What in store for expats in Phuket after 1 July ?

[NoshowJones]

21 hours ago, oldcpu said:

Reads like a spoiled expat in Phuket - like myself.  As a retired expat whose income does not depend on the local economy, I have been spoiled here the past year.

 

However the locals are suffering economically, and the working expats who depend on tourists are also suffering.

 

So while I doubt in Phuket there will be many tourists initially, eventually, if the virus can be kept in abeyance, more tourists will come to Phuket, .... It won't as great as present (which is fabulous) for us retired expats, but good for the locals and good for the working expats.

What about the fat unattractive, fat bellied ones who will need to pay to get the legover? ????

[NoshowJones]

13 hours ago, dougiemac52 said:

Put a photo on your mobile phone

I had a photo of my passport and re entry permit on my phone, but immigration at the airport and IO office would not accept it, so I had to start my retirement extensions from the beginning again.

I had just got a new passport in the UK and they had not returned my old one which had my re entry permit on it to me.

Another reason for my hatred of Thai immigration.

[zzzzz]

24 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

I had a photo of my passport and re entry permit on my phone, but immigration at the airport and IO office would not accept it, so I had to start my retirement extensions from the beginning again.

I had just got a new passport in the UK and they had not returned my old one which had my re entry permit on it to me.

Another reason for my hatred of Thai immigration.

LOL:
why did u fly?  surely u know u need ur passport WITH ur current visa in it, ( regardless if u have a new passport or not) to enter Thailand>

UR BAD  100%

 

[sanuk711]

16 hours ago, Old Croc said:

I also read the news and know about tourist ripoffs. They exist in popular tourist haunts all over the planet.

OldCroc -Do you know of any of those "Popular tourist haunts"  "all over the planet"--that you read about, where the leader of that country has asked his own people there to stop ripping off the visitors.?

 

Its completely unparalleled. 

 

PM tells Phuket to stop ripping-off tourists.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has warned that Phuket's reputation as a tourist destination will suffer if local people do not stop trying to rip-off foreign visitors.

His message was passed on by Werachon Sukondhapatipak, a member of the prime minister's working team.

[eezergood]

 

On 6/26/2021 at 1:39 PM, BarraMarra said:

Simple Answer Cake, they will simply threaten the Tourist along with the Beach photo of the Damaged Jet Ski and the thai owner just trying to make money for his family abused by the falang tourist. In over 15 years of watching reports of Tourists getting scammed in Phuket we have never seen any being arrested or banned from Hiring Jet Skis. Thai logic same as Doormen attacking Tourists no arrests for assault same doormen working next night same Club.

100 % some poor person will be sunbathing without a mask & BOOM its all fallen to pieces. 

[jomtienisgood]

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

"You are required under Thai Law to carry your actual Passport at all times."

That is just not true, anyway, even if it was law I still would not carry mine all the time, as I just don't agree with it.

Imagine the headline, "Farang jailed for not carrying his passport". I do carry my driving licence and pink card though.

same here. Even before pink card or DL I never had my passport with me in over 20 years. Never was asked for it anyway. Never been asked for WP either....

[eezergood]

2 minutes ago, jomtienisgood said:

same here. Even before pink card or DL I never had my passport with me in over 20 years. Never was asked for it anyway. Never been asked for WP either....

Passport copy is good enough, WP should be at the place of work 

[NoshowJones]

26 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

LOL:
why did u fly?  surely u know u need ur passport WITH ur current visa in it, ( regardless if u have a new passport or not) to enter Thailand>

UR BAD  100%

 

What sort of a post is this?, Don't you know that you are on a forum and not texting on a smartphone.

I was stamped in on a visa exempt on a new passport, my old passport had not been returned to me which had my re entry permit on it. Just how hard is that for you to understand? Even your simple mind should know that if there was anything wrong with my new passport I would not have been allowed through Immigration.

