Tropposurfer

The rule is: No payment, no flight until the fine is paid.

Sorry to hear of the family ordeal.

sadly governments are heartless for the most part. Australia is a great example. I hope your Philippines move will prove a haven for your dear old mum.

To not al least listen to the story of a person emerging from a coma sounds a bit rough.

I wonder what someone expects an embassy to do in this case of illness or debilitation?

Their job has never been to support such things as far as embassy contacts I’ve had over the years has shown. Incarceration, offering legal support, visas, lost passports, destitute people re: repatriation  perhaps - in some circumstances.

it seems all embassy websites are heavy going and forms n processes highly legalistic n dense, but hey we are talking about British law application in foreign countries so I guess it’s necessary to cover bases as the British govt see it.

embassies are not here to bail out people because they get themselves into straights e.g. no medical insurance get hurt hospital big bills etc., drink n party their way into a destitute position. Break foreign law n then expect their embassy to make that nation let them out of jail or detention centres.

But, many do see this is their job. It is not, and hasn’t been for a very long time. Remarks by other nationalities shows their embassies being of the same or similar application n procedures does indicate some stiffening and retraction back behind narrower walls of operation.

if this is actual and real then I venture to guess it might be due to the increase of folks appealing to and expecting their embassy to ‘save’ them in some way.

just a thought.

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Only one example; however, an American in my condo has renewed his extension in the last week. There is no way he has either the 800K or the 65K income. His American pension is about 45K baht/month. So he has got around the rules somehow.

Heresay, lots of assuming, and imagination here.

55 years surfing the globe so I know a thing or two about the ocean waves and where to get them. Phuket waves in surf (laugh) season are crap! Sumatra is the go ... close by with an hour hop fo0rm Singapore on Silk Air Sum's has epic river mouth and reef waves so numerous you can't count them. Its cheap[ to go there and cheap to stay right near the break you choose. Get of the plane in Padang, go straight to the nearest surf shop in town (there are a few) and ask to get hooked up with someone who can take you to a place to stay with the waves you like e.g. lefts or rights, fast slow hollow whatever and they'll hook you up easy peazy ????

There are some really thick people on TV! The days of tripping in and out on a tourist visa, and extending that are fast going and soon will be gone for good.

Thailand does not want people who 'live' here yet claim to be 'tourists' end of story.

If you can't afford the financial criteria for a marriage, or an O-A, or a business visa (and make a go of that business and get the renewed) then your out.

If your wining about staying here for years by scamming the visa system and have irresponsibly married someone (yes if you've been scamming the system on tourist visa's then that's relationally selfish and irresponsible) and made a family then you are to blame.  

<deleted>! Join the Australian Army reach for an elite unit and you'll get the best military training and arguably inherit the finest, and one of the most respected military lineages in the world.

Diggers are known to be troops you don't want to come up against ...hard as, when the metal meets the meat!

3 hours ago, RobMuir said:

I was down at Pattaya immigration and hadn’t bothered to do the TM 30 since being back in the country for 45 days. 

The immigration woman asked me, and I told her I had been staying in a pHuket hotel the whole time (I lied) and I had just got back to Pattaya that morning. They can’t check it.

 

So my suggestion to anyone in the same boat is simply lie and say you were staying in a hotel in a different province. 

Too easy.

what if they demand details, and check with the hotel if you had a booking ... royally screwed.

20 hours ago, Rally123 said:

Crazy? Why is it 'crazy'?

The only thing that's crazy is that honesty is punishable by immigration. Do everything illegal ie money wise and life is good.

I’d hardly consider people falsifying immigration required documentation, and using scam agents, and there are likely hundred to thousands of foreigners who’ve been doing this as “honesty”.

800K in the bank no need to think about whether you have deposits of this or that amount per month, just need an income to cover your needs without touching the 800K. What could be simpler ????

Interest rates offered by Thai banks on that 800K is a small amount (similar to Aussie banks) but would pay for, or nearly pay for, a damn good premium health insurance. GOLDEN ???? 

30 K round trip out of town near Hua Hin OMG !!! what a strain that must have been to drive or ride to. Such impoverishment and lack of resources to live our lives.  What a terrible, hard, drudging, impoverished life we falangs have to endure. 

The price of food and other living costs has risen slightly in LOS in the last say ... . 5 years. If you live and eat western food, expect a western standard with your lifestyle, won't eat or don;t eat healthy good quality Thai food that's absolutely everywhere and hang in and live and spend your money in tourist fleecing savee areas yes you'll pay $20 $30 for a meal or more. If you drink with your meals then this is easily achievable in Patt's, Samui, Phuket, and BKK e.g. Sukhumvit. 

Food, gas, electricity, health insurance, motor bikes rego, vehicle insurance, furniture, clothes etc etc is still dirt cheap compared to any western city I've ever visited and or lived in. 

Whinging whining, half glass full folks   ????

Most has been said by learned TV folks. >>> Import tax on your car will be horrendous!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sell the bloody thing and buy one in Thailand ... truckloads of near new repossessed cars for sale at good prices if you have cash and can negotiate well.

Not that hard if you have the doe loaded on a debit or credit card to do the deal fast, and have a smart Thai person to help you do the deal - just take 25% as an example off the price they ask for and offer that for a deal right there and then, and they will bite hard, after the usual transparent false protestations of no can do - you pay more and other no no no's.A buddy of mine bought a Merc 350 six diesel sedan from a yard that deals with many repossessed... almost brand new ... he got it for half its new value something or other and it had 15000 kms only on the clock. Beautiful car!

There are sh..loads of these yards all over Thailand.

Tools all wrong voltage.

Tools are cheap in Thailand and great quality brands can be gotten as well as mid to cheap lines.

Furniture is cheap, even hand made one-offs are good value I think.

Thais can make gorgeous wooden furniture ... easy to find. Some great furniture shops in the streets around JJ market (outside not inside JJ).

Good bedlinen is very expensive in LOS ... so get family back home to buy, open, wash, repack, and send them as 'used goods' to you ... no tariff then.

Clothing is a no brainer ... as there are really good tailors in BKK (many <deleted> ones too) e.g.'s of good ones I've used for years are: Embassy Tailors Chitlom, and for really top end hand made clothes Narin at Narin Couture just up from Soi 8 Sukhumvit road towards Soi 10.

Bring your suitcases with basic clothes and hit Embassy for decent handmade gear (or if you want higher end then Narin) and get kitted out ... and that's it ????

Yes it absolutely, positively, without ambiguity, definitely, of-course-a-mundo, for sure, is ????

Here's a simple solution leave the 800k in the bank year round (allow for currency fluctuations and leave a mil in the bank to be sure) then you won't need to worry about playing financial dodgeball year round.

It's less than 25K AUD.

I'm a bloody pauper and I can afford it !!! lol lol???? 

Man there must be some really poor expat folks living in Thailand that can't afford to save themselves a huge amount of angst and effort by putting 25K AUD in the bank on a fixed deposit and earn a tad interest and report and validate via this method.