Gaccha

19 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Question - did I read correctly above, and in fact are people now encountering this at BKK CW, that they've now changed their policy to also require IN PERSON 90-day reports after a person returns from international travel?

Correct. It is an astonishing and absolutely exasperating change. A real setback, reminding me of the pre-online days. 

The people hit the hardest will be those leaving Thailand around 2 to 4 times a year. 

3 hours ago, rwilem said:

Immigration offices across the kingdom seem to have an issue about knowing or being updated on 'entry dates', and thus tracking when a fresh 90-day cycle should be coming into effect.

I think you are exactly right. Unless they are connected up to the airports, they could no longer track us. Obviously, the logical thing would be to get connected with the airport immigration system. But that would require time and effort on their side.

Much easier and cheaper for them is to place the workload onto all of us. But ultimately they also lose in that regard, because there is now a huge increase in the number of people at the A1 counter at Bangkok Immigration.

I can recall going and finding only 10 or 15 people ahead of me in the lines before COVID. When I went this week there were over 350 people in front of me (and I tried to time my trip to avoid the crowds).

By 7 pm you could see the staff snapping. They made everyone remaining stand up in a line to try and rush through the process. There were two staff on the lines simply badgering each "customer" to put down a name for their apartment (they seemed obsessed with this issue).

Forcing us to stand up in a long line reminded me of the dark days during the floods of 2011 when we got to experience the immigration offices where the "Three Nationalities" (Burmese/ Lao/ Cambodian) are made to go; they are treated like cattle made to stand in long lines for hours on end. The Thai Immigration staff treat them with contempt. 

12 hours ago, connda said:

Your entry date and visa extension date don't match our system."

It's interesting that they have started to give reasons in the rejection emails. 

The rejection I received simply made no sense because it was based on an entirely new policy which I had not heard anyone else speak about (that Bangkok immigration now requires an in-person application after every travel abroad).

What they need to do is include a part in the application for us to explain some anomaly or provide extra information.

On 5/30/2024 at 10:42 AM, Gaccha said:

 

 

Is the new Bangkok policy really now that every single time I make a quick trip abroad, 90 days later I am going to have to waste a day at the immigration office?

 

I am in disbelief. This is absolutely enraging.

Big News

The policy at Bangkok Immigration has changed. I checked with the Immigration Officer today.

Every fresh entry to the country requires an in-person visit. Online has now become impossible. To anybody who travels 2 or 3 times a year using a re-entry permit, this is a major inconvenience. It is unprecedented. The Officer said they were receiving complaints about this new policy every day.

I think Sheryl recommends the BIDC. Another decent, cheap alternative is the St Louis.

2 hours ago, CANSIAM said:

The quick trip outside the country threw off your 90 day reporting cycle from the previous cycle

I understand that the 90 days starts over again but that has never been a problem for well over 7 or 8 years. 

Is the new Bangkok policy really now that every single time I make a quick trip abroad, 90 days later I am going to have to waste a day at the immigration office?

I am in disbelief. This is absolutely enraging.

Has Bangkok immigration changed their rules on re-entering the country for the 90 days? 

I have re-entered on a visa extension via a re-entry permit from a quick trip abroad.

They rejected my online application twice, and the second time even gave a reason:

This never used to be the case. I've come and gone many times over many years without having to make a physical journey to Chaengwattana.

22 hours ago, Senior Player said:

prescribed Proctosedyl Ointment which could only be prescribed by a doctor and not bought over-the-counter in the UK.

That is a steroid (readily available in Thailand) and a local anaesthetic (easy to get). So if the OP is motivated to act then he could go and get a couple of creams today to sort himself out.

On 5/25/2024 at 6:30 PM, Trollmann said:

Old price list from 2019

Is there a link to download your Excel sheet on prices? It really looks impressive. Thanks.

On 4/15/2024 at 1:22 PM, george said:

Within a few weeks it will be possible to enable RSS feeds again.

