friendlyfiend

8 hours ago, The manic said:

Old news. Policy introduced last year. Condos are not hotels. We dont want drunken, disrespectful cheapskates destroying the harmony we paid millions of baht for. We an our families live here, work here, get up to go to school here. The new rules are common knowledge. Air BnB is causing problems through out the world. Not your fault. Its the law of unexpected consequences. Any owner who has paid 5 million for a condo does not want strangers with no commitment to their community in their block shouting, drinking, swearing, arguing, slammin door, littering, spitting in elevators, smoking by the pool etc. Owners who rent irresponsibly can be subject to fines and bureaucratic hell. Good.

Agree 100%

Thanks for all replies,

Good news. Today i transferred my condo into my name at the Land Office.

So, I would just like to let all know that there is NO problem not having an FET (Foreign Exchange Transaction) form. It is only one type of proof of funds sent from abroad, but not the only. There is NO problem with bringing pre-converted Thai baht into Thailand for the purchase of a condominium, contrary to what many think. The only prerequisite is that you must have a 'non-resident Thai baht account' in your name in Thailand, and the bank (in my case KrungThai bank) provide me with a letter and receipt of the amount of money (baht) stating was moved from Australia (Westpac Bank) to my Thai baht account here.

I must admit that a lot of the legal information found online (not to mention a lot discussions in forums) regarding this all refer and point to the FET (foreign exchange transaction form) as a necessary part of procedure, and that the money MUST be moved in foreign currency and converted by a Thai bank here. This was where i thought I'd hit a wall and felt frustrated. BUT, the reality is, and I can tell you first hand, this is not the case at all. And if anyone wants to dispute or doubt this, please refer them or yourself to clause 19.5 (5) of the Condominium Act which states the alternatives (which in my case was simply a letter from bank stating money came from abroad into my non-resident Thai baht bank account here).

Hope this can be help to any future prospective condominium buyers.

Cheers.
FF

I have a bit of a situation I think. I'm buying a condo and I used OzForex to transfer my money here. They converted my dollars to baht in Australia and are sending Thai baht to my Thai bank account here (hasn't arrived yet)

Meanwhile i've been reading that in order to be eligible for condo title ownership you have to prove to the Land Office the money came from overseas using the FET form which are normally issued by the Thai bank that did the currency exchange from dollars to baht. My money will be arriving in baht and WASN'T converted by a Thai bank. Is this a problem?

OzForex assured me it should be fine and that they do similar transfers often for property purchases in Thailand etc. etc. However, my Thai bank said they cannot issue an FET form because the baht wasn't converted here.

What I'd really like to know; has anybody ever used a currency exchange/transfer service such as OzForex, had funds sent in baht and then succesfully registered their condominium at the Land Office (with an FET or with some other document of proof)?

is it possible?

Cheers.

FF

A bit odd that there's no street name in that address - only a street number.

I just hope the families haven't been reading the absolute crap that went on for thousands of posts from the conspiracy theorists on here and if not grizzly photos then the description of the crime scene in graphic detail.

I said it before and I will say again shame on all of you that know as much about this case as me and that's f&$K all.

Bloody disgraceful!

Thank you sir. My thoughts exactly!

ผักหวาน - P̄hakh̄wān

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauropus_androgynus

too sad for words. that poor innocent kid will live with the nightmare of this for the rest of his life.

Yes. Paz is correct. I asked at the immigration desk at Poi Pet also. She said the 'ENTER BEFORE' date is the last day the visa is valid for entry.

Hey, MANY thanks for the fast reply and the confirmation Maestro!

Cheers

FF

Someone help please... a quick question:

Is it ok to enter "on" the ENTER BEFORE date, for example the 5th of October? Or would I have to enter on the 4th (thus being "before" )?

Confused a bit.

Cheers

FF

If you are taken by force and forced to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you enter you pin number backwards. You will still receive the funds. The machine automatically alerts the local police who know your location. But this is Thailand who knows? A little off topic but very relevant...

what a load of rubbish.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Several Thai women I know have switched from Abhisit to Yingluck. Their logic is a follows, Thailand is like an extended family, in a Thai family it is the woman who sorts out the internal problems and conflicts, who holds the family together and functional. A woman think more of her family than herself. She may not be as educated or literate as her husband but she is more instinctive and practical.

Ok, this is just the opinion of 3 women I know but I wonder if the female vote will be a factor in the election?

