mickj88

We are looking to move over this year from the UK. I am looking at a spouse visa I guess I need to talk to the Thai embassy in London to see what the requirements are. I am over 50 and will have some funds in the bank but not looking to retire as such, will invest in a small business enterprise or start one as we have a few ideas. Im not looking to make loads of money before the neigh sayers start but just to give us a little extra to make our funds go further / last longer. I have run a small business in the UK for the last 28 years so again before anyone starrts with the dont do it you will lose everything I will not as am savvy in the ways of a small business. We have a house, built in 2008 and a 5 year old HiLux with very little KMs on the clock bought by my wife from new and weve been together for 20 years so I am fully aware of pitfalls that can become ferang but also as weve been together for so long I think the chances are no different to any couple anywhere in the world. I think a spouse visa is my best bet as I want to get a work permit providing we get a ltd company set up and meet requirements.

The headline reads Beijing not SE Asia - which is why I said China, but you took it upon yourself to assume I meant S E Asia to make yourself seem somehow superior. You should never assume because it makes an Ass out of U and me ! Either way it will be a long time before tourism gets anywhere near pre covid levels and Thailand becomes the land of smiles again- if it ever does.

I didnt say Asian visitors - read my post -I said Chinese- where thhe money is all pre paid in China and very little hits Thailand. Do you own a business in tourism ? just ask the hoteliers and small business owners who get the prices screwed down by the chinese. Nowhere in my post did I mention SE asian visitors . Perhaps you shuld read pposts properly before trying to make otherss look stupid !

300 baht to get in somewhere of interest in Thailand not bad - 3 years ago I went to Whitby Abbey ( owned by the National trust) - cost me £8 to park and they wanted £45 for me and the wife ontop to go and have a look around so in total £53- not exactly the £7.40 it costs in LOS and also in LOS the wifey goes in for less being a Thai national. Is was said thatthe majority of money from the chinese never reached the Thai economy as was paid up front on package tours in China and surely a westerner paying 4.500 baht over an average of 17 days 76.500 baht is better that 7 days average of 7.500 baht spent by the chinese visitors = 52. 500 baht , Maybe soldiers cant add up or maybe certain mps in Thailand just hate westerners ( but not their cash it seems).

Well as usual theres a lot of negativity on posts but no one has a solution. I first came to LOS in 2003 and no Yabba in the village - no canabis in the village , the thing that sent people over the edge was loakoaw ( forgive spelling). So whether the war on drugs was a success or not,make you own minds up but in my mind people were less likely to dabble due to severe cosequences. As for some numbers put up here of only 76 deaths in 2 mass killings fair enough but in and around our isaan village alone there have been more than 20 yabba related deaths in the last 10 years but they just dont make the news / Thai visa . com etc. I suggest before jumping on the bandwagon and slagging off plans you might formulate a solution yourself. Most foreigners on here just love to troll esp when the overwhelming populations chosen political party says anything .Yabba is a plague in the villages and towns of Isaan and someting needs to be done what I do not know maybe find the suppliers and cut the head off the snake.

RIP to all that lost their lives. This not only makes me sad but also angry, Yabba has been a plague in the villages and towns of Thailand for far too long. Love him or loathe him at least there was zero tolerance on drugs when Thaksin was PM. This current bunch of clowns legalise canabis which can lead to the user moving on to try other drugs and with the current price of yabba being so cheap its no supprise that something disasterous has happened . Its too easy and cheap to get this stuff and the punishments are too lenient. As long as thiere is tolerance and tea money fines intead of real punishment then these types of horrific things will happen . Once again RIP little ones ???? .

The reasoning behind making the NE a business hub was because the Chinese high speed railway is coming through Laos and over to Nong Khai. The original thinking was move business up there ready for its arrival meaning it woud be usable straight away wthout having to wait years for the line to be built down to Bangkok and on to Samatprakan . I remember reading about it and even know a couple of guys who work for UK companies that have manufacturers in Samatprakan saying at the time that they may be moving their manufactring bases up to Issaan ( as they know my wife is from there). Looks like the Chinese will be tightening their belts and this may put the high speed rail on the back burner - hense business not wanting to move and therefore investment being withdrawn. Actually makes sense for a change .

In last 8 months I personally know 32 people (including me and Wifey) have been to thailand. Of these people 6 were tourists the rest were Thais and or husbands / kids returning to visit families not seen for 2 to 3 years due to covid. So less than 23% genuine tourists . I imagine that this is accross the board - certainly where ferang are concerned. So you can say that maybe 1.2 million are genuine tourists but the rest just families returning - yes they are tourists but not genuine spending tourism tourists. Personally I think it will be sometime before the geunine spending tourists return in the pre pandemic numbers, even then the numbers were massively Chinese who were not spending as all was pre paid in China. TOT are looking to gain a wealthier tourist but then Thailand legalize canabis- wealthy tourists are not stoners , for me this sends put the wrong message , Backpackers and younger tourists like a "toot" and they are not wealthy, Thailand need to make its mind up who its target audiance is.

