Mattd

In theory if you are staying in a hotel or guesthouse, then they should be reporting to immigration and you should not have to do anything.

Good to hear it is on the way to being sorted, thanks for the update.

5 hours ago, BritTim said:

In the UK database, the old passport is marked as invalid for travel soon after the application is received.

Just to be 100% clear on this, the original passport is cancelled within the UK database only once the new passport has been authorised (so issued by definition) and not before.

This from the guidance document on cancellation of a British Passport issued by the Government:

Where an application for a replacement passport is submitted, or the accompanying passport is still valid (e.g. because it is full), the document should be cancelled and a note made on the system (see also Passports containing visas, below).

Cancellation should be done when the new issue is authorised and not before. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/118594/cancellation-of-passports.pdf

The UK has two databases for passports, one is with IPS and the other is a database used for LSR (Lost, Stolen, Recovered)

The IPS database can only be accessed by IPS and UK Border Control, it is not shared outside of the UK, the LSR database can be accessed by overseas British embassies etc.

Therefore it would be reasonable to assume that the original passport is still valid from the point of application to the point that the new passport is issued, of course the issue would be knowing the date of issue!

Thai immigration do NOT transfer valid visas to a new passport, they will only transfer an extension of stay, re-entry permit etc. they will make a note of the change of passport in the first pages which will include the old passport number, original visa details and date of arrival on that visa.

Should not be too much of an issue, as said, bring the proof of funds, an outward ticket and smile and then hope that the IO that is dealing with you doesn't look at the history and draw conclusions, given the 2 days, 30 days and then 60 days, the trend would suggest the next one to be longer!

50 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

1. The marriage certificate is proof of marriage it has your name and wifes name on it.

2. Wifes Tabien and id card together with marriage cert is acceptable  as proof of address.

Or how do i get my 60 day extensions to visit wife with only wifes tabien and ID card?

Or how is landlords tabien and ID plus lease acceptable as proof of address.

None of these tabiens have my name on them.

 

All of your points are very pertinent when applying for an extension based on marriage, the OP however was applying based on retirement and immigration accepted the Tabien Baan with his child in it in lieu of a TM30 report.

In reality, even if you are applying for either the 60 day extension to visit the wife or a retirement extension, then neither prove that you actually are living at that address, hence why there are some immigration offices that are requesting pictures of you in the house and outside and even Thai neighbours to verify this.

For an extension based on work CW office are now requiring loads of pictures of you in the office with Thai staff etc. but don't seem to give a hoot about where you live.

It is all designed to try and ascertain that people are living where they say or working at an actual company and was tightened up after the Erawan shrine incident, to be honest I do not think it proves that much, as these things can be arranged, but it seems to satisfy immigration!

The OP managed to extend using the Tabien Baan as proof of address, the problem is that the inconsistency of the different areas and immigration officers may mean that he is not so lucky next time, the moral of the story is, take this kind of stuff with you and present it, if accepted great, but bring as much as possible to back it up, ideally a TM30 or slip etc.

No need to reread or any interpretation needed whatsoever IMO, as that the PE visa cannot be obtained at a land border but can be obtained at the airport.

Whereas I do sympathise and understand why you would feel annoyed, I would also make an assumption that because you are changing from one form of elite membership to another it is highly possible that Thai Elite are correct and the change in visas has to be done the way that they say.

I 100% agree that it makes no sense whatsoever why the airport immigration can issue the PE visa upon entry in the same passport and CW immigration cannot in the same passport due to the original SE visa, there has to be a reason, though it alludes me or logic.

2 minutes ago, Confuscious said:

nobody told me about this rule.

1. Did you specifically ask for this information in a post?

2. Is it a rule or is it entirely up to the discretion of the IO or office that you are applying at?

3. Why did you not ask at the Immigration office on any of your past extensions.

As we all know, even when there are rules in place it doesn't mean that immigration will apply them.

You were advised by Ubonjoe to depart and return via Suvarnabhumi airport not via a land border, now Thai Elite are reiterating it, seems you have no choice but to go out again and return by air to Suvarnabhumhi to convert.

1 hour ago, BangkokNicky said:

The order goes into effect on Saturday, and lasts until May 22

But the news article was dated 14 March 2017?

27 minutes ago, ricky87 said:

I'm a dedicated honest hard working person.

I am sure that you are and would not suggest otherwise, you will have no problems departing so long as it is before midnight tomorrow and best of luck.

