klauswernst198

Lose your passport get a new one and try again

In Vientiane and Phnom Penh They just do a quick check in your passport for visa but don't check your name in the computer.

Worked for me and for a few people I know who had this problem

First rule to make business in Thailand is not to piss one anyone who is bigger than you.

Second rule is This is Thailand and you should behave and act like Thais.

So In the first place you should really analyze if you wanna take the risk. Because you might win this case and get your container without paying anything. But later all the official who got in trouble because of you will tell all their friends about your company and things get more and more complicated. Remember specialy for Thai government official everything is connections so they all know a lot of people. So you will notice after a while that official papers you gave to other official disappear and things which should take a days take months. Also expect that for taxes and work permit issues you might suddenly find out that everything is much stricter and they are looking for any tiny mistakes to make you have a problem.

My suggestion is think about the risks first. because once you start this way you can't turn back the time when you start to realize in what wasp nest you just stuck you nose in. I know 2 cases of foreign business owners who took the risk and finally their business got broke due to this and they left Thailand with nearly nothing.

If you still it is worth risking your business for a little bit of tea money I wish you got luck

Bangkok is overcrowded everywhere if you dont life far away in the suburbs 2 hours from the city. Aound central Ladprao Union mall there might be some option as well but you are surrounded by very heavy traffic roads and a lot of pollution.

Opposite chatuchak on the other side of the road you only have BTS Parking and goverment buildings.

Behind Chatuchak there are only cheap crap thai apartment for somewhere between 2000 - 4000

Hope this helps

In Thailand since you wont live here you will not be able to speak the language. So you should only try to look in areas with enough 7 eleven and transport methods BTS MRT so you can use them without speaking. It can be really difficult to stay here if for whatever you want you need to communicate in Thai, So self service (7 eleven and big supermarkets for food and BTS MRT for tranport) will help you a lot.

If you like city life the only real city is Bangkok. If you are thinking about buying, buy along the new BTS Extension On Nut - Soi bearing, you have a lot of cheap priced condos there and once the BTS is running you will be able to reach the center of Bangkok in 20 -25 minutes, Price difference is huge the average 60 m2 2 bedroom condo in a nice project at the front of a soi will only cost you around 3 million. For this money around asok probably all you could get is a small second hand studio at the very end of a narrow Soi.

For renting stay along the BTS since it connects more useful places for foreigner then the MRT. Best Area is around BTS Station On nut. You have a local market. Big supermarket and several 7 elven all in a 5 minute walking distance.

If you buy or rent always calculate carefully. Apartments at the front of a soi might be a bit more expensive but you dont need to take a motorcycle twice each day 20 Baht per day by 2 person is allready 1200 and if you live in a really deep soi expect to pay at least 3000 Baht for motorcycle each month. Beside of being expensive they are dangerous.

Finally since by law you are not allowed to own land in Thailand better to buy a condo. If you buy new from the plan you can get good discount but the discount periods are short so checking up regularly on the project you like and not buy inmediatly will save a lot of money. Only buy from large developers whos last projects sold well. So you are a bit safer that the company wont get bankrupt. Be careful with quality specially in projects focused more on the Thai market. If you dont speak thai 100% perfect dont take a risk and always go with someone who can speak thai so you can ask whatever you want. If the project has less than 3 month to completition and the sold units are less than 50% of the total units stay away from it.

Walk around Saphan Kwai Area at the junction closed to Big C. This are is quite Thai area. So don't expect western style apartments and surroundings like on Sukhumvit but for 10.000 You can get a very good place for that amount of money.

Only consider getting a Apartment in the first 100m of a Soi so you save money on the motorcycle.

morphious

A Tourist Visa, obtained from a Thai consular office abroad gives 60 days on entry which can be extended for 30 days.

A Visa Exempt Entry gives 30 (by air) or 15 (by land) and can be extended for 7 days (if showing an outbound ticket within that time.

I can remember the old 15 day extension, used it a couple of times on a Non-O, but that was 12+ years ago.

