gearbox

The rules in Thailand are quite "elastic". They vary from branch to branch, and from person to person. I arrived in Thailand with O-A visa a while ago and tried to open a bank account. All of the bank branches required a work permit from me...tried in vain to explain them that I'm on a retirement visa. Then I brought with me my gf, which had substantial amounts in 2 banks and the staff was 'wai-ing" her, the accounts were opened pretty quickly. The requirements seems to get tighter, I had to provide my Australian tax file number last time in order to open a term deposit.

It is a possibility. I met a Brit in India 5 years ago just before covid. He got some infection in India which took nearly 3 months and quite a few doctors to diagnose in UK. He lost 16 kilos and was barely able to go upstairs in the end.

That's correct for most countries if you are not a citizen or have a status with access to health care.

I did have issues converting from visa exempt last time, if I can get non-O outside probably would be better. Can I get non-O in Australia? One observation relevant to this thread. Bangkok Bank in Samui can't do 12 months bank statements, from memory it is only 6 months. Myself can't be bothered updating my bank book too, I usually do it before extension. As a result there is a time gap in both the statement and the bank book for a few months. Initially I was worried that I would have problems proving I have the funds as required in the last 12 months, but the IO can't be bothered, it seems more relevant to them is to deposit 100 baht on the day the book is updated and the statement is done. TiT, every province and office could be different, this is the Samui Immigration.

I opened term deposit with Bangkok Bank by transferring money from my savings account. I did get a separate bank book. Actually I opened 2 X 12 months term deposits - one 820k, the other 250k. As far as I know, there are no issues with the Samui immigration if you have 2 bank books, they are both with the same bank and there is clear trail. Anyway I don't need it now, currently in the country on visa exemption, departing again next month. If I do move to non-O retirement again it would be much simpler way to maintain. No tens of transactions in the bank book, and term deposits are generally safer, difficult to scam them, no ATM card attached to them.

Max 6 months per year, will move to DTV soon. I don't plan to spend more than 4-5 months in Thailand in the next few years, first I have extensive travel plans, second don't want to be a tax resident here.

My retirement non-O extension has lapsed now, but I still keep 1.2-1.5 mil baht in Thai banks as currency hedge. I transferred the amounts when the Aussie was 23-25 baht, so I'm ahead at least 10% for the time being. Everyone has different circumstances, for me tax issues are much more important than 800k sitting in Thai banks.

Bangkok Bank...but I did it the beginning of January. I think they lowered the rates since then.

You need to compare apples with apples, different investments carry different risks. Cash deposit rates are going down across the world, so the difference with the Thai rates is getting smaller. I have 800k on term deposit at 1.5%, the rates in Australia are going below 4% now, so not that much of a difference. Of course I can put them in penny stocks and make 100%, or lose everything...

The people of my country have no business attacking other countries. And any country attacked should fight back, including Iran.

WW3 is likely one way or another. Nothing to do with Iran, it is all about the containment of China.

Time for China and Russia to provide nuclear umbrella and hand out a few hypersonic missiles. Give them a bit of a proxy war taste.

Nothing new...there will be more wars, until China dismantles this nest of parasites. I would be probably gone by then.

Most of the fatf members do a process called "entity resolution". They have to legally attribute a transaction to a unique person. As a starter they would need your name, address and DOB - highly unlikely that 2 people with the same name and DOB would live in the same address. When they don't have all the required info they may try to triage the data, taking into account extra information...could be a passport number or a driving licence. For international bank wire transfers the banks are required to include the information, so the wire transfers are pretty much always traceable at the sending and receiving points. Agencies as AUSTRAC have vast databases with current and previous international bank transfers. However no ATM withdrawals data. The ATM withdrawals info can only be obtained from your bank by the tax and law enforcement agencies in your country if there is ongoing audit or investigations.

The ATM withdrawals with a foreign card are not traceable by any institution except the bank which issued the card. The debit cards don't have enough information for the transaction to be attributable to a specific person.