TallGuyJohninBKK

Thanks... I saw some vague statements from the TH government at one point suggesting that the donated bivalent vaxes would be made available thru public health offices/centers nationwide.... But thus far, I've seen little to no evidence of that actually being the case.

Sheryl, couple of things.... 1. Does the fact that you're traveling from the hinterlands to BKK to get the bivalent vaccine, per chance, mean you had checked with the local public health office closer to your home and found they didn't have any bivalent doses available there? 2. The bivalent vaccine on offer at IOD is Pfizer.... And yet we had a news report here a month ago on the French government donating 1M Moderna bivalent vaccines to Thailand. And yet, I've seen NOTHING in the media about how or where the Moderna doses were distributed. Do you know anything on that point?

You can book online, though their website for doing so is entirely in TH language, as best as I recall. However, they also have been accepting walk-ins, which is exactly what the Thai wife and I did there a couple weeks back... And everything went without a hitch, even on a Saturday afternoon, which was the time we arrived. Just make sure to bring your passport, and any documentation you have of past vaccinations, so they can know that you're eligible.

I also did the MFA same day express service route back for my original marriage affidavit back in 2014... HOWEVER, don't think you'd be able to do the same today, as MFA since COVID has implemented an advance appointments system... It has regular and express service options, but from what I can see, certifying foreign freedom to marry affidavits is not eligible for their "express" option. https://qlegal.consular.go.th/ https://image.mfa.go.th/mfa/0/zE6021nSnu/0304/Announcement_of_the_Department_of_Consular_Affairs_No.23-2022.pdf When I look in the MFA appointments system today, the first avail appointment at CW is April 21, and the first avail at their MBK location is April 24.. Now, part of that is due to the Song Kran holidays. But even without those, clearly, there's going to be multiple days of waiting from when you reserve an appointment until you actually can see seen. Though at least with U.S. folks, since you also have to make an advance appointment to get the marriage affidavit from the US Embassy these days, you also could advance schedule your MFA appointment for the next day after your Embassy visit -- instead of waiting to make the MFA appointment until after you actually have the marriage affidavit in hand. However, right now, the next available appointments from the US Embassy for getting notarial services like the marriage affidavit aren't until SIX WEEKS away in late May. So best to plan FAR ahead!

Or more likely... he never EXPECTED to be caught... given that government officials actually getting caught for corruption here historically has been a RARE thing... and usually politically motivated when it has occurred.

Lucky you don't need to repeat the same process now. Times have changed thru the years.....

Everybody needs to have some kind of career, even grandsons of resort owners in Thailand. In this case, unfortunately, the middle-aged grandson appears to have chosen his career as being a criminal! ????

I think the above post is a pretty good recap of what people can expect from the marriage process here these days. In my case, as I recounted in prior posts above, with using an agent, from the time I started: --I had to wait 2+ weeks before I could make an available appointment online to obtain my Freedom to Marry affidavit from the U.S. Embassy. --Once I had that in hand, I turned it over to my agent and then they took about a week to do the translation to Thai and then have the documents certified by the MFA (obviously, most of that time was the MFA process itself). --Once we had that in hand, our agent booked an available slot that was several days into the future at the khet office that we were using for the marriage registration. On the appointed day, we drove out to the khet office and the agent handled all of the interaction with the khet office, which took about two hours, before we were finally handed our new marriage registration docs. All in all, the entire process took about a month from the time we started until the time we finished... and most of that time was waiting to get an available appointment at the U.S. Embassy. But by using an agent, the only things I/we actually had to do in ourselves in person were: 1. my hour-long visit to the US Embassy to obtain my freedom to marry affidavit. 2. The several hours spent one morning going to the khet office and getting the marriage reg done.

I've lived in the center part of Bangkok for more than a decade. Never had or used my own car or other gas powered vehicle during that time. About the only time I ever take a taxi is traveling to or from the airport when I have large luggage that I can't easily take on ARL. Almost everything I need or want on a day-to-day basis is within a 15 minute walk and/or brief BTS Skytrain trip -- malls, restaurants, hospitals, recreational facilities, etc. That's the kind of setup I wanted when I moved here from the U.S. originally, and it's been working just fine for me. That said, Thailand could be a lot more thoughtful in how they do urban planning, which could contribute to the kind of low-impact livability being discussed here.

