khunPer

It's better to get an e-visa from home, a single entry Tourist Visa gives you 60 days of stay upon entry. When entering on visa exempt you'll need a return ticket or onward ticket within 30 days from arrival date; extension of stay in Thailand will cost you 1,900 baht, to be compared with an e-visa cost.

+1 – if you exit an extension of stay without a re-entry permit you loose your extension of stay, and need to restart the procedure for a new extension, often beginning with a (new) visa.

I've been in ST many times. To my knowledge there are not many expats there. Nice town, but not an expat place other than transit, as others also have mentioned. As foreigner you cannot buy land – your wife can buy it, and it will be her land – prices depends on location and can be relative high in central area. ST is a busy town for Thais with province offices, schools, hospitals and business. Take a look in the local bank branches for posters or leaflets with repossessed property for sale, which will give you an idea about land prices in various areas.

No, the serious part is the nominee shareholders: "...orchestrated the establishment of companies and subsequently transferred shares to Thai nationals to conduct real estate transactions with foreigners, a practice restricted by law."

There is a language selection on top – my PND.91 was in English language except from the scroll down selections. And I cannot read Thai...

NT fiber; 1Gb down, 200Mb up; 590 baht + vat per month, total 631.30 baht.

You can file it online – my tax office asked me last year to use the online in the future – it's actually quite easy, you find the link for "e-filing" HERE.

There might be more to the case, than told here, Norway is (normally) a fair state.

Would be better with a poll, if you wish to see some level of result of how many forum members that are actually staying in Thailand. And by the way, I'm staying here full time...

And many others have done it successfully, when reading the thread.

Maturing of two month is needed when you apply for extension of stay for either retirement or marriage And that is exactly what I'm saying about extension of stay; but maturing is not need when applying for the non-O visa inside Thailand, which is the first paragraph in your quote. OP's question is about "retirement", which is what I'm specific replying to.

Actually our bodies is rather designed to digest plant food – or a combination – if you listen to science; meat eaters have a more simple stomach and colon-system. Humans have eaten carbon hydrate long before the so-called obesity pandemic. And I also clearly say that carbon hydrate cause obesity for some or numerous – it might be depending on blood sugar, as some studies show – but science has so far no clear explanation about what cause that huge level of obesity we've seen during the last 50 years or so. Your body seems to be one that gain weight from carbon hydrate, but we are not all the same.

Obesity seems to be a global problem, and there also seems to be no generally approved answers to why. I have an old friend who are one of the world leading professors in obesity, and I often reads what he share. Some studies conclude that obesity is caused by wealth, when people can afford to eat enough food, which might include "unhealthy" food. Other studies claim obesity as a disease; I can suspect the medical industries to wish and support that, so they can sell obesity medicine supported by government funds. Some gets fatter from carbon hydrate (sugar), others from fat. That might be a good reason why some diets like pasta works for some, and not for others, while eating non-fat then works for others, but not for some. Studies have shown that there different ways for obesity depending of blood sugar level. It's depending of insulin sensitivity of how fast you feel full; which might be why diabetes medicine works to reduce obesity. In general it might still be down to that if energy intake is larger than energy consumption, the excess energy is stored, which in humans is stored as fat. From that point of view it's primary a question of change in life-style – both amount of food and snacks, and what to be eaten, and level of exercise, which is an important factor when slimming to burn the right fat – which can be difficult and might require some strong will. My own lovely girlfriend seems to have same kind of problem – however, still a bit from the level for finishing the relationship – but she finally try to face the change of life-style; she was also still slim after giving birth to our daughter, now some 18 years years ago. A way to help might be to in a kind way convincing that a life-style change is necessary – obesity can lead to a lot of diseases and shorter life.

According to new articles shared in ASEAN NOW about 6 percent of Thais are registered for income tax and circa 4 percent pays income tax.

Singapore; and especially on Sentosa Island you won't get bored...

Global obesity pandemic, virus spread by all the Western foreigners visiting Land of Smiling Slim Ladies...

