inthepink

Sounds good. And not a meaningless announcement, but a definite change of policy, for the slow season.

What they should do is kill this 15 day stupidity at land borders, kill all visas and visa costs except perhaps business visas, give everyone from proper countries 90 days on arrival (which can be extended for another 90 days again and again at immigration if you can prove cash of say Bt150,000 or so in the bank or at hand).

Then make it easy and cheap to do business legally and not use the blunt force of an immigration tool against non tax paying business owners.

What the he_l is a "proper country" anyway?

The Thai Government are like Thai girls they don't want long stayers with no money they want short stayers with lots of money

As the adage goes, "Never invest more in Thailand than you're willing to lose...."

The ignorance here is unbelievable but sadly a fair reflection of farangs in Thailand

So it's 'every' school boys fantasy, there fore it should be considered OK.

There can't be any negative psychological effects because he consented and he is a male!!!!

<deleted>!!!!

I am a teacher and I know it is many a 13 year old girls fantasy to consensually bed a handsome teacher.

Girls are more mature than boys at that age so she should be able to handle it better.

So therefore based on the THAI VISA LOGIC displayed here, a male, 28, who beds a 13 year old girl (as long as she consented to it,hel_l she might have even initiated it) should be applauded.

Of course not. That would be attacked as he would be some kind of perverted nonce.

Any abnormal sexual experience at such a tender age has the very real potential to cause trauma regardless of the sex of the young person....... And having sex with your 28 year old private language teacher can hardly be considered normal!! Except on this board and the Garry Glitter Appreciation Council.

Yes the boy probably enjoyed it... but ( inhales deeply) I could pretty much guarantee a generally pleasurable experience for virtually any woman who found me attractive.

IT WOULD STILL BE WRONG.

On the subject of it being equally traumatic for a boy as a girl - you may not have noticed but there are some major physiological differences involved here. A man is not normally penetrated during sex with a female, for example.

The bleeding hearts on this thread make me laugh. If the worst thing that happens to that boy is having sex with his teacher at the age of 13, then I don't think he will have too much to worry about. I wonder what people used to fret about before they invented psychology?

One should not be mean spirited, but there is something fundamentally sad and inviting of bad karma to try to buy prestige, the root of it might have been in Thaksin himself.

Swelters

I would have thought the majority of people purchasing this card did so for reasons of convenience, not prestige (?!!) I find it very sad that people wish ill on others, simply because they are financially more successful. This invites its own karma.

Will the government change the law now to ensure all public areas have adequate fire exits etc?....no.

Money is more important than lives in Thailand.

In fact a week from now this will all be forgotton and it will be business as usual from Saturday.

As pointed out elsewhere in the thread, this kind of thing has happened in the States before, and I would guess many other countries. Doesn't stop idiots like you making your uneducated comments as usual though.

Alot of derisory BS being bandied about from certain ivory towers here.

I am on the last entry of my 3rd consecutive multiple entry non o visa, and was planning to stay a couple of months on visa exempt stamps before returning to the UK in Feb/ March to get a new one.

Does that mean I am currently an acceptable middle class expat, but come next Friday will automatically be demoted to riff-raff?

You mention the weather, beaches, cost of living at legitimate reasons....so I would assume then that tourists coming to Thailand for the sole reasons of drinking the bars and partaking in the company of females are not legitimate reasons then to visit Thailand ?

I don't know about legitimate but it certainly isn't a legal reason to come here.

If they actually wanted to stop people living here by doing border runs, and not affect genuine tourists (whether they be backpackers or well heeled) then surely it would be much simpler just to insist that you had to stay out of the country for 12 or maybe 24 hrs once you left - i.e. not let you straight back in 5 minutes after you left. Nobody can seriously claim that a legitimate tourist would have a reason to want to visit a neighbouring country for less than 30 minutes so it should not affect them at all.

This news exemplifies the strong negative attitude Thai's have for Farangs..............

Those of us who live here will certainly suffer from being the only ones left exposed to these bandits. Possibly being the only prey they will have remaining as the tourists numbers decline more and more each day.

There's always one mentally challenged person on every thread like this, usually more actually. If you honestly think that this crime sums up a negative atttitude that you believe to be held by all Thais then I really would like to know what you are doing here. I can only think you were a failure back home, either romantically, financially or both. I don't mean to be rude but otherwise, why on earth would you live here if that's what you think?

Its all been said on this thread....... but one thing that sticks in my "craw" is that this slime bag is going around the world doing what every long term (law abiding and Thailand improving) farang wishes he could do here. Buy property and a home.

