thailandpeter2

I will need to renew my work permit until latest early February. given that the Labour Ministry either is closed now or will be closed during the 'bangkok shutdown', are there any alternate locations in Bangkok where the work permit can be renewed?

choice of answers to the article question:

- no

- are you kidding?

- not in a hundred years

- far from it

- hehehehehe....

- ROFL

etc...

i can only say - it fits perfectly!

Finally.... #1!!!!!!

As I posted the other day...

#2 in ASEAN for teen pregnancy

#3 in the world for road deaths

All they were missing was a number one. And now... Taa-daa! Well done.

Things are finally looking up for the country.

congrats! yours was the only useful reply to the OP in this thread! all the other posters got stuck in semantics and discussion about what this nd that means, although it really does not matter whether you call it visa extension, extension of stay or even 'doing my visa'...

Yes

i do know this 'som nam nah' feeling towards thailand and sometimes have irt myself. i have been here for more than 21 years, have my family here, am working here (incidentally i will have to renew my visa and work permit before the first week in february and am not sure whether i will manage to get both done before the 13th january - and thereafter it's just a guess how things will go here). and although i love thailand, i have to say that sometimes i do hope hat there will be a great wake-up call for thailand. obviously the current economic slump or loss of tourists during this high season is not sufficient yet. but i am sure, that, IF we pull through this period without any overt violence and chaos and 'only' a bad economy and loss of employment for many thais will result and thailand is among the economic taillights in the AEC in 2015, many people who are now the upcoming shutdown of bangkok will blame external factors, the government of the day, whoever, whatever, except themselves for any misery they have brought to thailand...

to be sure, there are reasonable thais, to judge from some newspaper editorials or forums in there - and i do hope their voices will get louder the longer the shutdown will proceed...

Yea know, after being here in Thailand for over 22 years (this time) and never left, I hope suthep does bring Bangkok to a stop and the counrty loose billions. I am sorry for saying that as I do love Thailand. But that will be the only way to stop suthep premently. When he wins, wich I hope he doesn't, he will turn Thailand into a dictatorship with him as the dictator.

yes, i guess that would be the case in such case... - considered that the thais tend to leave accident vehicles in place of the accident until the police/insurance guys arrive...

I find it funny that Suthep said he would let 1 lane open for emergency vehicles. How will he control the hundreds of kilometers of streets in Bangkok to ensure absolutely nobody is blocking that last 1 lane remaining open? Noodle carts? Taxis? An old lady that needs at least 2 lanes to drive? What if a motorbike crashes and blocks that entire last 1 lane? Traffic jams for 50 kilometers?

#2 is only 'ASEAN Games', not Asia... so, there is still way to 'improve'...:)

#2 in Asia for teen child births

#3 in the world for road deaths

Way to go!

Don't hold back now, go for the gold.

is that a permanent immigration office or only a temporary one? also, do they do 1 year visa extensions too? i live wit my family near ladprao road and this would be ideal...

“Government officials won’t be able to commute to work as we’ll seize the entire city. We’ll cut off electricity and water supplies at government properties and residences of Cabinet members including the prime minister,” he said."

PSSSSSSST Don't shut down the internet,...

i would not out rule this out with these idiots - same as they did back in december, shutting down the cat tower with it's many data centers and the main international internet gateway of the country. we are in this business and had quite a lot of problems and complaints from thai and foreign customers on that day...

asoke and silom roads are not business districts?

What he doesn't say is which roads exactly will be blocked. I would expect it will still be centered around government complex on Chaengwattana, and all the ministries and government house around Rajadamnoen. I'd be surprised if they try anything around Sukhumvit or the business district.

So Bangkok gets shutdown.

Businesses have to close.

People cant get to work or will be intimidated trying to.

Businesses will go bankrupt

People will lose there jobs

Ordinary folk will accumulate more debt

Cant pay the rent cant pay for food etc.

Loans wont get repaid

Homes get foreclosed

Cars repossessed

Crime will go up as the police will be preoccupied

The list goes on

Are the people really thinking about the consequences of this?

NO as they wont think past today.

Sad that they can be manipulated so easily

Sorry that you are going to experience such an inconvenience

you will, too... just don't blame anybody else for your loss of income, traffic jams, the bad economy, etc. later on, ok?

you forgot one thing, important to us expats working and living here:

foreigners will not beable to renew visas and work permits in time. so, what will the authorities do? waive them for the time being? having everybody apply anew later, with applying penalities for overstaying or arresting and deporting foreigners who worked temporarily without valis work permits (as they threatened to do in phuket, when the employment office was shut down for 2-3 days)?

ok well, the usual thai attitude would be 'we don't care' buty foreigners do have an important stake in the thai economy too...

but as you wrote: people do not think very far - the same they did not think when accepting the various election promises of the PT party, which mostly turned out to be disastrous...