When we got married years back, the only thing needed from the US Embassy was the freedom to marry affidavit. Now, somewhere along the way, at least some amphurs here have also begun requiring that you present them with a certified (by your embassy) photocopy of your passport photo page, which for U.S. folks, adds another $50 to the tab. The US Embassy webpage on getting married in Thailand makes mention that some amphurs are requiring this, and best to check with the one you plan to use. Ours did in fact require that added item. "IMPORTANT: Some Amphurs require a certified copy of your U.S. Passport. Check with your Amphur before coming to the Embassy as there is an additional service fee for a certified copy of a passport." https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/getting-married-in-thailand/

I don't know how PayGo handles their payment exactly... But I have the original T-Mobile $3 a month plan (that T-Mobile itself no longer offers to new customers). They don't directly charge me every month... But instead, deduct the $3 monthly fee from my prepaid balance with them. So... I typically will deposit via bank card payment $20 or so using the T-M prepaid website...and then that covers my expense with them for a 6 month or so period. Then it's time to top up my prepaid balance again.

The past police and government officials who have had their convictions overturned or sentences cut on appeals coming years later... And/or, the similar cases where the Department of Corrections exercises their discretion to commute / lessen sentences for good behavior / medical reasons or who knows what else.

These days, from what I understand, the MFA office might put a crimp in that, as I was told they no longer are doing same day service... which is what we did with them originally many years back. But my info on that is from our agent. So I didn't go out to MFA myself this time to confirm that or try to get the same same day service I'd had there in the past. The other complicating factor, for Americans at least, is that the US Embassy in BKK these days has a very miserly appointments schedule for getting the required freedom to marry affidavits. They appear to release new appointment slots only once each month, typically toward the end of the month for the following month...And once those slots are taken, they don't seem to make any more available. As a result, unfortunately, I unknowingly went looking for an Embassy appointment mid-month, and there were absolutely none available anytime any day... Thus I ended up waiting almost two weeks before they finally made a new batch of appointments available at month's end. I seriously considered booking a flight or bus trip up to the Chiang Mai Consulate, where they had better availability of appointments. And I was just about to pull the trigger on that when finally a slot opened up in BKK...about two weeks after I first started looking/trying. Lesson learned -- if you need an affidavit from the US Embassy in BKK these days, you want to start looking to book an upcoming appointment around the last week of the month, even if the date you want is in the ensuing weeks.

Our 15K fee included the agency picking up our travel expense, a very small item, as we took a taxi together out to the khet office... As well as, after the marriage, the translation and MFA certification of the TH language marriage documents back into an English version.

You're not mentioning the other endemic corruption feature here that contributes to that situation AND the lousy quality of police -- the fact that instead of hiring and promoting officers based on qualifications and talent in a normal civil service system, they hire and promote based on payments (bribes) by the applicants in order to win those positions. From what I've read, a lot of the police job applicants end up taking out loans to gather the cash in order to make those job winning payments... And then, they're stuck with debts that need to be repaid, and probably cannot be repaid solely via the normal police salary, which creates yet another incentive to participate in money producing police corruption.

The price for one thing.... "I see eBay also lists some pre-activated Paygo SIM cards. The 'most popular one for $39.95 has 60-days validity. For a total of $86.95, they will also precharge it with $35 credit which gives 1-year validity." As opposed to: "Paygo SIM for $15.99" and then "the $3/month package." I wasn't saying there's anything wrong or bad with going the prepaid/pre-activated route... Just saying it's different from the cheaper, unactivated SIM followed by $3 monthly charges.

Also from the OP: "For a bank customer who has money deducted from their bank account through a debit card in a transaction which they did not conduct, the bank must refund the customer in full amount within five days." The problem with that is, AFAIK, timing/delays are not the only problem that arise in such cases. Often, the TH bank involved will simply insist, without necessarily any clear evidence to support the claim, that the cardholder was in fact responsible for the fraudulent charge, and thus refuse to refund the debit, period.

