Savannakhet: worst fears confirmed

[gearbox]

9 minutes ago, madmen said:

This has all been discussed to death yet op puts up a big drama Post.

He doesn't appear to understand the system. There laws in place for
Long stay visas. If he wants to stay he needs to pay

All these border runs and running back and forth to Australia is going to cost more than the loss on exchange rate so where is the logic

It depends...I myself need to go to Australia twice an year anyway, so no extra cost. 

 

I'll be in his shoes after an year or so, and if there is a mandatory health insurance for O-A holders, then I would need to find another solution, most likely 800k baht in a Thai bank, at a lower exchange rate than today ????

 

[SpanishExpat]

6 minutes ago, visarunner said:

Re Filipios you wrong, in the meantime they are the only on the 2 land border limit. Myanmar can enter only by air if they want visa free entry. The Countries no hassle are Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

That may explain why many of them moved to Malaysia. I just know that rich Thai families loved them having as maids, baby-sitters etc, as they usually can deal better with that stuff, work harder and talk to the kids in English etc. 

[Winston Smith]

3 minutes ago, moana said:

You don't need to actually exchange to THB. You can open a FCD account denominated in AUD with any bank. Immigration will accept such accounts, and the required bank document will show the THB value of the account on the day of issue.

 

You can then wait until you believe the exchange rate is favorable and exchange, or just keep it as AUD forever.

The Philippines is a part of ASEAN. They have specific visa agreements in place that are not available to other countries.

Thanks for the tip re: bank account denominated in AUD - I had no idea this was possible.

[gearbox]

4 minutes ago, moana said:

You don't need to actually exchange to THB. You can open a FCD account denominated in AUD with any bank. Immigration will accept such accounts, and the required bank document will show the THB value of the account on the day of issue.

 

 Very useful to know! Do you know which banks can do that? Do you need to transfer first in baht, then convert to AUD, and if you want to get the funds out need to convert to baht again? I have a foreign currency account with HSBC in Australia and works that way - in and out the path is through AUD.

[Winston Smith]

17 minutes ago, madmen said:

This has all been discussed to death yet op puts up a big drama Post.

He doesn't appear to understand the system. There laws in place for
Long stay visas. If he wants to stay he needs to pay

All these border runs and running back and forth to Australia is going to cost more than the loss on exchange rate so where is the logic

Please state the law that puts a limit on the number of tourist visas one can get in any period of time, or the law which defines what a tourist is on the basis of time spent in country, or an official posted regulation from any consulate that stipulates such rules. Unless you can provide that, your arguments are VOID and utterly without merit.

[Ctkong]

55 minutes ago, timendres said:

Well, the OP for one. The tightening of the retirement extension rules. The added requirements for retirement deposit periods. The increased airport denials. The tightening of the border run rules. You could argue that these are all intended merely to reduce the number of undesirables, and I would not disagree. My gut instinct tells me that Thailand feels they have enough long stay residents, and they are not excited about a potential tidal wave of retirees from around the world - mostly coming from western nations.

More to the point is that thailand only want retirees who can qualify their requirement and not those who ride upon the back to back visas and stay under the radar. That would mean the ‘more affluent ‘ ones are welcome.  

[moana]

2 minutes ago, gearbox said:

Do you know which banks can do that?

AFAIK, all of them. Mine is with BBL since transferring USD used to be easier.

 

2 minutes ago, gearbox said:

Do you need to transfer first in baht, then convert to AUD, and if you want to get the funds out need to convert to baht again?

No, you wire AUD directly to the FCD account and it stays AUD. No need to lose an arm and a leg on a silly back and forth exchange. You can then wire AUD back, never once having it as THB.

[aqua4]

1 hour ago, Winston Smith said:

These problems seem to highlight an increasing hostility from those in power towards westerners. 

Yes, we are all on our way out one way or another. That welcome mat has been pulled out some time ago as Thailand has become very anti-Western. Some here hope that everything is going to go on forever but look how the TM30 just turned everyone sour. You might be a guy living on the fringes of the rules however I am under no illusion that we are all up for a kick out.  They dont want us here - period.

 

• The continual kick foreigners out raids (Correct but why advertise it unless to send a message?)
• Two well known expats in Thailand starting to complain about delays and that fallout (TV crowd - if you dont like it here ...)
• TM 30 craziness with some expats thinking they can change things (Thais will not lose face to expats)
• Retirement visa where it now looks like you will have to keep loads of your money in the bank permanently -- soon enough 

Its all going to pot in a handbag and you who wish to deny the fact that they are pushing people out slowly but surely. You will get the final solution to the problem soon enough. Your ticket is in the line no different to me.

