sandyf

ALL visa exemption into Thailand should be under a Bilateral Agreement with reciprocity for Thai nationals. My wife has had to pay out 10K baht in order to leave the country for UK and Europe yet some Brits and Europeans, along with others, think they can traverse the globe unimpeded with their better than thou attitude. They come to Thailand with 30 days for free and low cost option to extend, they try and circumvent the scheme regulations then start whinging at the suggestion of a 300 baht tourist tax, quite unbelievable.

It is indeed all about the office and the number of times this comes up you would think it was common knowledge. I have only ever done the one TM30, in 2015 and still in passport. Last October I came back on a new passport and new visa fully expecting to be challenged but when I came to do the extension nothing was said.

When the new airport opened Sep 2006 the introduction of PSC was not far away so they never moved any of the machines from DM. Think it likely the fee went onto tickets 1st Jan 2007 In the first few months it was chaos with someone going up and down the check in queues selling the 500 baht tickets, of course the majority had no baht left so had to leave the queue causing massive disruption. Fortunately it wasn't for long and took the exit ticket away for good. However the thread is about tourist tax rather the PSC, just booked an overnight stay in Brussels an that included a 4.24 EUR tourist City Tax. You wouldn't get many nights for 300 baht.

Nothing "new", the Thai baht has been a restricted currency for long enough. It is subject to currency control regulations and it can be very difficult to get a Thai bank to remit THB to an overseas bank. There are other options that can be considered.

Who do you mean by "they". Nothing new here. In the early 80s I built a prototype conveyor oven for a food company in Norfolk to make plant based chicken. The factory works manager had fixed views on meat and said it would never work. When we did the trials he was pleased to see some of the pieces with slightly burnt edges and said the proverbial 'told you so'. The company research dept however disagreed and asked him when was the last time he took a chicken out of the oven that didn't have brown patches. They were pleased with the trials and the rollout of the product was very successful, a couple of years later we got the order for a production unit, by that time they were doing both plant based chicken and beef for canned curries and stews. At the end of the day I would suggest that there is little difference in the concept of plant based meat, zirconia diamonds or alcohol free beer, all tailored to suit a market.

The Vietnam e-visa will come by email, it is a single page PDF document that you need to print off and have available on arrival. Your passport will only be stamped in and out as normal.

The statement you quoted appears in this update from one of the US consulates, it refers to a government meeting late last year so up to date rather than old. Historically the has been a difference of opinion between the info from Siam Legal sites and other sites that refer to the bilateral agreement with no limitation by air. I think there has always been a bit of confusion over the visa exemption scheme that apllies to the "majority" and bilateral agreements, but the table in this update indicates a distinct separation. On the basis that the 4 countries mentioned in the OP have been singled out from the rest of the "majority", I would suggest that it can be taken as the current requirement. The 4 countries in question have a bilateral agreement on diplomatic passports which may well have been extended to ordinary passports. https://thaiconsulatela.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/visa-exemption-and-visa-on-arrival-to-thailand Enforcement however is another matter entirely and many will contine to take their chances. .

Not quite as bad as 2011, when supermarket shelves became empty and DM had to close. In 2011, heavy rain combined with multiple tropical storms throughout the extended rainy season led to severe, record-high flooding across 66 provinces in Thailand, including the Bangkok metropolitan area and its surrounding areas. Overall, the floods affected more than 13 million people and resulted in more than 680 deaths. The total damage and losses from the 2011 floods in Thailand amounted to THB 1.43 trillion (around USD 46.5 billion). The manufacturing sector bore roughly 70 percent of the total damage and losses due to the flooding of six industrial estates in Ayuthaya and Pathum Thani from mid-October to November 2011. Overall, approximately 90 percent of the damage and losses from the 2011 floods were borne by the private sector. https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/2011-thailand-floods-rapid-assessment-resilient-recovery-and-reconstruction-planning#:~:text=Overall%2C the floods affected more,(around USD 46.5 billion).

