horsewell

You only need a Thai license if you stay more that 3 months. Can get one on a tourist visa, helped a guy a few months ago, just before the more strict test.

Your mileage varies with the international license. You *should* have one but mostly not checked. Probably need one so you can avoid the written and practical tests.

even if the law/BIB may flexible with regards to the license you hold, insurance companies are more explicit and rigid on this matter.

Wasn't talking about insurance but it should be strict about these things, as expected. It's a good reason for someone staying a while to get a local license in the first place.

Slightly off topic but I was tested at the airport on entry. Have me the main headline of the ThaiRath paper to read; spoke in Thai and I replied in Thai; asked to introduce myself. Probably more organized than this, if you get tested. Good idea to take some details about your school, just in case.

You only need a Thai license if you stay more that 3 months. Can get one on a tourist visa, helped a guy a few months ago, just before the more strict test.

Your mileage varies with the international license. You *should* have one but mostly not checked. Probably need one so you can avoid the written and practical tests.

When I first started learning Thai I did two things. One was have a vocabulary building program for constant repetition. Second was to find Thai people with nothing but time to waste and speak Thai language until they understood, refusing to speak English. Carry a dictionary with me everywhere, now in my phone.

Got me up and running quickly. Also, vocabulary program helped with the spelling. That's one of the big issues with writing.

Just speaking to one person is not good enough as they will get used to you bad Thai language skills. Needs to be a bunch of people.

It's one reason you would learn Thai language in Thailand. To be with Thai people and speak their language to them.

It's true from the people going to learn Thai at these private schools is that they never use the language often enough to remember the vocabulary. I'm talking about people that go to all the lessons too.

From my impressions the rigorous ness of most courses is below par at best. If students don't spend a lot of time on their own revising, reviewing and practicing with native speakers it would take years to even just get the basics down.

Almost every activity will include interaction with Thai people. So lots of chance to do the above.

As for being denied an extension. It's a shame and hopefully something can be done. As regards to immigration doing on the spot tests, it's hardly fair. Hope that somehow the tests are at least standardized and the schools are held accountable to keep their students to the required level. I guess this is the warning for everyone.

I've been watching this closely too... and there doesn't seem to be many posts. I know of a few people that have had to make other plans due to the changes in the visa rules. There were some reports but some where erroneous like the one that the title stated denied entry but in the end it was an issue with not getting the visa at the consulate that was known to be a problem for that ED visas in the first place. I think there is a lot of fear and uncertainty when people first started to learn about the new rules, especially when they were sitting at the border or in the airport when it happened. Everything happening so sudden and seemingly without notice. It's good that Thaivisa has been seeking out information form the relevant authorities.

Everything seems fair but it has been a rather sudden change, that I'm sure some would say a little heavy handed (just for the lack of warning).

I had an aircard for years without issues, other than reseting randomly. Actually had a few sim cards as I started and stopped using it over the time I had it... now I have a smart phone to tether which is better.

 

I found that it's best to go into an AIS store to have a chat with the staff rather than fight my way through the phone system. It's a good option if you can and want everything sorted quickly. Could take your computer (laptop) with the aircard and see if they can fix whatever issues you have.

 

As someone with experience with tech I'm sure you know that "it works for me" is so common so you shouldn't get your back up about it. However, you haven't supplied any details, so it's hard to help but here goes:

 

If you had the aircard software installed on your computer you should uninstall and run a clearer (I use ccleaner but there are lots of other options) over the registery (windows?) then restart and try and reinstall again. Assume you have a new 3G internet sim? it should charge 49 Baht per day automatically, if you don't have a plan.

 

Good luck :)

I helped a guy get a licence and he just got the contract from the condo that he was renting (for a week) and took that to immigration and got the certificate... smooth as that. You could probably even get a certificate from immigration based on a hotel receipt it's just a document that holds your current address and tourists can get drivers licences if they want. 

 

Mind you it may take a couple of tries based on the new tests... I've read on this site that the failure rate is pretty high but really just brings things more in line with western countries that have always been strict.

