14 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think you could probably to do a statement that you are retired by doing a affidavit or statutory declaration that would be accepted. 

There is also no requirement for the income to be from a government pension.

You can also get non immigrant visa entry at an immigration office with only the 800k baht in the bank. No need to prove you are retired.

I doubt, whether my embassy would accept the affidavit or statutory declaration.

May look into the other option you mentioned: that would be a visa conversion from a tourist visa then??

39 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

No where has that been said.

It only to get a single entry non-o visa for being 50 or over at 2 nearby consulates if you using the 800k baht money in the bank option . If you have proof of income from your embassy that is all that is required or it can be shown as proof you are retiredif using the money in the bank option.

 

Well, then I won't be able to use this kind of visa, as I don't have income from abroad. No government pension until I'm 67.

On 9/19/2017 at 8:48 AM, JackThompson said:

In Thailand, the IO has a list of only very specific reasons they can deny entry, though some IOs (airports) are not happy about this state of affairs, it seems.

When I lived in mainland China, my Thai girlfriend often stayed with me. She had a valid visa for China, and no-one there ever questioned her what she did in China. Bummer - every month she had to do a border run, which took her to the Hong Kong border. Those creeps grilled her every single time, and let her wait in the immigration waiting room for up to 2 hours! The HK immigration asking her: "What are you doing in China, and when are you going back to Thailand..." - Because of that I had to give up my lucrative job in China, cause my girlfriend just couldn't go through this nonsense every single month. Hope, all HK people will be deported to mainland labour camps in 2047! And no whining about 'no democracy' anymore, please.

As boring and trite as the usual BBC programming. Yawn! They used to make good documentaries, but those were mostly about nature or history. 

Sorry, if this particular topic has been discussed at nausea, but I am planning a visa trip to HCMC. The following questions came up:

1. Apply in person or via an agent? What is the turnaround time for either?

2. How to travel to the Thailand consulate from HCMC District 1?

3. How does the Vietnam tourist visa work: similar to airport arrival in Laos and Cambodia? Or is it, perhaps, better to apply for the visa in Bangkok?

8 hours ago, dusktilldawnman said:

Just came back from Penang. I went there to apply for a Non-O Visa Single Entry valid for 90 days. I had all required documents, e.g. updated bank passbook with 800,000 BHT  for more than 3 months and a letter from my bank, confirming that I have sufficient funds on my bank accounts. I went to Banana Visa Service (recommended) with all my documents and the lady there told me me that I need a letter from my embassy confirming that I'm retired.

I don't get it! So, now you have to be of retirement age in your own country to 'retire' in Thailand??

First a big tra-ra: "We want foreigners to retire in Thailand. They can get a visa for this, once they are 50 years old."

I doubt, that my embassy would give me such a letter if not retired back home, so instead of 50 years old, I will have to wait till I'm 67 (retirement age in my country) to get a retirement visa??

Thanks Thailand, Cambodia and other neighbouring countries look more interesting every day!

2 hours ago, glasswort said:

Why do posters continue to raise topics such as these? Any and everything regarding retirement and marriage extensions of stay  have been discussed ad nauseum over the years, yet posters bring up the same old questions over and over again. If you are unable to find the answer to your question  from the numerous topics already discussed on TV then go to your Immigration Office; be polite and respectful, explain your circumstances and you will be treated accordingly.

Well, I could imagine that:

1. There are new members.

2. Regulations, esp. in Thailand seem to change all the time: what was valid and correct in 2015 might be totally outdated in mid 2017.

3. You don't want to travel to, say Chaengwattana, and find out that one or two documents are missing, forcing you to do the long trip there again and again.

4. Being able to call there or send an email to your local immigration office would be very useful, but for obvious reasons this is not possible, except, of course, if you're fluent in Thai and happen to get the 'right' person on the line.

5. Thanks to the fact, that every little immigration office is their own fiefdom with their 'special' rules and requirements, creates a lot of confusion.

6. Isn't that the idea of the forum, to exchange information, experience and advice? Of course one could create a post each for marriage, and retirement visas, pinning them to the top, and updating them regularly, if changes occur.

2 hours ago, jamieoutlook said:

NZ passport is modern tech.

When you request a new one and receive it, the old one is auto cancelled online..none of the old cut the corners nonsense  now.

 

Thumbs up, New Zealand, for being a world leader in that regard. So how do they prevent you from still using the old one in some countries?

