tai4de2

Anyone aware of a course in Bangkok that teaches Northern Khmer? I'm specifically interested in Northern Khmer, not Cambodian Khmer.

I realize it's kind of a long shot but thought I'd ask.

Exactly. So I'm confused about the "new tariff" being 3.99 baht/unit. Is that for the highest consumption tier? Cuz that price would be substantial price *increase* for people who don't use more than 150 units/month.

Isn’t electricity price based on how much you consume? I thought the first few dozen units are cheaper… my bills this year seem to be more like 3.5 baht/unit. 

Yes it can be done completely online.

https://tm30.immigration.go.th/tm30/#/login

11 hours ago, Pib said:

Today I visited the BoI LTR section and also the BoI immigration who are across from each other on the 18th floor at Chamchuri Square.   I first went into the BoI LTR section to ask if the 1 year address report can be done online or via mail.  At this point I'm dealing with young reps who basically initially meet people visiting the BoI LTR section and do their best to provide answers.   After about a 10 minute discussion the result boiled down that the report must be done in person or by some one you designate (regardless of where you live in Thailand).  No online or mail.  OK this is inline with what BoI told me several months in some back and forth emails which I posted earlier in this thread.   Note: later in my story as I ask the question again to some different folks I get a different answer much more to my liking.  Read on.

 

So now I go across the hall to Immigration to get a Certificate of Residence (CR) since I buying a new car....this was my primary reason in going to BoI Immigration today.  Here's how it went: when I first walked into Immigration's doors I saw the place was packed....95% of the waiting/queue area filled with bodies, but at that same instant I noticed all the immigration officers counters were manned but no customers standing in front of any of the counters....I wondered if something was going on.  Anyway, the immigration rep that meets you at the entrance asked what I needed....I said I'm here for a CR and I have a LTR visa.  When the immigration rep heard me say I have an LTR visa, he said Oh (like it had a special meaning...or maybe I reading too much into it) and then he immediately lead me over to the immigration information counter where I told the officer at that counter what I needed and I asked how long to get one...the officer said one hour with a Bt500 fee.  The officer looked at the form I had completed (a form that Cheang Wattana supposedly uses) and said at BoI immigration they use a slightly different form....I filled out their form which is 95% identical to the CW form.  The officer then directs me over to counter 8 I think it was.   I walk directly to counter #8 and the officer checks my forms...the officer wants the form I had just competed, copies of key passport pages like the first page and page showing my visa, and my latest 1 year address report.  The officer then asked for Bt500 which I paid and then directed me over to counter #10 that is the counter that actually issues the CR.  Now this # 10 counter officer also wanted a copy of my latest TM30 which I had a copy of.   The officer then said the CR would be ready in 1 hour.  I come back in 50 minutes and it's indeed ready....CR in hand. During this whole process I was never issued a queue ticket....it was like I was being Fast Tracked or maybe I just got lucky.

 

I then asked the counter #10 rep the 1 year address reporting question to see what answer I might get...she just directed me back to the main information desk (but she went also) where I talked to an immigration officer who confirmed with another officer that "Yes, you can do the 1 year report by mail to them....use the address on the SMART visa website."  But no online capability at this time to do a 1 year address report.  That was good to hear.

 

OK, with the conflicting answers regarding the 1 year address from the BoI LTR side and the Immigration side I go back to BoI to ask the 1 year report again.  Initially talked to the young rep again and explained the conflicting answers.  He asked me to set down and he get a senior BoI LTR rep to come talk to me about it.  That rep arrived in a few minutes and said a person can do the 1 year report at their "local/nearby" immigration using the TM95 form (not the TM47) and immigration offices had been notified/asked to support...but he also kinda implied some immigration offices may not be up-to-speed on the issue and direct a LTR visa person back to BoI LTR immigration.  And as mentioned above BoI immigration also said the report can be done my "mail" like described on the SMART visa website.

 

And then I asked the rep about the recent tax news regarding Thailand now possibly taxing a person's home country income.  He said the BoI has talked to the Revenue Dept about this and basically those with LTR visa are exempt....probably best said just reposting below snapshot from K2938's post from a few days ago.

 

 

I'm now done...out of the building I go....got my CR and got some courtesy questions answered regarding the 1 year report and tax issues---of course subject to change.   I got good support today at the BoI LTR Section and across the hall at Immigration.  Cheers.

 

 

 

I wonder if I could get these folks to issue a yellow tabien baan LOL. Seems it would be much easier than dealing with... whoever I'm going to need to deal with to actually get one.

8 hours ago, RafPinto said:

No more 90 days just once a year reporting where you stay.
Each time you leave the country and come back, the 1 year reporting starts again.

