Kalasin Jo

Ah! Just for the upcoming "family" holiday period...which starts when? Ends when? Will it be repeated for Songkran? Even more dangerous would have thought...not only for Thais with their fabulous road skills and sense. Plenty tourists stay on for that.

Wow. 32,000 baht. Not chicken feed. And only the start of their costly troubles. Mostly promised Education visas. The lady " agent" appears to have been the subject of a citizen style arrest then marched to the police station. The group's representative deserves praise for organising and leading them in that.

No doubt that strategy will involve unicorns

Taking tremendous risk is DNA wired into the Thai character. Look at what they do up ladders. Those amulets and perhaps a monk's blessing on and in a car are considered idiot proof so obviously there is no risk in any driving situation. The never me only others attitude. Whatever the stats say. The article says close to 20% in 100,000 of population are fatalities in road accidents. Shocking but not surprising. Road sense is non existent. Out here family pick ups are loaded with people and kids in the cargo area especially during holidays, motorbikes with Mum, Dad and as many kids as can squeeze on, helmets and seatbelts not worn. The human consequences in an accident not surprisingly are horrific. The motorbike, the pick up, probably not licensed so without even the compulsory insurance. Drink driving common. After all how else can such poor people get around, get home, travel in family groups to events in the rural areas with no public transport? We all know gambling is illegal here. The law introduced for good reason. Thais in very large numbers are addicted gamblers, high risk takers and often losers. Only the state lottery, ticket sellers everywhere and Thais invariably take a look, and betting at racecourses are legal. Illegal yet the law is rarely if ever enforced in these rural parts, away from the glare of publicity. Gambling dens and illegal private numbers lotteries abound. In every village, at almost every funeral which are 3 day and night event, the Hi-Lo betting game proliferates. Fixing and cheating well known. Bets placed based often on no more than a dream or some sign, auspicious to the gambler, and the addicts strong belief that at the next session they will win big and so play on whatever their previous losses. As ever the den house/bank is the largest winner just as in legal casinos in other countries. And the house/bank, other players, loan sharks, always on hand and very happy to lend a few thou' at exorbitant interest rates of 10% per week, sometimes per day. The road to ruin if the debt isn't repaid the same day or at best the next. Motorbikes, cars, household goods even homes and land can be lost for non payment. Cops? Nah. ' The cops are coming" is usually someone crying wolf so the players run away leaving their bets on the mat in their panic. By the time it's considered safe to return no one has a clue so unlikely they'll recover that money. But somebody has cleaned up. Are thais high risk takers? You bet they are!

Good luck. As I understand it online reporting can be done between 15 and 7 days before the due date, counting the due date. Miss that window and best go in person although I think you could do it by post. In person there is a grace period of 7 days, again counting the due date, following the due date to get it done without a fine. The fine is 2,000 baht however late you are. Not sure though if you never do one until your next extension application whether each missed report is fined or whether it's still the 2,000.

Perhaps in to losing face?

In error because in a hurry I recently bought a bottle labelled medium dry red wine in a 7/11. You can't look closely because what they offer in 7/11 is behind the counter so always a pantomime of misunderstanding with staff there for me. The price looked reasonable for Thailand, the label looked French. On closer inspection back home there was a picture of mangosteen, not as I had thought grapes, on the label and yes, , made in Thailand from mangosteen juice. 12% alcohol. Vintage 2012 would you believe! Colour in the glass was dark red, no "nose" to speak of. On tasting no worse than some of the cheap end Aussie wines in offer in the supermarkets at around the same price. And it was medium dry. I got sufficiently inebriated. So quite a good effort at faking the real thing. Haven't seen it since. Anything decent is imported and 800 baht up. The sky is the limit! Aussie tends to be less expensive than Europe.

