KevinB

The Thai people couldn't give a twaddle about all the Granpas - they are informed (thanks to cell phones and the Internet) and know that they want democracy and the right to vote. Step aside old men who think they know better, who think they know what the country wants. This country is not filled with children who need their grandpas to sort out their lives - it is filled with a growing number of aware and interested citizens who know their rights and would prefer for grandpas to keep out of their lives and let them get on with them. Anyway - I'm sure the folk story posted ends with the 3rd granpa eating the big chunk fish - this is what greedy old men often do even if it started out about trying to stop the squabbling.

Hey guys the best thing to do is just ignore negative posts from the regular trolls and the "grumpy old Men" on Thai Visa - if, as I have done is the past, you try and defend yourself or a poster who you feel has been wronged - it simple starts a mini whirlwind of rage posts that are completely off track.

To the original poster - great to hear that it was no hassle - there has been some concern among some that the new regimes attitudes (what ever they might eventually be - other than trying to rescue the people from themselves) might filter down to the immigration office - It did for a while back in 2006 at some offices. Nice to know that what we are dealing with is increasingly looking like just another coup "Thai Style". Reminds me of the joke - Do you know what a "bloodless coup" is?

An Anaemic cow from Scotland!!!

Listen mates - a tipper truck recently drove into the Sydney Tunnel and slowly raised (we assume accidentally) his tipper - slowly scrapped a deepening portion off the roof - but kept on driving despite the chaos behind him . Finally stopped when his cab lifted off the ground and got slammed into the roof of the tunnel. When interviewed he said he hadn't hear anything because he was wearing headphones and listening to his I-pod (must have had noise reducing headphones) - so it is not just Thais.

By the way ratcatcher - I had a real giggle at the pics from the ole USofA of similar dumb accidents

This string of posts caused me to grab my last two maxi-passports and check my comprehensive collection of Non-Immigrant O Visas issued because my partner (not married) and I had one and now have two children. These Visas were issued at a real cross section of Embassy across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe - over the last 8 years and I can report that not a single one has a stamp or note - employment not allowed or Employment Prohibited. They include a Visa issued in Germany and one issued in London. So maybe Non Immigrant O Visas based on dependents is completely exempted from any restriction on working.

I've reported on a previous post that I once got a Work Permit to do some work in Thailand with a large logistics company - no problem what so ever - took a day to get it from the Labour Department and I didn't even have to attend - just sign the application form and hand over scans of passport and the relevant pages.

Some years ago I thought about getting a retirement visa and was advised against it for that very reason - I was told if I got that Class of Non Immigrant O Visa I would not be allowed to work in Thailand and might even have trouble helping out on my partner's various business ventures. BUT as I always say on these posts - things are very variable here in the Kingdom and it seems to depend, as someone said earlier, on which side of the bed (or whose bed) the official got out of in the morning.

For those who love history - the moment the Vichy France Government was established after the capitulation of the French forces in Europe - Thailand invaded what was then French Indo-China - todays Cambodia and Laos. The French navy a tad pissed off because the Brits had knocked the sh** out of them in the Med - while they were still at anchor - was still active operating out of the rest of their Colony - the Vietnam of today. They sailed round the corner into the Gulf of Thailand with a couple of cruisers and support vessels and in a very unfair long range duel (they had sea planes that could be launched and recovered and were used to spot and range their guns) knocked the sh** out of the Thai navy - sinking most their major vessels and killing a number of sailors. I'm told you can dive to these wrecks.

A truce was quickly negotiated before the French navy could sail up to Bangkok and this peace deal was brokered and backed by the Imperial Japanese Government (still a friend of the Allies - ie pre- the bombing of Pearl Harbour and Singapore). The deal gave Thailand some big juicy bits of both Laos and Cambodia (they had to hand most back at the end of the War but not all of it and left, as we have discovered recently with the Temple, a number of outstanding regional border disputes).

I know it might be unpopular history but the Thai regime at the time connived with the Japanese to land troops and equipment and to cross Thai territory so they could launch their simultaneous attacks on the British Colonies of Malaya and Burma. In the early parts of that campaign the Thais helped themselves to parts of both Burma along the north west frontier and grabbed and occupied a big bit of Northern Malaya in the south of Thailand.

