Two Countries

Today's song is: Hurt  .. Christina

If this does not make you smile  .. there is something wrong with you

I just finished the 3 day odyssey to get my 90 day reporting done and the renewal of my retirement visa in Thailand.  The next time should go more smoothly now that I am familiar with Samut Prakan Immigration Center, especially knowing I live in Samut Prakan Province, not Bangkok Province.  My residence now knows how to properly register aliens staying in their building.

Canada makes it very difficult for most countries to visit Canada. However, if you are granted a TRV (visitor's visa), it is very easy to overstay and if you are caught, Canada will even give you free legal representation to fight your deportment. Canada does not track where you stay and even does not track when you leave.

Thailand makes it very easy to visit with its visa on arrival system. However, once you are in, they try to track when you leave and where you stay. However, when you let in over 30 million people a year, that is a lot of people to track! Hotels, guest houses, apartments and condos must inform the government when a non Thai person checks in.  Anyone with a OA visa or work permit must report in to the government every 90 days or they will be fined 2,000 baht, if even a day late.

The government is cracking down when institutions or people fail to report.

However, once you are in, if you stay at friends then you can overstay a long time if you avoid getting into trouble or get caught by a random search. However, once caught, you are barred from entering Thailand again from 1 to 10 years dependent on how long you over stayed.

I keep telling Thavorn that she will like Canada's system  of trusting you once you are in. No 90 day reporting, or showing your passport to hotels.  All she has to do is spend 2 years of the next 5 years in Canada to maintain her Permanent Residence. After 3 years she can apply to become a Canadian citizen.

You can never become a Thai citizen. Once a farang, always a farang. My translation for farang is 'non Thai', not foreigner!

TTYL