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wwest5829
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Posts posted by wwest5829
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22 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:You need a Thai ID number to activate the phone apps. This includes LinePay. No idea if the pink ID cards work.
I feel your frustration after years in China with WeChat Pay. Nobody had cash and even little street carts had a QR code on the front. It was great.
No Thai ID numbers for either my Bangkok Bank nor Kasikorn Bank account apps on my iPhone. Just sayin ...
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10 minutes ago, n00dle said:
but enough about me, lets talk about you.
Cute
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5 hours ago, Surelynot said:
Agatha Christie would be struggling with this one.
Send in Poirot !
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7 hours ago, DLock said:
What we have here is a clear lack of understanding of what a digital nomad is, and why they chose to work from Thailand in the first place.
Good thinking, but as most things in Thailand...poorly executed.
You know, while I do not blame Thailand for reaching for those who are wealthy, I have a hard time imagining these proposals will be appealing to those who could afford the requirements and have any international living knowledge. Seems to me, the “sweet spot” is in attracting the larger pool of retirees having the ability to sustain at least a million baht a year to be brought into the country. And a nod of recognition might be given to those who are supporting Thai families (perhaps no more foolishness of 90 day reports and equal pricing as Thai full-time residents).
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I appreciate and thank Thailand for efforts to offer vaccine to those of us whose are retired from other countries and living fill-time in Thailand. (Especially if we have Thai families). However, although over 60 and at risk due to health concerns, I will await the import of Pfizer and or Moderna vaccines.
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7 hours ago, norfolkandchance said:
NordVPN for me. Never had a problem with UK Telly. Cheap as well.
I'm reading this subject because my free NordVPN is ending. Only use for downloading occasional torrents so can't justify adding the monthly charge to the TV (400 baht) and wifi (631.03) monthly costs.
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On 5/10/2021 at 1:37 AM, khunPer said:It's really a rubber-band question, as we all have slightly different life-styles, and furthermore often need to adjust life-style to whatever is available, which can vary depending of exchange rates and local living costs.
$2,000 can give you an Okay retirement life on Samui, i.e. around 60,000 baht a month that nicely sums up close to the 800,000 "recommended" retirement spending by the authorities. You can also live for less, and you can within a blink spend a huge lot more on Samui, even without including female company, but just by your choice of place to live.
Without school fees for my teen daughter my basic 2021-budget is 51,500 baht a month, but not including travelling expenses, both domestic or abroad, it's my plain living costs. I'm probably in the category "not a drinker", but I do like a small glass of wine, or two small glasses, to my dinner, and occasionally I share a glass of wine with my lovely girlfriend, so the budget includes some table wine, but we're not a heavy drinkers. However, occasionally a sip of something might happen, but not often. When I'm heading out in the nightlife, I'm a "soft stuff drinker", i.e. I drink non-alcoholic beverage, because I'm the driver...????
This brings up another question when comparing with somebody else's budget: transportation!
Transportation is important to include in your Samui-budget, as public transportation is limited, and taxis and like are little up-end priced. In my case I have a car, and as it's fully paid only gasoline and insurance, plus a small annual maintenance fee are included in my budget. You could rent and drive a motorbike for the same costs.
Another important post is companienship, i.e. a partner in the house can add up in costs, especially if the partner is not providing. I mentioned that I have girlfriend, she has been hanging around pretty permanently for 15 years now, so I presume I'm pretty stuck with her, but I'm that lucky that she also have an income of her own, so I only include a 10,000 baht allowance for her; having somebody hanging around, permanently of occasionally, can easily add 20,000 baht or more to budget.
And I also said that you can spend "a huge lot" just by choice of place to live. You can live as modest on Samui as most places in Thailand – and I'm talking pre Covid price levels – an all right modest bungalow can be rented from around 10,000 baht a month within short walking distance to beach, restaurants and local shopping; and cheaper if you have a very modest lifestyle; and if you count about 15,000 baht a month you will a great variety of accommodation to choice from. However you can also spend both 20,000 baht and 30,000 baht a month, and way more – a 2-bed beachfront villa can cost easily 70,000 baht a month – what might be acceptable for me, might be to low standard for you, or you could easily settle with less than me.
