Jim7777

1 hour ago, passiflora said:

Prison 'll be full quickly

Yeah I kind of doubt it it’ll be a normal Songkran just like every other year before. At least where I live anyway.  Although I hear people get twice as crazy down south in places like Pattaya to the point of running around naked so I think a lot of this is kind of more directed towards down south.  People get crazy up here to and it’s a lot of fun but nothing like what I hear goes on down south.  

2 hours ago, connda said:

Police, lawyers, and government officials love Songkrang.  It's that one time of year they flex, finger-point, and threaten the public with endless - "DON'T"s. 

I have one too.  Don't come to Thailand this time of year -- it totally sucks.  And if you do come, remember - Don't have fun.

Well yeah you hear the same stuff on this site every year on Songkran yet nothing ever changes lol.  

4 minutes ago, ebean001 said:

ICE....that is near the top if not #1. These crazy people are throwing ICE water. I have already seem it inChiang Mai. I saw the ICE truck on delivery. This must stop. I f they throw ICE water on my daughter ... I will not be happy.

I don’t really like the ice cold water either but it is Songkran in Thailand.  

Actually I just spoke to a friend of our family who’s a retired Thai cop and he said that it’s fine to have alcohol in the vehicles playing Songkran and to actually drink it in the bed of the pickup truck as long as you aren’t disorderly.  My wife’s family is always watching the local news and they haven’t heard any such thing except for no drinking and driving.  No molesting women, children, or ANYONE SHOULD GO WITHOUT SAYING!!!  

I swear sometimes this site loves to post as negative information as possible and overly exaggerates everything.  

If you receive any monthly pensions or income of at least 65K Baht a month you’re good but if not it’s probably best to leave and apply for a new retirement visa and start over if the 800K is your only option based on your personal situation.  

All you should need is the SWIFT Code and account number or maybe a different bank in your home country.  

7 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Yes, but this is Thailand. if you walk into the cop shop and want to press charges for being doused, they are going to laugh at you.

It would be interesting to know how many times, if ever, any of these charges have ended up in court.

 

Uh yeah this article sounds like bitter bullshit to me.  I’m sure the cops would get right on it if you reported getting wet on Songkran lol ????.  And if you’re out on the street during Songkran carrying important items unprotected or not in a water proofed bag then you’re a <deleted>($ing retard.  

Although obviously sexual assault, rape, and child molesting should NEVER OCCUR AT ANY TIME TO ANYONE.  I don’t understand why they would even consider Songkran to be a potential exception for anything as heinous as that.  

As far as getting wet it’s Songkran and this is Thailand if you don’t want to get wet then stay home.  

Happy Songkran to everyone!

There are other fun places besides Pattaya where I’m sure hotels are pretty well booked.  We do Songkran up here where I live all three days every year and it’s just as much fun up here in the north eastern area in my city as it is in any decent sized city.  I mean the article is only talking about Pattaya what about Bangkok, Hua Hin, Rayong, Phuket, Chiangmai, and multiple other cities.  Even in my little city I’ve been seeing multiple tourists lately and lots more younger people than usual.  I’m actually looking forward to it this year because I invested more into Songkran this year for the whole family than I ever have before.  It should be a blast as every year as long as I don’t start having back problems like last year among other things.  Happy Songkran to everyone even the people who have given me crap in other topics about what they think they know and think I care about what they think.  Seriously though happy Songkran to everyone.  This year looks like it’s gonna be more prosperous financially.  

8 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

Are the "no tips please" signs at the borders and the immigration offices still there? ????

I’m sure they are he did the job that he was appointed to do.  At least it appears so anyway and the new procedures for those of us on marriage and retirement visas are in effect.  

“He ended the day at 4.45” WOW!  Breaking news he had lunch at noon and took a crap at 12:45 ????.  Of course he has to take off the uniform they already announced that he’s not a cop anymore but a civilian employee.  I really don’t care why he was relieved although I am curious about the WHOLE STORY I’ve heard a little bit of it but very little.  I would not expect to see a replacement appointed until after the election dispute is settled in early May I believe it’s supposed to be.  Although just out of curiosity I wonder who’s temporarily acting in his position.  I’m sure they must have a temporary acting Immigration Chief.  I would guess maybe whoever was his second in command is probably the acting Director of Immigration, surely they must have a temporary acting Director at least for things that have to be signed off on by the big boss.  

