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eddiecr
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Posts posted by eddiecr
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I went to Mae Sai for a new visa last Saturday, the 1st of July. I've been asked to show
money 3 out of the last 4 times I've been there. I look perfectly normal, short hair, glasses,
a little nerdish even, no particular reason to choose me. Recently they seem to be getting
harsher. On Saturday two people were refused visas while I was there.
One, a youngish chap, was refused because he didn't have 5 blank pages left in
his passport, and another, a man of about 60 or 70 years, was refused because he
couldn't show enough money. The older man, when he asked why they wanted to see money,
was told that he had too many visa stamps in his passport and that they were required to ask
in cases like this. I saw his passport briefly and it did look like he'd been here a long time.
When he couldn't show any money they gave him the opportunity to go to an ATM machine but he
said he didn't have an ATM card. He claimed that he didn't know he needed to show money but the
officer pointed out that there were notices all over the check-point and that anybody
who'd been there as many times as he had couldn't possibly have missed them.
At this point he made a big mistake, he started to argue with the official
instead of apologising profusely to the big man. Last I saw of him he was being taken away by the
immigration officer. I don't know what happened to the other chap. I now have about 20 visa
stamps in my passport and, while I don't believe there's anything like an "official" quota, immigration
started asking me to show money around the time I received the 14th or 15th stamp. I always
carry enough money with me when I go on a visa run, it's not an awful lot and the consequences of
not being able to show it when asked range from the inconvenient to the catastrophic.
Goodness me, you've just witnessed more in one day that most people do in twenty years of border crossings.
I would assume that you are doing this trip every thirty days seeing that "immigration
started asking me to show money around the time I received the 14th or 15th stamp" Last year the Thai immigration were refusing to exit 30 day visa runners with more than six exit stamps on their passports. There is a thread on here somewhere.
This one I find rather difficult to follow, as I've seen immigration squeezing stamps into nearly full passports.
"a youngish chap, was refused because he didn't have 5 blank pages left in
his passport"
The signs stating that you have to "show means" of 10,000 baht for 30 day entries and 20,000 baht for 90 day entries were removed as of last week, and replaced with signs stating that the "overstay" charges had been increased to 500 baht.
I find all this rather incongruent
Congruence is not a major aspect of immigration policy anywhere in the world! A couple of years
ago I took my then girlfriend on a weekend trip to Dublin from London. Unfortunately, 30,000 feet
above the Irish sea, we realized she'd forgotten her passport. Even more unfortunately
she's Chinese and it was pretty unlikely we'd be able to sneak her through the EU citizens
checkpoint without her being asked for some form of ID. Sure enough, soon as we
get off the plane they asked her for her passport. No passport no entry! Back to the UK for her.
Then they asked her if she'd ever been to Ireland before, whe said she hadn't. The atmosphere
changed immediately. "Your first time here and here we are shouting at you!, what must you think of us?"
Eventually they said if she promised to go back by Monday they'd let her in on condition that she
promised them she'd get a visa next time. Incongruent ain't the word.
BTW the show means sign was still there as of Saturday, above the windows where you kneel
to the immigration guy, it actually says 10,000 Bath - a warning to backpackers everywhere
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I went to Mae Sai for a new visa last Saturday, the 1st of July. I've been asked to show
money 3 out of the last 4 times I've been there. I look perfectly normal, short hair, glasses,
a little nerdish even, no particular reason to choose me. Recently they seem to be getting
harsher. On Saturday two people were refused visas while I was there.
One, a youngish chap, was refused because he didn't have 5 blank pages left in
his passport, and another, a man of about 60 or 70 years, was refused because he
couldn't show enough money. The older man, when he asked why they wanted to see money,
was told that he had too many visa stamps in his passport and that they were required to ask
in cases like this. I saw his passport briefly and it did look like he'd been here a long time.
When he couldn't show any money they gave him the opportunity to go to an ATM machine but he
said he didn't have an ATM card. He claimed that he didn't know he needed to show money but the
officer pointed out that there were notices all over the check-point and that anybody
who'd been there as many times as he had couldn't possibly have missed them.
At this point he made a big mistake, he started to argue with the official
instead of apologising profusely to the big man. Last I saw of him he was being taken away by the
immigration officer. I don't know what happened to the other chap. I now have about 20 visa
stamps in my passport and, while I don't believe there's anything like an "official" quota, immigration
started asking me to show money around the time I received the 14th or 15th stamp. I always
carry enough money with me when I go on a visa run, it's not an awful lot and the consequences of
not being able to show it when asked range from the inconvenient to the catastrophic.
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I'm looking for somebody to take care of my wife and new-born baby in Chiangmai while I
have to work in Bangkok. I've had a look around and the choice appears to consist of 14 year old
Lahu girls who find cars and concrete so frightening that they refuse to leave the house and crazed
old women who learned their child-care skills from Atilla the Hun. If anybody here knows of any
reliable and trustworthy providers of childcare/nursing services in Chiangmai would you please
let me know. I've also posted this message in the local/Chiangmai forum.
