TallGuyJohninBKK

I arrived at BKK CW on Tuesday at 8 am, having traveled by taxi from Mochit on the tollway to Laksi... And had no traffic whatsoever on the outbound trip at all.

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COVID vaccine may cut long-term symptoms up to 80% "COVID-19 patients who had received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine reported 8 of the 10 most common long-COVID symptoms 50% to 80% less often than their unvaccinated counterparts, finds an ongoing Israeli study published in the Nature journal npj Vaccines. A team led by Bar-Ilan University researchers invited adults tested for COVID-19 at three affiliated hospitals in northern Israel from March 2020 to November 2021 to complete an online questionnaire about demographics, vaccination status, and any symptoms they had or continued to experience. ... After adjusting for age, time from symptom onset to questionnaire completion, and baseline symptoms, infected two-dose vaccine recipients were less likely than their unvaccinated infected peers to report fatigue (-62%), headache (-50%), limb weakness (-62%), and muscle pain (-66%) (risk ratios [RRs], 0.38, 0.50, 0.38, and 0.34). Shortness of breath was also reduced 80%." (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/09/covid-vaccine-may-cut-long-term-symptoms-80 Also, source study: Association between BNT162b2 vaccination and reported incidence of post-COVID-19 symptoms: cross-sectional study 2020-21, Israel https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-022-00526-5 ... "We invited individuals PCR-tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection at participating hospitals between March 2020 and November 2021 to fill an online questionnaire that included information about demographics, acute COVID-19 episode and symptoms they were currently experiencing. ... After adjusting for age, time from beginning of symptoms to responding to the survey, and baseline symptoms, those who received two vaccine doses were less likely than unvaccinated individuals to report any of these symptoms (fatigue, headache, weakness of limbs, persistent muscle pain) by 62%, 50%, 62%, and 66% respectively..." ... Our results suggest that BNT162b2 vaccination may have a protective effect against longer term COVID-19 symptoms."

Study finds Omicron hospital risk 10 times higher in unvaccinated vs. boosted After the emergence of the Omicron variant, the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States was 10.5 times higher in unvaccinated adults and 2.5 times higher in those who were vaccinated but received no booster than in booster recipients, according to a new study. ... In the first study, a team led by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers analyzed data on 192,509 hospitalizations from more than 250 hospitals in 13 states participating in the COVID-19–Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network from Jan 1, 2021, to Apr 30, 2022. The research was published [Sept. 8] in JAMA Internal Medicine. Monthly COVID-19 hospitalization rates were 3.5 to 17.7 times higher in unvaccinated patients than in their vaccinated counterparts, regardless of whether they had received a booster. Hospitalization rates were 10.5 times higher in the unvaccinated and 2.5 times higher in vaccinated patients with no booster than in booster recipients. (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/09/study-finds-omicron-hospital-risk-10-times-higher-unvaccinated Also, source study: COVID-19-Associated Hospitalizations Among Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Adults 18 Years or Older in 13 US States, January 2021 to April 2022 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2796235 "Findings In this cross-sectional study of US adults hospitalized with COVID-19 during January 2022 to April 2022 (during Omicron variant predominance), COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates were 10.5 times higher in unvaccinated persons and 2.5 times higher in vaccinated persons with no booster dose, respectively, compared with those who had received a booster dose. Compared with unvaccinated hospitalized persons, vaccinated hospitalized persons were more likely to be older and have more underlying medical conditions. Meaning The study results suggest that COVID-19 vaccines are strongly associated with prevention of serious COVID-19 illness."

Just fyi, for those needing a bank letter to document their 400K or 800K Thai bank deposit for Immigration, BKK CW Immigration will accept bank letters dated up to 1 week prior to your visit... though I usually try to get mine just before, regardless. And it's OK / no problem if the balance on your bank letter obtained days before doesn't exactly match your required bankbook update the day of your visit -- though obviously all your balances have to remain above the required amounts in order to satisfy Immigration. For the BKKB and Krungsri branches at the Government Complex, at least, there's no appointment required, just walk in and request and pay... Though there may be a wait of 30 minutes or more at times... So figure that risk into your planning and whether you get an IO queue ticket beforehand.

Yes, last time I saw, SCB was gone from the Govt. Complex building.

I believe they are still there.... but... caveat... they weren't the focus of my attention yesterday.

And yellow Bank of Ayudhya / Krungsri is still there, among others.

They do the queue tickets thing mainly in the morning at opening, I believe, to prevent the otherwise crush. You'll note, my prior post read: "BKK Immigration seems to now have a newish COVID inspired queue system at opening in the morning..."

If you want to do any business with Thai Immigration in BKK, you'd better be wearing a face mask, because they REQUIRE it. During my visit there this week, the IO's were going up to several non-mask wearing farangs sitting waiting for service, and telling them they had to don a mask, and not leaving until they put one on.

Well someone must be taking notice, because at least 99% of the people I saw today riding around on the BTS, Thai and foreigners alike, were wearing face masks.... And that's well above the general rate I see when out and around elsewhere in town in BKK. Perhaps, just perhaps, it has something to do with standing packed in close proximity to many strangers in a closed environment during a time of COVID.

