Kalasin Jo

Thanks. Makes sense. But then again sense is sometimes in short supply here!

I needed a certificate of residence from local IO to buy and have registered in my name. Valid a calendar month although I did not appreciate that and had to get a second one to complete the registration. Following logically on..... Do you also need a certificate of residency to sell a car registered in your ( foreigner) name? Does it matter if you sell in a different province to the one where the car is registered with a certificate of residency in that province?

Agreed. I had a similar experience albeit some years ago. Very picky about the translations. Luckily an on the spot translator saw my difficulty and stepped up, for a fee of course. Think I'd have lost the will to live if I'd turned him down. The British Embassy were not helpful doing their bit either, but it got done in the end.

The EU Schengen zone of countries is due to introduce finger print checking and other checks at EU international borders early next year. If you needed a visa to enter finger print checks have been done for some years already

But surely not 1,000 baht?

Yes. I had that in 2020. Very frustrating. Then I left Thailand and did not return until this year when the quarantine requirements were relaxed then lifted. New visa entry so my wife had to do new foreigner staying notification. He was the greeter and paperwork checker then and again when I applied for a residency certificate and 1 year extension. Named Nat. Excellent English.

Me too!????????

The T&C's of this land ownership by foreigners proposal are so steep the take up will be very small anyway. A storm in a teacup imho. Perhaps this is really pre election campaigning. Tell the people they will be overrun and dispossessed by dastardly farang. It works in the UK however far fetched the claims made: Turkish invasion at any moment helped vote leave in 2016, the at least for the moment Home Secretary, herself the daughter of migrants, now saying dinghy Channel crossing migrants are an invasion.

Well apart from being out of town that's good news. The previous office was cramped and awful for us "customers" and the staff. Bet the staff are happy. And it was right next to SWAT HQ???? Haven't been since the Kalasin IO opened. Better than SN old office but not fancy, small front office with a greeter who is happy to answers questions from dumb farang like me and checks paperwork. Larger back office. Relaxed atmosphere, copier service below and plenty parking ( may have to pay 10 baht) even though in city centre. Give my regards to the police captain at SN next time you go in!

Are you serious? Must be a joke. Zero dollars means the Chinese spend al their money in Chinese owned establishments here and their money never so much as touches the sides in Thailand

Just doctors and lawyers? And just in Thailand? I think anyone of whatever colour and/ or nationality going private anywhere is likely to set off the cash registers. The only difference as to how loudly they ring may be the country, their location in it, their professional and financial experience and expectations of the professional and the client. I have been both.

???? Sometimes in my experience they do and even have got confused as to whether I had valid extension of permission to stay and re entry stamp. They kept looking at the expired visa on which these were based. Next level up had to be consulted before my check in was allowed. Respected airline, but not direct flight which may have had something to do with it.

Good idea. Really why shouldn't they? Passbooks often have composite entries if not update regularly, like mine. A composite entry masks what has been going on and the balance from the date of the last entry in it to the date of the composite entry. A bank statement lists every transaction in the period requested and is signed by a bank authorised officer, dated, and stamped with the bank's stamp. But then again, this is an individual immigration officer's decision though if he/ she is not happy I'd respectfully ask for his superior's guidance before accepting it. And then again TIT. For what it's worth as consolation, if needed, Brits seeking residency in France seem to face all sorts of hurdles imposed at French Embassies and some local prefectures. Some of which which are not in line with official French government issued guidance on documents now that Brits have joined the masses collectively called foreigners rather than EU citizens as before.

Not from personal experience but from clients I have known in the UK, in 2 cases defending them on civil claims for damages for causing death whilst drunk driving and several more for causing death by dangerous driving or driving without due care and attention having been convicted of these criminal offences. Backed by insurance they had no financial concerns about the civil claims but every one of them was deeply remorseful and psychologically scarred by what they had done even though this would not have and did not make any difference to the amount of damage awarded to the victims. Killing someone through you own stupidity or just a lapse in care is deeply psychologically scarring for most perps, Not saying all, there will always be exceptions. The sociopaths.

