What a carry on

I'm unsure if anyone was waiting to find out, but my new extension went smoothly. Immigration in Samut Sakhon (I lived in BKK but my job was in Samut Sakhon) cancelled my extension a few days in advance. I went on 28 April to Samut Sakhon immigration and they cancelled it for 30 April. Then I traveled to Rayong the same day, relaxed for a couple of days and then went to their labour dept and immigration on the 30 April. I got my 1 year extension and should have my work permit within a week or so.

I had to take a copy of the cancellation paper from the Labour dept in Samut Sakhon. A copy was fine my old school said they needed to keep the original.

So some provinces it seems can cancel an extension 'in advance' which gives applicants time to travel to another province (instead of hurrying on the same day - impossible if you live too far from the new job). Of course, one job needs to end (on the letter the old employer hands in) and the new one start on the same date. Even if you officially don't leave/start on that particular day, it doesn't matter as long as the same matching dates are on the letters handed in by the two schools. My new job's letter has a start date about 4 days earlier than my 'official' start date. They just put the same date to make things work with immigration/labour dept.

Just thought I'd pass on the info (although travelling between provinces is now looking dodgy for the time being).

If you ever change jobs, I'd try to find out if they can 'cancel' your extension a few days in advance (it may be different province to province). Because if they can do it, as long as you can get both schools to put the same date, you can do an extension 'fairly' easily without leaving the country (once travel becomes easier, of course).

I recently moved to Rayong province to start a new job. My wife had planned to come two weeks after me. This was due to her being in a 'high-risk' group and me not wanting to risk passing anything on to her after visits to immigration/labour dept. I got here without issue from Bangkok a week ago, but now it seems some kind of letter may be needed for her to travel from Bangkok to Rayong? 

If this is the case, does anyone know what 'letter' she needs and where she could get one/contact address and telephone etc. (I'm guessing it's from somebody in Bangkok)? We've looked online but without much success.

Cheers!

Could've saved a lot of people the panic attacks they may have been having (and perhaps some of the infections at immigration) had they announced this sooner. Still, better late than never. Well done, Thailand.

I was counting down the days and then this ????

Like telling little Timmy it's 10 days until Christmas and after ten days, telling him to wait 10 more. And maybe more after that.

Boozemass is cancelled, sorry kids. Although it seemed to be alive and well in a condo on my floor last night, considering the racket they were making. And why do Thais insist on leaving their apartment or condo doors open when laughing and shouting loudly until 3.a.m.? Thanks for that. Next time I'll call security, especially if they don't let me know where they're getting their booze...just out of curiosity, of course ????

This ban caught me out. The one day I decided not to check the news (it was getting me down a bit) was the day they announced the ban. Wifey came back from the Tesco outside the condo and said, ''It's really busy in Tesco today for some reason.'' I paid no attention.

I was looking forward to my first beer in about 10 days. I had some cricket to watch on IPTV over the weekend (Ben Stokes innings in full in the Ashes and the Cricket World Cup final in full over the weekend).  It was all planned. Don't check the news, switch off the phone, watch some cricket, order a pizza, chuck a few ice-cold beers down my neck and relax for a couple of days at least.

Then, I checked the news...<deleted>.

Obviously, I didn't try checking the local mom 'n' pops the next day (which were all closed). Even online deliveries weren't available, at least that's what I heard, but I wouldn't know anything about that, of course.

I get it though. It's to stop idiots gathering for parties over Songkran. Still, I can't wait for the ban to end. I enjoy my once a week/once a fortnight beer evenings ????

7 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

getting started with express was a bit of a faff but they have good support people who quickly sorted it for me and i've been watching iplayer, ch4 and itv from the uk ever since, no problems

I had no issues too with C4 and ITV (although I only used them once or twice). It can also be useful with the free android box app, 'Livenet TV'. iPlayer was fine if I chose the correct UK VPN, but usually, only one or two worked. I got fed up because the ones that did work started freezing now and again. I'm not overly technically minded, but I did clear the cache and use different browsers. I also contacted their tech. Sometimes the issue was fixed, only for the same issue to return. In short, I didn't feel like having to contact their tech dept every other time I used it as being a good service. 

Also, I used it mostly for hotstar, and it's pretty much useless for that purpose now. You might get it working for a short while, but they shut you down while watching. Usually though, you get the message that 'You appear to be using a VPN.' and can't even start a video.

