Peter Aherne

To be fair, even though not especially well written the article does seem to be referring to a specific add “The ad appeared on the website of a car rental company”. And says immigration counters do not offer that service which is true. That does not mean that there are not legitimate companies offering the service, and it’s not just immigration fast track it’s also security. I personally get it through my Citibank credit card and it’s indispensable, taxi to lounge in 5-10 minutes usually. I believe there are two fast tracks. One is VIP, first class and air crew near Gate 1 and the Thai checkin, this is what Citibank use and is great. the other is in between the two regular lines last I saw, think elderly and and others with disabilities can use it and maybe some airlines offer it with their first/business class seats. Looked very hit and miss when I passed

23 hours ago, BritTim said:

One option from Siem Reap is O'Smach/Chong Chom. The border is not very far, but there was very little public transport the last time I checked, and it takes you to Surin province

Maybe someone here can help, I'm trying to apply for a Cambodian Tourist Visa online (Irish passport holder) and was planning on entering at O'Smach/Chong Chom however when I try complete the form there is not option for this entry point, only these:

Anyone have any idea why?

Thanks,
Peter.

Thanks Guys,

As usual it seems to change from province to province and Samut Prakan seems to be particularly strict. In my case as I'm renting and the landlord is in Singapore it's a bit more hassle but they have been really cooperative. Also, since it's my company it falls on me to get all the docs together, especially annoying as we are at the end of the year so doing company submissions at the same time...

Anyway, thanks for the info, every effort will be made to use the 400k in the bank method going forward! 

Peter.

Hi,

I'm extending my non-o visa based on marriage shortly, I got the following list from the Samut Prakan immigration website:

1. Visa Extension Form (TM.7)
2. Passport or Travel Documents
3. Non-Immigrant Visa
4. Marriage Certificate.(If from abord have to certified by The Embassy or Consulate in Thailand) and Certificate of family, Certificate of marriage.
5. Thai wife ‘s I.D. Card
6. House register of Thai wife
7. Children ‘s Birth Certificate
8. Letter from Thai Bank certified money in thai account (Alien’s Name) more than 400,000 Baht 2 months before, bank book and ATM slip on date of application OR
9. Income or Pension have to certified by The Embassy or Consulate in Thailand and Show income more than 40,000 Baht/month
10. Map to Home
11. Family Photo

I have a work permit and will use the monthly income method (A big mistake not to move some money around and use the 400k method but based on the list above I thought income method would be straightforward).

However now I'm talking to a relocation company who help expats and are asking me to provide an insane amount of documentation including:

The title deed ( Chanod) and the buying contract - I've already provided the tambien baan

Office photos

Potentially an office visit and/or home visit.

All company documents - registration, list of shareholders, PND91, PND1 and a few others, these are all fine but is this normal?

Based on the list from the Samut Prakan website I was expecting the proof of income method to really only involve work permit and bank statement since I could not have a work permit without making at least I think 60k a month.

Any insights appreciated especially from Samut Prakan office as I'm getting the impression they are especially strict.

Thanks,
Peter.

Hi All,

There are quite a few topics on this already but I could not find anything more recent that 12+months old. I'm wondering where to get lawn turf and possibly get it laid also. I'm living in a mooban in Bangkok where the sides and back of the house maybe only get a couple of hours sun and the front maybe 5-6 hours. I get that the turf here comes with very little soil so in terms of prep I would need some good compost/wormcast etc. but what type of grass should I buy (Malay seems the hardiest but least attractive but I've heard Japanese can also be good?) and how much should I expect to pay for the grass and laying it? Any recommendations on where to get it in Bangkok would be appreciated, I've seen many garden shops around but never seen any that appear to sell turf.

Thanks,
Peter.

On 3/23/2020 at 10:00 AM, Peter Aherne said:

Moved from Bangkok to Samut Prakan so that's why I cant use my old lawyer

As he is based in Bangkok and works on people living there his contacts are in Chang Wattana...

