law ling

1 hour ago, Jumbo1968 said:

I was told by Jomtien if on a Retirement Visa reporting wasn’t necessary.

Maybe you're right for "Retirement Visa", but that didn't apply to my "non imm OA" visa - a few weeks ago my landlady was fined at Jomtien for late reporting me (two days late).

Hotels MAY ordinarily do the reporting if you go away for a few days (as a few comments here have noted) but they don't give you any confirmation of fully accurate and on-time lodgment which you could use to fight any subsequent fine-incurring lateness allegation.

16 hours ago, sangtip2 said:

Wasn't it fleas that spread the plague across Europe in the 1300s ?

Correct. Fleas carry plague, infecting by their bites - and still do to this day.

Yet someone from the Disease Control Department here says "there are no medical records of anyone dying from a flea bite".

Seems to me that the authorities may find a blanket request that "foreigners need not report their changes of address",  as more suspicious then it sounds (rather than just being supremely impractical under the current system; which is what I assume motivates the petition). Better to press for an easier reporting system. (Tip: Change won't happen - it's revenue driven - the fines are too attractive - a "river of gold" - why would they turn that off?)

I don't know why this warning is applicable only to Thai men.

Just curious:

1. What triggers the issuance (or not) of the slip of paper you get when you TM30 report? If hotels and condo offices ordinarily do the reporting, why haven't they been giving me those slips of paper - or some confirmation of on-time lodgment - to be used to fight any subsequent fine-incurring lateness allegation?

2. How is a hotel, condo or landlord (if they automatically do the reporting) to know where I've been - and whether I need to report TM30 (entered country) or TM28 (changed address)?  (I suppose they can infer this by checking your entry date from the passport, but could carelessly get it wrong.)

3. Is it an unavoidable, fine-incurring trap if your "within 24 hours" period is when Immigration Offices are closed? (weekends, holidays) - and you can't report electronically -  necessitating a more careful planning of an inward flight?

3 hours ago, LawrenceN said:

"Separated from its mother"? A mother leopard is capable of looking after its young. More likely, she was shot or trapped.

... or out hunting, only to return to her nest later and find her cub missing.

My landlady told me she was fined B500 (Jomtien) for reporting me late (TM30). Typically Thai, she appeared good natured about it.

Who keeps the B500 "fine" - the IO or the government? I suspect the former, and that this is proving a nice earner for them.

How does the "report within 24 hours" rule work? If it's strictly calculated, from  say plane touchdown, one would always be caught if arriving late on the eve of a day when their office is closed - except for those competent with electronic reporting, or trusting to do it by mail (and the post office being open).

Free speech is something to be valued, save for generally accepted exceptions like defamation, blasphemy, vilification, treason, etc.

It's Britan's (serious) problem if they can't maintain confidentiality within their own systems.

As for the American president, I tire of unsubstantiated criticsms. If the observation is that he is "inept" (and "inept" is a pretty strong word) then let's have:

1. A concise statement of a current issue,
2. What responses to that issue would objectively be said to be ept,
3. What the President did in response,
4. Why the President's response is objectively inept.

Without that objective framework, these anti-President rants are otherwise just silly, unsubstantiated, subjective name-calling, which is of no interest to a serious observer seeking to be informed, and wanting to make their own judgment.

The fingerprint machines are in place at departure passport control, but were not being used the day I left a week ago.

Everyone was being fingerprinted on entry when I returned yesterday. You could see how it was really slowing the usual long, long queues. Even a smart person like me took three goes to get the first print done - the instructions seemed unclear (as to exactly how far up or down the plate ones hand goes - pro tip: the hand goes higher up the plate than the instruction would seem to indicate).

Be warned the glass plate where (you put your hand) was disgustingly slimy with grime and filth - so it's straight washroom thereafter and hope they have soap. Clearly a significant health hazzard - could infect thousands if someone comes in with one of the serious flus, gastro infection, ebola, etc.

There's no need to estimate the number, nor round it to the nearest million: In this age of computers, three or four clicks on immigration's computers should give the correct number of arrivals (save illegal entrants), then two more clicks could count as "one person" those (like me) who entered more than once in any given year. That number should be easily and accurately obtainable, should anyone be interested in knowing that number.

Yes, to be the government's number one is a role he no doubt covets, but back of mind may well be the staving off the potential fall-out that may follow his demise: investigations into wealth at best, and at worse  the usual consequences of those found guilty of treason, sedition, insurrection ... his self-conferred immunity may prove to be not as perfect a protection as he had envisioned.

On 6/30/2019 at 3:43 PM, Jaxxper said:

Isn't leaving the country every 90 days a bit OTT to avoid doing something that takes no more than 15 minutes at Jomtien immigration these days ?

just curious.

Well, maybe it is easy to do: when you know how to do it.

There have been times in my life when I couldn't tie shoe laces, program a VCR, or use Excell. And until I actually learned those things, no amount of being told "It's easy!" actually helped the learning process.