Thanks,
Eddie
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I'm looking for somebody to take care of my wife and new-born baby in CM while I
have to work in BKK. I've had a look around and the choice appears to consist of 14 year old
Lahu girls who find cars and concrete so frightening that they refuse to leave the house and crazed
old women who learned their child-care skills from Atilla the Hun. If anybody here knows of any
reliable and trustworthy providers of childcare/nursing services in Chiangmai would you please
let me know.
Thanks,
Eddie
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You can easily find a condo with aircon and cable for around 2500 to
3500 in the city. Look around the area between Central on Huay
Kaew and Nimmanhemin. Most of the cheap places are 99%
Thai occupied but have no problem renting to foreigners, that said -
if you don't speak Thai you'd be advised to bring along a translator to help
you get the best price. The 2500 to 3500 baht price-range assumes
you'll be staying about 6 months. Plenty of the mid-range tourist places
within the old city will also do you a 3000B a month deal (Cable and Aircon)
if you stay 3 months or longer.
... can't imagine provision of cable-content and aircon-power are included in those prices ...
I spent 6 months in NP Apartments, behind Mandalay. Newish building, about 1 year old now.
Air con room, Cable included at 3000 baht a month. I believe it''s now gone up to 3500 for
farang, still 3000 for Thai, minimum 3 months. Course when I say aircon included I only
mean the machine, I'm not including the price of actually using it.
I spent another 3 months in a condo near Central, Huay Kaew, first Soi on the
right after the garage as you go towards the mountain. 40 sq M with aircon
2,500/month, cable 200B/month extra. There are quite a few places like that in Chiang Mai,
you just need to choose an area you'd like to live in and check out places in person.
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Agreed.
Hillside 4 would be a good condo n this location... Rents are about 12k a month
Jeez. 12K is what I pay for a 40sq.m condo in central Bangkok with free UBC. How big are these places?
Just done a quick check on a couple of condos for rent in Chiangers (in this case Hillside 2)and this is more like the as per usual....(no connection)
Hillside 2, view of Suthep, studio, fully furnished, rent at 5,500 baht per month or sale 600,000 baht...happy hunting.....
You can easily find a condo with aircon and cable for around 2500 to
3500 in the city. Look around the area between Central on Huay
Kaew and Nimmanhemin. Most of the cheap places are 99%
Thai occupied but have no problem renting to foreigners, that said -
if you don't speak Thai you'd be advised to bring along a translator to help
you get the best price. The 2500 to 3500 baht price-range assumes
you'll be staying about 6 months. Plenty of the mid-range tourist places
within the old city will also do you a 3000B a month deal (Cable and Aircon)
if you stay 3 months or longer.
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Congrats on soon becoming a dad! I have registered my daughter as Irish.
You will need quite a few documents for the Foreign Birth Registration. You will need the originals and copies of:
Your son's birth cert and a certifed translated version.
Your marriage cert and a certifed translated version.
Your passport.
Your birth cert.
Your wife's passport.
Your wife's birth cert and a certifed translated version.
2 or 3 passport style photos of your son.
I think that's it, I had to bring my parents ones also as I'm mixed too. Then you should bring all that to the Irish Consulate in Q House Lumpini, fill out the FBR form (Or better still, get the FBR form first and they will let you know exactly what's needed!), give them some money and they send it to the Embassy in Malaysia, a couple of weeks later voila!
Once you have the FBR you can apply for his passport! I hope what I wrote makes sense to you, good luck Eddie!
Thanks, Thairish
That's exactly what I needed to know. Much appreciated.
Eddie
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I'm going to become a father next month, a boy. I'm an Irish citizen, the mother is Thai.
I know that any child of an Irish citizen is automatically an Irish citizen but I don't know
what, if any, the registration procedure with the Irish government is. I've searched the web
but, while there's lots and lots (and lots!) of information out there about how to register
for Irish citizenship (the register of Foreign Births) if your grandparents were Irish,
there's no information about foreign-born children of Irish nationals.
I've tried to get in touch with the Irish consulate here in Bangkok but, I guess because
there's only an honorary Consul, I haven't succeeded. Their website is also pretty short on
information about this subject. So, does anybody here know how I go about registering my
son as an Irish citizen thus making sure he's entitled to an Irish Passport, EU residency,
etc, etc, if he should ever want those things?
Been To Mae Sai Recently?
in Chiang Mai
Posted
Apologies, I wasn't aware of your height problems. The window is about 3 feet off the ground.
When I stand there the immigration guy gets to talk to my belt buckle -
he doesn't enjoy the experience and neither do I.
And, to get back on topic, the x-ray machine wasn't working either.