15 hours ago, juice777 said:

OK but i am still a bit unclear. Both my old passport have the corner cut of. So how can they invalidate your old passport why you are in loas. I would have thought they don't invalidate your old one until they know you have your new one in your hand.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 

You apply for your new passport, then, if you later pick it up in person, you have to hand in your old passport, which, probably, will be returned to you, but with the corners cut off, so you always have a valid passport.

You may have to transfer your current visa, e.g. Laos visa, to your new passport. Depending to which countries you are travelling, you may want to take your old passport with you too for the next six months. (I lived in China for a while, and     border immigration there regularly asked me for my old passport, even months after I had gotten a new one.)

What an utter nonsense: to apply you have to be a permanent resident in Indonesia. Mind you, Indonesians cannot apply for this visa. Now, why would someone, who has (permanently) settled down as a westerner/Japanese in Indonesia apply for a 10-year Thailand visa?

1 hour ago, Nick ZepTepi said:

But on the visa application you have to provide evidence of entry into the country, they could see you will delay entry until XXX date and the ticket out will be within the 90 days of entry.

But different Embassy different rules.

HCMC was very quick to reply by email.

Thanks, Nick ZepTepi! Thumbs up for HCMC embassy; some embassies don't even reply emails.

1 hour ago, Nick ZepTepi said:

Yes you can book a ticket to leave Thailand after 3 months. Because for the SETV, you can stay in Thailand 2 months and can extension one more months in Thailand.

Great info, thanks! Can we presume, that other Thai embassies and consulates would be okay with such a ticket, too?

14 hours ago, Nick ZepTepi said:

I was under the impression a ticket out had to be within the official 60 day visa period and not within the possible 60+30 day period.

What if one decided to spend another 2 months or so in Laos, Cambodia, etc., before entering Thailand? 

Would it be okay, in this case, to have a flight out after 2+2=4 months (staying 2 months in a neighbouring country, then using the 2-month visa in Thailand?? (Or would they then ask for the 2-month hotel booking in that country?)

On 8/26/2017 at 2:51 PM, deessell said:

Got one yesterday. $50. They wanted bank statements (didn't specify an amount), and a flight out (or a reservation) Did mine at VSilk, Travel - 221 Sisowath (Riverside) Next to Chiang Mai Thai Restaurant.

 

For $10 they will *create* a reservation for your flight out. She said she could easily get 3 back to back SETV.

Thanks for the report.

Bank statement = copy of Thailand bank book?

EU PLANS NEW LABELLING LAWS FOR ALLERGENS

25th June, 2012 by Patrick Schmitt

The European Union is planning to implement new allergen labelling requirements for wine from the start of next month.

The proposed new law is designed to alert consumers to wines which have used milk or egg products in the fining process and have not tested negative for residues using a technique with a detection limit of 0.25mg/l.

Wine from the 2011 vintage and earlier will be exempt from the latest EU labelling rules, which are due to be enforced on 1 July, as will wines from this year’s harvest if they are labelled before the end of the month.

According to EU guidelines, the allergen indications may be in one of the following forms:

• Contains milk, Contains milk products, Contains milk casein or Contains milk protein.

• Contains egg, Contains egg products, Contains egg protein, Contains egg lysozyme or Contains egg albumin

However, if multiple allergens are present there is no need to repeat the word “contains”.

Hence the phrase “Contains sulphites, milk, egg” would suffice if all three allergens were present.

If wine is to be marketed in all 27 EU countries it may be necessary to label in a minimum of 15 languages, and hence a pictorial alternative has been developed (see below).

The logo must be used in conjunction with text stating the presence of the allergins.

The proposed new allergen logos my be used in black and white or colour and no minimum print height has been given

 

18 minutes ago, topt said:

Sulphites are used to preserve the wine and milk and eggs can be for clarifying - not necessarily the reason why you would not recommend it

 

 

I didn't know that there are "milk (products)" and "egg (protein)" in wine,  (well, you learn something every day!), but as it turns out, these things can (now) be found on wine labels of EU wines, effective 1st July 2012.

6 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Don't know if you're serious or not, however perhaps this will help: –

 

1). “Within the European Union, the term "wine" in English and in translation is reserved exclusively for the fermentedjuice of grapes”.

...

it has been established and agreed upon, that, for an alcoholic beverage to be deemed "Wine" it must contain 100% grape content.

Anything else is to be termed "Fruit Wine"

 

 

There you go; Thailand, last time I checked, wasn't a EU member country. Besides, drinking or selling of wine is quite novel in Thailand, and most Thais I know still don't know what it even tastes like...

