rilly

It is silly to alter the laws 3,4,5 times a year regarding free entry visas if the intention is to prevent illegal farangs from working.

All the people i knew 5 years ago that were working illegally, are still working illegally, then just take minibuses to Malaysia at different intervals.

AND, these farangs are only working jobs the nationals wouldn't want anyway, even if they were qualified and they are not (Diving / Teaching jobs)

I own a guesthouse and this simply looks like trouble. If they want me to comply with reporting all guests of my establishment it better not be those lengthy and seemingly pointless "90-day notification" forms.

I believe this is just another one of those "crackdowns" put in place to impress the upcoming political visitors and it will quickly be forgotten once the summit is over and immigration finds out how impossible it is to enforce.

You should have being complying with this law long ago, If you have not then i suspect you are guilty of numorous offences.

This is not a new law in thailand it has being in force since the early 80s.

I travel the world on a regular basis and am often asked to provide my passport at hotels, I cannot see the problem with it.

you've gotten the wrong impression. We record all of our guests details and always have because i am well aware of the "laws"... but after 6 years of stacks upon stacks of these papers being placed in my files (which have become old television boxes filled with these papers,) nobody at immigration, the tax office, or the T.A.T. office has any interest in them... which further reinforces my belief that this is just news for the papers and perhaps something to get the thaivisa.com posters active, but nothing more.

Watch the news for the time being... i really believe this will be the last you ever hear about this "crackdown." It simply can't go anywhere if there isn't an organized system for giving these stacks of papers to someone, somewhere, that is actually going to use them for something.

I own a guesthouse and this simply looks like trouble. If they want me to comply with reporting all guests of my establishment it better not be those lengthy and seemingly pointless "90-day notification" forms.

I believe this is just another one of those "crackdowns" put in place to impress the upcoming political visitors and it will quickly be forgotten once the summit is over and immigration finds out how impossible it is to enforce.

The Immigration Act where this requirement comes from was written in 1979 so this is nothing new.

You can find info here about reporting requirements and download the forms also.

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/ba...?page=alienstay

Edit: Also see section 38 of the Immigration Act. http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/do...gration_Act.pdf

ok but there have been, in my six years of operation exactly 0 requests for the piles of information i have regarding this law. There are many "laws" in thailand that are not enforced. This is P.R. nothing more. i don't believe anything will come of it.

Just like most of the things that we talk/argue about here

I own a guesthouse and this simply looks like trouble. If they want me to comply with reporting all guests of my establishment it better not be those lengthy and seemingly pointless "90-day notification" forms.

I believe this is just another one of those "crackdowns" put in place to impress the upcoming political visitors and it will quickly be forgotten once the summit is over and immigration finds out how impossible it is to enforce.

yeah, i agree, it is something. It will certainly allow all the whiners who complain about the 14-day entry visa (which is a load of crap) time to focus on something else to bitch about.

It may not boost new tourism, as someone mentioned, but it will keep the people coming back that are on a long gap-year or backpacking journey. Which is probably not the kind of tourists the TAT is looking for anyway.

I agree with the posts on this thread... especially about scuba-addicts... i went on a couple of dives with them... look for Punch... probably the only female Thai dive instructor in all of Thailand... and she really knows the sites too... the equipment was Halcyon back inflation system... which i like so much better than the old-skool BC's.... they are easy to find ... probably have a website and their flyers are pretty much everywhere once you get here.

bye bye

The cave has not electric (was there a few days ago) .. the lagoon is anti-climactic (sp?) because it is hard to get there and dangerous becuase the limestone is really sharp and the lagoon really isn't that nice (disgusting water) better to just go to the viewpoint, getting to that is easy.

There are many many many organized tours to the hotsprings... we went there on this trip... it was great!

laterz

I don't live there... but know a guy who does... I asked him about this,,, and he said it is very easy to find accommodation like what you mentioned. He also said that unless you are carrying around 10,000,000 baht, you can can all but forget about starting a business anywhere other than K-Town, the prices for rent in the beach areas have gone through the roof for ownership.

The area is expanding rapidly, and the beach areas are seeing the less expensive places go out of business as their property is bought up by large resorts... therefore, where do you think all the backpackers are going to go? Krabi-town...

oh yeah, renting a 1 bedroom room in the town is "cake" ... says my friend. and even services places like guesthouses, are offering 30-50 % discounts because of the low season. especially for long term.

I can put you in touch with him if you like... PM if that is the case because i don't want to violate some terms of agreement or something

cheers

Try Good Dream Guesthouse in Krabitown... when i was there, they were offering 20% disc for weekly 30% for monthly... good rooms, wi-fi, and free internet if you don't have your own... it's worth a shot! I don't have contact information (that would probably be deleted anyway) but i am sure you can google it.... it is right in the middle of where you need to be in the town..

cheers