skatewash

Agree. If you have it deposited to the US you have control over when and how often you bring the money to Thailand, whereas with direct deposit to Thailand it happens every month. Generally, fewer transfers is going to have less fixed costs than more transfers from the US to Thailand.

I would suggest you look at every page in your passport looking for a folded piece of white paper which is the receipt for your last 90-Day Report and notification of your next reporting date. This paper receipt/next appointment paper is often stapled into the back pages of your passport.

A mistake, I'm guessing. I would confirm your plans with your local immigration office, asking specifically what are their requirements for issuing you with an extension of stay in your particular circumstances. Only that answer will be determinative, the requirement I posted from the Thai embassy in Sweden is only indicative. In any event I think you will be able to get the extension of stay with what you have. Good luck.

I believe you will be able to get a retirement extension of stay based on your Non-O visa as you say you meet all the requirements for that. I do not believe that you will be able to get an extension of stay based on being the father of a Thai child due to the age of your child (24). See the requirements for issuing that sort of Non-O visa from the Thai embassy in Sweden (https://oslo.thaiembassy.org/en/page/non-immigrant-visa-family-of-a-thai-national?menu=60bf6ada34d70606715b2542), emphasis added. Non-Immigrant O Visiting family Family of a Thai national (Immediate family includes spouse and children) Ordinary passport holders wishing to stay with a family who is a Thai national in the following circumstances can apply for the Non-Immigrant type O Visa. ● Spouse of a Thai national ● Children of a Thai national (age must be under 20 years old unless they are unable to support themselves due to mental or physical condition) ● Legally adopted child of a Thai national (age must be under 20 years old unless they are unable to support themselves due to a mental or physical condition) ● Parent of a Thai national Applicant has no age restriction in case that the child is under 20 years old. Applicant has no age restriction in case that the child is under 20 years old.

A Google search (us passport thailand) returns the correct link as the first search result: https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/passports/adult-passport-renew/ but the embassy site is a large one and I guess it is possible to get off on the wrong foot. It's correct that you need a cashier's check (bank draft) from a Thai bank to pay for the return envelope and postage but the instructions on what to ask the Thai bank for are very good and in Thai for you to take to the bank with you. You can also use a separate cashier's check to pay for the passport book. You do need to use a cashier's check to pay for a passport card, if you choose to get one. So, you could have used two Thai bank drafts to pay for your order instead of using the Login.gov site to make a payment for the passport. I found that site/process of paying online a bit cumbersome but I wanted to try it out and it does work. It should be easier once you are registered there, but probably in 10 years the process of paying will be even easier but different. ???? It is indeed impressive that they can deliver your new and old passports to your Thai address by Thai Post EMS in 2 weeks (although now they estimate that process to take 4-5 weeks). It's a good service, indeed.

1. You are highly encouraged to renew your passport by mail at the link given (where you will also find the answers to some of your questions): https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/passports/adult-passport-renew/ 2. No. You submit your old passport and will be without a passport until your new passport is ready at which time you will be sent your new passport along with your old passport (invalidated by having a hole punched through it). You should make copies of your old passport, both paper copies and pictures which can be stored on your smartphone, before applying. Make copies of all passport pages relevant to being in Thailand: photo id page, latest visa or extension of stay, latest entry into Thailand stamp, and arrival/departure card TM-6 (if any), TM-30 address registration receipt (if any), 90-Day Report receipt/next appointment due date (if any). If you have a 90-Day Report coming due shortly you may wish to postpone your application for a new passport until you have completed your 90-Day Report (which may be done up to 15 days before its due date). You don't need a physical copy of your passport in order to do a 90-Day Report using the online system. Copies of your passport may allow you to travel around Thailand. It's best to have other photo id, such as a Thai driving license, a pink Thai ID card, or foreign driving license. It's not ideal to travel without your passport. 3. Processing time is currently given as up to 4 to 5 weeks by mail (it's the same for in person). 4. You get your new passport and old (invalidated) passport returned to you by mail. You take both of these to your local immigration office and can have the relevant data (including old passport number, original visa information, current extension of stay, original entry into Thailand stamp, and latest entry into Thailand stamp) transferred from the old to the new passport. If you have a non-expired visa in your old passport it will not be transferred but you will have to travel with both the new and old (invalidated passport containing the valid visa) with you when traveling.

Very little in the article is accurate or clear. A re-entry permit is granted that is valid from the date of issue to the date that the underlying extension of stay expires. If the holder of the re-entry permit re-enters Thailand during the validity period of the re-entry permit (which ends the same date as the date of expiration of the underlying extension of stay) then the holder is given a permission of stay that expires on the same date as the date the re-entry permit expires (which is the same date as the date of the expiration of the underlying extension of stay). One way to understand this is that if one leaves and re-enters Thailand with a certain permission to stay until date granted by their extension of stay and in possession of a re-entry permit, then (if they re-enter before the re-entry permit expires) they will receive the same permission to stay date they had before they left. They receive no additional days of permission to stay but are allowed to resume their original permission to stay granted by their extension of stay. It's as if the re-entry permit allows the holder to enter Thailand and resume their existing permission to stay they had before they left Thailand.