I hope not. but just in case i'm going to make sure i keep my bitch home on election day

The end of the all-too-messy demonstration is near.

Message from Bangkokians to Red Shirts: Go home.

Yes. Let's hope so, or if Bangkok is their home, let them go indoors.

Need some kind of urban Rambo for this .. Perhaps with some funding by the United Wa State Army we could team up John Rambo with Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee.. And possibly even that guy from Ong Bak could lend a hand or handle any tranlslation work.

just an idea..

You mean a zero return rate for the double entry applications or also the single entries?

double.

Very interesting since I'm leaving for Vientiane tonight. Although I would like to try this on Monday I'm not sure what happens if they reject a double entry? Can I just apply for a single entry the next day as if nothing happened?

Don't quote me on this, but I believe the decision is made when you pay the money.. ie. 1000 for single or 2000 bath for double entry.

The procedure is you queue up in the morning (before 12pm) for lodging your application at an outside table.. they take your application (There is a tick box at the top of the form to specify what type of visa, eg, tourist, business, transit etc. - I ticked 'tourist' and under the girl's instruction who I lodged it with, wrote in words "DOUBLE" next to that box. Also on the form towards the bottom it also has the question: "Number of days of intended stay". Here i wrote '120' - figuring 2 x 60) . After lodging your form you are then sent inside to the cashier until your name is called to pay the fee..

That is all I can tell you. But I'm sure if they were to accept the 2000 baht fee for the double-entry visa, and then on the next day (pick-up day) you were to only have a single-entry, there would no doubt be a 1000 baht refund. But like I said, I imagine when you pay the fee of 2000 baht shortly after you've lodged your application, then you're probably going to get the double.

Also, I've been informed that applications lodged on a Monday (for whatever reasons) have been returning a zero success rate. ... other days a 30-50% success.. Based on what? Who knows? God (or Buddah) could probably answer this one. Not me..

Cheers

FF

Just for the record. I just got back to Bkk tonight after applying for (and receiving) a double-entry Tourist Visa at the Thai consular in Vientianne, Laos..

In the year since the change of rules on October 1, 2006, you're the first person to report (on this forum) receiving a double-entry tourist visa from a neighboring consulate/embassy.

As you're a brand new member and you're reporting something very difficult to believe, is there any chance you could scan your visa and post it here as proof (leaving out all your personal details of course).

Umm... ok.. .. Well, to start with, I'm not a 'brand new' member if you care to check my registration date (February 2004). I check the forums from time to time but rarely post anything...

Secondly.. I'd love to verify my 'double-entry' Tourist Visa by the means you've suggested. Unfortuneately I don't have a scanner and to be honest, I couldn't be bothered to go out of my way to scan it elsewhere for the sake of this.

Thirdly and lastly, I advise you all to take my post at face value, make of it as you wish. I'm simply reporting my situation and cannot think of any reason why anyone, myself included of course, would want to bother to post such a report with the intention of misleading others or giving incorrect information. .

Anyway, again (for the record) I may be the first person to report it here, but according to the guys I did my visa run with ... it has been a fairly common lottery with the double-entry visas over the last month or so. And again it appears to be people who had applied at the consulate on a Monday who have not been granted one.

ok.. idea just sprang to mind.. i will take a snap shot with my web cam..

pic attached... excuse the quality. i have a shitty cam. and i've run a black line through my passport number. but you should be able to make out that it is Vientianne, and it was 2000 baht, and it is a 'TWO' entry one....

ok... I hope that satisfies the sceptics.

Cheers..

and good luck to those who also venture to take the gamble.

FF.

Just for the record. I just got back to Bkk tonight after applying for (and receiving) a double-entry Tourist Visa at the Thai consular in Vientianne, Laos..

Seems to be a 50/50 chance though. It appears applications lodged on Mondays will not get it. Don't ask why - seems to be just another one of those unexplainable things. Anyway, My application was put in on Thursday and I received it today.

Don't know if this is news to anyone, but thought it'd be worth a post to let anyone know.

(btw, I'm Australian and my passport was on the last two empty pages with every other page being cambodian visas, Thai single entry Tourist Visas and the corresponding quota of Thai transist 30 day entry stamps).

Will I get a Tourist Visa in Phenom Penh?? I thought Tourist visa's were a sure thing.. am i wrong? Would love to hear from people who got them there recently. Kind of concerned now because I've booked and planned (possibly not to well!)