 

No TM30

AFAIK an LTR visa doesn't exempt us from TM30.

46 minutes ago, vibration said:

Click on Profile and then click on the + Button to put the address in and when finished click Save

Thank you! That's what I was missing.

Here's what this looks like for me. There's nothing in the Address box at all; I can't type anything in it. I've now tried Safari, Firefox, Edge, and Chrome... what am I misunderstanding?

Has anyone been able to actually enter an address on the first screen that comes up when logging in (after having registered and verified email)?

For me the "address" field is just a blank box with nothing in it. There's no fields and nothing to interact with. Tried with Safari and Firefox.

7 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

You cannot hold 2 valid visas at the same time so your old Non-O would be considered cancelled once the LTR was put in your passport. 

LA Consulate told me differently. Non-O not canceled and it’s possible to simultaneously hold two visas of different categories. Both eVisas in my case… but I’ll never test this theory LOL because I’m going to just use my LTR from now on. 

On 8/9/2023 at 1:44 PM, Mike Teavee said:

when you get your LTR all previous Visas are null & void 

I had a valid non-O when my LTR was issued as an eVisa. There was nothing about canceling the non-O and the consulate told me on the phone that said visa would not be automatically canceled and doesn’t need to be. So I believe my non-O may still be valid. 
 

As a practical matter this probably doesn’t matter because I won’t be using the non-O any more, and it will expire in 6 months. So I do agree with your overall conclusion. Just being pedantic. 

16 minutes ago, JackGats said:

I just got the mail stating my "qualifications for LTR have been endorsed". That's rather quick. I applied on August 18th with all required documents. Planning to fly to Thailand around August 20th.

 

I'm confused about in which order I am to do things as of now.

 

I am outside Thailand and I want the visa to be stamped in Bangkok. What I should do next is "choose the location for LTR issuance" (OSS Bangkok) on the LTR website. Should I do that right now OR after I've booked a flight to Thailand OR after I've landed in Thailand?

 

There's also the termination of my present visa (non-O) that goes hand in hand with a form bearing the rambling title "CRITERIA AND CONDITIONS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FORM FOR PRE-APPROVAL PROCESS ...". At which point should I upload said form?  Right now OR after I've booked a flight to Thailand OR after I've landed in Thailand?

 

When I log in to my status page I don't see any button to "choose the location for LTR issuance". I only see "Please upload the remaining documents and update additional information in order to proceed with the visa issuance". Is that because I already chose the issuance in Bangkok right from the start of my application? I don't remember exactly what I did back then but I have a faint memory I was prompted for that choice already.

August 18th is two weeks from now, so I think you are the first applicant to be approved in negative time!

As I recall, the email notifying you of endorsement has some fairly detailed instructions. I did mine as an eVisa so I didn’t have the same experience that you will have, but I don’t see how your airline ticket would figure into it at all. If I were you I’d try to get an appointment at the LTR immigration center in Bangkok and then plan your travel around that. (As a data point, even for the eVisa route I was not asked for any airline or hotel reservation info, unlike when applying for the non-O I had most recently.)

Also keep the 60 day limit in mind, as that timer has now started ticking. From what you described of your plans it’s unlikely to be an issue for you but still something to pay attention to. 
 

I can’t help at all with the cancellation of the existing non-O. My experience was that it may not even need to be cancelled, but presumably if you are inside Thailand, you will have entered on it and thus part of the “cancellation” is about switching you over to the LTR while you’re already in-country. 

My WGC visa was issued today by Los Angeles consulate. Processing time was 14 calendar days. I’m not sure how many business days that represents because of all the holiday days late July/early August this year and not knowing which ones they observe at the consulate. I think it was about 9-10 business days. 

No mention has been made about my existing non-O, which appears to also still be active and valid. Not that I’ll be using it again though!

I called the LA consulate and to my pleasant surprise was able to talk to a real person. I was told

1. My existing non-O wouldn't be canceled automatically and that it does not need to be canceled at all because it's a different category than an LTR visa. I could simply not use the non-O, until it expires. This surprises me because I thought it's a basic rule of the system that I can't have two visas simultaneously
2. Processing time would be "15 business days" -- which mirrors what the standard guidance on the web site says, so who knows really. From date of filing for the eVisa I have exactly that, so I hope it comes through on time or early
3. If I enter Thailand with the LTR eVisa application in process, they would not be able to issue the LTR because I'd have to do it in Thailand. And an emphasized "fee is non-refundable".

I take points 2 and 3 to mean that really I must not enter Thailand until my LTR is issued! Unfortunately I was planning on flying into Thailand non-stop from Europe as I will be on vacation there the week before. So avoiding entering Thailand would be disruptive. But I don't want to risk derailing my LTR issuance.