I’m not sure why the uniform thing is news obviously if he’s not a cop anymore he’s gonna come to his temporary job at the Prime Minister’s Office in civilian clothes probably a business suit.  I hope he gets a civilian clothing allowance.  I had a job in the military during the last ten years of my career that required me to wear civilian clothes every day and almost never a military uniform, and I received about a thousand dollars a year annually if I remember right for my civilian clothing allowance.  Because sometimes I’d be in business clothes and sometimes in civilian tactical clothes.  

19 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Extension based on Retirement is independent of your relationship. If anything happens its not effected. Its issued "on the spot"

 

Based on Marriage has more paperwork, lower financials, is "under consideration" for 30 days, paperwork forwarded to Bangkok and you return after 30 days for the visa. If the relationship ends so does that visa. You will need to make alternate arrangements.

 

Until the recent changes in the financial area, the "Retirement" option was generally deemed, quicker, easier cleaner etc and was a preference of the Immigration Offices as it was less paperwork for them and done "on the spot".

 

Assess your own circumstances as to which is probably better.  Bare in mind, things can and do change here at short notice. There will also be slight variations required at different offices.

That is true the Retirement extension is less paperwork and faster.  I’m considering maybe switching to a retirement visa when I hit the big 50 because of the reasons you stated.  And financially I qualify for either visa retirement or marriage I’m married to a Thai citizen and actually retired for real but I’m just a little bit under 50 years old.  But I don’t know I don’t really mind all the paperwork since it’s just once a year.  

5 minutes ago, Gee Ku said:

What is this bloody Article 44?

It’s special powers granted to the Prime Minister basically but I don’t know all the details of how it works.  I think Article 44 is part of the new Thai Constitution if I remember right but I could be wrong about that part regarding the new Thai Constitution.  

15 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

"Trust, but verify."

 

Can you share any details from your latest briefing from your friend who works at the U.S. Embassy? I'm sure she's fine with you sharing her "intel" here on this forum.

 

Thai social media is alight today with what looks like plausible explanation(s) of what has so far been presented to the public. It involves corruption, abuse of power and LM/112.

 

It makes sense to me but then so did a few other scenarios presented since last Friday night. I should endear zero trust on this matter, just speculatin' like most Thais and foreigners.

 

 

 

Actually I haven’t shared any intel at all, and she didn’t actually even tell me anything that’s classified.  I was told nothing classified nor have I said I was.  Although I’m not gonna violate Thailand’s defamation laws or forum rules either by sharing the few little details that I have heard which isn’t very much.  You are making more out of what I was told and shared, definitely nothing classified at all.  

Trust me it’s got nothing to do with that.  He did something wrong outside of the capacity of his job.  I agree though he did a good job in my OPINION but obviously I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes in the Thai police except for a few little things I’ve heard from former coworkers that still work in this area of the world.  
 
Although I didn’t like the way he dealt with that rape victim though but of course I could be wrong about that maybe his findings were correct sometimes people do make false accusations but I truly have no idea.  When he dealt with her I think maybe that was just a “TDY boondoggle” as they used to say in the military because if I remember right he actually traveled to the UK to interview the alleged victim personally.  In SF whenever we’d go TDY somewhere BEFORE THE WAR for a “training op” somewhere nice like Key West, Florida for one example they’d often refer to it as a “boondoggle” that basically means tax payer funded vacation.  The article says “has placed the Lt-Gen on a list of civil servants under investigation” and they even took his badge and made him a civil servant so that ought to tell you something, basically he’s in trouble and that would be legal trouble!  As in a criminal investigation.  
 
