mojaco

Having lived in Thailand 17 years, I have seen much improvement in labeling foods with their contents.  But recently had a surprise.

"Imperial Soft Butter" . . . been buying it for a few years.  Real butter (if it gets hot the butter separates into clarified liquid butter and solids.)  The latest one I bought:

(1) Top label still says 250 grams (in Thai) and looks the same as always
(2) It seemed light when I bought it.  Got home and the butter tub says 125 grams (in Thai)
(3) Strangely soft butter - doesn't separate into clarified portion when warm.  Very strange texture.
(4) Looked at the content label:
    37.5 % milk fat
    37.5 % vegetable oil
     1.8 % salt
     1.5 % natural color and flavor added
    Hardly "Butter" (as I have grown up knowing it) by any stretch of the imagination.
(5) And . . . What is the secret 21.7% other part they don't disclose?!!! (I hate to imagine.)

Of course I could go on about things in the USA also . . . "water-added ham" (selling water at ham price and making it sound good), "squeezably-soft Charmin tissue" (because they are selling air), and the like.

Pays to watch the content labels.  No more Imperial Soft Butter for me.

Morris (not the cat)

"Retirement" Extension.  Both USA citizens.  Husband getting extension for "retirement" using affidavit method.  Wife getting extension as "Dependent of Husband on Retirement Extension"

Thanks to all for the various advice and comments over the past several weeks.  Our extension and re-entry permit process in Bangkok took just under 2 hours (8:44 AM to 10:40 AM)

For the "Retirement Extension"  using the affidavit method (USA citizen)
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Thanks to Lopburi3's suggestion, I had our TM7 forms completed before arriving at Immigration, and obtained queue tickets immediately at 8:44 AM with 9 to be processed ahead of us.  They called us about 15 - 20 minutes later.

They Did Not Ask For:
  (1)  Medical Certificate  (I didn't take one)
  (2)  Address Verification  (I took some, telephone bill, etc)
  (3)  Bank Book or copies  (I took bank book plus copies)

They Did Want:
  (1)  Copy of Photo and Data page in passport
  (2)  Copy of last Entry Stamp in passport
  (3)  Copy of front and back of Departure Card showing Entry Stamp also
  (4)  Copy of latest extension stamp
  (5)  Copy of latest re-entry permit
  (6)  Copy and translation copy of Marriage License (wife is "Dependent")
  (7)  Original 65,000 Baht Affidavit from US Embassy (mine was in dollars)
  (8)  Copy of the "original visa" used for the start of the extensions years ago.
  (9)  They took computer photos of us (as they had done 2 years ago)  
(10)  We signed three forms they had (800,00 requirement, current address and phone #, agreement to obey immigration laws)
(11)  We paid 1,900 per person for the extensions

I don't recall Immigration wanting the info in (8) about the "original visa" before.  My wife's passport has a Non-O from Vancouver, BC, Canada on December 2002, and mine was an entry in my passport attesting to the visas I had held in my previous passport.  A little confusing this.  My entry page shows a TR visa in 1998 converted to a NON-O visa in 1998 and then another entry showing a NON-RE visa class in 2006.  Anyway Immigration wanted copies of these two pages also, which fortunately I had with me.
  
The officer lady then asked me "Did I show some proof at the US Embassy to get this affidavit?"  I answered, "No, I just affirmed before the officer that what is written is the truth."

The officer then asked me "So how do you get your money, ATM?  Bank?"  I answered "The funds are deposited monthly into my bank in the USA." and I gave her an internet printout of the last three months of activity in my USA bank checking account showing the deposits.  The officer enthusiastically answered "Thank You!" and stapled that copy along with all of the other copies I gave.  She didn't even really examine the printout, but clearly she was under some stress to have to find some "evidence" and my printout relieved her greatly.  For my part, I didn't feel like pursuing just where that line of questioning was going to go to, so I just gave the "proof".  It is possible she might have been satisfied with a pile of ATM receipts, or a copy of a passbook showing funds flowing into Thailand.  But since it IS NOT REQUIRED that funds come into Thailand, only that there be a regular "income" of some type, somewhere, I decided to just show a regular flow of pension funds into my USA bank.

The first officer then had us wait for a second officer to verify everything and sign off in our passport for the extension.  It appeared to me that this second officer was somewhat new to this task.  She carefully examined the bank account printout to see that it showed monthly deposits of the "income".  She then wanted to know if this was an account ONLY in my name or in joint names.  (Since it is in fact pension and Social Security funds designated to me only, I failed to see where those funds were deposited as being germane to the Thai regulations.)  Finally an older officer came over and told the younger officer that it didn't matter where they were being deposited, and she dropped this line of questioning.

Then an even stranger question.  As she examined our marriage license (certified copy from Alaska), she wanted to know how she could tell if the individual with the maiden name that married me was the same person that is actually with me now.  (Again I fail to see that as germane . . .  who cares what the maiden name might be?  The married names and birth dates agree with the passports, that should be enough.)  I offered to have my wife (Japanese born, naturalized USA citizen) write her maiden in Japanese so she could find some Japanese person in Immigration to see if the English transliteration on the Marriage License agreed with the Japanese Kanji name.  She declined and sort of apologized by saying "Sometimes I think too much."

And, finally, she signed off on the extension at 9:45 AM.

Re-Entry Permits (TM8 form):
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Our TM8 form was completed in advance, but in order to get a queue ticket for this process, I had to go downstairs and have a suitable set of copies made of our passports.  Included were
    (1)  Copy of Photo and Data page in passport
    (2)  Copy of prior extension stamp and re-entry stamp (last year's)
    (3)  Copy of front of Departure Card showing Entry Stamp also
    (4)  Copy of latest entry stamp in passport
    (5)  Copy of new extension stamp (the one just obtained today)
    (6)  I paid 3,800 Baht each for multiple-re-entry stamps, and was done a short time later.

