Gats

Oh wow, I love people quoting the random statistics about legalising drugs...

It is true that the heroin itself is surprisingly undamaging to the body directly, but the lifestyle it inevitably leads to is very damaging.

Can you please find unbiased statistics and compare the damages on a PER HEAD basis? I think you'd find the problems per head of people who have used heroin vs the problems per person who have drank alcohol would be far worse.

The logic of saying "I've never heard of heroin causing traffic accidents, but alcohol has a lot" - therefore we should make heroin as prolific as alcohol and seee what happens? That's idiotic.

Keep it in context.. these circular arguments are just so stupid and I'm not sure what thought process is behind them. I've tried a few illegal things in my time, but I thank god for our childrens sake that their legality made us assume there were serious dangers involved.

Sadly many probably dont get caught, so lets give this new machine some credit here. If those will stop or slow down this traffic, then some really good things come out of it.

Wasn't the new machine. Was a regular old x-ray that they make people have if they suspect them of carrying internally. The new machine does not get the guts of it so to speak.

i fully expect bible-thumpers to jump on me for this one and you have your right to your opinion and i'll leave it at that.. i lost mine at 13, VERY willingly.

So what do you propose we do? Remove the law altogether?

And I'll also assume you lost yours to another juvenille, not your school principal who had a responsibility to not manipulate you? A juevenille who can't be charged with statutory rape in an adult court?

The law can't sit down with 20 psyc experts and evaluate whether a 50 year old really loved his 15 year old lover or not, it needs to be black and white and simple. If 100 people can't get their rocks off with the kids they want to and 1 child is spared being manipulated by teachers, priests or a pimp, then it's worth it.

This stupid argument about removing a protection law because it doesn't protect kids from themselves is idiotic and not what the law is there for. No skating on the sidewalk does not stop kids either, that's why we need to make it illegal for adults to cash in on youthful stupidity for their own sexual gratification... just for the ones who it protects, not the ones who don't need protection.

Not defending the bar owners who do this. I would love to see it wiped out. I am questioning the scapegoating ONLY of gay establishments. That seems political, and it stinks.

All due respect mate, but you're turning this into a witch hunt when it isn't. If you are concerned about the "gay bar crackdown" please comment on that article in that forum post. If you do, also consider this http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/57-Alleged-P...Ph-t333286.html before you start crying victim.

The lead on this came from the US FBI (which is not a foriegn investigative service) and therefore had nothing to do with any Thai crackdown. I would imagine this guy was found in connection with some sort of pedophile ring (or at least 1 pedophile with a camera) that was busted in the US. The Australian federal police have passed on similar info in the past and Thai police rely on this stuff a lot to get the real nasties. This is all good because the money from richer countries funds this kids stuff, the richer countries have better investigative services and they should be using them protecting all children they can from their own fat wallet predators.

Let's not mistake a fallen tree for a soap box. The abuse of children is not a place for you to voice your victim complex as these children are the real victims here and does not become a gay biase just because the word was used in the article.

On the surface, this is an injustice.

However, I hold to my view that an adolescent should not be taking valium that is not prescribed for a medical condition.

This event might just very well have been a good thing for this person. What I would like to know if if this was a one off, or if the subject has an underlying addiction issue.

That being said, putting the adolescent in jail and holding him this long achieves nothing and does not help the subject.

Did he go to jail? Was he abusive to police?

I think this is a good article if it's on the surface true, but I can't help but thinking this kid was being pretty conspicuous about his recreational drug taking - cops the world over who turn a blind eye to a little recreational use will not let anybody parade it around by being totally wasted and looking like they're about to die in a convulsing fit... I'd be interested to hear about the circumstances of his arrest before jumping to judge the cops.

More organized theft (taxes) to create handouts, perfect...another country going down the socialist drain of ruin.

Hahaha and I suppose the American economy ruining the world with broken promises and rampant unrestricted and irresponsible lending is the "model" for preventing ruin?

Australia has come out of the economic crisis on top because of higher taxes and a good welfare system with regulation on the corporate sector. It's an American propoganda lie from the greedy that welfare is the same as a full socialist system. In aus, you can't live well on welfare, but you can eat - less people with nothing to lose means a stronger country with a higher standard of living.

