Open letter from long-stay tourist in Phuket spurs action from Prime Minister

[BritManToo]

13 minutes ago, Poet said:

Yes, I have heard that you can buy a volunteer visa under the table for around 35k per year, which is indeed around 100 Baht per day.

Not all of us are criminals, pretending to be something we aren't.

Don't get me wrong, I'm OK with corruption in others, but choose not to participate in it whenever possible.

 

I prefer my legit non-O from Vietnam, but sadly current conditions prevent me from using it, even though it's valid until April 2021.

Edited September 2, 2020 by BritManToo

[Oldie]

18 minutes ago, Poet said:

Yes, I have heard that you can buy a volunteer visa under the table for around 35k per year, which is indeed around 100 Baht per day.

This is a great idea. Bernhard could be a volunteer for the test of Corona vaccinations here in Thailand. It has to be tested with Farangs too. 

[Poet]

9 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Not all of us are criminals, pretending to be something we aren't.

Don't get me wrong, I'm OK with corruption in others, but choose not to participate in it whenever possible.

To be fair, you're north of 50 and have the easy option of a retirement extension.

For anyone under 50, or without the 800K to hand, paying some corrupt official may be their only realistic option.

I'm not sure that it does really count as "pretending to be something we aren't". The visa with "volunteer" written on it just happens to be the easiest one for the corrupt IO to sell you. The entire Thai system of governance has essentially been set up to allow officials at all different levels to cash in on whatever they happen to have any power over, so, in the absense of a sensible visa system, paying for a visa, regardless of what one happens to be available, is not a corrupt act, it is merely accepting how things are done here.

 

[FarFlungFalang]

1 hour ago, Oldie said:

There is no guarantee that such people spend much money here. And there are laws that allow them to stay longer. There is no need for begging with open letters. I understand the situation if people don't have flights. But Bernhard simply wants a special treatment. He should apply for a visa like all others. And again - for how long does he want to continue this? And who will decide that it is enough now and when? 

There's no harm in asking because if you don't ask you don't get it.Many posters here have been pointing out problems with various aspects of the Thai immigration system so he went to the top and seems to have been successful in getting the attention he sort even if he did a bit of grovelling to get it I say well done and it may or may not the desired results but at least he gave it his best shot.

[Rimmer]

Multiple posts discussing another member along with the replies has been removed,  personal attacks are not welcome on here

 

25) No public discussion is allowed with regard to other forum members,

 

Edited just now by Rimmer

[CorpusChristie]

10 minutes ago, Poet said:

To be fair, you're north of 50 and have the easy option of a retirement extension.

For anyone under 50, or without the 800K to hand, paying some corrupt official may be their only realistic option.

I'm not sure that it does really count as "pretending to be something we aren't". The visa with "volunteer" written on it just happens to be the easiest one for the corrupt IO to sell you. The entire Thai system of governance has essentially been set up to allow officials at all different levels to cash in on whatever they happen to have any power over, so, in the absense of a sensible visa system, paying for a visa, regardless of what one happens to be available, is not a corrupt act, it is merely accepting how things are done here.

 

What is your reason for staying in Thailand ?

[Flying Saucage]

1 hour ago, Berti said:

How did he survive up to now in Germany, a country with a highly developed social system and one of the best healthcare systems in the world?

 

It is disgusting to see a grown up man begging to bend the rules for him like a little puppy.

Couldn't agree more Berti! 

 

This guy very selfishly tells an unbelievable BS about the situation in Western countries. Germany has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Covid is quite well under control if one takes into account that there are only 3 to 5 deaths now per day, in a country of 82 millions, and with 9000 free beds in ICU, and the vast majority of the new cases are asymptomatic and only discovered because Germany does 1 million tests per week now and pubishes the results transparently. Absolutely the opposite to Thailand in any aspect.

 

If this guy is afraid of flu, he should leave Thailand, as there is flu too. If he is scared for his life, he should leave Thailand with its 70 traffic deaths per day, compared to 8 in Germany daily.

 

With his letter full of false narratives, lies and BS, he supports Prayuts and Anutins lies about dirty farangs, on cost of hundreds or thousands of us who would like to return to Thailand and who would like to see Thailand to recover from its Covid panic paranoia. 

