Caldera

5 hours ago, Sundown said:

If you are waiting for elite worst case scenario you will overstay a bit max 20000 fine up to to 3 months and you will be fine no need to pay 65k.

I think the worst case scenario is that immigration will refuse to put the Elite visa in your passport if you are on overstay. They might be sympathetic in this particular situation, but do you really want to take the chance?

As soon as quite possibly never then. There's no guarantee that the coronavirus will be eradicated completely anytime soon (or ever).

2 hours ago, jonga80 said:

Thai Visa Centre

Did they tell you if they will keep your passport the entire time the visa is being processed (several weeks)? A friend of mine asked an agent in Pattaya and that's what they told him.

That would be a no-go for me in Thailand, being without my passport for weeks. I had always thought you get an under consideration stamp and then come back to have your visa or extension stamped into your passport.

53 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I just edited the OP to change the translation of the ministerial notice to one done by a translation service.

That translation service just degraded the PM to the rank of Major General. I hope the rest of the translation is more accurate.

As you're self-employed, do you do any kind of accounting? Or do you have a business bank account with statements to show?

If you have a high amount of savings (much higher than the minimum requirement), you might also be able to convince them that you're having a sabbatical living off your savings. No idea if that would fly with London in particular, but other Thai embassies have been reported to accept just savings.

4 minutes ago, EricTh said:

Paying 25,000 baht is much easier than putting 800k in a Thai bank or take a one year Thai course.

 

But the real question is, is this workable and that easy to get a one-year visa?

From reading similar offers, 25,000 baht seems to be the price of the initial Non-O visa issued by immigration, for someone who entered Thailand as a tourist. Good for 3 months only, can be extended but that costs extra.

31 minutes ago, kd2000 said:

With all due respect it sounds to good to be true.

 

With all trouble given to get hold of any kind of extensions you would be sorted out so easily for a 15k / month for up to 3 months without a 1 year entry ban.

 

Are you 100% sure?

You do risk being found on overstay before leaving. In that case (arrested and prosecuted), you'd face a 5 years ban right away - technically from day #1. If you make it to the airport, on the other hand, there's no ban unless you overstay 90 days or longer.

They keep the borders shut to tourists and kick out those foreign tourists who still happen to be in Thailand at the end of September. Big surprise that income will be way down!

Now that PM Thaksin has been dealt with (time and again), will the judiciary find some time to go after criminals close to the current government as well?

Good. Staging a coup should be illegal, not protesting against one.

I visited Pattaya before the long weekend and noticed that many hotels were shuttered, closed temporarily or in some cases maybe even permanently.

If the 90% figure they mention refers to those hotels that are still open, that might well be true but would be quite meaningless when their objective is to say "everything is fine". Survivorship bias at work.

They really shouldn't have cramped 4 people into that Porsche. That's an atrocity.

12 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Or you could just use an agent and pay 25k for a retirement extension.

If the OP is 50+ years old, that would be a good fallback.

2 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

I agree. With recent events in HK, Vietnam (Danang), China Australia (Melbourne). Along with worldwide spikes, I don't even understand how people imagine borders will open October. 

True. Those recent outbreaks in countries that were once mentioned as travel bubble candidates probably mean that not even "bubble travel" will be possible anytime soon.

I could do without him. His attention seeking antics without getting anything of substance done just served to increase xenophobia in the Thai population.

I wouldn't call Chiang Khan "off the beaten track" at this point, but this skywalk makes a nice addition to what they have to offer.

12 hours ago, samtab said:

Is it true that they will then extend until December end ?

 

While nobody can say this with any certainty at this time, it seems likely that the extension to September 26 will be the final automatic one. I think it would be prudent to plan accordingly.

11 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

At least 8mb Ram memory

Ah, that sent me down memory lane, as it were... Those were the times! ????

Airlines entering the COVID-19 testing / insurance game could be big. They certainly have an interest in resuming normal operations ASAP.

I, for one, will miss laundering money via my MRT stored value card. I might need to switch to trading 7/11 stamps underground.