Clicking on the https://tm47.immigration.go.th/tm47/#/login link given earlier leads to the first screen below. Clicking on the Apply link leads to the second screen.

Look at the scrollbar on the right-hand side of your screen. It indicates there is more to be seen than can currently fit on the screen. If you scroll down you will see the Apply link on the left-hand side. That is the Apply you should click.

Try this, it's a more direct link: https://tm47.immigration.go.th/tm47/#/login

Good advice. Also, the email reminder system only takes into account 90-Day Reports done through the online system. If you do your report some other way (by doing it in person, by leaving the country, or even by getting an extension of stay in offices where that results in immigration doing a 90-Day report for you) it easily becomes out of sync. Best to set a date in your calendar yourself.

Correct, it is 1,000 baht for single entry re-entry permit, the 1,900 baht in my post was a typo.

What a bizarre article! The legal requirement for 90-Day Reporting of your address to immigration has absolutely no connection to "keeping your retirement extension alive." No one in history has lost their retirement extension by failing to do a 90-Day Report. The consequence for not doing a 90-Day report is limited to the following: a 2,000 baht fine and a notation made in your passport that you were late In filing your 90-Day Report. The only thing that keeps your retirementra extension alive Is a re-entry permit obtained from immigration for 1,900 baht (single) or 3,800 baht (multiple).. Whether youn file a 90-Day Report or not has no bearing at all on this issue. The article mistakenly considers them to be intertwined. They are not.

My first AstraZeneca jab. Sat in the chair, nurse cleaned my shoulder with alcohol. I looked away. Nurse said OK. I never felt the shot at all. The covid vaccination is done with a fine needle. Subsequently I have felt most of the covid vaccinations. None has been the least bit painful.

Doing the 90-Day Report online or by mail does not require that you have your passport in hand, just copies of the relevant pages.

Just #1 is necessary from my personal experience. I included a bank draft for 100 baht but no return self-addressed envelope. The 100 baht is to cover the cost of the embassy providing and mailing the envelope to you along with your new passport.

And by exercising that option, you subject yourself to being fined 2,000 baht. So yes, that is an important option to consider if you have an extra 2,000 baht laying around that you don't intend to keep. ????

The grace period applies to actually doing a 90-Day Report. If you don't do the report the grace period does you no good. It's not leave Thailand during the grace period and you don't have to do a 90 Day Report. The 90-Day Report is required on your 90th day in Thailand (or 90th day since last report), for which you also have a grace period to do the report. There is no option to not do the report if you have been in Thailand for 90 days (or it's been 90 days since your last report). The only circumstance in which you don't need to do the 90-Day Report is if you leave Thailand before 90 days have elapsed since entering Thailand (or it's been less than 90 days since your last report).

I had a bad experience opening a SDFCU account using my US address and then using my foreign address. In the meantime I opened a checking account (with brokerage account) at Charles Schwab with my same US address without a problem. In my opinion CS is a much better account to have than SDFCU as they completely reimburse foreign ATM transaction fees. SDFCU does not. SDFCU ultimately decided to reject my application to open an account. The money I paid to join an organization that would allow me to open a SDFCU account was wasted. I highly recommend Charles Schwab, and would recommend people steer clear of SDFCU lest you have a similar experience to mine.

Passport renewal at US Embassy Bangkok can be done entirely by Thai Post EMS and takes 2 to 3 weeks in my experience. It's hard for me to imagine how it could be any easier or faster.

A Thai Tax ID card is not required in order to open a bank account, but I was trying to get them to recognize that I provided my Thai Tax ID number to them when opening the account so that they could waive (as Bangkok Bank and Krungsri Bank have) 15% automatic tax withholding on interest earned on the account. Some have been successful at doing this but I have not been able to get my particular SCB branch to do this for me. So this year I filed a Thai Tax Return (P.N.D-90) to have the withheld amount refunded. If I could get SCB to not withhold the tax in the first place I would not have to file a Thai Tax Return.

Yes, it does...

Thanks, I've never tried the appointment service for Phuket Immigration because I didn't know it existed. I'll give it a try for my next retirement extension. Although my experience has been that I rarely have to wait long outside Room 103 to be called in to get my retirement extension done.

These are the requirements for applying for a Non-O Visa from Phuket Immigration: http://piv-phuket.com/long-stay-extensions/changing-visa-visa-exempt-to-local-non-o-visa-for-retirement/ Not sure what requirements are in effect at Savanakhet.

You can apply for a Non O Retirement Visa from Thai Immigration office in Thailand if you arrive either visa-exempt or with a Tourist Visa. There are financial requirements that must be met. Possibly there are easier financial requirements for getting a visa in a place like Savanakhet.