Portl

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

When I checked yesterday, I had to go forward to something like the 28th or 29th of this month before any available date (in green) began to show up on their calendar...

 

At first I thought their appointments system was just totally down like everything else with everything red/unavailable... But no, there really are/were available dates if you go far enough forward.

 

I had the exact same reaction to all of the red-lettered appointment times. Clicking on them did nothing - no message or hint that it meant that you should try a later date where you might get a different color. On a hunch, I finally found a future date within the seven day grace period with some open appointment times (green). Sometimes being aware of good interface design is not a plus.

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Have you done an extension of stay since your last 90-day report?

 

No, I did the last report in-person after my last extension.

7 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

It should of work for you unless the system is not accepting it due to it being due today. Maybe their clock is incorrect ????.

Yes, just offering another data point. Thanks for the reply. Didn't try submitting online this time around until the earliest possible date, which was two weeks ago. It of course did not work, but by then it was exactly too late to mail it in. 

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

Are you within the widow to the online report of 15 days before up to the report date.

Double check you completed all the required fields marked with a red asterick correctly.

Has it worked for you before?

Yes, I added that info in as a late entry. Today is the due date, I have used online reporting before, and all the fields were filled-in.

Not working for me. I can at least get to the form and fill out the first page, but when I hit 'submit', I get a blank web page with an overlaid pop-up:

Today is my reporting due-date, so that may be the reason, not that I haven't been trying before. At least I have an appointment at MTT before the seven-day grace runs out.

Lad Phrao/Ratchada intersection now partially flooded shin-deep as of 1:30pm. I just came back from the Land Transport Office and the transition from Phahonyothin to Lad Phrao is dicey, with lots of cars and smaller bikes stalling out, which was causing a chain reaction. Water is starting to pool in the sub-sois off Lad Phrao around the small canal that cuts off from Klong Lad Phrao at the temple over to Rachada.

I walked towards Rachayothin from Lad Prao intersection within the past hour.

There are some sandbags at Central I hadn't noticed before.

I stopped walking at the last pedestrian overpass prior to Rachada and Major. It's in between Tesco Lotus and the Elephant Bldg.

For the life of me, I couldn't see the water with my naked eye, and it doesn't seem to be visible in any photo, either. So, I assume it's still at Rachayothin, rising and spreading to all four corners.

Jatujak (formerly Bang Khen) post office is in the flooded area. So much for mail delivery. I rather wish I hadn't bought all that crap on ebay.

I rode up that way and at the Ratchayothin intersection there were signs indicating .8 to 1.0 meters of water to the north, encouraging lesser vehicles to head down Ratchada. There was water in the northwest corner of the intersection and it continued visible both north and west, but dry south and east. You can just make out some water in the far upper left in the attached pic from about noon, looking north at Ratcha/Yothin intersection. (wide angle lens, sorry). The other picture is inside Wat Lad Phrao, very quiet but for the large pump running. It's gated against anything bigger than a motorcycle getting through.

Other places that are wetter than yesterday:

Not wet (in response to some queries):

I've been doing recon trips around Ladphrao from the temple north for the last couple of weeks and took a ride up Lad Phrakao this morning to take a look at Ram Intra based on tominbkk's mention of it this morning. There was widespread incredulity at the temple about the status at Ram Intra, so I took pics to take back to them. Wat Lad Phrao's puddles have grown bigger, but aren't yet really any hindrance.

There is more water on the way than I've seen yet. Part of Wang Hin had water across the road, though just a few inches. Lad Phrakao was dry until about soi 49, then flooded up to 30cm, depending on which part of the road you drove on, with the deepest part being near Wat Lad Phrakao, just before the road crosses the klong. After that it was mostly dry to Ram Intra.

At the intersection with Ram Intra, westbound traffic was being diverted south down Lad Phrakao, so I sneaked left but only managed to wing about half a klick down Ramintra before I was stopped by the traffic-stopping guy in gradually deepening water, and turned around. That was at the point that the flyover touches down just before the golf course, where there's a gas station, roughly across the street from RamIntra soi 9.. At that point the water was 10-20cm again depending on where you were on the road, but you could see it got deeper further toward Phahonyothin. Rather than slog back in the deeper eastbound lanes, I just went the wrong way back on the mostly-empty flyover.

