Good News

[Sunbelt Asia]

thanks subnelt for your support

my situation is this:

WP with 35000bath per month

from october(now)change to 40k salary and tax paid

i'm married (plus 2 baby boy)from 2 years and 15 november i will get the 3 extension of visa marriage

last september i close my account bank beacause i want to change bank

now i open new account bank and put inside some money(200k-300k)

what you think about the next renewal of my visa?can i get some problem in immigration with this situation?

i must to put 400k?and cannot show 3 months in advance because is new account-bank?

before is 35k bath my income but from october i change to 40k,it's enough or i must to show both income and money

thanks a lot for your support and help that you giv here to everybody

bye

If your third annual extension of stay expires on Nov 15th. Do the extension of stay the last part of Oct. Show some money in the bank account and your 35K month income and you can get the extension.

Next year you just need to show the 40K income with no money required to make up the shortfall.

Thanks for the warm words.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

[giulio]

thanks to you

i hope in future can work together,when subnelt come to phuket

have a nice evening

bye

[John K]

Actually it was Pol. Gen. Kowit Watthana that signed the order. I have seen the original and actually bothered to take a quick photo of it.

Good of you to take that photo. I am going to think of you as the James Bond of ThaiVisa from now on. Could you post the photo in this thread, please?

I always like to put also the Thai original text of Thai laws, regulations, etc. on file. It may come in handy when trying to explain to an official what particular requirement one is trying to comply with in case the official himself is not very familiar with that requirement.

--------------

Maestro

Here it is, and sorry about the quality as it was taken from a computer screen.

[Maestro]

Actually it was Pol. Gen. Kowit Watthana that signed the order. I have seen the original and actually bothered to take a quick photo of it.

Here it is, and sorry about the quality as it was taken from a computer screen.

What a let-down. For a moment there I thought you had the original Thai text of the Police Order.

Never mind, but I’m afraid you can’t be James Bond for me anymore

--------------

Maestro

[Thaddeus]

Errr ... Noel

It was taken from 'a' computer screen not the posters personal one.

Maybe if he had managed to cause some sort of distraction (setting fire to the building etc) he could have full access to the computer in question, made a quick screen dump, mailed that to his own account and then passed it on here.

[John K]

I trust that to be accurate in that the office that the computer resides in has a familiar spinning logo. The original more than likely is in Thai and would have done little good at least to me. You don’t need James bond here as it is no state secret, all I did was ask who signed the order and they promptly pulled up the document immigration sent them.

As I said I don’t know if he is still working at immigration or in hiding for his life from future angry Thais. Does anyone have that information and in particular what his relationship with Thaksin is?

[sabaijai]

I know from a recent meeting with the international marketing director that the TAT are very concerned about the new visa regulations, believing it will negatively affect their precious tourist arrival statistics (the stats include visa exemption and visa-on-arrival visitors), where they hope to see annual growth.

[ovenman]

I know from a recent meeting with the international marketing director that the TAT are very concerned about the new visa regulations, believing it will negatively affect their precious tourist arrival statistics (the stats include visa exemption and visa-on-arrival visitors), where they hope to see annual growth.

I can't see how the new rules won't have a chiling effect on the number of arrivals but according to this story, the body count doesn't matter. A single Bill Gates-type tourist per year who drops all of his money while in Thailand is the new mantra.

[PREM-R]

I wonder how many "real" tourists spend more than 30 consecutive days in Thailand per year? I expect that it is very few, with the average being around 10-20 days. If this is infact the case then the change in the rules concerning "stamp on arrival" will have precisely nil effect on "real" tourism.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Interesting that they are already talking about changes so soon after October 1st.

Now I guess we all wait nervously to see what they come up with this time.............

And the changes are happening now.

[lukamar]

TAT are very concerned about the new visa regulations, believing it will negatively affect their precious tourist arrival statistics

It appears that the TAT, Immigration and the Junta are not on the same pages, maybe not even in the same book. TAT wants larger quantities of tourist visits while the new Government wants Quality Elite card people, and the rest can stay at home. The government wants to promote long stay and the Immigration is making it hard to stay longer, even if you are married to a Thai or have been in Thailand for years. The term SNAFU springs to mind. While Thailand is beginning to tread water on tourism, neighboring countries like Malaysia and Vietnam have started aggressive tourist oriented advertising campaigns to capitalize on the current political situation and what is Thailand doing, it's feeding it's long stay stalwarts to them. I was reading on a site that may be blocked in Thailand that one large travel agency in India had 80% of it's tourist reservations to Thailand canceled and re-booked to Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. While this may not be representative it probably is a source for worry to the people that try to make a living in the short peak tourist season, although it may not be a concern to military men who get paid, tourists or no tourists.

