ryan15987532

Thanks for your radical thought Tony. As clearly stated in my original post, I don’t fully trust the info online as I have first hand seen discrepancies between the actual timetable and online timetable. Thanks everyone else

Hi all, I’ve been in jomtien and watched the bus timetable change as we have come out of this covid rigmarole. Does anyone know at what time is the latest bus is from BKK to Jomtien or even better have a time table? I don’t trust that the online info is up to date. Thanks in advance

We previously visited in kata for half a year in 2004/2005, we’ve moved back and are looking for “Otto” who set up shop on kata beach in front of beyond kata resort (beach bar) we can remember and been told he still has a place in kata which was a massage shop. We’d love to find him again so any leads would be welcome!

Hi, I’ve been staying with my 1/2 thai wife and kids in koh samui for about 5 months. My parents have just joined us to help with childcare. We’re paying approx £700 for 3 bed pool villa here pcm. We’re a bit bored and thought why not try siem reap. Can I expect the same sort of property for the price in a decent area over there? Has anyone got any words of encouragement or otherwise in regards to our plan? Any pointers, positive or negative, are welcome. cheers in advance, Ryan edit: that was a bit convoluted, is the price of living/standard of living much better over there?

Great thanks very much for that. I will attempt to get them their Thai docs but point 2 has put me at ease. Cheers!

Myself, my half Thai partner and our two 1/4 Thai kids have arrived in Thailand for the next 9 months (I’m on STV). The boys are 2 months and 19 months old, we tried to get them Thai birth certs in Thai embassy London prior to leaving UK but upon arrival at embassy were told my partner needed her Thai ID card (she’s not got one) and that just her passport wasn’t good enough, you can only obtain the ID card in Thailand so our hands were tied. So here we are, in Thailand. Partner entered on her Thai passport so no issues there, I’m on my STV but the boys are currently a couple of days into their visa exemption. We are going to sort my partners Thai ID card tomorrow and so hopefully can obtain birth certs (although possibly can only be done in London) and passports. I have a couple of questions. 1) are we going to have to go back to the Uk to sort this out? 2) if we overstay, what happens if we pass an immigration checkpoint and the boys stamps are obviously expired? Do we need to leave the country or is it overlooked because of their ages? 3) I’m open to any helpful suggestions so fire away. Thanks in advance for any help

I arrived 5 hours ago, my return ticket is in 13 days (cheapest flexible return I could find). That reminds me, I need to change that ASAP to about 9 months from now ???? So from my experience it doesn’t matter when the return flight actually is & the reversed name wasn’t even mentioned. Good luck all

Bear, that is a rubbish situation. As far as I’m aware you need an appt but if you’re down to a few days it could be worth just showing up early one morning - no definite answer I’m sorry but I definitely understand your situ ???? Aldrig, may as well apply now, took a weight off my shoulders knowing at least the TP is secure. Mine was approved within 24 hrs.

I thought this too but you definitely can apply for Thailand pass prior to receiving visa. I put in I plan on staying for 90 days as that’s the original length of STV visa but they don’t ask for the actual visa ???????? Bear9, if you log into Thai evisa website it should state if they’ve received your additional docs. I also emailed them specifically asking if they’d received my additional docs and they did reply eventually. I personally just rode out my first application rather than submit a new one.

I applied on Nov 1st, provided additional info (I had inv letter from a friend but needed to book 90 days accom) on around the 6th, and it was approved on the 16th. I guess the above is what you were referring to but the actual application took me about an hour I think!

I’ve received my STV with 4 days to spare, phew. My only query is that everywhere it states my name as “Morris Ryan David” rather than “Ryan David Morris”. I’m sure this is fine but just checking that everyone has this format or just me? Do we think it will cause any issues?