 

What a disgusting disgraceful behaviour, Mr. Stoever!

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by Flying Saucage

[DPKANKAN]

3 hours ago, Matzzon said:

That's amazing! The PM has read it??? I guess the days of wonders ain't over.

When they say he read it, I expect the reality was someone told him about it then read it to him, after some brownie points!!!!????????????????????????????????

[asiacurious]

4 hours ago, PremiumLane said:

Except you can get vaccinated against what is deemed to be the most common strains of flu for that year....

 

Right.  Though the effectiveness can vary greatly year to year.  These are stats for US (not Germany) but expect about the same for other countries....

 

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_vaccine#:~:text=A 2012 meta-analysis found,24 months (66 percent).

 

[Pattaya Spotter]

And to think his forebearers won the blitzkrieg into France.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Pattaya Spotter

[Dap]

5 hours ago, Matzzon said:

That's amazing! The PM has read it??? I guess the days of wonders ain't over.

It was brought to his attention by a very savvy underling who presented it as a viable PR "like me" moment. Rare as they are 

Edited September 2, 2020 by Dap

[shackleton]

I am sure there are plenty of Thai visa Agents willing to help him stay here 

[MRToMRT]

Whilst I don't see any point in ending the amnesty I think his argument is a little lopsided to say the least.

 

His life is in danger if he has to go back to Germany? Living in Germany is essentially the same as living in Thailand. Practice good social distancing and you will be fine. Germany currently only has about 15 cases per 100k people including tested as asymptotic. And let's not forget some Thais are quarantining in Germany.

 

I do hope he gets to stay but his arguments not really a great one.

[DogNo1]

He reminds me of a friend who uses a one-year Non-O Visa which he extends every three months by doing a border hop.  It’s one the most trouble-free ways of remaining in Thailand for a year except when you can’t do the border hop.  I think that might be the OP’s situation.  Certainly some special consideration could be given to people in his situation.

[natway09]

Do not have a lot of sympathy for him.

He could have been on a retirement visa 10 years ago but chose not to wish to comply.

We all know why. If you wanna live here at least commit some peanuts to the cause

You cannot always have your cake & eat it too

The younger 45/49 border cases I have sympathy for

[zzzzz]

4 hours ago, Poet said:

Perhaps he cannot afford the Elite visa, or the €22K deposit for the Retirement extension, on top of what he already spend to live here.

Is it even possible to apply for those visas without leaving the country? I don't know.

Presumably he ran out of options but the simple reality is that, right now, in this incredibly unusual situation, small Thai businesses actually need the income from Bernhard and hundreds of thousands of others like him.

 

if anyone is here in a visa exempt, tourist visa and has been here under amnesty/

a 3 month retirement extension, ( if over 50) starts at 18,000

than for a 1 year extension another 14,000

 

then there are ed visas/extensions, volunteer visas/extensions

all thru agents,

 

Why  should it be a concern of the thai government about a non thai person wishing to stay in Thailand?

Sure other countries appear to be more lenient but

 

Its thailand

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, asiacurious said:

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_vaccine#:~:text=A 2012 meta-analysis found,24 months (66 percent).

 

There's only 1 COVID to vaccinate against whereas there are dozens of influenzas and the WHO take an 'educated guess' of what they think will be circulating based on what's already going around months before.

 

Before you bother to reply saying 'but it's mutating and there are many strains' I will point out that COVID doesn't mutate in the same was a influenza, nothing like it.

 

[Mike Teavee]

57 minutes ago, MRToMRT said:

Whilst I don't see any point in ending the amnesty I think his argument is a little lopsided to say the least.

 

His life is in danger if he has to go back to Germany? Living in Germany is essentially the same as living in Thailand. Practice good social distancing and you will be fine. Germany currently only has about 15 cases per 100k people including tested as asymptotic. And let's not forget some Thais are quarantining in Germany.

 

I do hope he gets to stay but his arguments not really a great one.

I agree, if he was truly concerned about CV19 he would have left Thailand in March when it looked likely it would be spreading here & returned to Germany where few/none had it. 

 

Sorry, I do hope he gets to stay & can't see how he won't be allowed to with the publicity, but his argument is fundamentally flawed 

 

Maybe next year he'll do what a lot of Snowbirds do & get a Non-O/Non-OA "Retirement Visa", an option that is still open to him now if he can Xfer the money over. 

