Lemsta69

and more power to them. why should that game plan be the exclusive domain of the rich and fatuous? ????

actually yes we do. I didn't know the difference between megabits and megabytes until a mate pointed it out to me and now I'm the wiser for it. Mbps and MBps are not same same!

set your maffs is wrong. marriage plus five years continuous life != free

wishful thinking bro, that's not how The Game works

true, but not every bogan is a houso and not every houso is a bogan. but OP's new mates sound like they're both. fun times for him ????

surely you amassed a gigantic private pension in your 24 years of working and therefore require no assistance from the Canadian government. if not, why not?

yes, for the most part a white Caucasian Australian looks different to other white Caucasians. generally speaking their ancestry is British (from the First Fleet or free settlers)

the episode where they go to Thailand is hilarious. especially the bit where Kev gets upset that the Thai kidnappers think he's Australian ????

nah mate OP mentioned Dept of Housing so the correct term is "houso". ????

we won't be able to afford to live here if that happens. it'll become like Singapore, expensive dull and boring.

thanks mate so I need to do a 2nd TM30 for my condo? property agent already did one and gave me a receipt. not sure if they recorded it as my 'permanent address' or not though, they didn't seem to understand the question. if I have to do a TM30 again will a copy of the lease suffice or do I have to bring the 'house information' whatever that is. chanote and landlord's ID right? and I'll be doing this ASAP I guess (moved in 22 Feb) apologies for the annoying questions. I follow this forum but it's easy to forget all the minor detail if you're reading it from afar. and now that I'm here big nights on the town don't help the old memory either ????

I came here in December on VEE and headed straight to Pattaya because it's one of my fave places in the whole wide world ???? I stayed in Patts for Dec/Jan and whilst I was there I got the non-O conversion and 12 month extension via one of the famous agents on Soi Post Office. I did have 800k in the bank, for a minute or two at least ???? but Pattaya isn't big enough for me anymore so moved into a condo in Pathum Wan, Bangkok and I figured I'd try and open back accounts at my nearest branch. hence the need for a residence certificate which I presume I must obtain from the local immigration office. but apparently I can't get res. cert. from BKK immigration without first doing a 90 day report. as for the TM30, to the best of my knowledge that has already been done by the property agent I used to rent the condo. they gave me a screenshot of the submission and presumably I print that out before I go to immigration.

Jomtien issued the stamps. I was on visa exempt and living in hotels. only just decided to lease a place in Bangkok for 12 months. the agent will do 90-day reports for free, all I have to do is take/send passport to Pattaya, but I also want to open up another couple of bank accounts here in Bangkok. this is besides the one I got in Pattaya that was facilitated by the agent. the agent's office says I might get some tricky questions from BKK immigration, are you saying that I should avoid them? I want a hassle-free life here so if you say stay away then I will ????

hi Joe, would you be so kind as to reiterate what the 'house information' is? I'll be needing a residence certificate from MTT in about a month so I can open a bank account. nb. Aus citizen on non-O "retirement visa" optained via agent in Patts. First time 90 day report is due 27th of March. presumably I also do this at MTT and with same 'house information'.

tl;dr OP needs to learn how to play the game.

please don't feed the troll ????

this

imho if you're going to go down the agent route just go to Pattaya and get a good, reputable agent to get you the non-O AND the 1 year extension at the same time. plus a single or multiple re-entry permit. easy peasy. that's what I did in December using an agent on Post Office that was recommended to me by a trusted friend. they also do 90 day reports for free but you have to either send them your passport or take it in person to their office. I live in Bangkok, oops Krung Thep Maha Nakhon now but I'll be doing taking it in person; any excuse to get to Patts is fine by me ????

Jomtien is part of Pattaya City ????

are you serious man? what about all the investment income you lose BR having 800k festering in a Thai Bank account? you'll be kicking yourself in the end once you tot up the opportunity cost of the dead money.

"but via email we had the doctor write and acknowledge that this was indeed a PCR test" check

well bully for you! and in November I read at least one report of a person being rejected by a check-in clerk because of this issue. there were also a bunch of people posting on here in November asking about the difference between the two tests and whether the "PCR" test at Heathrow for example would be acceptable. again, why call it something that it's not and create confusion for the hoi polloi?

from the cdc website... "NAATs can use many different methods to amplify nucleic acids and detect the virus, including but not limited to: Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)"

CDC website would suggest otherwise... https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/naats.html

this topic came up last year when I was researching my current trip that started on 1 December. according to certain respected members a PCR test is not the same as an RT-PCR test. the latter uses something called reverse transcription to convert RNA into DNA. SARS-CoV-2 doesn't contain DNA therefore the only possible PCR test that can be performed is an RT-PCR test. so for 'all intensive purposes' the terms are interchangeable viz Covid. this was apparently why some labs, eg. at LHR, were advertising their tests as "PCR" instead of "RT-PCR". supposedly the whole world was supposed to know the above explanation and it was all the fault of check-in clerks and ignorant immigration officials that their "PCR" tests weren't being accepted. OR they could just write "RT-PCR" in both their advertising and on the test results and save everybody a lot of grief. thankfully I had time on my hands to research all that nonsense before I left and was able to pre-confirm with the Sydney lab I chose to use that their result would clearly state "RT-PCR" (they were too dumb to put a sample test result on their website but their price was significantly lower than the other labs). the OP has been really poorly treated by the US lab and as noted above I reckon he should sue them for damages if he can prove that he told them the test was required for travel to Thailand.