Really, the attackers should pay. As far as I know, that is how Thai law works. There seems to be another law in place where there is a payout from the government that has been around for 12 years and most foreigners didn't use it in the past. It seems that the rise of crime and the cost of medical care scared someone to change the laws.

 

http://www.thailandlaw.org/thailand-personal-injury.html

http://www.thebigchilli.com/features/victim-of-a-crime-you-may-be-eligible-for-compensation

Sounds like they both know what they are doing and are well organised. I've been on many AirAsia flights and have never had a problem with them. Very good value.

The minimum wage thing is a tough one. We would like it to be enough to live on but it seems that it's either greed by the owners, who want huge profit, the lack of profit to come from the enterprise or lack of value by the staff that keeps most on minimum wage. I've heard of people getting a few thousand Baht extra just for being at work on time over the course of the month and more for not taking a day off.

 

It's a choice by the workers and employers. Obviously, enough people are excepting the low wages to keep the businesses going. If people didn't accept them the employers would have to raise their offer!? I think it's why Thailand is a country with lots of small businesses. Thai people are very accepting, generally, of things that if pressed they would say they don't like. They generally don't make a fuss about most things, so that probably has a lot to do with what is going on too.

 

I read that wages for most work (not professions) are stagnate or don't keep up with inflation in western countries so I would assume it's the same in Thailand.

You would think that the name of the educational institution would be a give away. You would hope that people studying other things at least get this basic level of Thai language skills to be able to answer some basic questions. It would be worth it just to talk with the locals or know what the locals are talking about you.  You would also hope that this testing would be conducted by the education department rather than the immigration department because then they could have a look at the level of the student, number of years in the country.

With learning the Thai alphabet or not. I can't work out a lot of transliterated gobbledegook. Most of the time it sort of makes sense, if you have context. Everything is encoded in the Thai script: vowel length, tone, un-aspirated characters and unpronounced characters. You can't see any of that in the transliterated representation. Further, it makes me want to use English pronunciation on what I see which is usually wrong.

 

Language is like all things: If you don't use it, you lose it.

It's always hard to say if someone is going to re-offend or not.The general public probably isn't at risk but you wouldn't want to be the "love of his life". It's probably pretty easy to be "exemplary" in prison but I wouldn't know and would not like to find out either. I hope that he is truly rehabilitated.

I've heard about these ghost schools but never seen or heard of any particular schools. It all seems very nebulous. I'm sure they exist but I don't think many westerners would sign up to them in great numbers. I know every now and then a school is busted and there is a footnote somewhere but it seems like the same argument as the one about foreign criminals. If it is really happening then you would think that it would be news. If it was westerners then there would be news on TV at the very least. I do a google search and it seems that every other country has a problem with ghost schools except for Thailand, at least in English. Would really appreciate someone pointing me to some (source) information as I'm wondering if it's a problem big enough to even mention in a news article.

Very sad to read.

It's interesting that there is more people in Thai prison today (2013) for drug related crime (~140,000) than the total prison population in 2006 (~120,000) and of the foreigners it's more than 6,000 out of the 10,000 odd people. It looks like there really is a drug problem in the Kingdom. Many western countries don't do random testing but in Thailand it is perfectly legal for the police to enter a nightclub or set up checkpoints and test everybody at or that pass by that location.

 

I would say that they only pick up the odd westerner who has actually taken drugs as the number of westerners in Thai prison for all crimes is relatively small less than 1,000 (probably much less). They never used to be too interested in foreigners but given the current climate who knows what the future holds.

 

Personally, I think most on going drug users (the same as alcohol drinkers) are self medicating and it should be a medical issue (unless they have guns, broke into houses or hurt other people) as just taking drugs is a victimless crime. Mind you drink driving or drug driving should still be against the law. These people are sick and need help more than being put in a prison system where they will invariably pick up other bad habits and probably end up again and again. 

