OJAS

- Special conditions: 1. Citizens of the People’s Republic of China who do not have a residence in Vietnam may be able to apply for a Tourist/ Transit visa once if they have round trip ticket to and from Thailand, evidence of accommodation in Thailand, and adequate finance.

According to their website, though, Hoh Chi Min City do have a special condition for PR China nationals "who do not have a residence in Vietnam" but "may be able to apply for a Tourist/ Transit visa once if they have round trip ticket to and from Thailand, evidence of accommodation in Thailand, and adequate finance." https://hochiminh.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/tourist-visa?page=5d80ab3315e39c2fe800a7a7&menu=5d80ab3315e39c2fe800a7a8 Maybe Savannakhet would be an alternative possibility if they couldn't meet Hoh Chi Min's requirements and it's single-entry - rather than multi-entry - tourist visas that they're after and they could meet their financial requirements? Don't know how easy the consulate is to get to from Chiang Mai, though. https://savannakhet.thaiembassy.org/th/publicservice/104412-tourist-visa?page=5d84a44c15e39c26b400453e&menu=5d84a44c15e39c26b400453f

Probably didn't bother with "little trivial things" like that. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the Embassy - and, hence, the British taxpayer - ended up stumping up the costs of an emergency travel document + air ticket + 20,000 THB max overstay fine in his case.

The fact that he skipped his trial at Chester Crown Court in December 1997 (as stated in the OP) would have automatically guaranteed his inclusion on any official watchlist, I would have thought. And when his name cropped up in the PNR data list* for the flight he took, this probably set alarm bells ringing at New Scotland Yard or wherever. * https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/passenger-name-record-data/passenger-name-record-data

Could you not get the originators of the letters in question to send them directly to your friend?

Richard Burrows, 80, was arrested on Thursday after flying back to the UK from Thailand, nearly three decades after a warrant was issued for his arrest. So it looks like we may well have the PNR data list for the flight in question to thank for this vile individual finally receiving his long-overdue comeuppance. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/passenger-name-record-data/passenger-name-record-data

If you've already got flights booked you might as well still go ahead with the trip IMHO and proceed in accordance with @richard_smith237's (1) to (3). How you go about applying for an emergency travel document, as per his (1), is set out in the following link: https://www.gov.uk/travel-urgently-from-abroad-without-uk-passport And, as a variation to his (3), you might instead wish to consider returning to Thailand with a 30-day visa exemption and then converting this into a 90-day non-O visa for retirement at your local immigration office, as set out in the following link: https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/9.FOR-RETIREMENT-PURPOSES-50-YEARS-OLD-NON-O.pdf Just beware, though, that, if you are minded to go down this alternative route, you will probably, when checking in for your return flight at LHR or wherever, be required to show proof of a confirmed flight booking out of Thailand within the following 30 days before you are permitted to board this flight. A cheap throwaway ticket for the likes of an Air Asia flight to a destination in an adjoining country (e.g. Kuala Lumpur) should do the trick here.

And I see that this thread was started on 18 February. So even more inexcusable, I think, for you and @aussienam to hijack the PI thread in the way that you did, in flagrant and blatant defiance of @Mike Lister's express wishes and resulting in its closure.🤬

Would we be correct in inferring from this that your local office is Jomtien?

Other way round, actually!

A certified English translation thereof, I think!

Could have fooled me!

Yep, easy to carp negatively from the sidelines, isn't it? Not quite to easy to single-handedly pen a 73-para document, though.

You will already have paid capital gains tax to HMRC on the sale of your UK property, and, since this is covered by Article 14(1) of the double taxation agreement between the UK and Thailand, there is IMHO no need for you to declare the sale proceeds once remitted to Thailand as assessable income for the purposes of any tax return you might be required to file with the Thai RD: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80bddc40f0b623026953eb/uk-thailand-dtc180281_-_in_force.pdf That said, it is possible that the RD might eventually be alerted to any sizeable remittances arising from your property sale and require you to provide evidence that these do not, in fact, relate to income which should be classed as assessable. FYI I am still in the process of remitting to Thailand the proceeds from the sale of my UK property a couple of years ago in (sizeable) dribs and drabs, and have decided to hang on to all papers relating to this sale, together with all subsequent UK bank statements, in case I do get challenged by the RD at some point. I would strongly advise you to do the same. Personally speaking, I would not have thought that any of this should be a material consideration to the timing of your move to Thailand.

Could be that they reset your reporting clock as part of that process without telling you. That certainly happened to me at Rayong last year! EDIT: @NoDisplayName has already made this suggestion, I see!!

That's more or less what I also told the Co-op back in 2018, but I did also give them my HMRC UTR number for good measure. However, rather than go through all the hassle of obtaining a local TIN from my local RD office soley in order to satisfy my home country bank, I would be sorely tempted these days - if specifically pressed by them for a local TIN - to merely give them the 13-digit ID Card Number stated in my COVID certificates!

I bank with the Co-op, and back in 2018 they required me to complete a form which is presumably similar to at least one of those which Smile have sent to the OP. No big deal really. I stated my TIN as being the 10-digit UTR code used for my tax returns to HMRC, and the Co-op seemed happy with this.

Yes, you are correct. According to AIS I was running up against a 5,000 THB maximum limit on my prepaid balance, of which I was previously unaware. Mods - maybe this thread should be re-titled along the lines of "Maximum balance on AIS prepaid SIM's is 5,000 THB"?

Has anyone else been receiving the attached error message as I have following several unsuccessful attempts today (Tuesday)? And is the culprit more likely to be AIS, rather than Bangkok Bank, given the advice in the message to contact the payee if the problem persists? BKKB AIS error message.pdf

A further option, as referred to by @Liquorice, would be to return to Thailand after 6 June with a 30-day visa exemption which you could then convert to a fresh non-O visa for marriage at your local immigration office, as set out in the following link:- https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/6.FOR-PROVIDING-SUPPORT-TO-OR-BEING-A-DEPENDANT-OF-A-THAI-CITIZEN-SPOUSE-VISA-NON-O.pdf

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/pension-age-retirement-women-compensation-government-b2516222.html Fat chance of the UK government being prepared to cough up £10.5bn in order to compensate these women when they are balking at stumping up the rather more modest £600m needed to unfreeze our State Pensions, I think!

But that would not, I think, be necessary if the pink ID card included the most vital piece of personal information relating to foreigners here in Thailand - namely the date when their current permission to stay expired.

Which would appear to mean enlisting the services of a trustworthy solicitor as suggested by @Liquorice. But, there again, maybe the OP could help him out with that given that they appear to be such good friends!

Which immigration office in your case, please? Just wondering whether "Please contact the nearest Immigration Office in person immediately" might be some standard CW response to all online 90-day report rejections (which, if CW is also your office, would probably indicate that it was not). The response I received from Rayong to the rejected 90-day report I referred to in my previous post was the rather more meaningful (if terminologically incorrect!) "Latest visa extension was on 20 July 2023. Next 90 day notification will be on 17 Oct 2023".

Which immigration office are we talking about in this instance (if not CW who have acquired a notorious reputation for the extremely leisurely manner in which they process 90-day reports submitted by snail mail)?