mamborobert

G4T were in s hop just down from Immi but I gather may have changed (unfortunately) per another thread thanks to some busybodies.

I used them aout two weeks ago now. No problems with English, very thorough checking and preparing documents, and escorted/quick trip through Immi. Dare I say a "one stop shop" at Promenada.

Welcome to the land of the Thailiban.

Without a large and consistent police/army present I just cannot see this working out at all.

Also a bit of mixed messages that big crowds expected, (per TAT) as long as you do lanterns on X days, within X hours, within X zone, do not drink XXX, and are home in bed (preferably with ones own spouse or significant other) by XII.

When they enforce helmets, speeding, drunk driving, crosswalks etc etc you might actually see less "safety" issues (the pretext for this farce)....what is the fatality/injury rate for Loy Kratong vesrses any of the previous.

Hopefully ( I like to kid myself) this is just to enable polcie to move on individual trouble makers and have a legal basis to do so....so if drinking with no trouble then no problem (hopefully). Delusional of me perhaps......

GIven that backhanders for want of a better term are common in Thailand are we not missing the mark if a sense of achievement is seen in closing/moving G4T. It seems lke this is a distraction to the lack of progress on actually changing Immi. All that is happened now is there is one less option (G4T) and no improvement. Other agents have "relations with Immi, perhpas not as close, are they next for the chop?

For all the fanfare what has been achieved, a business limited and no improvement with Immi. Has this led to the much dreamed of comparable service with other Immi offices?

Trumpeting the "success" with G4T is a smoke and mirrors action to excuse the very real failure to imrove Immi....and now we have one less option to use, and G4T clients now cloggng up the Immi office taking more time with their queries and incomplete paperwork. Surely this must add to overall processing times?

Which agent is next?

And once again.....I liked G4T.

Hiding the perceived problem (G4T) without a significant improvement in the service level at Immi solves nothing.

I liked using G4T and have stated same before, being closer and quick they were very convenient for me.

Now that they are not there (hopefully only for a little while) if there is no significant improvement in service people will still feel compelled to used agents but now from across town, increasing the time taken. Less walk in clients for G4T means more walk in and longer waiting times for those that now go straight to Immi. Retirement visas are a fraction of what goes on here so an extra few cards being handed out may help some people but still inconvenience more that no longer have G4T however questionable, available.

Do people now want the other agents/sponsors curtailed that have "close relations" with Immi?

Is there going to be a significant, immediate and durable improvement in service at Immi simply because G4T are off the table?

Without such a demonstrable change I cannot see how this is in any way an improvement. It is almost cutting off ones nose to spite ones face.

I used G4T on Tuesday for a retirement extension, multiple entry and 90 day report, my reasons and experience was pretty much as NancyL outlined.

I was a casual walk in about 10.15am, they took photocopies of passport etc as I had everything else, I signed copies, and blank application form and told to come back at 2.00pm.

Came back and was walked into immigration quickly, saw officer on the right for extension and photo, and then officer on the left (who had trainee who took photo). In and out in less than ten minutes.

I had no problems with the English of two staff G4T in attendance, the lady who looked to be in charge was fine and very thorough.

I would use them again, just as I have used agents in the UK, USA, and Ireland, simply because they are a viable quick alternative that I am prepared to pay for.

I can understand that some agents may have lost business, and certainly its proximity to immigration is a license to print money. But by no means is it the only agent by a long long long way that has a close relationship with immigration.

For example from Chiangmaibuddy.

"Aimmy is a former employee of the Immigration department, and has for years keep her established contacts with the Chiang Mai Immigration while running her own Visa Assistance Service. Aimmy is extremely knowledgeable about the continuing changes in the Immigration Laws and Procedures and Speaks English.

Using her huge range of established contacts, we are often able to provide solutions to difficult Visa situations, sometimes bypassing the usual processes."

While I was there another agent from across town also flagged her and clients presence to immigration staff by just walking up and talking to the immigration officer while they were serving someone else....and they were called across next bypassing those seated/waiting but perhaps they had an appointment.

I do not need a full range of services, website, or ride across town so for me what they provide, quickly, effortlessly is perfect.