In my budget is the costs as house owner, and in general the monthly costs are small if you have "invested" in property, so when I use 51,500 baht in basic budget only 13,500 baht are expenses for the house, including electricity and internet. However, for comparison you could rent something for 10,000 baht and use for 3,500 baht electricity and Internet...????
My expenses for maintenance of my house is not included in a budget, I don't know what might break down tomorrow and need instant repair...????
Finally, what do you eat. If you eat at home it might be cheaper than visiting a restaurant; and how much do you eat; and are you eating Thai-style or Western style, the latter can cost you close to what it cost you in food expenses at home, depending of your home-country, it can also cost more to live Western-style in Thailand. I can make a delicious meal for averag 50-70 baht a person (excluding beverages), but your preferences might be different from mine. An Australian steak might cost 300 baht just for the meat, so it's easy to blow a modest budget if prefers quality beef. I often use a hand rule saying, count 500 baht a day for food for two persons, but it might be too little for some, and more than enough for others.
During 15 years full time on Samui my budget haven't changed much, but little lower now for extras than before, due to I got more baht for my foreign currency some years back – actually 25 percent less from when the exchange rates were on top in my favor, which equals having 25 percent less income...???? – so here are my 2021-specifications...
- 10,000 baht allowance to girlfriend for her house expenses
- 13,350 baht fixed expenses for house, including electric and Internet
- 15,000 baht house keeping expenses, i.e. 500 baht a day in average
- 4,000 baht transportation, i.e. gasoline + insurance + service for car
- 5,150 baht various insurances
- 4,000 baht pleasure and various other expenses
51,500 baht total a month, i.e. 618,000 baht a year or about $1,700 a month and $20,600 a year.
Our total budget as family, two grown-ups and one teen, including school costs, is one million baht a year; but you cannot use that figure to compare, if you don't have a child.
????
Thanks for posting. Always interesting for me to see comparisons. I am retired in Chiang Mai and also spend about one million Thai baht a year (kind of blew the budget on our 3 week trip down and stay in Samui. Wife and teen Stepdaughter like an annual visit to the sea. Stepdaughter introduced to SCUBA ... loved it.
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20 minutes ago, Mike k said:
I am an American and I live in Thailand but I still pay income tax to the US so yes if the US can give vaccines to the south Korean army, Thailand, and other countries then they should be able to provide vaccines to Expats no matter what country they live in
I hope you will join with me and others to have civilian earned and paid for Medicare benefits extended globally on the same basis as earned and paid for military retirees enjoy globally.
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16 hours ago, connda said:The US government can supply vaccines as foreign aid to foreign countries and yet they can not (will not) supply vaccines to their own US citizens overseas!
And yet China can supply their citizens overseas with vaccines.
What else do you need to know about our exceptional nation and how we expats (don't) benefit from our country's largess?
So - the US will supply Thailand with vaccines, and then US citizens abroad will be placed at the end of the line to receive their vaccines after Thais get their shots which were given to them by the US Government???
Does that sound about right?
The Thai government has a racist distribution policy that will be directly supported by the US government as US citizens are put at the end of the vaccination lines.
This reads better then a Kurt Vonnegut novel - you can't make this stuff up!
Welcome to Wacky-World ????No, doesn’t sound about right. It sounds more like conspiracy fodder, made up based on not knowing what will happen. Me? I am pushing for Medicare benefits, earned and paid for by civilian employment be extended on the same basis as earned and paid for military benefits. The retired military gets global coverage, Medicare = zip out of US territory.
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7 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:
Bare in mind that until 2019, Thai Immigration only accepted the proof of income method by means of an Embassy Income letter. Only the 800K was accepted in a Thai bank account.
That changed only when the UK, US and Australian Embassies stopped issuing the Income support letters and Immigration amended orders accepting income to be proved my means of overseas monthly transfers into a Thai bank account.
I think more probable is that @wwest5829was already transferring the 65K per month prior to the change in Income requirements, so it didn't really affect him, he was already in compliance.