+1 regarding what are you worried about,  unless there is something else that hasn't been mentioned then you are stressing over nothing, you are allowed to stay in Thailand until Midnight, Wednesday 17th May 2017 as the entry stamp says and will have no issues at all so long as you depart prior to this.

On 2017-5-13 at 10:53 AM, RigPig said:

You do realise that using a VPN in Thailand is illegal? 

No it is not illegal, there are a lot of companies operating in Thailand that use VPN as a means to give their employees secure access to files on a server etc. perfectly legally.

As stated by others, it would only be illegal if it was used to mask the browsing of illegal material / sites, which of course would include Facebook if they were stupid enough to ban this and make it illegal!

My son turns 18 on Wednesday and wants to learn how to drive, does anybody know how this can be done legally, whether it is via a driving school, or in a private car?

As there isn't such a thing as a provisional driving licence in Thailand, then my understanding is that so long as the person is 18 years old or above and is under instruction by a person who holds a driving licence that is valid for the vehicle being driven, then this is OK?

Plan is to teach him the basics in a big open space that isn't a public road,  then progress to the roads, gradually building up from quiet rural ones to busier roads.

Lastly, can anybody recommend a driving school in the Pattaya area, one that will actually teach him to drive properly, if such a thing exists?

17 minutes ago, onthesoi said:

 

I'm sure they will, but I'm also sure they would be wrong.

----

 

As for the topic, sounds like the op is leaving due to losing his savings via his own bad decision making, high risk investments etc ...but looking to spin it as Thailand's fault somehow.

Not so sure that would be wrong in the true sense of the word, for me, the late Eighties, early Nineties were the good times, for others it will be a different period, depends on what it is at the time that you need / want, it is all relative. A 27 year old coming now has different needs then a 60 year old!!

I think Mobi is leaving due to a combination of things, not just due to losing money, I get the feeling that he would have gone back even if the money was plentiful, there does come a point where 'paradise' no longer feels like paradise!

23 minutes ago, stravers said:

I'm sure people will look back on 2017 and remark "now those were the best of times!"

Without a doubt!

The changes in Thailand stem from the length of time that you have experienced Thailand, many of us on TV have been here for a very long time and therefore notice the changes, somebody coming for the first time now, would not know any better and may think it is great, at least for a while, there are some really good points and there are some really bad ones, most people do quickly get bored with the bar scene that involves girls, take that away and it becomes like any other country, just with the annoyances of Thainess etc. which in all honesty can be extremely annoying and is actively encouraged by the folks in power.

The Thai system, like many in Third World Countries, does not want to educate the masses, why would they, that would mean that the masses might start questioning that very system that allows the rich to get richer and literally get away with whatever they like.

I strongly dispute that Thailand is a cheap country to live in by any means, in fact, if you have a normal life with children etc. it can be a very expensive place to live compared to say England, expensive school fees, healthcare costs or insurance, cars are silly expensive even secondhand, the children grow up then the university fees start and so on. Work here and the income taxes are not low and gain you nought!

It is a country that market forces seems to have overlooked!!

Totally agree with the comment about Smartphones, drives me nuts as they walk around not looking where they are going, cannot even begin to imagine what is so important on Facebook, Line etc. that means that they MUST look at it every waking minute.

At the end of the day Thailand is what you make it and Mobi has now decided, like a lot of others, that it is time to move on and go back home, remembering that Mobi and others, including myself, came here when we were relatively young and made it our home at that time.

I wish him the best of luck and I'm sure that it will all work out.

3 minutes ago, krystian said:

Sorry for the confusion he has a 1 year extended NON B visa til December together with dependants under NON O

 

No problem, in that case Ubonjoe's advice is correct, as always.

Oh and to add, very bad advice from his HR department by saying it would be still valid!!!

Sorry for butting in, the OP said his visa in not cancelled?

By that, does this mean that he physically has a Non B visa and NOT an extension of stay and that visa is a multiple entry type and is valid for entries up to December 2017?

If he does have a VISA then this should remain valid regardless of the WP cancellation.

13 minutes ago, DUS said:

Now, I seem to have a blonde moment since I am not sure what he means with "with 3 blank pages and last entry stamp". Sure, I can scan the page with the latest entry stamp but what´s that with the 3 blank pages? Do they really want me to scan 3 blank passport pages so that they know I´ve got that number of empty pages in my pp? Can´t really believe that but who knows ...

