnam, the latter only sees a small number of workers legally in Thailand mainly in the north-eastern border provinces next to Laos, the bulk of Thailand's menial work is performed by Burmese nationals (around 70-80% of the total) followed by Cambodia at 15-20% then Laos. The labor agreement between Thailand and Vietnam is a very recent one (I can remember reading about it last year).
Filipino workers can, and have always been eligible to apply for a non-B visa and work permit to work in skilled professions such as English teaching. If they choose to work illegally, then they need to accept the risk they're taking. I'm sure a Thai couldn't just work in the Philippines without securing a work permit either.
ASEAN is not about complete freedom of movement like in the EU.
I think at this time, the ASEAN countries should agree on some common frameworks (such as common customs rules, allowing vehicles registered in one ASEAN country in to another ASEAN country etc.) but aside from this work to keep their sovereignty in tact. An EU-style super state (which ASEAN or the AEC fortunately is not, at least for now) would be an absolute nightmare for the citizen's of each and every ASEAN state.
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On 4/16/2017 at 5:04 PM, Reigntax said:
What a load of crap. Telstra is a company ,owned by shareholders and the obligation of the directors and the CEO is maximise shareholder profits. In fact, if they dont, they are breaching their director obligations and would face proscution under the Corporations Act.
The NBN company of which currently the Aus Govt is the owner has an obligation to the Aust people to obtain the best value for money for taxpayers. If an Indian company can supply a product cheaper than a local company and equal in quality, the local product to too expensive. That is how supply and demand works. Labour protection for overpaid and lazy workers is now over.
Actually he is right. What Telstra and every other big Australian company is doing is maximizing their profits. They don't give a rat's ass about Australian workers. Yes the local workers may be overpaid, to some extent. But have you seen the cost of living over there? The government knows very well what it's doing and knows very well that Australians are unhappy about this. I find it insulting of you to label Aussie workers as "lazy". They are simply expensive, but certainly not lazy. As soon as India or the Philippines becomes too expensive (give it at least 10-15 years) they'll simply cull those jobs and move them to Nigeria or somewhere else which is even cheaper. That's how globalization works.
The obligation of the Australian government should be to provide jobs for the Australian people, but the future is grim. More and more jobs will be outsourced and what remains will increasingly be automated. This is of course a global trend, but Australia is at the frontline now, followed by other rich western countries, Singapore and Japan. It will probably eventually hit Thailand too, though not for now.
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6 hours ago, darksidedog said:
I don't see the death toll coming down significantly, any time soon then. They're just crazy. 83% agree it is a good idea that will save lives, but they just don't care enough about their own lives to actually comply?
The English language OP contradicts entirely with the Thai language clip I just viewed. In that clip, 87% of pickup owners and 70% of other vehicle owners according to a NIDA poll agree that there need to be changes to the law. This means they disagree with the strictness of the law and want to see it either amended or scrapped as explained in the clip. If you don't understand Thai, please get a Thai speaker to explain it to you.
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9 minutes ago, JAG said:
Lobbying and petitioning eh?
You do know how and by whom Thailand is governed right now?Doesn't make a difference. Some foreigners seem to have this impression that the current government is more authoritarian than previous governments but in reality it doesn't matter. Just like immigration changes for foreigners were made by the red shirt and then the yellow shirt administrations, the military government has continued this trend. Any future civilian government won't undo these changes. It's identical in the west. No matter if it's a conservative or liberal government in power, over time the government consolidates it's power and works from changes made by previous administrations. Consider for example the following: has any western government managed to overturn the policy of multiculturalism and replace it with pre 1960s or 1970s restrictions? For example, to make Europe European again? (e.g. France French, Germany German etc.) No. And no matter the government in power and how much they claim to work for the ordinary people, it will never happen, despite the rhetoric of some politicians. The ones who may actually be serious about it will never get into power.
Back to Thailand though - the government has already said it will back down on this rule. For now at least.