It did affect a lot of other foreigners who previously used the Embassy Income letters and could just transfer what they wanted, when they wanted and now finding the Income letters no longer available were forced between either depositing 800K in a Thai bank, start transferring 65K per month from overseas, change to extensions based on marriage, or find an alternative solution.
I daresay some were forced to leave.
True, as I already was transferring the required 65k per month into my Thai bank, there was no issue with providing the bank statements confirming. The change in getting the Ebassy letter caused issues for those who had not been transferring the required amount or not having the 800K deposit.
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45 minutes ago, skatewash said:
When they started enforcing mandatory balances over the entire year for the lump sum in the bank (800,000) method I investigated what it would take to transition from that method to the monthly deposit method. My understanding at the time was that I would have to keep the lump sum in the bank for 12 months to fulfil my obligation for my previous retirement extension and simultaneously start depositing in excess of 65,000 baht per month into my bank account in order to qualify for my new extension.
The desirability of the monthly deposit method of course is that your money need not be tied up in a bank account for the whole year and that you can spend the monthly deposits as you wish during the year.
The reason I didn't pursue that transition was the concern that I would be asked to demonstrate that the funds were coming from a pension. Which i cannot do as I don't receive a pension and am too young to receive social security. So, while I can certainly deposit 65,000 baht/month indefinitely that money comes from my savings not a pension.
So, that's a long explanation for why I was asking about your experience. It sounds like your experience was doing the monthly deposits during the first year(s) you were in Thailand on a year's permission to stay based on a Non-OA visa entry. And you used that time to make the 12 monthly deposits necessary to qualify for the retirement extension using the monthly deposit method. That is, you never had to transition from one method (lump sum deposit) to another (monthly deposit). Maybe someone else has that experience. Did you ever need to demonstrate that the monthly deposits were from a pension? Or was that issue never raised as long as the 12 monthly deposits were made as required?No requirement was ever raised here in Chiang Mai that the funds came from any pension (I do not receive any pension). Keep in mind that I was able to use the Consulate letter up until the US Embassy stopped issuing the required guarantee of income. I have had no experience in transitioning from one method to another. While I have not needed to try and get around any immigration requirements, I have used an agency from the beginning reasoning that they keep up with any changes in the local immigration office requirements.
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1 hour ago, skatewash said:
The first time you applied for your retirement extension using the monthly method how many months of deposits did you have to show? At which office?
I am in Chiang Mai. I entered in 2011 and got two years on the original Via as I was able to exit and re-enter extending the original Visa for an additional year. Every year since I was able to show 12 months of monthly 65K coming in each month from outside Thailand.
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Sad outlook ....
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You use the method best for your interests. I can only relate what I have done as a fellow American when I retired here with an O-A visa issued by the Royal Thal Consulate in Chicago. in 2011. I have chosen to use the monthly income method, reasoning that my funds are invested and earning me income. Thus, I find the idea of selling investments, paying the tax and "parking" 800,000 baht in a Thai bank as not meeting my best interest. I use the 65,000 baht a month income method. My Social Security ($1320.00 a month) is deposited in my US bank account (Fidelity). Each month, I transfer about $2300.00 USD from my US account, matching my SS with funds from savings via Wise. Upon applying for the annual Extension of Stay, I submit the record of my monthly deposits into my Bangkok Bank Account and have had no issues with having my Extension of stays renewed annually.
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1 hour ago, Wiggy said:I have two iPads; one is six years old, the other four years old. All the speakers are still working.
Yes, I was surprised to see this also. I have not had any issues with my iPhone, iPod, iPad nor MacBook Air. Nice to have everything synced for easy access.
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16 hours ago, Eindhoven said:
resale value means nothing if no one wants to buy it. If there are resale values; then point the OP to a reliable reseller. He wants a second hand one if possible.
Yes, he's been snookered.
Just the added observation that Apple does take with trade-in value.
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I would hope that any Americans, retired abroad, promote the USA instituting a national healthcare program like all other democratic countries provide for their citizens. Currently, I propose that Medicare health coverage be extended globally on the same basis that military retirees receive under Tricare coverage. Both military and civilian, earned and paid for benefits should be treated on an equitable basis.
