Tofer

3 hours ago, GreasyFingers said:

Do they also have a Parachute Club, where everyone gets a jump.

No, but they have plenty of condos you can freefall of the balcony...

47 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

The Embassy does not take Thai debit cards even though they are backed by Visa.

Didn't know that. I used my UK bank card which was accepted.

Oddly I had a very good experience with them on that occassion, but it sounds like they are still making life difficult for some.

5 hours ago, Rally123 said:

That's a 5-6 hour drive, plus time at the embassy, plus a 5-6 hours return drive, for some.  

You can do it online with the British Embassy and they post you the original letter.

I quite enjoy my (all) day, some times overnight for the fun of it, trip to Krabi to visit immigration, with the exception of the construction shopping for our project which is far more frustrating than any Immigration visit. It's just a pity the cinema in Tesco rarely shows any decent movies with English soundtrack.

5 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Short answer, yes.  It's a lot safer in its hidden compartment back home in my apartment than it is in any hotel room or safe, or in my pocket out in public.    And some countries aren't as friendly or timely as others about replacing lost or damaged or stolen passports, especially if it's a recurring event.  So, where I have a history of getting by with my DL, the passport stays home.  If I'm not sure, the passport goes with me, to be pulled out if required. 

 

So far, I've never needed it traveling or staying in hotels domestically in Thailand.  The DL has always been adequate.  That's not to say I won't need it tomorrow, but I'd risk that before I'd risk losing my PP to loss, theft or damage from water.

 

Simple solution to your concerns is to carry a photocopy of your passport which should satisfy everyone.

A hotel refused my driving licence the other day, fortunately I always have a copy of PP in the car.

3 hours ago, tryasimight said:

Most Thais?  30 baht an hour?  Really? You need to meet a better type  of Thai people. I know many earning over 200,000 a month. 

Working in a restaurant?

11 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

Nope. In respect to measurements such as education and wealth, Thailand is not a target destination. These are the people who put a value on country specifics such as;

- Personal safety

- Access to  quality healthcare in a timely manner

- Ease of immigration requirements.

- Travel convenience

Believe it or not, the south of France, Spain, Portugal and even the USA remain the preferred destinations of the high end demographic from Russia, and South America.The wealthy Chinese prefer the UK, Australia, Canada  the USA over Thailand. That is because that is where they have sent their younger family members.

 

The OP is young and is in IT related work. A very different demographic and one that will tolerate poor quality medical care, corruption and high personal risk. These older people I reference want safety and certainty. A country given to military coups, mass riots and  poor infrastructure doesn't provide that.  If you believe that a higher end retiree is going to put down 20 million baht  on a home and accept that the  wiring is deficient and that the construction quality is  poor, you are mistaken.

 

There are very few westerners retired in Thailand with multimillion dollar/Euro liquidity. If they are here, it is because they have had long standing ties, dating back decades. Why would anyone put up with the visa nonsense, or  want to deal with a backward infrastructure?  Sorry to say, Thailand is usually the option for those who cannot do better. Some people do live within their means.

 

That was a very long qualification of your earlier post!

Thank you for pointing out that I don't exist here! Bye the way I own a substantial property portfolio in the UK including a penthouse apt. built for our occupation, and can build / buy anything else I choose should I wish "to do better", which I currently don't.

OP - get out there and live life. Try it, if you don't like it, move on, there's a big world out there.

I turned down a very successful career offer in my early days to take a sabbatical and try living in Thailand, had many ups and downs, but I never had to face the question - WHAT IF?......

What if must be one of the most soul destroying thoughts anyone can have who's led a mediocre life, and regret not being bolder.

I'm now back in Thailand for my retirement, so far so good, some frustrations but still as good a place as many I've visited and lived in. 

The Thailand experience is different for everyone, as you will have read already. Circumstances and attitude will dictate how your experience plays out. Trust your own judgement not what others tell you!

5 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

 Here's a hint; Whenever my Thai friends wish to refer to a person of colour they will often use the expression "Nigeria" and it is done in a negative sense. Africans  are looked down upon and are treated very poorly. The reality is that Asians are a racist lot. Racial profiling and prejudice is endemic and an integral part of the culture. Consider the fact that skin whitening products are massive here. 

 

In Thailand dreds and tats are fine for Issan based general labour, or Bangkok nightclub singers, but in the  caste like social hierarchy, it is a sign of a low class background. 