I'd imagine that they mean that your passport must still have 3 blank pages in it?

From what I can gather from the data available on the WWW, then it appears that when an application for a replacement passport is received by the IPS, then the process includes cancelling the passport in the UK passport database, however, the passport appears to remain valid for travel to countries other than UK until such time that you receive the new passport and VFS cut as per the instructions from the UK Passport Office, the way it is cut differs on the type of passport.

This then indicates to all immigration authorities worldwide that the passport is no longer valid, the only country that seemingly can access the UK passport DB is the UK, hence why travelling to the UK could be an issue.

Where an application for a replacement passport is submitted, or the accompanying passport is still valid (e.g. because it is full), the document should be cancelled and a note made on the system (see also Passports containing visas, below). Cancellation should be done when the new issue is authorised and not before.

Passports should be cancelled as follows:

E-passports (version 2) – the bottom right corners of: a) the front cover & b) the biodata page must all be cut off, making sure that the right hand side of the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) has been cut through, except in the case of faulty passports. The back cover of the new style passport must be left uncancelled.

E-passports (version 1)) – the top right corners of: a) the front cover  the back cover & c) the biodata page must all be cut off, making sure that the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) has been cut through except in the case of faulty passports.

1 hour ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

question. why do people get marriage visas when retirement visas are so much easier to get? (as long as you are over 50 that is) marriage visas seem to be difficult. 

1. Age - Too young to get the retirement extension.

2. Finances - Cannot show the required funds for the retirement extension.

3. Working in Thailand and using marriage as reason for extension, this saves the hassle of sorting out a further extension etc. if employment finishes and is actually a lot less hassle than obtaining an extension based on employment.

Probably loads more reasons.

Though not disagreeing that if they can do on retirement then it is a lot easier.

Singapore has just started with Thumb prints, was there in February this year and they took them only outwards, return trip last week and took both inwards and outwards.

Interestingly, when I departed from Thailand on 26/04 and when I returned on 28/04 both of the immigration officers did not appear to take the photo whilst doing the clearances, possibly did, but certainly did not see the camera move and nor was I asked to look at the camera on either occasion.

6 hours ago, GuiseppeD said:

My wife produces her British passport at UK check-in.  Really no need for Thai passport, though some Thais will have their Thai passport in one name and British passport in another so will need the passport that matches the name on the ticket.

 

Return flight check-in will need both passports if the Thai entered on their Thai passport.  One to verify their entry clearance and one to verify the entry stamp in the Thai passport.   

1. This would depend on the duration of the trip and if there is a return flight, if the duration is longer than 30 days or has no fixed return flight, then they would need to show their Thai passport in order to satisfy the check in procedures.

2. Check in procedures in Thailand do not check any entry clearances or entry stamps, this is only done by immigration, the only reason the check in staff require the passport is to verify that the passenger is OK to fly, i.e. passport is valid and that there is the required visa or right of abode etc. at the destination country.

Both of my sons have dual nationality and we have never shown their Thai passport at a Thai airport check in counter, never been an issue at all.

In this age of internet flight booking and where the passport details had to be submitted during the flight booking process, then it is wise to show both passports at check in, this would of course depend on which passport was used to book the flight with.

The main thing to remember is that the British (or any other Nationality other than Thai) passport should never be produced at the Thai immigration counters, either arriving or departing.

To enter with one Nationality and try to depart with the other is just plain stupid!

8 hours ago, The manic said:

Thanks but I just thought they needed to see a letter from my bank showing a regular income of 60k baht.

More informed posters than myself can confirm, but 99% certain that a letter from your Thai bank showing a regular income of 60,000 THB is not sufficient for immigration, they will need to see an income certificate from your embassy if this is the route you want to take, it is also 65,000 per month.

On 30/04/2017 at 8:58 PM, The manic said:

Bank statements?  Bank Book? (I have moved over 60 K baht a month on average from my UK account to my Thai account) Passport? Arrival card?    And what else?

This bit concerned me, do you have the required 800,000 THB in a Thai account and will it have been there for the required 3 months by the time you apply for the extension renewal?

Note that you are required to have the above deposit OR a monthly income of 65,000 THB OR a combination of both that will be equal to 800,000 in one year, however, as far as I know, Immigration will not accept deposits of 60,000 THB per month in to your account, they will only accept an income letter for monthly income from your embassy in Bangkok.