thaivisareader

did the so-called captain go down with the ship? I hope.

he'll stay, regardless. It's what dictrs do

certainly a good way to target those elusive & never gonna visit well heeled tourists. You idiotots

To each their own for sure. In Thailand there are cities and then there is Bangkok. Nothing against the place. First rate medical care if needed, endless dining, shopping options and all the rest. But as a retired old guy with small family, I love upcountry living on a couple rai just a few kilometers from a medium sized city. Has everything but on a much smaller scale. As they say- 'up to you'

let the damn baht keep sinking down and down she goes to 40+ = $1

so the airlines will be directed to be Thailand's tourist scam tax enforcers, sorting out who pays or doesn't pay it? They'll be thrilled with that.

...want the old days back again---careful what you wish for. careful? F.U. I wish for the baht to keep on depreciating to 'the good old days' of 2005 when 40+baht=$1/72b=1£. where it should be. BTW way back when the baht was 25/35 you got a ton load more bang & brews for your $'s & £'s.

bahts been manipulated and propped up way too long. should be in the £70/$40 range. Reason? baht not backed up by anything. Exports/tourism/manufacturing- way down. unpopular stagnant dictatorship doesn't help.

those damn vending drink machine hair/fiber filters are always malfunctioning???? -need to be cleaned bi-yearly

I was given an O-A long stay visa (based on retirement) in the U.S. in 2004 and no problems extending it until 2019. That year I was told I needed some huge amount of medical insurance- much more than my existing Aetna family plan. They told me to change it over to "based on marriage" which I did the next day. No specific insurance requirement. Been extending the visa that way since then. It still says O-A on the extension.

consider swapping out your O-A retirement extension for O-A marriage. No insurance required last Nov. Just show monthly foreign transfers of at least 40k baht or 400k deposited within last 2-3 mos. Best if you DO have family health cover but they have never asked for policy. Subject to change of course

my point was if keeping O-A consider changing from retirement to marriage visa. not as many requirements. Yet

Changed from O-A retirement to O-A marriage extension for past 3 yrs. Udon. Need to take wife & witness with. They haven't ask for insurance although we have Aetna 500k baht family plan. No parked money in thai bank, i show the monthly transfer of well over 60k baht with 1 yr. bank statement showing code for foreign transfer, bank book, map to house, 2k baht. Pick up visa after 3 weeks. Of course, this is subject to change on a whim at any time

if you are American, expect to fill out an IRS form showing your ss no. That started a few years back.

tru dat!

I was wondering why my son chose the sedan over the hatchback. He said HB looks lame.???? whatever...

way off the mark if she thinks chinese package tourists are wealthy or 'quality' (whatever that means). She needs a reality check on the history of tourism in Thailand. It had nothing to do with big spenders and everything to do with westerners mingling with friendly, graceful Thai people and cheap, freewheeling, naughty holidays for a couple three weeks. That's gone now. Let it come back or forget the millions returning. There was nothing really hugely upscale about Thailand except the ordinary Thais themselves.

narrative slowly changing. Now it's "get fully vaxxed/you'll prolly get covid regardless (because the vaccs are experimental- nobody really knows how effective they are or will be)/but, if you survive, you'll have 'super immunity!' Stand by for future developments.

This TAT dreamer and the entire lot of his cronies need and promote a lot of things. But it's not gonna happen. I'm retired and like living here. But Thailand as a tourist destination for the wealthy? It never was and never will be. This country will be very lucky if even 20% of the former average spending tourists return in the next five years. Just too hard compared to other places in the region. It's just never been a top shelf kind of place. It's always been great for the middle class to escape winters for a few weeks, package tourists for a few days, youngish backpackers to roam around on the cheap. That's it. Face the facts.

since so many airlines are beating a path here, on jan 1 bump the "tourism improvement" entry fee from 500 to 5,000 baht. That'll really put a cherry on top for all those indian and chinese zillionaires who can't wait to visit this fabulous high end destination.

Manuel Simon has pre paid initial expenses for his dream vacay. That's all they wanted. You wouldn't have spent much here anyway. Not much is open. Good luck with your thai embassy lawsuit.

3 yrs ago they asked for pension & SS statements. Don't think they could read them. Not asked for that since.

the imm office where I live requires 65k every month- no skipping months or accumulation to average 65k per month. They wanna see a 1 yr. bank statement showing it was from foreign source. BKKBank code is FTT. Account in applicant's name only. Other imm. office's rules may vary.

Cathay Pacific had the best departure & arrival times both ways but now only Tuesdays BKK/LAX. Customer service says back to twice per day next year. maybe?