PCT Thailand’s Free Expatriates Blog

Fire breaks out at Burmese Embassy in Bangkok
Visa section closed following the blaze

The Burmese embassy in Bangkok closed its visa application section on Monday after a fire broke out in one of the compound’s buildings, officials said.

A fire started on the second floor of a building used for embassy guests early Monday morning, destroying about 70 per cent of the house and prompting the embassy to close its visa section, police said.

“It was an accident,” said Thai Police Major Thanyaboon Thonjalatwong. “There were no injuries, and we’ve ruled out sabotage.”

The fire coincides with mounting confusion within the international aid community over whether Myanmar’s ruling junta will follow up on commitments to grant more visas to aid workers seeking to enter the country to meet the desperate needs of some 2.4 million people affected by Cyclone Nargis, which slammed in to the country’s central coast on May 2-3.

Burma’s military supremo Senior General Than Shwe assured United Nations Secretary Gernal Ban Ki-moon on Friday that the regime would allow “all” foreign aid workers unhindered access to the country and disaster zones.

But there were few new details on visa procedures revealed at a pledging conference held in Rangoon on Sunday.

“We’re still optimistic but we’re struggling with lack of detail on the ground as to what this all means,” said Sarah Ireland, regional director for Oxfam, one of many aid agencies trying to get more experts in to Burma.

With the embassy closed Monday, Ireland said they would have to wait till Tuesday to check on progress on their visa applications under consideration.

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British embassy confirms brand new Pattaya office

FOLLOWING acceptance of the case for commercial expansion by the foreign office in London, the British embassy in Bangkok has confirmed it has secured the lease on a small office in Jomtien for the use of its consulate in the Pattaya area.

The 20 sqm room, which will need mini-minor works to improve safety and security, is in the block of shop units on the main road in Jomtien soi 5 very close to the Pattaya immigration bureau. The embassy office will be the unit adjacent to the money changer.

The repair and renovation work is expected to take a couple of months before the formal opening perhaps in July. The developer and agent Siam Best Enterprises was responsible for clinching the financial deal with the embassy.

SBE’s chief executive Bruno Pingel said, “I am delighted by this cooperation between my company and the British embassy and I feel that the office is long overdue in view of the heavy workload of the Pattaya consulate.”

Siam Best Enterprises is very well known as the company constructing Ocean1 Tower, scheduled to be the tallest building in Thailand.

Pattaya based embassy staff currently are found in the Meesen coffee shop, also close to the immigration bureau, and the new office will just a few meters away.

Apart from seeing up to 20 customers a day at busy periods, mostly on immigration and passport related business, they are also responsible for visiting arrested British nationals at police stations and jails and looking into some hospitalisations and deaths in the resort area.

It’s expected that opening hours and services will be expanded once the new office is operational.

The British embassy in Bangkok already maintains an office in Chiang Mai but in no other cities or towns in Thailand. The Pattaya venture is recognition that the work load in the eastern seaboard resort has now outgrown the structures available.

The embassy also has honorary consuls in Phuket and Ko Samui who say that their work load is also going up by leaps and bounds.

It’s believed that over 600,000 British nationals visit Thailand every year, or are based here, and that at least a third of them spend much of their time in Pattaya

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Cambodia, Thailand Sign Visa Pact To Boost Tourism 

Cambodia and Thailand on Monday signed a deal that will allow foreigners to visit both countries with a single visa, in a bid to boost tourism.

Once the pact is implemented, visitors will be able to apply at either a Thai or Cambodian embassy for the special visa, foreign minister Hor Namhong said.

“Tourists just apply for a single visa at one place, and they can travel to both Cambodia and Thailand,” he said, adding that Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam could eventually sign up to the deal.

The pact was developed through the Ayeyawady-Chao Phya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy, a joint development scheme that includes the five nations.

“Both of our countries will benefit,” added Thai foreign minister Nitya Pibulsonggram.

Tourism is one of the few sources of foreign exchange for impoverished Cambodia, with 1.7 million visitors there Cambodia in 2006.

This, however, lags far behind Thailand, which is set to receive 14.8 million tourists this year

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No More Dependent Extension Of Stay If The Host Foreigner Has A Retirement Extension Of Stay Permit
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Map requiredIf a foreigner has been granted a extension of stay based on retirement, until now as per 7.19 of the Royal Police Office Order 606/2006 his or her foreign dependent ( Wife or husband, child, father, mother) could get a extension of stay by being a dependent. As of Sept 1st, no more dependent extension of stay permits will be issued if the foreigner has a extension of stay based on retirement. This includes any “grandfather” cases where the dependent applicant had the extension of stay before Sept 1st 2007.

Example. A foreigner husband is 53 years old and has a extension of stay based on retirement. His wife is Japanese and they live together in Thailand. She is 43 years old and now cannot get a extension of stay as a dependent. Even if she was 51 years old, she does not qualify. She must meet her own set of criteria and not piggyback off her husbands retirement extension of stay permit. If she is over 50 years old, she can get a extension of stay based on retirement but must have her own 800K sent from outside the country to her bank account or qualify by having a pension of 65K per month.

Example: A foreigner has two children that are not Thai nationals. They are 16 years old and 12 years old. They can no longer be a dependent to obtain a extension of stay permit by having a father who is over 50 years old. They possibly can get a extension of stay permit or visa on a different criteria. Perhaps they will qualify as a educational extension of stay permit.

This National Police Order will be dated Sept 1st 2007 and will be published in the Gazette in the next 10 days. However this order is effective immediately.

This could be a U-turn next week but the odds are very high, this will continued to be the new law and interpretation.

If you are applying for the extension of stay based on retirement. You now need to provide a map from Immigration to your house.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand has recently instructed the Embassies and Consulates of Thailand across the world to review the visa fees in order to reflect the effects of exchange rate fluctuation between Thai baht and other local currencies during the pass three years (2003-2007). As a result, the Royal Thai Embassy in London has learnt that the value of the Thai baht in comparison with the value of the British pound has been increased approximately 10%. In this connection, the Embassy will adjust all categories of visa fees in order to reflect the above-mentioned loss of exchange rate between Thai baht and the British pound which will be commenced from 2 July 2007 accordingly :

1. Transit Visa 17 pounds 2. Tourist Visa 28 pounds 3. Non-Immigrant Visa, single entry 45 pounds 4. Non-Immigrant Visa, multiple entries 100 pounds 5. Non-Immigrant Visa (3 Years), multiple entries 200 pounds.

Royal Thai Embassy, London June B.E. 2550 (2007)

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