Something else in the article that sticks out in my mind is that he’s currently working in the Prime Minister’s Office.  That reminds me of when I was in the regular Army and actually in SF as well sometimes, whenever a Soldier was under a criminal investigation that Soldier would be stripped of all responsibilities and a temporary FLAG would be placed on their records meaning suspension of all favorable actions pending the outcome of the investigation AND sent to the Sergeant Major’s Office to do go for work pending the outcome of the investigation.  The Sergeant Major is the top guy for Enlisted personnel if you don’t know.  If it was an Officer under investigation they’d be sent to the Colonel’s Office in the same manner pending the outcome of the investigation or the Battalion Commander’s Office if it was a lower level military officer, or possibly even the Commanding General’s Office if it was a high ranking Field Grade Officer O-5 or above.  In the military that would remain until either the Soldier was cleared of wrongdoing or not and until they figured out what to do with the Soldier.  Kind of like what’s going on here with him just at a much higher level.  

The point is that this is basically what happens in the military and I’m sure it’s the same all over the world in modernized countries and that’s what is literally happening to this guy just on a much higher level pending his investigation outcome, and Thailand is a modernized country still technically under military rule sort of.  
 
That might change next month we’ll see how the election dispute goes.  I’m also very surprised how quiet things have been lately regarding the election dispute.  From what I understand the election results still have not been officially decided and that’s supposed to happen in early May.  From what I understand the election results will be officially decided in early May, I’m no political science except but I’m guessing that his replacement probably will not be announced until after that happens.  There’s a lot of moving parts in Thailand right now politically.  

It doesn't really matter who replaces him because the current Immigration rules and new procedures are not gonna change anytime soon and indeed I hope they don’t.  I love the new Immigration procedures that affect me, although if you go by that 800K procedure for retirement extensions I can understand why you don’t like that one, it’s a lot easier to manage a monthly pension here as long as you make enough money and use your Thai bank account every month.  

Additionally it doesn’t matter who replaces him and there’s no sense in worrying about it because he’s not the first Immigration Chief and his replacement will definitely not be the last Immigration Chief either.  There are always gonna be personnel changes in the government so it’s pointless to get worried about it and bent out of shape over it.  Although after I did a little in depth research on what’s going on now with this guy I fully understand all the hype and speculation about it.  Turns out that there’s very good reason to wonder why.  

3 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

So are they going to repeal his silly 400,000 thai baht permanantly in a Thai bank .

on another note what are the pigs doing tonight?

Uhhm the 400K Baht is one of the options for marriage visa extensions but that wasn’t his rule that’s been a rule for several years before he was ever the Immigration Chief he had absolutely nothing to do with that.  All that happened under his tenure was that they did away with income affidavits and changed the procedures of HOW you actually verify your income or 400K or 800K in a Thai bank account.  The actual rules didn’t really change that much and the monthly income requirement or the 400K or 800K income rules didn’t change at all as far as the minimum monthly income requirement or money in the bank.  

The biggest change was the procedures for verifying the 800K option for retirement visa extensions.  Bottom line the actual financial requirements never actually changed under the previous Immigration Chief and they have always been the same for several years before he took over he didn’t make that rule as you say.  All they did was actually start making us prove our income or money saved in a Thai bank account for real instead of using an Embassy letter.  And “pigs” really, have a little more respect for Law Enforcement then that.  And understand that this isn’t your home country.  

20 hours ago, DepDavid said:

Do a good job, try to limit corruption, and this is how he is rewarded. TIT!

Trust me it’s got nothing to do with that.  He did something wrong outside of the capacity of his job.  I agree though he did a good job in my OPINION but obviously I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes in the Thai police except for a few little things I’ve heard from former coworkers that still work in this area of the world.  

Although I didn’t like the way he dealt with that rape victim though but of course I could be wrong about that maybe his findings were correct sometimes people do make false accusations but I truly have no idea.  When he dealt with her I think maybe that was just a “TDY boondoggle” as they used to say in the military because if I remember right he actually traveled to the UK to interview the alleged victim personally.  In SF whenever we’d go TDY somewhere BEFORE THE WAR for a “training op” somewhere nice like Key West, Florida for one example they’d often refer to it as a “boondoggle” that basically means tax payer funded vacation.  

