skatewash

If you are not married to a Thai, are under 50 years of age, and not legally working in Thailand, then the Elite Visa might make sense for you. If you are married to a Thai, are at least 50 years of age, or working legally in Thailand, you are much better off with a Non-O visa for marriage or retirement, or a Non-B visa for work. You can get a driver's license on any non-O visa, Non-B visa, or long-term extension, and also on the Elite Visa.

That's an answer to my question, thanks.

Eliminate the guesswork then. Do you know of someone who has obtained a re-entry permit on a covid extension? That is the question I have been asking that has gone unanswered so far.

My question was has anyone, anywhere in Thailand, received such a re-entry permit for a covid extension. Not saying it's impossible, just asking the question about whether something that may not be impossible has actually happened.

Well, yeah it does sound a bit silly. Getting a re-entry permit to be used to re-enter Thailand and keep alive a permission to stay granted specifically because the applicant can't travel due to covid. ???? I do understand that the covid situation in one's home country is a reason to receive a covid extension (so just traveling to another country wouldn't necessarily invalidate the reason the covid extension was granted), but does anyone actually know of anyone, anywhere in Thailand, who has succeeded in getting a re-entry permit on a covid extension?

Accepting your inflation rate of 5% I have lost less Losses considering inflation in Thailand: 0.9% interest - 5% inflation = -4.1% Losses considering inflation in US: -20% S&P 500 - 5% inflation = -25% I think most would prefer to lose 4.1% than 25%.

You earned 0.23% interest then. The same money invested in a Krungsri Bank Mee Tae Dai account (0.9% APR) would have earned you 7,200 baht interest instead. At that interest rate you would double your money in 77.36 years.

That is the account I use for retirement purposes; it does pay interest. I actually don't know of any savings accounts in Thailand that don't pay interest. There are other accounts that pay higher interest such as SCB's EZ-Savings account (1.5% APR) but I don't use that as it doesn't have a passbook (which is a requirement at Phuket Immigration). There are also fixed-deposit accounts that pay higher interest as well, but with those you will have 15% tax withheld that you can claim back by filing a Thai Income Tax Return (PND-90). Savings accounts will not withhold tax on interest until you exceed 20,000 baht earned if you register your Thai Tax ID with your savings account. You must, of course, look at the opportunity cost of having my money locked up in a Thai bank earning only 0.9% APR interest when I could have had that money invested in my home country where I could have experienced the negative gains (losses) of nearly 20% of that same money invested in the S&P 500 stock index. ???? Of course, it's foolish to compare bank interest rates (which are much higher in Thailand than they are in my home country) with investments that put your principal at risk, but sometimes one still sees people doing that. If the 800k baht made up a large percentage of my portfolio it would indeed be foolish to have it invested in a Thai bank savings account, but as it doesn't I look upon the money so invested as an emergency cash fund, up to 400k of which can be tapped during seven months of the year (just not during the 2 months prior to applying for the retirement extension and the 3 months following).

What bank are you using that pays no interest? Krungsri Bank's Mee Tae Dai savings account pays 0.90% APR interest, earned daily and paid monthly.

Documentation requirements for 30-day extension for purposes of tourism: https://piv-phuket.com/short-stay-extenions/visa-exemption/

No, you don't have to. There are minimum income requirements in Thailand that trigger filing a Thai Tax return (from memory I think 150,000 baht). If you are only filing to reclaim tax withheld they might even do your tax return for you at the revenue department when you apply for your Tax ID. Then use that return as a template for future years just plugging in the new numbers each year. You can do online. I do. I use the Chrome browser which does Thai to English translation and occasionally need to use Google Lens app on my phone to translate some of the buttons. It's not too difficult.

Yes, this should be specified in the Sales Contract, who pays which fee/tax. Mine originally split almost all the fees equally. I had it changed to make the owner responsible for all fees/taxes except the transaction fee which we agreed to split. Bear in mind it's a buyer's market these days so one would naturally expect terms will be most favorable to the buyer.

I don't think what you stated is mandated in legislation, but it is customary. However, who pays what fees is always subject to negotiation between buyer and seller. Come to an agreement with the buyer or seller over the issue. In my case I paid no taxes or fees when purchasing my freehold condo unit. I agreed to split the transfer fee with the seller (developer) but at the time the government was all but waiving this particular tax in an effort to stimulate the market so when it came down to actually paying the seller paid the incredibly small amount, a couple hundred baht, of this fee himself.

