Thanks Joe! I've been 'doing visas' for so long this feels really weird, never having tried obtaining an extension before. But I do know enough to bring the full bag of tricks, and the office is only ten minutes from home.

Sudden fly in the ointment though as wife has had to go north to minister to sick mum. I'll give it a try anyway.........

On 2/19/2020 at 12:41 PM, asanee said:

Time for a little bit of airline explanation:

On the night 28->29/3 worlwide the clocks change, winter to summertime, and thats also 1 of 2 dates (guess the other?) when airlines reset their general schedules. Here in ASEAN its not much of a thing, but the majority of airlines fly in USA and EU and there it is. Those connecting buses/vans will the very last thing be for airls. to put in systems.

Conveniently 29 is thus a SUNday (wan athit) and very often timings on SU differ from WEEKdays.

Also many a farang seems to have eternal fears about flites/trains ´sold out´ when in practice its not even possible to book.

But around from 1 week later on the Songkran exodus will start to fill spare seats.

BTW-the busride KKn-Mukd is at least some 4-5 hrs. From Ubon less and plenty of bus and van on the normal from in town lines.

Well a lot of the US changes on 8 March. Australia/NZ (mostly) changes 5 April. In any case we're talking Thai Airasia and Nokair. Hardly intercontinental, whatever time it is............

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

That depends on the immigration office. Why not apply for a 1 year extension? It only cost 1900 Baht/year. 

Because I usually do travel more than every 3 months and because I do not wish to go through the income/savings proving routine and all the other hoops indicated by brianthainess .

I'll stop by the IO tomorrow with the family and just ask if they can do something just this once.

Thanks. Are they likely to want a TM30 thingie as well, do you know?

14 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

Gee, how hard is it to quit social media accounts and stop reading trash

But if people were not addicted to social media and reading trash, this [deleted] woman (of whom I had never heard) would not have had her 'fame' and fortune.

You live by the sword, you die by it - or, if you can't take the time, don't do the crime.

And who is this "victim"? Not her. If the guy involved didn't want the prosecution, doesn't mean he wasn't assaulted.

I have a multi-entry non-Imm O for marriage, have had for many years. Usually I leave at least every 90 days and it's never a problem. But now, with everyone making such a fuss over The Virus, travelling is no fun (I understand it's more of a hassle in neighbouring countries).

Is there a means of getting a (one-off) extension at a local Immigration Office (Samut Prakan if it matters) instead? The terms of the visa stipulate leaving every 90 days but can this be overridden?

On 2/16/2020 at 5:36 PM, stouricks said:

Can anyone tell me the advantage of online check-in if you have luggage. Still got to weigh it in, have passport, and maybe temperature, checked. The on-line check in queues are sometimes longer than the other, or the staff simply point you to the next available one, checked in or not. And you show them your printed boarding pass.....and they print another for you.

Always check in online and save your boarding pass to your phone.

1. some airlines now charge extra for printing a paper pass

2. many airlines are happy with the boarding pass issued online with your check-in

3. as said elsewhere, if you have checked in, you are unlikely to be bumped - or (like OP) get your flight changed - and you may get the seat you want.

Even in this dinosaur region, most airports let you check in and then get through security/immigration with an e-pass on your mobile. If any Thai airports still don't, well...........

No, we do NOT want more cruise ships. In terms of environment and sustainability this is the very worst form of travel/tourism and the most pollutive.

But then Thais don't give a 4x about the(ir) environment, do they? Only about the money.

5 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

As the number of countries who use Smart Gates for non-citizens increases, the occurrence of stamps in the passport will decline. Australia for example now lets passport holders from 26 counties including Thailand use their Smart Gates, so they'll never get an Australian Immigration stamp in their passport https://www.abf.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-australia/smartgates/arrivals

And when they were still stamping, AU IOs always (in my experience) used the last or next-last page. (actually, so what? A stamp takes up the same space if it's at the front or the back).

Wherever you are, TELL the IO what page he/she/it has to stamp and show them. It's not their passport (or yours, of course, it belongs to an alleged government) and they don't have rights on it. I have said this dozens of times and it always works.

Been doing this since forever. I fast 20 hours every day and have just four one-hour 'zones' when I can eat. I call them “breakfast”, “lunch”, “tea” and “dinner”. Works for me.

HCMC is currently easy for a marriage multi-entry, but not sure about O-A. If you are formally connected to your "THai family" it would probably be the better bet anyway.

Combine with a trip a short distance south to the beaches of Vung Tau. Easy boat ride from central Saigon.

5 hours ago, Just Weird said:

Reported directly from the BBC!

Indeed, this was a BBC piece NOT Thai. But why the *** is it reported six months late (even the Daily Mail had it two weeks ago) and only put out now because the women are still whining for a refund?

Note too that they were on a kind of weight-reduction package tour “which specialises in sending clients to Thailand for weight-loss and plastic surgery”. Watch out on TG to/from AKL........

And what about the other passengers? Don't they have rights too?

11 minutes ago, samsensam said:

 

channel 4 news from the uk reported yesterday that thailand was the second most deadly country for the coronavirus.

 

the reporter managed to speak to the health minister, who appeared uneasy and unprepared to answer questions, all he could muster was 'we're doing what we can...' a little short on specifics, which you'd have thought he'd be all over, being the health minister...

Plenty more on that at:

3 hours ago, BigBadGeordie said:

Clearly the Minister is well qualified to deal with health related matters.

Anutin completed secondary education at Assumption College and higher education in engineering from Hofstra University in 1989.

Anuthin was formerly an engineer, and has worked in many private companies including the position of Managing Director of Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Public Company Limited. 

That hardly makes him unusual. Current UK minister of health "worked for his family business, as an economist at the Bank of England, and as Chief of Staff to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer." Is that idiot any better qualified than this idiot?

P*sspoor reporting too. Miller had the chance to actually confront Anutin and show him up but didn't want to risk his cushy posting here.

And I haven't seen the racist stuff about throwing out farang reported in Europe. Anyone else seen any?

I'm staying a stone's throw outside the BKK border (in Samut Prakan). New building site next door is in full swing today; wind is from the south; all pollution blowing straight into BKK. Please enjoy it.

This may be fake news, of course, by our wonderful PM's definition, so I won't say it.

Thanks to OP for asking. These bleddy days always take by surprise. I pity the farang pubs - as mentioned, there is a lot of sport on Saturday and nowadays it's usually their only profitable day.

Does anywhere still do the teapot-and-cup routine (filled with beer) we used to enjoy on those dry days long ago? Used to fool the BiB............

On 2/2/2020 at 9:33 AM, rooster59 said:

British businesses that rely on just-in-time delivery, such as carmakers

British carmakers? There aren't any. (Morgan produces fewer than 900 cars/year. Name another British company.......)

Honda and Nissan are disinvesting. BMW may well close its plants in UK. As for "British companies supplying the carmakers", which I suspect is what the piece meant, nearly all have facilities in Europe to supply plants in the EU (that's JIT). They will simply transfer more if not all output to those plants.

People (not just here) are talking like EVs are the Holy Grail. But if you simply add electric vehicles to the existing dirty car parc, there is no improvement. Needs to be a scrappage incentive - to replace old tech with new - rather than a purchase discount.

Also, someone needs to explain how clean the electricity generated is: if it's not clean, then the EVs are not clean either.

Note too that vehicle production is hardly an environmentally friendly process, whatever it is making. Thailand should be trying to get out of the industry, but of course it's too lucrative and no-one can think of anything better.

In case anyone wants more xenophobia:

                             ‘I said I don’t trust Huawei.’