The article says “has placed the Lt-Gen on a list of civil servants under investigation” and they even took his badge and made him a civil servant so that ought to tell you something, basically he’s in trouble and that would be legal trouble!  As in a criminal investigation.  

Something else in the article that sticks out in my mind is that he’s currently working in the Prime Minister’s Office.  That reminds me of when I was in the regular Army and actually in SF as well sometimes, whenever a Soldier was under a criminal investigation that Soldier would be stripped of all responsibilities and a temporary FLAG would be placed on their records meaning suspension of all favorable actions pending the outcome of the investigation AND sent to the Sergeant Major’s Office to do go for work pending the outcome of the investigation.  The Sergeant Major is the top guy for Enlisted personnel if you don’t know.  If it was an Officer under investigation they’d be sent to the Colonel’s Office in the same manner pending the outcome of the investigation or the Battalion Commander’s Office if it was a lower level military officer, or possibly even the Commanding General’s Office if it was a high ranking Field Grade Officer O-5 or above.  

The point is that this is basically what happens in the military and I’m sure it’s the same all over the world in modernized countries and that’s what is literally happening to this guy just on a much higher level pending his investigation outcome, and Thailand is a modernized country still technically under military rule sort of.  

That might change next month we’ll see how the election dispute goes.  I’m also very surprised how quiet things have been lately regarding the election dispute.  From what I understand the election results still have not been officially decided and that’s supposed to happen in early May.  From what I understand the election results will be officially decided in early May, I’m no political science except but I’m guessing that his replacement probably will not be announced until after that happens.  There’s a lot of moving parts in Thailand right now politically.  

It doesn't really matter who replaces him because the current Immigration rules and new procedures are not gonna change anytime soon and indeed I hope they don’t.  I love the new Immigration procedures that affect me, although if you go by that 800K procedure for retirement extensions I can understand why you don’t like that one, it’s a lot easier to manage a monthly pension here as long as you make enough money and use your Thai bank account every month.  Additionally it doesn’t matter who replaces him and there’s no sense in worrying about it because he’s not the first Immigration Chief and his replacement will definitely not be the last Immigration Chief either.  There are always gonna be personnel changes in the government so it’s pointless to get worried about it and bent out of shape over it.  Although after I did a little in depth research on what’s going on now with this guy I fully understand all the hype and speculation about it.  

1 hour ago, Farangwithaplan said:

Personally, I am happy he rounded up a bunch of scoundrels. I walked down lower suk from Asok to to Ploen Chit yesterday afternoon and it was the first time in ages there hasn't been an african guy trying to sell me some sort of illegal drug. Is that a problem for you? I only see it as a good thing. I'm unsure on how common people are affected by getting rid of illegals.

 

You say that tourists have been turned away but tourist numbers are up based on released numbers. How do you justify your statements on that?

 

People are leaving? Why, because they can't show they can afford to live as an ex-pat? Or have been here on the wrong visa or no visa?

 

I'm not sure I can agree with your post.

You are right if you’ve got nothing to hide then NORMALLY you’ve got nothing to worry about.  I’ve been here for five years and I’ve never even been visited by the cops but you have to at least follow immigration rules and keep up with your extensions on time or at least get a new visa is you don’t do extensions.  Thailand isn’t for everyone, at least not for everyone who wants to live here.  Me I’m just lucky to be retired in my 40’s and married to a Thai citizen that I met in the States 21 years ago and then one day in 2010 after my first few visits to Thailand just because I happened to be working in Tokyo Japan at the time before I retired we decided that Thailand would be an awesome place to retire and it was.  I still love it here just as much after almost 5 years actually living here.  Before that we used to visit all the time since December 2009 to 2010 and many visits after that.  When I finally retired I couldn’t wait to get back here to live.  

5 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Appearing in the spotlight more than your Boss is never a wise move.

YES EXACTLY that’s another thing but not the reason why this is happening.  I was thinking that as well he’s what’s referred to in the military as a “spotlighter” or a “spotlight Ranger” I believe was the term if I remember right and military Commanders absolutely HATE THAT.  I’m sure that’s probably no different the world over.  