The landing of the Japanese expeditionary forces was "secret" - so much so that elements of the Thai army actually attacked them and they got thumped by the superior forces both in term of equipment and professionalism of a army already battle hardened from earlier campaigns against the Russians and the Chinese. The message was finally got to them that these were "friends" on their way to attack the British colonists (not our friends) in the neighbouring states.

A new film is just about to be released worldwide - "The Railwayman" - based on the excellent book by Eric Lomax - read it and see the movie if you can - it has an absolutely startling performance by Colin Firth. But the sad truth much of what happened on the Railway of Death was done with the full compliance of the Thai authorities at the time - thousands of British and Dutch troops captured in Singapore and the then Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) were shipped to the camps up on the River Kwai through the port of Bangkok or transported up from the south through Bangkok in cattle trucks. The most notorious Japanese Prison where some unspeakable things were done was in the heart of Bangkok - in fact some of the Commanders of that facility, loaned to the Japanese by the Thais, were actually executed after the war for war crimes. The truth hurts but for many Thais those prisoners and what was done to them was not a big deal they were only farangs.

History is important - at the time there was a very uncaring military regime in power that had its own agenda and was certainly not "with the People". They watched as thousand of Thais putting up resistance to the Japanese "occupation" were arrested and also sent to labour camps on the Death Railway. Knowing what really happened including the bombing of Bangkok (designed to shock the ruling elite into understanding that they were definitely on the wrong side of history) has it's message for today as well.

Can share my experience - I travel a lot as a international development consultant but live in Thailand and am normally here on a multiple entry non-Immigrant O Visa. I have never managed to get my non-immigrant O visa moved into an extended stay based on my parentage of 2 Thai children which I have with my long-term partner (we are not married) because of shifting interpretations / requirements at my Immigration office - discussed in a separate stream.

I was once asked to do some work for a local logistics company here in Bangkok and was told they could easily organise a work permit - this they did in a day using a copy of my passport (relevant pages) and my signature on the application form but I did notice that the WP issued expired a couple of days before my O visa expired - but it was only a short-term job which didn't even go on for as long the issued WP. So it seems to be no problem and seems to be most easily done by the Thai employer or Company offering you a job.

I meet someone here in Bangkok who got offered a job and was refused a work permit when he applied personally and he was told that they do not issue WPs to those here on a retirement Visa. Equally I also know someone on a retirement Visa who got his WP with no problem and gets it renewed every time he does his annual extension of permission to stay exercise.

By the way do not panic - these nematodes don't infect humans they are very species specific - they mainly focus on big insects. They enter the insect as a small young "larva" and grow inside it until mature and then they bore out the insect and drop to the ground and die leaving behind their rotting body which contains hundred of thousand of eggs. Any interested insect that lands on the pile (the decomposing body releases odours that attract the insects) and it picks up a egg or larva and it then enters the body through a spiracle into the insects trachea - insects don't have lungs but small pipes which run from a hole in the sides to distribute oxygen to all their cells.

The version of these animals that attack humans are either ascaris "worms" and tapeworms and we get them entering our body from infected meat that is not properly cooked. And the escape from our body in our faeces - and then start their life cycle when a pig eats our waste product.

Basically your son could have eaten the thing in his pool without any ill effects (kids eat worms). I've see a big tree cricket in Chaing Mia infected with these "worms" and that is most probably where you specimen descended from - in a tree above the pool. It would have simple drowned if you left it in the water and would have not have released any of its eggs.

I travel a lot on assignment in foreign countries across the World and often need to renew my Non-Immigrant "O" Visa in far away places (some with strange and unusual variations in the requirements needed at the various Embassies). My partner and I are not married but we have two children aged 6 and 2 - I get my Visa based on the fact that I'm their father.