The first pic is at the turnaround/road-closed point looking down Ram Intra in the direction of the traffic circle. The second one is from the flyover with the mouth of Ram Intra soi 19 on the left. This was at about 8-9am this morning. Nothing dramatic, but different than a day ago.

I thrashed about on the issue quite a bit before the Versys arrived, since I knew I wanted that kind of bike for outside the city, and my only inner-city experience has been with rented scooters. I just wasn't sure about a bigger bike's maneuverability in Bangkok traffic. Turns out I've been pleasantly surprised at just how easy it is to get around, and I live in a notoriously dense traffic area at the north end of town. My quest for the ideal scooter has gone on the far back burner. With over 6000 k on the odometer in the two months since I got it, and about a third of that in downtown Bangkok, no regrets.

For every (rare) tight spot that the 650 can't get through, there's another one that the higher handlebars and mirrors let me through where the scooters are stuck. Turning radius is rarely an issue and as for gaps between rolling cars, let's just say the extra power opens up options. It also allows access to the large open spaces ahead of the pack after the light turns green, and so at least temporarily into a safer place.

I've also become a big fan of the klong bridges for reasons anyone with a bigger bike and long suspension probably can guess.

I would not feel as good on the Suzuki DL1000 liter bike I keep back in the U.S., since weight and top-heaviness would just make it too much work, but the Versys is no sweat, plus, as nikster mentioned, it's nice to sproing off a curb without having to go all the way down to the corner ramp.

You do get more stares at the stoplights, but a lot of times that turns into interesting conversations, though you have to get past the inevitable first question: "How much?"

Congratulations - I pick mine up on Monday. You win!

I've got about 30,000 miles on a VStrom1K back in the U.S., which is a somewhat bigger version of the Versys, and I've always been fond of its nimble handling which I assume to be partially because of the height rather than in spite of it. The high center of gravity makes it less stable, which is one way of gaining flickability in the corners. I swapped bikes with a friend of mine who rides a Concourse and he hated the VStrom saying he felt like he was balancing on a flagpole, while the Concourse felt like driving a station wagon to me, so it just boils down to what you like. The downside is that at low speeds, if it starts to go over, it can be harder to stop it mid-tilt, but for me that's a fair swap.

Last spring I spent a few days on an ER6n looping around the north and liked it in principle, but my legs were kinked and the seat and riding position did me in. All I had to do was sit on the Versys in the showroom on Rama 9 for five seconds and I felt like I was home, and plunked the deposit down right then.

Glad to hear that you find the seat comfortable. I've assumed that was going to be one of the first things what will need some customizing. Is it different from the ER6n's?

Thanks for the early report.

Main surprise was how well this bike handles - it's incredible. It seems like it could turn on a dime. Rather than being more difficult to handle than the ER-6n, it's easier - not exactly what I expected given that it's much higher.

Seat super comfortable. It's like a La-Z-Boy!

Thanks a bajillion, thaiphoon.

Question as per title - Constitution Day is Thursday, Dec. 10th this year, and I was planning to go in on Friday to do a one-year non-o extension (retirement), but the desk person at the apartment building I'm in insists that all government offices will be closed for TWO days, so not open on Friday. Is this true?

That's the first I've heard of it, and I doubt she's any expert, but she seemed sure of herself. I've tried calling Chaeng Wattana through the number on the website (which does not show closure dates), but it's been busy every time. The TV list of holidays shows just the one day (Thurs) as the holiday, so I'm inclined to just suck it and go anyway, but if anyone here knows one way or the other, I'd appreciate hearing about it, and maybe saving the trip.

You needed the letter are proof you qualified for retirement extension of stay - the visa conversion is for a specific reason; and is not available to anyone.

Some people have received extensions immediately but that has not been the case of most people - who are told what your were told - come back after 60 days for the extension of stay. It seems to have been "the luck of the Irish" rather than any policy.

Ok, got it. Thanks to you, ubonjoe, monty and anyone else for the generosity and patience.

You needed the letter because you were using the income option.

The money in the bank also requires the letter and passbook copies. Just the 2 month time period is not required because they would do the same thing and tell you to come back and by then the money would be the bank for 2 months.

Forgive my confusion, I'm trying to understand here. When you say I needed the letter because I was using the income option - this was for the conversion to non-o from tourist, NOT for the extension based on retirement. It appears that I need to establish my retirement qualifications both for the conversion to a non-o visa and for the extension separately. Are you saying that if I were going the bank route, and had the 800K in the bank for the past, say, six months, I would have been able to get the extension without waiting until 30 days before the non-O expires?