Just come back to the UK after a Month in LOS . Stayed for only 2 days in Bkk which was a pain with the masks ( had to stay due to the non quarantine - quarantine of what turned out for me to be 23 hours .This was due to no one in the hotel letting me know when my test result came back - which in turn meant I couldnt get a flight up to Issaan. till the following day. Up and down Sukumvit I would say that during my walk from Nana to Robinsons around 50% of the people be they Thai or ferang did not have a mask on. Once in the village around 70% didnt bother and even in the local town only around 40% bothered. Yes covid was rife in the village for around 10days of the 3 weeks I was there but no one tested positive for more than 5 days and when my Mrs caught it she was positive for 4 days and on the 5th was negative. Also no one in the villagee was very ill where as when I had it in the Uk in Feb I was knocked off my feet for around 6 days and tested positive for 12 days. Obviously the strain sweeping through Thailand is not as strong as the earlier strains. I didnt catch it again even though a number of the wife's family caught it. I did wear my mask but found it made my breathing more difficult with the searing April hot season temps reaching 42 up in NE. No one in the bars had masks - no one in Nana plaza had masks . I think its more about control than safety at this point .

Totally beleivable as when you type in ASQ or Test and go Thailand on google, the top booking link is agoda. I have been on at least 50 times in the last month looking at where and when I can stay. Now have my pass {only took 2 days) and arrive on 6th April . If you use agoda you can input their booking reference now on the Thai pass application to save time waiting for confirmation from the hotel . I got my reply from the hotel nearly 22 hours after booking so in this respect the agado booking reference saved me 22 hours on my application.

I got my Thai pass through today after 2 days heres a snippit from the email... Travelling to Thailand 1. Please prepare your documents to present at the check-in counter and to the agencies concerned when arriving in Thailand. The documents are as follows 1.1 Passport with visa (if required) 1.2 Thailand Pass QR Code (on mobile device or printed copy) 1.3 Medical certificate with a laboratory result indicating that COVID-19 is not detected through RT-PCR test (issued within 72 hours before departure). If the Port Health and Quarantine at airports in Thailand discover that you have invalidated COVID-19 RT-PCR test result or if the type of the test is not RT-PCR method, you will not be eligible to be exempted from quarantine, but you may be allowed to enter Thailand by quarantine only. 2. When arriving in Thailand, please present your documents and Thailand Pass QR Code to the immigration and disease control officers. So is the pre test cancelled or not ? My pass is for arrival on April 6th or could this just be a generic mail which will change on April 1st ?

I may be wrong but wasnt Thaksins party behind the eradication of drugs in Thailand ? Since they were ousted the drug world in Thailand is still eradicated ... NOT ! half the country seems to be smashed off their T-ts on yabba . I think if they were still incharge that would not have happend. The Thais reserves would not have been spent on Tanks , Submarines and ships and maybe put into helping the country through covid. He was not a saint by any shape or form but he did alot of good like the 30baht health system. He seemed to understand the importance of foreign visitors to the econmony where as the current dictactor seems to hate anyone thats not from China . Thaskin knew and understood finances unlike the current idiots , the majority of the country seemed happier under his party and the place was still the land of smiles which it hasnt been for a good 5 or 6 years now.

I thought all cars made in Thailand were made under lisence for Japanese companies, surely therefore if Japan have sanctions and a no export to Russia policy then Thailand cannot export these vehicles, same goes for Tyres and other parts. I would have thought the parent companies country of origin would set any embargoes . Personally I really hope it all comes to an end ASAP but doubt it will as Putin has no respect for any kind of sovereignty.

My thoughts are - 1, Omicron is not a joke , im now on day 5 have, untill today have been quite ill. Having said that some years back I got Denghi fever in the village and totally lost 5 days was twice as ill as Omicron. 2, Agree that the real value of tourism to Thailand is at least 25% GDP. 3, The current government are mostly military men not buisnessmen so have absolutely no idea how to juggle the finances, i.e. we have got money lets buy some tanks and submarines etc, not lets invest into the people . 4, The current Thai government think the main £/$ from tourism will come from millionaire visitors when it does not / will not. Fair enough the gap year students/backpacker brigade live on tiny budgets but the ones I knew years ago have all gone back later in life again and again as have their friends and relatives. These are not millionaires, Im not a millionaire and only maybe know 2 and neither of them have been or are interested in visiting Thailand. Where as I have at least 60 other friends who have been numerous times, in fact as some of my friends now reside in Australia and New Zealand Thailand is often used for holidays so we can all meet up as its more or less half way from the UK. Again none of us are Millionaires. 5, The entry requirements need to be dropped and the entertainment areas, bars and eateries need to be allowed to open up again asap. Millions of Thais need to get back to work and yes bar girls mostly get cash from their clients but they spend it in the shops etc and it all goes back into the economy. 6. If your not jabbed then more fool you , no entry anywhere and a higher chance of catching /not recovering and death.

