pistonpilot

Yep. And my point is also the perception this is going to create. They have just shot themselves in the foot (or head) with this announcement. With all the other bright news coming out of Thailand, this is not what the tourism industry needs. To someone who doesn't live here, it sounds like they are going after tourists.

Just in time for high-season. Seriously, this is going to reach panic stage quickly. I wouldn't even step foot into an immigration office Monday. Does anyone have a link to the source of the information?

If this is like the new phone number system for mobiles, I am taking it with a grain of salt. Most of the newspapers told me that I have to change my sim card.

And we all know that that bit of advice was bogus.

VISA ON ARRIVAL

- According to the Interior Ministerial Announcements, passport holders from 20 countries may apply for visas at the immigration checkpoints for the purpose of tourism for the period of not exceeding 15 days.

- The applicant must possess means of living expenses at the amount of 10,000 Baht per person and 20,000 Baht per family accordingly.

- The applicant must present full paid ticket which is usable within 15 days since the date of entry

- Visa on arrival is provided at 23 designated international checkpoints and applicants should submit the application form duly filled out and to which his/her recent photograph (2 ½ inches) is attached. The application fee is 1,000 Baht.

- Visitors who enter the Kingdom with Visa on Arrival generally cannot file an application for extension of stay except in special cases such as illness which prevents them from travelling, etc. They can submit an application at the Office of Immigration Bureau , Immigration Division 1, Soi Suan Plu, South Sathorn Road, Bangkok 10120. Tel. 02 287-3127 or 02 287-3101-10 ext. 2264-5 or at website http://www.immigration.go.th

The operative word here is tourism. It makes sense that a "tourist" should not mean a tourist in perpetuity. Agree? For people like me who are here not on a tourist visa but on a non-immigrant O or B visa, this should be a non-event.

I'm curious about one thing. When I arrived, they gave me a departure card. I have no intention of using it, and didn't fill it in. No one say "boo" about my not filling it in, I guess they assume I'm here for the long haul if I come on a non-immigrant O visa. What do the guys who have been doing visa runs for years do? Do they keep a ticket with them all the time, or is it not even asked for?

Okay, so I want to come to Asia on holiday. Let's say I don't live in a city with a Thai consulate and don't want to send my passport thru the mail. I'm not a backpacker. I arrive in Thailand, spend a couple of weeks, go to Vietnam for a week, come back to Thailand. After a couple of weeks I go to Siam Riep, come back to Thailand and go to Bali. Now I can't come back in to Thailand for 90 days, right? This will do wonders for the perception of Thailand as a "hub".

To me this looks as no problem because you go out of the country before your tourist visa was extended or expired.I think they will focus on the borderruns who leave and enter the country on the same day.

From where did you glean this gem?

Can anyone provide the link to the Immigration website where this is spelled out? Hopefully in English.

All this concerns 30 day non-visa entries - the freebie visa. If I understand this, it has no affect on 60 day tourist visa's issued in your home country, or 90 day visa's.

I'm about to extend my 90 day non-immigrant O visa for married to a Thai - supporting a Thai. We are also pregnant.

I can't imagine any of this would affect someone like me.

Can someone explain to me why in a poor country does the government tax the cars so much? If they levy a 50 percent tax on Thai built car, what is the sense in that?

If you concerned about your privacy and wish to appear as if you are logging in from America, sign up for a Secure-Tunnel Account and no one not even your Thai ISP will know what you are doing on the internet.

pistonpilot is simply one of the lucky ones.

If you always sign in from the US and then go sign in from Thailand, it is very likely that they will close the account til you can prove that you are you.

If you always sign in to a US paypal account from overseas, eventually they will likely ask you to prove that your residence is in the US. They will want a utility bill with your name on it fist and foremost. If you don't have that, they will tell you to get a new paypal account in Thailand.

Again, Rubbish. Show me where in the PayPal agreement it states that one must RESIDE in the USA to have a US PayPal account?

I'm not lucky, this is the way it works.

Show me, don't tell me. I want to see a reference to your allegations other than the "old wives tail" that you are perpetuating.

My friend Marty says the Vios and the Honda City are made in Thailand and not subject to high tariffs. Are there others?

I want to setup a company for my wife - Limited Liability - A proper Thai Corporation in her name. What is involved and can I do it here in Pattaya?

The answer to bank info fraud is simple. Use one account only for receiving funds by wire - and regularly move the money from that account to an account that you never use for wire purposes.

This sounds very strange, I've never heard of this before. Can you please provide more info.

Have you shipped to Italy many times? I found air mail there to be terribly unreliable.

