Cannyscot

A friend of mine from Australia is visiting Thailand on 30 days on arrival stamp. He now wishes to stay on in Thailand for a few more days. I'm told that this can be arranged at Chaengwattana at the discretion of the immigration officer. Does anyone know how much this will cost?

The neice of a friend of mine was sent to live in the USA when she was 8 years old on a tourist visa. She was sent to live with an aunt and uncle in L.A., because her widowed mother was very poor and felt she could no longer take care of her. The "American" relatives promised to make arrangements for the girl to attain Resident Alien status, but in fact they did nothing about it.

Nineteen years have gone by and the little girl is now a fully grown woman of 27. All these years she has been living in America illegally. She would now like to regularize her situation, but she is afraid to approach the US authorities directly because of the very high chance of being arrested and deported.

Does anyone know of any organization or group in America who might be able to help or advise her what to do in this situation or is it simply a question of finding a good Immigration lawyer and coming up with the money to pay him or her? (I should perhaps point out that the young lady concerned is a Thai citizen with a valid Thai Passport). Any helpful replies would be much appreciated.

I have a friend who is a Thai citizen, but who lives in the USA and has had Resident Alien status there for many years. He now wishes to become an American citizen. I understand from other threads that there is no problem about him maintaining dual citizenship. However, he would like to know what would happen at the American end if they can't see a Thai departure stamp in his passport?(This is because he uses his Thai passport to enter and leave Thailand, but his American passport to leave and re-enter the USA).

I went to the EGV Multiplex at Pinklao last night(May 2) to see the movie "Miss Potter". I asked for two 100 Baht tickets at the box office, but I was told that the price was 130 Baht. When I asked why, the lady said that this movie was being shown in a special theatre. I decided not to buy the tickets as I was suspcious about what I had been told. I also noticed that the man ahead of me in the queue had asked for tickets for "Spider Man3". He was told that the tickets would be 140 Baht to 160 Baht. Like me, he decided not to buy them.

Just out of curiosity, I crossed over to Majaor Cineplex on the other side of the road to check out their prices. I found out that they too were charging the higher prices. Please bear in mind that this was neither a public holiday nor a weekend.

I realise, of course, that prices go up, including those of cinema tickets. What I am objecting to here, is that it appears that the ticket prices have been hiked without prior notice of any kind. There is nothing to this effect on their website, in their newspaper ads., or at the cinemas themselves.(until the box office attendant tells you the prices)

I would like to know if any of you have any information about this, as it seems pointless to E-mail Major/EGV (because they never reply) or telephone them, because you never get through to a live person.

As a final point, I don't feel it would be helpful to be reminded about how expensive cinema tickets are in New York, London, Paris or Wagga Wagga. I'm talking about the principle of the thing not the price!

This question has been asked several times before,but I don't seem to have heard a definitive answer.Can the 800,000 Baht deposit for a one year visa extension based on retirement be in a Fixed Interest Account or must it be in a Savings Account? It would seem that some of our T.V. colleagues have had different answers to this question depending on which Immigration Officer they spoke to and which Immigration Bureau branch they went to! I would like to know what they say at Suan Plu. ( I would ask there myself but I have received incorrect information from their Information Desk in the past and,besides,it's a terrible hassle getting to Suan Plu from where I live!) Any information would be much appreciated.

A few days ago I received an E-Mail from the authority which pays my pension to say that they are no longer prepared to send it to me using the SWIFT system, their bank to my bank. They say that this is because of "very strict U.K. money laundering rules which involve a huge amount of paperwork every time we have to arrange a transfer ". They then made a rather snidy remark about this being " because you live in a place like Thailand". They propose to send me cheques through the mail instead . I am very unhappy about this, partly because of the vaguries of the mail service, but mainly because it takes up to 45 days for a foreign cheque to clear through the bank here ( at least so I am told). You must believe me when I tell that I am not a drug dealer or a terrorist , merely a simple Scottish pensioner! Has anybody else had this problem or have any advice to give me as I am very worried and upset about this.

I checked the Sansuk Sauna website and they are charging 180 Baht for an introductory period.I do not like double pricing policies but I would say that this price is pretty reasonable for a place like Pattaya.Many Gay saunas let younger Thai men in for lower prices, perhaps to encourage them to attend. There is, however, a gay sauna in Bangkok which charges Thais 160 Baht and Farangs 400 Baht !!! Being a Scot, I consider this rather extortionate ( at least by Thai standards) . I also suspect that they may not really want Farang patrons ,like some saunas in Japan apparently.

Sunbelt Asia mentioned( in passing) in an earlier posting that they had heard that Work Permits were now being issued, in some cases, to people with Retirement visa extensions. Have they, or anybody else, got any more information about this? I was told,a few years ago, by Immigration that it was impossible to obtain aWP and work legally with this type of visa extension.

I would like to thank Camerata for his very comprehensive posting on P.R. which I found most interesting. I would like to know from him what he feels are the positive benefits of P.R. as I must admit that the process seems to me to be quite daunting not to mention very expensive!!!

Lopburi 3 mentioned,a couple of times, that last year he changed his one year visa extension from one based on marriage to a Thai, to one based on retirement . He said you can do this as long as your wife agrees to it and will go with you to Immigration to sign a document to that effect. I would consider doing this, and my wife has no objections of any kind, but I am afraid of a hostile or suspicious reaction from the Immigration Bureau officials. The only reason I want to do this is because I like the idea of getting my visa without being dependent on anyone else. I also seem to meet all the requirements needed for the retirement visa extension and dont need a work permit.Perhaps Lopburi 3 or others with experience of this could let me know what the attitude was at Immigration. I dont want to endanger what I have now by being careless!! Sorry for being so long winded!