bilbofarang

There really should be a 'boating' section for thai-visa, or better yet, and boating section for asean-now, but whatever,

 

Well known is the COVID lockdown since last year stranded lots of people who over-stayed the 30 days 90 days, ... but the gov let them slide.

But what about the 'boats', not known well is they say 'bring your yachts and hang out  in thailand', ok and the boat get's six months, and then another extension, but at two years that's it, so what people did is go down to Langkawi, and in&out ( like visa-runs for boats ) and then back to thailand for another +1 year, but now Malaysia is closed, like Thailand so the boats and 100's have rotted in Phuket, and everywhere there are boats, and many haven't even been looked after as the owners can't even go to these places; Then the people who actually live there have seen their biz go down -90%.

 

The question begs to be asked 'will the gov offer an amnesty' for the stuck boats? Well there is a tax-amnesty, but that largely is just a matter of paying the 7% tax on registration in Thailand, but make no mistake that when all the fee's, licenses, and permits are integrated 20-50% is not uncommon to register a boat in Thailand. Using the COVID & people analogy the boats should have been given an 'amnesty pass', but I'm not hearing anything such thing, what I'm hearing is the the boats can be sold, and then must be registered as 'thai', which means paying enormous fee's, license, and permits; That unless the boats that have sat +2 years in Thailand, unless they become 'thai registered' they're essentially ghost-ships where the owners are paying the storage on the behalf of the future owners.

 

We used to joke "never bring big money to thailand", now we can joke, "never bring valuable assets to thailand".

 

So now we have these 'stuck boats', now many are on land, but if they do eventually go back in the water or try to go to Langkawi, when it opens, its a problem. Normally when a boat leaves Thailand its an an all day process of going to 3-6 gov agency's and getting signed off, certainly given that any boat sitting +2 years in Thailand is essentially then property of thailand, well what is coming? I don't hear anything, just curious if anybody knows?

 

Well like Plan-2030 says "You will own nothing and you will be happy", certainly the people making up all the rules and policy are doing this for our own good & happiness.

 

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Post Covid changes are in, and even Malaysia is doing away with its 'second home program' and offloading some +65,000 farang who thought that forever meant forever, even langkawi is getting out of the 'duty free' ( cheap booze ) biz, and moving toward eco-topia on the 'island'; 

 

Post covid nothing will be the same, ever again; A complete 100% reset it will be.

 

Most of the farang where I live are gone, most have gone home during the last +2 years of lockdown, and closing of the watering-holes; The re-entry with "COE" means that none of the 'poor farang' are ever returning. We're entering a new age. I'm really not sure the goal, I suspect its really about cooperation with China, certainly seems that for every poor-farang they dump, they bring in ten rich Chinese guys.

 

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Trump did away with the TPA 'Trans-Pacific Partnership' which effectively would have brought western priced medicine to the ASEAN world, covid is the back-door, much of the 'sand-box' of phuket is to lock-in these new medical charges like 5,000thb for a 'test', or $100K USD for med-insurance coverage, where 3M THB is more than a thai-house, and who would have thought the medical biz could ever make money in ASIA like big-pharma or AMA in USA? But it's here now, and its not going away.

 

 

1 hour ago, Thingamabob said:

Personally I leave 800k in the bank year on year. Saves a lot of hassle.

That's the best and easiest way, but I know guys who are rich, and choose to do the 400k thing, why? 

Cuz they don't want to park their money here

To me the crux is the 400K choice, means the police have to come to your house for a full search with 4-5 cops that go through the entire house, heard too many stories from friends about this choice.

 

But even if you do the SINGLE 800k route, if you do have a thai-wife, then YOU must provide ALL her papers, signed, and current.

 

For me I have several accounts with 800K just in case one has a problem, I have others

Yep, its the best way, the other way's require working with my GOV back home, and I would much rather just have to deal with the Thais ????

 

But the 800k still has its hassles, there is no bank near me, so I have to drive 90 minutes and letter is only good one day, so I drive to the city, get the letter, go to the immig, and usually don't finish until 4pm, that's get up at 5am, leave the house, wait until 830am for bank to open.

 

Now the new rule of statement even means more hassle for the bank, and my understanding it must be issued the same day as letter. Failure to have statement means back to the bank, if after 330pm it means another letter, ...

Don't forget to update your bank-book, its go to be printed, don't forget to copy all pages.

 

There's much more to this than just keeping money in an account.

 

Almost every year I have to go back to the copy shop twice, I have to go to big-c to buy a more beautiful shirt, ... It's always something, and never easy

There are many things that people fail to mention here, so I will list important stuff.

 

If you decide to go the 400K route, then you must prove you have a wife, and the police, usually 4-5 must inspect your house, too see that your actually living as husband & wife, more-ever it seems they like to go through the entire house to make sure you living a normal life, .... So I guess it all comes down to the "Do you like your privacy, even if married?, then keep the extra 800K in the Bank"

 

Even if you apply 'single' they will ask you "Do you have a thai wife?" Of course NEVER LIE, if they catch you in a lie, they can deny your visa, pretty much forever. Never lie to the thai police, that is the ultimate NO-NO.