That reminds me of my old job whenever someone would get in trouble and recalled back to headquarters in DC if they had no where to put them they would often just create a new position for them where they would either stay until whatever they did could be swept under the rug IF they were friends and or in good with the right people in the “good ol’ boy” system, or they’d stay in a created position with absolutely no responsibilities at all until they could be sent back to the regular Army.  If it was a civilian it would be until they could pull their security clearance and fire them or force them to resign because it’s almost impossible to get rid of a United States government civilian employee but in a position of National Security if you take away their security clearance you’ve taken away the job as well.  The story sounds really familiar and not much different from the United States Government.  

As far as the indecision about a replacement I have a pretty good guess about that.  The election results are still being disputed and are supposedly going to be officially decided in early May.  So that might have a huge effect on their decisions possibly.  For example if there’s a new Prime Minister incoming in May which is somewhat possible then whoever they appoint as a replacement might change again very soon.  So yeah they’re being very quiet about it, apparently at least but they just might actually be trying to make decisions in the best interest of Thailand which never seems to cross anyone’s mind.  Especially with the uncertain political future of Thailand, with the election dispute this really happened at a very bad time for them.  I predict that he’ll probably be forced to retire but from what little I’ve heard he’ll be lucky if that’s all that happens, I know some people who have information about it and what little I was told sounds pretty bad.  He could be in a lot of trouble but his current situation at his job indicates a possible early retirement very soon.  At least earlier than he’d like as ambitious as he was.  

I’ve already stocked up just in case they do decide to ban it within the next few days for our whole family.  I bought two cases of Beer Lao, seven bottles of whiskey Hong Thong, and lots of other stuff just in case they decide to ban it and that should be more than enough for the whole family.  If anyone wants anything different they can just buy it at one of the mom and pop shops that’ll be selling it regardless of whether or not there’s a ban. I also bought a lot more water guns for everyone this year including a few high powered water guns.  So I’m ready for the water war and the fun.  I still need to write my 5 paragraph op order lol ????.  And my operational briefing lol ????.  

Ask Ubonjoe he’ll know for sure!!!  But I don’t think they’re going to give you a 60 day extension if you’re a 4 day overstay of course I could be wrong but I don’t know.  I’m pretty sure they won’t give you a 60 extension but you really should ask Ubonjoe first like right now because the clock is ticking.  

So far it’s only 4 days so you shouldn’t be in too much trouble yet but I think you need to leave the country immediately and then get a new visa and then come back.  

BUT PLEASE FOR YOUR OWN SAKE ASK UBONJOE!!!  He’s more than an expert on this stuff and he knows more than anyone on this forum about these things.  I’ve been here for 5 years and I still ask him for advice on things I’m still learning little things and I’ve been here for almost 5 years now.  In fact he just gave me one little piece of advice today that’s gonna save me a lot of money.  For example I had been doing my monthly wire transfers in Thai Baht and having my United States Bank do the currency conversion before sending it to my Thai bank account every month but I asked Ubonjoe about my screwy exchange rate today and I found out that I’ve been losing a lot of money by doing my transfers that way.  I learned just from that little piece of advice to do my transfers in USD and when my Thai bank converts the money to Baht I’ll get a MUCH BETTER EXCHANGE RATE!  I really felt dumb just now learning that.  I know all the immigration stuff now mostly but it’s the little things that you learn with time and experience.  

Ubonjoe has been giving me advice for years and trust me HE IS ALMOST NEVER WRONG!  He gives good advice that’s literally worth money to visa agents for free and he’s more than willing to do it.  I fully trust Ubonjoe for advice on stuff like this.  

So trust me send Ubonjoe a PM and ask him.  But I think you should leave the country as soon as possible and get a new visa at the Thai Consulate maybe in Savannakhét or wherever and then return to Thailand.  AND IN THE FUTURE MAKE SURE THAT YOU APPLY FOR YOUR EXTENSION BEFORE YOUR VISA OR CURRENT EXTENSION EXPIRES!!!!!  VERY VERY IMPORTANT IF YOU ARE LIVING HERE!  I always renew mine at least 30 days early BEFORE it expires.  