The Mrs returned last week , No tourists on her flight only ferang were travelling with their partners. All the Thais moaning about the Thai pass and added costs. To begin woth yes the Thais blamed Covid for the lack of tourist which was the main factor. Now they can see the surrounding comuntries opening up without the restraints and also the returning Thais pointing out the restrictions are a major erason for tourists not returning. All my wifes family keep asking me when I am going to visit ? will I be there in next month but I say no beacause the restrictions are adding at least £500 on the cost of a trip , why would I want to pay that ? I usually spend a couple of £k while Im there for 4 weeks, Im not being held to ransome would rather put my cash into somethinmg elseand go somewhere else .

The mrs landed in BKK on Weds went straight to SHA+ hotel , had her test and then left 9 hours later pretty much asked to check out and then told you can get a test elsewhere on day 5 and not come back if you like , wow never read that in the rules. Nice little earner paid for 24 hours and full board but got 9 hours and a bottle of water. Also some friends on holiday in LOS went for day 5 test on Mon tested positive and dragged off to hospital, told they would have to stay for 5 days . Said no we want to pay for an independant test which was organised , tested negative and released from hospital within 2 and half hours - also not read that in the rules . Thailands rules as ever seem open to interpretation.The Mrs is wanting me to join her in April- cant see that happening unless all this entry bull is done away with.

Is she sayiong that its foreigners spreading it or is she actually pointing out flaws in the test and go system? The whole test and go has been a nightmare for myself and my Mrs and I am not even travelling to the land of not so many smiles. 1st I Booked all the stuff required for the thai pass , guess what Agoda sold me a sha+ hotel that wasnt on the drop down box on the Entry application. After 13 hours on the phone over 2 days to Agoda and messaging the hotel the hotel finally managed to get on the drop box. Now as if that wasnt bad enough , yesterday she boards a plane in Manchester along with her Thai friend and some moron goes to the loo and sparks up a cigarette causing the plane to be delayed for nearly 3 hours. This caused them to miss the connecting flight in Doha by 40 mins which then left them stranded in Doha while Qatar sorted out new flights, this was and 11 hour wait , meanwhile the Thai pass will run out as it was dated for the whole day they were stuck in Doha. The hotel booking for both of them on Day1 and day 5 were now wrong and the day 1 day was for the day before they will now land. Agoda would not change the dates as I had booked the booking even though the bookings were in their names. On top of this it means when they land their PCR tests will be over 82 hours not the required 72. I couldnt change the hotels with Agoda as was at work ( service engineer so on the road with no laptop). Fortunately between the 2 of them and Qatar they manaaged to talk with the hotel managers who moved the hotel dates ( no thanks to the useless prats at Agoda). My worry now is that they will have trouble once they arrive at immigration but at least they are Thai nationls. This is why the test and go system does not work - how many more people will arrive late due to delays in flights etc , My Mrs said there was lots of Thais on her plane that missed the connecting flight so what a nightmare not only for the passengers but the hoteliers and the immigration and the airlines. Too many things can and will go wrong for this system to run properly.

Someone should let the Thai embassy know, the UK embassy still has no link to application for test and go. We booked a flight on Dec 19th for the Mrs to fly out on Jan 10 only for them to cancel all applications from Dec 20th which stopped going as the confirmation didn't arrive before we could get hers in. That has cost me over £200 and now we have to pay for another test costing a further £100 so all in all at present I'm going to be £300 down. No doubt the flights will be more expensive now too. I read all the time on here, people banging on about the tourists , what about the poor Thais trying to get home to see their families. Poor lass hasn't seen her ailing mum for 3 years and unless they relax the entry restrictions then I may never see my mother in law again. If I go in April as originally planned I cant afford to stay in BKK for 6 days waiting on a 2nd test. There are no SHA+ hotels up in Isaan for me to check into on the 5th day , so 6 days in BKK puts £600+ on to my visit. I doubt the TAT realise that a hell of a lot of their tourists actually arn't toutists but are spouses and when these spouses visit they spend more than most tourists as they generally have a weeks holiday and then spend money treating their inlaws. I would guess between the Mrs and myself we spend over £3k in the month we are usually there but that will not happen if its costing us an extra £1k just to get into the place .