Until someone publishes - and pins - a definitive, unambigious, fool-proof guide on how to do a TM30 (address report) and a TM47 (90 day report) at Jomtien, I am none the wiser (although I am comforted by your remark that it is easy once learned).

I do read these pages - and many people do offer useful comments on parts of the process, for some offices - but there seems overall so many traps, twists and turns (degrees of involvement or not by the landlord, books of various colors, etc.), so I suspect that any final guides (if ever produced) would more resemble a spider's web of options and alternatives, rather than a simple lineal process.

It's not just the fruit and veges themselves. Residue spray drifts off into local communities for inhalation. Livestock are likewise contaminated as they consume it through their foods and from their water as the chemicals leach into the water table and rivers.

It's not just farm chemicals. Contamination also comes from antibiotic overuse. Some fish famously now contain dangerous levels of mercury. Etc. etc.

Not-fully-digested, or improperly discarded, contraceptive pills are now said to be putting unacceptable levels of female hormones into the environment, endangering male health.

All this was identified decades ago in the book "Silent Spring" - it dealt with the then big issues of DDT etc, but the principles remain the same.

Many thanks for these replies. Much appreciated.

Thanks in advance if someone can clarify these points.

Just coming up to my first three months stay here of a one-year "Non-imm O-A  multiple entry" visa (issued in Sydney), I've booked a one week break in Saigon - for both a change of scenery and to save me having to do a 90 day report (flying Thai, out and in at BKK).

On returning here, i understand I will NOT need to have:

1. 20,000 baht equivalent cash (I will probably have this, just wondering if it's necessary),

2. Evidence of accommodation (all I could produce is the current month's room rent receipt - I don't have a lease),

3. Re-entry permit (I believe this is not required as my one-year visa of April this year will be still current),

4.  Onward flight (I don't have this and really dont want to get one as I don't really know when I might next travel. But if it's going to be demanded by:
 -  BKK immigration OR
 -  Thai airlines,
I suppose I could get something disposable - but I do get irritated by such waste.)

Many thanks in advance.

Haha. He examples travel rorts, delaying planes and dress standards. No mention of siphoning off bugets, secret commissions, etc.

Tells them to deliberate on bills and to turn up for budget bills - well, that's the job description, isn't it? What did they think they were getting into when they nominated as a candidate?

Warns transgressions "MAY" come back to haunt them - a bit like saying: "Keep everything secret and untraceable as usual lads, and things should be OK (wink, wink)".

Well, if you murder someone - or if they just die during kinky sex because you really didn't understand the multiple rules and instructions that you were told, in a language you really don't understand, and with a German accent to boot - how do you make the best of that awkward situation? Take just any watch or jewellery, all of the big notes and foreign currency (leave a few hundred baht behind). Best to just leave less valuable booty, to throw off the investigators - there's not much value in a laptop and phone? For the credit cards and passport,  I think it takes skill to get value out if them.

The barbarity of these stories, from recent memory: a father's attempted IMMOLATION of his son, a teen mother burying her newborn ALIVE, the sustained brutality on a SIX year old for bed-wetting, now a newborn dumped in the TRASH. What's wrong with these people?

I wonder how many of these newborn-dumpings go unreported, or even unnoticed if the trash-collectors just unknowingly scoop up the child (dead or alive) along with the trash, or if a pack of soi-dogs neatly clean up the evidence. Is this the unspoken reason why otherwise seemingly useless and irritating packs of soi-dogs are tolerated around here?

 

Soon the next stage starts: opposition voices will go too far and ultimately be silenced or crippled by treason charges or bankruptcy proceedings following defamation actions.

I suppose the best way to start a rumor is to have an official come out and deny it. All parties are then on notice that dismissal, etc is indeed on the cards - in other words (and during this delicate week) telling all concerned: play nice or I'll send you all home.

I also just got this visa from there. I suppose if you have time, you can NOT supply this or that document and see how you go - and hopefully the processing clerk will tell you if it's really needed, but otherwise the risk is a failed application and a lost application fee. I didn't want to waste time or take risks so I had the police report and an onward flight ticket (cheap one to a nearby country).

After being snarled at in the past for "too many" visa exempts, I changed to using METVs, but grew weary of the forced boarder runs, etc., so I recently obtained my first "non-imm O-A" (in my home country) and earlier this week sucessfully entered the country and got a one year stamp.

However, before handing back my passport, I noticed the IO took out her phone and photographed something on her desk. Due to the height of the IO's desk I couldn't see what she photographed, but if she photographed my arrival/departure card (which has my address, etc.), I felt I was being "singled out for some further action."

Has this photographing been observed before?

Can anyone guess the purpose or function of the IO keeping (what appears to be) a personal record of my details?

Should I be concerned? How might the next stage of all this play out?

I am concerned, and would be indebited for any remarks the long-standing members here may have.

Many thanks in advance.