yokat

I never drank tap water in Thailand because I read that I was supposed to avoid it. I was comforted in my choice the first time I opened the flushing tank of my toilet and saw the brown deposit on all the immersed parts. I cleaned it and it came back after a few months...

I cook my pasta in tap water but I definitely wouldn't drink it.

It's funny to see this now because since a few days ago a new street food stall has started operating 100 meters from Thonglor's police station. They grill fish and a ton of smoke comes from it.

I'm not very good at reading this kind of document but it looks like Nok Air lost 2 billion baht in 2017 and 4 billion in 2018, plus if I remember correctly they should have a few of the infamous 737 Max 8. Who the hell is investing in that ?

http://nok.listedcompany.com/misc/FS/20190301-nok-fs-fy2018-en-02.pdf

Mr Prinya is the only one related to cybersecurity in this National Cyber Security Committee

What kind of person carries 700k and forget about it ? Someone that probably has much more on hands or carries this amount regularly.

You won't want to touch the cash if you expect some big shot or a shady guy to come look for it.

I may be wrong but here are some reasons I would see against PR:

- The price is not insignificant, it's money you actually spend, not have to hold somewhere

- You still need re-entry permits

- Re-entry permits are inconvenient to get for PR holders

- The process to obtain PR is looooooong

- PR can be lost if for some reason you spend more than a year out of Thailand

And more personally, I am not ruling out other countries.

Yes you are required by law to do so.

But... I work at a company with BOI approval and none of my coworkers ever heard about tm30 or tm28. We made 2 extensions in May (Done at the one stop service center) and none of them were asked anything related to those forms. And I hope it will continue like that.

It kind of explains how a thai car part manufacturer has enough cash on hands to finance its own PM candidate.

The only reason I am giving my girlfriend any money is because I told her to quit her job doing mind numbing QA 10hrs/day for 20k/month to pursue something better. Other than that I buy the food and pay for the condo where we live but I never sent her anything like a salary. I am also working on talking her out of the Sin Sod, I don't like the concept of putting a burden on the youngs to please the olds who are already set in life.

For those wondering like me why 2051 and how they got their numbers:

"In 2021 the amount of passenger trips will be 3,009.42 thousand person trips/day and will increase to 3,748.90, 4,750.84, and 5,872.07 thousand person trips/day in 2031, 2041, and 2051, respectively. Growth rate is 2.2% per annum increasing from 2,660.40 thousand person trips/day in 2015"

source: http://www.songkhlastation.com/pdf/surathatyaisongkhla/ExecutiveSummaryReportofDetailedDesign.pdf

Also interesting to see that the 160kmh train does not seem to be the only one using the tracks, I wonder how they will handle that.
"-Rail passenger train double standard,aver.160 km./hr. (max.200 km./hr.)
-Rail passenger train double the size of one metre aver.100 km./hr. (max.160 km./hr.)
-Rail passenger train one single size(ST/MG) aver.60 km./hr."

I would restrain from using anything that has not been officially announced since you are at risk of identity theft if this app is not official.

A 'free cancellation' hotel booking and a bank statement are very simple to obtain and nowhere near unreasonable. If you stick to the required documents the SETV is very straight forward. Cash is useful when you enter Thailand but I never heard of a consulate interested in seeing it.

Seeing how everything is made around here I guess most 'racism' comes from laziness, lack of vision, lack of skill if 'engineers' and staffs :

- Don't read/write english

- Don't think foreigners can be anything other than tourists

- Don't support any id format other than Thai

- Think everything can be written in Thai

- Don't want to deal with the paperwork that any interaction with a foreigner seems to need in LOS

I am not saying that there is no blatant discrimination and very ignorant people all around, but you may be misplacing bad intentions in the mind of some local system designers.

I always order cheap things from aliexpress with free shipping, I never tried banggood from Thailand. For bigger/more expensive things I usually try to find them on Lazada. On Lazada expect a 10 to 30% markup compared to aliexpress but delivery is usually very fast.

On the matter of reporting the address of a foreigner,  does filing a tm28 myself make it unnecessary for my landlord to file a tm30 or are they both needed ?

I usually found my landlords to be slow and unaware of the requirements. It usually needed my official moving date to be 'flexible'.

1 hour ago, sussex said:

How did you get on, Yokat? Successful,  I hope. Any tips?

I am back from HK now have time to tell the tale of my visa application ????

