BangkokHank

So the visa allows one to stay for 180 days, extend that for another 180 days, and then one has to leave the country and then come back (with no need for a re-entry permit) and start the whole process over - with another 180 days, extendable by another 180 days - and all of that for a total of five years? Is that interpretation correct? If so, then what's the catch?

You missed your calling as a diplomat.

I did my 90-day report this afternoon with an appointment for 14:00. Here's how things went: I arrived at Immigration at 13:15 (45 minutes before my appointment - on the basis of it being better to be early than late - and I came from far away by taxi, so I had to allow for the possibility of traffic, etc.) I first went to the information desk and got the TM47 form, which I then filled out. Then I got in one of the three "normal" queues where they hand out the queue numbers. When it was my turn, I showed them my appointment confirmation (which had my queue number: 1128 - my appointment time: 14:00 and the counter at which I would be processed: 66 - the same counter mentioned by @bamnutsak above.) But it turned out that people with appointments should go directly to queue number 4, which I then did. (It's right next to the other three regular queues. I had never noticed it before because it is for people with appointments, and this is the first time that I had an appointment.) At that queue number 4, after showing them my proof of appointment, they gave me a little laminated card that said essentially the same things that were on my queue confirmation: my queue number (1128) and the time (14:00), and the counter number (66). Counter number 66 is the first counter on the right as you go in the direction of the 90-day reporting room for people without an appointment. At first I overlooked counter 66 and went into the big room where the masses of people were waiting, but I saw that the counter numbers there started at 67. So I went back out and found counter 66. I took a seat in front of counter 66 at 13:30, and for a moment I thought that I might even be waited on early, as there appeared to be only three people ahead of me. (Queue number 1125 was being processed when I sat down and I was number 1128.) Alas, it doesn't work that way - otherwise it would mess up the whole timing. Each "customer" is allotted 10 minutes for processing. If a person is processed in less than the allotted time, then the officer deals with another person who is in a different queue - perhaps people who have to pay a fine due to being late? Anyway, in the end, my number was called at exactly 14:00, and it took exactly three minutes to process me. Conclusion: Even with an appointment, I still ended up being there for 45 minutes - due to my getting there early so that I would not miss my time slot. Now that I know how everything works, I think I could cut that wait time down a bit by going a bit later by the BTS, where traffic is not an issue that needs to be taken into account. Despite my 45 minute wait, I think the people without an appointment had to wait longer - perhaps even much longer. The total trip, door to door, from my home to immigration and back, took four hours. An absolute waste of time and energy, any way you look at it. But, well, it's the price I pay for being able to live in Thailand.

Well, it used to be - before most of them plumped up over the past decade or so after adopting an American junk food diet.

I will leave my home for Chaeng Wattana in an hour to do mine. I have an appointment for 14:00 this afternoon. I made the appointment online about a month ago. Is there a form that I will have to fill out? Or do I just show up at the appointed time and hand them my passport?

I see. So what I paid was VAT. Thanks for the explanation.

So it will probably not be possible at Chaeng Wattana. Anyway, you never know. So I'll try next time - by saying, "Well, that's a bit expensive. Is there any way that we can get the price down to a more reasonable level? Wink wink."

Thanks for the info! I wish I had known this when I paid my 2,000 baht fine last time! Was this at Chaeng Wattana?

Today I paid my first import duties on a package shipped to Thailand from abroad (the UK). The declared value of the package was around 1,030 baht (GBP 22) - so less than the old duty-free threshold of 1,500 baht. The package was delivered by the Thai post office to the juristic office of my condo. The condo accountant kindly paid the duty for me (70 baht) - and I reimbursed her when I picked up the package from her. So while I don't like paying import duties, it was good to know that I at least didn't have to go to the post office to pay before picking up the package. And 70 baht on a 1,030 baht package is just under 7% of the declared value. I would be interested to know if anyone else has had to pay this duty yet, and if so, how much. For the sake of comparison, I received the identical product from the same supplier exactly one month ago, but I wasn't asked to pay any import duty. That would suggest that they started implementing this import tax within the last month.

There is actually a company in Sri Lanka that rents self-drive tuk tuks to tourists for exploring the island. I met a young Dutch couple doing that when I was there last year. https://tuktukrental.com

Maybe declining to be overcharged?

For Israel too? Or only for White countries?

The main difference for me is that I am much less handsome in my home country than I am in Thailand, with all that that implies. Other than that, I am the same person no matter where I am - doing the same things (reading, exercising, traveling, etc.)

Right. Having the company established in Thailand added credibility to their operations. Ha.

I thought this thread was going to be about this kind of joke: "I fell into my lens grinder and nearly made a spectacle of myself."

If they add air conditioning and more comfortable seats, then it won't be third class anymore, will it? It will be second class conditions - at a second class price, no doubt.

If a message was sent to you in Thailand about going to the temple, what are the odds that it would have been in English? It looks awfully fishy to me.

I just checked my Lazada account, and it's working normally.

Not anymore. Just nine days now. How far in advance does it have to be done if done by mail? And is there a downloadable form that I would need to use? And where would I need to mail it to? Thanks.

This is the case at Chaeng Wattana in Bangkok as well. I just submitted my 90-day report online after returning to Thailand from abroad, and I got the same message. So I'll have to waste a whole day of my life going all the way across Bangkok just to let them know that I'm living in the same place that I've been living for the past few years.

Exceeding the minimum threshold of what? Income? Inward remittance? Remitting money from abroad does not automatically make it income.

All that money - for selling poison. Shameful.

Old, but still true.

They don't tell ME anything. What do they tell you?

What he meant was that he wasn't actively using drugs at the time he was filling out the form - because he couldn't hold the drugs and the form and a pen in his hands at the same time.