To me G4T a good and worthwhile service all round, would use them again, and would like them to hang around.

I would like to add my thanks as well, a very nice service indeed.

I was somewhat suprised that it was not bigger given retiree population of CM but was advised at the event that the VFW holds a separate service in the morning. Given the nature of the service I would have personally thought that a joint service would have been more in spirit of such a memorial/rememberance service, and indeed other national groups also attending (given no RSL for example). A RBL member suggested that an invitation was made to the VFW but declined for some reason.

I believe I saw NancyL there as well, thanks for Royal Thai Army? for the bugler, and it was nice to see wreathes from students as well..

Many thanks to the RBL.

Lest We Forget.

Out and about last night down Loi Kroh and some places were open at 12 30 AM . Not sure what time they closed, because I went home

Guess how much Chinese money is being invested in Chiang Mai? I have 2 Thai real estate friends that have switched to solely "sales"of land and buildings and courting the Chinese 90% of their time. Chinese tourists, especially tour groups will soon be housed in Chinese owned complexes (many are already near completion), driven about by Chinese transpo companies (who put in the highest bid at the airport?), eat at Chinese owned restaurants and the only Thais to benefit will be those who smelled the opportunity to make money by facilitating this. Look at Siem Reap, Cambodia and the Korean wave!

The government wants stability and so do Chinese tourists.

Loi Kroh and it's bars dont' appeal to the Chinese. Neither do the trinkets(since most are made in China)

The real estate does appeal to them!

With enough pressure, the government will bring the farang establishments to their knees and then the big scoop-up will occur with Chinese entrepreneurs and a select few Thais benefitting.

The bar scene will go through an extraordinary facelift! Expensive drinks, plastic backdrops for fabulous selfies, glitter balls and stability. Need I mention karaoke and an eclectic dung-pile of muzak?

It will be difficult for tuktuks and songtaews to park with all the Chinese tour buses on the roadside!

we digress but I beg to differ. The PRC tourists are largely here on the back of the Lost in Thailand film which featured CM prominently. You see a lot more around CMU and other sites from the movie (CMU now having tours and buses and the like). They are not coming for the food, temples, culture or land. Thai land owenweship laws have not changed even though proxy arrangements still feature.

China is investing in a lot of Asian countries...on a national level, on a private investor level accomodating western countries are still the favourites.

Much like the Russians in Pattaya, this too will pass.

Meanwhile a TAT tourist draw card has bars closing at midnight or thereabouts which is bad enough, but spare a thought for the local Thais who think they exist in a large city and can go out and party but apparently not...other cities in Thailand are clearly not being policed to this level, including other tourist type places. Somebody wants it dead here for some reason. What was the Cold War slogan, ."Better dead than....."

Seems like there is going to be no let up for Loi Kratong given article below.

http://www.cm108.com/bbb/topic/6432-ตำรวจกองเมือง-จับร้านบาร์เบี/

Pixilated faces for your Facebook page if you ere in attendance, and pixilated grog.....

And it seems Thai places are also under the pump with military in attendance.

http://www.cm108.com/bbb/topic/6429-ปกครอง-ออกตรวจสถานบันเทิง-ที่/

Thai immigration in CM is not solely set up for expat retirees.

Of course not, but why make it so difficult for the sector of foreigners who spend significant money here and are more aged?

Why not make the backpackers wait in line at 4:30am to do their tourist visa extension? They're young mostly and should take to that like a duck to water.

Now that you have solved the issue with the backpacker substitution perhaps move on to the coloureds, catholics and Jews...and maybe have "for white use only" stencilled on the chairs....

TheAppletons, you might be skating close to the line on that one, but even if you are suggesting some form of wrongdoing surely now is the time to address that with new Thai anti corruption body rather than consulates or embassies and presumably you have evidence of the secondary income statement? Myself I just put it down to incompetence in general and that expats are not a priority.....and I like that for the most part.

Differential treatment in immigration offices within a country is not in itself unusual. Hell, look at the different deals Thai consulates will do abroad.

Thai immigration in CM is not solely set up for expat retirees. They have other tasks as well and no doubt like all agencies worldwide prioritise and some people unfortunately are not the priority. If you think it is shady deal issues then now is the time to write to the good General with your evidence.

