Swiss1960

1 hour ago, HeijoshinCool said:

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Yep, Fit-2-Fly certificate....

 

That's what I'm asking about.

Fit-2-Fly is not required anymore, this was discontinued I believe on 1 April. I entered Thailand on 1 August and nobody asked for it.

I guess that the upcoming elections are a bigger concern for the ambassador than the few expats that might or might not get sick when travelling to BKK... he might be out of job, if the German government changes...

This has to do with the new eService tax law that Thailand introduced this year (or is about to introduce, not sure about that). They want to charge VAT for online services. I have been bombarded by Microsoft and other SW companies with the same request to either enter tax residency or tax ID, if I am a business. 

The US government will now collect even more information from their citizens abroad in order to tax them... 

37 minutes ago, CHEYENNE5668 said:

So does that mean if you roll the dice on non refundable flight tics and your COE gets denied you have to eat the cost?

That would be correct, yes. HOWEVER: most airlines in this time offer free - and sometimes unlimited - postponement of flights, so you could still use the flight at a later stage, once you sorted the COE problem. 

Also, there is no waiting period for the COE process. Once you know the reason for the rejection, remediate the problem and start again, if you started early (see my previous post), your flight will probably still be valid.

@glegolo18, @ubonjoe: According to a document on the website of the Thai Embassy in Bern (where I did get my COE), there are NO minimum or maximum days when you can apply for the COE before the flight. However, two things must be kept in mind:

1. The COE validity according to this document is 30 days. 

2. The number of processing days depends on the Embassy (workload, staffing), Bern took 28 hours from when I started until they issued the COE. Of course, I had all documents ready and was able to upload everything within minutes of getting to the next stage.

3 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Thanks for the detailed answer to my questions! 

 

I'm a little wary of the land office, as they have the reputation for being the most corrupt in the kingdom. 

Well, I don't know about the corruption part. What I can tell you:
- an AGENT would normally be used by the seller to promote and sell his land, so the seller would have to pay any commission to the agent, not you as the buyer
- engaging your own LAWYER is what I would do. Not only can he do the due diligence for you prior to even signing the contract (like checking the land marks, chanote etc), but he will be the one actually talking with the land office staff while the sale is completed. AND your lawyer will be cheaper than the 3% that an agent might want. 

4 minutes ago, kwonitoy said:

Same, Cashier's cheque, once the name is transferred cheque and keys change hands.

Don't forget the land transfer fee, payable to the Land Office, usually split between buyer and seller 50/50. Ours by agreement was cash by both parties.

That is what I love about company transfers. The fee at the DBD is absolutely minimal (few thousand Baht to change the directors and shareholders of the company), and the seller is responsible to pay any tax for the profit from the company sale. If the chanote is in the company name, there is no need to go to the land office.

3 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Its usually a cashiers check or bank transfer etc, done at the land office "as" your name gets put on the chanote. 

There isn't usually any huge amounts of money being handed over, outside of the land office transaction. If the sale doesn't go through, you dont hand over any money.

You can literally take a suitcase full of money to the land office, when your name is put on the chanote, you hand over the suitcase.

 

Cash is the standard in land offices, if somebody takes a loan and the land title is the collateral for the loan. I have done that also in the past (gives you a nice interest and you as foreigner are allowed to give out personal loans), and they have a cash counter in the land office (at least in Pattaya). People who take loans against their properties normally need cash pretty fast and can / don't want to wait of a check to clear.

Ok, you got your first "confused" emoji, as you wished

Just another authoritarian health official muttering something for his 5 minutes of fame. Until confirmed, I would say the newspaper that can not be named is publishing fake news, OR it is already decided that from 1 October, there will be no more "dark red zones".

A...X or α...ω should keep everybody happy... even hetero people and eunuchs could feel included ????

copy the visa page from your passport and all subsequent extensions of stay PLUS (very important) the RE-ENTRY PERMIT, then upload these pics to the COE portal, or send to the Embassy in mail, whichever applies to your situation.

5 minutes ago, RoninTech said:

The official Non-immigrant O page makes it sounds like one of the parties has to be Thai for the O visa.  Neither of us is.  Am I interpreting this wrong?

Yes. What you need to do is apply for the Non-Imm-O Visa on the base of "retirement". That is how I entered the country once I was ready to retire. Can't speak what the Thai embassy in Canada will require for bank "guarantee", but what I had to show in Switzerland was a simple bank statement (back 6 months) showing that I have enough funds.

No, I don't have problems with Wise, in fact, I just made a transaction well over THB 100K, with reason "monthly living", arrived within 20 seconds in my SCB account, transferred through CIMB bank.

Transfers with reason retirement money (or something to that effect) do NOT come through CIMB and can take around 2-3 days in order to make them eligible as international transfers (that is according to Wise customer service).

Exchange rate between Wise and XE is better for Wise. XE chart shows right now 38.73, Wise gave me 38.77