keenok

there are 2 asian countries i would much rather live in ,and 2 or 3 more that i wouldnt mind living in. however,in my current situation(baby on the way)it would be very difficult to uproot myself now.i always thought living in thailand was the easy option(tourist visas and voa, 8 months per year) and very easy to travel throughout asia with this as my home base,but that was obviously a mistake.

Hello Pattaya folk,

I've lived in Bangkok for the past 4 years and never been to Pattaya. The Missus is going to the temple for 10 days and that gives me a few days break - from the 29th, so I've decided to give it a go.

I'm planning to get the bus down (I live next to the bus station in Ekami) and would like to avoid people like me 15 years ago (drunken, foolish English types), but I'd like to have a nice relaxing time with a few quality beers.

Any suggestions?

Many thanks, Jas

if you want to avoid people like that ,dont come to pattaya at this time of year,its full off them!!!,low season is much better ,far fewer idiots about(but still afew). by the way dont forget your sandals and socks lol.they seem to be fashionable in patters around tourist season lol

sdo you mean the initial poll or are you responding to the previous message? If it is the initial poll, the first choice is "Not affected".... But you do bring up a point. This should be people in Thailand now. hmmmm

i was refering to the initial poll.i think the thai visa membership includes many who would be short term residents - long term tourists.the membership is very diverse i would guess.myself i am here 8 months a year for example,going overseas to work twice for 2 month spells.if i was only here 6 months i would be unnafected.

the other thing to note is that some respondents may not be affected because they do not live here.some may be here for short periods each year and can happily carry on border hopping or using multi entry tourist visas to give them the required time in the kingdom.

if you have money to burn then flying is the easy option.its quite simple to do yourself though. if you get the agent to organise transport to trat or even better hat lek(the border beyond trat) its quite simple from there.you can either take the ferry to sihanoukville(then bus on decent road to phnom penh) or you can take a van to sihanoukhville or phnom penh. my advice would be to stay in trat overnight then take a van to the border(they leave from the market at about 6 am,used to be 100 baht)otherwise you may have to spend the night in the cambodian town on the other side of the border then leave for shnkvle or pp next morning.enjoy..

its nice to know that not everybody is thinking about themselves today. well done marshbags

Most of us who have lived here for a long time forget about Western holidays and only celebrate Thai ones, however, Christmas and Thanksgiving means lots of good food which we are more than willing to consume!

i will never complain about good food !! but i eat well every day ,dont need an excuse .perhaps that is why im expanding like i am

ideas for xmas??. i will be completely ignoring it as usual and hoping i dont have to put up with xmas carols while out of the house. im not religious ,neither do i get off on rampant commercial bullshit,so thailand is the place to be ,a normal day when i can still go to the market. although i fear it is starting to creep in here ,as is halloween .the rampant americanisation of the world continues

seriously though,it just goes to show what we all know (or should know)that there will be as many interpreatations of the rules as there are immigration officers.wait and see ,wait and see..........

I think that he should be promoted immediately!

he probably already has been

when the gf was working at carrefour as cashier the annual leave was 6 days!!!. good place to shop ,terrible place to work.any shortfall in the till at the end of the day is taken off the wages, if your till is up however you dont keep it ,it goes to the fat bosses in france lol.

wouldnt like to guess what their costs are ,but dont forget ,they are ongoing costs.if there are no new members theres no new income.unless they are trying to fund there costs from interest alone. it is and was always going to be a lame duck ,in my opinion.

do you slaughter any yourself for your family?

if ever a thread needed to be closed this is it!! everybody disagrees on the interpretation of the rules .NOBODY can say for sure .each individual officer will have his take on the new rules and that is that.it will be up to each individual to present themselves to the authorities,state your case and see how you go.this thread only serves to confuse and intimidate those people who are looking for reliable information.the truth is NOBODY knows how these rules will play themselves out yet. we will all have to wait and see. so please close it.

the whole scheme(scam) was always goin to be a joke.1700 members !!! i wonder how much money this company has made(lost)? anybody got any figures? ive never seen anybody go to the thailand elite counter at immigration ,but then ive never seen anybody staffing it either. just another stupid idea from toxin i think.i wouldnt be surprised if it all goes tits up soon with no compensation,after all with 1700 members there wont be much of an outcry will there? i dont think any of us who live here doubt the governments ability to do extraordinary things and not give a f*** about others opinions.i know if i had membership i would be trying to sell it fast!

