khunPer

I would recommend none of these places, but we are all different, and you might seek or live a totally different lifestyle compared to me... Best advice is to check each of these areas out, yourself...

It is very individual and depending of numerous factors, like life-style, economy and relationship with a local. So, what others and I might suggest as "paradise", might be completely opposite for you. My advise is always to get around and visit various areas of interest – also if several others have recommended an area that might not be one's first choice – and get your own experience. There are different seasons; up north summer, rain and winter; down south only summer and rain. Preferable visit in each season to get the right impression, if you can live in that area, there can be relative huge difference in an area, depending of the seasons. And for what it might matter for you – and others – here is my own experience. First time I visited Thailand in 1987 I felt when coming to Chiang Mai in April that this was a place I could live, perhaps settle one day. 15 years later I began thing about a permanent move to Thailand. I visited several areas, including revisit to Chiang Mai. Today I'm happy that I chose to settle somewhere else in Thailand, but that is only me, many foreigners have chosen to live in Chiang Mai. I found my paradise on an island – be aware that islands can be great for a holiday, but might be too isolated for living permanently – I've been here since 2005 and have been very happy, and still is, and have no intentions at all about moving anywhere else, if I can avoid it. My primary choice was for "all year summer" and "barefoot Xmas"; living costs, party life, ladies and other benefits were just cool extra benefits...😎

This might be important if you have foreign income and not yet filed your tax return for 2024. I filed my tax return form today in paper at the Amphor's tax office in Nathon. No income tax to be paid; so, the kind cashier looked through the paperwork, typed a bit and out came my 0-baht tax receipt. "You need to file tax return again next year", she said with a smile. Sure, I know, it's not my first time, even I'm staying here as retiree. The reason I file on paper and not use online "E-filing" is that my transferred taxable income is over the limit, but I've already paid tax in my home country. Unfortunately you cannot use E-filing is you wish to claim already paid foreign tax deducted in your transferred foreign income – it might be a system or programming fault, or never the intention to include it. I had a meeting – or rather two – with the director of Samui Revenue Office about foreigners and income tax, especially for those of us that have already paid income tax in our home countries. There has been several AN-threads about income tax with statements both as "if you have already paid tax abroad, you don't need to file a tax return form", and that "I don't care and I'm not planning to file a tax return". However, the director said that all foreigners staying 180 days or more during a calendar year need to file for tax return, if the have any income from abroad, even if it has already been taxed. I cannot talk about other provinces and how they might do it with this new tax-thing, but this is the official status for Koh Samui or Surat Thani Province. I noticed that someone staying in Roi Et, last year posted about an affidavit for extension of stay based on retirement, where you should declare you pension details, including bank account number. This made me think that if the Thai government is serious about foreigner's income tax-thing, it might be a future issue when applying for extension of stay. So, you better get it done, it might be easy to do. Tax free allowances If you are 65 years old and your annual taxable income is under or close to 500,000 baht per year – don't forget that savings from before 1 January 2024 still can be transferred free from tax – you don't need to pay tax; but you still need to file a tax return. You have: 60,000 baht in personal deduction, 100,000 baht in expenses as 50% of income but no more than 100,000 baht, 190,000 baht deduction as being old, 65 years or more, 150,000 baht non taxed income, thereafter in steps beginning with 5%. If you don't have a TIN (Tax Identification Number) – which is same number used in yellow house book and on pink ID-card – get one. You can get it on 2nd floor in the Customs House in Nathon, opposite the SeaTran-pier. You can easily file your tax-report online with E-filing, link here to copy: https://efiling.rd.go.th/rd-cms/tax I use a browser with translation function, so I can translate the forms to English. However, if you need a text from a roll down menu, it is in Thai language. You can snap a screen shot of the roll down text and paste it in Google Translation in the Image-tab, and get a translation that way. Income shall be filed in P.N.D. 90/91... You can save (record) everything while filling in the forms and return later to continue. In the screen shot above I have a "1 Sketch". There are different sections to file in, 40(1) is for salary and retirement pension, 40(2) is for other fees and freelance work, 40(3) for rental income, and 40(4) for foreign stock dividends... When you file an income, you need to tick "Overseas Payer". To be able to do that, you have to enter 0 in "Withholding tax"... So this is here we foreigners that have already paid income tax in our home country face an issue. We cannot claim tax deduction for that online. If you tape any other value than 0 in "Withholding tax", you cannot mark "Overseas payer", but are promted a Thai withholding taxpayer number. If you are 65 years or older, you can click on "Income exemption rights" at the bottom, after you filed your income, and deduct extra 190,000 baht... Furthermore in Part 3 you will have you personal deduction and other deduction, like spouse without own income, child deduction if you are married to the Thai mother, or eventual insurances... Thereafter in Part 4 you will get your tax calculation... If you end up with paying Thai income tax and have already paid tax in your home country – like me – you cannot use the online system to claim already withheld foreign tax refunded deducted from due Thai income tax of the same income. You will instead need to file a P.N.D.90 tax return form on paper, all in Thai language, and attach documentation for withheld tax. The latter shall be translated to Thai langue here on Samui, even that it's officially is said to be in English or Thai. If you cannot do that yourself and need to buy help from an auditor or tax-serve-agent, it might be worth just pay a smal amount of tax, if it is a few thousand baht, rather than paying for service and the troubles with documentation; it's however an individual choise. You need to check if Thailand has a DTA (Double Taxation Agreement) with your home country and find the article, or articles, covering your foreign taxed income. It is said that all DTAs are slightly different, so there is no general rule, apart from you will not be double taxed, if there is a DTA, but you might have to pay the highest of the taxes. Link to DTAs: https://www.rd.go.th/english/766.html If you are Danish, you can read more detailed about filing Thai tax return in Danish language here: https://samesame-butdifferent.dk/doc/flytte-og-bo/PND90.php