I have not seen any evidence before and presume this secondary income argument is not being advanced formerly by say the Expat Club to consulates or Thai immigration?

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Before people start writing to their consul or embassy about the situation at the local CM Immigration office perhaps they ought to do some research as to how temporary migrants are treated in their own country and this may modify their tone and or expected level of response.

Irish Ctizens may want to note that it is not unusual for several hundred people (including elderly and children) to wait overnight in Dublin...outside...in the rain or worse.

Those at the top of the queue camped out overnight, arriving at 12am to ensure they would receive one of the sought-after tickets from the GNIB office.

The issue of the length of queues has been on ongoing source of controversy as people are forced to stand on the street for hours, with some turned away and told to return the following day in the event of the office closing.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/garda-measures-aim-to-tackle-long-visa-queues-1.2369711

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/hundreds-queue-overnight-irish-visas-6515289

UK Citizens may want to chase up about the registration/reporting issues

­ We do not operate an appointment system it is first come, first served. It may not always be possible to see everybody waiting in the queue due to the sheer volume of people you may be asked to return the following day.

Presently we are experiencing an extremely high level of demand. This is resulting in very long queues outside the Overseas Visitors Registration Office. Please ensure that you bring suitable clothing and refreshments to make your wait as comfortable as possible.

https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/advice-centre/help-and-advice/overseas-visitor-registration/index.aspx

Australian Citizens may want to look at the processing times for a Retirement Visa (405 Temporary) requiresa 500k AUD investment and you must be over 55 etc etc and certainly takes several weeks if not months when you take into account health, character and state sponsorship arrangements.....certainly not knocked off in a day or two like CM.

https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/405-

Decency and the need to keep posts below best seller length precludes me from commenting on US Immigration treatment of lawful prospective temporary migrants. I understand the Donald has a few ideas to improve the service though.

How many complained about the treatment of temporary migrants in their own country when they were there?

If governments work on elements of equity in treatment of foreign nationals (and that is what we are here) then perhaps it might be quicker and easier to have your own government address how it treats people before having their representatives in Thailand press for a much higher standard.

We have a dream situation here and if they actually examined the visa the situation could be far worse or better (less applicants for one leading to quicker processing).The 800k baht has not changed for eons, is not really investigated, and there are agents/companies who will work around this. God knows what would happen if this were increased or policed/assessed properly or other changes such as health or character, like criminal checks as most countries do for long term residents.

Dealing with Thai immigration in a retiree capacity is an absolute doddle compared to many (read most) western countries.

By all means complain but please have realistic expectations.

Nancy, my apologies, they were just suggestions, perhaps Ill-considered given that I am pretty ok with Thai immigration all in all. My experiences have not been the same as others and in general far better than I have experienced in other countries (US, Ireland, UK, PI etc).

I still do not think this event is the right place to voice concerns but it was good to catch up with compatriots some coming as far away from Chiang Rai. I was surprised at how many Oz citizens there are here now ( and note your increasing Oz membership) but as stated this out service is limited and really targeted to high volume simple issues and any distraction from this will have an effect on wait times and I am somewhat considerate of those that have made a long journey for a specific advertised service.

Connda, the op is perfectly understandable to the target audience and clear in English..

The first two responses used Oz slang and you had no problem with this, or it seems with poor spelling by others. It is effective communication not an English test.

There is no need for other nationals to hijack the thread for an alternate agenda or point scoring.

Merv Hughes put it very nicely to Viv Richards in a Carribean test some years ago" In my culture we just say............". Google away.

People could still submit their story in writing, couldn't they?

Secondly I would have thought that embassy staff would question the severity of a complaint if the aggrieved party effectively waited until they arrived. There are email and phone options available for this. Being a complaint drop box is not one of the stated functions of the outreach service and I would not want to see any potential for the service new as it is being limited or withdrawn.

Lastly would it not be better that approaches were made through the larger Expat national embassies such as UK, USA, or other EU nations? And if this has been done to no or limited effect then why presume that all Oz citizens have a problem, will complain, or that the embassy will act, or act successfully or in an actually committed fashion.