Visa Exemption arriving without a visa is a small stamp this one can only be extended 7 days. Initial length varies depending on your country here is the full list http://www.mfa.go.th/internet/document/ChartVisa.pdf

Visa on Arrival gives 15 days (looks like a normal tourist visa and only person who can not get the visa exception stamp due to their nationality need to apply for it) this one can only be extended in case of serious illness or relevant reason http://www.mfa.go.th/web/2482.php?id=2491

Tourist visa obtained from an embassy abroad can be 30 -60 days depending on your nationality, this one can be extended for 30 days (30 days is given only to some African countries)

If you company is closing down have a look at Thai law regarding severance pay. If I remember well even if the company gets bankrupt you get paid some money and also there is a government fund for people who didn't get all the money the company still ows them

1. If you have transfered your permission of the stay from the old passport to the new passport there is no problem at all they will extending it.
2. In the case you haven't done this and the visa is damaged and unreadable you have no chance don't waste your time going
3. If you visa is still readable for a little bit and you haven't transfered the permission of stay go to Immigration after 14:00 They are less busy and less stressed. Dress up properly (no sleeveless shirts and no shorts) All this because your luck with depend only on the mood of the immigration officer. If he/she feels sorry for you and sees you as a poor friendly tourist in need of help you might get lucky (smiling and speaking friendly will also help a lot) Just as a note for you the immigration officer has no obligation to extend your visa or do anything in your case so remember shouting and demanding will only decrease your chances of getting what you want to 0

If you live in a centric Location in Bangkok it takes somewhere between 60 - 90 minutes to go there and cost 60 Baht you just have to know how to do it

1.) Take the BTS to Mochit Station (maximum fare 40 Baht) Takes a maximum of 30 minutes even if you live at On Nut station which is the furthest away from Mochit

2.) Take the Minivan cost is (15 - 20 Baht) They leave every 5 minute and the trip takes not more than 30 minutes during the day going betwen 13:00 and 14:00 is the best time

3.) The van will drop you off in front of the complex and you can take a free shuttle bus to Immigration.

Once there under one roof you have a efficient System which even during peaktime work much better than Suanplu at its best time. Also without stepping out in the heat or rain you can make copies or go to 7 eleven or even to one of the restaurants.

Compared to Suan plu this location is cheaper to go to by 20 Baht ( Motorbile from Chong nongsi to Suan plu even negotiating hard would cost you at least 40 Baht + 40 for the BTS = 80 Baht

Also the time you spend inside is much less since the process now is much faster than at Suan plu Extension of a tourist visa even doing it at 14:00 at Suan plu it took at least 45 minutes and now you can do it as fast as 15 minutes if you come around 14:00 from Tuesday to Wednesday.

If you travel with family (No entertainment for the kids) or a Thai wife (very german or european food) Air Berlin is not a good Choice.

But if you travel alone and you normally like to sleep on the plane they are a very good choice since Passengers normally are not very noisy and the Service is efficient as fast without trying to wake you up every few hours to offer you something. I think it is the only airline where you can sleep undisturbed for 8 hours.

yeah you can happily sleep for 8 hours BECAUSE YOU WON'T BE OFFERED ANYTHING TO DRINK OR EAT !!!!!

this Airline was always a Budget/Holiday-charter Airline and somehow is until today.

Congrats to the ONE WORLD GROUP to add such a new "honorable PREMIUM member".... HO HO HO

okay, to be fair, the facts:

GOOD

- Duesseldorf or Berlin-Tegel Airports are much smaller than FRA and easier to deal with (particularly with kids on tow)

- Aircraft is relatively new and safety-standards are good

- Quick connections to be had to other European or domestic German destinations

- almost only Airline from Europe to BKK where you can book inexpensive ONE WAY - Tickets (Kuwait Air only offers cheap one-ways ex-BKK, but not Ex-Europe)

BAD

- Cabin Crew could DEFINITELY do with some courtesy or friendlyness - Lufthansa is "Asian Hospitality" compared to the AirBerlin Crews. In fact, AirBerlin had the most arrogant and unwelcoming crew I ever experienced on a BKK-Europe flight, somehow like a "you got the cheap fares and is that still not enough or what the heck u want more on board here?" - attitude

- Seat Pitch VERY NARROW

- Seats hard as a rock (as some already mentioned here)

- only BASIC catering is free, pay for the rest (well, u have read what I said about the "Budget Airline"-thing) - even have to pay for headphone-use ! on a Longhaul flight ! HO HO HO

- No screen on your seat (though for me that's not a big deal, but for many of course is)

- expect them to be the MOST STRICT AIRLINE on the planet when it comes to Excess-luggage (don't dare to check in 21 KG instead of 20!)

NEEDFORSPEED, WHEN is your actual departure date ?

If it's not during main holiday season, you should be able to find plenty of cheapo-promotions from the likes of Emirates, Qatar, Etihad, Oman Air. No need to book too early !

Verdict:

you don't make the biggest mistake of your life when flying AirBerlin if u can save 200 Euro or more, but I would definitely NOT recommend them. And I have been flying 12 different Airlines on the BKK-Europe route in the past 10 years, usually thrice per year.

