TaoNow

While many of these examples are frivolous, there are some scenarios that could cause trouble.

For example, let's say you are a retired expat who is a fluent English language speaker. 

You might think it would be nice to invite some of the local high school students to your house at certain times outside of school to let them practice English conversation with you.  At no charge.

Now, if those students had been paying the local Thai English teacher for tutoring after class or on weekends...well, there might be an anonymous tip sent somewhere.

Word to the wise...

Something doesn't add up.

The victims started drinking at 9 p.m. and continued until 3 a.m.?

How many beers can one consume in six hours without passing out?

1 hour ago, toolpush said:

What is the downside of not doing 90 day reports? I know that you can get fined between 2000 and 5000 baht depending on circumstances. Can you get deported? Can you be refused an extension? If you are on a 1 year extension for retirement and you don't bother to report until the next extension is due, do you simply get a 2000 to 5000 baht fine and then another extension? What is the worst that can happen for simply not reporting?

The downside (in my personal experience) is having a big, red 'violation' stamp printed on a full page of my passport describing my failure to report within 90 days -- I was 3 days after the 7-day grace period.    While having multiple red stamps may not be a threat to an extension of permit-to-stay, I do not want to explore that possibility... 

So, would this allow someone here in Thailand on a retirement extension to work for pay as a moderator of an online forum (such as aseannow.com or other entity) without the need for a work permit?

It's an honest question.

10 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

The Senate has kicked the can down the road to December 3rd. Now waiting for the vote in the congress.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/senate-vote-lift-debt-ceiling-default

My esteemed ubonjoe:  Please reassure us that you and your colleagues do not rely on Fox for your news.  Please.

1 hour ago, BritTim said:

If you get the opportunity to speak with the agent again, ask which immigration office is being used for the extension. By the way, what type of extension of stay is involved? If it is one of the simpler extensions, even an out of province extension should not take more than a week. However, if it is, say, a marriage extension, or if it is a "conversion" visa to switch from a tourist entry to a Non Immigrant entry, then a month or more is not unusual. The agent will want to hold onto the passport until the under consideration period has elapsed, and the final stamp inserted in your passport.

I believe OP said it was for a Non-B extension.   

In any case, I think the lesson for all of us ex-pats is to do your extensions BY yourselves. 

And never let someone else take your PP out of your sight unless it is an Immo officer. 

This was an interesting thread, am I am glad it worked out for OP's friend.

However, I have a slight disagreement with some of the poster's who insist that it is the visitor's responsibility to spot an error on a permission-to-stay stamp.

As, all of you have demonstrated, the terms of stay are complicated, and the rules change. 

Besides, the Immo officer at the airport is the ultimate gatekeeper and can deny entry if s/he deems so.

Similarly, it is reasonable for the average visitor to Thailand to assume that the stamp in his/her passport is authoritative. 

I think that is why Immo/CW did not fine the person for overstay -- it is Immo's responsibility to know the rules and stamp the proper permit-to-stay date.

12 minutes ago, Scott Tracy said:

5 million foreigners in Thailand, I am told. I

54,000 registered in this site. Where are the other 4,946,000? Already vaccinated?

You are forgetting about the millions of migrant workers in Thailand who come from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos.

It all comes down to how much you value the everyday lifestyle in Thailand, compared to other countries in Asia, or anywhere else.

If the infrequent (legal) dealings with Immo are too much for you to bear, then you were never in Thailand for the right reasons anyway.

23 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Why would he want to do that and take a chance on being caught with a overstay that could result in deportation from the country.

I do not, of course, know the stage of illness that OP is in. 

But the people I have known who suffered from end-stage ALS did not leave their house much.

Thus, I am thinking that OP would not be at much risk of attracting the attention of Immigration if he rarely left home -- or even if he did.

My understanding is that Thai Immo is more concerned about foreigners who are breaking international criminal laws, not those on overstay.

So, at age in my 70s myself, I am trying to put myself in OP's shoes. 

I think I would prefer to risk the chance of being caught for overstay and IDC, or deportation, compared to having affordable end-of-life care in Thailand. ...

...with the freedom to divest myself of my funds and assets as I sought fit and while still of sound mind.   

That is the risk I would take IF terminally ill and in the final stages, while living here in Thailand. 

Thus, I am not promoting overstay for any ex-pat here.  I am just wondering if I were in OP's shoes.

It could happen to me.  It could happen to others.  Food for thought.

