dfp

Remember to get a letter from your embassy clarifying that you have changed passport from no. xxxxxxxx to passport no. yyyyyyyy.

It is a relatively easy process. In my case they wanted photocopies of all pages in my old passport.

We got financing through Siam Commercial Bank at the time we purchased our house. My wife has no income so the loan was granted based on my income at the time so in the loan document I have only signed on the last page as guarantor.

At the time I was 62 years old, but we managed to get a loan period of 15 years based on the age of my wife.

We have not done any re-financing, but we have managed to re-negotiate the rate of interest to half for a one year period and for the following 2 years it will lower than what we paid previously. Before we paid 7.1% p.a. and now it is down to 3.5% p.a. It is expected that after the 1 year period the rate will be 6.1% p.a.

The paper work just for changing the rate of interest was immense and the whole process took something like 14 days.

As the banks do not advertise about negotiating interest rates, I hope it can help other members here at TV.

That's a shame.

A really nice guy, a bit eccentric - but very helpful to a lot of people, in the Scandinavian expat environment in Thailand. He was/is also very active on different web-boards/facebook groups giving free advices on visas, family reunification(which is very hard in his homecountry) etc...

He really did not deserve the flack he got, from the "retired taxidriver/mailman/bus-driver/YouNameIt" -segment, of some of the less serious Scandinavian/Thailand forums.

It always puzzled me, when people complained that they paid for a service, that they could have done them self..?!? I would never use a service like that my self, i can apply for my own visas - but he hardly kidnapped people in front of the Embassy's?

He offered a service, they bought the service.....if they wanted to do it them self, well go for it - most of us do that.

He seems like a resourceful guy, I'm sure his trip back to Scandinavia goes well

I do not know Robert Kronberg, but I have heard as mentioned by you that he is a bit eccentric. You are correct when stating that this is a service one can do by yourself - of course when you live here or stay here for a certain period. But it was extremely impressive that a customer complaint about Piro Consulting would result in about 40,000 postings on one Danish/Thai website. The way I understand it the customer had no possibility to do the job himself so he wanted the documentation sent to Denmark. The customer paid a deposit to Piro Consulting and Piro Consulting did not do the job, did not respond to the customers' queries by phone and kept the deposit, which should have been returned to the customer. As there have been other complaints related to Piro Consulting then I believe that "the customer is always right" and Robert Kronberg should simply just have returned the deposit in order to avoid all the fuzz. Poor judgment.

Could also be a poor paint job. We had similar problems within the warranty period on our house and since the developer would most likely do a poor paint job once again and I had TOA to come to our house and come up with a solution. The problems were:

1. Cracked walls on the outer walls of the house itself.

2. Cracked walls on the outer/inner side of the fencing around the house including fungus.

The solution for fungus is of course anti-fungus material being appiied after the walls have been washed down completely.

The solution for the cracks on the outer walls of the house is

http://www.hytechsales.com/prod1000.html

The walls are now OK.

I second Baan Khanitha. If you like seafood, Somboon has quite a few locations, great food and meat dishes as well: http://www.somboonseafood.com/index.php/en/site/intro

My opinion about Baan Khanita. My wife and I visited a few years ago, simply because I would like to try it out.

Baan Khanita is a restaurant that make Thai food for foreigners or foreign tastebuds. It has nothing to do with authentic Thai food. What I noticed when visiting was Japanese, South Korean, Americans, Europeans and not one single Thai person except my wife and the service staff (most likely from Burma or Cambodia). On top of this it was highly priced as well.

So one visit from us and that was enough.

One good thing about our visit was that I learned to appreciate Miang Kham, a very nice appetiser.

Top-end could mean either:

1. Very expensive, interior decorations etc exquisite but food lousy

2. Reasonable price, poor interior/exterior decorations

3, Food value for money, so it could be anything

Below is a link to a seafood restaurant we frequent regularly. It is situated on Srinakarin Road on the way to Samutprakan and very close to Kanchanapisek Road or Outer Ringroad (Highway # 9).

The food is excellent and priced very reasonable. Their Tum Yam Goong is out of this world - the best I have ever had. Their signature desert dish is Khao Niew Mamuang (Mango with sticky rice). How they can maintain/get a supply of mangoes of high quality is beyond me.

http://www.sompongseafood.com/menu_set.php?L=en

Take a trip out of Bangkok to the nearby province. There are some sights here as well:

Erawan Museum, Ancient City and the Crocodile Farm (60,000 crocs in one place).

Once down at Marriott Hotel Riverside (now it is Anantara) we were waiting for the boat to Taksin Station. Marriott has or had a bar at the waiting area and we ordered some drinks while waiting. One girl working at the bar was extremely honest. She said she had one boyfriend and 5 giks. Day # 7 was her day off.

Last week I went to Samut Prakan immigration to have my visa based on retirement renewed for another year. Had a small chat with the officer and talked about visa extension based on marriage. He mentioned it was a kind of a hassle as immigration would like to have a lot of documentation plus photos from the house (including the bedroom) and a map leading to the house. Immigration would also visit the house and check that the couple are actually staying there and staying together.

Maybe the scam is good the first year, but when up for renewal then what ?

90 Day Reporting:

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php?page=90days

1. Passport
2. Photocopy of passport pages with following pages

   - front page showing name / surname / Passport No., ect.

   - current visa

   - last entry stamp of immigration

   - last extension of visa

3. Photocopy of departure card TM.6
4. Previous notifications of staying over 90 days (if any)
5. Completely filled in and signed notification form TM 47

Shouldn't need proof of address. 90 day reporting is only confirming address, which you do on the form.