It is you who is BAD 100%, now run along, any more posts from you will be ignored. 

[oldcpu]

18 hours ago, Susco said:

 

I have been to Phuket quite a few times over the years, but I failed to see what there is to envy.

Likely the grass tends to be greener next door - and a lot depends on one's current situation.

 

For those of us expats in Phuket, whose income does not depend on the local economy, Phuket is fabulous at present.

 

No annoying tourist crowds.  Empty beaches.  No silly traffic on the roads, and its possible to get from point A to point B in a decent time.  One can book some amazingly inexpensive daily boat excursions.  Excellent prices in some of the good restaurants that are still open (where a little local knowledge of where to go goes a very very long way).

 

My wife and I have deliberately gone and re-visited a number of Phuket tourist attractions, for once enjoying those attractions without being jostled by crazy maddening crowds of aggressive tourists.

 

A number of friends who are overseas have expressed envy of us in Phuket.   I will definitely miss this superb period of time in Phuket, if and when the tourist hordes finally arrive (and hopefully not too soon for me - although I concede the locals are hurting economically, and so are many expats hurting (for expats dependent on tourism) and so for them, I hope a return of the tourists).

 

But - the grass is always greener next door.  Some of my envious friends who are outside Thailand were able to downhill (snow) ski this year in January/February, while I couldn't do such (I couldn't as I did NOT want to go thru quarantine going in the country where I wanted to ski, and then quarantine again when returning to Thailand). So for that specific activity, I was envious of them.

 

Again - the grass is greener next door.

[zzzzz]

26 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

What sort of a post is this?, Don't you know that you are on a forum and not texting on a smartphone.

I was stamped in on a visa exempt on a new passport, my old passport had not been returned to me which had my re entry permit on it. Just how hard is that for you to understand? Even your simple mind should know that if there was anything wrong with my new passport I would not have been allowed through Immigration.

It is you who is BAD 100%, now run along, any more posts from you will be ignored. 

OK:
let me make is simple for you>

You had your old passport with your extension in it along with your re-entry permit.

YOU chose to fly without your OLD passport and only with your new passport an are blaming immigration for not accepting a pic on your phone of your valid visa with re entry. 

Correct?
So who is the fool for flying, without waiting till you had your old passport back?

In 35 years living in Thailand  I never made  a stupid mistake like this an have had multiple new passports with valid visas in the old one.

 

Now you can crawl along   ????

[Susco]

6 minutes ago, oldcpu said:

For those of us expats in Phuket, whose income does not depend on the local economy, Phuket is fabulous at present.

 

No annoying tourist crowds.  Empty beaches.  No silly traffic on the roads, and its possible to get from point A to point B in a decent time.  One can book some amazingly inexpensive daily boat excursions.  Excellent prices in some of the good restaurants that are still open (where a little local knowledge of where to go goes a very very long way).

 

My wife and I have deliberately gone and re-visited a number of Phuket tourist attractions, for once enjoying those attractions without being jostled by crazy maddening crowds of aggressive tourists.

 

I appreciate your opinion, but what you describe is currently true for any tourist resort in Thailand.

 

As I said, I have visited Phuket few times over the years, as I live near Pattaya for the past 27 years, and I didn't notice anything that would make me wanna move.

[oldcpu]

Just now, Susco said:

 

As I said, I have visited Phuket few times over the years, as I live near Pattaya for the past 27 years, and I didn't notice anything that would make me wanna move.

No dispute there.

 

I have friends in Pattaya who really like it and think it the best place.  Friends in Hua Hin who think it the best.  I have a friend in Chiang Mai who thinks it the best spot.  I even have friends (via my wife) who live in Bangkok and they wouldn't dream of living elsewhere! ....   I have visited these friends in Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, Bangkok (plus visited many other Thailand places that don't have friends living there) and none of those places are for me.  But when visiting my friends, we each look at each others view point with some puzzlement and amusement.  We all (each of us) disagree as to why we should envy the other's location to settle, and each think we chose the best to settle

 

And maybe that's good - we all don't try to settle in the same location.