Like I said, it's useless for me and not the service it used to be. I'm busy and don't want to be contacting their tech every five minutes just for it to not connect again shortly after.

If it works for you, then that's great. It doesn't work well for me which is why I got rid of it. As are many others for the same reasons.

I had this on monthly direct debit for about 6 months. Mostly for the full cricket matches on 'Hotstar' catch up. You used an Indian vpn via this service and it always worked. 

However, it started to get worse and worse to the point that it didn't work at all on this website. I asked them why and they said that Hotstar are aggressively blocking their service now, but that their engineers are 'working on a fix'. This 'fix' would work for an hour or so if you were lucky and then get shut down again. In the end, you couldn't really get a video to stream at all. 

They didn't fix the issue so I got rid. The stream also stuck now and again on BBCi player I noticed. This issue became more and more regular too. My internet speeds were high, it was as issue with the Vpn (they acknowledged that the BBC were also finding their services and blocking them).

I only used the service for these two websites so it wasn't worth the money anymore. 

I don't know if they just thought people would still subscribe when their service stopped working on popular streaming sites or if they just genuinely can't get around the issues they're having. To me, their emails and replies made it seem that they weren't taking the problems seriously enough. If I pay for the service ( they market it as working on hotstar), I expect it to work at least most of the time on the websites I visit. Not 1% of the time.

Sure, you might get hotstar working for ten minutes today, but good luck trying to watch a complete game. You've got no chance.

It's over for Expressvpn. It was fun while it lasted.

4 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

He was just offering you good advice. Unlike in the West where they are verbally and physically abusing Asians, even those that were born there and are citizens. 

Nice straw man.

I hope you receive some similar 'advice' by natives in their lands too. Or maybe you aren't Thai and are one of those self-hating white folk you see around nowadays. If so, your wokeness will not save you from such abuse, sorry. I've always liked Thai people (and still do) but my point was that I got racially abused here for the first time ever today. And that farangs should be careful when going outside now. More than ever.

He was offering me good advice? My take? He was a pos. All countries have idiots like this. My high tax payments will go towards saving Thai lives. I doubt the muppet that said it to me pays a penny in tax. My wife lost her job due to this pandemic and she and most of her family are now relying on me to feed them until this is over. I'm in a lucky enough position that I will still be working (my school are going 'online' until it's safe for the students to return...so I'm still getting paid in full). Oh, so I'm helping Thais educate their kids too. Anything else? I'd like to think he wouldn't have said it if he'd known all these details, but who cares? He's a pos.

Btw, he was also hoarding. Came out with all the 'Good Time' cookies for some bizarre reason. No social distancing for him it seemed.

They'll never pay. Not a chance. Sanctions and travel restrictions are the only answer. Sure, this will hurt economies, but can it get any worse than this? The travel restrictions would need to be wide-ranging for them to work. Horrible stuff, but what choice is there until we see an end to Chinese disease outbreaks for a period of 30 years or so? You'd need to ban people coming from China. Then, ban people from nations that allow the Chinese in (you could visit Thailand and get it from a Chinese national or anyone else who got it from them!) Finally, you'd need to ban your own citizens and residents from going to China or countries that allow the Chinese into their countries. For such sanctions to work, there would need to be worldwide cooperation. Sadly, you will not get it. Money talks and some countries would remain China's lapdog.

I told you the solution is mad. Not one I'd ever wish to propose or even think of, but what choice is there, really? Just wait for it to happen again?

A pandemic can start anywhere, but this one was on the cards for a while. We've had a few close shaves in recent years, let's be honest. I'm not one to want to single out a country and want their people banned from entry to other places. I've worked, taught and studied with Chinese nationals and always found them to be good company, polite and helpful. Therefore, it's a terrible thing for me to even think of such a thing. But I don't see the alternative to such strict measures unless we want to 'take our chances'. Can't see it happening (money and business) so something like this will happen again soon.

The simple question is this:

Are you prepared to take your chances, or do you want to reduce the risk to almost zero, even if it hurts your economy a little and restricts foreign travel?

Thanks all of you for the advice. The other province is about 2 and a half to 3 hours drive. I'm guessing I might be out of immigration by 11.00a.m, if lucky (I'll wait overnight...how ridiculous is that!)