"Target is 'quality not quantity' tourists

Thailand's newly appointed tourism and sports minister said Wednesday he would target the quality of tourists, not their quantity, as there was a need to protect the natural environment.

Suwit Yodmanee spoke to reporters regarding his proposed work strategies, saying he welcomed suggestions from related government agencies to develop the country's tourism as well as to solve problems.

The new minister promised to continue ongoing tourism promotion programmes such as Thailand Elite, Long Stay and Thailand Riviera, which he praised as 'very good schemes'."

Full BKK Post Story

[lukamar]

I wonder how many "real" tourists spend more than 30 consecutive days in Thailand per year? I expect that it is very few, with the average being around 10-20 days.

The average stay of a tourist is 8.9 days, don't know why I remember that probably because it is so short.

[ovenman]

I wonder how many "real" tourists spend more than 30 consecutive days in Thailand per year? I expect that it is very few, with the average being around 10-20 days. If this is infact the case then the change in the rules concerning "stamp on arrival" will have precisely nil effect on "real" tourism.

All it will take is some negative stories in the tourism-related press for this to have some damping effect of "real" tourists. For example: "don't use Bangkok as your hub (for lack of a better work) for SE Asia travels because Thai immigrations have become real strict about thirty-day stamps". The stories don't even have to be 100% accurate for them to have an effect - the perception there is a problem becomes a problem in itself.

[OlRedEyes]

I know from a recent meeting with the international marketing director that the TAT are very concerned about the new visa regulations, believing it will negatively affect their precious tourist arrival statistics (the stats include visa exemption and visa-on-arrival visitors), where they hope to see annual growth.

I can't see how the new rules won't have a chiling effect on the number of arrivals but according to this story, the body count doesn't matter. A single Bill Gates-type tourist per year who drops all of his money while in Thailand is the new mantra.

Actually, that delusional mantra has been heard for a while now. I still can't help laughing everytime I think about their 'upmarket tourist' aspirations while walking down a stinking, potholed, overcrowded street.

Ja well no fine.

[lukamar]

All it will take is some negative stories in the tourism-related press for this to have some damping effect of "real" tourists. The stories don't even have to be 100% accurate for them to have an effect - the perception there is a problem becomes a problem in itself.

As you are inside Thailand and under the umbrella of stringent military censorship you may not have access to all the news that is circulating. Pictures of Tanks in the street, the constant referral to a country under martial law and the comparison of Thailand and Myanmar's Juntas doesn't put a gleam in many western travelers eyes. No one wants to take their family to a potential hot spot.

Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom & the United States and maybe some other countries, have issued travel advisories or warnings for Thailand. The US has ordered all it's military not to travel to Thailand.

Some of the Royal Thai embassies and Consulates have a page you can print and take to the airport in case your air carrier will not allow you to fly without a proper current visa. The word is out there already.

[Smithson]

All it will take is some negative stories in the tourism-related press for this to have some damping effect of "real" tourists. The stories don't even have to be 100% accurate for them to have an effect - the perception there is a problem becomes a problem in itself.

As you are inside Thailand and under the umbrella of stringent military censorship you may not have access to all the news that is circulating. Pictures of Tanks in the street, the constant referral to a country under martial law and the comparison of Thailand and Myanmar's Juntas doesn't put a gleam in many western travelers eyes. No one wants to take their family to a potential hot spot.

Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom & the United States and maybe some other countries, have issued travel advisories or warnings for Thailand. The US has ordered all it's military not to travel to Thailand.

Some of the Royal Thai embassies and Consulates have a page you can print and take to the airport in case your air carrier will not allow you to fly without a proper current visa. The word is out there already.

I wish what you were saying was true, the high season drives me crazy, but it looks to be busy as ever. Ppl emailing me from overseas tell me there isn't much neg press about Thailand, few ppl seem to be scared. I wouldn't be surprised if Australia has had travel warnings on Thailand for the past couple of years. I read one a few years ago that said it could be dangerous to go out in crowded places in Bangkok! The figure of 80% of bookings changed is difficult to believe.

