thaigold

The Belgian was lucky he wasn’t living in America. That’s the country where the spouse puts the chop to her own husband for having sexual intercourse with herself.

See my latest post for clues. I would give you my BKK cell #, but that would be breaking the posting rules.

Although rarely used, a cashiers check from your US bank, ($9,000.00 is adviswd). Bank it at your Thai bank - you might get the prevaling exchange rate at the time of deposit. Wait three weeks for the check to clear - walla, baht at the rate of deposit.

It's not the Thai banks, it's the American banks on the verge of bankruptcy. My Hawaii bank just doubled the charges on international tranfers by ATM. Hey, it's a business.

However, every month I transfer money from Hawaii for 3 baht, (at the exchange rate). 40,000 - 60,000, whatever).

I would gladly reveal my method, but I can't. If I did, my source would immediately raise the tarrif.

Knowledge is power - wherever you live.

Those people that refer to Thai Immigration as Suan Zoo should stop this offensive speech, and offer some respect.

Thai officials read this site. They are not as dumb as some of you Farangs think - many of you with only a high school education.

I’ve visited this country for going on a quarter of a century, never once a problem with a Thai Immigration official.

It is, their country after all…

21,xxx baht in the box from Califonia...New, syateside guarantee. Interested? Send a noye.

cndcvic wrote:

New member signs up today and first post is a link to his blog......

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Looks really a bit strange!!

And as sfokevin wrote:

I find your statement hard to believe... The iPhone is a little more sophisticated than your usual "locked" phone... The IPhone rquires you to initially activate any new iPhone thru an online sync with an iTunes account that will require you to sign up for a 2 year data plan... To date (less than 7 days released) all the proprietary "locks" on the iPhone have not been cracked...

So I checked a bit about "cracks" and "hacking" of the iPhone but found: NEARLY nothing! And the explanations I found wasn't truly to believe!

On the other hand I don't believe that Apple would develop and sell a product which is directly and easly to "hack"! If the story about this "hacked iPhone" is true, oh man, Apple is on a way down the secure (what ever) way!! I DON'T BELIEVE TAT AT ALL!

Interested here may also that the Iphone was ordered from eBay and shipped than via FedEx which arrived in Thailand today morning?! True? Calculate the time of order, buy, submit the money (on eBay need to pay in advance!), the seller need to send the goods to FedEx, FedEx proceed the Paperwork, FedEx send to Airport, after that by Plane to Thailand, pickup at Cargo, send to Buyer! Wow, I never kow that FedEx was that FAST!

My experiences with FedEx was a need of min. 3 Days after the goods deli9very to the FedEx office in US, to arrive in Thailand and another day to get it at m,y door! Not to tell the other times the seller was need!

Today is July 5. 2007 and the iPhone was launched in US at Ju7ne 29. 2007. That's 6 days! Could that be happens!

Thanks Lopburi 3 for your thoughts on my first post. When you say "supporting documents" are we talking about gathering together various bank statments and what not? Showing evidence that I have money parked in various accounts is not a problem but I'm afraid if they are looking for evidence of an accurate monthly income figure I'm afraid I will not be able to provide it. Most of the money is tied up in stocks, mutual funds etc and its just not possible to predict how much each source generates as it obviously fluctuates. I don't understand what they are getting at regarding a letter from an employer. If I was working in Thailand I would a have a work permit (as I have had previously) and if I was employed by a company abroad I would have no need for a long term visa to stay here with my family in Thailand as I would be away working.

Do you feel that providing I don't have some physcotic nutter official like AjarnJack experienced today and that if I go in armed with the usual documents together with an affidavit approved by the embassy stating an approximate monthly income above 40k Baht and various bank statements from Thailand and abroad totalling a few million baht I should be OK?

Many thanks for any further advice you have and anyone else who has any thoughts to share. Ajarn Jack, I feel for you and can only suggest you try someone else in the office on a different day or call the hotline for advice. Either this lady was having an extemely bad day or more likely is on her own power trip and won't listen to reason. Good luck.

