Gaccha

15 hours ago, rwilem said:

This page on passport renewals for British people residing in Thailand was updated last week

I noticed that that link confirms my position (I'm the only person in this chat pointing this out so I will emphasise it again): you must submit your old passport and they will send it to the UK with the rest of the documents. You do not get to keep it.

I suspect most people in this chat are either not UK citizens, or have never applied for a new passport from Thailand. To apply for a new passport from Thailand you must prove that you are resident in Thailand. You cannot be a mere tourist by your visa.

To quote the link:

Do I need to send original documents with my application?

Yes, you must send your old passport, and in some cases, additional supporting documents (such as a name change certificate).

6 hours ago, rwilem said:

Are British passports valid for only five years?

No. But my passport fills up very quickly with visa renewals and travelling to other countries. This is a common problem among expats.

38 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

Did you use an agent or did you visit VHS personally

I went myself. Handed over my passport along with all other required materials, such as colour photocopies.

I'm very pleased to see how quiet this place now is.

I am eager to see if the new digital arrival card will mean we no longer have to attend in person on the first 90 days (this has only been policy since around February 2024 anyway). The first person to report on this-- who will know for certain-- should be around mid-September.

Edit:

Here is a link to the digital arrival card.

Yes, you definitely have one. 

It will be recorded on your tax records that your employer has, and which you should also have.

One of the most enjoyable ways to get into Thai language study and politics was to peruse the '2bangkok' website run by Ron Morris.

He'd take a political cartoon from one of the Thai newspapers and provide a translation:

His analysis was pretty handy: 

The website closed down a few years back. So if anyone is out there looking to do something interesting and useful, then here is your chance. I promise I'll visit your site.

57 minutes ago, jas007 said:

Why does Wise care where the money comes from or where it's going?

Because around 20% of all money in financial circulation is criminal money. That money is seeking to be laundered by obfuscating its origins through lots of money transfers through legitimate organisations like Wise.

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

when Dee Money went bust.

You have evidence of this? There were rumours in December and  nothing since.

42 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

I was charged 250Bt for the "card".

It is very highly likely that you are supposed to receive a physical card. It is incredibly unlikely that a virtual card would be charged; they are almost always free. 

KTB has no travel card which is exclusively a virtual card. But it is possible to withdraw from an ATM without the card, just as it is possible nowadays with many banks through their standard bank App features.

I think you have put yourself into a great deal of confusion. Virtual cards have been around for a long time and had no special ability to withdraw from ATMs without a card. In fact that was one of the ways that their functionality was limited.

If I was you I would download the NEXT app. See if you can locate the travel card on it and figure out the features for making an ATM withdrawal via the App.

When you have the chance you should then go to the branch which issued you with the travel card and ask them for the card.

I'm afraid I don't believe he will be able to obtain an exemption.

As a male citizen he has a duty that is not avoided by being a dual or triple citizen, or by living abroad: 

In fact he could even lose his Thai citizenship if he does not comply: 

There are only very few exemptions. 

The best possibility looks like walking into the consulate and getting a meeting. If they're not answering the phone I don't see any other option. It is there where the exemption is typically issued.

This case just gets stranger. It turns out that they actually pleaded guilty at the trial despite insisting that they wanted their 'day in court' just a couple of days ago.

So foolish but understandable because they obviously buy into the narrative that you see on this topic that the farang is uniquely oppressed by the Thai legal system.

Having watched the CCTV, there is simply no way the judge would have found them guilty. The only possibility is that the CCTV has been edited in their favour; I notice that the beginning of the fight is not available for viewing. Did they provoke? Who punched first?

4 hours ago, Mark Hopkins said:

Lawyers in Thailand aren't cheap. 

They are extremely cheap compared with English lawyers. 

It's a very simple legal case and would not require much work on the part of the lawyer.

There is only one driving course that I'm aware of which is actually close to a metro station and that is "42 Tee Off" near Phra Kanong BTS.  It is excellent quality but considerably more expensive than the other driving courses around Bangkok. 

If you are taking a Grab (there is no Uber in Thailand), then you can always find driving courses just outside the centre and just beyond the metro station lines. You just have to search for "golf" on the Google map. 

A British newspaper claims "The pair have spent every penny they own trying to clear their names". 

Just how much is a lawyer for a simple criminal case costing them. What on earth are they doing? 

I'd think it would have cost so far no more than 20,000 baht, and the trial itself would be no more than 30,000. Am I disconnected from reality?

On 3/3/2025 at 2:35 PM, Liquorice said:

as far as I'm aware only specific to CW Immigration

I'm not even sure that it applies to CW. I can certainly remember CW changing it so the question arises when did they change back to the old way of doing it. 

I worry that this belief is one of those strange untested myths that have cropped up on this forum. 

Certainly when I applied at the last minute I have always received an approval. The problem is I can't remember when I last did that.

22 minutes ago, johnnytuc said:

Telling the truth doesn't help much in a Thai court

Your dispositional attitude of suspicion seems similar to the couple in the story. You can tell they don't trust the process, Thai law... or something. 

I get it. It's foreign, odd, unfamiliar, exasperatingly different, but it creaks along. 

Looking at many of these cases it is this attitude which leads so many people to just give up before the argument begins. They sign some piece of paper admitting guilt or don't fight the case.

My uncle is a Thai judge. He has that same cosmopolitan air as British judges I've known. There is nothing alien about his idea of justice. And since there is no jury, the judge's attitude is what matters. This couple needs to relax.

9 hours ago, JJ-Thailand said:

You can claim tax credit if you have already paid tax at source

What if the tax rate at source is 0%. Is that "tax paid" under Thai regulations? Or must there be some tax paid? If so, is 0.1% enough? 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

only Thai nationals with a minimum of 50 million baht in a fixed deposit for at least six months

This was already revealed several weeks ago. We even have had feedback from major casinos about this high deposit threshold. 

It is obvious that the big casinos, The ones you see in las Vegas or Macau will be extremely reluctant to invest since there just will not be enough footfall.

Instead, the same dodgy casinos you can find on the border with Cambodia or in the Three Diamond area of Lao or just in Burma. This all but ensures corruption and criminality.