JAG

13 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

17.4 million troublemakers? ????

By definition, yes; 17.4 million who won't do what he thinks they should!

As for the unconscious irony - a German enthusiast for Europe accusing a country which has implicitly rejected (through a democratic process) essentially what will be German hegemony in a united Europe of being bully boys!

It is over (mass tourism). No amount of central planning, stimuli, tinkering with visa regulations and so on will have any effect. Over the last five years they have used central planning and direction, allied to their institutional xenephobia to discourage tourists from the traditional sources, bet extensively on the Chinese mass market, and now this is the rabbit punch which will collapse the whole industry.

No-one, but no-one, Western, Asian, Chinese or Indian is going to come to Thailand, the risk of catching the virus is perceived as too great, and the government is obviously and clearly already manipulating the reports of it's presence here.

It's over. Another triumph for the chosen ones...

57 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

If possible, she can even ask to no longer be British.
I am French but I regret on this one, not to be English ..
Our rulers in France have no balls;
The Europe of the "six" was certainly a beautiful thing, but it had to stay that way.

Maybe she is enthused by the prospect of an "Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals", looked forward to, if I recall, by one of your countrymen on this forum. An idea, which over the centuries, has sprung from various attempts at "European Unity" albeit one which has never really ended well!

2 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

2017, the net contribution to the EU budget was 0.47% of the UK GDP. That's not exactly massive. And the positive impact of the 0.47% UK contribution on the UK GDP itself is multiple.

If you can calculate, it helps in many cases.

Classic "remain"! 

A statistical arguement which is meaningless if 1) you don't refer to exactly what the UK GDP is, 2) you make no comparison with the GDP or GDP% paid by other member states, 3) it makes no attempt to demonstrate or prove what the "positive impact" is, other than a vague reference to a " multiple"!

Then you end with a bit of abuse -suggesting that anyone who disagrees with you is stupid!

17 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

I've asked this question for months if not years. Only reliable source I could think of would be King Power's sales. They do know the nationality and the purchase amount. 

 

But I don't think that's it. No sane European would buy anything from King Power, the spending per head would be 0.

Thinking about it: if the TAT data field is based on the purchases made by those foolish enough to shop in King Power, that goes a long way towards explaining some of their predictions!

New month, new fiscal stimulus...

It must be time for a couple of new procurement initiatives?

Immigration have had the big bucks of course for the time being, but how about some new "smart tools" (Apple make quite a range I believe) to help with pollution and/or draught monitoring. Must keep the chaps happy, and management "in the loop"!

A "Forest Gump" amongst Statesmen.

15 hours ago, rooster59 said:

On Wednesday, Trump appeared to play down the injuries, saying he "heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things

Nothing serious, like bone spurs then...

I thought that by convention The House of Lords did not block or otherwise impede Government legislation which was part of the manifesto on which said government was elected?

Maybe that is no longer the case - since an entirely disproportionate (by comparison with the electoral representation of their party) proportion - The Liberal Democrat members - now take their lead from Mr Guy Verhofstadt.

Incidentally he ( Guy Verhofstadt ) could do with a haircut!

My daughter ,(14), is treated for a long term condition at Chiang Rai Government Hospital. It is fine. The treatment (certainly for her condition) is good. Yes you wait around a lot, but at least you get treated. A lot of building and alterations going on but it is clean. Between my idiosyncratic Thai and their basic English we manage to communicate.

No flat screen TV in the waiting rooms though...

9 hours ago, codebunny said:

I can:

I've found the rule, and my wife has explained it to me clearly.

 

It's fairly obviously not an attempt to bend the rules, but to follow the rules that are stated clearly in Thai on the official Thai government site. If you think it's wrong, please say why, but it looks pretty right to me and to native speakers where I am:

 

บุตร  means your kids; and สูติบัต means their Thai birth certificates. 

http://www.consular.go.th/main/th/services/111218-Non-Immigrant-Visa.html

It is allowed. Moreover, the consulate in Penang issues them.

 

I appreciate the efforts of people to put information up on this forum based on their experiences, but there's nothing wrong with seeking out and showing what the actual rules are, rather then only relying on experience reports, which vary quite a bit. It's of benefit for everyone to simply show evidence for a rule, rather then just guessing, parroting other people, or relying solely on experience, which may deviate from what the rule actually says. I think I've found something useful for people to clarify an something that isn't necessarily obvious to a lot of people.

Well done, you have found a rule written down.

You have interpreted it.

Don't be surprised if the various consulates umh - " don't see it your way" but nevertheless good luck if you intend to try it.

Meanwhile like "BritManToo", my patience is exhausted.

You posed a question, I answered it as best I could, based on my experience, an answer which could be verified by a simple trawl of posts on this forum.

As I said, good luck if you intend to prove me, the other posters, and perhaps more importantly, the various consulates wrong.

Goodbye.

18 minutes ago, codebunny said:

My question, on another thread, is, is it actually bending the rules... where/what are the rules?

Is there a link on here to the rules that this visa is based on?

I can't quote a link. As the main document required to be submitted is the marriage certificate, together with copies of your wife's ID card and housebook ( listed as such I believe in the consulates website) then poling up without those documents; but with for example a letter written in Thai by a third party on behalf of any children, in an attempt to get such a visa, is fairly obviously an attempt to bend the rules!

34 minutes ago, codebunny said:

One question is that... it's not a "marriage visa" per se, it's a extension of a family visit visa, so I guess it doesn't have to be your wife, it could be your son or daughter, and if they can't read or write Thai, maybe you have to pay someone to write in Thai for them, and get them to sign it, and have copies of their ID card and Tabian Barn etc... Has anyone tried that? Did someone do that at Penang on here?

Since one of the documents which you have to provide is your marriage certificate I don't think that would work.

If I could sound a note of caution: the current requirements at Savannakhet (and Ho Chi Minh City) are good. The more people who try to bend the rules, and get visas for which they don't actually qualify, the more likely the authorities will get fed up and so the current system will be changed. That is what has screwed so many Visa classes over the last few years.

5 minutes ago, Oziex1 said:

And if they need to be involved, witch they don't why the bloody navy and. not the Air Force?

They need something to keep all those Admirals occupied - after all, they don't have many LGBs (Large Grey Boats) and most of the ones which they do have are broken...

7 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

Thailand where women are supposedly equal to men has stopped recruiting women into the police force. I they ever were allowed into the traffic police they certainly would NOT be allowed to drive a BMW on their own, or even as a part of the crew. 

 

I thought (think) that they still recruit women, they just won't allow them to train as investigators and so on - so the "glass ceiling" is pretty low.

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Both stories featured identical paragraphs in which the two chiefs were quoted as "revealing" that they were acting on the orders of immigration chief Lt-Gen Sompong Chingduang to clean up Thailand from the activities of illegal foreigners. 

Perhaps a promotion board is due to sit soon?