10 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

Yanks is a term many in the US find derogatory. Use it in certain places and you'll be on the floor in no time.

 

45 years in the US and NEVER saw anybody put ice in beer. Never.

Well, I wouldn't use 'Yanks' offline in the U.S, and I certainly meant it in a friendly way. I actually just read it recently in a headline of a U.S. sports magazine.

Also, I've never been to the U.S.; maybe they only put ice into beer in Hollywood movies and TV shows. But the habit of filling up 2/3 of a beer glass with big chunks of ice, as is common in SE Asia, has to come from somewhere, and I doubt that the French introduced it... 

19 minutes ago, impulse said:

Not to mention people all over SEA who put ice in their beer and wine.

 

To be fair, they probably learned that faux pas from the yanks after WW2.

15 hours ago, Na Fan said:

I can understand that. But why can't they label it properly and in a clearly visible manner? That's what gets me.

Because they get away with it! They want costumers to think that it is real wine, so that they can get rid of their fruit wine.

Wine, like most imported food items come under a hefty import duty:

"The following is a description of the taxes applied: Import tariff: The current import tariff rate is 54 percent on CIF value or 18 baht/liter, whichever is higher. However, under the Thai –Australia FTA agreement, Thai tariffs on Australian wine have fallen gradually from 54 percent to 24 percent on entry in 2009. The import duty will reach zero percent by 2015. Excise tax: In principle, the Thai Government places an excise tax on certain products, which are considered "luxury goods" (such as cars, air conditioners, gasoline, soft drinks, perfumes, etc.) and health-affected goods (i.e., liquors and tobacco products), in order to control their consumption. In reality, the Government manipulates this tax as a device to generate revenue. The excise tax has been accordingly increased from time to time when the Government needs more money. The excise tax rate for wine is 60 percent. However. in addition to a high rate of excise tax, the current calculation methodology creates a much higher tax burden than the rate reveals...

Given the current tax structure, the import tariff rate is 54 percent, excise tax 60 percent, municipal tax 10 percent, health tax 2 percent and VAT 7 percent. The following are the steps used in calculating all duties levied on imported wine:

Effective Duty and Tax Burden for Wine by Exporting Country Pricing Wine importers mark up their wholesale prices from 10 to 300 percent, depending on their customer’s type of business.

Average representative mark-ups charged by sellers in wine market; 1. Supermarkets, Hypermarkets, Liquor Store, Department Store, Convenience Store: 5-20 percent ..., 2. Wine Shops: 20 percent, 3. Hotels, Restaurants, Pubs, Night Clubs: 100-300 percent..."

Or in simple terms, if it is too good to be true, it probably is! Or why is the alcohol smuggle from neighboring countries booming?

6 hours ago, darrendsd said:

I doubt that there were many actual tourists crossing at the OP's friends border, from what he said it was Thais.

And the Thais were, what, all of them people with dual citizenship? I am sure, that, at Bangkok's airports now, standing in the immigration queue only takes 5-10 minutes, just like in other Asian countries...

22 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

I know how bureaucracy works (and doesn't work) in Thailand.  Bureaucrats' main aim is to do as little as possible, and still get their weekly paychecks.  I've seen it on many levels.

 

 

Welcome to Thailand - where people's favourite activity is sleeping, and problems are always blamed on others. As long as the hordes of tourists are coming, there won't be any change. Only when it gets that bad that tourists stay away, then something might happen. Until then, expect to see it getting much worse, not better...

9 hours ago, anto said:

Now he has finally gone today ,Sunday the 20 th of August 2017 ,or has he ? See his ''final ''?  column .

Reading his latest, final(?) column, I read a lot of frustration and disappointment between the lines, so I guess, 'that's it', except, perhaps, if the 'yellow fever' took hold of him, and he came back to Thailand.

On 8/5/2017 at 1:28 PM, seancbk said:

My advice would be don't go to banks in shopping malls, don't go to banks on the outskirts of Bangkok, instead try ones in the farang heavy business areas or tourist areas.  Any bank branch that already has a high percentage of farang customers is more likely to say yes.

Can confirm that, from not very recent, experience. Don't even try SCB without a Thai guarantor; all other commercial banks in 'tourist areas' should be fine, perhaps trying a branch a few blocks further down the road, if necessary.

3 hours ago, Dazinoz said:

She used an agent to get her pink ID. Don't really know who actually issued it.

Does she really have to fly? With a bit of advance-planning, maybe she could use other transport options.