jbob

16 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

If Richard Barrow had not made this public when would the Thai Government have admitted to this?  I would like to thank Richard Barrow for informing the expat community about this gigantic failure.  

Because the Thai government appreciates it so much when a farang calls them out and they lose face. Surely Richard could have spoken to one of his government contacts to let then know, usually between 45-120 days notice is given before public disclosure of a bug.

6 hours ago, Ballbearing said:

 

Ubonjoe,

I am a bit confused - I thought I would have to have an approved extension of stay before I could apply for the work permit ?

have been trying to work out how to go from Tourist Visa to Business visa with work permit doing 90 day reporting (as opposed to border runs) and there seems to be 2 distinct things you need to do:

1) move from Tourist Visa to Non-immigrant status (whether it be education, retirement, etc) through an agent to prevent having to leave

2) with non-imm status apply for a work permit with the help of Thai company (eg. 2 million capital, 4 thai staff allows for a work permit. More options and requirements I found here https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?p=14714 but the entire english section of website seems to be 404 at the moment so I can't double check) then move into a non-imm business visa. 

The only benefit of moving to business visa would be to extend your non-imm visa if its only 90 days or to change the requirements eg. education means going to school, retirement keeping 400,000b in bank account in your name, etc

Hope that is accurate and helpful but I would still double check

if you have 400k in your bank and all the paperwork you should get a marriage visa that way you can do 90 day reporting from what I understand. Seems easier to switch from one non-imm visa to another as opposed to a tourist visa to non-imm but still possible to do without leaving but I only know how through an agency.

2 hours ago, JTXR said:

Very sorry to hear of your frustration and difficult decision.  I'd love to go back to the U.S. for a while to see to family and personal business (even braving the awful situation there), but I fear if I leave, returning to Thailand will be a nightmare for a long time to come.

I too would love to see my aging parents/grandparents in Australia but with a dependent thai partner its out of the question for the time being. 

The complaint boils down to "you didn't roll out the red carpet for me, a farang! im breaking up with you thailand. By the way you will never be happy without me"

24 minutes ago, Jack1988 said:

I have a 1 year non immigrant ed visa, done on May 2020. I just have to go at immigration every 90 days. I was really bored about tourist visa and going out to the border all the time. Now am very happy in Thailand and I can apply for another ed visa after 1 year as well.

 

I wish good luck for those that are into amensty but I think that if you will leave after will be very difficult to come back in Thailand

this looked great until you read the stories of thai language test regardless of what you are actually studying, but that non-o status gives you options for sure (400k in bank 2 months and marriage, work permit/business visa) life gets a whole lot easier on Non-O

On 7/31/2020 at 3:23 PM, Ballbearing said:

Thank you Ubonjoe - as usual you have been a great help.

Unfortunately I think my Australian employer will faint when they see the required documentation and the hurdles they need to jump over.

I hate to say this but it may be easier to just pay a pile of money to an agency and go the backdoor route.

Thanks again,

Cheers,

Shane

That seems to be my conclusion too, now the only question is: do I wait till september and get an extra month on the visa (and wait to see any developments and/or avoid the inevitable rush) or apply now and pray nothing bad happens? decisions....

look like the there has been a reversal of the reversal (about the 4 min mark in video)

Normally I spend 2 months in Thailand then 2 months in Vietnam then 2 months in Australia. My gf is Thai so for covid we decided to stay in Thailand. 10 or so years ago used to get multiple entry business visas in Australia but then paperwork requirements changed and multiple entry tourist visas were good enough... until now.

Now I have to change my visa status from TR to Non-imm (B/E/O/S/?) without leaving. I have good business relationships in Thailand but what realistically do you think my options are given there are only 7 weeks left til a flight back to Europe is looking better than overstay?

Marriage visa is already out of the question (no thai bank account in my name with 400k for 2 months/the whole marriage thing) and much less than 50 years old for retirement visa.

Open to any realistic suggestions ???? please PM me

20 minutes ago, Jack Hna said:

I think a sensible option to put this to bed is to grant a new covid visa for anyone who can stump up:

 

30k -1 year extension no questions asked just pay and report every 3 months.

 

20k - 6 months terms as above

 

The IO teams would then have a birds eye view of a limited catchment of farang and they could use their time and resources to evaluate the visitors accordingly.

 

Why not try something different as this year and maybe next year it's gonna be stale so be a good time start exploring possible ways of attracting more tourists with a new focus being long termers for any reason whatsoever. 

 

 

I would take this for sure, then sign a 1 year lease on a condo.

Very surprised by the poll results. Was 90% amnesty extension, then 45% now 65%. Immigration doesn't owe anyone anything but an additional option or 2 given the once in 100 year situation would be nice.

21 minutes ago, greggraham said:

Rayong situation?  

turn on the TV 555

the whole Rayong situation has proven how much they should appreciate that A) the situation is far from over and B) keeping the tourists you have is 10x smarter than trying to get new "VIP" ones.

they have a few thai problems like, what to do with all these immigration officials? how do we keep track of non-thais? immigrations/embassies/consulates were making a TONNE of money and not anymore make them back to normal before we go insolvent! 

overstay is for sure a risk, but for many the risk of catching covid or relationship breakdown is greater. So what are the penalties?