My visa history in my Australian passport is as follows..

JULY -- AUG --- SEP: 3 months Non-Imm.

OCT: 30 day stamp

NOV 30 day stamp

DEC 30 day stamp. (expires Jan 9th, next tuesday)..

Thanks all in advance.

Dan

Howdy..

just use this space for abit of free advertising.

Tommorrow night...

Silom Soi 4

Place: Noriega's Bar

Music: Cannonball blues and groove band. www.cannonballbluesband.com

The more the merrier... keep the music alive in bangkok...

see you there..

I believe I can help you..

send an email to me here [email protected] and I can give you a phone number..

cheers,

ff

Thanks guys. Well, I don't consider myself that versed in Thai at all.. like anything I guess - the furthur you go, the furthur you realise you have to go.

I did actually recently accomplish finishing my first Thai novel though.. well actually a French novel translated to Thai.. Le Petit Prince. or เจ้าชายน้อย . I must say I had the dictionary out a bit. and I probably absorbed most of 80% of it. Enjoyed reading it actually. Just gotta keep up the practice now. ...

Cheers

Hey PrvtDick......... howdy.

So, how do they grade it? and what is the pass rate you know? How did you go by the way? And do you get a certificate or something that has your grade on it? or it's just a pass/fail situation?

I will sit it this December I guess. I missed the application date for it last year.

My teacher at Uni said I wouldn't need to do any preparation courses because my level was easily up there.. But still, I wouldn't be too confident because I know the way Thais do things, and the exam might likely include certain subject matter with vocab i don't know..Is this true or is it just generally the basic 4 skills?

Sounds like you had ample time to complete it though.

Lastly is there a fee to sit it?

Cheers

FF

Seems to be the question was asking 'who and how can one speak Thai?' I guess the typing thing is a secondary problem.. anyway, here's my answer to her about how I learned my Thai...

สวัสดีครับ

ยังไม่มีใครให้คำตอบตามที่เขาถามเลย โอเค... ผมอยู่เมืองไทยมาเกือบห้าปีแล้วและพูดไทยได้พอใช้แล้ว ส่วนกราอ่านและเขียนภาษาไทยผมเรียนเองจากหนังสือเรียน ในทั้งปีแรกและปีสองที่ผมอยู่ผมก็ไม่เคยได้เรียนภาษาไทยกับอาจารย์ไทย ผมเรียนเอง โดยถามเพื่อนๆ และบันทึกคำสัพท์เอาไว้ในสมุดบ่อยๆ ผมเห็นว่าความสามารถในทั้งการอ่านและเขียนภาษาไทยไม่ค่อยยาก แค่ต้องใช้เวลาหน่อยและมีความอดทน นอกจากนั้นผู้เรียนควรฝึกบ่อยเป็นประจำ ดังนั้นหลังจากอ่านได้แล้วการเรียนรู้ภาษาไทยจะพัฒนาขึน้นเร็วกว่าแน่เลย

นอกจากนั้นปีที่แล้วผมก็เข้าไปเรียนในคณะอักษรศาสตร์ที่มหาวิทยาลัยจุฬาฯ สึ่งเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของปริญญาตรีของผม ในช่วงเวลาสิบเดือนนั้นผมเรียนแต่ภาษาไทย ไวยากรณ์ไทยและการใช้ภาษาร่วมถึงการอ่านฟังพูดและเขียนไทย

ในสรุปจะเน้นว่าความสามารถในการพูดภาษาไทยขึ้นอยู่กับความมานะของผู้เรียนเอง ผมเคยได้ยินหลายๆคนบอกว่า อ่านไทยมันยากเกินไป แต่จริงๆแล้วนี่ให้ผมเห็นว่าคนที่พูดอย่างนี้ไม่ได้พยายามอย่างจริงเพราะมันไม่ยากจริงๆ อย่างน้อย นี้แค่เป็นความคิดเห็นของผมเองนะครับ

เฟรนต์ลี่ฟีนต์

....had the opportunity to see Muddy,the Wolf,Willie Dixon,Hound Dog Taylor,James Cotton(with his stellar 70's band including Matt"Guitar" Murphy),Son Seals,Lonnie Brooks,Albert Collins.....

Don't make me too envious now!. wow, that's quite a line-up of stars there.