 

 

[Enoon]

 

He appears to be seeking some sort of "refugee" status.

 

????

 

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by Enoon

[spiekerjozef]

He can stay, just charge him 500 baht a day overstay money.

Thanks for your contribution to improve the economy.

A win-win situation indeed...

 

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by spiekerjozef

[Foghorn]

Why all the negative remarks , if it gets the government to think of us as humans then surely it’s a good thing

[pookondee]

43 minutes ago, Enoon said:

 

He appears to be seeking some sort of "refugee" status.

 

????

 

 

Well, he is German..

 

Maybe he thinks refugee status will get him first priority to a free appartment and free welfare money.

555

[elliss]

8 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

What a BS that his life is in danger every winter because of the common flu in Germany. 

 

   Common flu ?.. 

   The cold , damp weather conditions in Europe ,  will make ideal conditions , for the spreading of Covid-19 ..

  Return to EU/ UK ?. 

   No Thank you .. that said it's  a one way ticket ....

 

[Letseng]

9 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

What a BS that his life is in danger every winter because of the common flu in Germany. 

They do free flu vaccination in Germany. No need to get severe flu and die. But ppl apparently don't bother to get a flu shot. Sounds more like pulling heart strings.

[Letseng]

9 hours ago, Pravda said:

Is is old, so why didn't he come on retirement visa? 

 

Deport! 

Retirement ext. requires to show funds. The way he talks about his lifestyle he doesn't sound like he can come up with sufficient pension or lump sum for ret. ext.

To give him special treatment would be unfair towards all the ones who deal with immigration every year. Not to forget the folks who have valid visa & homes etc. in Bkk but get kept out. 

[asiacurious]

 

3 hours ago, ukrules said:

5 hours ago, asiacurious said:

9 hours ago, PremiumLane said:

11 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

What a BS that his life is in danger every winter because of the common flu in Germany. 

 

Except you can get vaccinated against what is deemed to be the most common strains of flu for that year....

Right.  Though the effectiveness can vary greatly year to year.  These are stats for US (not Germany) but expect about the same for other countries....

 

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_vaccine#:~:text=A 2012 meta-analysis found,24 months (66 percent).

 

 

There's only 1 COVID to vaccinate against whereas there are dozens of influenzas and the WHO take an 'educated guess' of what they think will be circulating based on what's already going around months before.

 

Before you bother to reply saying 'but it's mutating and there are many strains' I will point out that COVID doesn't mutate in the same was a influenza, nothing like it.

 

 

I was simply commenting that the effectiveness of the seasonal flu vaccine varies from year to year, so it's not really a solution to the complaint others have made that the guy in the article could just get a shot for that issue.

 

I was NOT making any statement about the effectiveness of any future COVID vaccine.

 

 

[Puccini]

6 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

He appears to be seeking some sort of "refugee" status.

 

????

 

 

War refugee.

Political refugee.

...and now, health refugee?

 

A good psychiatrist should be able to diagnose a suitable chronic mental health disease that would qualify him for the medical extensions.

[DB58]

I say live and let live; these are not normal times. He’s in Thailand health and contributes to the hurting economy at some level. So charge for an extension... require some insurance whatever. Once the boarders open then enforce rules as normal. 

Actually, I think that the Thais should openly try to bring more long stay expats into Thailand, reopening up the visa process at the embassies, just add the additional covid testing and quarantine prior and upon entry. In the last 4-years, I spent at least one million baht a year in Thailand. That would be a win-win, won’t replace all the short term tourist loss, but step in right direction. Besides, I could come home to Phuket and my loved ones. 

 

[SteveK]

How can any grown man be scared of a virus which infects 44 people per million per day, of which 98.5% survive? He's got more chance of choking on a currywurst. 

Edited September 2, 2020 by SteveK

[Flying Saucage]

1 hour ago, SteveK said:

How can any grown man be scared of a virus which infects 44 people per million per day, of which 98.5% survive? He's got more chance of choking on a currywurst. 

He is an embarrassing insult on the dignity of all those 82000000 people living in his country and not having the slightest issue on surviving some raindrops and a few guests of wind during the next winter in their well insulated houses.