"One thing we don't understand is why they had to view and delete all the photos in our camera. Those photos really meant a lot to us," she said.

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Umm...because they stole your stuff, and weren't planning on returning it...that coupled with the fact that there weren't, likely, any interesting shots in there.

Haha yeah it's a bit of a silly comment. Totally empathise with the victims, but geez what did you think he was going to do... "Hey you want to buy a camera? Just in case you question where I got it from, I left all the photos of the previous owners on there. You want their phone number and my id too?"

If victims read this, PM me for info about how to recover the files. Deletion doesn't usually remove the data, just sort of "marks it" as empty.

i was writing a commect defending a certain type of legalization of drugs but lost it by pushing on the wron button

I live in holland and can tel you first hand that legallizing drugs ( to a certain level, the users level) and giving it no priority in criminal justice will result in much lower criminal rate ..

Holland, weed, liberalism, support vs prosecution blah blah ICE is not anything like other drugs. Even coke addicts in psycosis can fully recover with only a higher risk of heart disease later in life. ICE users (for as little as a few months) are chemically UNABLE TO BE HAPPY! it destroys the receptors in the brain.

Keep politics out of it. This drug is not debatable and needs to be eradicated.

Legalise, tax and regulate.

Silly laws can't compete against this black market.

Geez that's the naivest thing I've ever heard. You might get some sympathy about that with weed or kids playing with coke, but very little sustained ice use permanently destroys the brains ability to feel happy... I guess you think that somebody else should pay for the anti-depressants those who are lucky enough to get off it require for the rest of their lives?

Yes, i've personal experience with users and yes i've tried other not-so-legal things, and i can say for sure that ice is the most dangerous substance that can be abused that exists today. It's insidious ability to "disable" happiness forever is remarkable. Read up on it. Ice should never be legalised and never be tollerated. Registering people who buy it's raw materials in Australia has slowed it's use down very successfully, but even the very liberal Australia was on the brink of a crisis with that garbage.

Utterly rediculous comment when it comes to ice. Sorry, but that's a fact, not an opinion.

If you have pretty set travel plans, it might be worth doing it through a (REPUTABLE) travel agent too. They make group bookings and nothing proves she'll come back better than having everything paid for up front and a set itinery.

Sponsorship from you will go to "reasons to return" and might help if she doesn't have $AU1k in the bank herself (min balance for a few months before) but don't confuse it with the posts by aussies as it's not the most relevant thing. Hypothetically there's nothing to stop you from just buggering off and leaving her destitute in aus (what aus is generally worried about most) so clear travel plans, prepaid accom and tix and a job and family in thailand would be the main things they'll look at. Previous travel in her passport is always a good thing, but not necessary if everything else is in place.

backsoon...

NOT SO! Not in all cases.

Have you tried buying a ticket that leaves from Thailand in Australia?! It's much more expensive as the sepcial offers are only made available to the agents in the country of departure.. at least with THAI it is.

My partner was coming from Thailand in January and i only bought the ticket a week in advance. I also had to pay for it on the spot at the Thai office, or pay all the fees to send her the money via western union and risk missing the seat. Because the trip started in peak time, 1 way was around $1500 and return was over $2800 but if I bought the return part for 3months later seperately on special in Aus it was only $650... add it up. Fares are based on TYPE of ticket for both trips.

OP - You don't have to have one, but if she does get stopped you'll have questions to answer. My girl did not get stopped, so no problem, but i made sure i had plenty of cash in my account and was at the airport with phone on in case a guy in a blue suite came looking for me. If you take that risk, make sure you're waiting well before she arrives in case she needs to call you into immigration to answer the questions. If they do ask, you want to have plenty of money in the account to cover her (not that i've ever heard of them checking) and can say with confidence you're just not sure what date she'll return.

Oh and don't freak her out about it. If she's freaked out going through immigration they'll stop her for sure. Just tell her if anybody asks, tell the truth and give them your number.

Fly Air New Zealand... first thing i noticed on their planes is the extra seat width and leg room... planes built for all those maoris..