.

You get what you pay for.

I guess the day Easyjet or Ryanair do long haul flight you will start to realize the luxury of Air Berlin because Air Berlin is a low cost carrier so you can only compare them to other low cost carriers

Since flights are overnight I think that to be able to sleep is more important than entertainment. Anyways they always give free newspaper and magazines so for the case you get bored try to read something.

As for the seat I think they are not bad but just average. I have flown with 10 different airlines from Europe to here. And I would say that if you are the type pf person who sleep on a plane they are the best.

Because there is nothing more annoying than continues movement of people on the plane and continues wake up calls for a snack a glass of water or duty free or refreshments.

If you travel with family (No entertainment for the kids) or a Thai wife (very german or european food) Air Berlin is not a good Choice.

But if you travel alone and you normally like to sleep on the plane they are a very good choice since Passengers normally are not very noisy and the Service is efficient as fast without trying to wake you up every few hours to offer you something. I think it is the only airline where you can sleep undisturbed for 8 hours. Another Plus is Dusseldorf Airport since it is quite small and used by many low cost carriers you can connect fast and easy to you next flight. Something you could only dream about in the other main hubs.

I had exactly this problem and with 3 back to back double entry tourist visa from Vientiane I just didnt wanted to take the chances to get refused So if you had already 3 or 4 tourist visas from Vientiane the solution is to apply for a new passport.* Just before you go to get you new passport make a border run and come back with the visa exemption stamp than pick up your passport. They will cancel the old one and give you a letter. Go to Immigration and transfer your permission to stay and you are ready for the next visa run to Vientiane.

For what do you have to go to Poipet ?

Because when they transfer your permission to stay the immigration officer will write down in your new passport your old visa type and number. And visa numbers are allocated in batches to the embassies so There is a real possibility that in Vientiane when they quick check your passport they realize that your last visa was from them. With that it is very possible that you are investigated further and they discover that this would be your 5th back to back tourist visa.

With a visa exemption stamp transfered to your new passport you just look like a real tourist and with around 400 - 500 Visa applications a day in Vientiane I don't think they have the time to check the history of travel to Thailand for each person so they will probably only check those person who at the first sight look suspicions (many visas to Thailand all extended the 30 days and with one border run in the middle of each 6 month period and no other trips outside of Thailand)

* To apply for a new passport if you still have a lot of free pages which I really doubt if you have so many double entry visas just go swimming with it. After that new embassy will refuse to issue you a new one and there a plenty of cases where this happens to normal tourists

If you had already 3 or 4 tourist visas from Vientiane apply for a new passport.* Just before you go to get you new passport make a border run and come back with the visa exemption stamp than pick up your passport. They will cancel the old one and give you a letter. Go to Immigration and transfer your permission to stay and you are ready for the next visa run to Vientiane.

For what do you have to go to Poipet ?

Because when they transfer your permission to stay the immigration officer will write down in your new passport your old visa type and number. And visa numbers are allocated in batches to the embassies so There is a real possibility that in Vientiane when they quick check your passport they realize that your last visa was from them. With that it is very possible that you are investigated further and they discover that this would be your 5th back to back tourist visa.

With a visa exemption stamp transfered to your new passport you just look like a real tourist and with around 400 - 500 Visa applications a day in Vientiane I don't think they have the time to check the history of travel to Thailand for each person so they will probably only check those person who at the first sight look suspicions (many visas to Thailand all extended the 30 days and with one border run in the middle of each 6 month period and no other trips outside of Thailand)

* To apply for a new passport if you still have a lot of free pages which I really doubt if you have so many double entry visas just go swimming with it. After that new embassy will refuse to issue you a new one and there a plenty of cases where this happens to normal tourists

*I did exactly this and it went fine with not even one question asked.

The question is for what do you need the last page ?

If it is because your current visa runs out and you wanna use that page for a new thai visa best option would be to follow the advises from above.

However if you visa will run out and what you actually wanna do is a border run to Cambodia to get the 14 days extension and you need that space for a cambodian visa there is one option.

I had a similar problem a few years ago and what I did is to follow one of Cambodian immigration official who greet you at the Bride (poipet border) offering their special VIP fast service. I comment him about the problem and for another 10USD he pasted the visa over some very old stamp in my passport so I suspect that you could do the same with that last page.

Anyways since this is not very legal consider that as your last option only !

German law don't allow for double citizenship and since a few years they are really serious about this. So basically you would have to choose what citizenship do you want for you kid.

