Rolo Tomazi

Depending on the money OP has to spend, older KLX 250 are available for around 80K.

The CRF hasn't been out that long, it's rare to find one below 90K.

I put 20,000 trouble-free km on my CRF250M within 1,5 years, mainly highway, and am very happy with the bike.

You put $400 away earning 30K/month?

That's getting by on 20,000 baht/month - not impossible but not my kind of lifestyle!

"They get what they pay for."

Seems to me they don't care what they get as long as they save a few thousand baht a month.

Frankly I find OPs written English poor, too many mistakes. Wonder how the spoken English is.

Have a look on ajarn.com, check the job ads, 90% of them state that non-native speakers do not need to apply.

And those are jobs teaching 20+ hours a week for 30,000 baht, maybe no salary during the holidays.

I recommend Cambodia, it's like Thailand was 20 years ago, visas and degrees are not a problem.

At least that's what I heard when I was there last.

No teaching experience, no degree, NNS - anybody who tells you to just come here must be happy with a job that pays less than what Filippinos get.

Come prepared, get a decent job!

That's what I figured. Kind of like the Thai "my friend you"...

Thanks for all your replies, I've learned something and understand the whole process a bit better now.

This is an actual retirement visa. Issued outside of Thailand, requiring police clearance and medical report. Unlike all current such visas, it was a single entry.

If that is what you have, and it's Use Before date has not passed, then you have a retirement visa. Otherwise you don't. You may have an O visa or you may have gotten an extension to an O or an O-A.

Note where it says "Employment Prohibited".

Details here: Non-Immigrant-Visa O-A (Longstay)

And the poster is correct, you cannot work. Period. Whoever is telling you that you can get a work permit with a Retirement "Visa" is blowing smoke. You will discover this for sure when you arrive to apply for the Word Permit. What they are telling you is that they will somehow obtain a Non-O visa (most likely Non-O ) before they apply for the work permit, and they are not going to require that you leave the country to get the Non-O B. The normal procedure for getting the Non-O B requires that you apply for it outside of Thailand.

Yes, a non-O was mentioned.

What's a non-O B? Did you mean a non-B?

^ That wasn't me!

I found this, after putting o/a into the searcher (it helps to know the correct name of what you are looking for...):

"An OA is done in your own country. An O can be obtained at many consulates with either proof of marriage to a Thai or proof of being 50 years old, or older.

A single entry O is good for one 90 day entry. A single entry OA is good for 1 year.

An O can be extended at an immigration office for 1 year for 1900 baht, assuming you meet the requirements for a marriage or retirement extension. No medical or police clearance is needed.

Same for the OA, although extensions are mostly done for retirement."

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/664387-difference-between-o-and-oa/ post #2 from TerryLH in 2013.

Let's see if I get this right:

If you apply in your home country you get an O/A visa; if you apply here in Thailand, it's called an O and has the same function.

What does the A stand for? AFAIK the O stands for ordinary.

Since I'm in Thailand already I would have to apply for an O outside of Thailand which shouldn't be a problem.

Then I can extend it for one year meeting the requirements (age, $$) and will get a one-year extension on my non-O visa.

Now I'm all confused. Is it a non-O visa or some sort of extension?

What does it say in your PP?

It's visa and says category O/A. There are infinite threads in this forum that explain it.

When I tried to find info on the retirement visa (sorry for using that term!) I went from the homepage to

- Visa info

-Thai visas, Residency and WP

- useful Immigration Information and Visa Descriptions

- first post by george: Laws, Regulations, ...., related to visas, Immigration Matters and Work Permits,

and there it said: no data.

So I went to the forum to see if I could find any threads on the topic, didn't find any after clicking and reading quite a few, and decided to start a new thread.

This site contains A LOT of info, the problem is finding what applies to my situation.

I put "retirement visa" into the searcher but I couldn't find any helpful info.

Thanks for pointing out that there are infinite threads somewhere on this site, a link to one of those would have been even more helpful.

I've used the term "retirement visa" lots of times, and tourists, employers, employees, foreigners and Thais alike knew what I was talking about.

I've heard he term "extension of stay" before and I even got one once, for 15 days, cost me 1,500 baht. (Or was it 7 days? I forgot, it was 10 years ago.)

At least I remember it being called an extension of stay.

I never heard of an extension with a duration of one year.

But - I now understand that there is no "retirement visa", thanks for straightening that out, and that being older than 50 and having 800,000+ THB in the bank allows you to get an extension of stay.

Sorry for appearing a bit dense.

It's a bit like the "90 day stamp", everybody knows what I mean, but you don't get a stamp in your PP, you fill out a paper.

Could you define "retirement visa"?

There seems to be some confusion about what it is.

That would be a non-imm. 'O/A' visa (long stay). What happens is that people calls visa what really is an extension of stay.

Now I'm all confused. Is it a non-O visa or some sort of extension?

What does it say in your PP?

Maybe I didn't express myself clearly. With "retirement visa" I mean the visa you can apply for when you are older than 50 and can show 800,000+ baht in the bank.

I was told that the visa I will then get would be a non-O. When applying for a WP a copy of the visa is supplied which does not specify under what conditions it was issued. Then a WP can be issued because it's a non-O visa.

I have no idea what an extension is or how that works.

The extension is what you (incorrectly) call a visa and is obtained at immigration showing Bt 800,000 in a Thai bank.

Interesting. For years I've heard the term "retirement visa" being used, never "extension".