Rust...

Are you by chance under 50 years-of-age? If so, that's the problem. Most Farang males in the Kingdom are penniless.

That's why the Thais are questioning you.

Good luck,

TG

Just one question:

Since the coup d’etat was ostensibly perpetrated to remove a criminal, evil, and corrupt regime, then why aren’t Taksin’s family assets quarantined and sequestered pending a tribunal? Why do Pojaman and children still hold passports?

Many say that if the CNR fail to bring a bill of indictment soon against the Taksin family, then very soon, the capitalist gangsters will seek a return to power.

This is not my opinion - it's just the word on the street.

Had a very tricky 30 minutes or so today whilst on my Nong Khai - Laos Friendship Bridge visa run !

Just to put you guys in the picture i always have used the services of a very friendly tour operator/travel agent to run me over the bridge & back to Nong khai whilst on laos visa runs!

It's just been convenience of it really, as they fill all the forms in and on many occasions have skipped past horrendous queue's etc.

so for the additional 300 baht or so it cost me i felt it was great value for money.

Anyway I turned up at their office this morning and was greeted exactly as i have been each time i have presented myself there over the past 3 years or so!

I Handed over my passport along with passport photograph & the fee.

One of the girls filled out the paperwork as they usually do & i just signed them, we set off for the 1 kilometre journey to the immigration checkpoint in one of their company vehicles.

From the moment i arrived at their office to arriving at the immigration checkpoint on the Thai Side of the border nothing at all was said to me that would have led me to believe that today was going to be any different in anyway shape or form from the countless other times i have done exactly the same visa run.

we arrived at the Immigration checkpoint (Thai Side) no more than 5 minutes after leaving the office & Although there was a strong military presence in evidence it seemed to be business as usuall, certainly with respect to folk leaving the kingdom!

Whilst travelling over the bridge my courier handed me my passport along with some $$$$$$

<deleted> i thought as this was the first time this had happened! They usually deal with all the stages visa run & i just followed like a lamb in thr past!

I asked her what she was doing handing me everything, And politelypointed out i had already paid her company for her services to handle all this for me?

I was me with a swift & sharp CANNOT! nothing more nothing less, again i thought <deleted>! But decided just to keep cool and deal with the rest of the usually painless visa run myself!

Arrived over the bridge at the Laos immigration checkpoint & was directed towards a window. where i was handed a couple of forms i needed to fillout!

One of which was identical to one i had already signed after being filled out for me in the couriers office in Nong Khai!

So me being the LAZY ASS i am! I filled out one of them & switched the other for the identical one i had prepared earlier!

I handed both forms along with my fistful of dollers & sat down waiting for my visa into Laos to be processed!

After maybe 5 minutes i was beckoned back to the window and was quizzed on whether i had come alone or was using the services of an agent!

(He had oviously seen the X's on the form that was filled out for me & i had only signed)

I said i was alone & was not using an agent!

At this point i knew i had a problem, but didn't yet realise just how severe it could have become!

After maybe another 10 minutes had passed i was approached by another immigration officer & was then escorted to a small office within the main building.

I was confronted by two male & one female immigration officers, one of the men shouted at me "YOU USE AGENT" to which again i totally denied.

They pointed at the X's on the form that was pre filled out for me, and again said "YOU USE AGENT FOR VISA"

Again i totally denied it.

Another couple of minutes passed whilst they chatted amongst themselves, then the female officer approached me & explained they were refusing me a visa into Laos as they believed i was using a the services of a visa agent/courier!

My heart just sank at that statement, as it seemed i was now caught in a terrible situation everyone hopes they will not find themselves in! NO MANS LAND!

I cannot get into laos as they are refusing me a visa!

I cannot go back to Thailand, as although i have officially left, i have not yet arrived in another country!

I decided to plead with whom i hoped would be the officer most willing to listen & hopefuly offer me a way out of this nghtmare! "THE FEMALE OFFICER"

I came clean with her & explained i indeed had used a service i had used for the past 3 years with no problems!