maybe mike is giving a lesson(oops i mean having a conversation ) in the local park

ok so youre not working now(i believe you) but you have in the past .you admitted you were working 2 weeks ago on a tourist visa.so you have broken the law . so you are exactly the sort of person these new rules were brought in to catch out. it is people like you who make it hard for people who do not work, who bring money from overseas ,but can not qualify for long stay visas.

im doing this visa run in janurary, about the 9th or 10th i believe.

from what ive heard, its 10 hours on a bus from bangkok to the ferry crossing.

then spend about 9 hours between queing at immigration and refreshing in the hotels etc...

then 10 hours back.

the company im going with charge 1700 baht for the trip.

but that doesnt include the visa fee or the hotels.

not 100% sure if im going to do it..

can anyone reccommend an easier option? i dont want to fly or spend much more money.

concidering there is myself AND my foreign girlfriend going to do the visa.

we need the 60 day tourist with extension!

school is sorting out the paper work to convert them into non imm b and paper work..

Let's see, this was something you posted previously:

i still dont see why this is such a huge problem...

i think they are right to do what they plan to do.

if your legally here, then fine. show your work permit, visa etc.

people who are here legally will have everything they need.

people who are here illegally then you deserve what you get for doing what you do.

most people here when they are back in their own country's probably didnt like all the immigrants in their own country...

look at the uk... do you agree with whats going on there??

no...

well your doing the exact same as them over here...

in the end, if they do enforce it, ( prays they do ) then the people here legally with permits, visa's etc will reap the benefits.

i cant wait for teacher wages to go up when there is a shortage of teachers...

myself and my farang girlfriend are more than laughing at this scenario...

sitting on a years permit, and a 3 year contract i dont see what we need to worry about.

apart from going with the highest bidder to hire us.

Now it seems that you are actually working here illegally without a work permit or teacher's license

If you're not going until January, why can't your school get you the paperwork needed for a non-immigrant B visa by then? It's not that difficult.

er who said im working at the moment?

im not an illegal worker. ive signed a contract that starts in the new term year. (march 2007)

untill then im a tourist. the school wont do out work permits or licence until then.

thus the reason i need a 60 day turist visa...

(janurary 10th - march 10th.... + the 30 day extension = LEGAL visa coverage while im a tourst and 30 days extra for my school to get my permit, licence and non imm

someone please tell me, whats ILLGEAL about that?

nothing!

so dont go jumping to conclusions.

who said you were working ?? you did in another post.

this is why the rules are changing .because of <deleted> breaking the rules.i wish theyd just raid places and get rid of bar owners and english teachers with no permits .half of them arent even english natives.what sort of english do they teach anyway?people who bring in money from working overseas and dont qualify under other categories are now going to suffer because of them.

You are slightly wrong ... at least on two points

- The visa runners are not breaking any rule.

- The one who breaks the rules are the schools which employ foreign teachers illegeally

For the bar owners... I guess there are many different situations. I am sure some break the rules and I amvsure other don't.

Basically it all goes back to the rules, which in the present case are rather unworkable.

And who makes the rules? ...

[sandy]

its pretty simple i always thought.if you are working as an english teacher with out a valid work permit(and using tourist visas to stay here)as is the case with the post i was refering to,YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW!!! as is the case with guys running bars on tourist visas (or any other visa without a work permit)now,please tell me i am wrong again s.pylos.

Clause (4) is intended for the foreign child of a person living in Thailand, to enable the child to live with his family.

--

Maestro

Incorrect. A child can already be included in a parent's non-immigrant "O" visa. The interpretation Sunbelt has put forth makes absolutely no sense and I'm certain that whoever was refused an extension had other issues besides being "under 50." Also, because this is new, the immigration folks may be a bit confused by their own rules.

i agree with this interpretation. i believe the mother or father over 50 refers to the person being supported.thats how i read it and certainly makes more sense.however how the BIB interpret the ruling could have many variations.

YOU ARE WRONG WRONG WRONG

GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE WORLD HAS MANY DIFFERNET PEOPLE WISHING TO TRAVEL THAT CANNOT NOW STAY IN THAILAND LONG TERM. And the biggest loser will be Thailand

Thailand might be the loser in YOUR opinion but it is THEIR country and THEIR decision.