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19 minutes ago, Kadilo said:
He probably tried to sell them a suit.
Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa ConnectLOL
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4 hours ago, moe666 said:
More than likely Thai-Indian, every one realizes there is a huge population of Thai citizens with Indian background
Huge, no. Maybe 30,000 or something like that. A lot of Thais especially in the provinces will have never met a Thai of Indian background and will assume they are a foreigner from India until they open their mouth and speak Thai. Indians are known as "khaek" lit. "guest" in Thai and as such, most Thais will assume that's what they are unless they know them personally.
It's a confusing story because it seems to imply that the Thai gang came to the aid of an Indian man who was in dispute with another Indian. That would be a first because normally Thais don't care about arguments between two foreigners. It's usually "protect the Thai against the foreigner" but here there was no Thai to protect. If one individual was indeed an Indian Thai, the Thai gang would have had to have known this by knowing that individual personally.
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24 minutes ago, TKDfella said:
While I might sympathize with this view we are talking about about a Law. It is not for people to pick and choose which Law to obey, rich or poor. If the majority disagree then it should be lobbied and petitioned for said Law to be changed. All the more important for a '...developing 3rd world country...' as you put it, to follow laws and form the basis of future progress otherwise there be lack of/no respect for Laws.
Well that's what people in Thailand tend to do and I salute them for it. Some laws are just silly and the people don't want their rights and freedom taken away from them.
However, there was so much outrage with this law that the police decided it would make some consultations and consider it again in the future. I'm confused by this latest update because I think it was made perfectly clear that this law will NOT be entered into force for the time being, even though just a couple of weeks ago it was looking like the police wanted to enforce it but perhaps they underestimated the community backlash and impact it would have on the lives of people.
A 6 person limit riding in the tray, something like that may perhaps be a reasonable compromise. However, Thailand should not be in any rush to emulate any other country. It's situation is unique (how many countries in the world have as many pickup trucks on the road as in Thailand?) and to impose such a draconian, drastic change that is neither a cause of road accidents nor does it help to solve the problem of a high accident rate is just ridiculous.
Something more sane like recognizing that around 80% of all road accidents (including injuries and deaths) involve motorcycles and thus enforcing the helmet law would make more sense. Not only is wearing a helmet the law since many years and is sensible, it doesn't require a big investment or change in lifestyle. Already the vast majority of motorcycle riders in Bangkok wear helmets (around 80-90% or even more), nearly all owners of motorcycles also own a helmet even if they don't use it and it would help to bring down the road toll.
I'm baffled why they even decided to focus on pickup trucks to begin with rather than motorcycles. Seems like a rather bizarre thing to do, especially in light of the statistics I've just given.
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On 4/20/2017 at 11:24 AM, brewsterbudgen said:
Yes, and they are also arrested when breaking the law such as openly soliciting. While foreign prostitutes can be deported, Thai prostitutes get a token fine and are normally released. It's not the crime of the century after all.Prostitution is not the crime of the century for sure, but these women will be deported because they're foreigners. They're engaging in an illegal activity and working in breach of the law (no work permit).
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On 4/20/2017 at 10:45 AM, themerg said:
Right now, without THOUSANDS of Thai prostitutes arrested, I called this Protectionism
This is the same as US did with Japanese interments in World War 2.
In this case, the police are not arresting Thai people.
Most Pattaya prostitutes are Thai people.
Well for starters, foreigners are not entitled to work as prostitutes in Thailand. Aside from prostitution technically being illegal in general, it's doubly illegal if a foreigner engages in it. Imagine the stern look on an immigration officer's face if a foreigner told them they came to Thailand to sell their bodies and are requesting a work permit for it.
With almost certainty, these women will be deported. However, that doesn't mean that new ones won't come to replace them.