Good to know. Wondered what happened to him. I had heard a rumor that his old job as the gate-keeper to Rm 103 was a "punishment" for irritating someone in his chain of command, but it didn't seem like a very severe punishment to me if you liked being out-of-doors and dealing with the public and he seemed to enjoy both of those things. Best wishes to him in his new location.

A yellow house registration book (tabian bahn) will often be accepted as proof of residence by a bank, but barring that you can get a Residence Certificate from Immigration with the following paperwork: https://piv-phuket.com/others/residence-certificate/

Yes, a predictive text failure. Much prefer using a real keyboard on the computer. ????

Yes, should read bath, not dollars.

Yes, should be baht, not dollars

I agree that the non-OA visa was ruined with the addition of the health insurance requirement, but don't think it's going away in September. Quite the opposite, it's being raised from $400k (USD) in patient, $40k outpatient coverage to $3 million coverage after September. The only thing that may be an improvement is that apparently it will be slightly easier to use foreign, non-Thai immigration department approved insurance companies. In my opinion the Non-O visa is the better way to go as there is no insurance requirement, but you do have to be willing to keep the 800k baht in a Thai bank.

If you are applying for a non-OA (note that the A is significant) then you won't need a Thai bank account for nearly two years. You meet any financial requirements for this visa by showing US bank balances. If you are applying for a non-O (note the absence of the A) visa then you meet any financial requirements for this by showing US bank balances. If you are applying for a 90-day non-O visa in Thailand (after arriving on a 30-day visa-exempt entry or 60-day tourist visa) then you must open a Thai bank account and show at least 800k baht balance on day you apply for the non-O. After you have your non-O when you wish to apply for a one-year extension of stay you must show that you have had 800k baht in the account for two months before the date of application. Thai bank accounts can be opened in Thailand in person only. There's nothing you really need to do in the US before coming to Thailand except for a couple things. Open any bank accounts you may want to have in the future (particularly accounts with for example, Charles Schwab Checking that will allow you to get reimbursed for the 220 baht foreign ATM card withdrawal fee, and say Capital One Credit cards that don't have a foreign transaction fee). These kind of arrangements are much easier to do while in the US than from Thailand (although they can be done from Thailand if you maintain a US address). The other thing to take care of is that you wish to query your bank about whether you can do an online wire-transfer (SWIFT) from your US bank to a Thai bank. Some banks require that you set up such a facility in person at your US bank (not sure it's even possible before you get your Thai bank account, so may not be possible before then). While at it open an account online at Wise (formerly TransferWise) which will allow you in future to transfer money into Thailand from US at good exchange rates and reasonable cost.

I miss the "smiley guy," but his replacement is OK. I've never had to deal with the interns yet, but shouldn't be a terrible problem as at this point I've been through the process eight times, muscle memory takes over. ????

The email reminder to do your next 90-day report is really nice. However, if you happen to have a 90 day report done in person (for example, they do a 90-Day report for me whenever I apply for my new retirement extension) it doesn't update their calendar so I got a reminder email for the wrong date. But easy enough to ignore that little flaw. Overall, it's a greatly improved service.

Thank you for your response. It does help me to understand the reasons why some people would choose to risk using an agent despite people's experiences regarding what can go wrong: just ignore the experiences and it's easy.