Exactly. this is also practiced in Samut Prakan. First time, however, no need for any photocopies etc. ,but second time photocopies required because "the big boss" in Bangkok said so.

It is quite normal for an embassy to see documentation for income. Based on this evidence the embassy will issue a letter to The Commisioner of Immigration and state the amount in foreign currency and translate this into Thai Baht and the amount is GROSS as the embassy in the letter states before tax.

A net of tax amount would only confuse the issue as the tax authorities at country of income would be involved as well.

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Without going through all the posts. Could it be that GF's sister is just plain jealous ?

I can answer that...there is not a chance in hell that the sister is jealous...you do not understand Thainess...

Maybe I do understand Thainess - hence the suggestion that the sister is jealous.

Without going through all the posts. Could it be that GF's sister is just plain jealous ?

Does seem a bit harsh on those that get apprehended on the way to the airport with say 10 days of overstay and wont be allowed into Thailand for 5 years.

The rules state > 90 days and not < 90 days, so 10 days should only be the normal fine, I suppose.

Could it be she is in love with another guy ?

There is a short stay visa waiver programme for Thai nationals running to October 2016 to visit Eire but I don't know about Turkey..

The link is here: http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Visa%20Waiver%20Programme

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/turkey/entry-requirements

http://www.turkishconsulate.org.uk/en/visa.asp

http://www.turkishconsulate.org.uk/en/visa.asp?PageID=2#2

Looks like a visa is required for UK passport holders.

Nonthaburi introduced the Passport requirement many months ago now ... I always prepare what you were asked for ... it's a 50+ Km round trip for me so better to preempt ....

Useful heads up for other though ... thanks

The official at Samutprakan immigration office said it was a requirement ruled down by the "big boss" in Bangkok.

I went to report 90 days this morning at Samutprakan immigration.Normally you just fill in the TM 47 form and then the immigration officer will cut off and stamp the lower part plus informing when next 90 days reporting is due.

When I arrived this morning then they needed additionally:

1. Photocopy of passport

2. Photocopy of TM 6 form (arrival/departure card slip)

3. Photocopy of retirement visa

There is no mention of this on the Immigration Bureau website, but the official told me this new procedure was introduced some 2 months ago.

Has anybody here experienced the same ?

Most of the porter's Vespas you see now days are Bajaj, Indian made under license from

Piago in Italy, not many of the original Italian vespas left, and many of those have been fitted

with non genuine replacement parts,

I have been looking for a 1964 GS 160 MK II for ages now, and the one that I have seen are

not as gentians as I want them to be and the asking price is in 150,000 baht brackets,

Good one can be had but be carful of the imported Vietnamese Vespas, that are mostly

if not all are re produced in Vietnam from a pile of junks...

Initially under license but one way or another Bajaj managed to throw Piaggio out. Vespa has been part of my life. I got married to the distributors daughter in Chiangmai and at that time the biggest distributorship in Thailand with annual sales of 300 units, yes 300 units.

Later on I moved to the plant in Indonesia where we had a capacity of producing 70,000 a year. It was initially an assembly plant with local content like tires etc. and later the company invested in a huge component plant. At the time the Indonesian plant was the 2nd biggest outside Italy and biggest being Taiwan.

Vespa was very popular especially among the Indian textile traders around Worachakr Road when they distributing their textiles.

Congratulations are in order to Somchai Wongsawat and his voluptuous wife Yaowapa. They are, after all, in complete control of the Excise department. Let's hope they invest this windfall wisely for their families future prosperity.

It is a Somchai Poonsawad, not Wongsawat.

drink Singha Beer and consider of shutting up

Stopped with Singha as they have abolished the 630ml bottles and now marketing the 500ml bottles at almost the very same price as 630ml bottles. This is an price increase of around 27-28%

The OP mentions about a mortgage with a bank. He says he is required to make a "Letter of Confirmation", a confirmation of ? He is the guarantor ?

My best guess is that OP will be the guarantor of payments for the mortgage. In our case I just had to sign on the last page of the mortgage as guarantor of payments.

And so what ? No big deal. Congratulations Elton, your music is good and what you do in private life is your own business.

I do not think Thais they are much excited about anniversaries, I mean what is a 13 year wedding anniversary ? The same goes for birthdays. What I think matters are completion of cycles like f.inst. a 12 year cycle.

I am sorry I did not read the whole story, but if it is difficult to live with the wife's family then just move out.

Well First , to the Purchaser I suggest he Stick to the 1,000 Barht " Genuine Rolex's " , Its a Lot Cheaper .

But the love of these aspirational brands is a common thread .

To the Seller ..You allowed your Passport to be Copied ? , thats just stupidity ...

Its not a good thing to do , and once his photo is sent around , He will pretty much certainly be Caught .

Any Body got a somewhere where I can pick up a Pair of genuine Rayban sunnies ?

Could the passport be a fake too ?

He said Yingluck does not want to cling to her premier position and does not want to fight to be a premier forever. But she wanted the election to proceed in line with the rules.

Resign Yingluck. Then elections will have a chance of continuing.

Why should she, she was elected and will probably be reelected?

Either you have democracy with all it's faults, or you let the army run things, like they do in Myanmar.

So the reds buy votes, so do all sides, it is just that the reds deal in cash.

Taksin was okay, but he upset the wrong people (the hoods) and you can't do that politics, anywhere. Now he works through his sister to run things, what's wrong with that?

Anyway this will run and run.......

Yingluck was not elected by the people if I am not mistaken. The PTP was elected by the people and she was nominated by her brother and thus she was elected by the PTP. Correct me if I am wrong.