Overstay less than 90 Days = 500 Thai baht/day overstay fine (maximum 20,000 Thai baht)
Overstay more than 90 Days = 1 year ban from Thailand and 20,000 Thai baht overstay fine
Overstay more than 1 Year = 3 years ban from Thailand and 20,000 Thai baht overstay fine
Overstay more than 3 Years = 5 years ban from Thailand and 20,000 baht overstay fine
Overstay more than 5 Years = 10 years ban from Thailand and 20,000 baht overstay fine

1-40 days are bad @ 500b a day, 41-89 same 20,000b fine as day 40, 90+ 1 year ban

also beware you will not be able to apply for Elite Visa if you overstay possibly others

we are adults, and capable of making responsible decisions. all decisions have costs

My Thai fiancee and I will be split up for months if I were to leave and as nobody knows for sure for a bit of fun, what do you think the options for those of us here on Tourist Visas will be prior to 31st July?

I have been living with friend in Buriram and as there is no immigration office anywhere nearby and there is no chance they registered their house online as it was a last minute thing I know they didn't do a TM30 for me.

I am going to pattaya tomorrow and have booked a hotel, I know they register me with TM30 because I did it there before. 

Does anyone know if I will have to pay the 1600b fine on behalf of the buriram friend or will the fact that the hotel did it for me (but only for the day) make up for that fact when I extend my tourist?

@PhiPhi have you seen the super highway in chiang mai? its bumpy as shit (up and down shake) and you feel every one of them 555. When you hit the brand new section the ride is butter smooth (especially with a warm engine), after the sharp inch and a half high bitumen transition bump... 

So I did some PCX research and apparently it does 100 mpg, mine is reading 35.8 km/L which if you convert it is 84.21 mpg so really not much difference apart from the small fuel tank but 80-100b and <5 mins stop every now and again for city driving is fine. I thought the difference was a LOT more

On 3/15/2018 at 8:58 AM, PhiPhi said:

Just brought the standard 2018 Aerox 155 bright yellow

Congrats on what my girlfriend calls the Pikachu bike 555. I got the other standard black and red because in Chiang Mai there are not so many Aerox (unlike Pattaya where I counted 7 blue ones walking to breakfast) making it far more subtle, plus the color panel are easy to swap out to carbon fiber or custom but the matte black parts do get dirty after a couple of weeks. 

Got my 1000km service coming up soon and will ask them about oil, want a smoother ride as at speed it shakes so much at times my hands almost come off the handle bars unless I grab them, which I dont want to do because I like both hands on the breaks as well. After reading comment on doing turns at high speed have been trying it out and am impressed. Crashed my old Airblade turning down doi suthep at about 40km/h because it lost traction and thus slow right down to <20km/h most of the time, good to know I dont have to

2 hours ago, Ramdas said:

Thanks for the upgrade infos, I will have to find out where it can be done in Bkk, it’s not going to be easy to explain it to any Thais who know hardly any English language though ?

In the meantime, I’m going to have the fork Oil replaced with a higher grade hopefully it diminish the wobbling but most importantly they won’t go right down under braking or when hitting a pothole or a higher hump and any other cracks on the roads ??‍♂️

I watched this video last night and if I can find the pieces and find a shop I will totally do it.

Im always looking for mods and unfortunately for me the best place is clearly BKK. Chiang mai just does not have enough English for me to navigate the scene but if you buy the parts I'm sure you can walk into a moto shop and have them install pretty cheap. A 1600b fork kit would be nice...

Wind shield or a Ohlins suspension will be nice but I can not justify 17,450b, better to leave it just like Thai beds, hard! It only really annoys me at 85km/hr+ where my head almost vibrates on old bumpy roads. Super highway just opened some brand new road and its a dream going fast of that stuff 555.

Where it really shines is overtaking and getting in front, its safer to merge when you have to worry about what is in front than what is behind (very often nothing ) getting to speed in seconds then cruising down to the speed limit. My gf took a trip to Europe and the Eco gauge has been going up and up from 33.8 to 35km/L and rising, not a dramatic difference for -44kg 

Top speed I managed to see was 105km/ph on the Chiang Mai super highway with 125kg on board but I also don't like looking at the speedo at that speed. It was really smooth at that speed but if the road is rubbish it feels like it has a flat tire plus the wind from the Yamaha helmet that came with the bike is terrible.

The only other time it scared the shit out of me was when there was water on one of the moat U turns and accelerating fast out of the turn on the water had the back wheel loose traction and slide out but decelerating fixed it without incident. Only time I ever crashed years ago was coming down from Doi Suthep at the first hairpin turn (the one with all the broken mirror class 555).

Got in to a bit of a drag race from Maya along Huay Kaew rd last night, skinny thai on a Mio, Big Bike and me, from a late start kept up with the mio but when the big bike needed to break the back wheels were wobbling badly while I am still yet to lock up Aerox Standard breaks not through lack of trying

57 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Maybe its an arm length thing / seating position

when you have a girl on the back every time you break you get a little closer. Driving solo is a much better experience for sure which I need to do more of.

Found somewhere Click is 50k new with 58.8km/L and extra 0.9L fuel tank (5.5L) (cheaper, more fuel efficient, longer range) and as you said 125cc is still better than average but still don't think you will find a more fun bike for 64k :)

Hi I have a 2007 airblade and just recently after a service its developed a nasty wobble, had a mechanic tighten the front but the issue persists and costantly feels like the bike is out of control like when you get a flat tire.

What could be causing it? next step is to take it to a honda place and get it repaired there

Thanks

got a flat on my scooter and want to know where the places that can fix it are.

Any ideas?

Hi all,

Can someone shed some light as to why my dtac prepaid sim gave me a month of credit validity when I got it and has slowly gone down to 4 days?

Very annoying

Cheers

Been looking at 3 bedroom condos in the pattaya/jomtien area and the prices seem to vary considerably.

There is one im looking at in Jomtien in Grand Condotel that is 165 Sqm, 3bedroom, 2bath for 30,000. Is this a good deal?