 

However, you will probably fit in just nicely with some of the other tattooed and dredded up farangs. Thailand attracts a lower end foreign demographic quality. Successful, educated and wealthy foreigners do not pick Thailand as a  place to retire to, nor do they seek out careers here unless posted by a foreign multinational. Many will say I am wrong, but a quick look at the foreign business associations and listings will show some slim pickings. It's quite a contrast to Hong Kong or Singapore or Tokyo. Even Beijing and Shanghai have a more robust foreign expat population. All of these places have young vibrant expat communities.

 

If you have an issue  with police profiling and random searches, then Thailand will not be for you. As a black male with dreds you will proably be  constantly stopped, searched and required to give a urine sample. You may even be targeted for harassment, just for looking like you do.

"Successful, educated and wealthy foreigners do not pick Thailand as a place to retire to" - YES you are wrong!

On 7 July 2018 at 1:10 PM, Tchooptip said:

I was mainly kidding, I put many things on my telephone calendar but not my 90 days report for as you said no excuse to miss a report, so I always know exactly the date.

In this country, I try to avoid any kind of problems but especially with the authorities

Me too - USUALLY.

Absolutely no excuse, although I did try to justify my forgetfullness earlier!! 555

On 7 July 2018 at 12:59 PM, Tchooptip said:

What infallible memory? it is clearly written on the paper in the passport, so maybe it is more a problem with one's optician 

Yes I'm optically challanged also, but I certainly don't frequently drag my pp out of the drawer to check anyway.

Truth be told it was probably a subconscious relief of 'job done for another year' and simply forgetting the inane exercise of having to report every 90 days, and without a calendar reminder there were other more important, in my mind, issues needing dealt with and the months just flew by.

I'm just getting used to retirement and forget that there is no longer an army of admin assistants to keep me on track with visa issues living overseas.

Thanks for all your advice and information. That was all I needed to know.

I had no intention of trying to be devious, simply wanted to know the procedure, for warned is for armed. 

Yes I usually record such events in my hotmail calendar, but on this occasion I forgot in amongst the stress and intensity of the day I visited Immigration for my new retirement visa, which required many more things to be arranged / bought for our development project.

Sadly my memory is not infallible in my progressing years, and I will simply have to pay the price for it.

Thanks again to all who took the time to reply.

I've overrun my 90 day reporting by 1 month. What are the consequences, and how best to resolve it?

3 hours ago, catman20 said:

or think of someone else ? ?

That reminds me of the Billy Connolly joke - "sit on your hand for a few minutes and it feels like someone else is doing it"...

8 hours ago, baansgr said:

15 years, relationships, working/professional relationships, knowing friends wifes/friends so a lot of experience with Thais from all walks of life and ages. Maybe Ive matured but seriously I would never have any kind of relationship with a Thai female for the reasons stated and many more. Life is too short....Oh, and I think the vast majority are damn ugly also.

 

Should have gone to Specsavers!

8 hours ago, Dustdevil said:

Some Thai women are the most beautiful I've ever seen. Overall, to my taste, Chinese women are the most beautiful in the world.

Until they sit down to eat!

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

That is correct but the difficult part is from the Thai embassy to here and paying the embassy fee.

Yes, not sure of the logistics.

But don't try repeating my route in KL Billd766, as they really gave me the runaround and I virtually had to beg them in the end, but baffled them with a letter from the KL British Embassy saying they would not certify my legalised document, but it had an official stamp on the letter which I think confused them and I got away with it.

7 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

She would not have to go to Bangkok for any reason. The foreign marriage registration can be done at the local Amphoe.

The legalized marriage certificate would have to be translated to Thai and then the translation would have to be certified by the Consular Affairs Department of the MFA in Bangkok. That can even be done by mail or you could go, pay the fee and have it sent to you by EMS.

The legalization can be done a lot easier and faster if you have somebody in the UK that can do it for you. The difficult part is getting the legalization done by the Thai embassy in London and then having them send it to you here.

I seem to remember, vaguely, that the Legalisation Department in UK will forward it onto the UK Thai Embassy for their input and they in turn will then return it to you at your Thai address. (Sorry, just remembered, I think I heard / read this somewhere, not absolutely sure though. I now recall having checked my documents more closely that I got the Thai Embassy in KL to certify my legalised marriage certificate, following much of a runaround to the UK embassy, when I was there getting a new Non-O visa).

Billd766, we used a translation service in Bangkok for the MoFA requirements and they for, as I recall, a very reasonable fee made the translation and the trip to the MoFA to get the requisite stamps for us. Very reliable and efficient. I don't know if I'm allowed to give the company details here, but here goes, 'Master Piece Translation Ltd. Part., tel 02907-5533-36, www.masterpiecetranslation .com.

