Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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Okay, a couple more questions:

How is the TV over there? Can you get any western shows? Do they have SKY? In the cheaper hotels you described, do they even have TV's?

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This may have been covered, already, but if you are worried about TV, buy a slingbox. I live in Seoul, and have my slingbox hooked up to a cable box (with DVR) at my parents house in NY. I watch Cablevision over the internet in Seoul.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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You cannot 'move' there really, at least not so far as the gov't is concerned. You'll be a tourist there forever.


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What about through marriage? It should be easy to get married right? Then can you stay more permanently?

Also awesome thread, I think I'm coming over in a few months.

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haha ya www.stickmanbangkok.com and other sites have been saying there are gonnna be a bunch of marriages now because of the new tighter visa rules.

dunno i just take a mandatory vacation every three months and its not a big deal.

you can pay $25k and become a member of Thailand Elite and get a 5 year visa and conceirge service from the airport.

it all comes down to money, if you have it, you can do whatever you want. if you don't, things might be harder.

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Degen, you know that you can get around the 90 day absence requirement by getting a new 60-day entry visa from a foreign embassy, right? At least, that was the case as of a few weeks ago, according to Stickman and the Thai Visa site. If you know that that has changed, please let me know...

-Brass

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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Degen, you know that you can get around the 90 day absence requirement by getting a new 60-day entry visa from a foreign embassy, right? At least, that was the case as of a few weeks ago, according to Stickman and the Thai Visa site. If you know that that has changed, please let me know...

-Brass

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I am 99.9% certain you are wrong. Can you link us to what you are referring to?

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From what I saw on Stickman last week and on the ThaiVisa forum, I think brass is correct about the tourist visa and border stamp combination. This is basically what I have been doing for the last 2 years and it looks like it will still be allowed.

If you were only doing border runs with 30 day stamps, you would be limited to 3 in 90 days and then you would have to leave the country for 90 days before continuing with 30 day stamps. If you have a tourist visa in the mix, it changes everything. You can do 3 border runs at 30 days each, then get a tourist visa from a foreign embassy and keep going.

In my understanding, the best thing to do from California is to get a double entry tourist visa from the los angeles embassy. Go to Thailand and you'll be good to go for 90 days before you have to leave the country. At that point, you leave and come back on your second entry of the tourist visa. Another 90 days then you can do 3 border crossings getting 30 day stamps each time. At that point you have to get a new tourist visa from outside of Thailand or stay out for 90 days.


Quote from stickman (page link below)

"Following on from the opening piece in last week's column about the changing times and the current visa situation, I can pass on a few more rumours that have slipped through. The first is some clarification of the rule regarding entry into Thailand on what is termed anything from an entry permit to a visa on arrival to a standard 30 day visa. Call it what you will, I am referring to the 30 day stamp in our passport that we get if we arrive at the border without having got a visa from a Thai embassy or consulate abroad beforehand. Rumour has it that once you have had three entries into Thailand (of ANY duration) in a six month period, you cannot re-enter Thailand again for a period of 90 days on that type of 30 day visa stamp. Essentially you would either have to wait out the 90 days before returning, or go to a Thai consulate or embassy abroad and apply for a tourist or non-immigrant visa. Some officials from within the Immigration Department have said that they will happily allow people to come and go on tourist visas issued at Thai embassies and consulates abroad ad infinitum."


http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/Weekly2006/weekly280.htm <font color="brown"> </font>

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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Degen probably doesn't have a Thai Bank account. That would require a work permit, etc.

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Actually, you can get a Thai bank account as a tourist with Bangkok Bank. Hopefully nobody said this before - I haven't gotten all the way through the thread yet.

-Brass

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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Comon guys, this thread should be at 50 pages by now. Ask some questions.

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Ever had a medical condition serious enough to warrant a hospital stay? Do you have health insurance? If so, how much do you pay?

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no, no

medical care is cheap and is known to be of high quality. lots of people go to thailand for operations, expensive procedures etc.

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If you're looking into some good short-stay health care, BUPA Blue Cross (http://www.bupathailand.com/) offers very affordable health insurance for short-term (and long-term) stays to Thailand. I got platinum care before my last trip to Thailand for six months, and found the customer service to be outstanding.

-Brass

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

I have one account at Bangkok Bank and Ayutaya Bank and I am only a tourist here.
By the way, the banks and all the financial services here are alot more efficient and inexpensive than the ones in my country, in France.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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Degen, you know that you can get around the 90 day absence requirement by getting a new 60-day entry visa from a foreign embassy, right? At least, that was the case as of a few weeks ago, according to Stickman and the Thai Visa site. If you know that that has changed, please let me know...

-Brass

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I am 99.9% certain you are wrong. Can you link us to what you are referring to?

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From what I saw on Stickman last week and on the ThaiVisa forum, I think brass is correct about the tourist visa and border stamp combination. This is basically what I have been doing for the last 2 years and it looks like it will still be allowed.

If you were only doing border runs with 30 day stamps, you would be limited to 3 in 90 days and then you would have to leave the country for 90 days before continuing with 30 day stamps. If you have a tourist visa in the mix, it changes everything. You can do 3 border runs at 30 days each, then get a tourist visa from a foreign embassy and keep going.

In my understanding, the best thing to do from California is to get a double entry tourist visa from the los angeles embassy. Go to Thailand and you'll be good to go for 90 days before you have to leave the country. At that point, you leave and come back on your second entry of the tourist visa. Another 90 days then you can do 3 border crossings getting 30 day stamps each time. At that point you have to get a new tourist visa from outside of Thailand or stay out for 90 days.


Quote from stickman (page link below)

"Following on from the opening piece in last week's column about the changing times and the current visa situation, I can pass on a few more rumours that have slipped through. The first is some clarification of the rule regarding entry into Thailand on what is termed anything from an entry permit to a visa on arrival to a standard 30 day visa. Call it what you will, I am referring to the 30 day stamp in our passport that we get if we arrive at the border without having got a visa from a Thai embassy or consulate abroad beforehand. Rumour has it that once you have had three entries into Thailand (of ANY duration) in a six month period, you cannot re-enter Thailand again for a period of 90 days on that type of 30 day visa stamp. Essentially you would either have to wait out the 90 days before returning, or go to a Thai consulate or embassy abroad and apply for a tourist or non-immigrant visa. Some officials from within the Immigration Department have said that they will happily allow people to come and go on tourist visas issued at Thai embassies and consulates abroad ad infinitum."


http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/Weekly2006/weekly280.htm <font color="brown"> </font>

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Perfect - thanks for the follow-up, beats.

Yea, I freaked out about the new immigration situation when I learned of the changes RIGHT (as in, one day) after buying a round-trip ticket to Bangkok with arrival and departure dates six months apart (November-May). When I found the Stickman information that beats mentioned, and then discovered corroboration on the Thai Visa site, I was pretty stoked.

If only poker prospects from Thailand were as reassuring...

-Brass

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

You can fly from Thailand to poker in just a few hours.

I have 3 bank accounts in Thailand and I only have a tourist visa. 2 of the times I was told that it was not possible because of my visa, but I talked them into it. Must be my good looks...

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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You can fly from Thailand to poker in just a few hours.

I have 3 bank accounts in Thailand and I only have a tourist visa. 2 of the times I was told that it was not possible because of my visa, but I talked them into it. Must be my good looks...

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Haha. Yea, or a little palm grease. What you mean "you can fly from Thailand to poker in a few hours"? Man, if poker in Thailand becomes impossible, it's gonna be a rough six months. We gots to stay on top of ways around it...

-Brass