Also, beauty aside (there are certainly some good looking African females), but I'm confused by there being a demand for African (or for that matter white, mostly eastern European) prostitutes in Thailand. I mean, Thailand isn't a multicultural country. I thought men came to Thailand for Thai women, not foreigners from a completely different continent. Also, Thai men almost invariably like Thai or at least other Asian women (this means East Asian). Only a small number have the hots for European women, even fewer for any other race/ethnicity. Recently, a Thai male friend of mine told me he would never date a non-Asian women. He just doesn't like them.
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12 hours ago, Thechook said:
Thais love their people to work overseas but absolutely despise a foreigner working in Thailand.
Well that's funny because as many as 3 million foreigners from Myanmar (the vast majority), along with smaller numbers of Cambodians and Lao citizens work in Thailand. This total is many times more than the total of Thai workers working abroad according to the figures presented here. Out of these 3 million, some are undocumented, but at least 2 million are from Myanmar, with the bulk of the remainder, around 800,000 from Cambodia and around 200,000 or so from Laos. The occasional Filipino, Vietnamese, Indian and Bangladeshi also works illegally in Thailand.
I'm not aware of there being much animosity towards these people by Thais because they mostly work in menial roles. Even westerners, who work in white collar roles tend to be respected - only thing is that too often Thais stereotype westerners as English teachers even though they may actually work in HR, marketing, finance, media, even engineering services.
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39 minutes ago, 8OA8 said:
Yes but 39 yrs old seems a bit too soon
Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk
Yes, indeed it is. It's also a bit disconcerting given that he probably would have been used to working in the heat. Perhaps he overdid himself or had some underlying medical problems.
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9 minutes ago, wgdanson said:
The fine for speeding in UK has just today gone up to 150% of your weekly wage if doing 51mph in a 30 zone or 101 on a motorway. Maybe something like that would work over here.
Oh no please don't make those kind of suggestions. Also, if the fines are too high they just won't be paid. Period.
Out of interest how much in Pounds are the speeding fines you speak of in the UK, just out of interest?
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14 minutes ago, oldhippy said:
What happens if the hotel does not report the tourist to immigration? Same as with a condo - the tourist will be fined?
Highly unlikely because most of the time tourists only spend a night or two at a hotel. The majority of customers will be tourists on visa exemptions or tourist visas, rather than extensions of stay. The former are unlikely to need to have any dealings with immigration except if they choose to extend their visas. The latter are more likely to be fined, but this depends on their local immigration office.
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1 minute ago, anotheruser said:
I was doing nothing more than voicing some concerns the ex pat community in Laos have because of the rules. You seem to take delight in other people's predicaments. I have made a few very reasonable examples of the impact the new rules have had and you suggest the most ludicrous alternatives.
For this reason I am not going to bother continue this discussion with you. You are incapable of rational thought and can't grasp basic logistics.
Good day sir.
It seems that you have an urge to always be right even when you are losing the debate or don't know all the facts. You never addressed my mention of the METV, which I know for a fact is available for Lao based expats. I've offered you a solution but you ignore it. You dismiss every rational suggestion I've made.
It seems you are all about projecting your self-entitled attitude of what happens to me, me, me? I'm done here.
But I'll leave you with one final thought. There's nothing you can do about these laws. Thai immigration just doesn't care. Adjust somehow, otherwise deal with it. That's life.
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3 minutes ago, anotheruser said:
I have a visa for both countries. I am not talking about my own circumstances. Many of the businesses in Laos depend on supplies to make them work. The problem with some of your suggestions is after the added expense they will not be able to make a margin on things brought back.
If you think a three day trip to Viet Nam or a fight from Pakse via SVN that costs more than $100 and staying over night in Bangkok is an alternative to a day trip to Ubon or Udon you are batshit crazy.
The people living in Laos have done nothing to trigger this situation and haven't abused Thai immigration laws.
Again, boo hoo sob sob. Thailand's crackdown has nothing to do with me. I didn't write the rules nor do I enforce them. I still don't get what the problem is.
A legitimate business owner in Laos will have a business visa and work permit. That entitles them to apply for a Thai METV and travel in and out for 6 months at a cost of 5000 Baht. A slightly added extra amount of inconvenience but there you go, problem solved.