At any one of the Embassies I've used from Manila to Abuja, Nigeria (and many points in between) producing my Yellow Book (which I've had for 6 years) seems to solve any minor problem. For example, as another poster has already noted - I can get a multiple entry Visa even though the Embassy states clearly the non-citizens apply in country X (eg Doha, Qatar) can only be issued with single entry visas. Having it with me in Nigeria and showing it to the kind Visa officer and he waived their local requirement that I also have to produce a certificate from the National Drug Enforcement Authority stating that I had not been convicted of a drug related offense in Nigeria in the last 3 years.

My Yellow book and colour photo copies of the same have enabled me:

- to pay a resident / local rate entering a National park and a local museum

- open a couple of bank accounts (with local credit cards)

- get a separate internet cable connection in my name and connected to my office in the house

- get my pre-paid AIS123 SIM converted into a post-paid account in my name which covers roaming and can be paid monthly when the bill is delivered to my BKK home and paid even when I'm on the other side of the world.

In fact it has been absolutely INVALUABLE - and I can't imagine why everyone living here hasn't got one. An earlier poster noted there is variation Amphur by Amphur but go find out the requirements most are described above. I was surprised to find that although I live in a up-market cluster development out in Samut Prakan beyond the airport - there is a traditional leader that we had to go see and take him a respectful "gift" to show our appreciation for accepting me as one of his residents. Now I'm sure that his "taste" in gifts had been inflated by the number of farangs in his area - but on reflection it was worth every baht.

Hey some of you are gonna miss the ability to post the drivel you do on ThaiVisa when it gets closed down - what are you gonna do then? - shout at the neighbourhood dogs and be sad and lonely or just create hell for the Missus.

Well - all those in praise of the "Coup that is not a coup" over the last few days on ThaiVisa - hang your heads in shame. This is typical military Bravo Sierra - no thought put into it - no Reason behind it. Typical of an Army jock (apologies to all ex-military members of TV). Military Government = bad Government.

Me thinks that this is just the first of many moves which is going to see this rapidly become a FULL BLOWN COUP. Why a night curfew? - they are doing to do what the Yellows have wanted all along, since they lost power at the last election - have an appointed Government - how ever they do it - using the Senate patsies or just directing it via Military decree or by the so called Constitution Court (which is meant to protect the Constitution that the Army helped write back in 2007) - its going to happen.

Hold on guys this is going to get messy - and its going to more than just a hassle of visiting the bar. When the boys in green start closing down this site and all of us start getting worried about what we write or say or think. I wonder if there will still be those on TV applauding the action being taken by the military. I won't be happy until they go back to their barracks and leave Thailand governed by those that WIN ELECTIONS and if that means the Shins - Tango Sierra. I

Generals should stay in their barracks and the People should be allowed to Vote - if they want to elect the Shiniwattas and their cronies - it's their choice and they seem to have made it time and time and time again for the last 15 years. The 2006 coup didn't stop it and I don't think this so called "not a coup" now is going to change the will of the majority of the people. Thais now have more information and the abilities to communicate in their cell phones than they ever had in the past. No one is ever going to pull the wool over their eyes again - they know which party looks after their interests and they will decide soon enough if the army is failing to respect them as citizens of this Kingdom. The only people who seem to find difficulty with this unalienable truth - that the People rule - is the Bangkok elite and a whole lot of members of Thaivisa - some of who seem to just love the fact that, as the article says above - the army, if they don't handle this correctly are heading on a very dangerous path. They are happy happy happy that the army in going to try again to get rid of the Shin dynasty. Pity the world has moved on and finds the answer is in elections not well intentioned military coups.

It's simple - military Government is bad government - have a good look around the World if you don't believe me. And more importantly it is backward - check when the last military Government existed in South America - used to be a Continent of endless coups - now its Grown up. Even Africa is moving on - hasn't been a coup in Nigeria for decades - Ghana has gone civilian and a lot more. There are still some dark spots - Uganda and Rwanda with distinctly military style Governments. When was the last coup in SE Asia - me thinks somewhere in the Land of Smiles in 2006 - and hey - that didn't work very well - didn't that bright military event actually write the 2007 Constitution that is the root cause of the last 7 years of un-government and crisis. Can hardly wait for the 2014 version. As the days turn into weeks I think many here in Thailand will start to realise that a coup is a coup is a military Government. And unfortunately the average Military is not designed to govern - in fact, I seem to remember that they are meant to protect.