Get of YOUR horse and stop ranting because Thaialnd does not provide you with a long term visa suited to YOUR wishes

And like many other THEIR previous decisions, is WRONG. They seem to enjoy the downtrend. We shall see how low they will finish....for now the junta is an international joke (going to see a fortune teller in Chang Mai...what a laugh )...in a couple of months TV networks will start to name Thailand as "Myanmar 2"

gaudent, havnt you done enough whinging and whining about thailand for 1 day??? go to the philipines PLEASE!!

so tell me guadente,as rodger has already asked,just what visa did you have that allowed you to live in your condo?people like you who go on about their wealth and how thailand cant manage without them make me laugh, do you really think what you spend will affect the thai economy.im sure your thai girlfriend will enjoy any money you cant take with you.bon voyage

I did not need any VISA as long as VISA runs were perfectly legal. I could have applied for investor VISA , but considering my money was invested in bonds denominated in Brazilian Real yelding me a 12% yearly coupon,(while THB fixed deposit yeld only 5% less 15% taxes), that would have costed me 200,000 baht/year of income, while VISA runs cost only 24,000. When they changed rules they did it with so little warning I could not comply: first I needed to change VISA and get a 3 months B , then should have asked for the 1 year stay permit. How could 3 months stay in 15 days ?

Don't worry for my money I assure you I will be able to retrieve it all.

Worry instead for the way your nickname fully reflects your essence.

Cheers

from GAUdente

you could have previously applied with your 9 million of thai stocks ,property ,and bank deposits.or did you forget about that.some people talk some shit.

im doing this visa run in janurary, about the 9th or 10th i believe.

from what ive heard, its 10 hours on a bus from bangkok to the ferry crossing.

then spend about 9 hours between queing at immigration and refreshing in the hotels etc...

then 10 hours back.

the company im going with charge 1700 baht for the trip.

but that doesnt include the visa fee or the hotels.

not 100% sure if im going to do it..

can anyone reccommend an easier option? i dont want to fly or spend much more money.

concidering there is myself AND my foreign girlfriend going to do the visa.

we need the 60 day tourist with extension!

school is sorting out the paper work to convert them into non imm b and paper work..

Let's see, this was something you posted previously:

i still dont see why this is such a huge problem...

i think they are right to do what they plan to do.

if your legally here, then fine. show your work permit, visa etc.

people who are here legally will have everything they need.

people who are here illegally then you deserve what you get for doing what you do.

most people here when they are back in their own country's probably didnt like all the immigrants in their own country...

look at the uk... do you agree with whats going on there??

no...

well your doing the exact same as them over here...

in the end, if they do enforce it, ( prays they do ) then the people here legally with permits, visa's etc will reap the benefits.

i cant wait for teacher wages to go up when there is a shortage of teachers...

myself and my farang girlfriend are more than laughing at this scenario...

sitting on a years permit, and a 3 year contract i dont see what we need to worry about.

apart from going with the highest bidder to hire us.

Now it seems that you are actually working here illegally without a work permit or teacher's license

If you're not going until January, why can't your school get you the paperwork needed for a non-immigrant B visa by then? It's not that difficult.

Caught read handed !!! First time I read something really funny on thai visa!

First they came for the visa runner... you know the song....

[sandy]

this is why the rules are changing .because of <deleted> breaking the rules.i wish theyd just raid places and get rid of bar owners and english teachers with no permits .half of them arent even english natives.what sort of english do they teach anyway?people who bring in money from working overseas and dont qualify under other categories are now going to suffer because of them.

I have bought a condo unit in Thailand because I thought I was allowed to live in it.

Without having a proper visa? That was a bit foolish.

No, that was consistent with previous VISA regulations, regulations they changed with just a 15 days warning, not to mention the coup just 1 week later and the Immigration offices unable to give any confirmation/deny on whatever issue.

so tell me guadente,as rodger has already asked,just what visa did you have that allowed you to live in your condo?people like you who go on about their wealth and how thailand cant manage without them make me laugh, do you really think what you spend will affect the thai economy.im sure your thai girlfriend will enjoy any money you cant take with you.bon voyage

for 6,600 baht,presumably the visa run company pays the fee for the laos visa on arrival.