I also explained i was completely unaware that any legilation had changed regarding the use of such services on Laos Visa runs.

I also explained my thai wife & 2 year old daughter were patiently waiting for me back in nong khai, & would be totally unaware of what was happening & i had no way of contacting her.

She then left the room came back a couple of minutes later with my passport complete with Laos Visa. THANK GOD!

NEXT TIME NOT USE AGENT WAS HER PARTING WORDS TO ME!

although it had only been maybe 20/30 minutes, Words just cannot describe my relief on getting my passport back & Visa!

I genuinly had no idea anything had changed re using services such as these!

Does anybody have any further information or had the same experience of late?

UP/ TO /YOU…

I have only one question to pose. If you have a Thai wife and child, then why in God’s name are you using visa services and making border runs?

There is only one reason; you must be working illegally in the Kingdom.

Get your ducks in a row and live here legally, or go back to you native land (with your wife and kids).

Choke Dee Krap

Sawasdee….

It would seem the visa law is quite clear in its written structure and presentation.

Ninety days within a moving 90-day window. This regulation is more than liberal when measured against other nations; Vietnam, Lao, and the United States are more restrictive.

Additionally, any person who needs more than a 90-day continuous residency has many other avenues to secure long-term residency in the Kingdom. Any person who fails Thailand’s residency requirements is suspect in my book.

Comments:

ท I love Thailand and want to continue to teach English to young Thais. My work benefits Thailand. Easy, get a work permit (if you are qualified).

ท I live in Thailand and support a Thai girlfriend and her extended family. Easy, marry her and get a marriage visa, (you don’t have to be fifty). But they won’t let me work here! Easy, take her and your children to your home country and work there.

The time has come for Thailand to control it’s entry requirements – the benefits of this law enforcement will first benefit the Thais, and secondly legitimize the foreign residents who don’t want to be sullied by the activities of the “under-the-radar” Farangs.

I say, roll ‘em up, push the eject button.

Good luck…

TG

P.s. The burden of monitoring of the 90-day cummulative total in your passport is your job. If an astute immigration officer spots it, like if you give him or her a “Farang Attitude,” then you better hope you have a strong Gold Card.

On-arrival visas: 90 days and you’re out!

PHUKET: -- Phuket’s Immigration Chief has confirmed that Thailand will crack down on foreigners working illegally in the country by ending its policy of issuing an unlimited number of consecutive “visas on arrival” – tourist visas that allow the holder to stay a maximum of 15 or 30 days.

The crackdown is intended to stop foreigners – typically bar owners and other small businessmen without work permits – from using the visas to stay in the country indefinitely while working illegally.

Pol Col Bunphot Kongkrachan, Acting Superintendent of Phuket Immigration Office, told the Gazette that, from October 1, onward Immigration checkpoints around the country will limit to three the number of consecutive visas on arrival they will grant a single visitor.

After the third consecutive visa on arrival has expired, the passport holder must leave the country and wait 90 days before being allowed back into Thailand on the same type of visa.

The move effectively limits the length of stay for those entering the country using this visa class to 45 or 90 days.

The 41 countries whose citizens qualify for visas on arrival include Thailand’s top sources of tourists, including almost all Western European countries, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore and many more.

Col Bunphot said that all Immigration chiefs nationwide have been ordered to attend a meeting at Immigration headquarters on September 15, during which the new stricter regulations will be explained in detail.

“I will make a more detailed statement about the new situation within a week of returning from the meeting,” he said.

Suwalai Pinpradab, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand’s South Region 4 Office in Phuket, downplayed the potential impact of the new rule on Phuket’s all-important tourism industry.

“ I don’t think it will affect tourism revenue in Phuket very much because foreign businessman holding work permits will still be able to work. The only ones who will be affected will be people who are working illegally and prolonging their stays by making visa run after visa run,” she said.