Same-same, if the network is slow or overloaded you might lose packages, or have long response time between same. You can see the difference in Latecy in the two posted images.

Funds for 800k deposit needs to be transferred from abroad, when applying for non-O domestically. It might be much easier to apply for an non-O E-visa abroad, your friend can use his 800k baht deposit for that; in some provinces it can be a bit of a challenge to apply for non-O domestically.

Interesting. I had a meeting with the local Revenue Office's director, and he stated that all tax-resident foreigners need to file a tax return form, even when retirement pensions are taxed abroad ans there is a DTA...

No problems here in Maenam – I'm on 100-200 Mbps AIS 5G wireless LAN-router, no wired connection – but occasionally some foreign sites can be slow or temporary down due to server load or routers on the some times long distance between the user and the server. AN can often be little slow – but much, much better than before – and sometimes even Facebook and Messenger has problems. I'm not a WhatsApp-user, so cannot comment on that. Don't forget that you share the network with other users, so with more and more tourists on the island sharing their holiday pictures and travel-videos, the general communication speed slows down. Best thing is to check speed of different sites. You should check speed, not up to the nearest connection point, but to the destination-area where you face problems, ro check if it's en-route, there are speed problems, or it's a server load issue. If you use a Speed Test – like: https://speedtest.ink/เช็คความเร็วเน็ตais/ – you will automatically be connected to a nearby test-site (image: My speed right now)... If you click on the flag next to the automatic chosen server – in the shown image: [TH] Phuket - 10 Gb/s - AIS – you can select a test-connection both around Thailand and outside in the wide World's web... Now I chose Rennes in southern France – only because it catch my eyes, as I've been there and it's an exciting area – which has 100 Gb/s connection by ISP Orange. Rennes had long response times, and as you can see it's much slower than Phuket, even that the "cable" in Rennes can handle 10 times as much traffic...

She is right, Chaweng Beach is cool when you are young – both the beach and the party-life – but there are many other places great places on the island. If you plan to stay for more than a few days and are not coming to spend your time in a night club, move around. There are also trendy beach pubs, coffee shops and restaurants other places than Chaweng Beach – and even better beaches if you are for anything else than a riding jetski...

In general Samui is safe for female travellers, but there has been a few rare cases – one of them was the sad raping and murder of British tourist Katherine Horton by two Thai fisherman about 20 years ago on the beach in Lamai – and also some other cases, including bag snatches and stolen items. However, Samui seems (much) more safe for females than several places in my Scandinavian home country... So, even that episodes are rare, normal reasonable behaviour applies, especially in the party-nightlife. Such as not leaving key in a parked motorbike, not letting your bag or phone out of sight, don't wear expensive watches and jewellery, and don't drink more than you are in control of the situation. If you are a young woman, other male tourists might also fancy you – Samui is a party-destination for young and younger folks, many single travellers and small groups of same sex – so, don't only look Thais as a risk factor.