 

[kylep]

21 minutes ago, visarunner said:

Re Filipios you wrong, in the meantime they are the only on the 2 land border limit. Myanmar can enter only by air if they want visa free entry. The Countries no hassle are Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Nope, you're hopelessly wrong. Philippines is an ASEAN member. The same rules apply ASEAN wide. Read your geography book for a better understanding of how ASEAN transnational travel and rules work. 

[JohnnyBKK]

Move to Dubai, 0 issues with visas and it's a super nice country.

[Winston Smith]

3 minutes ago, aqua4 said:

Yes, we are all on our way out one way or another. That welcome mat has been pulled out some time ago as Thailand has become very anti-Western. Some here hope that everything is going to go on forever but look how the TM30 just turned everyone sour. You might be a guy living on the fringes of the rules however I am under no illusion that we are all up for a kick out.  They dont want us here - period.

 

• The continual kick foreigners out raids (Correct but why advertise it unless to send a message?)
• Two well known expats in Thailand starting to complain about delays and that fallout (TV crowd - if you dont like it here ...)
• TM 30 craziness with some expats thinking they can change things (Thais will not lose face to expats)
• Retirement visa where it now looks like you will have to keep loads of your money in the bank permanently -- soon enough 

Its all going to pot in a handbag and you who wish to deny the fact that they are pushing people out slowly but surely. You will get the final solution to the problem soon enough. Your ticket is in the line no different to me.

 

Hi can you tell me more about the "TM 30 craziness" ? I have no idea what that is. As far as being on the fringe of the rules, all I can say is "what rules"? The only place where people tell you the rules is this forum which seems to be heavily infested with trolls who pretend there are rules when in fact the rules don't seem to exist, but can be magically, whimsically dreamed up on the spot by a government official.

Franz Kafka rolls in his grave.

[Ctkong]

The op commented that the Filipinos had no problem getting visas . My thinking is that they are part of ASEAN countries and thus different rules. I ,a Malaysian, had been traveling monthly to Bangkok staying 10-16 days each time for past 25 years or so and not once was I queried about my stay. Only once about 10 years ago the IO told me I had exceeded my no of days in Thailand for the 6 months period and could not come to Thailand the next month. That was the time when the immigration set up  desks counting the number of days spent in Thailand for every incoming visitor. I travelled to Thailand the next month anyway and they still let me in. 

[Lungstib]

1 hour ago, timendres said:

I think they want millions of people who visit and stay no longer than a week or two. The exceptions being cheap labor, and very large investors

Yes, I believe you are correct. The very fact that us long term stayers (30 years) have a visa stamped NON-IMM says all we need to know about Thai authorities view of us. According to Immigration I am temporarily staying with my wife, when in reality I live here in the only house I possess, in a country I have spent more time in than any other, with nothing but a Thai bank for 25 years and have a son with Thai citizenship. The original poster is right about a lot but caused his own problems by using Tourist visas. The situation is bad enough and then the corruption that has led to 'alternative' ways has made it worse.

[aqua4]

8 minutes ago, Winston Smith said:

... the rules don't seem to exist, but can be magically, whimsically dreamed up on the spot by a government official.

Welcome to Thailand. ????

[Ctkong]

23 minutes ago, SpanishExpat said:

That may explain why many of them moved to Malaysia. I just know that rich Thai families loved them having as maids, baby-sitters etc, as they usually can deal better with that stuff, work harder and talk to the kids in English etc. 

Filipinos top choice is Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, Malaysia  in Asia. I have never met a Filipino maid in my circle of Thai friend families.. only Myanmarese, Cambodian and Laotian maids. . 

Filipinos are also mainly Christians while Thais are mainly Buddhists. 

[gearbox]

23 minutes ago, aqua4 said:

Yes, we are all on our way out one way or another. That welcome mat has been pulled out some time ago as Thailand has become very anti-Western. Some here hope that everything is going to go on forever but look how the TM30 just turned everyone sour. You might be a guy living on the fringes of the rules however I am under no illusion that we are all up for a kick out.  They dont want us here - period.

 

• The continual kick foreigners out raids (Correct but why advertise it unless to send a message?)
• Two well known expats in Thailand starting to complain about delays and that fallout (TV crowd - if you dont like it here ...)
• TM 30 craziness with some expats thinking they can change things (Thais will not lose face to expats)
• Retirement visa where it now looks like you will have to keep loads of your money in the bank permanently -- soon enough 

Its all going to pot in a handbag and you who wish to deny the fact that they are pushing people out slowly but surely. You will get the final solution to the problem soon enough. Your ticket is in the line no different to me.

 

 

Thailand is what it is. It is not a first world country, the enforcement of "rules" is somewhat "flexible", and the cost of living is adequate to what it is.

 

If you don't want TM30, etc you can get a retirement visa for Australia - have 750K AUD handy to invest, plus prove that you have an annual income more than 65K AUD, and approved private health insurance. Any takers?