“My concern is about the coming high season. I sympathize with Immigration, which has too few officers. I am afraid that they will be swamped with work and that there will be a slowdown in service [at Immigration checkpoints],” she said.

Executive Visa Run conducts visa runs to Ranong and recently started a service to Penang in Malaysia. A representative there, who requested anonymity, told the Gazette that word of the new regulations had created a great deal of confusion.

“Immigration here in Phuket doesn’t know what going on because they’ve not received any guidelines yet from Bangkok … Yesterday when we made inquiries, nobody there could tell us anything,” he said.

When asked if there were a lot of people making “visa hops” to get new visas on arrival, he said, “Oh, there’s a lot. Really. It’s unbelievable, the amount.”

He added, “I think it will have a huge impact. You listen to all this about how they only want the rich people to stay here. There are a lot of people who stay here on low incomes – and they cause no problems, they just get on with their lives,” he said.

--Phuket Gazette 2006-09-12

My friends…

Like it or not there are many reasons for Thai Immigration to tighten up entry rules.

The first being; if a visitor is living, de facto, in the Kingdom without a work permit, many ask, what is their reason for a long stay here? Every country in the world has a right to control its borders and visa rules.

Any legitimate foreigner can easily qualify for a long stay visa. No problem.

But if you come in on a tourist visa, please explain to us by what guide should a person be allowed sequential entries? Especially, since there are multiple avenues to secure long stay visas and residency permits.

Border runs are simply a dodge to avoid the real pain of going to the effort of showing the Thai government a valid reason to stay in the Kingdom.

I can’t count on all fingers and toes the Farangs I’ve come across in the Kingdom who have no visible means of support.

I might suggest you check US Immigration rules. Stringent? That’s an understatement.

Sawasdee,

TG

To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

I am offering just one snapshot of business in Thailand. The murder case I present was solved and the mastermind was identified and bailed. Yet this scum still remains free, eight years later.

Rather than waste the time typing just visit the following sites:

http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_13/b3622143.htm

This Business Week site is of particular interest.

http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/99/0409/feat8.html

A sample; from the CATO Institute:

“I also saw the dead hand in Nakhon Sawan Province, in Thailand, about 120 miles north of Bangkok, where Michael Wansley, a 58?year?old Australian accountant with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, was killed for his excessive scrutiny into the seamy world of crony capitalism. When the Asian financial crisis hit and Thailand's economy imploded under a mountain of bad debts, Wansley and his firm took a leading role in cleanup efforts.

In particular, in early 1999, a Thai bankruptcy court appointed him to supervise the debt restructuring of Kaset Thai Sugar Company and two affiliated mills. The three companies, all of which were controlled by the Siriviriyakul family, owed creditors a combined $450 million. The court?ordered restructuring was seen as a test of Thailand's bankruptcy process.

At Kaset Thai, Wansley apparently uncovered evidence of massive fraud. According to police reports, factory managers had been looting the company, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars and shifting the funds to shell companies or private bank accounts. On March 10, 1999, Wansley and four colleagues headed up to the sugar mill, near the small town of Takhli. As their black Toyota minivan neared the factory gate, a motorcycle pulled up alongside them, and a gunman seated on the back shot Wansley eight times at close range. He died instantly. (Not one Thai died in this assassination.)

Police eventually apprehended five suspects: the driver of the motorcycle, the man who supplied the motorcycle, two mid?level factory managers, and Pradit Siriviriyakul, one of the mill's owners and the alleged mastermind of the conspiracy. The driver was quickly convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but the actual gunman has never been apprehended, and the prosecution of the other accused plotters has turned into a total fiasco. A year into the murder trial, only two of 50 planned witnesses had yet to testify

.

Meanwhile, Pradit, the alleged ringleader, is free on bail, amid allegations that the judge who granted him bail received a half?million?dollar bribe from him. The judge was actually removed from office, following a Justice Ministry investigation, but the bail was not revoked, and Pradit remains at large. The trial is still proceeding at a glacial pace, and is expected to drag on through much or all of 2002.