Perhaps he was actually looking for three upper-price ladies...

"Minor" is depending of local culture and law; both have changed over time. It was 21 years in my Scandinavian home country when I was young, but they changed the law to 20 years; so, I became adult at 1st January and not on my birthday. Today it's 18 years, but only 16 when you buy alcohol under 21 percent. Age of consent is 15 years. In Thailand you are legally "minor" untill 20 years old, but only until 18 i some cases – for example registered marriage – and even younger in other cases, for example unregistered village marriage. The age of consent is 15; however, "a close-in-age exemption allows sexual acts from age 14 if the older party is no more than 21". In many countries 18 years is the border, but some have different age limit, or it might be different in some areas, like ability to buy alcohol and having alcohol served – which seems to be 21 years i USA: "The legal drinking age was raised to 21 around the 1980s due to teen drunk driving cases protested by the Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The gambling age varies by state. So, in the context of alcohol or gambling, people under the age of 21 may also sometimes be referred to as minors." Each U.S. state has set its age of consent at either 16, 17, or 18 years, most with some exceptions. That is why there might be different view on a minor girl, depending from which homecountry law you have. In my Danish home country there has been cases where politians in their 30s had a 15 year old girlfriend, which is legal, but in some's opinion wrong, because a potician is public person. There are countries with 13 years as age of consent. In Europe Spain had 12 years until 1999, where it was raise to 13 years, and again raised to 16 years in 2015. So, it seems like culture is changing – and thereby law – so it might not be acceptable to snap photos of 18-19 years old girls attending a night club. Just looking at young ladies, if you are elder, might by be considered "pedophile" in some Western countries; however, if you are rich or famous – and preferably both – you might instead be considered as a cool guy if having a (very) young girlfriend or wife...😎 On top of that come girls' appearance and behavior, which might be different from area to area. My friends use to say that Thai ladies in their twenties act like young teenagers – to mee, younger Japanese ladies seems even worse – while many Western teenagers looks quite mature, rather like in their early 20s. But it can well be depending of who's eyes that are looking. In Western eyes Asian girls might look (much) younger than they physically are – might be why many Western men likes them – while it seems opposite with Western girls, where some, if not many, looks more mature than their age.

To my knowledge and from what I've read from other AN-members, you can change your extension of stay to retirement on a non-B visa. When you enters without a visa and apply for a non-O, you need to show that funds are coming from abroad. If you need to leave and re-enter, just get a non-O from a neighbouring country, now with E-visa, earlier with one night's stay on an arranged visa run-tour; funds in a Thai bank was fine proof for obtaining that. Mentioned as info for others, it's not for criticising your decision and experience.

If your child is old enough for school, your wife can qualifu as dependent to a child studying in Thailand. School will be private – bi lingual or international – and most schools for foreign-foreign children also helps with visa to a parent. Economic qialification for a parent to child studying in Thailand is 500k baht. The visa is Non-Immigrant O (Guardian) Visa. You can read more in the link here (copy and paste it): https://thaivisaexpert.com/guardian-visa/

Makes his story suspicious, perhaps he deserved the arrest...

Uncle Tu actually did some good thing for the country...

Seems like they need to raise the prices a tiny bit, so they can afford the tax...

If you have been working here (non-B) or former stayed with extensions as married (non-O) – and saved up the 800k baht for retirement – you can change your permission to stay to be as retiree; then you don't need to leave the kingdom or show funds from abroad. However, if your former permission to stay expires without being duly extended, you need a new visa. This is mentioned for other readers of the forum. It's way more easy to use the non-O e-visa method from abroad than domestic applying for a non-O based on retirement. Besides the fund transfer from abroad, the immigration office can also require proof of address with a bit complicated procedure, if you haven't settled more permanently yet within the first 30 days after visa exempt entry. And on top there might be immigration offices like Surat Thani (Samui) that won't issue a non-O.

