user82374298374

My guess is that it's a scam to get the farang to cough up 20 million baht . . .

Thailand is the least worst option, IMHO. All the reports about Vietnam, Cambodia, et. al. are true. Singapore is essentially a large, soulless shopping mall - it's stable, if you're an expat with a Western family, but otherwise, dull and boring.

That should be TAT's new slogan - "Thailand, the Least Worst Option!"

You mentioned your daughter. Is she here in Thailand and is she an adult?

And is she single, and attractive?

;>

Boomerangs.

If you could call that 'living'.

A Chinese direct sales company is about to send 12,000 staff to Thailand as a bonus. I'll post their schedule so you can meet and mingle with them.

For anyone in Pattaya, it's going to be hard to avoid mingling with them.

If you love your children and care about their education, stay in the UK - no matter how crappy it is, it sure beats subjecting one's children to the Thai educational system.

.

There is a big difference between someone on a vacation, or here for conference/business purposes, answering emails or skyping a meeting and someone pretending to be on vacation working here yearlong.

That's my point, precisely - there is a big difference, but it isn't reflected in the actual law.

Hypothetically, if the whole visa system was ridiculously "radially altered" - are you, and others, prepared for it?

Yes - that's what 'sure' meant in my previous response.

>I have a question for you, and other members in a similar position. Have you ever contemplated a day may come when you simply can't live here, for whatever reason? Do you have a "Plan B" - a back up plan?

My whole life will not fall apart if I am not living in Thailand.

And that's the difference between you and several of us who have decided that the 500K ThB Elite Easy Access card is our least worst choice, at present - we have non-financial considerations to take into account.

The world's best Thai chef, who has also won a Michelin star, is an Australian. David Thompson's restaurant Nahm, in Bangkok, is consistently voted as one of the best restaurants in the world and the best Thai restaurant in the world.

I've eaten at Nahm twice. While the service and atmosphere are superb, and the food is decent, it's nothing to rave about - I'd much rather eat street food or at the local Tops food court or in one of the me-so Thai restaurants in a shopping mall.

 

Does anybody knows if it is possible to pay cash and if they need evidences that this money comes from abroad ?

 

Yes, you can pay cash by depositing 500K ThB into their bank account (be sure to hold onto the deposit receipt!) - you don't have to wire the money if you don't want to do that.  You can also do an inter-bank transfer from a Thai bank account, if you have one.
 

and if you have the elite card, you brake the law, because then you are not on a bussiness Visa and then can deport you and black list, 

I'm under 50 years old, and I travel to Thailand both for business and for tourism.

It's perfectly acceptable to Thai Immigration to hold both a Non-Immigrant B and a PE visa at the same time; this is what I plan to do.

When I visit Thailand for business meetings, I will use the Non-Immigrant B visa.  When I visit Thailand purely for tourism, I will use the PE visa.

Awesome just applied for apec business card, thats going to be super useful. Seems like it still doesn't make sense to get the elite card, unless they put more restrictions on the non imm - B visa.

As a current Non-Immigrant B holder, my guess is that they're going to start denying entry to Non-Immigrant B holders who don't have a Thai work permit (I seriously doubt a Thai Immigration officer has ever been reprimanded for being overzealous).

That's why I'm applying for the Thai Elite 500KThB option next week.
 

No, because that generally means the expectation is that I'm the one who pays the bill.

;>

What about making a downloadable word Document / template where everyone on his own computer could enter the data, and then print it out to get laminated ?

Why not just go to Khao San Road, where they'll make you any kind of 'ID' card you want?

;>

If you hate your kids educated them here .

Concur 100%.

Just look at all the incompetence, graft, corruption, and disorganization in Thailand - all the people responsible for it are products of the Thai educational system.

Do you really want your child to grow up to become the same way?

you know guys, in Putin's Russia the situation when foreigners have to carry a passport with them at all times is for many years already.

My English friend (a black guy) was stopped by police in Moscow city centre having no photo ID with him, so they took him to the police station located at the very remote suburb of Moscow (about 20km from the centre) and held in a police cell with drunk criminals until I retrieved his passport from hotel

The atmosphere here is very bad really.

My guess is that this had more to do with the color of his skin than any issue with his documentation.

He stands out, in Moscow. That's just how it is.

>New expat Chess Club, starting in Hua Hin!

>Everyone is welcome!

Don't forget your passports.

;>

I called Immigration in Bangkok about 14 years ago

Your anecdote from the good old days of yore isn't really applicable in the current situation.  Things have a changed a bit in Thailand in the last couple of months.

;>

My guess is that eventually things will revert to some reasonable level of scrutiny - but until that time (and none of us know when it will be), all bets are off.