Meanwhile, the restructuring of Kaset Thai and its sister mills sputtered as well. After Wansley's death, his firm presented creditors with debt restructuring plans for the three companies. The proposals called for a thorough housecleaning, a near total write?off of the debt and of the firm's capital, and replacement of the firm's management. But small creditors, mostly sugar growers, were afraid that if this plan were approved, they would never get any of their money back, and so they were opposed.

Although major creditors, including one French bank and several large Thai banks, held 83 percent of Kaset Thai's outstanding debt, Thai bankruptcy law at the time ?? it has subsequently been changed ?? held that at least 50 percent of creditors, by number, had to approve the restructuring plan. Small creditors had the strength of numbers, and so they vetoed the plan by a vote of 2,910 to 63. Faced with this impasse, the bankruptcy court could have ordered the firms liquidated, but instead it simply terminated court supervision of the matter altogether, leaving the Siriviriyakul family still in charge and creditors to try all over again to reach some kind of accommodation.

Finally, in June 2000, the bank settled on a much more modest deal. They agreed simply to stretch out repayment periods for 10 years. No debt write?offs, no write?down of capital. And although the banks gained the right to appoint representatives to the management team, the Siriviriyakul family retained ultimate control.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in November of 2000, I set out with a friend to retrace Michael Wansley's fateful last trip. Finding the sugar mill wasn't easy. It is hidden at the end of a maze of progressively deteriorating roads that snake and tangle their way off the main highway and through rice paddies, scrub brush and sugarcane fields. There was only one beaten?up, discolored sign, in Thai only of course that offered any guidance along the way. After stopping more than a few times to ask for directions, we cut off on to one more bumpy dirt road that cut through chest?high brush on either side. And just as we were convinced that we had made yet another wrong turn, the mill loomed into view.

Somewhere along that road, I thought, Michael Wansley had been murdered. On the day I visited, there was no evidence of the violence and horror of that time. Everything was drowsy and peaceful. A few chickens and roosters strutted back and forth across the road, and a couple of guards lounged behind the factory's shuttered gate. The factory itself was closed. It is open only a couple of months a year, right after the sugarcane harvest. The only break in the silence was, eerily enough, the sound of a motorcyclist, who buzzed up and down the road repeatedly.

Along that far?away, out?of?the?way dirt road, the lie was put to all the blather about the triumph of footloose capital and the tyranny of Western finance. The Wansley case shows vividly that, at Kaset Thai Sugar Company at least, the dead hand of crony capitalism still clings tenaciously to power. The company saga offers an especially egregious example of the breakdowns in investor protection that are all too common in much of the developing world: the looting of minority shareholders, the lack of transparency, and the unworkable bankruptcy procedures. As long as these breakdowns remain common, the term "emerging markets" will simply evoke nostalgia for the naive 1990's, as opposed to describing any current or future state of affairs.”

This note is not meant in any way to denigrate the business opportunities here in the Kingdom. It is all very doable. Please read this and do a quick study on the two links I posted. Although this example may appear to be a bit in the extreme, it illustrates the Thai mind set as far as we Farangs are concerned, and our position in the Thai constellation. It also shows, vividly, that a Thai will never admit they could possibly be wrong. If they won’t admit it to their own; they certainly will not admit it to a Farang.

Michael, gone, but not forgotten.

A question might be asked why the Embassy of the Netherlands omits the term "Holland" from its shield and insignia on Wireless Road?

Many people refer the the citizens of The Netherlands as "Holland Dutch."

Are we in error?

Thailand is recognized worldwide by its current name.

Here's my suggestion:

Thailand remains the internationally accepted name, but officially, it should be known as, "The Kingdom of Siam."

I think it is just historically and culturally more appropriate.

Here’s my tip, for whatever it’s worth.

Thai is a tonal language - using a script that has no written equivalent in English, Latin, or French.

What is easy in Italian is incomprehensible in Thai.

So, use the same rule you would use in in your home country. Find a bilingual teacher, learn the script, and be prepared to spend at least three years in this endeavor.