If you want to realize a wire transfer is enough to send a fax to your bank with the beneficiary IBAN, the amount to wire and your sign.

If someone (for example an Ebay customer) has your IBAN and your sign (readable for ex. on your package receipt) and he tries to ask a wire transfer from your bank account to his one he can realize it very simply. Specially if your bank has a new employer or a "friend" of the scammer.

It's the reason to be careful to give IBAN on the web.

A lot of these scams are managed from Nigeria and from other african countries, i'm sure that you have received at least one of the boring nigerian email where an unlucky man need your bank account to wire you few million $ located somewhere, with the only result to see your bank account empty after few hours.

I've never shipped anything from Los to Italy. Actually i work from Italy to Italy (90%) and occasionally worldwide (10%). I'm simply evaluating to start another online business abroad, in Los. Postage are a bit cheaper.

Rubbish Rubbish Rubbish!

How does one get to dispense bad information so readily?

I have several PayPal accounts from the USA and one from Thailand in my wife's name. I regularly sign-in to my own accounts, and then to her account, and since I am using TOT Business Gold ADSL, my IP address changes all the time.

My accounts are not frozen, nor will they ever be frozen.

PayPal will freeze assets in an account when they suspect some sort of fraud. Signing in is not tantamount to fraud.

I don't care if you sign in from Cambodia or Thailand. Thailand is a recognized country. I have had telephone conversations with PayPal concerning my account and then my wife's on the same call. No one at PayPal as much as coughed.

Maybe it is because I have had a PayPal account for over 6 years, have pumped thousands of dollars through it and am considered trustworthy.

Enough with the scare tactics and old wive's tales.

Rubbish.

Hi

I am experienced in selling from thailand on ebay & be very careful. Postal costs are ok if you send by International Reg post. Takes about 5 to 7 days but very reliable however not insured!

A lot of sellers on ebay put in there details shipment take up to 14 days from cleared funds.

Main problem u will incounter will not be with ebay so much but paypal. Because u will be signing in from Thailand they will get the IP & suspend u as Thailand is not on there favoured countries lists. You can accept but can only withdraw to a US bank account, do not sign into Paypal from Thailand, call them & they will confirm this fact. Ebay will also suspend saying your account has been hijacked however will reinstate following live help comms. They will ask many security questions so make sure all your details etc are on paper. They may want to call u as well so insure u have a contact number at all times when signing in.

Be very careful as paypal had 13k of my money for 180 days just because they suspected i was a fraudster signing in from Thailand. They do have a facility called auto sweep which clears funds daily to your account, they do not advertise this but it exists simply call them.

Get your ebay & paypal set up at home first, do not list to much in the first three months. Dont list copy stuff, make sure u never change to many details at once, Once you start siging in from Thailand only use one IP address at all times & never sign into paypal from there.

I would also watch out from what country you are selling from as i hear ebay/paypal now submit details to certain bodies once your sales increase. Some sellers assume as you sell outside the UK that the VAT etc is not due, not true its the revenue from sales/income etc that make the Vat etc due. Get an offshore account but make sure Paypal reconise the offshore country u use.

Hope that makes some sence lol.

How does a Thai buy a car on credit? What is looked at in the decision making process? What does the fine-print say on those Thai leases?

My idea was to setup my wife with a Thai Corporation in her name. Do business as the corporation, and have money sent to the corporation's bank account from overseas. Is that enough to convince the dealers to extend credit to her personally or the Thai Corporation?

Would I as a Farang be able to get credit for a motor vehicle?

Getting a non-o visa 90 days is a no-brainer in the USA. I applied to the embassy in Washington DC and showed them a copy of my lease for a house here. That was it.

I don't see an advantage to a tourist visa and then having to change it. Am I missing something?

Whatever you do, don't take a pen and try to "darken" anything that Thai immigration put in there. You read about the European Royalty dude in the news thread?

kenk3z

I read about him. My repairs only consisted of drying it flat and giving the whole thing a pass with a warm iron to flatten it. All stamps and writing are not as crisp as they once were, but are uniformly lightened by the wash.

Would someone be so kind as to explain the visit from the boys in brown - what do they want to see, or what are they looking for?

They want to see that you are living as a couple, piccies of you together should be on display. They may talk to the neighbours as well.

Please note: Not everyone gets a visit.

We're pregnant - I imagine you can't get more together than that.

Why does it take several months? Because it does On application you'll get a 30 day "under consideration" stamp, you may get a visit from the police during this period, when you return at the end of 30 days, you may get your extension or another 30 day stamp, there is a current thread running whith an OP on his 4th 'under consideration'

And another question - my visa runs out Sept 28 - when should I start the 1 yr extension process? I was told 2 weeks prior to the visa expiring. You need to start the process within the last 30 days of a permit to stay.