No joke. The table is for real. My guess? This announcement is really aimed at existing wealthy Thai taxpayers investing abroad then remitting foreign income here. As usual here it's not been thought through before the announcement which has caused consternation or derision in expat circles. Without more info and clarification it would seem to hit expats here, even pensioners on retirement extensions relying solely on their foreign pension income to live here, possibly supporting Thai spouses and families too. That would be me! And those newly arriving on bringing in the required 800,000k for a retirement visa, 400,000k " marriage" visa, and permission extensions would on the face of it be liable to a substantial, albeit one off, tax charge. According to an update The Thai Revenue arm of government has more recently said this change will not apply to 2023 remitted income but will to 2024 remitted income. I understand tax declarations have to be made by March of the tax year, same as calendar year here, following the tax year of remittance so still time for Thailand to do a u turn or clarify exactly who must declare what categories of income. Also for expats to decide whether to stay beyond 180 days in 2024. 180 days of being in country making one tax resident is not unusual in many countries. That Thailand chose not to require expats retired or not working here to register, declare foreign remitted income and pay any assessed tax is ( was?) a welcome encouragement to retire or marry a Thai and live here. I've never had any dealings with Thai Revenue as on retirement so by definition therefore not working here, haven't bothered seeking to reclaim the withholding tax on the paltry interest paid on savings and deposit accounts that the banks here collect, so have no TIN, and anyway haven't always been here for the stipulated 180 days in the tax year. If, if, this does affect us then it seems to me that with effective lobbying this could be a tipping point. With a TIN, our declarations and tax assessments Thailand should stop treating us as forever annual long stay tourists, should give us full access to it's Universal Healthcare system, stop hitting us with dual pricing and overhaul the visa / permission to stay system to give us temporary residency for X number of years, say 5, and on completion the right to permanent residency, so ending the endless annual applications, proof of money in the bank or monthly income, the re entry permits, the reporting requirements. In fact treat us as they do their citizens as many other, in particular EU, countries do, where the litmus test IS being registered in their tax systems which gives a social security number and access to their state healthcare and welfare benefits. Anyone up for a bit of lobbying? My guess is that if there was enough coherent and organised lobbying from us they would rather continue with the status quo than give us those rights and benefits, lose a significant income stream from fees and fines (and half the Immigration Police would become redundant!).

One used to have to but the answer should be a simple "no" these days as long as you are re entering with a date valid re entry permit (which expires on the same date as your permission to stay). So don't forget to get that re entry permit as without it your permission to stay is cancelled on exit. The regulation on this was updated a few years ago to avoid the nonsense of reporting every time and within 24hours of returning to the same permanent residential address that you temporarily left whether from within Thailand or abroad. However if entering on a new visa or visa exempt, whether by accident or intentionally you do have to do this. And as ever some Immigration Offices ignore the updated regulation and still insist on it anyway.

And in a nutshell there you have it. As far as local police are concerned they are untouchable. Surely for this Thailand should have a national task force that cannot be bought? Nah,thought not.

Yes. Legally married with a marriage certificate and these days a recently dated khor Ror 2 as proof. Not sure if Savanakhet require the Khor Ror 2.

Is it illegal? I've signed up to but actually not used a couple of sites that appear to take online orders. Anyway Thailand's booze laws are almost akin to prohibition if they were actually enforced across the board. So the big supermarkets enforce as do 7/11s, but round the corner you can get beer and Thai whisky from the small places. Unfortunately such places don't sell wine as the average Thai doesn't drink wine, by wine I mean the genuine stuff not the fruit "wines" and coolers, my booze of choice, even though heavily taxed here as it's all imported.

Each Embassy seems to have different financial requirements for this. Last time I did this was in 2022 by e-visa application to the Thai Embassy in France for a single entry, but the requirement appeared the same for a multiple. As a French resident I had to show 7,000 Euros in my French bank account on date of application and I think it was for 2 months prior. As a Brit I also had to prove my French residency. Easy post brexit as because of brexit Brits living in France had to apply for French residency and the card that goes with it as proof. Prior to brexit as we were EU citizens this was not a French requirement. Back then I'm not sure how one would have proved residency. Bills do not necessarily mean you are a legal resident. Perhaps a French tax assessment which were the golden key to getting the official brexit residency card, but they are for the previous French tax year.

Only they haven't, have they?

By the RTP and Immigration officers conducting multiple heavy handed raids on large nightclubs in and around Pattaya " to make tourists feel safe" testing for drugs, inspecting passports looking for foreign overstayers and searching the clientele presumably for drugs, guns and other offensive weapons.... yet in the case of at least one such club finding nothing, which really surprises me, every time they carried out a raid. But " up the road" at a venue in Samut Prakan just south of Bangkok apparently popular with young male Thai " tourists" mass fights break out almost nightly, uncontrollable by the venue's own security, spilling out in to the street, involving injuries including stabbings and other knife wounds ( no gunshot wounds or deaths, Thais seem to reserve these for their weddings) yet never any pre emptive raids only reactive attendance involving arrests of those foolish enough not to flee the scene. It would seem that if no foreigners there is no need for inspections or raids. Off topic but I read today of another example of amazing Thailand and not just Pattaya or Bangkok. In Kalasin City, up in darkest Isaan where I live, a retired school teacher has been arrested charged with procuring young girls, less than 15 years old, and providing his home as the venue for the pleasure of local officials and administrators, also arrested, for which he claims he charged a modest fee of 300 baht a session. No doubt the retired teacher, as the face of this child abuse ring, will get a very long prison ( or death?) sentence given the heavy sentences Thai criminal courts hand out for far lesser offences unless he has top quality contacts. The others arrested almost certainly have such contacts so we may hear no more about them. It's who you are, who you know and how much you can pay. Doubt that will ever change.

If the person is a UK passport holder it can't be done at the Embassy in Bangkok anyway.