Again I personally do not have a problem, have dealt with them direct and through two local agents.....and would deal direct with them again no problem (this Tuesday more than likely). Perhaps it is the nature of Oz nationals but if I had an issue I would complain at the time when there is an avenue for my complaint to be addressed there and then.....where my complaint is warranted and to me serious enough.

From my initial reply on the consular service I am more likely to complain about their organisation but put the first few visits down to it being new and a teething problem and perhaps unexpected demand numbers.

trying to keep this a bit on topic but it would be a bit much to use this opportunity to shit can local immigration for a few reasons. Firstly if one or multiple people complain it holds up the service for others. On the last visit there were three Thai staff (two on receipting and one admin or queue managing) and one A based Ausralian officer and a lot of people wanting to access that officer as he was the only one who could actually sign or witness a document. Secondly the service itself though welcome was not that much different than local immigration. The venue was packed, not appropriate, and a few codgers sitting outside in the heat (sound familiar), there was no efficient queue system so people were constantly seeking out how they put their name on the list and then going back up again to find how much more they had to wait (familiar?), after having your document signed you then had to wait and for quite a few until after lunch to get you reciept ( and wait you must as they kept documents or passports......familiar again?) so by no means was this quick, they ALL broke for lunch at the same time etc etc etc.

I say this so that those attending appreciate that they may be there for some time, that this is a limited (in size and scope) outreach service so I would not call it a road show so not the best place to complain at length or have complicated queries, and not to different from local Thai immigration. It is a good service for simple high volume certification and application but recognise it for what it is and use it within its limitations.

If I could have used a visa agent to go there I would have

Must have really wanted his McDonalds for lunch

http://www.cm108.com/bbb/topic/6370-ณ-สี่แยกแห่งหนึ่ง-ฝรั่งเขย่า-xxx-โ/

I understand that the bookshop on Sridonchai still has copies of Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people" available

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Ps this is the company I used overseas who apparently export to Thailand

http://www.stonebeton.com/stonebeton/en/products/5/photos

Doing this can add time if it is a new wall as any new cement needs maybe a month to cure before render should be applied.

Short answer is Yes but having said that I am not aware if required material is in CM. over the initial cement a "stampable overlay" (google it as common building term) is applied to required depth. This is a special cement mix generally grey or a dry polymer and how faux internal walls are decorated or finished in a rock or repeated fashioned whatever brick shape you want and sometimes painted over. It is generally not carved into as a one of design as is made to be stamped. With the right product after render the stamping itself is a very quick process. Can make a great feature wall and size is not limited.

http://www.chiangraitimes.com/german-national-thomas-leiner-arrested-in-chiang-mai-for-drug-trafficking.html

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Now in CR times

The paper we are not allowed to reference has another CM resident named (53 year old German with Thai wife in Mae Rim) spending some time with the BIB tonight and probably a few more for selling and possession of speed apparently bought in Loi Kroh...and allegedly confessed had been selling for some time.

Perhaps some rigid policing from the new blood. Before it was always about who they caught possessing illicit drugs, now and for Thais as well, its about who they caught possessing illicit drugs and then actual follow up of who in turn supplied them ....I wonder how far up the chain they are prepared to go now the junta has an increased focus on criminality and corruption within the state.

Just a bump for this as starts Friday in case anyone is out for a new vehicle or the related entertainment. They have a FB page now displaying a selection of vehicles hopefully on show at https://facebook.com/ChiangMaiMotorExpo2015

Just a few questions on the full length skin tight Lycra suit. Is this just for lounging at home or Expat Club type social functions or visits to Loi Kroh or strolling round Festival. Does it need to be fluro for night time wear? Will there be some sort of flies eyes type effect when sitting?

Apology to all I am failing link 101 after attempts to fix. Can Mods fix or delete as seen fit. Thanks

If it involves me possibly finding out that you dress to the left or right then no Lycra for you.......please

Has anyone seen details of this on a news based site at all that might have more/better info...thanks.

As far as a digital nomad business start up probably not the best business model for Thailand.

http://www.stickboybangkok.com/news/irishman-arrested-selling-1kg-of-dope-to-cops/