Seagull Sam

And the moral of this story is don't buy in a busy tourist area. We arrive from our cold, cosy western homes where the authorities do everything by the book. Governments everywhere tell us all what we want to hear. But... Will there ever be effective enforcement? Are the resources available? Are the wardens, police and local authority officer paid sufficiently well to avoid topping up their wages with a backhander? Answers on the back of a postcard please.

It doesn't get much better or as they say in LoS 555. Poor old Plod.

Thanks to all contributors here. It sounds like it should be relatively easy. It's a bit belt and braces on my part but I know the smiles can be somewhat absent in the immigration offices of LoS.

Thanks very much to you both. The previous thread I began dealt with the difficulty of getting a multi-entry visa. This enquiry is simply to check whether I would have any issues entering the country on a non-O without an onward flight. I have resigned myself to keeping at least 800kB in my personal BKK Bank account at all times. Assuming I will need an up to date bank book for this task. The book I opened the account with may well be lost unfortunately. Also the branch I used to open the account has closed. I assume my Thai gf will be able to sweet talk another branch. Apologies my vocabulary was a bit loose. I hope to obtain a multi entry extension to my visa after 60 days. Will this give me a year following the application (ie one year + 60, 70, 80 or so days), perhaps one from entry or even one year since visa issue?

I will be travelling soon with a 90 day Non-O visa and hoping to transfer to multi entry year long visa at Immigration Office. Can I travel on a single ticket as I don't have firm plans about precise return date? Will it raise eyebrows as I enter please? (I normally travel business class if that makes any difference). On both my gf's visits to UK she was held up for questioning for just this reason. Is this likely to happen to an old farang travelling in the opposite direction? Thanks in advance for any useful information.

A light hearted tone for a serious subject. How many reading this thread have a Thai gf? Get your affairs in order. A Thai will and a will from your home country which are consistent are required. Taking a sem-idetached somewhere in Surrey all the way to the way to the High Court is risking the judgement of Solomon. A suicide is a tragedy for all concerned. Are you comfortable with the inevitable cross cultural friction back home of a relationship with a younger Thai woman? It's not as easy as it looks from LoS.

Am I allowed to make any comment on the lese majeste law particularly in respect of its place in a democracy with free speech?...No, thought not, sorry.

The level of racism displayed by the comments here is appalling. People born in Britain have British passports and are British. The country would have collapsed many long years ago without immigration from the lands it previously colonised. When Brits like me travel to Thailand we are the foreigners. Bloody bleeding heart woolly liberals like me shouldn't be allowed visas, only those with the St George Cross hanging from their Pattaya balconies.

O-A doesn't seem to make sense. Why two insurance policies? A very small list of their buddies on the make for one policy. Their website is full of irrelevant twaddle about the very excellent king (who we all love BTW), a message from the ambassador etc. Do they actually want us to come to Thailand? It makes you wonder 🤔

👍 Thanks to you all I might be stepping off the plane in 2 or 3 weeks hand in hand with my new love the simple Non-O. 😀

Thank you. Getting a TM8 extension at Immigration Office sounds like the easiest option then. Is this 90 days each visit (or visa run style departure) or is one year extension also available? I am daily surprised at the illogical, confusing and plain difficult methods employed by the Thai government to stop you spending your hard earned cash in the LoS. Odd

Thanks but I'm not completely sure about your second reply. I have resigned myself to permanently leaving 800,000B in the Thai account solely in my name. If I apply for Non O-A in Thailand what insurance will I need?

Thank you Dr Jack. With some difficulty I have succeeded in finding the correct page on the Thai Embassy website. It appears I can get a 90 day single entry visa with only a utility bill and a bank statement. Do I need a return or onward flight? At my age I'm not in a hurry to return home and I'm not entirely sure when that will be. The question that remains is how I get a re-rentry permit. Is this simply by visiting an immigration office and if so when can I do that? I assume a downloaded bank statement will satisfy them. Best Sam

Hello All. 65 yo 'gentleman' from UK looking for O-A e-visa from London Embassy A few simple enough queries. Why do I need two insurance policies and what is the difference between the two? As is usual the information provided and paperwork required is confusing, problematic and as far as I can see largely unnecessary. I already have an expensive insurance Thai insurance company which covers COVID and is well above the 3,000,000 THB quoted. It is an ongoing policy starting before today and covering my lifetime. By 'foreign' I assume this means outside Thailand. What then does 'In case of using foreign insurance company' mean in relation to the paragraph above it? Additional to this I have had no luck in getting any UK insurance company to sign the form no less than three times. I have held 800,000B in Bangkok Bank for a few years. I'm not sure if this is important but I have turned my house upside down but can't find the bank book. And yes I have a long standing Thai gf so a Thai address is available. Thanks in advance for all your help. 'Seagull Sam'

Thanks, I'll give it a go then.

That is all I am expecting but looking for specific recommendations rather than general advice please.

Thanks but I am looking for travel in the opposite direction

Thanks, much appreciated. Good morning to you although it's 1.30am here.

Thanks for the tip. I think we tried them when last in Pattaya at Xmas last year. They are opposite a big Tesco Lotus / slightly downbeat mall I recall. Despite what I thought was an appointment the place seemed to resemble feeding time at the zoo with the woman at the desk dealing with two or three others at the same time. We left with a slightly disagreeable feeling.

Hello Peeps, I require a UK visa agent in Bangkok for my Thai gf. Minor issues re her history best dealt with by an agent. I don't want to go into detail here, either publicly or by DM (unless you are being exceptionally knowledgeable and helpful). I'm self employed and my retirement and more permanent move to LoS through property sale protracted by usual British solicitors dragging their feet over trivialities. Agent required needs to have sympathetic ear. Consider necessary relationship and financial issues dealt with at my end and family and property dealt with at hers. Thanks in advance. Seagull Sam

Good point well made from the girl's point of view. A fat boozy old bloke old enough to be her father isn't exactly Prince Charming. After all they started working in the bar to keep their family didn't they? Now the reality hits home. For the falang it comes as a shock to find he has a poor village girl and mother on his arm living in a hut and eating ants. Didn't she look so beautiful made up and in those heels? If you go back home for any length of time she gets bored and restless and longs for her chums in the bar again. I have had two salaried gfs, one simply went back to the bar got involved in crystal meth and violently attacked me by kicking me in the head. (I'm 62 with a brain injury). The other appeared to be borderline alcoholic. Bar girls are a young(er) or butterfly man's game. Good luck to you all, despite the volume of unattched young women, its not the easy pickings it looks like.

Babbling incoherently, naked, fat. It's what makes Pattaya the welcoming family resort the Thai government are always promoting.

Don't you just love Pattaya. Land Of Smiles, you're having a laugh.

Apologies are due for not being a meteorologist. Also for failing to ensure sufficient investigations are conducted on this obviously academically critiqued discussion board.

Hail are pellets of frozen rain - shome mishtake surely.