A lot of those posting seem to have missed a key bit of evidence. He was stopped because the picture Thai Immigration had of him when he entered was different from how he looked at the time he was exiting the country. Remember - "the please stand there (on the footprints) while we take your picture". Those cameras have a unique lens that captures your facial features but also records your shoulders and top of your torso.

The original story actually states that even he had difficult recognising himself in the picture Immigration had taken of him. So it actually had nothing to do with how he looked in his passport photo.

So all I can say is well done Immigration you are using the technology the country has provided you with and are following new directives issues to all ASEAN nations about tightening up on physical / visual checks on people boarding flights here and heading to Europe, the UK and USA. This is partly a result of the laxness noted on those passengers that boarded the MH370 flight in KL. Plus the fact that further investigations that there is thriving business of Iranians and Afghans asylum seekers using a number of ASEAN ports of departure and forged passport to get into the rich industrialised nations where life is a lot better than Tehran and Kabul.

To ajnamoon

Thanks for posting your experiences - some of us appreciate it. However, there are a group on ThaiVisa who use the site to vent, and why not (if you are a bored retiree). So a great and informative post (criticised a couple of times for not being eloquent enough) rapidly degenerates into a stream of posts about other things and some of the folk on the site come out swinging their handbags - not at you - but at each other. Hence the heated bits about standing for the national anthem and using agents.

If the truth be know there are a bunch of folk whose only enjoyment is trolling those who post or arguing with an avatar with whom they have crossed swords before. But it is fun to read I often have a bloody good laugh at some of the comments and there are times when some of the funnier guys and gals with their clever play on words really make my day.

But often the posts I like the most are those that go "chill out guys - Its a matter of choice if you do / think a or b or c"

So folk - keep posting your experiences - they are worthwhile - they give the rest of us: a chance to gauge changes at Immigration; to add essential docs to our document bundle at our next visit; to note things that need to be done and should not be done - IN A WORD - THEY HELP

I wonder if it is his Thai wife that named him "little fella"? He is going to be mocked in the showers when he gets to prison.

A lot was made in the posts about the GBP5000 a week and folk questioned if that qualified him a Drug baron but most missed the bit about having the equivalent of GBP350,000 in cash - not many of use would be able to have 70 weeks of income - 1.4 years - lying around our flat.

gezgin-rocker the TRUTH is that this is a confusing topic and as Niel-SK notes "The problem With this site is You never know, who is right and (who) to believe". - That's his point and he is partially right.

Immigration rules vary on the basis of your citizenship, what passport you hold and your residential status in the country you apply from and with the Royal Thai Embassy you apply at. So sound advice for your guide would be to "contact the Embassy where you intend to apply for the Visa". If your guide is intended to give advice on how you can stay in Thailand if you fall in love with the country, the culture or one of the amazing Thai citizens who live here - then you are on a very different mission and that becomes another set of issues.

So before you even start on ThaiVisa trying to get information on this subject be warned you may have to present your comprehensive Business Plan for your Guide to some members to convince them that you have thought in through and that you do know slightly more than Sierra Foxtrot Alpha. Stick around before this post is out - you, and others who put their little input in, in the hope that they are going to help you, will receive much stronger rebuke than that.

That said - there is a real wealth of experience and good advice available from some of the Senior Members here BUT if your situation is different from the norm or you come across an Immigration Department in Thailand that decides to place a slightly different spin on it the "law" as it is interpreted by them - the information you give, based on what you eventually put in your guide, will be worth SFA.

Sadly as Niel SK has already noticed when some people post stuff based on their own humble experience - then some regular posters (who I call the "grumpy old men") actually claim they "haven't a clue" - "don't know what they are talking about" or more amusing that they are "being untruthful and making it up". This leaves others reading the topic in a real state of confusion. Occasionally the original question posted degenerates into a slanging match between various members in an exchange, that has very little to do with the original topic, and more to do with previous on-line (and personal) confrontations between them. This in then even more confusing for the casual person logging on to find a way to get back into Thailand without having to engage in disruptive 90 days Visa runs.