It might take that long to learn colloquial French – after your three years here, you will be able to speak at 6th grade level Thai, if you’re lucky.

I have yet to meet one person who successfully learned Thai through the “natural method.” Don’t waste your Baht.

Learn the alphabet, the tones, the speech – it’s not easy, but it’s doable.

Bombs in Hat Yai?

Well, here’s my take; these criminals have shown, by their very actions, not to be Thai. They are the enemy within. They must be obliterated and removed by any means.

These delusional idiots have relinquished all right to be considered, or protected under Thai law.

The Prime Minister may be in error in seeking a course of mollification in the South. The perpetrators of these criminal acts should be considered “enemies of the state.”

The Prime Minister was right in the first place – put in place martial law, and enforce it to the letter. If a family allows a 17-year-old boy to reject filial respect for family and country, then they are as guilty as their progeny.

Finally, failures of Muslim leadership in the south to abjure and absolutely reject crimes against the state in the name of separatism and Islam condemn them as co-conspirators.

Oh…on the issued of separatism – no way, it just won't happen . Thailand cannot give up the Southern Provinces any more the United States could have given up the southern states to a renegade group called (The Confederacy). Kind of like Taiwan claiming to be a separate political entity from China. Foolishness.

I support the Prime Minister in whatever it takes to suppress the insurgency. In many ways this crime wave (in the name of subverted Islam) is more dangerous than Communist insurgency some 35 years ago.

What say you?

TG

George:

Thanks for the clear and precient post.

In spite of the terrible loss most of the Kindom in unaffected. However, there needs to be a period of commercial restraint during this very sad period.

The Tsunamis have sent shock waves thru millions. We must share their grief.

Don

Sabai...

Agreed... Thai is not that difficult. It all depends on the teacher and the student.

It's a fact that aquirering a new language and script may be one of the most difficult of mental exercises. Again, it boils down to the student/teacher, and their intellectual perspicacity.

In my opinion, the only way to learn Thai is like learning your ABC's. Start with the letters - it will all fall into place. Hey, learn 44 letters - learn 44 words.

P.s. AUA doesn't have clue. DLI does.

My friends...Some people have trouble following Thai law.

I pose one question; have you ever tried entering the UK of the US without funds?

We rest our case.

GS...

Again ... I tell my Farang friends, this is Thailand. It is their country, period.

Just follow the laws and customs, like any country.

Every Farang I meet in the Kingdom who says he has had a problem, needs to look in the mirror.

TM

I had a Vietnamese visa on a piece of paper visa stapled into my passport. When I departed they stamped that paper and removed it from my passport. I had also forgotten my boarding pass on the plane so when I was not able to present this to the Thai immigration officer I was pulled aside into that little office room and had to wait until they confirmed with Thai Airways that I actually was on that flight.

I'm surprised as I would have thought that your special "Thai Elite" visa would have precluded being pulled aside and having to answer any type of questioning. Such shameful treatment of the upper crust... tsk tsk, shame on Thai Immigration.

Blimey John! Are you going to be following poor old Orion76 around forever? Just accept that he is happy with his Elite card and let it go! If I wasn't over 50 I would probably get one too. So there

(And Orion's problem with his Vietnamese visa was probably before he got his Elite card. But you probably guessed that anyway and just wanted to have another poke - right? )

My Friend...

Just imagine: You arrive in the USA under the same circumstances.

You are questioned by officers with weapons.

You are intimidated.

You stand a good chance of being strip searched.

You will be digitally bio-ed.

You will be printed & photographed.

You will be entered in the US (worldwide) data base.

Now you know. Relax and enjoy.

TM

Common guys...

Just follow Thai law. Is that so hard?

After all, we are guests here. No?

My Friends...

In spite of all the pain, Thailand is still more liberal, by light-years, compared to the US.

Try retiring in the US - especially if you're an alien.

Maybe we should all grin and bear it. Not "rock the boat", so to speak.

TG