So Bangkok gets shutdown.

Businesses have to close.

People cant get to work or will be intimidated trying to.

Businesses will go bankrupt

People will lose there jobs

Ordinary folk will accumulate more debt

Cant pay the rent cant pay for food etc.

Loans wont get repaid

Homes get foreclosed

Cars repossessed

Crime will go up as the police will be preoccupied

The list goes on

Are the people really thinking about the consequences of this?

NO as they wont think past today.

Sad that they can be manipulated so easily

but if they do a coup this time 'round, it won't be the relaxed affair like the last coups. they really would have to clamp down hard and fast - or they probably will have the red shirts all over bangkok and in the northeast and north, fighting the army. also, the army's personnel might be as divided as the citizens. and probably that is why they don't dare to commit to either side...

it might be a solution to the standoff, but a potentially dangerous one...

Perfect time, for the army to come in, with a coup and rescue us all ;-)

sure, both groups have experience in it. that's what really angers me - no group in thiland really respects the opinion of the other group - or non-partccipants at that. maybe we need a third group throwing ALL protesters of both sides out of bangkok...

The red shirts have excellent experience estimating the cost of shutting down Bangkok. They did it a number of times in 2010.

They certainly have previous don't they, caused a huge amount of damage. As did the fools who shutdown swampy.

probably prayhuth would feel that the current government might not last much longer and would not be very frightened. but, yes, basically the army should be a servant of the current government - as should be the police (and that was not clear in 2010, when the roles had been reversed) - whatever government is in power.

this said, i really do not think that either police or the army will really prevent violence if it comes to it on the 13th and the following days...unfortunately...

If I was the PM I would phone Prayuth and I explained to him that this amount would come out of his budget, unless he shows he is not a Ladyboy in disguise and shows his balls and defends the constitution that he himself forced upon the people. Only real losers cannot win or wine after having redrawn the constitution three times. So man up Prayuth and get the thugs of the street.

i remember that at the height of the red protests in 2010 the never managed to amass more then 60,00 to 70,000 people. in this respect one has to say that suthep's movement is much more powerful, even if one doesn't like the man...

I wonder where the red shirts are going to hold 500,000 people and NOT bring Bangkok to a stand still?

Yes! Please come and make sure the shut down work perfectly. 500,000 people from red? Make sure the middle guys pay your salary in full which is a bit tough.

i do love thailand and the thai people - i have been living here with my thai family for 21 years - but it definitely exasperating to experience how the thai people of both sides of the political divide again and again follow leaders who have done quite a lot of dirty deeds in the past - without regards for their fellow, and not that rich and powerful countrymen...

i am not saying that other countries are spotlessly clean, but it seems that here in thailand there is just no developed culture of conflict solving, except for shouting louder than the opponent and fighting....and very often absolutely no regards for people with different opinions...

This month is the month of 'make or break'. Please wait for a signal from us.

I'm gonna stock up on popcorn, because it will get get exciting this month .

What a sad post!! "Our" country might be on the brink of a civil war, and to you it is entertaiment!!

Shame on you!!

This why Thais often do not respect farang. Too many think this is a television show, and eat popcorn and dismiss the loss of a single human life as another line in a television show with cheap sponsors... It is not.

Thais are a kind and beautiful people struggling to become their own way of betterment, not some imitation of others who have already failed on theior own 'merits'.. And some say Thais have faults we cannot say our own homelands do not possess. So, there is no corruption in the US, or Great Britain, or Holland, or Germany, or anywhere? There are no corrupt leaders being confronted by equally corrupt usurpers?

It is a lie to pretend to superiority when we, ourselves, live here.

Thais! Do not think we are all unfeeling pigs! Do not think we all laugh at you, because polite visitors do not eat the food of their hosts and then find their struggles so unimportant as to nibble popcorn while brother kills brother. It is not true. It makes many of us feel ashamed of our fellow countrymen's behavior... And we should.

Thais! You hear the words of vagabonds. You hear the arrogance of failed people hiding in the easy prosperity of your wonderful country. You hear the stupid bored internet politics of people who do not love any land, but ridicule your Thailand just because...they can.

Shame on all of them.

They cannot lose face because they never had face to begin with. They are all chin and no eyes. They are all tongue and no heart. They are all nose and no taste. They are nothing.