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22 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:
Are you serious or just trolling ?
There is no even 1 location in Thailand where you can go nude on a beach
even at night, you will be immediatly arrested and heavily fined
Ha! Maybe just new here not realizing Thailand has a conservative culture. Wait ... what?! That is correct. Been here a while? Then you come to understand that Thailand has things in common with the, "Bible Belt" in the USA where you will find the highest usage of porn.
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Sorry to hear of your running into this issue. As to the IM officers not using critical thinking skills ... well they are certainly not alone in the world. I recognize that many officers would not want to put themselves at risk of getting into trouble with a higher pedantic officer. Guess I take this approach from seeing what is happening in the USA ... critical thinking? ha! Just following orders ...
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Health Alert: Chiang Mai Provincial Government Announces Procedures for Non-Thai Citizens to Register their Requests for COVID-19 Vaccines (May 28, 2021)
Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
On May 28, 2021 the Chiang Mai Governor and Chiang Mai Provincial Public Health Office announced that non-Thai citizens residing in Chiang Mai province can register their requests for COVID-19 vaccination online at https://www.cm-healthcare.net/CMCVR.
According to the announcement, data from the online form will be used to prepare a supply of vaccines for non-Thai citizens who want to be vaccinated in Chiang Mai. The announcement also states that guidelines for setting the appointment date, time, and location for vaccinations will be announced at a later date on the website of the Chiang Mai Provincial Office (www.chiangmai.go.th) and Chiang Mai Provincial Health Office (www.chiangmaihealth.go.th) as well as the Chiang Mai Provincial Public Health Office’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Chiangmaidatacenter).
For questions about COVID-19 vaccination requests, U.S. citizens can contact the Chiang Mai COVID-19 Vaccine Center, which has English-speaking staff, via email at [email protected].
Additionally, U.S. citizens can visit the COVID-19 Information page of the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok for the latest information.
Other resources include:
- Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT): Updates available on their website (https://www.tatnews.org/category/thailand-tourism-updates/) or by calling the TAT Call Center at +66 2 250 5500 or 1672 from within Thailand.
- Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Updates in English available on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/mfathailand).
- Thai Government Public Relations Department: Updates on their website (https://thailand.prd.go.th/main.php?filename=index) and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/thailandprd/).
- Local media.
Actions to Take:
- Research relevant travel restrictions and requirements before embarking on any domestic and international travel;
- Monitor local media and our Embassy website for updates;
- Check your email regularly for further alerts;
- Continue COVID-19 precautions, including mask use and social distancing;
- Consult the CDC website for the most up-to-date information; and,
- Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts.
Assistance:
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U.S. Embassy Bangkok, Thailand
Telephone: +66 2 205 4049
+66 2 205 4000 (after hours)
Email: [email protected]
American Citizens Services
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U.S. Consulate General Chiang Mai, Thailand (serving U.S. citizens in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Kamphaengphet, Lampang, Lamphun, Mae Hong Son, Nan, Petchabun, Phayao, Phichit, Phitsanulok, Phrae, Sukhothai, Tak, and Uttaradit provinces)
Telephone: +66 053 107 700
+66 2 205 4000 (after hours)
Email: [email protected]
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46 minutes ago, Andrew45 said:
Must not have seen the video
Correct, but now I have and road side is confirmed.
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3 hours ago, Denim said:
Possibly but in the picture the car is on the right side of the road not the left. Whether this is where it was during the collision is unknown.
Agreed, my first reflection when seeing photos is to remember that photos are often “flipped” and so not reflective of last-right orientation.
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My choice for the movie actor to play Jim Thompson would have been William Holden ... unfortunately, a role he did not get to portray. Guess I am reflecting Holden's roles in , "The World of Suzie Wong" and "Bridge on the River Kwai".
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The wife and I opened separate bank accounts at the Pink bank (GSB). 'Farang are not allowed to have the phone app'...
in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments
Posted
Afraid it was too long ago. Kasikorn account opened 2010 on a Visa exempt entry (friend here in Chiang Mai let me use his address). Bangkok Bank account opened 2011 upon retiring here (O-A Visa).