If you apply for a non-O visa domestically, the 800k funds need to be transferred from abroad. Banks will often show a code, for example will Bangkok Bank show FTT – to my knowledge short for: Foreign Telegaphic Transfer – using Wise for transfor, you can also raquire a foreign code to be stated in your bankbook. If you have entered Thailand on a non-O visa and are thinking of the one year extension, there is no requirement for deposit(s) from abroad, just there is 800k baht in the bank two month before applying for extension of stay. However, if you use the monthly income of equivalent to minimum 65k baht per month, the funds need to be transferred from abroad.

Don't need funds from abroad if you have a non-O e-visa and enters Thailand on that visa.

Your wife's address is registered as resident in the condo. The Blue House Book has nothing to do with ownership, it's only registration of resident(s).

You shall not expect to change from visa exempt to non-O on Koh Samui; the immigration has from others history for not issuing non-O visas. However, you can always ask at Samui Immigration in Maenam Soi 1, if they'll do it. In the case that they'll do it, please share it in the local Samui-forum. May I kindly suggest that you get your non-O E-visa issued abroad. There is – to mine and other's knowledge – no such thing as a visa-agent on Samui like you find in Pattaya, the visa agent service is limited to help with paperwork and documentation for extension of stay. In the the local Samui-forum, there is a (long) pinned thread about immigration. Even that it is titled about "retirement extension", it also mention extension of stay based on marriage a few times. Be aware of booking time in person and show documents about one month before application for extension of stay, which you can find information about in the latest posts in the pinned thread. You can however easily get a 30 days extension to a visa exempt entry stamp – no need for booking time for that service – and probably also a 60 days extension based on marriage to a Thai; the latter should also be possible with a non-O visa. Opening a bank account without a long-stay visa might be difficult. You'll need an address verification letter from Samui Immigration, work permit with address (if address stil mentioned there), or a yellow house book. There are only few bank-branches left on the island, mainly in Central Festival in Chaweng and the head offices in Nathon. Bangkok Bank in Nathon might be best first option for you. Be aware that Bangkok Bank requires about a weeks notice if you need bank statements beyond a six month-period when applying for extension of stay. Kasikorn (K-bank) is also known to be friendly to foreigners.

I retired myself at age 56; today, I don't understand how if I ever found time to work – and, I wasn't a lazy government employee, but a busy self employed working more like double time to reach my goal, and some years just to survive. I've never been bored since I retired. You might find that you change your lifestyle when becoming a retiree and expat, so you might even change your preferred meals with bangers and mash with something, which might be cheaper than "down there", where to comes from. And, you might even find that some cheaper alternative is more tasteful, when you become a real expat. For lady-solution: Some says that the best solution is having a housekeeper to take care of the house, and just pay and play in the nightlife for the fun part. However, it might be at 3k baht level – or more, depending of personal preferences – every time you need some company or entertainment. There was an old job advertisement back in 1906 – or was it 1907? – seeking a foreign manager for Bangkok's first electricity supply. It said that a modest lifestyle in Thailand was cheap and healthy; luxury expensive. It seems like still be the case. So, if 3k baht – or much more – fom entertainmet is too expensive, the alternative is to find a stationary home-intertainment that is both house keeper and can supplement with company and entertainment. Depending of expectations, it might cost you the same a normal housekeeper. I believe that numerous call that kind of arrangement for "girlfriend". However, be aware, that kind of stationary entertainment can also be found in a variety of expensive luxury-versions. But, we are luckily all different; so. what you might find boring, I might find fun – and you might not like my lifestyle where I never find time to get bored. The only good advice is: Try to stay in Land of Smiles a good bit longer than a normal vacation, and stay here like an expat, to see if you get bore, and also to find out if you can afford it at all...

Then, you should forget to open a diner in Thailand...

Yes, thanks, that correct, it's 500,000 baht.

Of course, when you get older, you begin to think more about the final encore. However, I don't worry too much about dying – when I'm, gone there is either no more, or I'm in a Seventh Heavens og some place below – but rather the time before. Who will take care of me, and how will it work out? I have a fairly younger than me girlfriend, and the original deal is that I took care of her – and still does – and she will in return take care of me when I get old enough to need caretaking. The only aber dabai is, if it will work that expected way in the end, when I get old and more grumphy than now, and even beginning to forget...