Seriously though, there needs to be a fixed limit on these things. Passengers can not be permitted to risk the safety of everybody else for their weight problems, genetic or not. I agree that if the definition is just "fat" then there's too much grey area around it.

I totally agree with the suggestion about moving people around to create the space, but I do also think there must be a fixed girth limit and weight limit for passengers and the rest is the airline's problem. Some of those budget american airlines (and QANTAS on asian flights) cram in everybody so tightly to get an extra row of seats in it's criminal. They should lose the customers and not blame it on a guy who's a little oversized.

As for the smell thing, i know for a fact that Sinapore airlines has refused to board a passenger without a shower first. The guy was in terribly shape and I don't think he'd showered for months.

only 1... those big ugly goey looking locusts...

i spin out into an insecure rage when one's in the house. Anybody else noticed how hard they are to kill? Come back the next morning and the back 2 legs will be twitching no matter how hard it's been beaten... freeeeeaky.

(PS I don't kill anything else unless it's in the bedroom with the baby. In Aus, huntsmans are big hairy spiders that eat all the more annoying insects. Letting them live is worth it).

Yeah i've said this in another post before. The rules are there to protect thai jobs. I'm not aware of any countries that have caught up with this situation and besides, if you're working online or "telecommuting" with a private network connection, you are technically working in your home country... try getting clear cut laws about that on border control.

Simple answer is they have the right to make a judgement but won't if you are not clearly doing business in thailand. Go the tourist route and make sure there is enough money in your account for a few weeks at a time to cover your stays when you apply. See if you can borrow a buffer of 1k or more and leave it as a minimum in your account. If asked, say you get parental support and are still getting paid for freelance work you did before you came. When i was freelance many people took over 6 months to pay up.

I'm a strong believer that these laws seek to create a black and white where there is a grey, but the spirit of them is to protect thai people and to prevent you being broke here and getting deported at their expense, not stop you spending your money earnt elsewhere here.

redfish that appears to be very true with non-married relatively short term relationships.

First application we were greeted with quite a few requests for further information including more photos and more bank statements (they wanted 6months of bank statements). We hadn't been together all that long and my income was good (no savings at all), but they also seemed to be concerned about my gf safety by getting more and more proof of the relationship and I was happy to oblige.

2nd time they were much happier with us. In fact they seemed to just be happy my gf went home when she was supposed to an applied for more time.

3 months first time (after relationship for 6months). Then 2nd time a much easier 6months was granted, but we probably could have got 12 if we applied for it. In thailand now applying for permanent.

It sounds to me like the biggest issue you have is getting the older daughter of your wife to be considerd adopted by you. Solve that first in thailand and you'll find the rest easier.

There are people who can help with this and will happily do so and there are allowances for this to happen if you can demonstrate that you have been the carer of her for many years. I had a friend who went through a similar situation recently and it took a bit of pushing, but he got there with a very moderate sallary and a lot of letter writing. He's always said to be patient and visible (ie go in personally and send enquiring letters to MPs in your area). Australia tends to see children as being a big reason for special consideration and I'd imagine the UK does too.

Some things that might help

- If you can't get the father to sign off on the child to be adopted by you. Get your wife a spouse visa first and apply for the daughter when it's granted. get advice on this as i'm no expert, but that's what my mate did and it worked well (if not long winded) as the app for the child was not a matter of your custody, but hers.. easier to prove and easier to classify

- If you can prove such an ongoing and sincere relationship, there really shouldn't be a problem (as long as you won't be destitute which can only happen on almost no income). 2 bedroom apartment is not a reason to deny you your family.

- Keep records of all your contact with your wife in this hard period too as it shows you aren't breaking up. If in internet cafes, turn logging on on your chat program and save the dialogue. Don't use prepaid phones as they don't have phone bills with loads of thai calls on them.

- Get your wife doing leg work in the meantime to get statements from all friends and family in thailand that know you looked after the older daughter. even people who did business with your restaraunt.

- Write to local MPs in your home town. Ask questions and strike up even a small off-hand dialogue in case you need more later.

