Well, after about 1 month of hoop jumping and ass licking (humble grovelling to people at the Amphur so obviously most superior beings, today I finally got my Yellow Book!

A hollow victory to be honest, and looking at my current situation, it is but a minor hurdle compared to fulfilling my current tasks!

The yellow book took a bit of getting a hold of, despite the head of the Ampur giving me a concise list of what was needed....which I complied with, only to find out that after being told to come back in a week with my compliances, they now wanted a Thai translation of my passport, and my mother and fathers name translated to Thai.

After yet another forced compliance, I submitted everything yet again, this time they now wanted two Thais from my village, one had to be the Por Luang, and the other was his mate, both spent over an hour at the Ampur signing papers and photo copying ID and Tabien Baan books and the like (I was really surprised that they refused 1000 Baht for their trouble, they just asked me for a bottle of whisky for new year!!!!),

So, everything submitted, told to wait 3 days and they would call, they didn't but 3 weeks later it turns up, sadly, Iam out of the country at the minute, and this time I am busy jumping hoops bigger than any hoops I have ever seen before, these huge hoops that dwarf the Thai hoops are manufactured by the Chinese public security Bureau, just to get a Work Permit, 2 weeks of filling in shit over and over, medicals in Thail;and to get a Z visa then medicals again in Shanghai....12 passport photos used up already, a months work by their HR department and 2 weeks in and now I have a temp residence permit, and the WP application CAN FINALLY START NEXT WEEK! I Thought Thailand was a pain in the butt! Jesus, try this for savage entertainment,

Their paper fiddling is like the Thais only much more regimented, you can download a China Visa application form from their web site....fill it all in, fill in the Supplementary "form too, take it to the Consul, they give you a new form and tell you yours is out of date!

Then, you triple check their online list of requirements for the visa, tick everything as 100% OK, get to the consulate, they check and double check all the copies and originals of the "Duly Authourised Body" from the state employment bureau, and just when you think all is OK, they spring a new one on you.....Where is your medical Certificate..so there goes another 2 days! I PROMISE NEVER EVER TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE LAZY SODS AT THAI IMMIGRATION, EVE EVER EVER!!!! I have submitted over 12 photos and a phone books worth of paperwork to the psb, and the wp hasn't even begun yet!

Edited January 10, 201412 yr by Briandajew

1000 baht is a bribe. A bottle of whiskey is a present.

Need to learn to read between the lines now that you are "yellow book" ed.

China is too much hassle, I won't even bother with getting a tourist visa. Until theu have Visa free travel to China I won't be going there again apart from maybe Hong Kong which of course isn't the same.