wittleus

I always remember relating a song by Bob Seger to many of the Thai women I met, many had "The Fire Down Below."

Absolutely correct. My foster daughter, age 35 and her mom, age 60 have attempted to get a tourist visa. They own land in commercial buildings outright, no mortgages worth over $800,000, have well over 1 million baht in cash in Bank, the younger lady is college educated and and they have a family run successful bakery business. The first time around they brought in all the bank documents and all the channotes to prove that they actually own the land and the buildings and Embassy Personnel didn't even glance at them. They have failed three times and each time the only reason was given were they were ineligible with no reason why they were ineligible and what they could fix. Absolutely maddening and frustrating.

Capital gains for non-resident foreigners are taxable in the US at a 30% flat rate if the individual resides in the USA for more than $183 days in that tax year. Sort of the same decision making issue as a 180 days in Thailand to determine residency or not.

Just a couple of thoughts. The FCEN is part of the Department of Treasury. It's very possible they have been a do-nothing office for last few years and suddenly because of fear of cancellation by the Doge they are starting to enforce the laws they were meant to do years ago and are becoming proactive. They want to keep their jobs and not have their Department canceled. Another thought, if Thailand decides to side with BRICS, an organization/monetary initiative that Trump really hates, what is the possibility that he can order Banks, and maybe Social Security payouts, not to deal with countries, Banks, and currencies associated with BRICS. If he can't actually stop them or change who they do business with, he can certainly Step Up controls and security with organizations like FCEN, to make even simple, everyday Financial transactions very cumbersome and nearly impossible. That's something to mull over for the future.