Let us know please if things have progressed! 

In 2013, the Thai police listed the top 10 crime hotspots. It created quite a buzz:

1. Soi Lat Phrao 101

2. Soi Lat Phrao 107

3. Soi Sukhumvit 105

4. Soi Phaholyothin 52

5. Soi Suphaphong

6. Soi On Nut

7. Soi Chalermprakiat 14

8. Victory Monument

9. Sanam Luang

10. Ramintra Market

Many can be explained by being areas of deprivation, others for their exciting nightlife, and others for being deserted at night.

As usual, the 'silent majority' reactionary boomers are out in full force.

Magic mushrooms were legal and obtainable in many countries around the World until the early 2000s. In England, they were legal in a wet state, and in Japan they were legal in a dry state. In Tokyo, at the famous neon-lit pedestrian crossing, there used to be a large store only selling magic mushrooms. 

The obvious benefits and remarkable lack of drawbacks makes them a true no-brainer. They have been so successful for treatment of depression in research experiments that they were fast-tracked to legalisation. 

9 minutes ago, BigStar said:

The old code worked fine, just a matter of dropping it back in.

Totally agree. My engagement with the site is down 90%, although I imagine most people don't arrive via the RSS feed, so it's a very low priority for them. 

@george

Please don't forget to bring back/recreate this feed. My interaction with this forum is far lower quality without it. That feed gives instant updates on every page that I can drop in on. Thanks.

13 hours ago, Liquorice said:

My extension expiry date (which is what they mean, and I've entered numerous times before) isn't a required field anyway

Never fill in any of the fields which are not required. Leave them blank.

Out of curiosity, I visited the Tak Bai district police station about 10 years back. 

They had a wall of random objects like desks, chairs mixed in with barbed wire, covering the front area of the station. But otherwise, there was nothing strange about the village. The only police officer I saw was jovially chatting to locals at a nearby crossroads.

Should you be interested, I can recommend the astonishingly beautiful beach nearby.

One of the many remarkable and stupid things during the Covid crisis was the total failure of the governments to tell us to stay fit and strong. 

Not only was it extremely obvious to the attentive during the Covid pandemic that the healthy were the least likely to suffer, but the mass panic actually caused many people to give up exercise out of anxiety of the pandemic. I can recall seeing a newspaper headline stating some remarkable percentage of British women simply quit exercise.

If you looked at the infamous categories of risk, almost all were related to failures to look after their bodies. One factor held in common by most of the risk categories was being overweight. Only the risk factors of pregnancy and old age were truly out of the patients' control.

To make matters worse the governments actually introduced restrictions on visiting parks or going outside, making it very difficult to exercise.

It really was stupidity built upon stupidity. Government policy controlled by public anxiety and paranoia is never the best way to govern. I hope they have all learnt from it. 

On 2/15/2024 at 5:54 PM, howerde said:

if you go abroad then you will have to do the report in person

This is definitely not the case at Bangkok Immigration. I have done online after returning from abroad. 

It might be the official means if you are entering on a new visa. But if entering on a visa extension, and very probably entering on a multiple entry visa, then it'll get accepted by the system. The system on this issue is linked at Bangkok Immigration.

18 hours ago, thaitanic said:

a 90 day report online must be done exactly 15 days before the 90-day deadline

Doing this in Bangkok will result in an automatic rejection.

Samut Prakan Immigration clearly have decided to follow their own path.

I second this.

The only way I look at AseanNow is through the general feed. And now it's gone. 

On 2/5/2024 at 7:34 PM, sd44 said:

It has quite a list including laptops, tablets and usb devices, but doesn't say phones

I asked this exact question on the forum 4 months ago. It is shocking how ambiguous the list is that they provide.

I can tell you with absolute certainty that they do allow a mobile phone. 

"Nice country you've got there. Would be a shame if it got suffocated by pollution'