Obviously you have a problem seeing the difference between apples and oranges.

You should refrain from making false and uninformed statements.

I have been to a couple of the Thai vineyards and still very much in their infancy. Silverlake has grown signifficantly since I first went but still a cottage industry and you effectively pay through the nose for "hand made". I don't really fault the government for protecting the industry as more than likely it would disappear. Rather than buy a box as I used to, now just enjoy a glass now and again.

More and more are realising the truth but feel free to keep your head in the sand. https://www.london.gov.uk/new-report-reveals-uk-economy-almost-ps140billion-smaller-because-brexit#:~:text=The average Briton was nearly,jobs in the capital alone.

Quite, but why "wage theft" when pension theft is more prevalent. Not only does the UK have a froxen pension they also have a frozen tax threshold. This year workers got some offset with a reduction in NI contributions.

I have been going back and fore for 25 years and in that time the majority of flights have been through the middle east and across India. Some direct flights have gone to the north of India and in the days of USSR would have been in Soviet airspace. Not sure about the northern scandanavian countries, and of course there is always Aeroflot.

Typical falang rhetoric, reality is Brits have driven themselves out by deciding to stay at home. The majority of Brits do not like foreigners unless there is some benefit involved. They wanted the sun on the Costa del Fortune and then changed the environment to suit themselves. The benefits that attracted Brits are evaporating, in my first decade prices hardly moved but since 2010 there has been a significant upward trend in Thai wages bringing the inflation factor into play, particularly with accommodation. Inflation of course has a significant effect on every nationality in receipt of a frozen pension so not surprising the numbers are reducing. Remind me how many nationalities are on a frozen pension. Brexit was a stark reminder on how little respect the English have for foreign nationals and Thailand trying to clarify and diversify doesn't sit well, and not just with Brits.

Agree with the sentiment. I bought a Lenovo Chromebook a few years back for travelling but didn't like the operating system. Replaced it about a year later for the same model with Win10. Much easier for travelling but not a lot of use at home other than watching TV on the verandah.

Generally speaking passports become expired, not invalid, people often travel with both old and new when needing to use stamp/visa in the old. Expired passports are still a valid form of ID, in the UK you can fly domestic on an expired passport for up to 5 years after expiry.

Another generalised statement. In the UK, "Renewal" and "Replacement" are different application categories.

Fair enough, you must think entries and extensions mean the same thing.

I am certainly not confused, I have had extension to a visa exempt entry long before 2014, possibly 2006. For your information in 25 years I have never had to leave the country. There is an old saying, "if you don't ask you don't get".

Your last statement is very generalised, if anything I would suggest domestic UK wine is very much the same price as Thai domestic wine. What you really mean is imported wine is heavily taxed to protect the domestic market. Fuel is heavily taxed in the UK but not for the same reason. We can live in hope that one day the Thai wine producers will become more efficient and prices fall, not holding my breath.

The conflicts are headline news and easy for some to make assumptions, they may or may not have some impact. The real reason for an upward trend in shipping costs comes from rerouting vessels. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240119-red-sea-crisis-how-global-shipping-is-being-rerouted-out-of-danger

I came back into Thailand with just a fraction of a page left, Malaysia had gone and put a sticker right in the middle of the last page. Didn't bother the Thai IO just put the entry stamp in the last little bit. Bit of a problem though at immigration, not enough room for an under consideration stamp without impinging on another stamp. The boss however decided a little impingement was ok.

Indeed. Not all banks are forcing facial recognition. I can access phone and my bank's app with pin numbers without a problem, my daily limit is 200K. There is cameras on ATMs but not necessarily related to accounts, possible some have that option, wouldn't know. I never use my own banks ATMs, only a variety of others.

May well be a reduction when Google moves to biometrics, starting shortly on payments. Extract rom an email. "In the coming weeks, there will be a change in how you confirm your setting when you choose biometric verification. For mobile devices, when you’re asked to confirm this setting, you’ll use your fingerprint or face instead of your Google Account password."