Hi Folks,

Just wondering if anyone has used a lawyer or agent to assist with Non-O extensions in Samut Prakan? Nothing fishy like trying to circumvent requirements etc, I have all the documents I need but a lawyer/agent was able to help speed up the process for me in the past as I have to travel frequently (most weeks) for work. Although this may not be an issue at the moment with Covid-19 I'm due to extend in May so just checking things out now. Moved from Bangkok to Samut Prakan so that's why I cant use my old lawyer. Google gave only one result so just looking for any recommendations.

Thanks,
Peter.

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration should seek ways to control dust from  construction sites, especially the electric train system. Burning for the purpose of clearing must be strictly banned.

Is this not referring to crop burning? Not that it'll ever be strictly banned/enforced but it is right there in the article...

17 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Current model?

10 years old?

Last century model?

Hey,

It's a 2003 w203 c200 CDI.

Thanks,

Peter.

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone knows where I could find a second hand AC control unit for a Mercedes in and around Bangkok?

Thanks,
Peter.

On 10/5/2019 at 9:44 PM, LukKrueng said:

On the other hand, should you have exited Thailand on passport 1 and tried to enter Cambodia on passport No. 2 - the Cambodians would have refused your entry as well

Hmm, as I said above live and learn, I never would have considered (Obviously given I got myself into the mess) that land and air borders would be treated differently. Still, don't really get the logic, fair enough they want to see where you just came from but the other passport does that...C'est la vie

Thanks for all the informative responses....

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

Sure make a lot of sense, top criminal is not in the system but someone who say, traveled too many times to Thailand IS in the system, and barred from entry, make sense to me...

It does make perfect sense no? There should probably be an arrest warrant, trial and conviction before he can be called a "Top criminal" though why at least the first has not happened with suspicions he's done this before is a different question, but a criminal police matter not immigration or bio-metrics. So, a Thai citizen with no arrest warrants went to HK, seems reasonable enough to me, I'm often allowed into and out of Ireland as a citizen who's not done anything wrong. Now, someone who say, traveled too many times into Thailand (I assume you are talking about on visa exempt or tourist visa's) are flagged in the system as it seems unlikely that they are Tourists spending this much time in the country, therefore, they are detained, questioned and likely refused entry. Again, seems perfectly reasonable.....if you're living here and using visa exempt/tourist visa entries they are perfectly in their rights to refuse entry....

22 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

If they had let you enter to get a visa exempt entry you could of turned around and used both passports to leave the country again using the other passport. Entered Cambodia then turn around again and entered here again.

Yeah, I was thinking that, if I could get a new visa for Cambodia on my other passport just turn around and leave again on that and no problem. For some reason or another we were told that was not possible, Irish normally need to apply for VoA before travelling to Cambodia so I guess this is why. Luckily someone on the Cambodia side managed to get our departure stamps cancelled so we could come back into Cambodia. Nice that Cambodian immigration can be so helpful to a tourist but Thai cannot do the same for a long-term resident and one of their own citizens!  

11 minutes ago, Bert Jones said:

Sorry Peter, "as they will look for your Vietnam visa when checking in" who will? My British passport allows a 15 day stay without any visa.

Hi Bert,

The airline will look to ensure you have the right to enter Vietnam. So if you book with your Irish passport they will look in that for a visa and if you then show your British passport to prove you have the right to enter they may update your booking, probably not an issue but a waste of time. If you book with British, they should know (or you can tell them) that British citizens have 15 day visa exempt entry. I always book with the passport that will have the visa/right of entry for my destination as the airlines will usually check...

2 minutes ago, Bert Jones said:

Quick question if I may...I need a visa to visit Vietnam on my Irish passport. Can I arrive by air from Thailand and present my British passport?

Yep, as far as I know that should be fine. A lot of dual nationality citizens will use one passport leaving their country of residence and presenting another at immigration in their destination. Best to book flights under your British passport though as they will look for your Vietnam visa when checking in.