March 29th to 31st, TAT Samui Open Beach Volleyball Tournament The 6th annual TAT Samui Open Beach Volleyball Tournament will be held on Koh Samui, Thailand 29-31 March 2024 at SEEN Beach Club on Chaweng Beach. Promising to be a thrilling sporting event, the international tournament will be a big boost for Sports-Tourism for Southern Thailand & Koh Samui. The now fully registered tournament will see 88 teams with 130 athletes and 28 countries represented from Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, Australia and Asia. 80% of the athletes are from overseas and 20% are Thai and Foreign National. 100,000THB in prize money will be awarded to tournament winners along with trophies, medals, sponsor vouchers, volleyball gear and apparel. The Beach Volleyball Event is partnering with ‘HUB Beach Volleyball’ Camp from Australia offering a 3-day Training Camp prior to the event and features Olympic Volleyball Silver Medalist, David McKienzie, as the Head Coach. Read more HERE.

However, the link I gave you about successfully change of extension of stay is to a recent tread from 2023...

Yes, I do... – and numerous of my home country fellows think the same...

Simple advice without too many details... First of all, you'll need your own domain name, which would be best at your business' brand name or something short for that; i.e., MYNAME.COM. You can search and buy a domain name several places, I use Homepage Universe in US. You can pay by credit card. They also offers you hosting (web hotel) of a homepage from a few US$ per month, but you can shop around and check prices and facilities other places. To build your own homepage, many people – including professionals – use WordPress, which is probably the most easy way to create a professional looking website. There are other also easy to use software, which hosting providers offers for free, including WordPress, which can be upgraded to a professional version. Today you also need a safety certificate (SSL), as otherwise browsers will often not connect to your homepage and show a "not secure"-warning. The hosting providers can often install a certificate for you. If you are not doing a trade on your homepage (shop and payment), you can choose a simple cheap SSL from around $30 per year. You might find little cheaper certificates when shopping around, but then you need to install it yourself. It might be best for a novice to get all service under one roof; i.e., buy domain, hosting and certificate from the same provider. A Facebook profile for your business is good – you homepage can link to the Facebook-profile vice versa – as you can get potential clients to follow you. You can share links to pages on your homepage and direct business/visits to that from your Facebook-profile. Furthermore you can use Facebook for advertising your business and create further interest and more followers. However, don't replace your own homepage with only a Facebook-profile, it's not the same and you don't have menu options in a Facebook profile. A little, but important hint is: Use the so-called mega-tags in your homepage-builder software to name "keywords" and a short "description" for each page, not to forget a describing "title", to optimize Google's and other search engine's robots to include your homepage in their search results. Search engine optimization is special expert subject, but just a few things like using the meta-tags can make a huge difference.

In general when applying for non-O in Thailand after visa exempt entry, your funds needs to come from abroad, and they do not need to be seasoned. Maturing of two month is needed when you apply for extension of stay (based on retirement). A personal recommendation: As soon as you get you non-O, then move the 800k to a separate bank account – i.e. another bank account than used for transfers and daily transaction – so it clear that they have been seasoned and not under the limit. If you can afford it, make it it a 12-month fixed account and just leave the funds there for best interest, which you can withdraw once a year so you keep 800k baht clean in the account. That will make you sleep well – the funds are there – and not worrying about baht exchange rates and topping up from 400k to 800k in time.

New Seahorse car-ferry route from Bangkok to Samui – or change of departure from Sattahip to Bangkok – starting March 23, with tickets sales opening on March 9th... Read more on Seahorse's Facebook profile, link HERE.

Non O-A is a different and special so-called "retirement visa" by some Thai embassies, it's valid for 12 month with 12 months stay on each entry. It's possible to stay as retiree in Thailand after work – which OP also is aware of, and it's not his question – please read answers in this ASEAN NOW-thread...

From May 13, 2024, Scoot, a subsidiary of Singapore Airline, will operate daily flights between Singapore and Ko Samui using its new Embraer E190-E2 aircraft. "Scoot’s network expansion comes as the Singapore Airlines Group unit prepares to take delivery of its first Embraer 190-E2 aircraft. The airline on 5 March disclosed the E2’s initial network, including the addition of two regional points from Singapore. The airline announced that the E2s – on lease from lessor Azorra – will be flying to Samui in Thailand from May, and Sibu in Malaysia from June. In addition, the E2s will be deployed on flights to Hat Yai and Krabi in Thailand, as well as to Kuantan and Miri in Malaysia." Source: Flight Global.

Probably better to open your Sterling-account off shore, or in your home country, if you are staying 180 days or more during a calendar year in Thailand. All fund transferred into Thailand after January 1st 2024 will be eligible for income taxation, if it's not proven savings from before 2024, or covered by a Double Taxation Agreement. A longer and detailed explanation is in the link shared above.