But I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU ASK Ubonjoe about this!  Because I’ve never been in your situation before and he knows a million times more about this than I do.  

Please talk to Ubonjoe and then act upon this with a good plan ASAP!!!!!!!  I am trying to help and that’s your best bet but you must act very quickly!!!!!  

7 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

For now at least..

Uhh yeah he’ll be fine if he’s a retired officer he might make more than I do per month.  But I don’t know I’m 21 years retired and a 100% Disabled Veteran which is more than 180K Baht a month for my pension payments.  A little more than $6,000 USD a month.  I’m not sure what he makes and it varies from person to person depending on the rank you retired at, disability, and other variables.  Plus COLA raises and the last two years we received huge COLA raises.  

But I know it’s a tough life being retired LMAO ????.  

I know it’s just endless suffering for those of us who are RETIRED. ????????????????????????????

Being retired is so tough man I’m thinking about going back to work, NOT. ????????????????????????????

22 hours ago, Thailand said:

Although the 800K equates to the same and is a means of support you basically cannot use it.

 

The 65K per month can be spent immediately, how much sense does that make?

I agree you should be able to spend your 800K as you please but the reasoning behind it is that your 800K is theoretically all your money for the whole year so they want to make sure you still have funds available throughout the year.  The monthly income can be spent as we please because you have money coming in every month that’s theoretically supposed to be guaranteed every single month.  I get paid once a month for example, and it is guaranteed.  

If you’re going by the 800K Baht method that’s theoretically your money for the whole year and basically they want to make sure that you didn’t spend it all in one day or something.  Or transfer it out of Thailand more likely.  The monthly income can be spent as you please because you are supposed to be getting paid every month it’s as simple as that.  

So actually it makes perfect sense even though I agree with you that you should be allowed to spend your money as you please regardless of what method you use.  I would never transfer my savings over here or go by the 800K option because I agree it’s too complicated.  

Lucky I receive monthly pension payments of more than 180K per month so I will always go by the monthly International wire transfers every month (my monthly income) it’s easier, you don’t lose that much if the exchange rate happens to be having a low month for the USD, and because that’s the money I really do live on my monthly pension payments.  And no one is going to tell me when and how much of my money I can spend.  So I would never use that option.  Actually for me it would only be 400K minimum even though I am retired here but I’m on a marriage visa regardless I will always go by my monthly income even if I ever decided to switch to a retirement visa.  But I agree the rules for the 800K method are a bit too intrusive.  That’s why I will always go by my monthly income transferred into my Thai bank account.  

If you're getting paid every month then there’s no reason for them to check your balance ever so often or every 3 months or whatever it is because your account will be replenished once a month no matter how much you spend.  Although when you renew your retirement OR marriage extension you better be able to show 12 full months of transfers for every month into your Thai bank account at least 12 full months of transfers by next year from what I understand, I believe this year they are supposedly making exceptions because of the transition period away from the income affidavits.  

If you are using the 800K method that’s your money for the entire year in one lump sum theoretically.  That’s how immigration sees it at least regardless of your financial situation so it actually does make perfect sense even though I don’t agree with the rules for the 800K method for retirement extensions.  I think what you do with your 800K is your business.  But I’m lucky I don’t have to worry about that as a monthly pensioner.  If you get paid monthly why would they need to verify your balance every 3 months but I do understand your point it’s YOUR MONEY and you should be able to spend it as you please when you please.  So I’m not disagreeing with you but that’s just the logic behind it and their logic does make sense regardless of whether or not I agree with it.  If you’re theoretically using all your money for the entire year then they watch it to make sure that you have money throughout the year.  

If you are getting paid a monthly pension every month then there’s no reason for immigration to keep an eye on it except for the once a year when you renew your extension, and that’s basically their logic which does make sense.  But again I do agree your money is your money and no one should be allowed to tell you when and how much you can spend.  Although their logic behind it does make sense if you look at it objectively.  But again I do agree that you should be allowed to spend your 800K if you go by that option as you please it’s your money.  If you consider their logic behind it then it does make perfect sense love it or hate it.