kinyara

I don't think I've been in a bar on Beach Road in recent years when any of them have come in to relax. I get the impression it's a minibus in for shopping day out and a McDonalds, then minibus home and back in bed before dark. Do they have a weight limit for entry in the US military, maybe the ones I see are kitchen staff, cleaners etc.

My daily routine when I'm out walking is to stop for a rest and buy a 25 baht drink at 7-11 so I lower the average. It's the " convenience " in convenience store for me, I would never dream of making a 7-11 specific journey, it's not required, they are just there - everywhere.

Don't know what all the fuss is about, Russian tourist numbers were only marginally higher last month than they were in January 2023. They normally fall by half in April and half again in May, it's high season so what.

I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have to book into a martial arts type resort if you want the crap kicked out of you, if you ever make it to Pattaya just be a real life persona of your online id.

Really don't understand why guys on here get so worked up about the activities of the local tourist authority, it's something they wouldn't pay a blind bit of attention to in their home countries.

Excellent system, received email notification the other day it was due in 14 days, submitted immediately and came back approved in a couple of hours.

If they could pop next door and turn my water into wine in the Queen Vic Sunday carvery I'd be most grateful.

Don't know what it's like these days, can't imagine it's improved, but I lived a couple of years in the Kantary Bay for work, really enjoyed it and a nice quiet getaway for weekenders. That said I never dipped my toes in the water, it has the highest proven rate of cancer/body deformity amongst new borns in any country in the world. You're basically having a chemical bath and surprise surprise it's completely covered up. Don't let me put you off but I'd pass on the prawn cocktail, it's an ecological disaster.

Yeah I remember they were reluctant to commit to a specific completion date when it was announced, just " we aim to finish before high season ". It would be nice if just once they could do it on time with no unforseen delays - read incompetence. I'm not holding out a lot of hope for that myself.

What's wrong with you guys that you end up arguing about the most simple task in this country.

Actually history is on their side. 2022 - TAT target 10 million - 11.2 million achieved 2023 - TAT target 25-30 million - 28.2 million achieved 2024 - TAT target 35 million - pro rata January 2.96 million - 3.035 million achieved

I see there was a fire yesterday evening at the The Ministry of Agriculture, from the news report " Documents and 10 chairs were damaged ". Probably just a coincidence. 😎

The lag time for me going to make the appointment in mid January was 2 weeks. As posted above by Safety First you only need your passport and licence with you first trip, full documents on second date.

If you mean reserve an appointment online, then yes it can only be done in person.

I'm not saying it's potentially millions but it's a reasonable market. I know many 50+ retired/semi retired/self-employed people who used to come for the Nov-April period when the visa situation allowed it. Now they restrict themselves to at most 90 days with the allowed 1 local visa extension. If longer was available they would take advantage of it, and this is a group who I would say have decent spending power in general. 60 days extra from just 1 person is equivalent to the average length of stay of 10 tourists from the near Asian markets regardless of comparative spending rates.

Australia was 16th in visitor numbers last year, and you're accusing TAT of being clueless.

A lot of the adverse news stories here, isolated as they are in the proportional grand scheme of things, are more like personal nominations for a Darwin Award as opposed to being events materially affecting other tourists. Judging by the continued/renewed popularity of Pattaya it would seem the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have trouble free enjoyable trips are capable of making that distinction.

Some decent posts at last, I wonder how many of the hysterical have actually sat down and done a ballpark calculation of how little tax they are actually likely to be liable for here. I already knew from a few minutes back of a fag packet calculation after looking at the local allowance and rate thresholds my liability is negligble and not worth busting a gut over. I'm more interesting in clarification of the technicalities, such as my relevant Double Taxation Agreement, and I've no doubt that will be clear by the time I have to file in March 2026 in my case.

That's one option, for me it was more practical to transfer in enough pre 31st December 2023 so that no further transfers were required in 2024. I figure that buys me 1 and 1/2 years for the specifics to be clarified. I've already got a TIN from working here several years ago.

No idea, but it has passed me a few times in the Pratumnak/Dongtan area and I'm sure there have been different people driving it, it's one you tend to notice.

No I meant it would have cost me around 1,500 anyway for everything doing it myself including petrol, so I was paying an extra 1,500 for the agent obtaining the documentation from immigration/doctor certificate, online test and them picking me up and driving me out there and back a couple of times from my place. I don't know if guys using agents for renewal/extensions have to be there, I do immigration myself.

RIP. Having wrestled with the visa choices in my late 40's as the ability to stay long-term became harder, I'm always a little surprised when you read of situations where young people have managed somehow to achieve that, in this unfortunate guy's case presumably for some time since his 20's.

Don't know when you last went to the driving licence place but if not recent you might be pleasantly surprised next time, as I say I noticed a big improvement since my 5 year gap when I did indeed do it myself. Believe me I'm the last person who would use as agent without carefully considering the extra cost/benefit to myself and I would never try and persuade anyone else either way. This is the first time I've ever done it for anything for a couple of main reasons mentioned, but also in pure money terms I think factoring in a couple of petrol trips it would have been around an extra 1,500 baht, which I looked as 300 baht a year given the 5 year term. Paying circa 13,000 baht annually for a visa renewal to a place I can walk to in 10 minutes is a whole different ball game and not something that even enters my thinking.

Correct, from what I've observed an agent knows what they are doing and speeds up the process often handling multiple applications, in my case the person was assisting 5 people in total. Seating was not at a premium because 1 extra person was there, unlike the situation in the main body of the Jomtien immigration office. I don't speak Thai and haven't found language a barrier at immigration, and to be honest the clueless sorts that I've observed having a problem, if they are accompanied are accompanied by a local who appears to have even less of a clue than them. I thought a lot of agent activity re immigration meant the foreigner doesn't physically have to attend the office so there is no additional burden on the limited space.

Are you worried about your safety here, what particular thing is it that you fear from the time you get up in the morning until you're tucked up safely in bed every night that would make the safety in other countries at all relevant to you ? Are you thinking of moving to London or New York ?