Best way to to get a prove of onward travel is a train Ticket Bangkok - Butterworth (malaysia) Cost is around 1200 -1300 Baht and changing the date is free of charge. You can change it as often as you like. If you want to cancel it there will be a fee of around 250 -300 Baht. You can change or cancel it at any train station during the normal operation hours approximatively 04:00 - 01:00

Since you said you have a Thai wife let anyone of her family buy the ticket and than send it to you via mail in the US.

Double entry tourist visa is an option but as the name says you only get 2 entries and you would need to extend two times for 30 Days each time costing you 1900 Baht. Also if you wanna do more than one visit to another country since you you only have two entries you would need a reentry permit which cost another 1000 Baht per entry. So totaly this option cost you at least 4000 Baht + a lot of hassle.

With border runs you should be really careful because by law you in order to get the visa exemption stamp (14 - 30 days depending if you arrive by air or land) you need to show an outgoing ticket of Thailand within the time you are allowed to stay in Thailand (14 - 30 days). Normally this law is not enforced at all but sometimes they request it. This happens if they see a lot of Tourist visas and extension and border runs stamps in your passport. And I think when you have made 3 or 4 continuous border runs for sure they will ask for it. So if you wanna do it like this I suggest buying a train ticket Bangkok - Butterworth. You can later cancel the ticket and get all the money back except for a fee of around 250 Baht. Easiest and cheapest way to comply with this law if you just wanna stay in Thailand doing border runs.

This law is normally not enforced but should you have the bad luck and be refused entry it will cause you a huge problem.

Still work fine just dont arrive between 12:00 - 14:00 because this is the peak time for border runners and tour companies

Only problem is that sometimes they request an outbound ticket. This happens if they see a lot of Tourist visas and extension and border runs stamps in your passport. In the case your passport has more than 2 extensions or 2 tourist visas in the last year I suggest buying a train ticket Bangkok - Butterworth. You can later cancel the ticket and get all the money back except for a fee of around 250 Baht. Easiest and cheapest way to comply with this law if you just make a border run from Bangkok.

This law is normally not enforced but should you have the bad luck and be refused entry it will cause you a huge problem since you would need to go to another border crossing which would cost a lot of money and time.

They might be real policemen trying to improve their salary.

It wouldn't be a big surprise since Thai police is the biggest criminal organization in Thailand.

Smile and say today no have, yesterday big party today money finish

Just as a note,

To get the 30/14 days visa exemption stamp you need to be able to show an outgoing ticket paid in full with departure of Thailand in the next 14/30 days. This is the law however it is nearly never enforced but specially at poipet border since it is the most famous border for borderun they request this from people who just left Thailand and overstayed specially if the overstay is more than a few days.

Don't even think about going those days.

Probably halve of the staff will take days off and the rest will be in a very bad mood with thousands of applicants,

I know one person who went there 3 or 4 years ago in the middle of these 2 national holidays and he told me it was also terribly crowded since people who should have come on the holidays will come as well on that day so I would guess that the number of applicants it twice as much as on a normal day. This will halve of the staff smell like a disaster to me.

Good luck if you still wanna go

Should we tell the police to make a random check of your passports and check your current permission to stay ?

I did exactly this today. Really not a big issue. if you want to avoid stress make the copies in advance

+ Copy of the principal page of the old passport (the one with your picture)

+ Copy of the principal page of the new passport (the one with your picture)

+ Copy of TM 7 (arrival card)

+Copy of entry stamp

+Copy of visa (if you are currently on a visa no need if you had before one and now you are in visa exemption stamp)

+Copy of extension ( based on whatever Tourist, work permit, thai wife, studies etc)

+ Letter from the embassy saying that you passport was replaced.

If some of these are on the same side it is fine.

No fee and very quick.

If you live in Bangkok area and you have come via the airport it will be at one of the K counters at then normal immigration office at Chang watana, If you come via a land border go up to the next floor and look for Immigration division 3. You will see only Cambodian, Lao and Burmese people put it is the right place.

How will you come to thailand ?

If you come by train go to any gold shop at the border area. As from my experience they accept both Baht and Ringgit at very fair rates and many of them function as exchange for the locals. I have exchanged only 20.000 like this but 170.000 for a gold shop owner is nothing.

If you speak german try DAB Bank www.dab-bank.de

Good rates and reliable online platform and market leader for individual investors. Even you reside in thailand you can open a account with them just send the requiered documents via registered mail

Only bad thing is that the website and menu is in german.

I Use them and I fell really satisfied