 

[jomtienisgood]

2 hours ago, oldcpu said:

No dispute there.

 

I have friends in Pattaya who really like it and think it the best place.  Friends in Hua Hin who think it the best.  I have a friend in Chiang Mai who thinks it the best spot.  I even have friends (via my wife) who live in Bangkok and they wouldn't dream of living elsewhere! ....   I have visited these friends in Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, Bangkok (plus visited many other Thailand places that don't have friends living there) and none of those places are for me.  But when visiting my friends, we each look at each others view point with some puzzlement and amusement.  We all (each of us) disagree as to why we should envy the other's location to settle, and each think we chose the best to settle

 

And maybe that's good - we all don't try to settle in the same location.

 

Excellent point of view... Nothing to add or change.

[jomtienisgood]

3 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

OldCroc -Do you know of any of those "Popular tourist haunts"  "all over the planet"--that you read about, where the leader of that country has asked his own people there to stop ripping off the visitors.?

 

Its completely unparalleled. 

 

PM tells Phuket to stop ripping-off tourists.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has warned that Phuket's reputation as a tourist destination will suffer if local people do not stop trying to rip-off foreign visitors.

His message was passed on by Werachon Sukondhapatipak, a member of the prime minister's working team.

Working team?????

[Bvor]

2 hours ago, zzzzz said:

OK:
let me make is simple for you>

You had your old passport with your extension in it along with your re-entry permit.

YOU chose to fly without your OLD passport and only with your new passport an are blaming immigration for not accepting a pic on your phone of your valid visa with re entry. 

Correct?
So who is the fool for flying, without waiting till you had your old passport back?

In 35 years living in Thailand  I never made  a stupid mistake like this an have had multiple new passports with valid visas in the old one.

 

Now you can crawl along   ????

a competent immigration database should have up to date visa status etc on immigration computer screen.

[stevenl]

8 hours ago, Bvor said:

a competent immigration database should have up to date visa status etc on immigration computer screen.

And allow someone to enter on a non present passport?

[ourdon]

All these preparations are based on the assumption of many tourists wanting to come to and quarantine at a "sandbox paradise"  albeit a paradise that pretty well has closed down.  A fourteen day  quarantine  in a country that does not have the desire/capability to  address and blunt a fourth wave of the Delta and Delta plus variant  may not be to everyone's taste.  

 

I have watched with sorrow as the infection rate has gone from a few hundred per day to over five thousand per day.  I felt trapped when I had to return to Canada when it had thousands of cases per day.  In a race with the delta variant fourth wave Canada has gone from thousands of cases per day to several hundred per day.  I no longer feel trapped here but I still wish to return to Thailand.  Something about Thailand has grasped my heart and I now feel like the Farang in my own country.

 

Foreign governments don't say Phukets fine but Bangkok is in a covid red zone and Hua Hin is ....  They normally just say "don't go to Thailand" .  I do hope the government in Bangkok can perform an abrupt change of course  and effect a competent and inclusive Vaccine roll out.  

 

I want to come back (home)

[Old Croc]

On 6/27/2021 at 7:37 PM, Susco said:

On 6/27/2021 at 7:21 PM, Old Croc said:

Perhaps you could compare your judgement with the 9 million+ international visitors (pre-covid) who made Phuket one of the most visited places on earth. 

 

Yes and none of them went elsewhere in Thailand.

Perhaps you could "enlighten us all" as to how you arrived at that absurd conclusion?

[Old Croc]

13 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

OldCroc -Do you know of any of those "Popular tourist haunts"  "all over the planet"--that you read about, where the leader of that country has asked his own people there to stop ripping off the visitors.?

 

Its completely unparalleled. 