My original plan was to come there the evening before my application so I could be at the consulate early before the opening at 9:30 in order to be able to procure missing documents/copies before closing time at 12:30. This was the optimistic plan and I would advise against flying there in the morning since you could be short on time if they don't accept your documents on the first try.

I had all the documents plus extras with me: a letter from the BOI, a VAT registration, the passport copy of my boss, the company tax paper, my passport, proof of qualification, invitation letter from the company, job offer letter, bank statements, ticket to thailand, copy of my passport and the immigration slip from HK.

Regarding some of my questions about the form I filled it like this :

- occupation : Engineer

- purpose : Business

- Local guarantor : left blank

- duration of stay : 90 days

My submission consisted of 3 very simple steps:

1/ I went to the consulate at 9:00pm and about 12 people were waiting there, by the time it opened at 9:30 there were more than 30 people queuing. I was rejected at 9:45 because of the following reasons :

- Main problem: The invitation letter was addressed "To whom it may concern" when they wanted "To the royal thai consulate-general in Hong Kong"

- I did not fill the field "Permanent address (if different from above)", even if it was similar to above they did not want it empty

- They asked for a copy of the BOI letter

2/ Running around, making copies and getting documents I was back at 11:00, this time no queue just 10 people in the waiting room and 5 minutes later it was my turn again. The woman at the counter went through my documents, didn't understand why there was 2 letter of invitation (they stapled the previous one to the application form) but took both letters and returned to me all the documents regarding the company except the invitation letter ...

3/ My application then passed to the cashier who seems to be the grumpy women all HK review talk about. She checked quickly my application and told me "This is not good, not enough documents !" to which I promptly answered and told her that they just gave me back a lot of documents. She asked for everything I had, went through my pile of paper and took back all the company documents, disturbed again by the documents that appeared twice. She finally took my documents and my 600HKD

She only took 1 photo 3.5x4.5cm

She gave me back : the copy of the BOI letter that was asked for at the first rejection, the company tax paper, the copy of my sponsor's id, the job offer letter, the company location on a map (they really ask for this on the mfa website)

She did not ask for : my flight to thailand, proof of sufficient funds, copies of my previous visa and entry stamps to thailand.

The next day I came back for collection, the visa was there, I flew back in the evening to Don Mueang airport and the passport check went smoothly but the queue was about 20 minutes long even at midnight.

I expected the Hong Kong consulate to less flexible(read: random) with the required documents and the expected content of said documents. My case is not an exception, all the other farangs with a business look that were waiting at 9:30 also left quickly with all their documents in hand and one of them was even back at the same time as me for a second attempt. Come overly prepared, be ready to procure documents : have someone on-call at the company ready to stamp and mail documents on short notice.

This is my experience with HK consulate for a Non-Immigrant B visa, I may have forgotten to write some details but I will answers questions if I see them.

PS:

For convenient copying and printing I recommend Alphagraphics at the ground floor of the lippo centre tower 2.

For convenient internet i bought a prepaid simcard with 2GB of data for 48HKD at some convenience store, they don't display the simcards but they have them. The public wifi or the wifi at coffee shops and restaurants are not reliable (= no internet connection), I strong advised going with a mobile internet option, it's also cheaper than the coffee and croissant in HK.

Can anybody who already had to fill one of those for a non-immigrant B visa give me some direction ? I really don't want to screw up my application because of a small detail

I plan to make a report here when this is finished

Hello, I will be applying this week for a Non Immigrant B visa for employment at the Thai consulate in Hong Kong and I have some questions regarding some documents and how to fill the form.

I attached an image of the form available on HK consulate's website.

For the documents required:

- According to the consulate website the basic requirement that are supposed to apply to all visa request includes : A copy of confirmed round-trip air ticket or an itinerary.

Is this also valid for a Non-B visa ? I plan to get an extension in Thailand when the 90 days expire and don't have any plan to return anytime soon

- They are asking for a 1.5 x 2 inches photos on the website when the form says 3.5x4.5 cm (standard passport format), will they accept the format mentionned on the form or should I make another set of pictures ?

On the form:

- For the purpose of visit, is "work" included in "business" or does it fall under "other" ?

- Since I don't plan to return anytime soon what should I put in the Duration of proposed stay ? 90 days or leave it blank ?

- I understand the Guarantor in Thailand is my employer but who is supposed to be my "local" guarantor ? Is it a financial guarantor or just a contact in my home country ?

I prepared all the documents and even more but the information on the consulate website is not very clear. Also the information available this morning is different from the one available now... If you try to go to their website at the moment I am writing this it is not working properly.

Thank you for your help