JackGats

Would this mean it's better to give an address abroad (outside Thailand) when applying? Supposing you are applying from abroad to come and pick up the visa in TH once approved/issued.

Regarding the LTR, could somebody tell me if the "endorsement letter" (or was it "letter of endorsement"?) comes in electronic form or is sent to the applicant postel address by snail-mail?

This is crazy.

I think this is with brute force (running thousands of passwords every second until the good one hits home). Bank accounts and other applications only allow a handful or trials before the system locks though.

Yes, that's what my embassy on the phone hinted at. There would still be time until May 2nd for a normal passport (after I reschedule my flight which is set at April 30th). If that is possible it's the best solution. I value a normal passport more than I value retaining my extension. However some consulates/embassy have a backlog of several weeks for nomal passports from what I've heard.

I heard they were only 6 months valid. So I shall need a normal passport to travel back anyway (6-month rule, enforceable by airlines if not by Thailand). The question is whether a visa stamp transferred on the emergency passport is any good when I come back. If not I get 30 days and take it from there. Or better still, do the LTR, for which I qualify. Do the LTR online from Europe and come to collect it in October, that would be ideal.

I once rode to Immigration from an agency to have my picture taken. The agency paid for the motorbike taxi. The motorbike taxi I rode with carried a bunch of passports under the seat for delivery to immigration. No Courrier or Thai Post for these passports, only มอเตอร์ไซค์รับจ้าง.

Ok guys, long story short, the agency called me this morning to tell me "immigration lost your passport". I have an appointment at my embassy on monday morning. Agency is paying the costs and said they want to get the renewal on the emergency passport before the deadline runs out. Funny some of you guys question whether I keep copies of my passport. I'd be a fool not to do that with the kind of life we lead here. Not only that, I upload all the pages of it on my Google drive, adding new pages as soon as they get some stamp on it.

I thought of doing that, but what if I get controlled by police during the 90 days? Would be bad luck but I would no longer be an "alien surrendering to police". That's why it would be great to know (get a print-out from the Immigration computer?) whether the new extension was stamped in the missing passport. But this is apparently not a service agencies are willing or able to provide, in spite of begin well-connected with Immigration.

I had it. It's scary. I remember swimming with my face in the water and not feeling the other half. There's a rule in medical books that it starts getting better at day "X". In my case it did exactly that. 5 days is too soon to notice an improvement I think. I read that herpes could be the culprit. Herpes is a nerve virus remember. In my case it probably was, for I started having outbreaks of herpes (labialis) about 1 year after the Bell's Palsy incident. You may want to do a test for herpes after your symtoms are over.

I was factoring in the time needed for my embassy to provide me with a new passport in case mine doesn't surface, and the availability of flights if I must reschedule. So if I am optimistic and wait until the last day, I'll be in overstay by the time I have a passport and a new flight. My flight is on the 30th of April.

It usually gets done in two working days. I handed in my passport and file last Tuesday. That's why I'm assuming something is not normal.

Of course. Have been dropping by twice a day since Friday. I was told yesterday the visa was on the way from Immigration (a ten minutes' ride!). Today I was told either that the big boss at immigration was not there to sign (unlikely, as passports kept arriving back) or that a concommitant application for a certificate of residence was delaying the return of the passport (don't see why this should be either).

I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown now because my passport might be missing somewhere between Immigration and the agency. I don't know whether my extension is already stamped on my missing passport as of now. If it is, my understanding is that there can be no overstay as the new one-year extension will be in Immigration's computers. However, I have no means of finding out if that is the case. My present extension, the one that was already on my passport when I gave it to the agency for renewal, expires on May 2nd. Agency is closed from April 13th to April 19th inclusive. On which day should I decide I've waited enough and go report my missing passport to Thai police before I ask my Embassy for a replacement (emergency or "provisional" passport)? I've read overstay up to 90 days costs 20k Baht but does not lead to a criminal record in Thailand.

Boyfriend or male in general is easy if you're a woman. Tell the police he was violent. Even if the property belongs to him he's out. Otherwise as you say, court order.

I guess then the only way out to avoid jail is bribes. The whole visa thing gets supervised and helped along the way by the people who brought them to Thailand in the first place. I assume the latter know whom to pay off. But I've heard Thai Embassies in most countries can no longer issue visas on their own like they did 5 years ago. One African girl told me the other day she would apply for a student visa after her tourism visa runs out. Student visas seem to be the most abused visas in Thailand these days.

Girls from Africa. They get say, a 3-month visa for Thailand. When that expires they can get a one-month extension. After that the only way to get another visa is in their home country. Instead they send their passport and someone takes care of the additional visa in their home country. That's about the sequence described to me. I don't think it's legal to send your passport across borders.

I see. Having my passport sent upcountry is not something I'd feel comfortable with. Foreign girls in TH have strong enough nerves to send their passport through DHL to some foreign country for visa renewal. From the peep I got into Immigration (before I ran for cover to my agent), mislaying of passports there is not unthinkable. Huge piles of passports and papers lying about. Do they close 10 minutes early on some days to organise a communal search for the week's missing passport(s)?

Since we're on the topic of agencies, how likely is it that between the agency and Immigration, for a passport to go missing? I'm talking about legit and reputable agencies with good track records, not dodgy ones. Loss of the passport at such a juncture would be a nightmare as the extension would per se be close to expiry.

Sometimes, illegal but largerly overlooked is better than legal and heavily regulated. Look at what happened in Western Europe. Prostituion there has gone downhill since it got increasingly legalised.

I was wondering about what kind of "additional documents" are required after you qualify. I'm talking about doing the LRT in Thailand and not through a consulate. There's mention of a criminal record somewhere. That's pretty straighforward (provided they don't ask you to go and get one from your home country). But what about proof of address or long-term rental contracts? Is it possible to get a LRT while living in hotels one or two weeks at a time? With yearly retirement visa extensions this was not a major hurdle provided you used an agent.

You mean you still need to do extensions every year when you have a Thailand Elite visa?

I find this on the Thailand Elite website: "Five-year multiple entry visa with extendable one-year length of stay per each entry" Can somebody explain what this means in plain English?

Not many girls under 30 working at Soi 6.

Muslims jump into the water without taking their clothes off. North Americans jump half dressed into the water (with trunks that reach below the knees). South Americans, Europeans, Russians etc. jump nearly naked into the water (speedo-type). As for me, the less damp cloth I bring back from the swimming pool, the better.