Truespirit

Fidelity will not reimburse any ATM fees. they only give you 5 free monthly withdrawals before they start charging an internal fee

If this turns out to be true and a slow change is occurring with AEON ATMs, then your card's ATM fee reimbursement policy becomes more important. The motivation to save your bank an ATM reimbursement fee by using at AEON ATM will be gone....just go use any Thai bank ATM.

I agree entirely. It's such a pain in the ass to use AEON machines, that I've given up saving Schwab from paying the fee. They can afford it. Schwab, E-trade, and I believe Fidelity will all reimburse the 150 baht fee. And none of them charge a foreign transaction fee.

Why do we repeat this thread every couple of weeks?

Used the Aeon ATM at Central in Phuket yesterday with no 150 baht charge. . .

One of the greats! Rest in Peace.

Facebook VP C. Cox marrying a Thai woman? Sounds like that will turn out to be a great story for another film.

Sorry to hear that your bike was nicked. It happened to me on Phuket, where I was told that theft insurance is not available for motorbikes in Thailand (I have never confirmed if this is fact). I offered the police a 10,000 baht reward to get it back, but nothing came of it. It most likely went to a "chop shop" for parts.

A friend of mine, however, had one stolen on Phuket and got it back. A few weeks after the theft he saw his bike being used as a taxi moto, so he followed the driver until he returned to the taxi stand. He then went to the local police, who reluctantly accompanied him to the stand and got him the bike back, but they did not arrest the driver. When my friend asked if they were going to do anything about the driver - as well as the fact that there appeared to be other stolen bikes operating from that particular taxi stand - the cops got angry and essentially told him that he should just be happy that he got his bike back and now piss off with it. This, of course, leads to theories about the role of the boys in tight brown with the whole scam.

In Phuket there is a good shop located between Chalong circle and Chalong pier run by a cool and friendly American called Rick. He also has his own sail-making loft upstairs.

Just noticed that you will be 10 days into an extension. I am not sure, but I think that you need at least 21 days remaining on the tourist visa to get the transfer to a non-O . I have seen other posts on that in the past, so a search on TV should answer the question.

Yes it is possible in Phuket as I just did it last week. In addition to the income affidavit from the US Embassy, they wanted a copy of the ATM card that I use to bring the money into Thailand. All in, it took about 45 minutes total to transfer the tourist visa to a non-O for retirement, including getting a multiple entry exit stamp.

Note that they don't seem to be too friendly at the retirement desk these days, but just stay humble and lovable and don't lose it like a guy I know who got frustrated with them and mouthed off, slowing the whole process down and almost stopping the show. If you maintain your composure things will go smoothly.

It is called a "Receipt of Notification of Alien's Address" and to get one you need to get a copy of your landlord's ID card as well as a copy of a page from the landlord's registration book. These copies must be signed by the landlord, in blue ink (the authorities can get fussy about the blue ink bit).

Also note that to get a driving license you will need a non-immigrant visa, O or B, as I don't know of any DLT office that will issue a license on a tourist visa.

what Immigration Office did you use? (Curious, 'cause not all Immigration offices will do same-day conversions and extensions.)

I should have clarified at the outset that I am using the Immigration and DLT Offices in Phuket.

I believe you have converted from a tourist visa entry (about 30 days?) and obtained a non immigrant visa entry (90 days) and now a one year extension of that for 15 months in one go.

So you will have been in Thailand 90 days before your extension of stay begins. Expect that explains the 23 April date for 90 day reporting and that you should make first report on that date.

Yes, now It makes sense as I entered the country on a 60 day tourist visa on 24 January. The 23 April date would be 90 days since I entered. Thanks, Lopburi3!

Went back today (Monday) and all went well. Got the retirement stamp which is good for 15 months, and then went to the DLT and got my 2 five year licenses renewed until 2016 (5 years and 363 days as I applied 2 days after the previous five year had expired).

Only slight confusion that I now have is that the retirement stamp says that notification of residence must be made every 90 days, but the stamp that they put on the back of my TM departure card states that I must return to notify my address on 23 April 2010, which is only 60 days. As this is my first ever retirement stamp I don't know when I should return to check in, 60 day or 90 days?

It is very unusual to apply on your exact birthday. I have never read such a report before; yours is the first report I am aware of. You have nothing to worry about. The officer told you to come back after your birthday. I would take that literally. Happy retirement.