I applied for STV on the 1st of November and submitted additional info to thai embassy London at MFA’s request on 6th, heard nothing since and there’s no way to get in touch with Thai Embassy London. Very stressful. Didn’t realise the Thailand Pass can be submitted without visa approval so that’s good news and will crack on with that. Flying on 20th

I’ve had a response, they’re not accepting invitations from friends or family anymore, which is stupid. Need proof prepaid accommodation for 3 months. Asking people to pay for 3 months accommodation without even seeing the property is nonsense. I think a lot of hotels will be upset when their 3 month reservations are cancelled.

Submitted STV 1st Nov, not heard anything yet. Only put in 2 nights in SHA+ hotel and then an invitation letter from family friend inviting me to stay with him for 90 days, he owns his house there. In hindsight I should have just paid for accom and got a refund as I’m sure they’ll deny mine on this.

Thanks for the optimism and the link, I have followed it. Seems unfair on Samui as this will surely put off many 2 week holidayers!

Thanks all, I will get in touch with airlines. Might have to cancel Bkk - Samui flight and ensure that we select the sealed route. Will let forum know the outcome. Ryan

I'll contact both airlines. I'll report back in case anyone finds themselves in the same situation.

The only reference to STV I can find on London embassy is https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/special-tourist-visa-stv?cate=5d6636c215e39c3bd0006c8d, which doesn't mention police check or health tests. I was actually at the London Thai embassy yesterday for an unrelated reason and asked them about STV and they just said apply online and didn't have any interest in helping. I hope their website is updated very soon with up to date information. Thanks for your help.

I have just run through the STV having finally found it through this thread (thanks). I can't see any reference on there to the police background check or the Tb, syphilis etc test? Is this still a requirement or do we need to wait til Monday 1st to find out more? These seem to be the most time consuming parts of the application so would like to get these sorted ASAP if still required!

They're flying to Bangkok with KLM who, after a quick google, appear to be partner of Bangkok Airways. I hope this covers the code sharing agreement you referenced. I wouldn't even know who to contact to get any answers though

My parents are coming to Koh Samui in mid December to visit us for Xmas, they’re fully jabbed and from UK. They’re flying into Bangkok & have a flight booked to Samui approx. 4 hours after arrival in Bangkok. Is this currently possible or would they need to stay a night in an SHA hotel nearby to airport in Bangkok & fly to Samui the following day? Its maybe a case of wait and see but thought I’d see if anyone had any info. TIA edit - it’s worth noting the flights are under 2 separate bookings, Cardiff to Bangkok and then Bangkok to Samui. I’m thinking it might have been preferable to have booked Cardiff to Koh Samui.

I understand this but can’t work out if I’ll have grief changing from either standard tourist visa or visa exempt to the Ed visa. From what I can see there are only 2 language schools on Samui, I’ve gone with the best reviewed one. I will check in with the other school to ensure they’re as confident as the school I’m currently in contact with. I have seen that STV can stay 9 months now but I do want to learn Thai, and 12 months is better than 9 for me!

I intend on learning Thai. I am in contact with a language school on Koh Samui. They have advised it will take 3-4 weeks to obtain ED visa - this could be optimistic on their part. So even if I arrive visa exempt for 30 days and tourist visa for a further 30 days (thanks for correcting me), that should be plenty of time assuming all goes smoothly, although QPRFC’s suggestion of arriving with 60 day tourist visa may be safest option. I’ve just seen a video of someone not being able to switch from STV to ed visa and it worried me slightly. Just wanted to know if anyone had a definitive answer. Thanks all.

Hi all, I am arriving in Thailand in mid November. My plan is to arrive on visa exemption (30 days), extend this for 60 days (I think) before converting to an ED visa while studying Thai. I’ve heard that people on STV can’t convert to an ED visa and have to leave the country. I can’t see anything saying you can’t convert from a standard tourist visa to an ED visa though. Can someone confirm my assumptions are correct? I can’t find anything official. Thanks

I was a bit suspicious when she said that but wasn’t in a position to say anything as I couldn’t read it! Can’t translate on my phone for some reason so will get the laptop out. Cheers Edit, translate worked perfectly and this link looks to be exactly what we need. Thanks a lot.