Mulambana

On 7/21/2020 at 10:29 PM, ubonjoe said:

The only thing that counts is the ministerial notice signed by the PM and the interior minister that will be published in the royal gazette.

The only thing thats count is how Immigration offices will implement it. Who is going to challenge it?

12 hours ago, AKJeff said:

There are places that have started letting long stays back in.  But the truly sad part is Thailand isn't really even talking about what to do with retirement extension holders.

Next phase  they are allowing elite visa holders. I think they are a bunch of new groups every month. It has only been three months since all theses started. I think have to give a few more months. My guess is by September they will start allowing retirement extensions.

On 7/19/2020 at 6:00 PM, BritTim said:

You will need a better justification for a further non standard extension than "if I leave, it will be difficult for me to come back".

It's already proposed to make the stay beyond Sept 26 as illegal and people may be prosecuted for staying illegally (overstay) and be blacklisted. It is like a final warning and two months grace period for making your stay legal by extending it as appropriate or leave. To extend your stay as appropriate, one needs to prove his case why he needs to stay in Thailand. Simply saying my country men and women has <deleted> up my country and made it a cesspool of infection is not going to cut it. 

On 7/18/2020 at 1:57 AM, Alphim said:

Royal Thai Embassy in South Africa take minimum 4 days to issue an O Visa, this in normal times so it is not our job, alone, to find away to meet the rules.

What's the big deal? You may have to twice. One for the embassy and another for the entry. What it is so confusing?

On 7/17/2020 at 10:46 PM, glegolo said:

Interesting, so if I  am stucked in Sweden i.e..... I have a retirement extension, AND I am married to a thai,,,, THAN according to you,,, I am not under any circumstances allowed back into Thailand now??

Is that what you mean??

No need for me to read the guidelines and documents required to enter Thailand. But my guess is it does not specify which type of extension one has. If you're on a retirement extension that has not expired yet, you can submit your documents with proof of Thai wife and you will be considered for a certificate of entry from the embassy. 

If your retirement extension has expired, you must also apply for a Non-O visa at the time of application for certificate of entry. Once you enter Thailand, you can change the Non-O to retirement or marriage extension.

4 minutes ago, RedCardinal said:

You can be stranded if this is your home and you've no way to renew your visa...

One is never stranded in his home country. 

16 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Both my tummy and my pen say it's good to go.

Anywhere would probably be good after boiling.

How about about your tongue? I find tap water tastes awful, not only in Thailand but in the US also. In the US, I have a refrigerator with water dispenser. Water from the dispenser tastes OK. In Thailand I have tried boiling water and chilled it but it still tastes awful. 

23 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

The ones who have som tam on the floor are not the people hoping for a permanent ban of tourists.

It is the middle class and elites 

Young girls dotting bars and go go bars with a desire to find an old, loser coming from the bottom of the society in their own countries as a husband do want foreigners to come. Their families also want foreigners to come. People who get their incomes from bride and orgy seekers want foreigners to come. People whose incomes don't depend on foreigners, directly or indirectly, don't want foreigners to come. This poll suggests that half of the population does not depend on the foreigners. Thailand's goal in the age of "new normal" is to accelerate the non-dependency to more than 75% before it can shun off all foreigners. 

On 7/11/2020 at 9:48 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Only people to blame are the Thais that destroyed it to get rich.

And many got rich and moved to pursue other stuff. That is life nothing to bitch  about. 

On 7/10/2020 at 12:23 AM, Henryford said:

Bit of a scam selling condos to foreigners and then saying you can't come in to live in it.

The sell more condos to Chinese and they also cannot come. Applies to everybody. What is the big rush to come to Thailand. Why can't wait for a few more months. Condo is not running away. 

On 7/3/2020 at 3:41 AM, ExpatOilWorker said:

What nationalities are still stranded here?

I saw a bunch of Chinese tourists in Pattaya the other day. May be they were strabded in Chiangmai/Phuket and made it to Pattay now.

On 6/29/2020 at 2:32 AM, natway09 said:

through the normal quarantine channels the bar customers have all been here in internal quarantine for 3 months anyway.

Cant they qurantine for one day, do a viral tests and get the results in 24-hours to clear non-infected people? Is the virus going to show up in a viral test if infected in the past hours or so (e.g. infected in the flight). It will generate lots of money for hotels but logistics of moving thousands of people by government officials from airports and monitoring them till the results are available may be a nightmare.

On 6/30/2020 at 9:38 AM, Tanoshi said:

Then they must have had their head buried in the sand.

The first confirmed case came on Jan 1st (China) followed by the first confirmed report in Thailand on 13th January. 

WHO’s situation report for 30 January reported 7818 total confirmed cases worldwide, with the majority of these in China, and 82 cases reported in 18 countries outside China. WHO gave a risk assessment of very high for China, and high at the global level.

By the mid to end of February almost all European Countries had confirmed cases of Covid.

 

Maybe some 'tin foil' heads, the prediction was clearly reported by the WHO and lockdowns worldwide were inevitable to contain the spread.

I was on the top of the news but I can say that in February there was very little indication of the impending doom unfolding through out the World. I had my flight out of Thailand on March 21. I even got a re-entry permit in the last week of Feb. In the second week of March when I started getting notifications for flight rescheduling and cancellations, I started growing suspicious and could initutively feel that it is not wise to travel to the US. On March 15, I cancelled my flight. The SARS and H1N1 pandemics were in my minds and never anticipated the travel gloom that was going to engulf the World within weeks. 

On 6/26/2020 at 12:09 PM, Thunder26 said:

Smart city? It is almost dead at the moment. 90% of businesses are still closed.