Thank you @Misty...

I will post back with results from my eVisa application when I have an update: how long it took, and what happened to my existing 1 year multiple-entry non-O based on marriage.

Thanks all. I rolled the dice and submitted for the eVisa at the LA consulate. Hopefully it will be issued in time and also will include canceling my non-O. My most recent eVisa experience with LA was issuance in 12 calendar days. I have almost double that before my next entry.

In case anyone is wondering, the fee is $1600 US. Reasonably close enough to 50K THB at a reasonable exchange rate, IMO, so I’m not losing any sleep over it.

Im going to look into what I need to be totally legal for any kind of work. At a high level, it seems like I might be able to create an Amity company I can own fully, and issue myself a work permit since I’ll be exempt from needing any Thai employees. A few months ago when I poked at this I had the sense that the usual facilitators of Thai companies for foreigners aren’t up on this visa and how to best take advantage of its benefits, so I feel the need to tread carefully. 

Just received final approval for my WGC visa.

It's 20-odd days until I expect to enter Thailand again. I am unsure whether I should do the eVisa application now or after that (short) trip is completed and I leave Thailand in late August.

I thought I'd catalog what I submitted for my WGC application. It seems to have worked because I was endorsed with no additional documents required... so maybe this will help someone else.

Thailand investment: my (Thai) spouse and I own several condos in Thailand. Some are in my name only, and some are jointly owned. On the application, I declared a total valuation number consisting of 100% for the ones in my own name, plus 50% for the ones held jointly. I submitted scans of the exact documents they asked for -- the contract and the deed, for each condo. These were all purchased within the past few years, which possibly makes the purchase price very accurate as a "value" for purposes of the application. The total value I declared was only just over $500K, so this could possibly have been a problem.

Income: I submitted scans of 2021 and 2022 W2s and 1040s. My spouse and I file jointly, and I have no idea whether they used my W2s to determine what percentage of our total income to attribute to me vs. my spouse. I also have no idea whether they considered only the wages from gainful employment, or also included the investment income. It may be of possible interest to some folks here that I had $0 income during 2023 at the time of submitting my application, so the business about using averages from the past 2 years etc. is accurate.

Assets: I submitted

* A scan of the deed to my house in the USA, which shows standard language of "$10 plus valuable consideration" -- and nothing else about value or purchase price, which is good because it was decades ago and the value today bears little resemblance to the original purchase price! Plus a screen shot from my county's tax records web site, showing me and spouse as current owners, and current assessed property tax valuation. I entered 50% of that number on the application form.

* A current bank statement, with account numbers redacted. Accounts are in my name only.

* A recent brokerage account statement, with account numbers redacted. Accounts are in my name only.

Insurance: I submitted 12 months of bank statements showing >$100K in the same account. I redacted all account numbers on all the statements.

One small thing I learned during the process, that I did not know before: the Preview app on the Mac has a specific redaction annotation tool for pdfs. This makes redacting sections of documents trivial. (A colored square annotation over part of a pdf can be undone and thus isn't strong enough.)

Another question:

What happens if I apply for my LTR via eVisa, and it is not issued yet when I next enter Thailand on my existing non-O? My next trip is actually short; I'll only be in Thailand for 2 weeks.

Does my being in Thailand cause the pending eVisa application to be rejected? Or does the eVisa get issued and then I have to do something at immigration to get everything in order (because I will have then entered on a visa that is canceled when the LTR eVisa gets issued)? Would kinda defeat the purpose of having gone the eVisa route...

In this scenario it's also possible that I will have left Thailand before the eVisa application is even processed at all.

Another choice is to simply wait to apply for the eVisa until I have left Thailand. But the timelines are such that I'm worried about the "60 days since issuance of the qualification endorsement letter" deadline.

Advice please? Thank you all in advance.

OK, silly question: does the “Digital Work Permit” associated with an LTR visa require a specific job? Or can an LTR visa holder get one of these work permits independently of any job and be covered generally for any and all “work” activities?

WGC application submitted 5 July, status changed to “qualifications endorsed” on 19 July.

It doesn’t appear that they’re asking for any additional documents beyond the updated passport (no entires since originally submitted, so that’s an easy one anyway). Once I do this how long should I expect before status changes again? It feels like this pace is too good to be true so far. 
 

Seems like the eVisa route would be considerably less hassle than in-person. Would be at Los Angeles consulate. 

I have a non-O. Am I correct that going the eVisa route for LTR issuance means there’s no need for me to take explicit steps to cancel of my existing visa?

Thanks, yes WGC. 
 

And yes, condo.