 

PM tells Phuket to stop ripping-off tourists.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has warned that Phuket's reputation as a tourist destination will suffer if local people do not stop trying to rip-off foreign visitors.

His message was passed on by Werachon Sukondhapatipak, a member of the prime minister's working team.

I'm don't know why you are asking me to explain Thai politics to you, I'm already confused as to why expats who (happily?) live in other parts of the country spend so much of what is left of their lives reading about and criticizing a place they don't want to visit.

Nowhere is perfect for everyone, why not just get on with your life living where you are happiest and stop whining about places you don't like, like silly schoolkids. 

[bwpage3]

Simple. Stay Home!

[Bvor]

9 hours ago, stevenl said:

And allow someone to enter on a non present passport?

he is entering on a new current passport. my query is why can't this new passport be stamped by immigration officer according to his visa status etc which ought to be able to be confirmed on the department database. 

[zzzzz]

29 minutes ago, Bvor said:

he is entering on a new current passport. my query is why can't this new passport be stamped by immigration officer according to his visa status etc which ought to be able to be confirmed on the department database. 

He needs present a valid visa, valid re entry permit in OLD passport<( computer data base is not relevant)
Is than stamped in on new passport 
this holds not just for Thailand, BUT many countries around the world.

 

He did not present old passport & no visa, so got only a visa exempt stamp an has to start the whole NON o visa/extension process all over.

He screwed up NOT immigration

[Bvor]

7 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

He needs present a valid visa, valid re entry permit in OLD passport<( computer data base is not relevant)
Is than stamped in on new passport 
this holds not just for Thailand, BUT many countries around the world.

 

He did not present old passport & no visa, so got only a visa exempt stamp an has to start the whole NON o visa/extension process all over.

He screwed up NOT immigration

i'm a bit puzzled that immigration computer database is not relevant but if thats the case then so be it.

[KarenBravo]

1 hour ago, Bvor said:

he is entering on a new current passport. my query is why can't this new passport be stamped by immigration officer according to his visa status etc which ought to be able to be confirmed on the department database. 

 

Yes, I see the point, but this should have been determined before the actual flight.

Asking the Thai embassy, or getting a letter from them would have been the best course of action.

[Bvor]

8 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

 

Yes, I see the point, but this should have been determined before the actual flight.

Asking the Thai embassy, or getting a letter from them would have been the best course of action.

IMHO, the absence of various courses of action should not revoke reliance on the validity of the department database. I know TIT, ce la vie, its up to them ,etc or even tough titties!

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, Bvor said:

i'm a bit puzzled that immigration computer database is not relevant but if thats the case then so be it.

For entry with a visa that visa needs to be presented. Really not co0mplicated.

[cjinchiangrai]

Maybe you need to load the MorChana app like the rest of us. Maybe you need to carry some copies in your wallet or on your phone. Maybe you need to wear your mask where you are supposed to. Is life really so hard that you can't make some adjustments to help yout neighbors?

[Bvor]

45 minutes ago, stevenl said:

For entry with a visa that visa needs to be presented. Really not co0mplicated.

????

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

hardcore expats have yellow house books and carry their Thai ID Cards.

routinely carrying passports on your person is for rank amateur idiot tourists.

 

“living in the woods” so dont expect any decent fast services then ......

particularly when you’re laying seriously injured from snakebite or m/c accident or food poisoning or dengue / malaria.....real “castaway” then...

 

and your comments on quality expat lifestyle in high standard areas like Phuket are worthless hearsay..if you have not experienced same......

[connda]

On 6/26/2021 at 11:56 AM, Agusts said:

I don't want to be pessimistic, and like to see things get better for Phuket and businesses here, but I am thinking with all these rules and command center set up to monitor tourists (reminds me of Jason Bourne movies....!), what is in store for us expats here...!?

My guess is that you all will be stopped on hassled on a pretty consistent basis. "Where passport?"  "Where track device - you no wear?"  Lots of love and joy.  "You farang look same same!"