I would use an agent if it were my only alternative. So I don't fault anyone else for doing so in those circumstances. What seems strange to me are those who advocate using an agent to make their lives easier and less stressful. I do my own retirement extension every year. I take my passport and documents to immigration where I hand over my passport and an Immigration Officer makes a decision while I wait (about 10 minutes or maybe 15) about whether to accept my application, accept with additional paperwork, or not accept it. In the case he accepts the application, I know (in Phuket) that I have to leave my passport there overnight and come back the next day and pick up my passport with the stamped retirement extension (and they always do a new 90-Day Report for me and staple that into the back pages of my passport). If my application is rejected or I need to provide something else I don't have with me (this doesn't actually happen anymore because I've been through this process about 8 times) I get my passport handed back to me. I go home with my passport and make plans for how I can satisfy the request. Since I always start this process 45 days in advance (some immigration offices only allow 30) I know I have plenty of time to fix the deficiency in my application. To me this is not an especially stressful process. My passport is only out of my sight when the application has been approved and is kept overnight so that the big boss can sign them all at once the next morning and have them handed them out to everyone at 13:00. For this service I pay a grand total of 1,900 baht. Compare this with using an agent. I would be giving my passport to an agent (someone I don't know, definitely not a government employee), perhaps along with some documentation (I don't know as I don't use an agent). The agent sends my passport to some province far away from Phuket where they know people in that province's immigration office. So at a minimum my passport will be out of my possession for a least a few days. I would already be getting stressed about that. So for these few days I would not know that I would be getting my extension approved or not. Again, not helping with my stress level. A week goes by and my agent tells me that it's taking a little longer than usual, but to be patient and she will let me know next week what the status is. Next week comes and my agent tells me that it's taking an unusually long time, but should be good news next week for sure. Next week comes and my agent tells me it's still not done that there have been people reassigned to different offices (apparently this happens occasionally in immigration offices) and the person who normally helps them isn't going to be at this particular office anymore. But I should be patient and eventually they will approve my extension and I just need to be patient. Next week comes and my agent tells me that they aren't signing agent-assisted extensions at that immigration office. That temporarily all such extensions are on hold. In the meantime, my permission to stay is running out. I raise this concern with my agent and she says it's not problem, don't worry, they will process my extension in time. Next week comes and they haven't processed my extension in time. In fact, I am technically on overstay and, of course, still don't have my passport which has been out of my possession for over a month presumably somewhere in Thailand being kept safe by someone who doesn't mind cutting corners for money. I find this thought a bit stressful. "Good news" my agent tells me the next week. You have been granted a covid extension of stay and she shows me a picture of the stamp which is supposed to be in my passport. So now it seems I'm legally permitted to stay here in Thailand, but still don't have my passport and really no closer to getting my retirement extension. I'll cut this story short by noting that this went on for a period of over 100 days, during which I didn't have my passport (and therefore couldn't do things that need a passport like banking, traveling, staying in a new hotel, etc.) and I still didn't have a retirement extension. Finally, after thinking seriously about just asking for my passport back and getting the retirement extension from my own local immigration office the old fashioned way, my agent calls and tells me my retirement extension has been granted. Of course, I won't actually have it for a few days as it needs to be sent from the other province to my agent. Then I finally get back my passport and it has everything it should have in terms of stamps from this other province. And I won't even be charged the extra 1,900 baht it cost to do my covid extension. OK, as said earlier I don't use an agent so this wasn't actually my case, but it was a friend of mine I saw nearly every week for lunch and every single time his seemingly never-ending saga of getting his easy retirement extension was discussed. The ease and stress level associated with each of these possible methods of obtaining a retirement extension is not difficult for me to comprehend. Obviously this isn't everybody's experience using an agent or no one would be using agents. However, how in the world are you supposed to know it won't happen to you? My friend used an agent that came highly recommended and has been doing this for a long time. Using an agent seems to me like buying a condo off-plan (which unfortunately I do have experience with ???? ). You are hitching yourself to someone else (in this case the developer) and your fortunes rise and fall based on his fortunes. After that experience buying a condo off-plan I'm not anxious to hitch my fortunes to anyone else who isn't me. I may make mistakes, but I can live with my mistakes. I don't want to have to live with someone else's mistakes (or problems). Why would someone do that? Why would someone risk doing something that could turn out to be extremely stressful, and why would anyone want to be separated from their passport for such a period of time? There is risk associated with using an agent. If you have to assume that risk because you have no other alternative, I understand that, but why would you willing do this when you could accomplish the same thing yourself? I don't remember exactly what it cost my friend for his rollercoaster ride, but I think it was something like 45,000 baht (for 15 months permission to stay: Non-O visa and 12-month retirement extension). He could have done it himself for 2,000 + 1,900. He could have satisfied the financial requirements. He thought this was the way smart people, people "in-the-know," went about dealing with immigration. The easy way. The stress-free way. Getting a retirement extension yourself is neither simple nor easy the first time. It can be relatively simple and easy the second and subsequent times. Follow the rules, which yes sometimes do change. But if you can understand and follow the rules it's not rocket surgery. It takes two short visits to immigration. I think I'm lucky to be in Phuket where the immigration office seems to function well and I understand this is not the case everywhere in Thailand, unfortunately. But it does astound me that for some using an agent is a first resort rather than a last resort.

The first email you get from immigration following making an online application is just confirmation that they have received your request and a copy of the formal report. Aside from curiosity there's no real need to look at the copy of your report they send back to you, nor a need to print it out or keep it. You will be getting a second email in a few hours/days that will state the request is approved or rejected (unlikely). This second email, the approval email, contains something that you do want to print out and staple into the back pages of your passport and that is the Notification Receipt/Next Appointment document. If days pass and you don't get the email, you can go back to where you filed the report online and check the status of your report (Pending, Approved, or Rejected).