1 more question - can I get an extension to an O visa the same as I did to my 60 tourist visa from last trip. They gave me 30 days more. No, not normally.

Will I even need to do that? If I start the process, does that put my expiration date on hold while immigration does their work? See above, once you start the process you'll be fine.

Would someone be so kind as to explain the visit from the boys in brown - what do they want to see, or what are they looking for?

Incorrect. The new passport is not activated until I present the old one to the US Embassy. The Embassy is holding it for me until I am ready to activate it.

Sorry, I missread your original post, I assumed that you already had possession of your new passport (I know I'd collect mine as soon as the embassy told me it was ready)

I'd still go with the new one though, you should be able to do the stamp transfer and initiate your extension with a single visit to immigration.

Additionally, a marriage extension can take several months to get finalised (particularly a first extension), will the embassy hold your new passport that long?

The embassy will hold the fresh passport until I come to get it. I have already had that confirmed through several emails to ACS at the embassy.

Why does it take several months? And another question - my visa runs out Sept 28 - when should I start the 1 yr extension process? I was told 2 weeks prior to the visa expiring.

1 more question - can I get an extension to an O visa the same as I did to my 60 tourist visa from last trip. They gave me 30 days more.

Will I even need to do that? If I start the process, does that put my expiration date on hold while immigration does their work?

See also Problem With My Passport/stamp.

I just read through that thread. My passport while washed is still legible. I carefully dried the exit card and while the ink is faded, the stamp and date are legible without the use of a magnifying glass.

I'll take a trip down to Pattaya Immigration - show it to them and ask them if they can use it or not.

"I'm here for almost 2 months now on a non-immigrant O visa from the USA. In that space of time, I've gotten legally married, got my wife pregnant, have a house in Pattaya..."

It's too late for us to help you.

hmmm, what a wonderfull help you've provided that guy ! although I doubt it very much that he's expected such your "help" !

seems like TV upholds its style ! a lot of ppl doing rather "smarta$$ness' than actual help. I mean - if you have nothing usefull to say - why not just keep quite ?

or perhaps I'm wrong and OP is rather glad to receive such a comment - huh, pistonpilot ?

I understood his humour. It was fine. I appreciate dry quick-witted humor.

This question ought to wake some of the old farts who know that they know it all...

I washed my passport last month. I ordered a new one and it arrived at the US Embassy - they are holding it for me. Should I use the old washed visa since all the numbers match - marriage certificate - etc ..

Young fart from Philadelphia, does your marriage certificate really show your passport number? Mine doesn’t.

--------------

Maestro

It does not, but the underlying documentation for the marriage certification surely does. I have no idea how in depth they get. What I'm trying to avoid, is any red flags.

When I go through a magnetometer in the USA, I take everything out of my pockets, and put it in my carry on luggage. Set off the alarm and you have some foul breath ###### rummaging through your things asking you stupid questions.

I'll avoid that here if I can.

Your 'clean' passport is now invalid as a new one has been issued (they usually cut the corner off the old one).

Take both your passports along with the letter you should have got from the embassy (with your new passport) down to immigration and have the stamps transferred (apparently they don't transfer the actual visa so you need to carry your old PP until the visa expires).

Provided you have both passports immigration will not get confused, your new PP will have an entry on the 'notes' page referring to the old PP number as 'destroyed'.

Incorrect. The new passport is not activated until I present the old one to the US Embassy. The Embassy is holding it for me until I am ready to activate it.

Sawasdee krub

I have a Thai cat, very cute too, (not that you need to know that, but I need to point it out, because, well she is soooo cute) but she came down with very itchy ears about 2 months ago.

Take a Q Tip, dip it into some baby oil and clean the cats ear with it. It is just that simple.

This question ought to wake some of the old farts who know that they know it all - I'm here for almost 2 months now on a non-immigrant O visa from the USA. In that space of time, I've gotten legally married, got my wife pregnant, have a house in Pattaya and over 400,000 baht that was wired into the account.

I'm getting ready to do the 1 year extension for the sole reason of supporting a thai/married to a thai.

I washed my passport last month. I ordered a new one and it arrived at the US Embassy - they are holding it for me. Should I use the old washed visa since all the numbers match - marriage certificate - etc .. or does it not matter? Should I get the new passport - have all my current visa's transferred to the new one?

Will that confuse the crap out of Pattaya's Immigration?

Everything is still legible, it just looks like a pair of stone washed denim jeans.

PP

2 parrots.

2 American Cats.

1 Siberian Husky

1 Katoey