Holder of Non-Immigrant B visa with valid work permit - required to have 20,000 baht "show money"

[elviajero]

But regardless he could get a multi 1 year "B", be paid a nominal salary (9,000 THB) as an employee of the Thai company, and all is good as long as he exists within 90 days of each entry?

To be honest, I think that a work permit application filed with a minimum salary contract would make it objectionable. But once the work permit is issued, there is no obligation to obtain an extension of stay. One can stay with the multi-entry visa, leaving every 90 days.

Ok. This is an actual case so I'd appreciate a little more of your time.

He would still be employed by the UK company and receive a salary of several thousand dollars each month. He would visit the Thai factory 2 or 3 times a week for production meetings and quality control checks on behalf of the UK company. Given that do you think a minimum salary contract would get through as the Thai salary here isn't his only income?

[paz]

He would still be employed by the UK company and receive a salary of several thousand dollars each month. He would visit the Thai factory 2 or 3 times a week for production meetings and quality control checks on behalf of the UK company. Given that do you think a minimum salary contract would get through as the Thai salary here isn't his only income?

I think the labor office don't care about foreign income, and the way you described it, there may not be definite qualifications for a work permit. So this person maybe in the need of a competent legal office to prepare and handle the application.

[Tingtau]

Yes, what would you do if you had a medical emergency and wanted to be admitted to a private hospital? That 20,000 baht would really come in handy. Frankly, I can't believe that anyone would travel around Thailand without at least that amount available from an ATM card of a Thai bank,

I am sure that there are quite a few who have a million or more baht available from a Thai bank. That's isn't what is being discussed here. The question is.....Holder of a Non-Immigrant B visa with valid work permit...legally required to produce for inspection at point of entry the sum of 20,000฿ or not? The tourist, yes, of course! But the working stiff who holds a non-immigrant B visa plus a valid work permit had to establish that he/she was self-supporting in order to get those....you would think that the applicable section for requiring a person to show proof has already been satisfied!! See Section 11 & 12 of Chapter 2 Entering and Departing the Kingdom http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/doc/Immigration_Act.pdf Section 2 seems to be the section being relied upon and, while certainly applicable to the tourist...how can it reasonably be applied to the legally employed holder of a business visa? Oh.....reasonably....aye, there's the rub!!

Edited April 8, 2015 by Tingtau

[eaglesflight]

Most all the private hospitals take credit cards, yes?

Try to imagine yourself in an real emergency situation. It doesn't have to be with dealing with a "private hospital", also because there may not be one. Cards lost/stolen or blocked. Cash is king. However, if you want to think of Thailand and all the border countries as your home country, no problem.

Highly unlikely that I would be robbed of my credit cards and left with the 20,000 baht in cash that I was wandering around with in my pockets isn't it?

[eaglesflight]

Most private hospitals in Thailand will accept credit cards, but overseas credit cards have a way of getting blocked, lost or otherwise made worthless and it's a devil of a time getting them reactivated or replaced. Private hospitals will turn away people who don't appear to have the ability to pay for care.

Many public hospitals don't accept credit cards, but will accept ATM cards from Thai banks. Public hospitals are good about treating everyone in an emergency situation, but won't let them leave until they can pay their bill in full. If they're ready for discharge, they'll just push their bed off in a corner, hand them a phone and tell them to call somebody to bring money; they can't leave until they pay the bill. (In truth, "arrangements" can be made to pay the bill over time on contract, but this takes negotiation with the social work department about one's financial situation)

Just recently, a friend had a motorcycle accident in Nakorn Nowhereburi. A couple days in the local amphur hospital and a bill of 5000 baht. No big deal, he gave them his overseas credit card. Nope, they couldn't accept it. In the end, he had to call someone to put money into his girlfriend's Bangkok Bank account and then the girlfriend drove to NN to bail him out of the hospital with her Bangkok Bank ATM card. G/F was not happy about the unplanned trip.

You really do need to have at least two different ways of making large payments available to you at all times in case of medical emergencies. I've just been involved in too many situations where people are in hospital and have money overseas, but aren't able to access it in a time of crisis.