They not allowed to have a good time? May be not back in China I guess

Add illegal " casinos" as my wife calls these gambling dens. Many Thais like the Chinese are inveterate gamblers. Look at the seriousness they give lottery numbers and seeking infallible ( until it isn't) guidance in and from the strangest things. Gambling is prolific round these parts not just in a darkened shack on the floor but in smart homes and very, very, often out in the open at parties and funerals with excited drunk, and worse, Thais deeply involved in the Hi-Low mat and dice game. Of course brown envelopes mostly keep the police away although I've seen mad break and runs on word of an immunent plod swoop. Only a few 100 baht, it's low-key and the villagers need some excitement from their dreary lives? The money goes around and comes around in these poor villages? Not so. Some are relatively high rollers with fat wads. Money lenders too at a rate of 100 baht per 1,000 which may be per day, per week and something such as a motorbike often taken as security. That's a real mug's game. But nobody gets hurt? Wrong again it can lead to disputes with violence or the threat of it at the time or later when the debts are not repaid.

Yes. Very simple and straightforward. Not so an online application for a non O single entry 90 day stay based on marriage e-visa through Paris, France done late June. My wife wrote one in manuscript on lined paper asking that the visa "be granted so my husband can visit me in Thailand". Just as she had done pre Covid when I went to the Savannaket Embassy in person and which was granted without question. The Paris Embassy application sat "awaiting document check" for 2 weeks. So I emailed expressing my growing concern as my flight was on 14 July. . I was then told the signed and dated invitation letter should be typed, not in manuscript, A4 plain white format, addressed to the Ambassador at the Paris Embassy postal address and with the address where I would stay with her in Thailand, the dates of and length of my stay, and her phone number, all of which were requested and provided by me in the online application before getting to uploading of supporting documents. (By the way the need for an invitation letter was not mentioned on this Embassy website nor as far I could see on the e-visa site. It just pops up as a required document at the uploading stage). With little time left I complained that the format and contents of such letter were nowhere flagged up and it was now too late to get her to comply. To cut a stressful story short in the end after much tooing and froing with them by email with in the end grovelling one from me the application was moved up to " awaiting approval". That approval an the e- visa appeared in my inbox on the way to the airport where I had to find someone to print it out for me as the approval advised a printed version of the e- visa would be, and was, required at Immigration at Suvarnabhumi. Funny thing is that I had previously in December 2021 made a successful e-visa application for the same visa through this Embassy and they accepted the basic manuscript invitation letter. When I pointed this out they replied that each application was treated in isolation and this was of no relevance. But I think perhaps it was when referred up.

And in another headline were raided at 3 am over the weekend but the 200 or so punters a mix of thai and foreign dancing and drinking there mostly broke through the RTP cordon and escaped in to what was left of the night when the police tried to marshal them for drug pee tests, which if positive would have meant arrest and interrogation at Pattaya police station during which it has in the past been possible to negotiate release and wiping of the arrest and interrogation record after an appropriate amount of " dancing " about the subject for a few hours to soften up one side and firm up the other....and an amount.

As the Cabinet has opening to 5 am for venues like this on the agenda both these unhelpful raids and the brown envelopes needed to head them off might be brought to an end. Surely good for tourism, both nationals and foreign tourists looking to party the week end away and spending money to do so. Isn't this needed for economic recovery? Surely good for the crackdown on corruption in the RTP allegedly a high priority for the PM. For brown envelopes to head off these raids and also for the off the books cash "fine" negotiated at the police station at some point during interrogation of the alleged offender to secure release without a record of arrest and avoid the holding cells and prosecution.

Thanks. So only 2 months prior to next application. Which can be up to 30 days, some IOs 45 days, prior to expiration of an existing 1 year non O retirement extension. A bit more leeway then!

I guess you won't have to wait long then.

Sure. Is it going to be any different?

This time we arrived at 6.45 and got away before 2 pm. Otherwise much the same as previously.

Crazy hey?!

And even if you do the article doesn't say a full re fund. It says the refund will be directly linked to the ticket price. Now what does that mean?