This was a pleasant visit to Immigration.  The officers seemed relaxed and friendly, and the section for retirement and marriage extensions was only half full (the tourist extension section was packed!)  The copy place downstairs knew exactly what was needed for "Re-Entry" permits and it only cost about 2 Baht per page.  We took BTS from downtown Bangkok to Mo Chit then a taxi for 65 Baht to Immigration.  We took a taxi back to downtown for 185 Baht.

In days of yore I used to buy size 10-12 or 11-13 sized men's socks in the USA.  It appears now that those days are gone and all I can find in Bangkok so far are "free size" socks which are so tight that they cut off circulation around the upper ankles when worn all day.

Has anyone run across a shop carrying large size all black men's socks?

I recall sometime last year it was mentioned that to get another 12 months extension for retirement purposes, that some Immigration Officer somewhere said the passport had to have 18 months left on it?  Is this something I would need in Bangkok Immigration?  Mine will have 15 months left on it when I go for my next extension.  Enough?

Thanks for any pertinent experience someone has had in Bangkok about needing, or not needing, 18 months left on the passport.

Report of Extension of Non-O for Retirement at Bangkok, July 20, 2010

(1)  We (husband and wife) are both foreigners (USA)
(2)  This is about 10th time extending for retirement
(3)  Today (July 20, 2010) we needed to do three things:
      A.  90-day report (LATE unfortunately - first time ever in 16 years.)
      B.  extend Non-O for retirement
      C.  obtain multi-re-entry permits

Left National Stadium BTS at 7:45 AM.  30 minutes to MoChit BTS.  Another 35 minutes via traffic jam plus expressway to Immigration.  Our taxi driver at the MoChit BTS knew the way to the closest door to Immigration of the new government building (ChaengWattana).  I suspect all drivers at the BTS now know the route also.

At Immigration I tried to get queue numbers for all three needs, but they said "No, choose one".  So we took the 90-day first.  Had number 43 and number 11 was showing.  About 20 minutes later we submitted our report, plus 2,000 Baht each (for being 30 days late), then went back to wait for our passports.  However about 10 minutes later we were led to a different section to process the fine.  There we waited another 15 minutes for someone to show up.  Finally an officer along with a trainee officer came and spend another 15-20 minutes filling out the various forms for the fine plus the new 90-day report date paper.  When we were called up to sign, the officer apologized for making us wait so long because she was teaching the trainee how to do the report, fines, etc.  (Can you imagine?  We were in the wrong, but the officer apologized for making us wait!)

The new 90-day paper stapled into the passport shows that we were late and paid a 2,000 Baht fine, plus they stamped (in red) the same information into our passports.  I don't have a way right now to scan the stamp, but I have typed it verbatim (both in verbiage and appearance) and am attaching it to this report for those interested.

Back to pick up a queue number for the Non-O extension.  Number 16 was showing and we had 41.  Took about an hour to get through those numbers, but then only 10 minutes for the officer to process us for a new extension.  They only wanted:
     (1)  For passport:  Copy of photo page, last year's extension stamp, date of last entry, departure card (and all copies signed)
     (2)  For $$$:  We had the USA Embassy affidavit of monthly income sufficient for the 65,000 Baht per month (it wasn't questioned).  I gave them the original one I had done a few days ago.  I don't know if they would have accepted a copy instead or not.
     (3)  Other:  They only wanted a copy of the marriage license and a copy of the Thai translation.  They didn't ask to look at the original license or translation.
They were not interested in a medical certificate (good thing as we didn't have one), not interested in address verification, not interested in looking at bank passbook, or anything else.
     (4)  They had us sign forms attesting to our address, and knowledge of the 800,000 Baht requirement (if we do that sometime.)
     (5)  They took digital photos again like last year and digital scans of index fingers of both hands (like last year).
She placed the stamps in the passport and we were done.
(As in the past "The wife follows the husband"  or perhaps "One spouse follows the other spouse"?  In this particular extension, the husband had the 65,000 Baht needed monthly and once his extension was approved, the wife was approved as his dependent.  She did not need to give any financial information.)

Back to pick up a number for the multi-re-entry permit.  Got number 133 and 81 was showing.  Got up to 126 when everyone broke for lunch.  So went downstairs and wandered around the various shops and restaurants and had some coffee.  It was a very relaxing way to kill the one hour wait for lunch.

Back up at 1:00 and 10 minutes later our number was called for submitting the passport for the multi-re-entry permit.  Another 20 minute wait and the passport was returned with the permits.  Left the place abut 1:30 via taxi (meter) back to BTS back to central Bangkok.

So, in summary, a very nice immigration office, and all of the officers seemed to be stress-free (in comparison to Suan Plu).  And not a mad-house for we foreigners like Suan Plu was.  Plenty of places to sit, air conditioned, new, pleasant, and most officers were pleasant when working with us.  ALL of the foreigners were dressed nicely-conservatively (no tank tops, cutoffs, raggety jeans, dirty flip-flops  and etc.  And please don't start taking me to task for "Who are you to tell us what is nice or conservative!"  I am thinking of how the Thai king dressed when he traveled around in Thailand and that is my concept of "nice" or "conservative" in Thailand, which most Thai would agree with I think.  What the Thai call "Riap-Roi")   We are actually looking forward to our next extension there next year after such a pleasant experience this year.