I've had just one of my overseas cards blocked one single time in 11 years of using them here and it was reactivated in less than 5 minutes after calling my bank in the UK. Not difficult in the least, or not with my bank in any case. Re. your friend - If I had a gf who thought it was too much trouble to pay my hospital bill in an emergency I'd dump her, immediately!

[paz]

Try to imagine yourself in an real emergency situation. It doesn't have to be with dealing with a "private hospital", also because there may not be one. Cards lost/stolen or blocked. Cash is king. However, if you want to think of Thailand and all the border countries as your home country, no problem.

Highly unlikely that I would be robbed of my credit cards and left with the 20,000 baht in cash that I was wandering around with in my pockets isn't it?

Once again, if all what you can think is clinging to plastic or being robbed, I can't help really. Do as you like and be happy.

[eaglesflight]

Try to imagine yourself in an real emergency situation. It doesn't have to be with dealing with a "private hospital", also because there may not be one. Cards lost/stolen or blocked. Cash is king. However, if you want to think of Thailand and all the border countries as your home country, no problem.

Highly unlikely that I would be robbed of my credit cards and left with the 20,000 baht in cash that I was wandering around with in my pockets isn't it?

Once again, if all what you can think is clinging to plastic or being robbed, I can't help really. Do as you like and be happy.

It wasn't me that mentioned the possibility of being robbed, it was you! However, in such a situation, I'm happy to admit that I'd rather lose cards than cash. It's you that seems to be clinging - to cash - something I see as an increasing irrelevance in today's digital society.

You say that 20,000 baht is a negligible amount of money, roughly a month's salary in Thailand. If I were to apply the same logic to my home country, I ought to have felt comfortable walking around the streets with £2,000 stuffed in my pockets, but that was never the case. I don't think it's a personal failing either. I can guarantee that were you to survey the entire adult population of the UK, very few of them would tell you that they habitually carry that kind of cash on them.

[elviajero]

The London Embassy website has a 3 year "B". http://thaiembassyuk.org.uk/?q=node/50

Yes. What I was trying to explain is that even if mentioned on the website, it is never issued.

FYI Paz. I checked with the embassy in London. To clarify. A 3 year Non-'B' is available, but only for "Business Purpose". Meaning it's not available to people that are working and need a work permit.

Of course anyone here on business isn't working so it makes perfect sense!

Your advice was appreciated. Thanks for the help.

[paz]

FYI Paz. I checked with the embassy in London. To clarify. A 3 year Non-'B' is available, but only for "Business Purpose". Meaning it's not available to people that are working and need a work permit.

Of course anyone here on business isn't working so it makes perfect sense!

No problem. I never read of anyone having the 3 year visa, that's why I said it was not issued. i still doubt it would be issued, but would need a first person report to know for sure.

Edited April 9, 2015 by paz

[paz]

It wasn't me that mentioned the possibility of being robbed, it was you! However, in such a situation, I'm happy to admit that I'd rather lose cards than cash. It's you that seems to be clinging - to cash - something I see as an increasing irrelevance in today's digital society.

You say that 20,000 baht is a negligible amount of money, roughly a month's salary in Thailand. If I were to apply the same logic to my home country, I ought to have felt comfortable walking around the streets with £2,000 stuffed in my pockets, but that was never the case. I don't think it's a personal failing either. I can guarantee that were you to survey the entire adult population of the UK, very few of them would tell you that they habitually carry that kind of cash on them.

I think I had mentioned robbery in response to somebody else comment, as that is not something that worries me in Thailand. I'm comfortable with cash, and I'm amused by the strenuous objections of others that don't. Comparing to the UK (a mistake made frequently here) is not relevant, as that is not a cash oriented society, while Thailand and all the region still is. A fact that you may not like, but can't change.

Edited April 9, 2015 by paz

[MiKT]

Most private hospitals in Thailand will accept credit cards, but overseas credit cards have a way of getting blocked, lost or otherwise made worthless and it's a devil of a time getting them reactivated or replaced. Private hospitals will turn away people who don't appear to have the ability to pay for care.

