lopburi3 Posted July 17, 2003 Report Share Posted July 17, 2003 Shop early. Yes the current fees should be held until the 26 August change. The bank requirement for support visa is scheduled to increase to 400k one year from now but no information if there will be a grandfather clause as was the case when retirement visa increased a few years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 >>>This is to keep the number of illegal (farang) workers down, and give more incentive to become legal.<<< just counting... that will cost me more than 10K to renew my work permit and visa now, plus another at least 25K in taxes which means that if this year things do not drastically change economically i have to seriously consider working illegally again. i have been thinking of applying for permant residency as well, i guess my chances would be very good, but those new fees are for the time being beyond of what i can afford. in my case this serves only as an incentitive not to be legal anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 There seems to be a definite anti-Farang bias in the present government. Work permits have tripled and now the visa fees are going up. At the same time, government foreign university lecturer salaries have not seen a hike since 1992! As a result, the unis are having a harder time getting people to work for them now -- at least people as qualified as they once were. And the unis are finally starting to wonder why ... Duh. (Out of their hands though. The government has to authorise it.) p.s. Sort of reminds me of the protests in the late '70s, with students demanding the last of the US troops depart at a time when they were dropping about US$1.5 million a week into the Thai economy. The old joke was the protest sign that went: "Yankee go home! But leave your money." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 Hi, "The old joke was the protest sign that went: "Yankee go home! But leave your money."" I think that, unfortunately, there are many who ascribe to the same sentiment at the moment. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 KS-- The US has the same metality... Since the US visa issuance program is supposed to be "self-sustaning", in theory the visa fees collected should be equal to that of the cost to administer the program... Well... post 9/11 the number of applications for tourist/business visas are down some 15% to 35% (depending on class and geographical region)... Therefore (here come the same-same Thai thinking)... to insure that the program remains self sustaning, the US jacked the visa fees to $65 and then to $100 (MRV's).... As we jack them up the number of applications goes down... So, what do we look at?? Yup, jacking them up again... Soon a visa will be something you have to finance rather than just pay outright... I do however think that the current fee levels for the Non-Imm "B" (business) visas at the current $20/$40 (single/multiple) rate is very low on a worldwide basis... I ( (well, UPS in this case) have paid upwards of $350 for a multiple entry business visa (to the Russian Federation) While I don't condone the intention "gouging" of the foreign business man (or tourist), simply under the premise of "the rich foreigner can afford it" theory, I do think that the fees could be raised a bit and still be at par with many other countries (for the same class of visas) Obviously, none of us relish an increase in any type of governmantal fee, especially when there is no apparent increase in "services provided" in exchange. However, I do think that the Thai government would be smart to set their fees at a level that is sustainable, but is low enough to still be "attractive" to a foreigner... In the case of foreign retirees, I would think that it would very beneficial for the Thai economic system to have as many as possible... Since they mainly consumers (spenders and use hard currency) and (mostly) don't take up jobs (are not actively taking jobs that would otherwise be absorbed by a national) their presence would be an asset to an economy such as Thailand's... Threfore, one would think that the Thai government would set up the visa program for these individuals in a manner that is condusive to them staying, long-term. Only MHO... --UPSer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 post 9/11 the number of applications for tourist/business visas are down some 15% to 35% (depending on class and geographical region)... Therefore (here come the same-same Thai thinking). Do not agree as post 9/11 there is greatly increased work involved in the visa process and thus the cost increase. Another point that seems to often be missed is that a US Visa may be valid for 10 years before you have to pay again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 >>>I ( (well, UPS in this case) have paid upwards <<< well, i (in my case) have to pay everything myself, and the new fees are becoming a real burden. and don't forget - not everyone here is in the fortunate position to be on a inflated expat salary (very few actually are) with all necessities taken over. many foreigners too earn thai level salaries or local hire salaries on which those new fees are appearantly not based. last year the workpermit renewal has become a lot more costly already - together this is simply not justified anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 lopburi3-- It is my firm belief that in the post 9/11 world the time and labor cost to process all visa types has risen.... I suspect some of this is extra "red tape", but in the end, it is extra processing.. Thus, to an extent I would figure that the associated costs to issue thses visas would increase at a corresponding rate... Also, while there are some visa types that are issued with a 10-year validity, this would be in the very minority of cases... I would point to all of the J visas that are issued and many of the HB-1 visas... --UPSer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 flyonzewall-- I DO recoginize that there are a great many, perhaps the overwhelming majority, of foreigners who are in Thailand and are living on a "local" salary structure.. Few are here on a "inflated expat salary".. This is way I made it a point to express that I would see no problem if the fees rised in concert with the visa type and length of validity... In other words, I would not have a problem if the fees were more in line with the circumstances with the visa type issued... Example, for Business and Retirment visas these are actually revenue streams for the Thai government. How? People who hold "B" visas (in many cases, not all) earn income and are assessed and pay taxes on this income.. For the Retirement visa, these folks are spenders.. They contriburte to the economic picture thru their spending and hard currency imports from abroad. I am not a supporter of general visa fee increases simply as a form of generating additional revenue for the general coffers. Rather I am a fan of setting visa fees at a level that best attracts (and in cases to retain) key foreign citizens to the country... Expats on "inflated expat salaries" add to the ecenomic engine, so do those who are living on a local salary structure. Should they pay the same rate? No. I am not in favor of taxing and putting so many fees on foreigners that you (in effect) push them out of the country or make other regional areas more attractive. I am a fan of making fees more appropriate to the circumstance and situation. --UPSer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 23, 2003 Report Share Posted July 23, 2003 Robbery! :onfire: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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