Caldera

10 hours ago, Ireland32 said:

Not a fan of that hotel and industrial feel, tbh, Great Nightlife if you go Speed Nightclub bring earplugs , deafening 

Speed (Speed 1 Music Hall) is a great suggestion. As said, deafening music, also cheap booze and probably the best eye candy Buriram has to offer. If a Thai night out is your thing, definitely go there.

6 hours ago, Reese12 said:

3 months this year. 5 months 2018, in previous passport 1 month 2017, 4 months 2016

That's quite harmless. ????

Seriously though, you've got nothing to worry about with that history.

10 minutes ago, wallywest said:

When I have the cash on me do I just hand over all of that to the IO? Or should I wait to hand over cash if they ask, don't want it to look like I'm bribing or anything.

Just hand over your passport, boarding pass and arrival card first, as per usual. If they question you, however, having everything ready that they expect to see from a tourist can be helpful.

1 hour ago, wallywest said:

Basically I was naive to the tourist visa issue because before this I only had ED visas in my passport over the past couple of years.

Are those ED visas in your current passport as well? That would give you quite a long history visible to the consulate, probably mostly back to back?

When you came to Vietnam, did you head straight to the Thai consulate or spend some time out of Thailand first? The more it looks like a visa run, the worse it is in the current climate.

I agree that CNX is probably your safest bet, all things considered. To improve your chances, have everything they might ask for ready to show: Flight out within 30 days, cash (personally I'd take more than what's required), hotel reservations. If you can book a hotel in Chiang Mai for the first few nights, a Chiang Mai address on your arrival card would look better than a Phuket address. Best of luck to you!

That might get their attention more than a few (thousand) individuals complaining. They do still want to attract foreign investment, after all.

51 minutes ago, 3421abc said:

normally you only pay after you get the ed visa approved.

I very much doubt that this is true.

Ripping Thai people off by telling them fairy tales should be added to the list of professions reserved to Thais. At that point, no foreign monk could get a visa/extension anymore.

Thailand would be better off if he ate the plastic container itself and choked on it.

So those DSI muppets know that they will solve the case in three months. That would be impressive, but unless they just pin it on some scapegoats, I have no idea what their confidence is based on.

23 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

I started with 100 Baht = 2 Euro.

Those were the times! The best I ever got was about 52 Baht per Euro for an ATM withdrawal, slightly less than 500 Euro for the maximum Baht amount allowed in a single transaction, 25,000 Baht. Oh, and Thai banks didn't yet charge an arm and a leg for withdrawals with foreign cards either.

Nowadays I never answer my phone if the number of the caller isn't in my contacts and if I'm not expecting a call from a delivery guy or something similar. It has served me well.

Friends and family use WhatsApp or Line to contact me anyway. On the very rare occasion that I did answer my phone when I neither expected a call nor knew the number, I regretted it. Usually it was just a Thai who had the wrong number though, not a call center.

1 hour ago, domu said:

I have an old bbl card. is it possible to keep the visa number on the new card?

If you mean a debit card (not a credit card), then no. Bangkok Bank doesn't issue Visa debit cards anymore. You'd have to get their MasterCard debit card if you want to avoid being stuck with their UnionPay one.

No surprises there.

22 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Also how do you suggest border crossing from Saigon to Thailand. Lovely trip that would be.

It's not impossible to make that quite a "lovely" trip if you have some time to spare. Take a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh, stay in Phnom Penh for a night (or a few days), bus to Ko Kong, cross into Thailand at Had Lek (sleepy and friendly), visit Trat or Ko Chang while you're there, then finally another bus or a flight to Bangkok.

You've been missed, old fella.

Yes, I'm just joking.

13 hours ago, JamesBlond said:

Incidentally, there are distinct parallels between Hong Kong/China and the UK/EU. HK & UK wants its own identity. China & EU have punitive economic power. Britain next for the riots, if Brexit is blocked.

That really is an outlandishly ridiculous comparison. The UK's failure to withdraw from the EU is a domestic matter; the previous government failed to pass the agreement it had negotiated with the EU and the current government lost its majority in the Commons outright. There are many things that the EU deserves blame for, this is not one of them.

The EU didn't appoint fools such as TM and Boris to their jobs either. China, on the other hand, did have a hand in bringing that Lam woman into office.

Rest in peace Billy, this is unsurprising but nevertheless profoundly saddening news.

I hope that those responsible will eventually be brought to justice. Not holding my breath though.

"Johnson cast the challenge as an attempt to force Britain to surrender to the EU just as he hopes to secure concessions on the terms of the divorce, helped by the threat to walk out without one."

That's just delusional, because nobody in the EU feels threatened by that threat. Surrender or leave without a deal it is.

15 hours ago, billd766 said:

More blah blah from Tony Bliar

This is one of those very few cases that I think he actually has a point.

1 hour ago, JohnnyBKK said:

One of my friends couldn't enter and the IO asked him to buy some whisky bottles to help him "think" about his situation. He did so and he was let in. It seems like whisky is a good helper to take the right decision.

Unless you're just taking the P (I really can't tell, considering all these mind-boggling threads recently), this thing seems to be spreading like crazy. Have they figured out that extracting a payment for passage is more lucrative than getting a kickback from the detention room company?

1 hour ago, elviajero said:

In my experience people look at the visa system how they want it to be rather than the reality of how it actually is.

Not all of us are naturally born sycophants who, when Thai immigration make nonsensical changes or substantial about-turns, go out of their way to tell people that these honest and hard-working IOs are just plugging the loopholes (to make Thailand a safer and happier place, no doubt) and that those affected just need to get on with it and stop whinging.

I fail to see how this is a "loophole" they didn't know about full well when they designed those programs. Do they really not even have one member of staff who has a functioning brain? Even you saw that coming, after all. If they had wanted it any other way, they should have designed or priced it differently, easy.

I've yet to see a Thai official - any Thai official - who doesn't lie when their lips are moving.

That said, this Fake News Center is welcome news to me: Whatever piece they condemn as "fake news" will get my full and undivided attention - it's like a stamp of approval of sorts.

3 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

No worries the time that you can work here without a proper visa and work permit are ending soon. 

Truth to be told, I'm more worried about what they do to people who DO have a proper "visa". In many reported cases, they don't get much better treatment and their status can swiftly be in jeopardy for even the slightest issues. Having such an unprofessional and overly cocky immigration force ultimately isn't in any foreigner's best interest.