- I HATE reccomending debt, but even on a moderate sallary the greedy banks will throw you a credit card for emergencies. Hold on to it and when everything's organised, go in hard.

- There are loooads of people on here with similar situations. Don't be lazy and make sure you add them all to your favs list.

- Pray. Many would disagree, but it helps me.

- Research research research... there's so much paperwork in the permanent visa app, but if you can prove your a family and you're educated and prepared, you'll get there.

Sounds like you're not to blame mate. I've been hitting myself for not being more prepared for current application with my partner, but you can't do anything but keep pushing until you're there. 1 day at a time.

Topic has gone a bit past this, but just for the record, the Thai system does not have a lot of room for "special circumstances" and rightly so, they are a more developing economy who needs to protect themselves from foreign ownership and all the good jobs going to people with free educations (ie Norweigans and us Aussies). Not to mention the cost of enforcing and managing those grey areas. Why do you think they're happy for you to stay for long periods as long as you check in every 30/90 days.. easiest enforcement policy and one to just fit in with rather than creating a fuss.

Beaurocrats are paid to choose a black or white, not manage grey areas.

I travel a lot and my work lets me telecommute... imagine trying to explain that to a border protection agency? It's very common, but i'm not aware of any country that's got a "rule" for that yet. I still work and get paid in my home country, but when i'm not working on the computer on my desk at my home country, i'm a tourist... the rules are there for accountability so they can use them if they need to, but nobody would object to me spending my foreign sallary in their country... just don't put in the bloody application because then somebody HAS to make a call on it... and trust me, they'll err on the side of safety.

I think you're biggest problem would be ensuring that you remain "outside" of australia for her spouse visa process to complete. If you apply outside of australia and the application is pending, then you will have a hard time getting temporary entry to australia due to the rules around permanent entry applications IMHO. Try contacting the consular general's office and ask the questions including the part about her needing protection from Myanmar. They do sometimes allow in TB people if there is compelling circumstances and they're satisfied treatment will continue in australia. In my experience, the process is much friendlier to those who ask first than those who do not educate themselves first and complain later.

If the permanent app doesn't count, I think the income would be the biggest part of it. They look for 6months of steady flow and as previous post the biggest concern is you stiitching up a "free" medical system and not paying the bill.

I recently got a 6month medical treatment visa for my gf as we applied for a tourist visa, admiting she would need hospitalisation and they were kind enough to call up and tell us to apply for a different one (as opposed to just stamping the tainting denied stamp in the passport). If your gf will "enter hospital", medical treatment might be the only option, but seek 2nd opinions on this as pregnancy is a bigger deal than a few shots.

Key points are:

- If she will have to enter hospital, she will need the full medical (which you've probably already done).

- Show regular income or good enough savings to support her for her time here. If you have little income, they will be looking for at least $1000 per month (saved for at least 3 months preferably 6 before) to cover you both (pretty meagre if you ask me) and a commitment from you to put her up.

- Nothing goes further than a doctor saying they are satisfied you will pay all the bills and if there are regular appointments/treatments, paying them in advance will really make the difference. I paid an obstetrician for the full pregnancy management in advance and despite a good income, had no savings to speak of. Our doctor was fantastic and gave me receipts and a letter saying she thought it was better that she be able to "see the treatment through", that I had paid up front and she was satisfied I could pay any additional expenses. That was the big winner for a medical visa.

- Also get a letter from the doctor in thailand saying "satisfactory arrangements have been made to continue the treatment in australia"

I love thailand and am currently preparing for permanent partner visa for my gf. If i could keep my aussie sallary and stay for longer than the 3 months i am at the moment, I would. You could always lap it up just a little longer

Just a follow up on all this 8503 stuff... my partner came here on a sponsored Tourist visa the first time and then back 1 month after returning to thailand on a Sponsored Medical Treatment Visa (pregnant) due to the fact we were honest about her going to hospital (I don't recommend this unless you have savings.. having a baby is expensive and we paid for it every step of the way).

We are returning to thailand with our 2month old son as we want to see her family and did all the medical tests etc over there (if we applied here, we'd have to do it all again).

