onekoolguy

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

I forwarded to my friend and he will return to Bangkok immigration with the listed documents on Friday along with his Thai GF. Hope he has better luck this time?

Is it still possible to enter thailand with a visa exempt and then convert to a Non O and then extend for 1 year due to retirement?

My friend from the usa tried today at Bangkok and they told him cannot do? He may not have asked the right questions?

If possible what does he need to do?

He had this previously and has kept funds in the bank here but the non o expired during covid while he was out of country.

11 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Glad I slipped in in early September, hardly any lines then.  A couple of us used the Thai line as we had e-visas and Thai wives in tow.  Less than 5 minutes. 

 

Came in to Don Mueang from Vietnam on 30 Oct without a visa and it only took about 10 minutes or so.

 

Got back to the U.S. Nov 6 at Dulles airport (D.C.).  Took two hours to go through the line for US passport holders/permanent residents. There were a couple hundred of us on a flight and they had one immigration officer!

Usa return. Download "airside mobile visa" separate line, few users normally. Free, easy to use! Last few times at lax or sfo 5 minutes from plane to baggage claim!

19 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Many Thai people have never been to western countries. Most western countries do not have the road congestion level as in South-East Asia and China so of course, they can afford to stop at zebra crossing.

 

In reality, most people in South-East Asia do not stop at zebra crossing unless it is at a red-light junction.

 

It's so expensive to own a car and motorbike in Singapore because of the COE that only less than 5% of the population drives a car, they all use public transport. So you cannot compare the situation of one country with another when road conditions are different.

 

Imagining being stuck in traffic for an hour and then you have to stop at all zebra crossings.

 

Thai people do not have the patience, go to other countries in SEA and see for yourselves.

 

While in Singapore as a pedestrian,  traffic always stopped for me to cross streets. Quite a surprise!

In Thailand I stop at crosswalks but you really have to be careful not to get hit from behind! I also try to stop a little before the line to let pedestrians see around my vehicle as vehicles in other lanes often don't stop making it very dangerous for people trying to cross a busy street.

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

No

There is no requirement to have 6 months remaining on your passport for those from most countries.

My son was refused a boarding pass due to less than 6 months on passport coming from usa to Thailand.

My GF in Thailand was refused a boarding pass to Bali due to less than 6 months on passport. Not sure about regulations, but the airlines demand the 6 months or more.

17 hours ago, gk10012001 said:

Yeah but the idea is to avoid all problems in advance.  Challenging for me to get a test prior to arrival as I travel across the USA through several cities and airports, with a layover at odd hours.  And the idea is to get to Thailand with no restrictions, no sign ins, etc.  I won't be going for another month or so, so I will wait and see what sort of experiences people encounter.

 

  On a side note, I read that Taiwan is now allowing passengers to transit through Taiepei airport now.  For many months they were not allowing that which eliminated many flights from the USA (LAX, SFO, SEATAC, etc. on EVA air

They now allow transits but I think you may have to do a PCR test? Best to verify with the airline. 

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

How many Thais expect to live to be near 100.  Someone posted life expectancy is 77.7 yrs old here, so we are to assume they are retiring at 47 yrs old.

 

My estimated budget for wife's monthly living expense after I c r a p out, is about ฿10k, with nice account for emergencies, if needed.  Since Thai, she gets almost free healthcare.  Consider the house, car & motorbike will be paid for, and electric, powered by solar, as will the house, owned free & clear.  So about ฿300 a day to feed herself, and more than enough, as we do mostly in home food now anyway.

 

At 65 yrs old, ฿10k X 15 yrs / 180 months, and only 1.8 mill needed, and a few years past life expectancy.  Nobody (parents or siblings) has lived past 70 yrs old, and she's the baby, 20+ yrs younger than oldest sibling, having 8.

 

So if people retire at about 65 ish, and plan on living to near 100, then the article is accurate, but very unrealistic.

 

In my wife's case, without a big saving account, and if she goes through the proposed budget, then she could always sell the house for more than a few million baht, and finance another 10 or 20 yrs of living comfy.

I think that the largest problem for her will be her reletives trying to get loans (gifts) from her if they know that she has a large sum of cash? I have the same situation. Not sure how to get around it? Just leave her the funds and if she gives it away then its her choice?

Friends of mine in the USA adopted a reletives minor child as a way for them to go to school in the USA. Seems like it ended up costing them about $25,000 in legal fees before they were done? Not a cheap option!

I wonder how that is working out for the Phillipines?

19 hours ago, stat said:

I am looking to rent in the southern partof Hua Hin. Is the 30% rule also a valid guide to get the rent price down? I am talking about pool villas with asking prices 30-95K baht 95K Baht is in falcon community one of the larger houses .

Thats a pretty high end neighborhood but you can make offers and see what they say?  The biggest problem is not being able to talk to owners and having to deal with agents who can't or won't convey low offers to the owners. I had a new condo in Siratcha and thought I would get 30k a month rent as per the agent. It stayed empty for over 2 years. I told the agent to just rent it at whatever the market rent was? They refused to do so as it would lower the rent on the other units in the same building. I sold it. But the idea is that you really have to talk to the owner to make a deal! If someone had contacted me and offered half I would have accepted it.