Good luck with your guide.

I despair at the level of comments on ThaiVisa - anti-Thaksin, Anti-YingLuck, anti-women, derogatory and not very clearly thought out. This lady was elected (spare me the old arguments which somehow disagree with this FACT) by the majority of Thais - she is still the PM of this Kingdom (like it or lump it).

Plus she's being "tried" by a Court basically of retired Military men about an issue of her "moving"one of them from a post they occupied (and were appointed to). Given what has been happening during this latest ant-Democratic campaign by the so called Democrats (the Yellows) - where a bunch of folk who can't get elected at the ballot box are trying to unseat a Government elected by a popular vote - using disruptive tactics which have made the economy suffer - it is quite clear that a number of people responsible for security have not been doing their job and need to be moved. What?? you think it is normal for Military men to be Immune from control by an Elected Government. Or are you going to argue after demanding elections and then boycotting them and blockading them - having a Court rule that the election was invalid because of the boycott somehow makes the YingLuck Government totally "illegal". (A real boost for mob rule)

Come lets try and lift the debate a little bit. Spare me the normal troll activities where you only resort to insults. I'm a realist I've been living here since the 2006 coup - watched the army realise that in the modern world being a Military Government in SE Asia isn't easy. They stacked the deck and then handed it back to civilian rule since then Thaksin or a relative or a Proxy has won every single election - when are you going to wake up to the fact that what he represents (whatever that is for the majority of Thais) is the favoured choice around here. Welcome to the land of Smiles where the people (all armed with cell phones and access to the internet) have decided they no longer need to be ruled by an economic elite comprising many retire military men in Bangkok.

One of my friends is trying to adopt his wife's elder son aged 8 (they have another child together aged 3) and want to move to the Europe for 5 years for work purposes - it is a major hassle and looks like it may become real difficult if not impossible because the father of the child and his family have become involved. Good Luck. Biggest Problem here in Thailand is getting a Straight answer and decent advice on how to proceed with anything out of the ordinary.

Canadian Girl - it's great that things have sorted out for you. I'm sure the "guardians" of all things to do with Visas and Immigration will also celebrate with you (if they believe what you now report and don't argue that you are confused). And I hope they will be able to answer your question about the 90 day report requirement. On my last visit to a very crowded Samut Prakan immigration office - I sat next to a farang who had been waiting for ages (his number at least 20 ahead of mine) after seeing the immigration officer he return to where I was sitting because he had forgotten his briefcase - "Can you believe it?" he said "they say I don't need to do a report every 90 days!!!!!" - he was pissed off at a wasted trip and wasted time and his next comment summed it up - "the biggest bummer is you can never be sure what you are told in these Offices is the TRUTH - and represents a change in procedures or you end up worrying that on your next visit you will be told you failed to report at the last report point and are going to be penalised " - they had refused to stamp that he had actually been there.

PS when the lady comes to your home from Immigration make sure you have brewed up a nice cup of tea and have some cake.

Ok - you guys are up early and straight on to TV. Me I'm just staggering in from a great party where we had real fun with a egg hunt with cryptic clues - must have taken the hosts weeks to think them all out. Some were brilliant mind teasers.

the pool - I'm certain I'll need advice before this is finished because as I go along things are getting more complicated as it all unfolds. But I'd really like the advice to be based on what is actually happening to me not on what some of the members think should be happening according to how they see things "must be" from their past experiences. You have to accept that things are changing - Thailand is tightening up on those wishing to stay here. I have absolutely no reason to lie or fabricate what is happening to me in my posts - I'm telling it as it is - basically this is an on-going mystery to me and I'm struggling to understand it. And at times, like Canadian Girl 2, I'm getting at bit peed off by the different and often conflicting information / feedback I'm getting from various official sources.

Ubonjoe - I have realised that Visas issued in Nigeria are treated a bit differently to others I have had over the last few years from other places round the world - all you have to know is how many Nigerians are currently "guests" in the famous Bangkok Hilton to understand why that might be. But that is where one of my medium term assignments are at the moment so needs dictate musts.