 

 http://www.skillclear.co.uk/australia/retirementVisa.asp

[JohnnyBKK]

1 minute ago, gearbox said:

 

Thailand is what it is. It is not a first world country, the enforcement of "rules" is somewhat "flexible", and the cost of living is adequate to what it is.

 

If you don't want TM30, etc you can get a retirement visa for Australia - have 750K AUD handy to invest, plus prove that you have an annual income more than 65K AUD, and approved private health insurance. Any takers?

 

 http://www.skillclear.co.uk/australia/retirementVisa.asp

By 55 it's easy to have 750K AUD saved up in assets... a single piece of real estate bought when you are 20 on mortgage and that's it. If you don't have that kind of money you shouldn't be retiring overseas, stay in your own country.

[gearbox]

3 minutes ago, JohnnyBKK said:

By 55 it's easy to have 750K AUD saved up in assets... a single piece of real estate bought when you are 20 on mortgage and that's it. If you don't have that kind of money you shouldn't be retiring overseas, stay in your own country.

JohnnyBKK,  it would be much easier to have 800k bahts right? Why the 800k issue comes so often?

[madmen]

Please state the law that puts a limit on the number of tourist visas one can get in any period of time, or the law which defines what a tourist is on the basis of time spent in country, or an official posted regulation from any consulate that stipulates such rules. Unless you can provide that, your arguments are VOID and utterly without merit.

Nowhere on my post you quoted did I mention tourist visas

 

 

 

[moe666]

All I can say is moaning and groaning about what other people get will not help you get one day in Thailand. Worry about your self, get your own ducks in order and you should have no problem.

[Rimmer]

A personal attack has been removed

[JohnnyBKK]

10 minutes ago, gearbox said:

JohnnyBKK,  it would be much easier to have 800k bahts right? Why the 800k issue comes so often?

Maybe people move here because they think it's cheap, Thailand is not cheap.

But clearly, 800K bahts is nothing for someone who is 55 and accumulated wealth for 35 years.

[Isaanbiker]

OP, may I ask you what you did in Thailand, other than visiting temples? 

 

You've been back home for only one month, IO see tourists as people who are on a holiday. 

 

 But reading your post, you are not an ordinary tourist without the intention of being rude. 

Edited August 20, 2019 by Isaanbiker

[Winston Smith]

2 hours ago, Happy Grumpy said:

You don't sound like a tourist. 

 

From your holiday? 

 

To live?

 

 

Sounds like abuse of Tourist visas. 

 

The IO was right to deny you. 

You sound more grumpy than happy. Now please define "abuse of tourist visas", also, please state the law that puts a limit on the number of tourist visas one can get in any period of time, or the law which defines what a tourist is on the basis of time spent in country, or an official posted regulation from any consulate that stipulates such rules. 

If you cannot respond to the above meaningfully then your "arguments" are null and void.

Edited August 20, 2019 by Winston Smith

[gearbox]

4 minutes ago, moe666 said:

All I can say is moaning and groaning about what other people get will not help you get one day in Thailand. Worry about your self, get your own ducks in order and you should have no problem.

The purpose of public forums is to share knowledge and express opinions, which sometimes can look like moaning and groaning. I would say for myself that I learned a lot about Thailand on TVF. Arguably TVF is the best source of info about Thailand - google about some Thailand info and the TVF posts come first.

[Winston Smith]

Just now, Isaanbiker said:

OP, may I ask you what you did in Thailand, other than visiting temples? 

Sure, you can ask ???? 

[Jip99]

1 hour ago, Essex Reject said:

I'm at a point now where I actually WANT to be forced out, they will be doing me a big favour, so please bring it on. Would have been out of here ages ago if it wasn't for commitments.

 

 

Oh dear.... you may need to change your username to Thai Reject if they force you out ????

 

I have never stayed anywhere very long if I haven't been sufficiently content. ........ commitments or no commitments.

[Winston Smith]

17 minutes ago, madmen said:

Nowhere on my post you quoted did I mention tourist visas

 

 

 

Well you were off topic then as the OP was all about an application for a tourist visa. It's therefore a reasonable assumption that your comment was in some way related to that topic. But thanks for setting the record straight ????

[rott]

36 minutes ago, JohnnyBKK said:

By 55 it's easy to have 750K AUD saved up in assets... a single piece of real estate bought when you are 20 on mortgage and that's it. If you don't have that kind of money you shouldn't be retiring overseas, stay in your own country.

Smug git.

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Some inflammatory posts, flaming and replies to them have been removed. Time to end it or formal warnings will be given.

And more by myself and another mod. And there as so many off topic posts it is not worth the effort to removed.

The topic has gone so far off the rails it is now