Edited October 12, 2006 by Smithson

[jerry921]

Actually it was Pol. Gen. Kowit Watthana that signed the order. I have seen the original and actually bothered to take a quick photo of it.

Good of you to take that photo. I am going to think of you as the James Bond of ThaiVisa from now on. Could you post the photo in this thread, please?

I always like to put also the Thai original text of Thai laws, regulations, etc. on file. It may come in handy when trying to explain to an official what particular requirement one is trying to comply with in case the official himself is not very familiar with that requirement.

--------------

Maestro

Here it is, and sorry about the quality as it was taken from a computer screen.

I have some observations about this strange purported official document.

The application displaying the document is Microsoft Word. The ruler across the top is obvious, and at the bottom in the system tray the microsoft word icon is visible in the dark blue (currently active) program.

The document appears to have been printed out on a computer printer. Note the superscript 'th' in the date, not a typewriter, we learned all about this in America back when Dan Rather tried to con the entire country with ginned up phoney official documents. So it was not typed on a typewriter.

But the red underlining has been penciled in on the printed document, it's not in the document itself.

The document then appears to have been scanned after it was printed. (See all the 'noise' in the lower left corner of the white area of the document). An alternative explanation could be an extremely grubby sensor on the camera used to take the picture.

Now I don't know what software this department has or doesn't have, but none of the most common ways of sending scanned images of documents around use microsoft word. Adobe Acrobat is typical for offical multipage documents.

But why print out a document, scan it back in, convert the scanned images to a microsoft word document and then send that around to all the police departments? Why not send the original document? And why distribute the English translation instead of the Thai original?

And why take a photograph of a monitor at all? The computer shown must be on the net, otherwise how did it get the document? So why not simply ask for the document to be emailed to the camera owner, who clearly has a computer account to post from.

In favor of this being real, the MS Word status line shows page 3/3, which it wouldn't if the whole thing were just a single page. If it has been produced as a forum troll, there's no point in faking the first two non-shown pages, unless the faker miraculously thought of that while missing all of the above non-sequitors.

Finally, why take a picture only of the final lines? Just to get down the name of the signer instead of taking a note on paper? Perhaps that makes sense if the camera was handy and a slip of paper wasn't.

However I'm still highly dubious.

[Firefan]

He,he Jerry; you cracked the case! What exactly are you saying? Cheers!

[Maestro]

The new rules have not come out for Nov. 15th but the way we understand, you would have three months before the change of the visa. You then have the non-O and then wait 60 days till you could apply for the extension of stay based on retirement. At that time you are give the one year. We surmise, it will be 5 months in the bank account, if you do the change of visa and extension in Thailand.

Thank you, Sunbelt.

I have now made my decision:

1. Next week, I get a single-entry non-O visa from the Thai consulate.

2. 30 November (Thursday), enter Thailand. Admitted until 27 FEB 2007.

3. 1 December (Friday), open Thai bank account in my name, get SWIFT code.

4. 2 December, online order to my Swiss bank for transfer of the equivalent of about one million Baht to my Thai bank account.

5. 4 or 5 December, money is credited to my Thai bank account. Get Foreign Exchange Transaction Form (needed if at any time in the future I want to remit this money abroad).

6. 19 February (Monday), apply for extension of stay based on retirement, with still more than 800K in the bank. If Immigration is unhappy with the fact that by then my money will have been in the bank only 77 days, hopefully they will give me stamp “under consideration” and ask me to report back in 15 days or so.

7. 6 March (approximately), hopefully pick up extension approval.

8. 30 March, fly back to Europe.

9. November 2007, fly to Bangkok again for the winter. Apply for second annual extension of stay.

10. Repeat every year thereafter.

--------------

Maestro

[ovenman]

10. Repeat every year thereafter.

Or at least until the goalposts are moved yet again...

[noodle]

2. 30 November (Thursday), enter Thailand. Admitted until 27 FEB 2007.

3. 1 December (Friday), open Thai bank account in my name, get SWIFT code.

Isn't it necessary to have a police verified address in Thailand before it is possible to open a bank account?

[ovenman]

Isn't it necessary to have a police verified address in Thailand before it is possible to open a bank account?