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3 minutes ago, anotheruser said:
A mere 300km away? What town at the border is there to buy supplies from?
lol I have a proper Lao visa and I also have a TE visa so I have no problems of any kind. It is some people that have settled and aren't exactly rich doing honest business that are suffering. Rich people aren't the ones being starved out of basic commodities by these restrictions.
If they have settled they should have proper visas and shouldn't be affected because just like in Thailand it's illegal to work on a tourist visa. Lao immigration is still fairly lenient, but it's nevertheless against the law. If you're unaffected by these rules, why are you making such a big fuss about what happens to other people?
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6 minutes ago, anotheruser said:
Your comments only show that you have no real world experience of what it is like to live in Laos next to a land border. 1 or 2 farang that live in Vientiane? Look at the list of restaurants on Tripadvisor. That remark alone discredits everything you say. Go to China instead? lol
You are a real piece of work.
I was meant to say 1 or 2 farang customers that live in Vientiane that cross the border daily to visit Mega Home and the like in Nong Khai.
You really are a self-entitled arrogant person. Oh no, Thailand is cracking down, how dare they! Boo hoo, no one cares. If you can't secure a proper Lao visa, maybe it's time to think about heading back home?
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1 minute ago, anotheruser said:
Fly to Bangkok? That is really asking quite a lot of you live in southern Laos. It is also very expensive. You aren't offering an realistic suggestions. Why don't you just suggest people simply keel over and die? That would be an effective solution wouldn't it?
What's with your sense of entitlement? Did you read my comments at all? I suggested Vietnam, a mere 300km away from pakse. There are also flights from Pakse to Bangkok. There's a Thai consulate in Savannakhet. Or how about getting a proper Lao visa so you don't have to do any border runs?
Seriously, no one cares about the plight of some rich white people in Laos on tourist visas.
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On 4/22/2017 at 11:23 AM, SiamBeast said:
Normally house owners must report any foreigner staying on their premises within 24 hours - this means that my wife must report me when I arrive to her place from an overseas trip.
However nobody cares and nobody does it.
Hotels and guesthouses have an automatic reporting system that reports you when you check in.
The majority of hotels I stay in do NOT automatically report foreign guests, though they have the means to do so. If you show them a Thai driver's licence, they won't report your presence. Even if you show them your passport, they usually only make a copy of the front information page and won't report you either. It's generally only hotels in places like downtown Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and a few other places that follow the law according to the book, but even then it's not every hotel or guesthouse. Khao San road in Bangkok is said to be strict, but the Marriott or Novotel might not be.
There was talk of a crackdown in the aftermath of the 2015 Bangkok bombings but it was probably only short-lived and had little effect on those hotels who never regularly reported foreign guests. Those that do have been doing so for years if not decades and the events of 2015 and any police order had no effect; those that didn't may or may not have cracked down but in my experience I have not found there to be any changes. But then again I don't stay on Khao san road.
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21 hours ago, anotheruser said:
I have a friend who was refused at the Ubon border a few days ago. At Chong Mek they seem to be following the rule pretty strictly. Interesting that they may be doing things differently at the Nong Kai border.
Awhile back the Cambodian border with Laos closed. Talk about feeling trapped like a rat if you live in the 4,000 islands area. You can't go to Thailand so where to visa hop? Cambodia... oh wait a minute.
This law is proving to be a terrible burden for Laos ex pats but I wouldn't expect much sympathy here from the TV crowd. People in Laos with no work permits or visa are in a pinch at the moment and I would be rethinking what I am doing in Laos if I am them right now.
Re: 4000 islands. Go to Vietnam - daily minibuses from Pakse leave for various points inside Vietnam, including Danang I believe. There's a Vietnamese consulate located in Pakse, visas issued in 10 mins if you pay a little extra, 3-month multiple entry visas are also available. Visas not required for Brits, Americans, Scandinavians and a few others for trips of less than 15 days.