 

Once you tell them you have a thai-wife, they will ask for her ID-CARD, and her House-book, note her house-book is not your house, as its her family house where she was born. This is important for thailand, if they can't find you, they will go the family to find you or her.

 

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Another thing is cleanliness, and collared shirt, if you try to apply in your shorts&t-shirt they will send you away, thailand has a very strict rule, when any thai goes to a GOV building he's supposed to wear slacks, collared shirt, and be neat. Same apply's to farang.

 

Your photo that you provide also must be a clean collared shirt.

 

Some of us drive 2-3 hours to do our annual renewal, and its really bad not to get it done the same day, there are dozen's of things they will call you on, you need to make mental note and have them all. Never visit a GOV building without a clean dress-shirt in your truck, bike, or pack.

 

Have copies of all the doc's that includes your housebook, your bankbook, all pages of your passport, 

 

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I mentioned the new rule I was just told that when going to the bank to get the letter 800K that I now have to ask for a "Statement", on bank letter head in normal form. I can only assume this is a third way to stop the BS coming out of Pattaya where lawyers get people visa's for 2,000THB annual by rolling over the money in various accounts, so now the thai-gov is one step ahead with this new requirement.  Funny that they just don't shutdown the scam's, but they don't. Not my business, I live in the North.

 

( I'm just commenting this because in my 15+ years here, I have met many UK ex-soldiers getting 150 quid a month pension, and they don't have 800k in a thai-bank, and they can't get a pension letter from their gov, so these services allow these guys to stay, they would die if they went home )

 

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I would be useful if somebody here could clarify the new rules. I was asked to sign them, but they didn't provide me a copy.

 

To re-iterate the new rules were...

 

1.) Keep a balance all year of +800K thb in a thai-account

 

2.) Prove you have 65,000THB a month income

 

3.) Prove that you deposit over 800K annually into your account and show source

 

.

 

I do #1, done so 15+ years, works for me, but terribly painful annually ????

2 is unclear, do I have to go back to my consulate every year for a new letter? I somehow doubt that they would let me use an old letter over&over, its a super hassle to make an appt with my country and get such a letter

 

3 sounds easy, but this would require a class CPA examination close scrutiny of all you business in thailand, I think its best to just get in&out, there are people who say have all their money in the stock market and get dividend payouts quarterly and such so I guess this is a route for such people. I personally wire that much annually to my ATM account, but I think it would be a super pain, to prove to somebody that all my deposits for that year exceeded 800k. Do you copy and highlight? It's not clear how you prove this thing, I know its obvious but its NOT.

 

Another thing with 3 is that how does it stop the 'cheaters' I mean a service could deposit monthly, and then the recipient ATM cashes out, and hands back, I just don't see how this proves anything to the thai authority's

 

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Remember the entire point here is the thai-gov doesn't want to get stuck with old farangs who are destitute, at best the 800K is enough money for a hospital and plane ticket to pack you home. The other thing is Thailand doesn't want to get stuck with the 'homeless problem' you see in USA, I have seen a few homeless farang in BKK, and Pattaya, walking around with their trousers at knee level, and they seem to be infinitely tolerated, but I do know that Thailand doesn't want 1,000's of such people. You see thai alcoholics living the same way, a few is ok, so long as they're not harming others.

 

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Lastly, there are so many rules, conditions and caveats that it makes the head spin, renewing your visa is a super stressful annual experience ????

I go alone, but thai-wife will not go with me, I see the vast majority of farang with their wives who take care of biz, I guess that's the way to do it, but my wife has a job, and can't possibly take a day off.

 

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Another thing is all offices are different, I know chiang-mai with 1,000's of people in the queue, they just don't have time to spend hours with one customer, sadly where I have to go they do ????

I think the hard problem here is proving you have the 65,000THB income, for myself I keep the 800,000THB in the bank

 

In the past you had to get an embassy letter saying you had 65,000THB income, and for some country's that is difficult. UK hard USA easy, but its still a pain to visit the consulate, make the appointment, travel a long way, and stay in a hotel to get a piece of paper from my GOV.

 

My reading of the new requirements are ...

 

1.) The 800k/400k in bank, 3 months before, 2 months after cannot touch account

 

2.) Prove you have 65,000THB income ( Again I'm sure you need a letter from embassy notarized in Thai )

 

3.) Prove that you deposit over 800,000THB in your bank account, and the balance doesn't drop, I saw this third case where you can prove you have regular incoming money to your account.

 

There are lots of new requirements, I would rather go into them on a different thread.