No, it's not. Never heard that even as a rumour prior to your post. Some banks require that foreigners have a work permit to open an account but even that is not technically true.

[gavstah]

2. 30 November (Thursday), enter Thailand. Admitted until 27 FEB 2007.

3. 1 December (Friday), open Thai bank account in my name, get SWIFT code.

Isn't it necessary to have a police verified address in Thailand before it is possible to open a bank account?

Only requirement I've ever run into when opening a bank account is that I have a visa other than 30 day VOA stamp. (Siam Commercial Bank) They refused to open an account unless I had a "real" visa issued by a consulate or embassy.

[lapamita]

Only requirement I've ever run into when opening a bank account is that I have a visa other than 30 day VOA stamp. (Siam Commercial Bank) They refused to open an account unless I had a "real" visa issued by a consulate or embassy.

recently i open for one friend bankaccount,only on 30 day stamp, bank dont wont to give him.

when i go with him, i just make a "PROFORMA" condobuycontract ( just on computer), and told officer he need to open because he buy condo and want transfer money

thing done, no discussion

[Strap]

2. 30 November (Thursday), enter Thailand. Admitted until 27 FEB 2007.

3. 1 December (Friday), open Thai bank account in my name, get SWIFT code.

Isn't it necessary to have a police verified address in Thailand before it is possible to open a bank account?

No,

some banks will ask for a item or 2 but not to complicated. I have never heard of a police verified address before and I have been hear for almost 7 years. Only thing i was asked for was 1 Copy of current Visa and if had work permit ( no work permit at that time ) and copy of lease or a bill to show where i live.

Bangkok Bank was real easy , even got my Be first Visa Electron.

Strap

[Disco]

Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom & the United States and maybe some other countries, have issued travel advisories or warnings for Thailand. The US has ordered all it's military not to travel to Thailand.

Hah!! It makes me laugh, Indonesia....I work in Jakarta and feel much, much safer in Thailand, how on earth they can issue a warning....maybe it has something to do with the Indonesian government feeling under threat themselves.....

[John K]

I know from a recent meeting with the international marketing director that the TAT are very concerned about the new visa regulations, believing it will negatively affect their precious tourist arrival statistics (the stats include visa exemption and visa-on-arrival visitors), where they hope to see annual growth.

I can't see how the new rules won't have a chiling effect on the number of arrivals but according to this story, the body count doesn't matter. A single Bill Gates-type tourist per year who drops all of his money while in Thailand is the new mantra.

If you take in some factors from other threads like the Lotus store expansion, and some news stories that I read early this year related to the attempts to steer all tourists to Rama I road so they can shop, the small Thais are already hurting. Now to target only high quality tourists who may consider it an adventure to take a city bus for one or two stops, you have a formula already in place that is hurting the Thais. Essentially they are creating a vacuum of tourist revenue in places to bolster the high end shops. My experience is women like to shop for bargains. If the money they save does not significantly offset the airfare to get to Thailand, then it does not take a genius to figure out what the decisions will be for the next trip destinations, it will not be Thailand.

The high quality tourist is a wonderful thought, but what about places other than Rama I road. There are several sayings that can be applied, one of them is “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

[tropo]

The high quality tourist is a wonderful thought, but what about places other than Rama I road. There are several sayings that can be applied, one of them is “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

Ever since I first heard about the new regulations and the uncertainty it brought, I stopped spending money on anything but essentials.

There's no point buying stuff that you must leave here if you can't stay. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has curtailed their spending. Over the whole of Thailand, this could have quite an impact on the local economy.

[Noel]

2. 30 November (Thursday), enter Thailand. Admitted until 27 FEB 2007.

3. 1 December (Friday), open Thai bank account in my name, get SWIFT code.

Isn't it necessary to have a police verified address in Thailand before it is possible to open a bank account?

No.

Interesting first post...

[lukamar]

2. 30 November (Thursday), enter Thailand. Admitted until 27 FEB 2007.

3. 1 December (Friday), open Thai bank account in my name, get SWIFT code.

Isn't it necessary to have a police verified address in Thailand before it is possible to open a bank account?

No.

Interesting first post...

First account i opened many years ago, and I still have it, was on a 30 day stamp and the only problem encountered was a language barrier,mostly on my part. Since then I have opened a number of accounts without any problem. One joint account ,with my wife, even by fax as I was not in the country at the time.