Eff1n2ret

In recent times I have been hooked on the Beethoven String Quartets - all of them, but if you asked me to name a favourite, I would say the third Razumovsky Quartet. The last movement is a humdinger. Prince Razumovsky was the Russian Ambassador to Vienna, and in addition to the three quartets he commissioned from Beethoven he was a great patron of all the arts and filled the embassy with paintings and sculptures. He had an extension built for the visit of the Tsar to the Congress of Vienna following the first defeat of Napoleon, unfortunately he built it in wood. It caught fire and most of the embassy was burned down. At least Beethoven's music survives.

If offices make up their own requirements, there isn't much you can do about it. If you complain to "head office", they might well refer you to the online reporting system, the new version of which seems to work pretty well for most people. If you haven't tried that recently, you haven't much grounds for complaint.

The N-E monsoon has faded out within the last few weeks, and we've been getting onshore sea breezes - hence the arrival on Rayong beaches, not Malaysia.

Well, if they mailed me a bill I haven't received it. We've had nothing in our post box for 5 months. That's why I had to reorder bank cards and get them couriered from the UK, after several visits to the Post Office in search of the originals. They would pretend to go and look for them and come back "mai mee". Whether that's a result of criminality or just incompetence I have no idea.

I'm not an expert, though I recently had 2 DHL shipments from the UK (books with bank and credit cards concealed inside), both delivered within a week of shipment, no apparent customs involvement. I think the deliveries were made by DHL agents. Have you not tried their tracking system to see where your shipment is? If it's already in the hands of Thai Post, that might explain the delay, the service round our way is dreadful to non-existent. You can only hope it will turn up eventually.

That is the case with the printable certificate. On the QR code which they send you it does state under your name and "vaccinated" - "Approved by DDC MOPH Thailand"

I'm not saying you're wrong, because I don't know, but there are plenty on these forums telling us that 30 days cover is sufficient for issue of the Thailand Pass, and it's not queried by Immigration on arrival. I find that a little hard to believe (though I hope it's true) because for those of us in our late 70s/over 80 the difference in cost would be considerable, just to tick a box to get back into the country.

You or your GF seem already to have accessed the Mor Prom app. If you look at the bottom of the page there is a tab designated "International Vaccine Certificate". Click on that to fill in the required fields to book a certificate. (This worked fairly easily for me, some seem to have had problems getting their data accepted). After submitting you should get "booking successful". A few days afterwards I got an email with the attachment shown below. Finally I also got a QR code which I saved as a screenshot to my phone. Whether you'll actually need it in the UK seems doubtful, but it might be useful for checking in for flights, etc. Inernational Vac Cert ((2).pdf

The Strip in Banchang was dying before Covid shut it down, but I suspect the OP is a family man and less likely to be attracted by thumping music, overpriced beer and the ministrations of ladies of uncertain age. For a newcomer I suppose the place might seem a bit dull until you can develop contacts and a social life of your own. The only downsides I can think of are that the only one of the three beaches that is up to par, and then barely, is Phala, and returning from a trip to the Western and North-western highlands I realised that we are not living in the most beautiful part of Thailand. I can't imagine why anyone would want to live in Sattahip.

Do you not have a certificate yourself? I haven't seen my wife's certificate recently but as best I recall hers, done at he local hospital is pretty much the same as mine, done under government expat scheme at a Bangkok hospital. They were both issued on the spot after the second vaccinations. Probably your wife's starting point is the hospital where she was vaccinated.

A UK Immigration Officer can only refuse entry to someone holding a visa if either deception was used to obtain the visa or there has been a change of circumstances since it was issued. The onus of proof is on the IO, and there is a right of appeal before removal against any refusal. There could be no question of deception several years and visits since the visa was issued Arguably, retiring from her job is a change of circumstances, but any refusal would be very harsh, as anybody's circumstances can change in the course of 10 years, and given her compliance on previous visits (which must go back longer than the 10-years visa?) it would only be an over-zealous IO making an issue of this and I can't imagine any Chief Immigration Officer authorising a refusal. I'm not suggesting she lies, but there's no need to mention this unless asked.

As always, it might depend which office you report at. When I went in to Rayong Imm they simply took the old TM30 and stapled it in to the new passport. Obviously, it still shows my old passport number, but that is referenced in the stamps they put in the new document. If I were you I wouldn't go bothering your landlord until you find out what they do.

On the old system I was registered with a yahoo address, I registered on the new one with gmail. After getting my approval yesterday I logged back on the old app with the old login. It only showed previous reports, I've now deleted it. I didn't think of logging in to that with gmail, but I doubt it would have worked.

Of course, if the OP has a spare 800k he could call their bluff, make the deposit then withdraw it after they've granted the 'visa'. More realistically rather than go full-on like 'Greenmonkey' I would take the official requirements linked by Ubonjoe and use it as a basis for negotiation, as DrJack's post suggests you can get away with 5,500Baht by dealing direct rather than through an agent.

21k Baht is a lot of money. Before I paid that I would go back armed with the official requirements linked by Ubonjoe and see what they say. But that's easy for me to suggest, standing up to ingrained corruption is another thing.

Good point, but the OP alleges that this IO is disregarding the 400k already in the bank and insistinng on another one-time transfer of 800k. He/she must have got out of bed the wrong side that morning.

The IOs at Maptaphut aren't idiots, in my experience. I don't know about other offices, but there it's pretty much expected that applicants for marriage extensions take their wife along.

I wrote in jest. Your incident illustrates the point I was making.

I think the Kiwis have a good reason for a further extension as Jacinda won't let them in. Anyone else can go home. If, as the article alleges, some haven't got the price of a ticket, that's not a good reason to legitimise their further stay in the country.

But it doesn't apply to motor-cyclists.

Certainly does, but it's perhaps not the hotel's fault. Imagine if you came back on day 5 with missis in tow, and you tested positive - what would they do with her?. I guess they're just trying to avoid complications.

Good question. Presumably the onus will be on the airlines to police the process, and only those not fully vaccinated need be required to show they have submitted a form.

I originally had an account at Bangkok Bank Silom, and transferred it several years ago to the branch on Sukhumvit in Banchang. (Just a passbook account with ATM card). I can't remember the exact process, but it wasn't difficult, and the staff there are helpful and some speak quite good English. Immigration at Maptaphut play it by the book, they don't mess you about with unreasonable demands if you've got the right paperwork. I've never made an appointment there, but I don't know if they use the new appointment system. Online 90-day reporting works ok with them. The Department of Land Transport Office is on the left on the outskirts of Rayong City just after the junction for the bypass. You have to make an appointment to renew your Driving Licence and do the online training module before you go for the renewal, which now takes only an hour or so compared with the half-day it used to. For the Car Tax renewal, as others have posted, the place beside Lotus's is fine.

That's the same organisation that the OP has contacted, and he has highlighted the potential problem faced by all of us wrinklies who would like to go to their home country and visit friends and family but are effectively uninsurable. The notice that comes up when you click on that website says it is not intended for foreign residents in Thailand, and whoever he spoke to has expressed a literal interpretation of that. Others have posted that we can apply as it is for travel from outside Thailand, and for the purposes of the Thai Pass we can get away with purchasing insurance for as little as 30 days with a throw-away onward ticket to show to immigration on arrival if necessary. The problem is that there is scant evidence on these forums that more than a few have been able to do this in practice, and whether it is actually accepted by the authorities. I think that most of the advice comes from people who haven't actually done it htemselves.

Does that apply to all regional offices? You don't have to go to Bangkok to get the visa?