What I don't get is why are these people living in Laos always border hopping between Laos and Thailand, just because Thailand is right "there"? Get a proper visa or re-think what you are doing in Laos. I don't see why Thailand has an obligation to care about some extended tourists living in a neighboring country. It's not their problem, westerners are supposed to be rich anyway. Get a Thai visa or fly to Bangkok. How hard can that be?
As for the report from the user you quoted, keep in mind that the law is still relatively new. They are enforcing it at all borders, so if he got in without a visa for the 3rd time this year, he was lucky because maybe a couple of immigration officials didn't do their job properly by carefully checking his passport and their immigration computers. He might not be so lucky next time. On the other hand, maybe, it's possible that expats living on proper Lao visas, such as business visas are allowed to enter Thailand by land at the Nong Khai crossing with conditions that are not applicable to others. I have not seen anything official to verify this so until I do, take the risk if you want, but be prepared to be turned back just in case.
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On 3/14/2017 at 9:01 AM, hgma said:
Do i miss something here?
Isn't this ALL about expats living AND working in neighboring countries.
Thailand shoots itself and possible patients in the foot when prohibiting to make use of the massive promoted medical THAI hub, since really the medical standards in surrounding countries with exception of Malasia can't be compared.
And what about border town economy?
Massive investments are made in Isan by home pro Tesco and what have we to get grip on the neighboring countries costumer volume...weekly pick up trucks loaded with food etc bought in Thailand//////////// GONE!
Laos doesn't allow pensioners to get a work permit, so in fact your sucked there if your over 60 (no METV THAI)
So what and where are the border runners in this story......?
Laos?
How?
Thailand doesn't allow foreigners on retirement visas to work either. Laos is a little bit more likely to turn a blind eye to working foreigners in general, though eventually they will start cracking down too. Already they are targeting unregistered Chinese and Vietnamese nationals performing menial work, the next step will probably be checking what farangs are doing. I give it a couple more years at most.
Tesco, Home Pro, Mega Home etc. stores in Nong Khai and Udon Thani are primarily intended for local Thais and Lao citizens crossing the border, nobody is going to open a hardware store on the Thai side for the 1 or 2 daily falang customers who claim to live in Vientiane. Geez, what's with the sense of western entitlement in this part of the world these days?
Some simple solutions: get a METV (maybe you can still apply for one despite what you claim), or a single entry Thai TV (with re-entry permits if you intend to re-enter within 2 months), fly in to Bangkok or Chiang Mai, travel to Vietnam, China or Cambodia instead, fly to another country. Get a Lao citizen to do your shopping for you. There are many solutions for Lao based westerners. -
2 hours ago, trogers said:
And so, the poor should be excused from the Law and should behave like those in Africa?
First of all, get off your high horse.
Secondly, what's wrong with Africa or the behavior of Africans? Their culture may be different to that of Thailand, the rest of Asia and the west, but that doesn't make them inferior. Each culture is unique. Respect them.
Thirdly, I see where you are going with your comment. You're another one of these "it's better in the west, why isn't the whole world like us?" types. Your arrogance and the implied imperialistic message sickens me.
Moreover, I don't think that Thailand can "learn" anything from the west in this regard. Westerners love their nanny state governments too much. There are so many dumbed down idiots who think that the government always knows the best solution to every problem.
You know what? They don't. Your average Thai is smart enough to know the risks of transporting passengers in the back of a pickup. If he/she drives normally and doesn't cause an accident or is not the victim of an accident, then nobody in the tray of a pickup will get injured or killed, period. Similarly, passengers can and do get injured and killed in accidents when sitting inside vehicles too. Having passengers in the rear of a pickup doesn't cause accidents. Accidents are caused by dangerous driving, fatigue, speeding, drink driving and driving against the flow of traffic. If these issues are addressed, then the accident rate will drop without needing to change the whole lifestyle of the Thai people.