Depending on when the last time was that various folks were there... BKK Immigration seems to now have a newish COVID inspired queue system at opening in the morning that's a big improvement, compared to what it was the last time I was there a year ago. This week, when I arrived about 8 am prior to the official 8:30 am opening of the Immigration Office, there were three IOs sitting at a table in front of the closed IO entrance handing out entry queue tickets and TM forms to those that wanted/needed them. When I arrived, I walked right up to their desk and NO ONE was in line waiting for their service. At 8 am, they gave me an entry ticket number of 136, which I soon realized relates to what now are long rows of wooden chairs that snake along the side of their office heading back a long way. Each chair has a number tag pasted on the back, which corresponds to the queue ticket number they've given you (i.e., that's where you sit to wait in socially distanced style). By about 8:15 or 8:20 am, they began allowing the queued up chair folks to line up and then enter the actual Immigration Office, and then onward to the line at the IO's front counter where you get the real queue ticket number for service at whatever Immigration section you're headed to. The entry into Immigration was all very orderly and organized, and they had an IO checking every queue ticket number outside to make sure no one was cutting into the line or going out of order relative to their queue number.... A far cry from the old days of long standing queues outside the IO office, people without queue tickets cutting line, and a general mob rush into the IO office once they opened the doors. None of that is occurring now under the current system, AFAICT.

Couple other details of my BKK CW visit on Tues: --They're still requiring the COVID questionnaire form to be completed prior to entering the the building where they do NOT ask about your vax status, but DO ask about all kind of other COVID-related things in the prior week -- have you had any recent symptoms, have you been around COVID positive people, have you traveled internationally, have you tested positive, etc etc. --Also, they are enforcing the face mask wearing policy in the Immigration offices at BKK CW. While I was sitting inside there waiting for my queue number to be called, there were two other farang guys sitting nearby at various points who were NOT wearing face masks... And in short order, one of the female IOs came up to each of them, and said 'MISTER!" and told them to put on their face masks. They also chided another guy who was wearing his mask below his nose.... So, come prepared!

Ya, I was leaving there there mid-morning... 10 to 11 am... Perhaps you got caught in the afternoon rush hour and resulting dirth of taxis. That's why I always try to get there early in the morning... miss the morning rush hour out, take care of my business quick, miss the lunch break at Immigration, and miss the afternoon traffic on the way back home! ????

One nice thing I did notice on the way TO Immigration from Mochit meanwhile...when taking the paid tollway out to Laksi... There used to be an odd, typically Thai exit from the expressway there that took you off onto surface streets and traffic congestion before you could finally get to the corner of CW Road and turn down toward Soi 7 and the government complex. Now, with all the rail line associated construction there, they've redone the Laksi intersection and, believe or not, there's a regular curved downward exit from the tollway that descends and puts you right onto CW Road heading in the right direction... They seem to have gotten that part right, at least.

When I was there Tuesday, it was easy to wait for and catch regular meter taxis at the exit from the Government Complex B building right outside where Immigration is located. When I was there, there was a queue of them parked, empty and waiting, right along the curb at the entrance area there. They're also still running the internal shuttle that takes people from the B Building to the top of the soi along CW Road. But agree about the local roadways within the Government Complex area right now... It took my taxi almost as long to maneuver out of that current mess, as it did to make it all the way back to Mochit once we got on the highway.

Couple other details of my BKK CW visit today: --They're still requiring the COVID questionnaire form to be completed prior to entering the the building where they do NOT ask about your vax status, but DO ask about all kind of other COVID-related things in the prior week -- have you had any recent symptoms, have you been around COVID positive people, have you traveled internationally, have you tested positive, etc etc. --Also, they are enforcing the face mask wearing policy in the Immigration offices at BKK CW. While I was sitting inside there waiting for my queue number to be called, there were two other farang guys sitting nearby at various points who were NOT wearing face masks... And in short order, one of the female IOs came up to each of them, and said 'MISTER!" and told them to put on their face masks. They also chided another guy who was wearing his mask below his nose.... So, come prepared!

Here's the @SooKee post from 1-1/2 years ago in a related thread talking about encountering the same bank book and photocopies requirement at BKK CW as part of the transferring stamps to a new passport process. He also was on a retirement extension, I believe: "Quick update on this. Transferred my stamps to new passport at CW yesterday. Bit more hassle than I thought it would be due to some running around because of admin errors but in short I ended up needing, in addition to both passports: 1) Letter from Embassy requesting Immigration to transfer the stamps 2) Thai Immigration stamp transfer application 3) Bank book updated to the day of transfer together with a signed copy along with signed copies of these pages..."

Thanks Pib! Could be one of two things, I guess... 1. It's a new rule that didn't apply previously... or 2. perhaps they're only applying it to retirement extension holders (such as myself) who rely on the bank deposit method, and not marriage extension holders such as yourself... Because in your case, you can legally have your extension-linked Thai bank balance go to zero at times during the year while still complying with their rules.... whereas with retirement extensions, the person has to have at least 800K for some months and 400K for the other months, and never below that.

