Lemsta69

howdy. yes you can convert from visa exempt to non-O. here's a thread that covers the basics. have a read and then come back here with any additional questions or any points for wish to be clarified. https://aseannow.com/topic/1273366-exempt-to-non-o-retirement-in-pattaya/

Thailand has no morals. That's why I love the place and is why I moved here at 52 rather than festering for the rest of my life in the supposedly squeaky clean but actually deeply corrupt West. me paying a few baht for a retirement visa has absolutely zero effect on the moral fabric of the Kingdom. the Merc-driving boys in their fancy uniforms call the shots, not me or any other insignificant farang (including the naturalised ones lol)

apparently the "new boss" at Jomtien wants it done that way now, but that's all I'm saying on unsecured comms ????

ser, I don't understand what that means. I don't use the B65k per month method either. using an agent means I'm free of any obligation to bring money into the country. I could live in a shack if I wanted to, and eat Mama noodles every day and no-one would care that I only spent only 1000 per month.

haters gonna hate..

enough already with the blanket statements about why people use agents. 800k is chump change for some of us but we don't feel the need to have it fester in a Thai bank account for 20+ years.

except when a dirty foreigner, for example, questions the inflated price that you're trying to charge him. then you drop the smile and go into beast mode. but I expect you've either never seen that because you're too holy to have ever gone to a tourist area or you believe that the scumbag foreigner had it coming because he was poorly behaved or unwashed or some other flimsy excuse. ps. I love Thailand otherwise I wouldn't have retired here and made it my home. but I've seen the smile quickly turn into snarls so I'm under no illusions. my theory is that everything you posted makes them bottle stuff up. they can't take it out on the Mercedes-driving guy from the big house and foreigners are easy prey so have at it.

charging 1k for a 20 baht keycard is peak dishonesty.

yep. I've been made to wait on checkout on quite a few occasions whilst reception radio housekeeping so that they can conduct a room inspection. mostly lower-end hotels because I'm too poor to stay at the Ritz.

I see "Indian" and I immediately get hungry for some garlic cheese naan bread and a lamb rogan josh.

sorry bro but that's kinda off-topic and I've already got enough non-expiring points ???? peace out ✌️

same diff

very first day? yeah nah I was in quarantine on the first day and when they let me out I walked around the Cow until I found the first bar that was serving alkhyhol despite the Covid prohibition. I didn't get around to sorting the retirement visa until day 8. why come to Thailand if you don't want to adapt to the local way of doing things? ????

ps. I dunno what the renewal cost is because I forgot to ask. but the mate who introduced me to Maneerat said it was B12.5k or 14k if you don't want to visit Immigration.

in Dec 2021 I paid B25k for conversion to non-O and one-year extension, B4k for multiple re-entry permit, and B3,700 for bank account. they actually put B512 in the bank account as the initial deposit so I guess the net cost was B3,188.

the one I use includes it as part of their package.

yes and there's a very good reason for that but I don't like to talk about Fight Club so I'm keeping schtum ????

if you use the well-known one on Soi Post in Patts be aware that you'll need a Bangkok Bank account. if you don't have one already they can expedite it at the nearest BBL branch, for a fee of course, most of which is the cost of the insurance policy.

do you have any idea of the volume of business the "well-known" agents do? if not I recommend a visit to Soi Post in Patts for a wee look. they need a dump truck to transport all the passports to immi ????

that's all part of the charm of living here. God forbid that it becomes like Singapore. what a fine city that is ????

pedestrian crossings are dangerous bro, you know there's a very good chance that one or more vehicles won't stop so pointless trying to blame the coppers. caveat emptor and all that. I've used them occasionally in Bangkok but only with extreme caution, ie. not passing a stopped car until I've poked my head out and checked for oncoming vehicles that look like they might not want to stop. that still doesn't guarantee I won't get cleaned up by a speeding motosai that might pop out from behind a van or a bus. what amazed me was that each time I used the crossings the other, mostly Thai, pedestrians just looked straight ahead as if the green walk signal gave them some kind of invisible force field.

he was probably sent to a re-education camp by his apologist local council. 1st lesson: how be tolerant to intolerant people that have a "God" given mission to supplant your culture with their own, in 3 easy steps.

in my part of Bankstown it is much higher than 12%. I lived there from 1976 to 2021 so it's not like I'm just making sh!t up. but hey, believe what you want to believe. the day I left was the happiest day of my life.

nonsense

indeed. I fled the Islamic Republic of Bankstown* for the comfortingly xenophobic arms of Buddhist Thailand. ps. I knew nothing about Islam until I spent some time in Indonesia, mostly Jakarta. I had no preconceived notions but found out the hard way that there's nothing benign about it. and Indo's not even the real deal so I shudder to think what's is like in the homeland of that repugnant ideology. * a city in South-West Sydney that is being overrun by Lebanese Muslims.