Badbanker

After riding a motorcycle for 36 years in Bangkok, people need to know that riding here is not the same as the UK!   Sadly many people don't have any real riding experience and just jump on an automatic motorcycle and just go and think the magic carpet ride will save them!!!! No the rules don't change!

If you have no helmet and you hit you head you will die!  

I remember someone at an Embassy in Bangkok saying they take 1 farang a week out of Samui in a body bag!

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Who's the bloke in the photo?

I'm assuming he isn't the beauty pageant contestant, but this is Thailand.

The guy in the photo is Police Major General Archayon Kraithong nickkname (golf) who is a deputy commissioner of Immigration, but is on loan to RTP headquarters to act as their chief spokesman!  Nice guy, that has been my friend for more than 15 years.  Speaks almost perfect English!  Very straight in what he does personally with me.

I have just driven back around this bend today coming home from Srisawat and have done hundreds of times over the past 30 years.  There are Huge Signs warning people in English and Thai, telling people to use engine braking and not to rely on brakes as they do and will overheat and not work!!!!

There are guardrailings and cements bolsters which the bus rolled over this time again!  Sadly I have seen and continue to see many Thai bus driving heros that ignore the signs and crash at this last bend less than 300 meters from the flat road at the entrance to the Srinakarin Dam.

It will never end!!!  

After 20 something coups and 30+ year of watching Thai politics, the populist present elected government is as always subject to the whims of the military elite, who WILL step in, if they feel their power is diluted or the elected government doesn't serve their needs.

The only thing that has changed now that was never present in the past is, that we now have second by second social media coverage which is very powerful!

Does it have the power to limit bad actors, or is it going to be the same, the people with the guns can still run the people with the social media?    

In modern times Chinese criminals escaping has been going on since 1946 and the reason the re-entry permit system was instituted. This allowed Immigration to check with police head office if Chinese triads leaving Thailand had outstanding criminal cases against them before leaving.  

With the inception of an online Immigration computer database, Immigration can now see all and knows all.   Sort of rendering the re-entry permit system pointless!  I have pointed this out to a deputy immigration commissioners and suggested that it should be scraped! 

Let's realise that we are dealing with a legal system that is still very much into paper in all forms.

Most countries are into plastic credit cards.  We do paper cash!

Frankly in the past 10 years I have always travelled internationally with the equivalent of USD 500 cash in some form or I would be stupid!

Just think about it this way.  If you don't have a chunk of cash in your hand before you leave, and there is a potential to get denied entry you are stupid. 

I'm sure the cost of your plane ticket is a lot more than USD 500, so if you are ready to leave home without USD 500 cash, be prepared to also throw away the cost of the plane ticket, and screw up your trip.

Most other countries in Asia give non resident ID cards to keep track of foreigners.  We have to do paper TM30 reports every time we travel in country!

From experience with friends who have gained Thai nationality, they give you back your passport or send it to your embassy!   

There is no requirement for someone acquiring Thai nationality to give up any other nationality, as there is no requirement for a Thai person having acquired another nationality to give up their Thai nationality.  

Yeah the big one for my son and for every Thai man is, if your son will be drafted at the age of 20.  There are options to avoid this and they are well known to most people.

I believe the army doesn't want you to be drafted if you are more than 30 years old?

From real experience this is how it works!

Your Thai parent should go to the Thai Embassy or consulate in your country of birth with you, to show their Thai ID and to confirm that you are Thai by descent.  

You should bring your original birth certificate clearly showing your Thai parent's name as in their Thai ID card of Passport as this is required. 

Copies of your Thai parent's Thai ID card, Thai house registration and Thai passport will be required!

From experience, being in London is going to complicate your application process.

Its never easy and its never quick to acquire the nationality of any country by descent, as the issuing government will wish to confirm that the info you give is true and that you do indeed qualify.

All Thai people born in the last 75 or so year have a registry in the central citizenship computer, that can be accessed on line from all government offices anywhere in Thailand. Its called the tabian rat ทะเบียนราษฎร์ in Thai.  

I have seen people older than 100 registered there, so it will get 99% of people who have Thai nationality.

You just need to go to the district office near where your parent was born and allow the required investigation to be undertaken to verify that you are the legitimate child of this person, to be successful in recovering your Thai nationality.

There is a record of your mothers birth at the Amphur and, as such her Thai nationality is still in existence.

You will need to present this to the Thai embassy in NZ and after several months they will issue you an temporary ID and Thai passport!

I have dealt with several cases like this and it is not very difficult to retrieve your Thai nationality.

Will PM you and start the process!

If a foreigner is arrested or surrenders themselves to Immigration on an overstay charge, as long as it is before 8:30 am they will go to court that day and a judge will give decision that day.

A denied entry is a bit different!

You are not at the IDC you are at the airport.  The system is stacked against you, so unless you are on good terms with a lawyer and he is willing to act for you, you are dead meat!

Yes immigration seems to be clamping down on things at the moment.

Good news!

She has been found alive and well living in Australia.  She has re-married.

Her contact details have been passed on to the relevant authorities and newspaper to follow up.

Cheers

BB

You are legally allowed to bring into and out of Thailand an amount of up to USD 10,000 without restrictions.

You may be asked to show where the money comes from!

The reason we have a bit draconian overstay punishment is that many people overstayed and broke the law and complained about being punished for it!

The reason people are not just sent to Singapore or Hong Kong anymore is, because of one British gentleman who was being deported back to the UK but not under guard to serve jail time for human trafficking, but decided he would jump ship at a transit point and fly back to Cambodia where he still lives.  This upset Thai Immigration and since then it has been flag carrier only to country of origin, with passport in hand of captain!

Some people were deported on reasonable grounds but did it again and again.  One Swedish man was deported after 3 months overstay, 10 years in row!

Immigration looked at other Western countries laws and modeled this new regulation after them!

3 minutes ago, manarak said:

err... you live at the IDC ?

Sadly I do at times during some days!  Not from choice but rather necessity!   Have a look at my posting history you will see I have addressed this issue many times over the past 10 years or more? 

Don't make any money from it but I do help things get moved along quickly.