 

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The 400k balance is the MIN all year, I think people misunderstand the new rules. You cannot ever let the balance go below 400K, you cannot touch the money in the account 3 months before, and 2 months after application & approval. I know personally from last year, once my bank generated the letter, they told me I could not withdraw any money, even excess of 800K which I assumed was obvious, since its interest. ( Keep money in fixed account, but now only 1% )

Bascially its a locked account, lets say you renew in Jan, that means you can't touch account Oct-Jan, and can't touch after until March, then if you want to grab any excess of 800K do it before the following September. If you need the money for emergence March to October, you MUST leave at least 400K balance in the account, otherwise your app will be denied.

 

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There are Three new tiers for the Bank Letter.

 

1.) You must provide All copys of your bank book, signed.

2.) You must provide the letter from you bank, less than 24 hours old, you must also provide the receipt showing you paid the 100THB to the bank to print the paper. The letter must state the balance of your account on the date of the application. 

3.) You must provide your "Statement" for the entire year? Month? Or statement to date at time of request of letter? I didn't get a good answer from any immig-police, they just said the bank would know when I said "Statement".

 

Now this last one is NEW, I asked what is a statement, as one is never sent, and the online account is not available for fixed account to print a statement online. The Immig-Police told me that when I got my annual 24-hour, at that time I had to ask for the 'statement'.

 

My understanding is that many people are counterfeiting these letters and bank-book, so the statement is just one more new hoop.

 

I just renewed today, that's why I know the new rules; The were very clear next time I come in for renewal if I didn't have a 'statement' they would not even look at my application.

Well here in Chiang-Rai, they are very explicit about this. New rules since last year.

 

It's a 2,000THB fine first time for violation ( 10x for each future violation, aka failure to file ), paid by wife, or property owner, for failure to notify ( local police or immigration office ).

 

The clock starts everytime you leave ( &return to ) the house, say you go to phuket for weekend, upon return, you file with local police within 24 hours that you have returned home ( even if you own the house, of course you don't own, your wife owns the house, so she's supposed to file, but if you don't get it filed, then immigration can deny your application annual, or 90 day 'hello' check-in, now everytime I go in to immigration for annual or 90day they ask me "Have you filed with the police since your last return" )

 

These laws have always been in place, but now they're enforced for everybody not just tourists, the thing is when you go to phuket and stay in a hotel, they know, so they know you didn't file on return.

 

What's going on is 'terrorism'. the thai gov on local level now has to tracks all its farang 24/7. Lots of local police all over Thailand, have now been assigned to tracking and monitoring their farang in each province.

 

The wife pays the fine, but the farang pays the price of not filing, by losing his visa.

 

Been here 15+ years, and they just started enforcing last year. They are very strict and serious, and they only give ONE WARNING.

 

Lastly, I really think they're gradually increasing the temp in the frog pot, every year I go in for the annual renewal they find something wrong ( no collar on shirt, photo wrong back ground color ), always something they never did before, but I always jump their hoop. IMHO they really want to get rid of the farang, and they don't so much care you have a Thai wife, once you jump their hoops, like last time I ran to BIG-C and bought a new shirt, and returned and got my renewal in 5 minutes then they were all similing. But it never ends, I really pity old guys that that to do this stuff, my wife can't go with me, as she works, so I always have to go in alone, and yes I speak thai fluently, but they don't care, and I never speak thai in the immigration office, because it just causes more problems. The funny thing is they even know who my wife is, if I had to guess it was some kind of marine corp mind f*udge game, the only problem I don't know the rules and they change like alice in wonderland, or wizard of oz, just when you got the witches broom. they send you out for something else.

Can someone here please explain the THB800 per day fine?? For the thai-wife, people here seem to be evading the essential question.

 

"Immigration told me THAI-WIFE MUST PAY THB800/DAY when Late"

Anybody know about this??  

 

The immigration lady made it sound like the THB800 per DAY fine on the 'mia-farang' was something 'new'.

Hello, I was at the immigration center a few days ago, to do my one-year retirement, first of all I want to mention, more than 10 years of this process and I have never been late for a 90-day, or the one-year renewal. Yet for the entire duration of the process they kept talking about the 'new late fee' and how thai-wife must pay!!

 

The nice lady kept telling me no longer do I pay THB500 late, now thai-wife pay THB800, she said it was for both 90-day and one-year, she also said that even if I leave the country, that the 90-day is still active, that upon return to thailand I must immediately go to local immigration and report.

 

In the past when you went out on a 'return-visa', it reset you 90-day check-in, but now it sounds like the 90-day is still valid, unless of course your not return to Thailand ( thus making it impossible to 'check-in').

 

Can anybody here talk about this new 800THB fine for the woman?? and also is it still 500THB/day for the guy? Also is this really true that you must show-up at the local immigration as soon as you return to Thailand, rather than wait for the 90-day cycle to complete??

I usually go out a few times a year say Japan, Singapore, HK, ... but just a few weeks, and then return, and in the past my 90-day check-in was always the 90-days of the current entry on the immigration card that they staple in, if This is true, then I might be having to to go immigration 6+ days a year, instead of the normal 5 ( 4+1 retirement visa )