I'm not sure still though why there was an issue. The departure stamp for the other country was there, in the other passport they had in their hands. My entry to Thailand is surely determined by my valid passport and valid visa for Thailand. Anyway, I guess live and learn. Pity there is not some sort of Biometrics system so that people actually trying to dodge immigration would be caught and people with completely valid visa's would be left through ????. 

On another note, I've just done a very quick google yet still have not found anything stating this, is there somewhere that outlines this requirement at land borders and the rationale? Obviously a bit useless googling after the fact but curious now....

The other weird thing is that somewhere through this process one of the officers stapled the departure portion of a TM6 into my passport, it was in another persons name and had a different arrival state for Thailand. The can of beer one of the officers was "slyly" drinking from may explain it...when we raised this, card taken out and nothing said...TiT...

@ubonjoeYeah, it's a little weird but they insisted that if I entered Thailand on an exempt I would have to apply for marriage visa again...thus, happily back in Siam Reap on the original plan to fly back to Swampy....

Hi, So I just had an interesting and confusing situation. I have two Irish passports as I travel frequently. I got a business passport for general travel and my personal passport I use only for entry and exit to Thailand as it has my Non-O visa extended by marriage.

So, Last week my wife and I flew from Suvarabumhi to Phnom Penh and then traveled up to Siam Reap and were due to fly back to Bangkok on Sunday. In a last minute change we decided to travel over the border at O'Samach and stop off in Surin for a few days on the way back to Bangkok. At this stage I had my Cambodian visa & stamps in the business passport and Thai visa in my personal one. No problems on the Cambodian side and got stamped out but on the Thai side they refused me entry on the Thai visa because I did not have the Cambodian stamps on the same passport. This makes no sense to me as I've often traveled like this (Though only in and out of Suvaranabumhi). One immigration officer and another non-uniformed guy even agreed with me but not the ones that mattered apparently. Long story short, they would only give me a 30 days visa exemption which would have then invalidated my Non-O. In the end I had to cancel my exit stamp from Cambodia (There were some very helpful folks who sorted this for me) and come back to Siam Reap and fly out as planned on Sunday, then apparently this dual passport issue goes away. Is there some logic here that I'm missing, I obviously thought my personal visa with my Thai Non-O would work the same at every entry point....I'm very confused!

Cheers,
peter.

I've seen basic versions of this on the sides of canals here years ago. Basically three bamboos tied in the canal, one parallel to the shore the others hinged so they open in the direction of the water flow. When the upstream one opens the downstream one closes and catches all the rubbish...I assumed this was done by folks harvesting the waste to sell for recycling....hardly a newly developed invention...

I would add as well that if you were ever considering PR/Citizenship then this would constitute a change and the 3 (I think) year clock would be reset to zero?

Yeah, the OP is not totally clear - from what I can see there are three possible options:

1) OP buying condo from company - Easy, if the condo is within the farang ownership percentage then buy it personally. If not then possible buy it in the wife's name. 

2) OP Buying company which owns condo - presuming that this is being done because the farang ratio if filled then as pointed out above, rife with pitfalls. Needs to be 3 shareholders so you would probably have wife 50%, you 49% and AN.Other 1%. bus as stated above, you have no idea what this company may be involved in, debts etc. Also, the company should have some Thai employees (Wife as shareholder/director does not count) so likely need at least one. 

3) OP setting up company to buy condo owned by another company/individual - again, assuming you would only do this as if necessary - probably safer than option 2 but yes then you need a lawyer to set the company up, 1-2million THB paid up capital (some ways around this by taking it back as a company loan).

My understanding of the law is that if the company that ends up owning the property is essentially a non-trading company then this is technically illegal so would be the case for 2 & 3 above. Will it matter, very good chance not form reports here and elsewhere. However, if it does happen extremely good chance of bye bye condo.

Cheers,
peter.