 

Source: http://www.correct.go.th/correct2009/upload/files/publication/DOC_AnnualReport56.pdf , http://www.thailawforum.com/tourst-guide-laws-Thailand-4.html

 

Just a thought, but I think most of these tough new laws are not so much aimed at westerners as they stick out and by and large follow the rules. It's the people from neighbouring countries that are the real target. It's much harder to distinguish them and they are much more likely to use an fake Thai ID card, especially if they can speak Thai language. They are much more likely to work, own a business or otherwise break Thai laws if they are an overstayer. The article uses the examples of the fake Thai ID card and an example of a Chinese woman. The only mention of westerners is in the photograph and that it's been written in English.

 

That is not to say that there are not westerners that do overstay and engage in illegal activities. It's just that over the 70,000 odd overstayers last year I'm sure that very few would be westerners and if they were it would be minor infractions that would be sorted out at the airport before boarding their plane.

 

I just had a quick look and couldn't find anything on the 'net but in the a book "Thai Law", Becker & Thongkaew, 2008, Paiboon Publishing with statistics from 2006:

 

Number of prisoners: ~142,000 (~108,000 convicted, the others pending appeal or waiting and 15.5% female)

Number of foreign prisoners: 12,528

By Region: 95.8% Asian, 2.3% African, 1.5% European and 0.4% American and Australian.

 

Total foreigners in prison for an offence against immigration law: 3,705 (29.6%)

Total westerners in prison for an offence against immigration law: 2.6% (less than 15 if we include all non-Asians)

 

It would be interesting to see a more recent statistic they did say that the foreign prison population jumped 20% (10K to 12K) in that one year. It does back up what I'm saying above. Even if the numbers have changed I don't think you would see much of a change in the trends.

 

http://www.correct.go.th/correct2009/upload/files/publication/DOC_AnnualReport56.pdf <- 2013 (2556) go to page 168 (or 170 in your PDF reader)

 

~10,500 of over 220,000 convicted prisoners are foreign and none of the ~9,000 people from the top 10 countries are western.

 

enough said.

Getting a new passport cost about 5 times the fine for me. In order to extend my visa requires me to not have my passport while it's being processed by the various organisations. That seems to be the usual way things are done. I hope that if they enforce the law then they also should enforce harsh penalties for anyone, except for police, immigration officers or other powers that be, in possession of passports of foreigners (555+). I've known about this rule for a while, never seen the actual law but read it a few times, but it seems a little short sighted. I can understand it being with you when you travel but when you are day tripping or just within a few km from your hotel / residence you should be able to leave it in your room. If the powers that be need it you should be able to produce it, if you are a flight risk then they can send an officer with you to collect it.

 

It's just insane having it on your person at all times. It's not even your passport. As far as I know it's the property of your government. It should spark an international incident to have one passport stolen or somehow seized illegally (555+).

 

You could just see this going the way of Rf chips in the arms of all aliens in the country to tracking purposes. Would be easier, I've got nothing to hide but I still wouldn't want it. They could track me via my mobile phone... if you use the same number for more than a few days at a time (and I've had a number for over 7 years registered in my name). Not to mention 90 day reports and yearly extensions. Visits to hospital and doctors, bank accounts, my residence reporting my address... They probably have more information on me than Hoover had on JFK.

 

It's the people that they don't have information on that are the people that they should be looking for and I'm sure there is a number. There are people that have overstays for decades and it's only when they get sick, accident or really need to leave the country when they are found out, they appear in these pages every now and then.

I read it's still common in rural France to dig up lots of shells that date back from WWI and they rarely go off anymore, unless you do something stupid like try and open it.

All those programs allow the use of full language and you don't pay extra to use correct language (full and verbose)... obviously it's the people, not the program.

You know I get really bored of asking the price before and having to negotiate every time I purchase something. I look for places with steady prices or written prices as much as I can. Even a price between 160-240 Baht seems like a huge range for the same trip.

What is a good price or bad price? Leave it to the "free market"? I don't know either.

A friend of mine just went to that border (the casino) and everything was fine.