Somehow, this all goes from insightfully curious in my head to whiney in written form. Hope you can see past that. Your insights are all appreciated.

Don't come back on a visa exempt entry or a tourist visa.

Get a single entry non-o from one of the honorary consulates in the states or apply for a non-oa visa there.

For a list of honorary consulates use the pull down menu at the top of this page from DC embassy website.

http://www.thaiembdc.org/AboutEmb/EmbDirect.aspx

Houston give great service. A member just gave a very good report about getting a multiple entry non-oa there. That means you can get almost 2 year of stay in the country without getting an extension here.

For info on the non-oa. http://www.thaiembdc.org/consular/visa/Non-Imglong.aspx

Houston will accept all the forms from the embassy website.

Yes, and this is where it gets sticky. Bearing in mind that this is the internet we're talking about, I've gleaned from reading here and elsewhere that the most straightforward way of handling my situation is not the O-A, but the O with year extension for retirement applied-for in Thailand. This may be changing, and I may be just the unlucky leading edge straddling the cusp here, but I did at least try the non-O in the US approach, through the Houston Consulate. They basically stopped replying to my emails after I described my intention of getting a non-O in the US, then extending it in Thailand. I may have made the mistake of saying I'd want to get a multi-entry.

Maybe their server went down, but as far as I could tell, I'd offended them with the mere suggestion.

I do understand the difference between the O-A acquired in the country of origin and an extension acquired in Thailand, and would prefer to go the extension route for a variety of reasons. Up until now, it seemed widely regarded as the more straightforward approach, but again, things change, don't they?

Thanks again for the reply.

For the money in the bank option you don't have to have the money in the bank for the 2 months required when you do a change of visa status so it is little different.

The bank letter and in your case the embassy letter has to be recent. For the bank letter it is the day before or sometimes the same day.

Then I probably didn't really need the letter from the US Embassy last week when I applied for conversion from Tourist to Non-O visa, since at that point the issue of retirement is moot, considering they don't need anything from the bank yet? I wonder why the officer kept it, since they don't make anything off of the US Embassy re-generating these things.

Little mysteries. Thanks for the reply, ubonjoe.

AFAIK the procedure is correct. You are effectively doing 2 things.

1st is converting your tourist status to non immigrant status. For this you have to prove that you would qualify for a 1 year extension of some kind (retirement, marriage,...). Hence the embassy letter requirement. Fee for this is 2000 Baht.

2nd is the extension. Once on non immigrant status you apply for extension of stay. Again, proof to qualify is required (again, letter of embassy). Fee for this is 1900 Baht. In general, immigration will have no problem processing your extension earlier then the 30 day before expiry, especially if you can prove that you have to leave the country. The retirement extension is normally given on the spot.

So basically it appears the new rule is that if you're converting to a non-o visa, and then getting an extension based on retirement, you'll need to provide the financial supporting docs TWICE, yes? For myself, it's relatively straightforward, in a twisty way - I just go back to the Embassy, pay another 1050 baht or so and get the same letter again for the extension phase. I have to imagine that for those doing it by the bank method this would be somewhat more painful. I assume that either way the documents must be fairly fresh and must be originals.

Thanks for the reply, Monty.

1. Change of visa status - have seen other recent reports of leave and come back later for stamp so believe this is the current system.

2. Extension of stay is normally only allowed during the last 30 days of visa validity at Bangkok. Have seen the same reports you have seen that some people got everything in one go but believe that was before the new wait for visa change procedure came into place.

3. You will need a new letter from reports so far.

4. Don't believe they will make a fuss if you do a couple of days early - just have your ticket to show.

5. Extension will be one year from your current permitted to stay until date.

You might want to just wait - obtain a new non immigrant O visa in the US and return with that and then extend 60 days later.

Thank you, Lopburi3. I guess normal was closer than I thought.

1 - For what it's worth to anyone wanting to know, the notice to return is delivered on the receipt for the 2000 baht itself, along with a stamp advising that you get a re-entry permit if you leave the country. God only knows what happens if you do get a re-entry permit during the limbo time between applying for the non-imm-o and getting the stamp the following week.

2 - I had a nagging sense that there was something tricky about the expiration date and applying for the extension. I'd gotten myself confused and was thinking it was that you had to apply for the change-of-visa from tourist to non-imm-o within 30 days of its expiration, when i now understand it's the extension itself that must be applied-for within the last thirty days of the ninety-day visa.