Unless bride seekers and orgy seekers are allowed to enter Thailand, it will remain so. But I like it. Everything that I need is available. Roads are not packed with songtaws ferrying bride seekrs/orgy seekers from bars to bars.

21 hours ago, London Boy said:

I don’t receive a pension but have a decent income through a number of rental properties in London.

Great way to build assets. If they don't accept rental income, get a mortgage in one of the proerty for 800K BHT and put it in a Thai bank for applying based on "money in the bank" method. You can repay the mortgage using rental incomes. Mortgage rate being so low through out the world right now, it won't cost you too much, I guess. 

Ignore it. Read you have a New Zealand passport. So you would be able to get an "embassy letter". Keep bringing 65K around the first week of every month and In case they give you problem, just hire an agent and get it done for around 5K (in Pattaya)

1 hour ago, drbeach said:

What I do know is that if I flew into Switzerland on my Swiss passport tomorrow, I'd be out of the airport and could go wherever I wanted with no quarantines, no tracking, no covid testing and no need to wear a face mask.

I can also do that if I fly to the US with my US passport.

15 hours ago, nauseus said:

Tell you what. You use your criteria and I'll use mine. OK?

 

My question is why India is included in the 54 country list but Singapore, Malyasia, Taiwan are not included? Is it because of money, kissing India's ass for access to its large consumer market, or some other criteria? That is my question. I know all the charts. No use of posting them again and again. 

2 hours ago, nauseus said:

ndia is up to No.4 in the world for total cases now:

Yes but India is included in the list of 54 countries based on their low per million infections. As I said per million infection should not be used as a criteria unless it is married to per million testing which is very low for India. 

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/draft-list-of-countries-permitted-to-enter-eu-when-borders-reopen-on-july-1/

14 minutes ago, Caldera said:

But maybe they should choose a country that didn't actually ban its long-term residents from entering. Most countries made provisions to still allow citizens, legal residents and their families in - Thailand doesn't look good at all in that regard.

Wealthy chines already have Portugal/Spanish golden visas that give them access to the entire Europe, they are the highest number of buyers of USA's E5 investment visa. Only poor chinese buy Thailand elites. And what does the poor farangs do? They flee to Thailand to find their brides outside their own culture and country so that they can live using the "wife visa", mostly eat rice and Thai foods (not that anything is wrong with that but it is not their own foods). Most chinese don't eat Thai foods. They eat their own foods but I have seen them buying boat load of fruits.

14 minutes ago, Pravda said:

Many people are just jealous because they can't afford to stay in Thailand anymore, while some Chinese can just drop 500k for a visa and stay hassle free while immensely profiting from Thailand. They are not buying 500k visas to support hookers and give allowance to their families, that's for sure.

 

I read the same whinging and whining when I visit Canadian forums. Chinese and Indians stealing jobs, buying real estate while Canadians repeatedly fail to compete on global scale. Had an Indian rent a condo in Toronto from me because no Toronto landlord would because he doesn't have a credit history. The guy transferred from India 30 days ago working for a Canadian bank while making 120,000 bucks a year and stupid Toronto landlords wouldn't budge. No problem, I filled the need. The guy paid me every month and when he bought his own place found me a replacement from another Indian guy who just got transferred. Meanwhile I spent my time in Thailand not having to waste money on real estate agents or flying back to Canada to find another tenant.

 

Time for a western sexpat to face music I think.

Don't know about Indian-Canadins but I assume they must be welathy. In the USA Indian-Americans are on the top of the food chain with average household incomes twice that of caucasians. They occupy the CEO posts of more than 100 fortune 1000 coroporations, they are doctors, finacial planners, lawyers, engineers, bankers, etc. And some own motel chains, gas station chains, 7/11. sub way chaains. 

2 hours ago, crazykopite said:

Only problem is they the Chinese don’t like spending money compered to Europeans I have one who lives next door to me he is so tight he squeaks when he walks 

Before COvid-19 every time I left BKK airport I will viist the VAT return counters. Never seen any farangs there but full of Chinese. Chinese don't sit in bars to ogle daughters  age young girls for a possible bride. The bride thing they have sorted out in their own country and in their own cultutre. Recently I have heard they have their own bars, girls, sex shows etc where neither Thais not farangs are allowed and they come here for mia nois.

Are they allowing travellers from India? It has  low infection rate per million population but testing is also among the lowest. So, there is no a defiite conclusions. Jut the infection per million population cant be a criteria unless somehow that number is normaized for testing/million population.

12 hours ago, BestB said:

Would it be too hard to have the new normal of covid test prior to arrival or on arrival ? Add extra $200 to the ticket price. People get tested on either side, airlines back in business, countries back in business, pharma companies making billions and labs making a nice profit .

Why do you think people agree to undergo all these tests to come to Thailand for tourism putposes?

5 hours ago, BritTim said:

some returnees will not need to undergo quarantine.

The day they will allow entries from disease infested countries to live in Thailand for longtime without qurantine and unrestricted movements is the day when Thailand will be doomed and rampant spread of the virus will overwhelm Thai health care system and Thailand will become another disease infested country. I hope it does not happen and if it happens I will take my chance in the USA and go back. 

On 6/24/2020 at 10:19 PM, holy cow cm said:

Sorry Steven. Your hero and his military cronies and bought and paid for ministers aren't that smart or intellectual.

Wow, people who are at the top of the helm in their societies, prestige, money, and social standing are not smart but people who flee their own country, unable to find a bride in their own cutlture and ethnicity, take refuge in a foreign land using a "wife visa" that requires them to report their where abouts every 90-day, file report when the change residence, and given permsision to stay one year at a time are smart. It just redifnes the smartness defintion.