Just out of curiosity while i was getting my son's passport, I asked immigration about her visa and handed them her passport... it has the 8503 printed on the visa label, but the guy at immigration looked up the computer and said "there's no restrictions on her visa, so she can apply here if you like".

I was very surprised by this. We're happily going back to the embassy that knows us in BKK (hope that helps it all go more quickly), but if you're stuck - ask at the nearest immigration office. You might be surprised by what was put in the system at the other end.

I'm extremely lost looking at a lot of these. I keep finding a place I like and it's either expensively serviced, or long term only.

Anybody got advice for a 3 month stay? Happy to clean up after ourselves. We need a nice furnished 2 bed apartment in/around Sathorn if possible, but close to transport further out is fine too.

After reading other posts I wouldnt think this would be easy to do now. The guy I know who's finace at the time was able to do this was in Oz on a tourist visa and was almost 8 mnoths pregnant at the time of applying for the spouse/ de facto visa while in Oz on a tourist visa. There were no complications with her pregnancy, but immigration believed their relationship to be genuine, as they had been a couple for over 4 years and had lived in Thailand together before, and the fact that she was so close to giving birth, they gave her the requested visa. So yes, it can be done, but like others said, you need to show circumstances. Good luck.

This is exceptional circumstances because airlines will not let you fly when you are 8 months or more pregnant. My gf is now 4months pregnant and we are just sticking to the rules and sending her back to Thailand. Hopefully our unquestioning obedience will stand well and they will grant her another 6month visitor visa to have the child here. We will pay up front for the delivery and will head back in 6months for a common law visa when the child is 3months old.

Fingers crossed. If anybody else has experience in this, help would be appreciated.

My Thai partner is 4months pregnant and i am white.

All I can say is that the volume of questions and enthusiasm from her friends and even just very distant aquaintances tells me there will be no problem whatsoever. I suspect the only real issue will be an assumption that the child is more privelaged than they are (as others have said).

Beyond that, we have had nothing but jealous and cheeky enthusiasm with constant comments about how attractive the child will be. We've even had some offers to adopt and there is a waiting list to babysit 5 months before it is due.

you should be fine

Wondering if anybody has found a good visa agent in Sydney. My girl is visiting now and I want to discuss options for her to stay longer on a student visa, or leave and apply there. I work pretty hard and after the 150 page app for a visitor visa would prefer to go through somebody who has experience with Thai immigration to australia.

Can anybody who has been through this priocess shed some light? I would prefer people who have used a service as opposed to people who are agents themselves.

I'm also looking for experienced advice including quirks of doing this for Thai people. My gf and i are quit literate and don't need a form filling, immi pdf form printing service.

Thanks in advance!

I had one approved recently. I made the first application based on the core criteria on the Australian Immigration website which included a statutory declaration, payslips and a couple of photos.

The case officer did not reject, but we were asked by the visa centre to provide more photos, proof of relationship and I had to provide bank statements as proof of income. These statements did not show a pattern of saving (I move money aside every month to another account and they all end on zero except latest one which ended on a balance of AU$3000 to cover the $1000/month in reserve requirement they like to see), but verified my income (which I admit is relatively high). I also provided MSN logs from my work MSN that dated back 3 months and phone bills showing correspondance back to September (probably also used as proof of adress). We did not have a compelling reason to return beyond expressing an intent to study further and the fact my gf has a degree and would not jeopardise career or study options by breaking visa conditions.

Remember people, if you're falling for a thai girl and primary comms is on the internet.. LOG EVERYTHING. I only had the evidence by accident because we never use email, only cam and chat and my work makes me log everything. My gf also does not have phone bills with her pre-paid service in BKK.

Hope that saves some people the trouble we went through doing multiple document runs. It's also worth noting that I found the case officers very reasonable and direct and ultimately Aus wants visitors who will contribute something, so just do the paper work and you should be fine.

If you or your girl gets angry, spare a thought for the girls who get conned and end up locked up in some suburban brothel never to be heard from again. It does happen, and that's what they want to stop. Aus is protecting thai people as much as their own boarders. The proof of relationship required made that clear to me and made my girl warm to the annoying process a lot more.