If the wife dies doesn't the existing permission extension continue to its expiry? It certainly doesn't if the unhappy couple divorce, then the extension becomes immediately void.... although Immigration have to find out to act. A vindictive ex, her family or even a neighbour might inform them. As you say the marriage route requires attendance with you and signing of some documentation at Immigration by the wife on each application. Plus a pile of documents in duplicate to take along in support with photos of you and her at home as determined by the IO. Plus a home visit. It's not uncommon for the whole meeting to be conducted between the IO and the wife entirely in Thai and documents only in Thai passed to you to sign with wife's encouragement that it's ok to do so. Then it's taken under consideration for a month, the date when you should return yet another stamp in your passport and that date may proved abortive so best to phone and find out if you have to travel far. That's all fine, if tedious, when everything is hunky dory in the marriage which I'm sure it is for most. You can also work if you get a work permit. The advantage in addition to the possibility of working here over the retirement permission is that you only have to have 400,000thb in the bank or proof of 40,000thb per calendar month of remitted foreign income for the previous 12 months But.....What if your wife becomes so ill, is hospitalised or incapable eg from a stroke that she cannot accompany you nor understand and sign the documents Immigration require her to? What if relations are not what they once were and she refuses to participate? What if she disrupts any home visit if Immigration insist on one? I've heard that switching to a retirement extension initially requires her attendance and consent unless you leave the country and start all over again. With a retirement extension your wife is not involved (other than nowadays hopefully only once for the TM30 notification as the "housemaster" if she is the blue house book holder for the address where you live with her) the paperwork is less, no under consideration period - it's usually granted the same day if you go in the morning, there is no home visit ( although there have been recent reports of one or two), it remains valid until expiry whatever may happen in the marriage or to your Thai spouse. But the retirement extension expressly forbids work of any kind and requires double the amount in the bank at 800,000 thb and use of that money is more restricted or monthly remitted foreign income of 65,000thb, which ( why? Not for us to ask though !) is not double that required for the marriage extension and even 20,000 less over a year than 800,000. So there you have it. The pros and the cons.

And another thought: the slapper might well have a civil claim for defamation and injury to reputation ( in Thai read that as " loss of face") against the laundrylady if she's been slagged off on social media. So a slap might be trifling compared to that. The police will probably point this out and suggest yjat insisting on a criminal prosecution might not be such a good course to take.

Surprised there was just the slap, no retaliation and no hair pulling which seems to be the ladies favoured fight tactic here. I've only seen both in real life here once or twice. I see it almost every night on the Thai soaps my wife loves to watch. Seriously though if the police get involved pretty sure that in the absence of obvious injury they would try and resolve this without arresting and charging the slapper but the laundrylady could insist on them taking it further if there were witnesses to back her allegation and sufficient evidence of injury. Another poster has given us the applicable section of the Thai Penal Code. Not sure if " loss of face" alone meets the Penal Code requirement of injury.

Why? I've not seen anything about it's demise. Due to the competition which is fierce? It is a subsidiary of Thai Airways International is it not? Will TAI take over the routes and schedules? Booking a connecting onward domestic flight on the TIA website would get you a Thai Smile flight at a grossly inflated price. I liked Thai Smile for its seniors discount and all inclusive ticket, no separate charge for 1 hold bag of up to 20kg as these days at my age I prefer that to lugging a 10kg cabin bag, even a wheelie, around. They served a small but tasty snack, water and tea and coffee in flight. Fine for me. But it's hub being at Suvarnabhumi they did not offer any direct flights from one domestic airport to another, the competition does.

Again. Actually the lunatics seem to be in charge all the time, whatever acronym is used to mask military rule, whatever colour of party is in office following a democratic landslide people's vote that was not honoured, whoever is appointed, not elected to the Upper House, whatever PM is foist on this lovely country and it's people.

Not on my list of places to visit right now. Military rule and serious civil unrest? Power outages lasting 8 hours every day? No thanks. Such a shame.

Of course it's possible. How long is your piece of string?

So the OP will have to return before 28 December even though fairly likely on 28tn December he'll be told that the decision has not yet been made/ received back. He could try asking his IO to extend the under consideration period until a date shortly after his return and if successful apply for a fresh re entry permit to that date...or to asking if there is any way to expedite the result of his application to a date shortly before the 22 December and get his fresh re entry permit then or at the airport. This appears from what the OP says to be a first application and for an extension based on marriage so if he has the available funds to send to his Thai bank could he withdraw this pending application and apply in it's place for a retirement extension, no seasoning on first application, which should be issued the same day or the next? Perhaps though too young?

Quite. It would seem that as a thai citizen his care comes under the Thai State's Universal Healthcare system, more commonly known as the 30 baht system, as he is in a government hospital. But even government hospitals have the option for patients willing and able to pay of private rooms, better nursing care and facilities, expedited medical care by senior consultants that work there. I'm sure he must have these so why isn't he paying for them?