I could have done that, do the stamps transfer AND the new extension on the same day, but I decided against it, for the following reason.... I usually ask my Thai wife to accompany me for the retirement extension process (which I'm very familiar with and have no doubts about), and she typically takes the morning off work once a year to do that.... And, since I wasn't entirely sure of all the stamp transfer requirements (having not done that process since 10 years ago), I decided I didn't want to run the risk of not having something Immigration wanted for the stamps transfer process that would have prevented me from doing the extension part, and thus wasting her time off of work. And if I hadn't decided to bring along my Thai bankbook just in case, that's exactly would have happened today -- a wasted trip out to BKK CW for being unable to comply with a requirement that they don't seem to have made clear in the public domain. At least this way, now, I can go back next week with the Thai wife, just do the new extension part, and be sure that we're not going to get tripped up with any complication relating to the new passport.

100% on that! I was going to try to explain to them -- but then figured it was hopeless -- that I've got to be back there at BKK CW next week to apply for a new extension of stay with my new passport. And when I show up asking for the new extension, they're going to require me to produce all the same bank stuff all over again.. And the IOs there today would have known that, because they could see the same as me that my current extension will expire later this month. So why they felt they needed to make me duplicate the exact same process again today, when they'd know I'd have to do it again within the coming two weeks anyway, is lost on me.... ????

Note: my experience below involves a person on a retirement extension based on a supporting Thai bank deposit: Just an UPDATE from BKK CW today, re the process of transferring one's extension stamps into a new passport, and it was a SHOCKER! In addition to the list of required photocopies I posted in the prior post, all of which Immigration indeed wanted today, they also wanted to: 1] inspect my original Thai bankbook holding my 800K retirement extension deposit to make sure my balance hadn't dropped below the required levels; 2] have me do a print balance update of that bankbook today as part of my application, and 3] provide them with signed photocopies of all the bankbook pages covering the entire 1 year period of my current extension. None of that pertaining to the bank info is listed anywhere on Immigration's own documents checklist (posted above) for getting stamps transferred into a new passport. So I checked with the officer handling my application, and she confirmed it, and I later spoke with her supervisor there in English, who also confirmed it. I couldn't quite get them to clarify if this was an old or new rule... But the supervisor told me, nowdays, if you are doing any business at BKK CW's L section where they handle retirement extensions, and your retirement extension is based on a Thai bank deposit, they're going to ask you for all three of the bank-related things above. I asked them further, and they clarified that the bankbook update and related photocopies stuff will NOT apply if an extension holder based on a Thai bank deposit is going to BKK CW to do business at the 90-day report section or the re-entry permit section or any other sections. But if you're doing any business at the L extensions section, they said they will require you to produce the bank stuff. Yesterday, in preparing for today's visit to BKK CW to get my stamps transferred to my new passport, I read a half dozen or so related threads on that general topic here on the forum, and I think there was only one poster (SooKee) who mentioned BKK CW requiring the bankbook update and photocopies as part of the transferring stamps to a new passport process. My guess last night was that he was probably wrong about that, since pretty much nobody else had mentioned it in their various posts. But I figured I'd bring along my Thai bankbook holding my retirement extension deposit just in case. And I'm glad I did, because he was 100% correct about that. And if I hadn't brought my bankbook, it would have been a wasted trip and day out to BKK CW. Two other detail issues that have gotten discussion in these threads: 1. As least for me as of today at BKK CW, there was NO FEE charged for transferring my Immigration stamps from my old passport to my new one. 2. And other than the bank info subject I've explained above, Immigration's documents checklist that I posted above is correct. They only wanted the photocopies of the most recent stamps for current extension, most recent entry, most recent visa, etc. -- and NOT photocopies of every used page from my old passport, which would have been a LOT of photocopies. Hope the above is helpful and useful.

I just came back from BKK CW this morning. Fortunately, dry as a bone on the way, while there, and on the way back. No water or flood impact at all, for the time being... However, since the last time I was there a year ago, they're going crazy with huge new construction all around the Government Complex property, with major new buildings going up... So getting in and out is a bit more hectic than usual. But Immigration itself, this morning, was about as un-busy as I can ever recall it being on a regular weekday morning. So now's a good time to go, if you've got any biz to do there. PS - Thanks for all the feedback above!!! ????

I thought the page 2 of the document you linked above was pretty interesting -- an Immigration checklist of all the various photocopies they'll supposedly want as part of transferring stamps to a new passport. My last time doing it was a decade ago, so I have little memory of the details back then. But when I go back to Immigration this week to request the stamps transfer to my new passport, hopefully now I'll be well prepared for any eventualities! ???? I don't think anyone in this thread mentioned being required to produce all of the above photocopies... ? But those types of photocopies are pretty much the standard kinds of things Immigration often wants to see for almost everything, including blowing your nose! ????

So for your experience at BKK CW, are you saying it was a two-step process? First have to deal with transferring your extension of stay at that section, and then separately had to go to the re-entry permit section to get that stamp transferred as well? It's been like a decade since the last time I had to do this at BKK CW... But my vague recollection of my experience long ago was that it was all done in one step at the extensions section and by the officers there...