Hua Hin is not seeing many sales at this time. In my Subdivision I was able to purchase far below the asking prices of other houses nearby. If you can talk to the owner I always ask: " what is the least you would take for this?"  What ever they say: Thats your starting point to negotiate. When people tell you that no one takes owner finance, don't believe it. Many won't but some will. I don't call it "owner finance". I just ask them if I can give them so much now and pay the rest so much a month or year until I have paid them their price? A lot of the owners here are non-residents and own the properties free and clear. They can make deals if they want? The hard part is getting past the broker and talking to the owner which may be an estate heir living in another country? The last house I purchashed was at a terrific price and was in escrow numerous times but kept falling through due to a reletive of the owner who really didn't care and was killing the sales. I finally solved the problem by having an Attorney contact the owner and convey the terms I wanted which they agreed to. Normally I would never use an Attorney as they tend to be deal killers, but in this case it solved the problem. 

Look at a lot of houses and make a lot of offers that you would be happy to pay if accepted. Just figure that you will have to make 20 offers before one is accepted and don't get discouraged when they say no. Just keep making good "for you" offers and when one is accepted it will be a great deal for you!

I do use my Attorney to do the contract and check title. Also be sure to do your physical inspections.

I'm happy to see the expanded service!

It's a long drive to Bangkok to get a flight.

                    6 hours ago, JetsetBkk said:  Thanks for that! I was thinking of getting a Mazda 3 Coupe, when they are eventually on sale here. Looks like I'll have to check out it's Sat Nav system!   mine is a 3 .  great car. Love it  

When it comes to our own health care it really does pay to learn about your problem or potential problem and decide on the best course of action or non-action.

Simply taking some ones advise without your own research can be very dangerous. 

For instance: My ex-wife went to the doctor due to an occasional numb arm. She takes Doctors advise as gospel and does everything they recommend. So they started in on her to find the problem with the numb arm?  Over the last 3 years she has had over 17 surgeries to clear lightly clogged arteries (under 35%), and many drugs one of which wiped out her kidneys. She was on dialysis 3 times a week for 2 years waiting for a transplant. During that time many of the above surgeries were for her arm trying to get the vein to work for the Dialysis. Never could get it right. Recently, out of the blue. her kidneys started working again! No more dialysis, but the thing in her arm still requires more surgeries as she said now if not fixed she could lose the arm!

Oh, the numb arm? It just went away by itself!

14 hours ago, racyrick said:

What a joke. A CEO with a vested interest in trying to improve his business at the expense of the people's health.

 

Most infections are caught on the second test!!!!

Yes, but most of the positives on the second test may well be caused by contracting the virus between the 1st and 5th day! Why would anyone, especially with a family come here with the possibility of one member testing positive on the 5th day and ruining the vacation for all? Join the rest of the world and drop the useless restrictions!

I want to stop for all people in crosswalks and try to do so. However the problem is that almost no one expects you to stop? With closely following traffic you risk being hit from behind. If you do stop on a multilane road and everyone else does not stop the person crossing is in grave risk as per the doctor who was hit recently.

The other thing is that most people crossing the street are aware of these dangers and even when I  stop they often refuse to cross fearing that others will not stop? 

This is an education and enforcement problem that will not be solved easily.

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

There's also the option of having no treatment at all.

Lots of stuff gets better if left alone (free), and if you die still free, or was misdiagnosed by the doctors.

I've refused two operations on me (must have or die), 8 years later still here.

And one on my five year old son (must have or die), 5 years later still here.

 

Notice how they nearly always want to but metal and screws in to fix broken bones?

Rarely required, and ups the price of the treatment enormously.

You make a very good point! Once they start in on you, it often never ends until you die or run out of insurance/funds!.

I went through this recently.

The thing to do is to register for "My Chart" free online health app. Then look for the covid 19 page and there should be a button that says search for my covid innoculations? This should find your record and then you can have it create a QR code which you can print along with the official record. This is helpful when applying for the Thailand Pass etc and to show the airline.

53 minutes ago, nickmondo said:

dont know what your worried about

Omicron will take over very soon

Symptoms very mild, if any.

stop worrying

I took a short 3 day trip this week around Thailand and lots of places ask to see vaccine certificate.

If you were vaccinated in the USA and only got the paper card without a QR Code. you should register on "MY CHART" this is a free health app. 

After registering find the Covid page and there should be a tab that says search for my vaccine record? I was vaccinated by the county health department and the general search button turned up the record in seconds and issued me a QR code.

This was accepted by the airlines.

34 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

From the Thai Pass page itself

https://tp.consular.go.th/

 

https://consular.mfa.go.th/th/content/thailand-pass-faqs-2

 

https://medium.com/thailand-pass/where-do-i-contact-for-thailand-pass-support-1636daadc180

 

Yes there is an email help link and several phone numbers.

My emails were never replied to and over 2 days could not get any answer on the listed phones.

6 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

You still have to get them your documents. So why use them.

They say they can usually get 24 hour approval.