Jane you don't need to go to any agency. Thailand elite have a helpful helpline in English that will guide you through it. You may have to go to your local immigration to cancel your current visa but ask them. Changing your passport can be done on Elite but ask them about changing your name. They transfer your elite visa over into your new passport in Bangkok. You don't need need any other services. TE has a great English speaking helpline

I would await government confirmation before booking any flight. Airlines will be all too willing to take your money at the moment but they will keep pushing your flights back if anything changes. No Thai consulate is dealing with foriegners at the moment only Thai nationals. That's what the government announced last week.

@Kuan *****

yes unless you leave the country and come back you get stamped in for another year without the need for the extension. The extension is really easy anyway but you need to inform TE 2 weeks before you do your extension which you can do at your local immigration office without the need to go to Bangkok. You can make the visa last 6 years.

@Janey *****

once in Bangkok you meet a TE representative and they do everything for you. You just sit and wait for them and off you go. All very easy.

The only place that TE visa is issued within Thailand is Chang Wattana Immigration in Bangkok. Once approved you they make you an appointment and the process takes about 2 hours.

Doesn't really change anything for most.

Jimmy Bond they know quantitative easing is a huge gamble. Little of that money is ever released into the wider economy and when it is it's introduced through debt(loans). When interest rates rise we will have hyper inflation. That's when it really hits the fan.

@Don *******

I think its clear the government doesn't seem to care about the economy. I hope your right.

They changed the goal posts. At first I honestly thought this whole thing was about protecting the image of the country. It's clear there is something else behind all this. And they have decimated there economy in the process.

@Jonathan ***********

they don't care about over 20,000 of there own citizens dying on the roads every year. If they did with the same over reaction to this they would have banned motor vehicles years ago.