If OP is terminally ill and not intending to leave the country, why bother with Immo?

I am waiting

21 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

I understand the analogy but if there is less than a spoonful in the bowl how can you appreciate the meal.

Dinsdale, buddy, I think you missed the point:  How could there be less than a spoonful of a 70 million bowl of soup?

33 minutes ago, redsongthaew said:

 

If you had 70 million bowls of soup, from tens of thousands of different kitchens, made by constantly changing chefs using differing ingredients, how would you determine which bowls of soup were too salty?

 

The definitive way would be to test them all. Or you could test a percentage and extrapolate your results.

 

Testing a few thousand bowls of soup and then using the results to form an opinion about the remaining 69,900,000 bowls of soup is probably not a truly representative way of doing things.

Ahh...but it all depends on which indicator you are looking for.  Does dinsdale want to know the national prevalence of Covid?

23 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

What do you call adequate testing in a country of 70,000,000.

Dinsdale, my pal: 

When you order a bowl of soup at a restaurant and want to check and see if the soup is too salty or not, do you drink the whole bowl of soup, or do you try a spoonful?  Food for thought.

24 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Thanks, not good news though, up it goes

The literal translation of the term in the charts that's being referred to to as the  'positivity rate'  is "high-risk contact cases."

So, presumably this means that they are checking people who had close and prolonged contact with a newly-infected person. 

That the trend line is upward may indicate increased infectiousness within households/worksites.

But it is not sentinel surveillance data. 

3 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Today, a Thai government spokeswoman tweeted that Bangok currently has about a 60% occupancy rate for hospital beds... not clear if she meant province only or the broader Bangkok region...  But that's somewhat misleading, especially when they start adding in all the field hospital and hotel-hospital beds (which aren't really hospitals!).

 

To me, the more meaningful stat would be what's the current bed occupancy rate for ICU beds in Bangkok province and the broader Bangkok region. And they haven't been very clear in coughing up that kind of specific detail lately.

 

I agree totally with you on this.

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

There a supposed law against taking photos of patients in COVID field hospitals without their explicit permission.

 

So, the only photos the government typically issues are those showing the field hospital facilities prior to the arrival of patients. Plus they're less messy looking that way.

 

Fair enough John: 

But let's try to access the daily bed-occupancy rates for these field hospitals, as portrayed in the photos and others.

The other day,  I heard them announce those rates on Thai radio but I did not have time to jot down the numbers. 

Just off the top of my head, from that announcement a few days ago, the occupancy of the field hospitals in/around Bangkok was 20%  -- but that is a guess, as I was doing the percents in my head as they announced the figures.

Besides, who on this forum would believe the government data on field hospital bed occupancy ?

So, if possible, in the days ahead, could you help us focus on the bed-occupancy rate of the field hospitals -- if you have sources that are better than the average TV member?

I think that would be the most empirical evidence of where the Covid-19 epidemic in Thailand is going.

Thank you for your updates, graphs, and summaries, by the way.

39 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Looking for that special place for a Thailand COVID getaway?  Thailand now has a growing roster of accommodations to meet your needs:  ????

 

 

1,200-bed Busarakham Field Hospital at Challenger Hall, Impact Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi

 

 

 

280-bed "Hospitel" at Elegant Airport Hotel in Bangkok

 

 

Bangkhunthian Geriatric Hospital in Bangkok

 

100-bed Erawan Hospital 1, Bangbon District of Bangkok

 

 

 

200-bed Sanam Ratchaphiphat 2 Hospital in Bangkok

 

 

 

Those beds are looking pretty empty to me....

1 minute ago, Bkk Brian said:

Agreed, back on topic and to make such an exemplary suggestion as you have please show us the way and lead us into righteousness by taking a tour of the hospitals in your area first, please include the names and numbers as evidence then report back when you have all the necessary results.

Brian, I have not said that I am currently resident in Thailand...

2 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Sometimes evidence is bit difficult to obtain from statistics provided.

I have Thai partner of 10years. We live Ding Daeng. Have been on island last couple of months after leaving Bangkok.

Some family in our area are saying ... do NOT come back. They live Ding Daeng market area and seeing mini van ambulance many times per day.

BTW, I don't like posts such as the one I just made. However sometimes people on the ground give good advice. 

Thanks Dr. Jack.  I think that first-hand reports like yours are very helpful. 

Taken together, they could provide a more complete picture of the sitution in Bangkok and beyond.

Be well.