Thailand improving? Do you have an unfounded superiority complex? The majority of foreigners I have met in Thailand certainly didn't have improving Thailand on the top of their list when they decided to come over (or the attributes to do so IMO).

This would also imply that he knew this was going to happen since I would assume he would know his visa right was tied to his ownership of the soccer club.

In that case, what happens if he buys another company? Does being convicted of something in Thailand prevent him buying a company in the UK and applying for another business visa?

I totally agree with jcon. I wouldn't go anywhere near the Immigration Office to plead your case. Don't forget, we are walking ATMs and they want our cash!!

I would simply pay at the airport. I tried to pay at immigration in Bangkok after a lengthy overstay and they weren't interested, just told me to settle up at the airport.

/

whats the big deal??? so they cant go to england to live.

but they can take a tourist visa holiday there , (just like the "Al Fayed" - the man that owns harrods).. I am sure they can take many holidays in the UK.

Mohamed Al Fayed was turned down for British citizenship, not a visa, so it really isn't the same thing at all.

As far as I am aware, Australia has no history of (knowingly) harbouring villains from other countries.

Its true its been on the bbc news even here in nThailand! That will make the thais sit up and take notice if we have kicked him out! A little bit of education for the masses here in my books....about time too

That a third of a million people in Thailand's supposedly most politically-enlightened city should vote for a confessed criminal, pimp of under-age prostitutes, and general all-round thug as the person to present the face of their capital city to the world makes me speechless. Barred from the US (and who knows how many other countries), how can those voters live with their decision? Shades of Narong Wongwan (Wrong-One?). And Watana Asawahame. And ... and ... and ...

What a ridiculously pompous post. I don't think anyone here cares that he has been barred from the US - big deal. Secondly, US politicians' behaviour does not stand up to any kind of close scrutiny either, so why don't you come down off your high horse there?

The Pound to the Euro has gone from the roughly Eu2.00 of the 1990s to roughly 1.66 now and that's due to a strengthening Euro rather than a weakening Pound

What on earth are you talking about? The pound / euro rate today is about 1.25....nowhere near 1.66

They just don't have a clue..either this or the previous incumbants. Remember the fiasco with the 30% deposit thing??

Yes how silly the Thai government are. They really should look to the American government as a shining example of fiscal management. Maybe they could also lure a few Bear Stearns senior management figures away to advise them in future. Or perhaps there are some senior staff members of Northern Rock in the UK who could come and give some valuable lessons on money management.

From all the horror stories iv heard over here i would not ever go to a land border if i had more than 3-5 days overstay , get a cheap flight anywhere out of LOS and pay the fine at the airport , i believe that the border guards would almost without doubt arrest you and transport you back to Bangkok where you would be held until the fine is paid and a valid air ticket is produced.

I think this is either scare-mongering or maybe just ill-informed (in which case why post?). I crossed the border at Aranyaprathet with a 131 day overstay and several other ones ranging from 3 days up to about 40 days and never had a problem. I did have to make some excuses up once or twice but as for being arrested and dragged back to Bangkok if you are more than 5 days over..what planet are you on?

I have posted this before and as far as I know it is still the case. Nong Khai immigration told me that if someone went to them with "more than maximum overstay" ie 40 days at 500 baht that they were instructed to call the police to arrest the overstayer. They said the only way to leave Thailand with a large overstay was to go to 'Bangkok airport'.

From all the horror stories iv heard over here i would not ever go to a land border if i had more than 3-5 days overstay , get a cheap flight anywhere out of LOS and pay the fine at the airport , i believe that the border guards would almost without doubt arrest you and transport you back to Bangkok where you would be held until the fine is paid and a valid air ticket is produced.

If it is anything like the UK then any onward ticket problems usually result from the airlines and not Thai immigration - i.e. they won't let you board a plane to Thailand if you have a tourist visa and no onward flight ticket. Thai immigration do not require you to have an onward flight ticket if you already have a visa (to the best of my knowledge).

A Non Imm Ed visa is for learning, not teaching.

Yes, you cannot do any work legally on a Non imm 'ED' visa so that would be no good.

From my personal experience the advice on this thread for anyone with a long overstay may be erroneous. I took this advice and went to Suan Phluu with a lawyer and was told to clear my overstay at the airport. They were not interested in me clearing it there at all. Luckily the lawyer was a personal friend or I would have been out of pocket as well as having wasted my time going there.