If this law is implemented (though every few days the government changes it's mind) it will be a disaster for the Thai people and the economy. Pickup sales, particularly of 2 door extended cabs will plummet, the whole pickup manufacturing industry will likely suffer as a result. How will construction and agricultural workers get to work? Who will pay for the buses, vans and other types of vehicles necessary to transport these people to work and back home? Do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass this will be for ordinary people?
Get it right. Laws are never made in the interests of ordinary citizens. They're made in order to increase government control. An extremely worrying worldwide trend that if remained unchallenged, will result in tyranny and slavery in decades to come. If Thailand becomes more like the west, it will cease being the country we know and love. I just hope I'm not alive then to see that happen.
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50 minutes ago, Stray said:
Yes, they should be banned from everywhere, EXCEPT from the places wherever I happen to be and I need one when I'm hungry.
I'm walking down Sukhumvit, feel like a feed but have to make the trip all the way to Khao Sahn . . . seems like a sensible (not) approach.
Well as it turns out, the original plan was to ban them in Khao San road and Yaowarat (Chinatown) too, which would be just insane. First of all, Khao San road is a pedestrian street anyway, tourists don't go there to walk down an empty street with buildings that can be found anywhere else, street food and street stalls selling clothing etc. are part of the attraction, it's a "one stop service" street, so to speak. And this is coming from someone that is not all that fond of Khao San road himself, but that's mainly because of all the backpackers and their behavior, though I've been known to enjoy the Songkran festivities and an occasional drink there.
Yaowarat is similar, the roads there are perennially congested but not because of the street food stalls. More because of terrible traffic management. It's one of the few places in the world where traffic is at a standstill at 3am.
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1 hour ago, Suradit69 said:
I've never had any problem with street food as far as health issues are concerned. If you don't think the food is prepared or kept properly, move on to another vendor or go eat in some supposedly hygienic restaurant.
One of the nice thing about food vendors is that they can be found in so many places. Herding them into certain areas would defeat their convenient availability. Over-regulation by government is something being opposed in most countries. Enforcement is rarely consistent, leads to more corruption and benefits no one. If someone is not providing good food, they'll lose business. Customer feedback will be more effective than hiring people to go around pretending to inspect every vendor.
Absolutely. Street food is also a major drawcard for foreign visitors traveling to Thailand. Without them, Bangkok will become little more than a slightly less sanitized and more chaotic version of Singapore.
As many people have said and I concur with as my experience has been the same, I've never been sick from eating street food, but I have suffered food poisoning from eating in a supposedly "hygienic" restaurant.
This whole shutting down street vendors campaign has nothing to do with beautifying the pavement allowing pedestrians to move more freely or to improve hygiene. It's about getting rid of competition, increasing taxation and it all benefits the government and of course big food conglomerates such as CP. From a personal point of view, if I'm walking on the pavement it means I'm heading to a street vendor or somewhere nearby. Like most other Thais, I don't spend my time walking in Bangkok, I drive. Even without street vendors, the pavements would still be uneven, smelly and congested.
Bangkok has the world's best street food — but authorities want it gone
in Bangkok
Posted
Singapore is fine, I like it too (at least for a few days it's not too bad) but if you're suggesting this is the path Bangkok should look towards, I think you're mistaken. Tourists will stop coming if Bangkok simply turns into a slightly more chaotic, messier version of Singapore. There are already enough shopping malls all with the same stores, same restaurants, same supermarkets it's getting boring as it is - I mean how many more Fuji restaurants, MK Suki restaurants, McDonalds, KFCs, Dairy Queens etc. does one need? Kill the street food and not only will that mean lost livelihoods for the locals and possible protests and social upheaval (yes it will happen if the government doesn't abandon it's plan or find an acceptable compromise solution) but the charm of Bangkok will be lost.
If I want to go to Singapore, I'll go there. I don't need another Singapore in Thailand, because once that happens, there'll be another one in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and soon the whole world will be same. Sterile and boring.