John Drake

Companies like Living Films, Grand Elephant, and Greenlight don't make mistakes like this. But like a lot of things to do with films and filming in Thailand, workers and companies are all in a race to the bottom for salaries and working conditions. They'll cut every corner they can. Yes, you do need permits to film, even if it's in a 7 Eleven. And you have to pay fees (30,000+ daily when I used to do this twelve years ago) for places like parks, temple sites, and archaeological sites. There are plenty of casting agencies for extras and it is easy to follow the law and do the right thing. These people do need to be closed down and the illegal workers deported, because they were directly undercutting the industry and its employees.

This happens wherever digital nomads go. It happened in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Valparaiso, and Medellin. They really are a plague of locusts.

Voting with Chinese characteristics.

I don't want to sit with anybody else, period.

The last sentence of your link does sound like they're finished to me. Does that mean they're going to leave the current retirement extension alone? Or are they going to create another category that costs more and provides for longer stays? "At the same time, the government is reviewing the criteria for long-stay visas aimed at foreign retirees. The goal is to attract individuals with strong economic potential while ensuring appropriate regulatory oversight."

The Thai baht is already in lockstep with China's currency (it varies very little; over a year it looks like a straight line), so why shouldn't the Thai government do likewise?

Need a Singapore solution for these drunks. A $1000 fine and month in jail for first offense. $2000 and three months for repeat offenders.

The Communist Party of China approves of this election. Clear and simple.

If you think the waiting time for a teller is long now, just wait until this revamp goes into operation.

It's for people who have been on a retirement visa since 1998 and have held them consecutively, with no interruption since then. I actually know a couple of guys in their late 80s who are in this situation. I think the hope is if there is another adjustment upwards in the amount needed at 800K that that will be grandfathered in to the new rules. We can always hope. I would guess if they did something like that and followed the earlier pattern the cut off for grandfathering might just come in around the time of Covid, 2020 or 2021. But that is all conjecture. Need to see what they're really thinking first.

Yes, that was for the people getting the 200,000 baht requirement. There is a guy with Integrity Legal who puts out videos that seem useful. He mentioned reforms to retirement visas coming as a certainty but with grandfathering. That was back in December or November, I think.

There are a lot of things they can do. Just hope that changes, if any, are minimal. And there is always the hope that grandfathering factors in as well with any major change.

FWIW, I used to use the mail option, too. But it got to the point where I was receiving my 90 day receipt about 9 or 10 weeks after I mailed in the application. Went to online.

It does say "future plans" and that is characteristically vague. Perhaps others reading this might be able to sniff out something more solid.

Just see the very last sentence from today's article in the Bangkok Post.

What's wrong with banjos? BTW, the instrument was "invented" by African Americans.

And what happened after the election? The baht got stronger. Business as usual assured. The spice must flow.

Symbolism. Well, um. That usually means the object, song, idea, or person has to actually symbolize something. To carry abstract meaning. When a person carrying a flag symbolizes a person carrying a flag or a person climbing a utility pole symbolizes a person climbing a utility pole, that's not really symbolic. Or if it is, and people scramble around to attach it to something like "resistance" then it's monstrously shallow. Yeah, low IQ.

Didn't see it or watch the game. Didn't even know who was playing. Don't really care. But the half time show did come up in my X/Twitter feed. Just looks like low IQ stuff.

The Clarity Act has been blocked because Trump objects to the legislation's ethics requirements. Both sides, Republicans and Democrats want it, but Trump operatives are stalling it because of the ethics provisions.

Hardy surprising. The Peoples Party is incompetent. They're perceived, rightly or wrongly but probably rightly, as a bunch of rich kids. I constantly get downvoted for these comments but I'll say them again. 1) PP and its other incarnations were interested in "purity." The last election they immediately started purging their own elected members for "me too" stuff. They weren't serious about what it takes to rule and govern. They were and are performative. 2) Prayuth was better. He negotiated the path between the US and China better than any other PM. He kept electricity prices low. Didn't tax worldwide income. Left immigration alone. Gave greater freedom to Thailand during Covid than any place in the West experienced. He may have let in the Russians but he didn't flood the country with DTVs and Chinese triads. So enjoy your Anutin.

aka vanity press

Only someone with a terminal disease and who knows he is going to die soon does stupid things like this.

Funny, Trump has directed all available federal law enforcement to track down journalist Savannah Guthrie's missing mother. But he wants to shut down Epstein??? What a complete and utter desperate suck up he is.

And I toldyaso back in January 2025 before he even took office. He is utterly incompetent.