Many public hospitals don't accept credit cards, but will accept ATM cards from Thai banks. Public hospitals are good about treating everyone in an emergency situation, but won't let them leave until they can pay their bill in full. If they're ready for discharge, they'll just push their bed off in a corner, hand them a phone and tell them to call somebody to bring money; they can't leave until they pay the bill. (In truth, "arrangements" can be made to pay the bill over time on contract, but this takes negotiation with the social work department about one's financial situation)

Just recently, a friend had a motorcycle accident in Nakorn Nowhereburi. A couple days in the local amphur hospital and a bill of 5000 baht. No big deal, he gave them his overseas credit card. Nope, they couldn't accept it. In the end, he had to call someone to put money into his girlfriend's Bangkok Bank account and then the girlfriend drove to NN to bail him out of the hospital with her Bangkok Bank ATM card. G/F was not happy about the unplanned trip.

You really do need to have at least two different ways of making large payments available to you at all times in case of medical emergencies. I've just been involved in too many situations where people are in hospital and have money overseas, but aren't able to access it in a time of crisis.

As you said, hospitals here generally treat you first and THEN ask for payment when you are ready to be discharged. Therefore it's ridiculous to suggest one should carry 10000-20000 Baht or more for such "emergencies" like you're expecting them to happen. That's what you should have insurance for. Travel insurance is good enough for most people who don't spend more than a year or so away from home and are still technically classified as residents in their home country. Otherwise there's expat insurance or other cover provided by employers but they tend to be less generous unless you're on a very high end package. In any case, anyone who doesn't have some kind of medical insurance when overseas is an idiot.

All this nonsense about how credit cards might fail is NOT a good excuse to always have a huge sum of money in your pocket. Besides, how do most of us access any money in the first place? Well by withdrawing from credit and debit accounts!

Imagine this: you find yourself coming off a motorcycle and are badly injured. But in the process someone robs you off all the money in your wallet but then you end up in the hospital, which treats you. At the time of being discharged you are able to pay your bill through your insurance or you pay first with your credit card and then claim later (if the amount is not too high). But you never get your money back. If you weren't carrying all that money you wouldn't have lost it in the first place.

Anyway, most of us have medical insurance policies and a sufficient number of ATM and credit cards. But to suggest something as unlikely and ridiculous as needing to carry around thousands of Baht in case someone decides to drive into us and we have to go to hospital as a good reason to carry a lot of cash and possibly set ourselves up for robbery is irresponsible.

This thread was supposed to be about immigration requirements NOT about justifying carrying around large wads of cash.

Besides, all you wise guys, what if someone followed your advice but only had 20000 Baht on them when their hospital bill ended up being 100000 Baht? So how about we all carry around 100000 Baht just in case we have a nearly fatal accident so we can end up paying in cash.

What's all this nonsense about Thai hospitals treating you and then asking to be paid. NOT TRUE except for very minor incidences or if you are a regular patient (and then not for large amounts).

For operations they always require evidence of insurance, or a large cash deposit (20K won't hack it) and many of the overseas travel/medical insurances are not accepted in Thailand or the insurance does not actually cover what you think it does, or the insurance company does not have a Thai speaking local representative and won't pay the hospital directly - you have to pay and claim back what you can.

Even good medical insurance companies quible about the costs of so called "specialists" like anasthetisists! They often have fixed rates for medical services that inevitably differ from the hospital rates.

But having said all that, carrying 20K Baht around for no good reason is totally up to you; its a free world in that respect. Of course, it won't actually buy you much medical treatment and it's also a free world for those who just love farangs who flash cash.

Basically, in Thailand/Malaysia all you need is enough cash to pay for bus/train/taxi/parking/coffee plus any emergency beer costs and an ATM card. If you don't have some kind of ATM card, life in Thailand will be rather fraught, never mind at immigration. Be prepared to spend a lot of time queueing in banks.

I have never experienced it, but I expect that paying 200 is worth it not to spend even one minute more in an immigration queue. Think of it as a tip for the hardworking staff. In Cambodia they will even ask you to help them out as they are so badly paid and 200 is gratefully received.

I agree with you for the most part except for your opening line. Of course a Thai hospital is going to treat you first and THEN ask for payment. Besides, how much would they know to charge you if you're coming in on a stretcher, bleeding profusely? Do you really think they would let you die and therefore try to wrestle your credit card out of your clenched fists?