But you have cleared up one thing - for which I was berated earlier about - you can ask the immigration official at the airport to not just stamp a one month entry in the passport but ask for a longer period based on the "Enter Before" date on the Visa. Given the 4 weeks period of consideration for an Extension of Stay request based on family support I'll try 6 weeks on my next entry. And I'll ask for a multiple entry visa (which my secretary has found out on the phone back in Nigeria will require me to have a special interview with the Visa officer at the Embassy) - in Abuja they generally only issue single entry Visas there.

I'll keep you posted.

Oh by the way in Nigeria they often only issue one month Visas - for Tourism, business, etc and I've discovered to my detriment Non- Immigrant O Visas as well.

Sorry guys for responding so late but I'm currently on the other side of the World at the moment and it is Easter here and the community I'm in really celebrates today - Easter Sunday (been a real cultural blast).

MikeandDow - I've seen your posts on other topics on TV and one which went something like "I know I'm right. Isn't that arrogant" - so I fearfully correct you. The requirement to have children "legitimized" in a court is being considered in Thailand but according to my informants in Immigration this has not been passed into law yet - I've just remembered you are strong on that point and demand to be quoted the relevant Legal statue (I can't). I gather the delay is partly caused by the current political impasse but you are right the Department is hoping to fully implement this requirement later in 2014. This provision, when implemented will require (for your information) a formal declaration before a court that you take full financial responsibility for your children as long as they remain minors. This court documentation will provide a level of legal protection for the child (and their legal guardians) to take legal action against their father (or their fathers estate) in another country - in other words their mothers will even be able to get maintenance orders in for example the UK. This "new requirement" will have to be done before a 'high court' (not sure how the court system works) - and the previous lower level village court process already done by some and simple documentation drawn up by local lawyers will have to be formalised at this higher level. But this is not yet applied and is not being applied to me.

My two sons are already "legitimised" to an extent fully accepted by Immigration in that I have registered them with my Embassy (for future dual citizenship rights and getting them included on my passport). This process has involved a number of legal documents and lawyers drawing up swore statements / affidavits etc. including those from their mother. Those signed by me undertake responsibility for them in a way acceptable to the laws of my country's legal system which are much more demanding of children's and maternal right than Thailand. But you are right that when the new regulations are formally implemented I'll have to get these document officially translated into Thai and go through getting them authorised by the local Court system (another gravy train for Thai lawyers in the pipeline).

Now there will I'm sure be a lot of debate on this on TV when this does become law because currently Thai birth certificates are acceptable "proof" of parenthood especially accompanied by an official conversion of the fathers name into Thai characters by a certified Government translator - which in my case is used on both birth certificates with my ID number.

Now before you jump all over me again - you and others have already ruled that I've been lied to / incorrectly informed / given wrong information by Immigration and the information above (about a change in requirements in the pipeline) comes from the same source who has ruled that I had insufficient time (only 14 days) on my current Visa to process an application for a year extension to stay on the basis of being responsible for my children. AND that they can't now process my application because I have a Single entry Visa. So before you start insisting I'm some dumb idiot who doesn't understand - just accept that some offices and officers in Immigration and in Thai embassies across this world have a different interpretation of the immigration law and how it is implemented.

By the way to remind you guys - this is what Canadian Girl 2 originally posted about - the confusing state of how the Immigration law is applied to people wanting to legally stay in Thailand with out having to do endless Visa runs.

As I've promised I'll keep you informed on TV about my progress.

Must go I have an Easter party tonight and a full public Holiday tomorrow to recover.

Well done Maestro.

You sum-up the situation perfectly. If the police want to hassle you they can and if you want to avoid being hassled carry your passport with you (or if you are really confident - follow the advice on TV and carry a colour photocopy). By-laws applied to Hotels are clear - any foreigner checking in is supposed to produce a valid passport with an active TM.6 inserted (as another poster noted the Hotel must supply the number of the TM.6 to Immigration along with Passport details). So if you are on your way to a Hotel take your passport.