xeniv23

Been living here for about four years. No trouble with 90 day reports. Visa extensions are another matter. Am I wrong when I hear that IOs must serve a four year apprenticeship as Phuket airport minivan drivers in order to be inculcated with the proper attitude toward foreigners and customer service? I'm not saying that but I hear other people saying that. In any case next week I'm moving to a different continent. Looked at another way: When you are given a visa to live here you are actually being hired and your job is to spend money. I played by the rules and did the best job I could. I'm just doing what one should do when confronted by a difficult, even intractable, boss. I quit.

That's just it in a nutshell. You could be doing your annual extension exercise and suddenly the IO says what is your Thai TIN? The point being that you could be ambushed with this. It may not even be right. What is right seems, in my opinion, not that important when they are have got you at their desk. The IOs at Phuket seem to have a particular talent for focusing on some small detail near the end of the process and start yelling at you because you don't know some esoteric detail that's in Thai to begin with. Chain jerking the Falang seems a popular sport. The tax thing just widens the scope and pressure immensely.

I have much enjoyed my stay here in Thailand for the last 3.5 years. I cannot say that I have enjoyed Thai Immigration. Seeing as how things with officialdom here, in my experience, can get very arbitrary and capricious I am choosing to not give them a potential crack at my pension(s). There is just way too much variation between the people sitting across the desk from you. I'll come back to visit friends as a tourist and enjoy my time but I won't live here again.

I don't think that anyone will come knocking on your door. It's possible that you will just be doing the routine paperwork for an extension and suddenly the IO will ask "Where are your Thai Tax Documents.....? No Documents No Extension?" Just a guess. It could be official policy or an IO just jerking your chain. The way things work around here you just never know.

I took Qatar for a return to Thailand from Sweden last summer business class. There were 8 of us in the 24 business class seats. The kind attendant took my dinner choice and then I never ever received any food. The purser came around to do the normal blah blah about thanking me for choosing them just before landing. I thanked her for her interest and then expressed my disappointment and my determination to not book again with Qatar.

Not much is clear concerning this issue. I would be surprised if the RD was not looking at foreign exchange transactions. It's a list of where to start digging.

The merchant's bank will have to handle the payment on the Thai end thus creating a record of a remittance by credit card. My guess is that those records are visible to the RD.

At Phuket Immigration the IOs just shout louder.

Hungry people in this country. Not enough clean water. Not enough medical care. There are so many items on the list that need taking care of before some admirals and generals prestige needs.

Drunk with a strong sense of entitlement. A winning combination.

The officer will be promoted and given a medal for valor and another set of wings for his uniform.

Yes, the cat is worth saving. Remember that all feral cats suffer the plight that they do because of us. Do the right thing. Life is life.

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Further along in the conversation and they would tell you that they are Microsoft Tech Support and you need to turn over control to them......they will solve all your problems.

Hell is where the party is. Would you want to live in eternity with Mike Pence?

I grew up in a family that had guns for hunting deer and rabbits and fowl. All for the table. I still remember the NRA sponsored hunter safety course that the State of Oregon required before I could get a hunting license at 14. No one thought that was a big deal, it was just a step in the process. I think a government approved course, a written and a practical exam leading to a license is needed. And just like a car you have to be insured and there are numerous rules that need to be followed by all to ensure as safe an environment as possible. If you screw it up you face penalties.

Lot of hootin' and hollerin' for catching four (4!) perpetrators. Many medals and promotions will be handed out no doubt.

It was a combination of water releases from dams upstream due to heavy rain and high tides. Bad combination. I know some people who live near the river on the Bangkok side that often wade their street to their house during king tides. With rising sea levels that is a too slim margin for the future.

I lived in a house in Nonthaburi across the river from Bangkok. It did not take much looking to find water marks in the house that were chest high from flood waters. I think it was 2014 when it happened. Subsidence and rising water will not be good for Bangkok long term. Reminds me of New Orleans.

And millions of foreigners are flying out again.

Spent part of a winter in Siberia in 1999. Back then it seemed plausible that Russia could become democratic, actually, and integrate into the rest of the world. Hope was in the air. Young people were optimistic and very curious about the rest of the world. Yeltsin really screwed Russia when he handed it all to Putin. The winter weather was not that bad. Rather like North Dakota or eastern Montana. Yakutsk is a whole different thing.

Thai drivers have a free pass for traffic and parking laws. They just put on the emergency blinkers and all possibly relevant laws are suspended.

I spent many years fighting wildfire in the US. It takes a large, well trained, equipped and very costly infrastructure already in existence to stand half a chance. I just don't see that happening here in Thailand. Hope all are safe.

In some locales at certain times of day it's very common. You practically have to stay indoors to avoid it. Even then you may not be safe.

I have been here for three years. Single. Live quietly on the south end of Phuket. Love my neighbors. Live by the rules. Do what I'm supposed to do. Go to immigration get yelled at and jerked around. The checkers are nice people. The IOs on the other hand. Fine. I have options. I have an extension for a year after the usual stuff. In two months will be relocating to another continent. The poobahs in Bangkok talk about attracting and keeping wealthy expats to help the economy. How about acting like it.