Please ignore them.

yes, it's a sorry state of affairs.

but as you correctly wrote: the government, the police OR any respionsible autority... because these two ones named are surely not responsible in any way...

I feel so sorry and sad about all those deaths.

And I beg the government the police or any responsible authority to try and put an end to this carnage.

so, where are they different from the yellows or suthep's people? those have beaten up or tried to beat up journalists they thought would not report as they saw fit...for example.

the basic human right here is: you do what i say and i'll let you live. but if you don't, then beware...

The Red's from he countryside see their basic human rights disappearing under Suthep's People's Council, whether you think it will happen or not is beside the point. They will fight not to be disenfranchised. And people fighting for causes usually triumph over those fighting for a few bucks.

First of all, those guys don't have a clue what basic human rights are. Their leader in exile will be remembered as the biggest human rights abuser in modern Thai history. During his reign 20 human rights activists had been assassinated. A fact. Can't you see the problem? So your argument about them fighting for the basic human rights doesn't hold water.

Furthermore, in red control areas and particularly villages human rights are blatantly denied to anyone who dares to express different point of view. I dare you to visit their areas and express different political views. See what happens.

maybe they should delare your stree a life firing zone like they did in 2010, then it will get very exciting for you...moron...be careful about what you wish for...

This month is the month of 'make or break'. Please wait for a signal from us.

I'm gonna stock up on popcorn, because it will get get exciting this month .

first of all, if he does proceed with the shutdown and government offices won't work for some time, where will foreigners renew their visas and work permits during this period? i would not think that the government would just allow a stay of visa renewals or work permits for that period. remember the short closure of the employment office in phuket, after which they said that everybody found working without a valid - but already applied for - work permit would be arrested, even if that delay would have been caused by the temporary office closure? so, don't hold your breath for any changes in the rules for foreigners even if government offices will be closed....

well, maybe they will manage to set up alternate office locations for that period. then, i guess, suthep will shut these down too...

but generally, i do not think it would matter very much for foreigners which side would form the government. we wil still need visa, work permits, etc., under which government whatsoever...

CelticBhoy, on 02 Jan 2014 - 10:54, said:

Great news. Let the Baht slide

as it did in '97. No complaints

from me, that's for sure.

And then.....I am accused of bashing the Thais!

Self interest comments, like this, shows how much we care about the country we are living in!

Keep it up, mate, and I hope your wish will come true!!!!!!

Care about the country that we are living in,do you really think that the Thais care about us.I think that if Suthep gets his way it will be very hard for us to stay living in Thailand.

Why?

they don't even fly to Dubai?

export stronger because of weak baht: only good for these exporters who have 100 % thai-origin raw materials, no components bought abroad

but worse for inflation: rising prices for imported goods and how about energy? the world market's oil prices are quoted in usd!

and if there are political problems or disturbances, who will want to holiday in thailand, even with a low thai baht?

it's a cycle, that's for sure, but i would not need the political problems factor in the mix, that's a bad component for sure!

A devalued Bhat will limit the effect of recent wage rises, reposition the export industries in a stronger position and allow the tourist destinations to be more cost competitive and so bounce back quicker. It's all part of the cycle. Make the most of it while you can because the cycle will eventually see it rise and that will have a different set of economic affects.

export stronger because of weak baht: only good for these exporters who have 100 % thai-origin raw materials, no components bought abroad

but worse for inflation: rising prices for imported goods and how about energy? the world market's oil prices are quoted in usd!

and if there are political problems or disturbances, who will want to holiday in thailand, even with a low thai baht?

it's a cycle, that's for sure, but i would not need the political problems factor in the mix, that's a bad component for sure!

A devalued Bhat will limit the effect of recent wage rises, reposition the export industries in a stronger position and allow the tourist destinations to be more cost competitive and so bounce back quicker. It's all part of the cycle. Make the most of it while you can because the cycle will eventually see it rise and that will have a different set of economic affects.

yes, many looking only to their self interest. for me for example, a weak thai baht would not be that good (our company purchasing in usd abroad and selling in thb)... well, for some good, for some bad. also, if there should be any greater political disturbances, i wonder whether a holiday in thailand will still look attractive, even with a low baht. or retirement in thailand... well, also, retirees will get more for their usd of euro pensions - but on the other side, especially imported goods will get more expensive in thailand, including 'farang food'...

CelticBhoy, on 02 Jan 2014 - 10:54, said:

Great news. Let the Baht slide

as it did in '97. No complaints

from me, that's for sure.

And then.....I am accused of bashing the Thais!

Self interest comments, like this, shows how much we care about the country we are living in!

Keep it up, mate, and I hope your wish will come true!!!!!!