You're dreaming...I've been treated as an in-patient for kidney stones at a private hospital in Thailand before. I had foreign medical insurance (travel insurance) provided by my home based private medical insurer. For small claims, they usually ask you to pay first and then claim later. For larger claims, they can pay the hospital directly. After almost 3 days and 2 nights in hospital, the bill amounted to 34,000 Baht. Because it was a weekend back home and not a huge claim amount I opted to pay first and then claim later. But when did I pay? At the very end when I was about to be discharged and go home of course!

Overseas medical insurance IS accepted in Thailand unless you have a quack policy - BUT generally speaking you have to ensure what's valid and what isn't at the time you purchase your policy. Also, most decent policies allow them to pay the hospital directly or allow you to leave without payment IF they provide a guarantee of payment. Been there, done that.

I have never heard of a hospital refusing to admit a patient when they first come in, especially not a white westerner, since white westerners are always considered to rich in Thailand anyway. It may happen in some other countries, but NOT in Thailand.

Not only that, but have you heard of the 30 Baht healthcare policy? Or just being registered with your local hospital? If so, you hardly need a lot of money to be covered in the event of an accident. Many westerners are still covered by this policy, even though there was a change in policy effective June, 2014.

Getting back to the real purpose of this thread, which has nothing to do with the medical system but rather, immigration requirements on presenting funds at the border:

I agree fully with your last comment. I don't like corruption either, but it's the way it is in this country. Getting on your high horse and justifying the expense and trouble to avoid paying just 200 Baht (probably it could be less if you bargain - I'd say 100 Baht is enough) you can get through if you just pay a little rather than having to withdraw a large amount of cash, where, if you withdraw it from your foreign account would be much more than just 200 Baht in fees and charges alone.

I personally almost never carry 20000 or even 10000 Baht in cash. Nearly everything that costs a lot of money can be paid for by debit/credit card in Thailand: hotels, fuel, shopping, airline tickets and as we have already established most hospitals (especially private ones) etc. So why would anyone carry so much cash?

I've noticed at some border crossings in the region locals put a small bill inside their passports to get them stamped. For example, Vietnamese citizens getting their passports stamped by Vietnam immigration at both Lao and Cambodian border crossings. The usual amounts vary from 10000 to as much as 50000 Dong. Every single one of them was doing this when I passed through and this was a busload of Vietnamese tourists/workers.

At the Lao border coming from Thailand at Chong Mek/Vang Tao, Lao immigration wanted like 5000 Kip from my Vietnamese friend.

So it's not just Thai immigration that does this.

Well, all I can say is you have been very lucky. I personally had experience of the UK branch of a very well known insurance company (employment company policy) refusing to pay for an urgently needed operation when I ripped out my biceps tendons on the grounds they did not have a Thai speaking local representative to negotiate with the hospital. Fortunately I was able to get the 3 days in hospital 380,000+ Baht operation done, but the hospital (Bangkok Hospital) would not carry out the opp without ensuring the money was guaranteed. For smaller medical bills the same company would refund my costs, but I always had to pay first and they did not always pay the full costs.

I have had several other expensive ops in Thailand and my wife also and the hospitals (even those we have been attending for years) will not do big ops without guaranteed payment or substantial down payment, or full payment in advance. Of course what they mostly do is take your credit card and scan it and then make the actual charge on the card when they know the full cost. Like some hotels; Anyway who can guarantee that they will be near their local hospital when they have an accident. You go to the nearest.

Also I have personally known of several cases where hospitals here refused to treat patients who had no money. One guy I know was stabbed and bleeding profusely and refused entrance to 3 hospitals before he finally got treated. He was lucky to survive, but his scars are far worse then they needed to be.

Many, many people here still die because the do not have the money to be treated, although Taksins 30 baht healthcare system has reduced this a bit it still happens a lot. NB you can't get it if you are a farang over 60.

Anyway, back to border crossings, see my other post. I cannot really condone corruption, but here it is so pervasive and part of daily living that you eventually don't really notice it, or (oh you bad man) actually welcome paying a cop a couple of hundred to avoid a trip to the local cop shop to get your driving licence back the next day when you are 500 k from home, same for paying to get through immigration quicker.

It would be far better to pay the immigration officers higher salaries and have more of them to speed things up, But for me, paying 1000 Baht to get out of and back into Thailand quickly is well worth it. Have you ever been stuck in a huge queue at Heathrow terminal 3. 1000 baht to beat that scrum would be great.