16 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

Two local witnesses are not a problem but I was hoping that it could be done in Thailand as it would be more convenient.

 

The local amphur is 18 km away, BKK is about 350km plus probably 2 overnight stays, a bit inconvenient if my wife has to come with me as our son still has to go to school though it could be done in October during the school holidays.

 

If I have to do it through the UK it is not so easy as I have no bank account there (I finally left about 14 years ago). I can ask my son or a friend if I can use their CC as the UK government won't accept my KBank debit card, even though it clearly says VISA on the front.

6 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That was a mistake on your part. My advice is never show enough financial proof for an extension based upon retirement if you want a extension of stay based upon marriage.

I can recall a member submitting all the paperwork for an extension based upon marriage and they did it for retirement without him knowing about it until they had done the extension stamp and of course they refused to change it. He wanted the one based upon marriage so he could work and ended up leaving to get a single entry non-o visa to so he could change it to marriage.

Absolutely. I've learnt from my experience.

But the second year I needed to go down the proof of income route as I missed the 3 months seeding period thinking it was still 2 months, they got me again as I exceeded the requirement for retirement with income. Sod's law I suppose, one day I'll get it right....

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

 

Thank you for that information.

 

It looks as though I have not registered it at the amphur either.

 

I have been on a retirement extension since 2009, first at Mae Sot for 1 year, Nakhon Sawan for 6 years and now Khampaeng Phet for 2 years and nobody has said anything before, probably as I am on a retirement extension.

 

I have sent an email today to the UK asking what they need and what I needed to do,

 

I will update you on the reply.

 

Cheers

 

Bill

Hi Bill, the legalisation procedure is straight forward, just fill in the form and pay!

The Thai registration is a bit more complicated. I can't remember exactly, as my wife helped with this end, but I recall we had to get a Bangkok office to verify / acknowledge all our legalised / translated marriage documents, then a visit to the local  Amphur to get another document, presumably the Kor Ror 22 UJ refers to. N.B the visit to our local Amphur required the attendance of 2 local witnesses who would state they knew us and that we are married.

I can't speak for your (Pattaya) area, but I had problems because I had too much money in my account and the IO simply refused to consider a Marriage extension as it was unnecessary, in his opinion, stating "you have over 800k and only take 10 mins for retirement" was his attitude.

Although I had spent a lot of time and money obtaining the correct documentation, he proceeded to provide obstacles to the marriage option. Sadly I had not seen Ubon Joe's list and didn't know I needed a witness, and one that is a government employee by the way!

I am pleased to hear that PM and UJ have had no problems, but that does not mean every IO is so cooperative. It is not 'doom & gloom', simply a fact of life in Thailand.

Too much work and too lazy, or maybe they make more money sat at their office desk. In my working days I would relish a day out of the office, and in our case, to a beautiful island paradise for a pleasant day out!

3 minutes ago, oldlakey said:

In a free for all its first come first served and the devil take the hindmost, to think about it though he takes them all sometimes

Quite right. That was the very first thing I learnt about driving in Thailand - he who is in front is in the right. That's why so many drivers never look over their shoulder before pulling out of side roads, once on the main carriageway it's the follow up vehicle that has to make allowances.

I rely on my wife to look over my shoulder, age has limited my flexibility!?

10 hours ago, Crossy said:

I often wonder about this as the "official" technique is to get across to the left side and accelerate there.

 

Would you rather be crossing three (or more) lanes of fast-moving traffic at 90 ^o with the possibility of getting t-boned? Or getting into one lane (ok the fast lane) and accelerating? Yes, there's the possibility of getting rear-ended, but you are offering a much smaller profile and moving in the same direction as the traffic.

Definitely the left lane, it gives you a far better chance of getting across the U turn in busy traffic than waiting for a suitably large gap in the fast lane to allow you time to speed up to fit in with the flow, and there is also the possibility someone will cross lanes and fill that gap unexpectedly - dangerous to say the least!

But then you have to factor in the prats who drive the wrong way down the hard shoulder and could very well end up in your front grille. Basically you need eyes in the back of your head, or the worlds best back seat driver like my wife.....

I can understand the capital punishment objectors reasoning in respect of potential miscarriages of justice. However, and correct me if I've misunderstood the reports, but it appears there was no question in this case, as I understand he was identified from CCTV footage.

I Just feel there should be a bit more sympathy and consideration for the victim, his family and friends than for the perpetrator.