3 - New letter - sounds like the safe route, though jeez, how weird is it that you have to get a letter testifying to your income and then sixty days later get another NEW letter saying the same thing? Left hand, meet right hand. (I know, I know...)

4 - Yes, that's what they were implying.

5 - Worst case scenario is I go back to the US without doing anything more and just start the process over when I come back in September. Actually, that might be easiest anyway, considering that I expect not to be here in the July/August period in the future, and annual renewal could get sticky. Better to just come in on an exemption stamp and convert when I come back in September, shoving my renewal time into a period when I know I'll be around. The major risk with that being that they change the rules *again* before I get back.

Thanks again, Lopburi3. Very much appreciated.

I just got back from another wacky fun day at Suan Plu, trying to do what it seems others have done effortlessly and quickly, only in my case, effortfully and slowly.

In a nutshell, I am trying to get a non-imm-o visa with extension for retirement, using the letter-from-the-US-embassy method. Any thoughts on what might be going wrong or right here from the well-informed will be greatly appreciated.

I arrived in Bangkok from the US a few weeks ago on a tourist visa (not a visa-waiver stamp). Last week, I went to the US Embassy and got the notarized letter confirming I've sworn to my income, and took it to room 303 at Suan Plu, along with the necessary photocopies, a pp photo, 2000 baht, my passport, and the visa application form. After taking all of the above, after about 15 minutes the immigration officer handed back only my passport, along with a receipt for the 2000 baht and a notation on it to come back this week (today, Friday) to have my passport stamped. This seemed odd, since I'd never heard of a waiting period for such a thing. I'm over 50, have the income, no black marks on my record, etc.

So, I came back to Suan Plu this morning as requested, showed my appointment note/receipt to the person in 303 who took it and my passport and handed me a questionnaire seeking feedback regarding my satisfaction with the service at immigration, selection of tv channels in the waiting rooms, etc., to which I of course replied that all were beyond reproach. After completion, I was handed my passport with the non-o stamp in it, with a validity date of 90 days from when I had originally come in last week. I was told that if I wanted an extension based on retirement, I should come back within 30 days of the visa expiry and was sent on my way.

This also seemed odd, since I know of at least one person who has done the same procedure through Suan Plu, and was in fact given an expiration date for the first extension of 15 months from original issuance (90 days + 1 year), and this all on the same day they first applied.

Has the procedure changed again recently? The need to wait until within 30 days of visa expiration puts a kink in my plans, since I'm heading back to the States at the end of June (before the 30 day range kicks in) and won't be back until after the non-o's 90 days are up. I explained this to the immigration officer who said come back on the day before my flight takes off and they might be able to do something. This seems risky at best.

Furthermore, they kept my letter from the Embassy, so I don't know if that means I have to get another one before I go back, or whether I should go back to room 303 and ask about it, or what.

I've been following threads on this kind of thing for quite a while and haven't run across this combination yet. Any insight into whether things have officially changed? I plan on going back to the US every year around July/August. Is it possible to get an extension for 11 months so I won't be facing renewal at the wrong time next year too?

Any and all helpful suggestions are greatly pre-appreciated.

I can say with loving kindness to all men who find them in similar situations.... "The cost of your education will be in direct proportion to how fast a learner you are."

Wouldn't that be "The cost of your education will be in inverse proportion..."?

No 'in direct proportion' is correct.

If it takes a short time, less cost... however, in this person's most likely course.... Going to Harvard University for an MBA might have been cheaper! But don't worry, he'll be "SCHOOLED".

If it were in inverse...it would mean that the more money he paid the less he would learn.....

ACTUALLY, thinking about it after living in Thailand 11 years... I have seen so many phenomena and contradictions that YOU SIR... Might just be right!!!!

How can you not love Thailand?!?!?

Heh.. I think we agree on the premise, but as originally written a direct proportional relationship would mean the FASTER you learn the MORE it will cost, though it's likely the inverse is true. Maybe if it were recast this way:

"The cost of your education will be in direct proportion to the length of time it takes to learn." - which is true of most learnable things, innit?

Now how do we fit this on a t-shirt and make a killing on KSR?

I can say with loving kindness to all men who find them in similar situations.... "The cost of your education will be in direct proportion to how fast a learner you are."

Wouldn't that be "The cost of your education will be in inverse proportion..."?