Stocky

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

Been to CW yesterday to renew my retirement permit and saw many, and i mean many, non white/Caucasian waiting 

to get their visa/permits renewed,  many of them were Indians and sub-continent persons...

Why should this surprise you? White Caucasians constitute 8% of the global population.

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Lucky you ... as mine is 100 kms / ~1.5 hrs away ... 

It was happenstance, we bought the house because it was convenient for local schools. Never had much dealings with immigration whilst I was working, multi entry non-O's worked fine. It was only with Covid that I switched to annual extensions and realised how conveniently close we were to the immigration office.

I do the extension myself, the wife does the TM30 and 90 day.

Easy as the Hat Yai immigration office is only 1.5km from the house.

Hat Yai immigration are generally pleasant and helpful. 

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8 minutes ago, youreavinalaff said:

What percentage of all UK citizens would 40% of Mudlims be? My guess would be around 10%.

Much less than that. Less than 7% of the UK population are Muslim according to data in the 2021 Census. 40% of that would be under 3%, but what proportion of the 7% are of working age?

What are the current processing times, appointment availability, for UK visitor visa applications through VFS?

It's a long time since we've had to deal with VFS, the wife's last 5 year visa expired during COVID and not we've had reason to renew. However, I do want to take our granddaughter on a trip to the UK next year, so need to apply for a standard visa for the granddaughter, and a new 5 year visa for the wife. I know I can apply up to 3 months prior to travel. We'd be going for about 4 weeks during the main school holiday, granddaughter is 13, I would be funding the trip and we'd be staying at my house in the UK.

For the visa do I need a letter from the parents permitting us to take their daughter out of the country? I know we need it for Thai immigration but do VFS need anything similar?

I read somewhere that you can no longer save your application and return to complete later is that correct?

21 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Oh yes have seen thousands of those over the years unbridled stupid optimism. Build it and they will come. Except they never did.

The vacant shop house lots in the middle of nowhere are the fruits of money laundering. They were never intended to be lived in. It's just getting grey money out from under the table, washed, and in the bank.

You're no doubt right about the plot of land, but the area around Hat Yai airport has developed rapidly, there was very little there twenty years ago. After the 2010 floods quite a lot of new housing went in along the road to the airport because it sits on high ground. There are worse areas to hold land.

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3 hours ago, Stocky said:

I think a nice bit of cheese on toast and cup of tea will suit me fine

I found some Black Forest Ham to go with it and gave it a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper. Home made bread.

Merry Christmas!

I can only speak as I've found, and I've had no issues with Muslims. I lived and worked for a total of 12 years in Muslim countries; Indonesia and Malaysia. My home of 18 years in Hat Yai is in a mixed Muslim/Buddhist community. I've always found Muslims welcoming, I've experienced no animosity, no one has tried to convert me, and no one has offered to cut off my head. 

If people want to direct their ire, do so toward Saudi Arabia, they're the ones who fund radicals and terrorist groups, they're the ones exporting Wahhabism, the poisonous ultra orthodox version of Islam. Where did Bin Laden come from, where did 15 of the 19 9-11 terrorists come from - Saudi Arabia. The sooner the west stop buying oil from them, and stops pretending Saudi Arabia is a friend of the west the better.

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1 hour ago, Scouse123 said:

So you can't answer, that is what you mean.

Answer what precisely? 

51 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

 

And you think two wrongs , make a right?

 

What happened 500 years ago has no bearing on what is happening in nearly 2024.

No, just pointing out how facile you cut n paste graphic was.

Splendid finger pointing

35 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

The taffys have taken this to a whole new level, Hardly any of them speak the welsh language and they all without exception speak english, yet every street sign has to have both.  Must cost a fortune

Let's have some data shall we:

• For the year ending 31 March 2021, the Annual Population Survey reported that 29.1% of people aged three or over were able to speak Welsh. 
• 33.5% reported that they could understand spoken Welsh, 26.0% could read and 23.8% could write Welsh.
• 15.7% of people aged three or over reported that they spoke Welsh daily, 4.9% weekly and 6.9% less often.

Source: https://www.gov.wales/welsh-language-data-annual-population-survey-april-2020-march-2021

Talk about a red meat topic; would have been bonus points if he'd been black or Chinese.

Only time the Southern Forum gets traffic is when they trail a Muslim story.

25 minutes ago, Woof999 said:

Fun me, looks like it was installed by Stevie Wonder.

It was, didn't you recognise his voice?

Quote

Officers reported that Massadee divorced his wife two years ago before starting a relationship with Tarinee. They later fought over jealousy and Massadee wanted to marry Tarinee to make their relationship more serious and permanent.

According to the police investigation, Tarinee did not accept Massadee’s proposal because she was not yet ready to convert to Islam after the marriage.

It has little to do with Islam and more to do with this man's inability to accept rejection. There are dozens of these stories from all over Thailand every year, some people just can't handle rejection. 

22 minutes ago, topt said:

Is that always? How does it differentiate between other places and home or other trusted wi fi?

No, it doesn't always, and I have no idea how it differentiates. It has no problem with my home Wi-Fi but I have had problems making payments when out for the evening. On those occasions turning mobile Wi-Fi off and using the phone's data connection fixes the problem. So clearly the app has some ability to determine/calculate potential risk.

13 minutes ago, topt said:

.........won't be long before they insist on data connection only and no wi fi........

That actually happens with the Krungsri app, occasionally if I'm out and use the phone to scan and pay if connected to wifi it won't allow the transaction. Sensible if you've connected to the free restaurant wifi which is probable a security risk.

10 minutes ago, webfact said:

Highway police in Phatthalung intercepted three pickup trucks carrying 58 illegal Bangladesh immigrants....

 

...Upon inspection, the officers found the trucks suspicious. Inside all three vehicles, hidden under the cover usually used for transporting vegetables, were 58 Myanmar nationals – 25 men, 26 women, and seven children.

Bangladeshi or Myanma? I guess probably Rohingya.

11 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai is what we are concerned about, this winter.

 

Why didn't you start this thread in the Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai forum. The thread title says "Do YOU Think It Will Be a SUPER Cold Winter in Thailand, This Year?" which is asinine.

Thailand spans 15 degrees of latitude and 2565m of elevation. I live in Hat Yai, which is 7 degrees north of the equator, the night time temperature seldom goes lower than 22°C in January and normally stay above 24°C. The idea of a "SUPER Cold Winter" in southern Thailand is laughable.

Y're 'avin' a laugh.

Generally I avoid the stuff like the plague, but I don't mind the banana roti you get in Hat Yai which do come with condensed muck. I'm also partial to banofee pie and that traditionally is made with dulce de leche, which is often made by carefully boiling an unopened tin condensed milk for a couple of hours.

But the idea of putting condensed milk on a pulled pork sandwich is absolutely revolting.

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There have been adverts on Hat Yai's lampposts for a few months touting the Maxim ride hailing app. I've been using it the last month and it works well. The Maxim taxi fare around town is generally Bht70-80 and a cab is usually there within 5 minutes. The previous Hat Yai taxi meter experiment failed utterly, it's now a farcical taxi no-meter service which you can't hail in the street because of an agreement with aggrieved tuk-tuk owners. The taxi 'meter' is Bht100 to 150 fixed fare around town and you have to call them to pick up, and tuk-tuks will also quote you 100 to 150 most times and 200 at night. So Maxim is a huge step forward, no haggling, fare clearly stated when you book and most will give you a prompt pay number or QR code so no issues with "sorry no change". 

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