Thanks for the good wishes, Jingthing! I should have explained that the reason I needed to apply on my birthday was because my two 5 year driving licenses expire today and I am currently in-country on a tourist visa. As I can not renew my licenses without a non-O or a non-B, my plan was to get the non-O from immigration in the morning and then make my way to the license bureau and get my renewals before the end of the day. As it stands, I will have to drive carefully and avoid checkpoints thsi weekend until I can hopefully have it sorted on Monday.

Today is my 50th birthday, so I made the trek to immigration with all of my paperwork in order to began the process of retirement. Things were going fast and smooth, and I had even paid all of the fees and was just getting my receipt when suddenly the show stopped. An officer had noted that I could not apply for an extension and visa change for retirement until I was over 50 years old, so they gave me my money back, tore up the receipt, and told me to come back tomorrow (or Monday, as the office is closed at the weekend). They explained that as today was my birthday I was not yet over 50, but that I will indeed be over 50 and a valid applicant at the morrow.

As this all seems strange, I am now concerned about wasting another trip on Monday only to be turned away again. This policy about being over 50 contradicts the english translation of the Thai Immigration Visa Requirements, which state the age for retirement as "50 or over".

Before I embark on another trip all the way back to the immigration office, I need some guidance and direction on whether this might just be a tactic to prompt me to grease the application form - or is it indeed a real policy.

Anyone had or know of a similar experience?

They were protesting the Election Commission whose office is up there. It is reported at The Nation Online today.

Fit Club and Fit Cafe in Patong have a great selection of quality supplements: protein, creatine, glutamine, etc. Fit Club Gym is opposite Christin's Massage in Patong, just past Jungceylon. Or call Oy at 081-676-8894 or 076-294-109.

I had a somewhat similar situation once in Penang. At first I was told 'no problem', but on the day I wanted to pick up my passport with visa I was told 'cannot'. I got a refund of my fee, though. Judging from reports, the new(?) practice of not returning the fee in case of no visa in Saigon is unprecedented.

the country of Vietnam is known very well for such practices, so maybe the Thai Staff at that consular office adopted that way of making a litle extra money.....

but if u do have a RECEIPT, you could try to inquire or complain at the responsible authorities in Thailand. maybe that will not help YOU to get back your money, but it may help OTHERS in the future to NOT lose their money to obvious crooks

Good point about the receipt. I had turned over my receipt to claim the passport. Next time I will get an extra receipt for the money paid.

Just heard from a guy who has a Viet G/F living with him in Thailand. The same thing happened to her last month when she went to pick up her tourist visa, and they insisted that they wanted an e-mail from him stating that he would be covering her expenses while in Thailand. He sent that, as well as a fax copy of it for the G/F to bring in, but they still refused her and kept the $35. He thought that it must be because the Thais and Viets don't like each other, but it seems that the consulate is also going after farangs.

If you are going to HCMC to get a visa and can't change your plans, I might suggest that you make it politely clear to the person who accepts your passport and money that you saw a bit in a farang newspaper about many people who have been denied at HCMC when they return the next day, and lose their application fee - so you just want to be sure that all is in order with your application before you turn over any money or spend another night in town. There is a very slight chance that it might alert the scammer that people are now paying attention.

There was a sign at the counter in HCMC that said that the consulate would not refund application fees if they found a problem with an application or passport upon "further review". That is their license to scam. . .

Recently had a problem at the Thai Consulate in Saigon while applying for a Tourist visa. They accepted my applicaton and passport and $35 fee, and told me that all was in order and that I could pick up my passport the following afternoon. Returning the following afternoon, they informed me that they had denied my request for a tourist visa and would be keeping my $35 for the applicaton fee. Reason for denial was that they felt that my passport had too many entries into Thailand (as anyone living here obviously does), so they assumed that I must be working in Thailand. A Thai consular official explained that if I got someone in Thailand to send an e-mail stating that I was not working, then she would issue the visa. So I had a Thai friend send the e-mail, and I returned the following day - at which time they claimed that they had received no such e-mail. I offered to go across the street to an internet shop and print out a copy of the e-mail, but they just handed me back my passport and indicated that the discussion was now over.

Out on the sidewalk I noticed two other angry farang pacing and cursing. They explained that the same thing had happened to them and they had also lost $35. each. So I essentially lost my $35, plus three nights in a hotel, plus the time and effort involved. Is someone running a scam in that office? It seems so, or they would simply deny us before we pay them our money. It has left a very bad taste in my mouth, and I was very lucky this time that I had not yet timed out on my 30 day visa runs.