Well, lately, when it rains, it pours around these parts.... I think I've seen more police criminal indictments and prosecutions in the past month around here than I can recall in all of the 15 or so years I've lived here. Of course, even if these guys are convicted as were the other half dozen just in the past day or so involved in the police housing project skimming, that doesn't necessarily mean the accused/convicted will really end up doing the prison time they're supposedly sentenced to. Thailand's criminal justice system seems to often work in wild and wacky ways... Still waiting for the Red Bull heir to be arrested....

The regular UltraMobile PayGo SIM, which provides the $3 a month service plan, initially has to be activated on their mobile network in the U.S. And after that, can be used on a roaming basis in Thailand and via wifi calling. The pre-activated ones are a different deal.

And the Immigration "smart cars" and their associated technology..... ???? Ohh... the irony of running all the law-abiding types (myself included) through the 90-day reporting and annual extensions and sometimes surprise TM30 filing requirements month after month, year after year.... While meanwhile, these guys live here for as long as a decade doing absolutely none of that, before the bogeyman finally comes knocking at their door.... I mean, most likely, the original arrival of the Brit was recorded via some air entry to the country. And then after that, nothing... And somehow, Immigration couldn't manage to figure out what happened to a guy who was recorded entering the country and then nothing official of him either staying or leaving.... Until someone finally came along and, apparently, snitched him out.

WOW, that was quite an OP RANT.... Seems like a bit of attitude adjustment is in order... Meanwhile, wouldn't mind hearing more about the OP's observations of lonely Japanese women waiting for their Japanese husbands to come home from work! Perhaps there's some adventure to be had there! ????

The wife and I got remarried lately in BKK after a brief, purely logistical separation. We checked with several khet offices, including Bangrak (which long had the reputation as being the most farang friendly, and where we originally were married many years ago). In short, things seem to have changed drastically from the past lately in BKK when it comes to the process of farangs legally marrying Thais here. No more just bring your paperwork and do the deed. Instead, Bangrak told my Thai wife we'd need to bring them the various required documents, including the MFA certified translations mentioned above, and only then they'd give us an appointment to come back some weeks later to do the actual deed. Sometimes they also require witnesses and even a formal verbal translator. We said BS to all that... Hunted around a bit, found a translation/visa agency to speed the process. After I got the $50 USD affidavit from my Embassy, the agency did the translations and handled the MFA certifications. Then about a week later, the agency took us to a particular khet office not in the heart of BKK where the whole marriage legalization process was completed in a single morning without any outside witnesses or official translator or anything else. We just sat there, and never actually had any direct dealings with the khet office staff, while our rep handled everything. The total agency fee for that came to about 15,000 baht, including their service and EN-to-TH document translation fees, some thousands more for the multiples of page by page certifications done at MFA, and then lastly presumably some dosh to the khet office involved. Didn't like shelling out the baht. But my wife has a full-time and busy job... And would have liked a whole lot less us having to run around from place to place on multiple trips on multiple days to get everything done the official way, and take probably a month from start to finish to get it all done.

I certainly would have liked to have been able to obtain the RC on the spot -- as opposed to waiting for it 1-2 weeks in the mail. But BKK CW doesn't give you that choice, AFAIK. The longer I stay here, the more I get dismayed by the often pointless bureaucratic shuffles/hurdles that expats are forced to endure. This being Thailand, I understand that's the way it goes... But it doesn't mean I have to like it! ???? Here in BKK -- adding together a trip out to the (distant for most) CW Immigration office ALONG with a separate trip and queues to one of the several local DLT offices (were that required) would pretty well consume the entire day. But FWIW, if anyone from Immigration is listening, I WOULD be willing to pay a higher fee than the standard 200b amount (let's call it an "express service fee") if they'd be willing to provide/produce the RC letter on the spot. I think I read here recently re some Immigration office (not BKK) offering that kind of RC option.

At BKK CW, no DLT request form asking that Immigration issue you an RC is required.... though I know that oddball practice does occur at some DLT/Immigration locales.

From what I've been reading here lately, your area down there seems to have an Immigration operation that tends to go a bit rogue on this kinds of matters, compared to most other Immigration offices. In other words, I don't think your experience on this, because of your locale, should necessarily be taken as the actual norm on TM30 matters.