Brick Top

I have to agree he is talking absolute rubbish ,especially the Krungsri bank they are adamant now on a COR and a Non Immigrant O Visa. I have been with Krungsri 22 years and know the manager very well , tried to get my 77 year Australian mate a bank account opened on a tourist Visa. Absolutely no chance anymore and definitely needed a COR after he successfully got his Non O. Even the Bangkok bank made an announcement last month , no more new bank accounts on tourist Visas.

I managed to sort mine out I am 65 and turn 66 next February so that's when I will start to receive my pension. I signed into to the government Gateway system last year and found I only had 15 full years that would have given me just over £70 a week. Some years I was only 1 or 2 weeks missing , so in the end I chose to pay 17 years shortfall . It cost me just over £13,000 but now I have 32 years, you need 35 years to get the full pension. They only let me pay any shortfalls in years back to 2006. It a shame because in 1990 I had 51 weeks and in 1992 49 weeks and 1993 50 weeks but they wouldn't let me pay those 6 weeks as it was before 2006. I will never be eligible for the full pension as I only have 32 qualifying years and you need 35 to get the full pension. I will however now receive £186.78 starting from next February. To me it was worth paying the £13,000 as i will recoup that money within 3 years with the increased pension i will now receive. The deadline for repayment of any non qualifying years was April 5 2023 but this has now been extended to July 5 2023. So you still have time to do it , to short mine out it did take quite a bit of work , i phoned them about 5 times using Skype and also wrote two long letters , they took a long time to answer so I am glad I started early about 2 years before i am 66

Yes , I agree do it yourself , to be honest I have only ever done it once but found the whole process quite easy , I just told the truth about everything and my Thai girlfriend was granted a 6 month Visa without any issues at all.

You must ask for Bank Guarantee Letter. That's what they call it fir some reason

It takes about 1 minute to do online and it probably took you a lot longer to write your question about if to do it or not.

It does sound like the idle stop system , it takes a bit of getting used to , I had mine disconnected as I just couldn't get used to the engine cutting out in traffic after 2 seconds

My advice is wait for the bill to arrive , normally they arrive in mid April , I know a guy in Jomtiem who last went in and asked for his bill . The staff who then searched for his address found there outdated system hadn't issued a bill for his place for 12 years and then a few days later he got an invoice for 54,000 baht.

I received two speeding fines last year from a trip from Chiang Mai to Phuket , 500 baht each , when I paid them I got a receipt with the No 1 on it , I then realised I was the probably the only person who had ever paid

Definitely agree that's the best option , 1,900 every year and 2 hours of your time once a year and do the 90 day report online takes 3 minutes

I think your very very lucky to receive anything back , it sounds to me like you wasted the agents time and while wasting time with you they could have been making money somewhere else. The agent probably after you paid the 15,000 deposit , informed the owner the they had rented the place and then strarted preparing a contract only to be told you changed your mind , we call people like you "Tinewasters" were I come from

Yes , your right and I feel sorry for normal French tourists who have nothing to do with these horrible F A

Totally agree , Phuket would be a better place without those arrogant ba* * * *ds endangering the lifes of others , the whole lot of them brainless idoits need deporting

Nothing to worry about are you serious https://1780m.trk.elasticemail.com/tracking/click?d=l6AWaZdZnlooR0xZb_o9sGY8Qk5akt0MWhE2GzJrSAuD9J_maUcoyZd08-2lXLYcs2jg1yllkBr2_AKON8iElq2wamLMcboHuguYEPeVuZ3JsL7JwAmMbGFztD7rFeJuIArj22mzAijQddBkT1cak2Ic80qlayL0gBOsQzTynf0z6-4dFdSnp30jBr4mJcBH0lTJi5Kddy-yz4Yt1omaHcmuokjOkRl3EFqllQzLBLWfSeKE4q15KTwYcacLq5AJcuFH3-kv-AL7CYfn0kuZxJCBNGqy1H-0Z1KSRZaqPhVIJt9mEICX521lnGkJWHx9hg2

Correct

Yes , Foreign Currency Account , most bank here have them , I have one with Krungsri and SCB

Yes I totally agree , HSBC might only charge £5 but they will give you a much lower rate of exchange , it definitely still works out a lot cheaper using Wise.

I have lived here 23 years and purchased several foreign freehold condos. I totally agree with Soi3eddie , your biggest concern is the land office. It may be cheaper using Wise for smaller amounts but your not going to be able to get the correct Torta Sam or Credit advice to satisfy the land office. They now require the exact amount your paying , the exact address , condo building name and floor and unit number on the foreign exchange. Also clearly stated the reason is to purchase a Condominium . I would strongly recommend sending it in one single payment directly from your overseas bank to a Thai bank account in your name or your lawyers name. I have experienced many problems before regarding this issue. Wise is great for smaller amounts but on a Condo purchase definitely not the way to go , I tried it 2 years ago with Wise and had no end of problems at the land office. In the end I had no choice but to return the funds back to the UK and resend using UK bank to Thai bank in one transaction with the exact amount matching the contract price.

Absolutely its him , only he forgot to add " asking for a friend " lol

I sent 13.3 Million using Dmoney in one transaction from the sale of a Condo in 2020 , back then they gave me 39 baht to GBP. They normally have a restriction of 800,000 per day but I contacted there head office by email and they requested some documents such as : Sales contract Land office tax receipt. For smaller amounts like 1 to 1.5 Million I have just sent from my phone in one transaction using either the SCB app or the Dmoney app , no paperwork required. I found the SCB just as competitive as Dmoney with rates of exchange and fees and the SCB daily limit is higher at 1.5 Million per day and the fee was if I recall 250. I have never been charged anything at the UK end for incoming funds.

Try living in Phuket I had to wait 3 months to renew my two 5 year licenses , the wait now is 16 weeks

Dmoney are the best in my opinion , you dont need no paperwork just send from your phone and there exchange rates are very very good and the fee is just 125 thb per transaction , used them now about 25 times and never had any issues.

I doubt very much you have used Wise to transfer funds out of Thailand , I have had a Wise ( previously Transferwise ) account for 5 years and they definitely dont fo transfers out if Thailand because they dont have the license to do it.

Phuket , when changing the stamps over , being the original Non Immigrant O from 2007 and the March 1 2002 extension they asked me for : 1. Copy of every page of my old passport 2. Copy of the original Non Immigrant O I also gave the a letter that the UK Embassy gave me asking them if they would kindly swap my Visa stamp over into my new passport

I had to do this last week , my new passport arrived last Thursday week , my retirement extension expires on March 1st. So last Friday week I went to immigration first and they swapped my Visa over and extension to March 1st 2023 over to my new passport , this took 15 minutes. Then last Monday I went to the bank to first update my new passport , then I got the bank guarantee letter to show I had over 800,000 in the bank. Then copied every page of my bank book , obtained and printed a 12 month statement from my banking app. Then went to immigration last Monday afternoon with my new passport and bank letter ect and they did my retirement extension early within 45 days. It took less than 10 minutes picked my passport up on Tuesday with extension to March 1st 2024 .

Exactly I agree