So this extension then has nothing to do with a non-O visa and thus a WP can not be issued, if I understand you correctly?

YES IT IS POSSIBLE

when I lived in Yasothon and worked as a teacher in an Anuban school....I had a work permit and retirement visa. The work permit with the visa was only allowed for ONE YEAR after which it had to be converted. It was all done above board...legit....legal....however you want to word it.

Could you define "retirement visa"?

There seems to be some confusion about what it is.

Maybe I didn't express myself clearly. With "retirement visa" I mean the visa you can apply for when you are older than 50 and can show 800,000+ baht in the bank.

I was told that the visa I will then get would be a non-O. When applying for a WP a copy of the visa is supplied which does not specify under what conditions it was issued. Then a WP can be issued because it's a non-O visa.

I have no idea what an extension is or how that works.

I was told that a retirement visa is classified a non-O visa, and it is possible to get a WP with a non-O visa.

It doesn't seem to make a difference if you get the non-O through marriage or otherwise.

Right, just a bit better acceleration in traffic to make up for my weight is all I'm looking for, I'm not interested in a higher top speed.

The Nouvo 135 took the same amount of gas at full open throttle my fuel-injected CBR150R took which has almost twice the power.

Lighter weights should do, unfortunately I couldn't find any for the Nouvo 135 in Songkhla or Hat Yai.

Lots of weights to choose from for other automatic scooters but none for the Nouvo.

I'll have a look the next time I'm in Bangkok!

EDIT: That hose from the muffler goes into the crank case, so it's not an emission thing, I decided not to mess with that.

Thanks for the quick reply!

Much is possible using the 'under the table route', even though it sounds kind of tricky, getting a visa on grounds of not working and then applying for a WP!

But maybe I'm focussing too much on the title "retirement" - there may be different ways to interpret that, especially under certain circumstances.

A few people posting seem to of missed the fact that the OP's problem is solved. He has what he needs.

Then all is fine and dandy!

That fact shouldn't keep anybody from commenting or supplying additional information for the benefit of all readers who may be in a similar situation.

All you need is a copy of your rental agreement. If your landlord is too idle to produce one move on & return the keys.

(Fare paying passenger an' all that; Something not everyone here comprehends!)

I doubt that just a copy is enough. Anybody can create a rental contract, or use an old one. The rental contract will have to be verified.

I couldn't even register a motorcycle in my name with just a rental contract!

I then doctored my buddy's verified rental contract since I lived in another province and didn't want to do the round trip.

Don't want to step on your toes but recommending finding a new place, packing everything up and moving instead of getting a statement from the house owner is not very practical advice.

I was told by my agent that it is possible to get a WP while holding a non-O retirement visa.

I doubted it and asked another person who confirmed it.

It seems obvious that it's not possible to work when retired but since this is Thailand and hope springs eternal, why not find out.

Can anybody shed some light on this?

Actually the V stands for "variable", meaning that the two pulleys constantly provide variable ratios, not like usual transmission where gears have a certain ratio.

Of course the avatar is not me - I wonder if you can make the connection between it and my handle.

Nah, go to 2:00 where he's talking about "going into 2nd gear" and "staying in 1st gear longer", actually meaning high and low revs.

I'd ordered stock weights from Yamaha because they weren't round anymore, then don't move outwards the way they should.

The mechs wanted to drill the center hole bigger to make them lighter.

Seems that if the variator accelerates faster there's more power at hand earlier; you could compare it to a heavy flywheel but this is of course in the transmission. The lighter weights may move outwards later, letting the engine spin faster.

Funny thing the guy in the video talked about first and second gear - a constant variable tranny does't have gears, as such, it's constantly variable.

The Nouvo 135 goes quite well, and when pushed, uses as much gas a CBR150R with FI which has at least 50% more power and weighs more. But I only use it to go to work and shopping, so I don't care if I pay 200 baht more a month on gas.

But a little more power never hurts, I have the time and like to fiddle with it. I'll try the lighter weights, at least they'll make me feel faster...

I had a closer look and realized that the hose from the muffler goes to some kind of valve, then to the air box, not to the carb, so plugging it off won't do any good.

Thanks, ttakata, I agree that often it isn't worth experimenting, that's why I left my Nouvo stock, and maybe it will stay that way.

But some bikes are choked by parts that are necessary to make the bikes pass emissions, especially when they still have carbs.

There are lots of Thai boy racers out there who know about making their 125cc scoots run faster, and there is a big aftermarket for these kind of bikes.

But I can't read Thai and don't know any Thais who I can communicate with in English.

Taking some "emission nonsense" off makes some engines run the way they actually should.

I don't want to start a discussion about caring for the environment, but it's kind of a joke when you see lots of pick-ups with 2500cc or trucks with V8 engines belching out black fumes all day and then have to ride a 135cc bike which is restricted because of Thai emission laws that are stricter than those in Europe.

Back to the topic: you brought up the variator pulley weights and I remember fixing up an old Nouvo 115cc. The mechs at the dealer took the new factory weights and drilled bigger holes into them without even asking me! It makes sense that lighter weights moving quicker in the variator lets the bike accelerate faster. That's actually a cheap measure a Thai boy racer would have told me if he could speak English! Maybe I have to find a garage around here and see what I can learn. I'm not much concerned about top speed, that's what I have a bigger bike for.

I was hoping that someone had already done this and could tell me what parts to use and what result was achieved.