Is it not possible for my old school to go to immigration/labour dept on the 26/04 and do the cancellation in advance (say Friday 01/05/2020) and then go to the other (new school) immigration/labour department on that day (Friday 01/05/2020)? Or, is the only way to do it by going to both immigration/labour departments on the same day (26/04/2020 in this example)?

My new school are on this new. I'll keep you all (and anyone who needs to know) posted if anyone is interested?

Thanks again to all. Rough time this...

Thank you, Crunchwrap!

I'll do my best to get that letter from the labour dept. 

I'm a little confused about a few things though (if anyone can help?)

Does one job need to end on one day (say May 3) and the new one on the next day (May 4). Or does the old job need to end on the same day the new one starts?

Am I right in saying that I should cancel the extension and work permit and then travel to the new province and apply for the 60 day visit Thai wife extension? Then, on the same day as getting the 60 day extension for visiting wife, do I apply for the extension of stay for working and being married or do I apply for a new non-B? I thought immigration needed time for the non-B? And finally, should I keep my work permit with me from the old job?

Sorry, just a bit confused with this process and want to make sure I get it right (you know how it is if you forget just one thing).

Thanks again

OK Joe, that's awesome.

Thank you once again!

Wow that was quick! Thank you. I can't thank you enough for that. Sincerely.

Just one thing though. My new job starts on May 4. The old one ends on May 3 (which is a Sunday). Therefore, if I apply on May 3  (or just before it) as you suggest, I would have no income from the new job until the end of May. I am, however, still being paid by my 'old' job until May 3 (including a bonus of over 100k on top of salary). Would this count with regards to the '2 months of income from your job'?

OK, so it seems the only people getting automatic extensions are tourists who arrived here recently. I was waiting for this week's announcement before asking questions on here. I was expecting nothing but bad news and they didn't disappoint me.

I was hoping somebody could advise me on how to go about changing jobs. Here is my situation (and I am sure that there are thousands of us right now in a similar situation).

1. I live and work in Bangkok. I am married to a Thai national. She has health issues which put her in a high risk group when it comes to the coronavirus. She has recently lost her job due to the coronavirus lockdown. I am now the sole earner. 

2. I have an extension of stay in my passport for my current job. I have worked for the same employer for 3 years. I have a 5-year Thai teaching licence 'gold card'. The contract for this job ends May 3 , as does my extension of stay. I do not want to leave this job, (because of the situation more than anything else) but the school are laying off most of their teachers for financial reasons (first in last out etc.)

3. I have a new job in a different province. The contract start date is May 4. The salary is well over the 40,000 baht lower limit for a non-O based on marriage. I do not have over 400k saved in a Thai bank account.

4. My old school is refusing to work with the new school to get me a new extension of stay/employer name in the work permit. They simply say the process of changing jobs without doing a visa run is 'too difficult'. There are about 7 of us asking them to help (all the new schools will help) but they say they just don't have the time. I think they just can't be bothered to be honest. My new school are also looking into ways to help, but I'm being proactive here in case they come up blank.

5. A visa run is not possible to either get a new non-B or 'reset' the work permit process due to border closures.

Does anyone know how I can go about getting legal right now with regards to this new job? 

Is it possible to get a '60 day visit Thai spouse' extension and then get a one year extension of stay based on employment with that (without leaving Thailand)? Can you apply for a new non-B with this 60 day extension?

If not, is it possible to get the 'Covid' extension (it seems not) and get an extension of stay/new non-B based on employment with that?

If I should get the '60 day visit spouse' extension, would moving to the new province within a week or so be a good idea (do immigration/labour dept need time to sort things - 14 days or something?) We're thinking of moving early to avoid CW immigration and get a landlord/landlady who will be more cooperative if they need to attend 'interrogation' if we apply for the 60 day visit spouse extension. Our current landlady is in her 80s and will not attend immigration (don't blame her to be honest, especially as we're moving out soon). I doubt she ever registered me living in her condo anyway. Avoiding CW immigration is important as the other office isn't so busy if my wife needs to attend. It's still a risk I'd rather avoid, but it seems they want us to (no comment!).

Anyone know if it's possible to change jobs in Thailand right now? Any help would be greatly appreciated.