MarcIssan

I now have ANOTHER reason for upgrading my camera! I'll need a business card too (Porn Producer and Filmography) but damn I'll have to change my VISA to one that allows me to 'work'. Question: If I don't charge for filming porn is that considered work? ????

Free Fire of Room Service?

So the 'officials' keep coming up with a bunch of hair-brained ideas to attract more like us...right? What I don't understand is why they don't convene a committee made up of the demographic they hope to attract and solicit this committee for ideas. Ask questions like, "If you had it to do over again, would you retire here again? If not why not? What would make your life more enjoyable here and what changes would you like to see happen? What would attract more financially secure expats but not open the door to people who cannot support themselves and who may end up becoming a burden to Thai society? Duh...the need is obvious when you list out all the screwy, go-nowhere ideas of the recent past.

When we moved into our new house it took a few weeks to get all the boxes organized. One day my wife was moving some boxes around in the spare bedroom and a hissing snake popped out at her. She called the locals and when it was all done, the 2 meter snake was on its way to someone's dinner plate. It got into the house via a hole in the wall left open for an outside camera feed for the driveway. The hole was patched of course and now the neighbor's dogs patrol our property keeping the snake population under control. It was quite an affair attracting many from the local tessaban and village.

Nice view for Obama!!

There is the legal way following all the rules after interpreting them as to their meaning..then there is the expedient way by hiring someone skilled in the gray areas of the law and with palms to grease to look the other way. Your post seems to be a fishing expedition looking for the easy/cheap way to get this done but it also shows how little you have done yourself in researching the options. In this day where immigration both legal and illegal are on the top the political lists in most developed countries, I'd say hire an expert or forget it. Another route is to apply for a visa from an Australian favored nation country (if there are any) and go live there a year or so then apply for a visa into Australia. Just a brainfart actually.

Sure I have 300,000 bt to spare!

Perhaps I am naively comfortable having 2 shots in me and can wait for the 3rd when and if Thailand offers it.

But...if you are first arriving in Thailand and don't have a year's worth of statements I am not sure what immigration will require. You might look into an O-A visa based on marriage. I got that arranged in the USA before arrival. It does require you to leave the country every 90 days and in these days with covid...I don't know how all that might work or if that is still the rule. Then near the end of my year I switched to an O visa based on retirement. I put 800,000 in the bank, then took it back out just as fast once I got the visa. Nobody ever checked whether I kept it in for the required period of time. You could do the O-A visa and start the monthly deposits so at the end of the O-A visa you would have the required 12 months history of earnings. Or you could continue with the marriage visa and qualify on the monthly statement as well..it is 40,000 bt per month as I recall. My friend doesn't have the 65k monthly and applied for and received a visa based on marriage but never mentioned he had to leave Thailand every 3 months. As you see I know only what I know or have experienced.

It has to be in a Thai account and all in the same account and all in Thai baht. At least here in Udon this is the requirement. It seems every immigration office has the liberty to interpret the law as they please.

Well this one goes into the books right next to the Thai Space Program!!

It goes beyond just that...and I'm no expert on the matter but have had a few run-arounds. So my first O visa application I had 800,000+ bt in a Thai bank. Everything went OK. The following year (2020) I tried to apply with a statement from the bank showing the required monthly deposits but I was 9 days short of the required period ..12 months aka 365 days of time. I had 11 months and 21 days deposit history which was not good enough. Oh...and 3 minutes later they backdated the requirement to the date the income rule was adopted which for me was 16 months prior now 12 months. I got <deleted> and left. I called Khon Kaen immigration and they said no problem...but when I told them I was in Udon...well "No problem" turned into "Kannot". They told me I had to follow the rules of Udon immigration. So I went back to Udon and showed where I had the 800,000 in the bank..part was in my US dollar account at Bangkok Bank and part was in my Thai baht account in the same bank. Nope that won't work because they are not in the same account. I said I could combine them and come back the next day and show over the 800,000 but Nope...that won't work either. It won't all be in the same account for the required 3 months time prior to renewing the visa..so nope that won't work. So I sent my wife to Bangkok with a bunch of documents to get notarized at the American Embassy and the Thai embassy with the idea of applying for a marriage visa and showing 400,000+ in the bank which was already in there for over 90 days. I forget what the documents were but it seems I had to disavow ownership in property etc. Nope that didn't work because one of the documents had my wife's married name on it and she needed it to have her maiden name notarized instead. Booking appointments at both embassies delayed the process and I was already running out of time. As it was, I was now 9 days late and alas I had to pay their extortion/expediting fees for them to look the other way on the money part and get my visa extension. 4500 baht late fees and 16,000 baht 'expediting' fees later I walked out with my extension. <deleted> I was <deleted>. Ok this year (2021) I went in early to ask a few questions and the bank statement isn't enough...I had to prove where the income came from. Why I asked! They couldn't allow me to work so it cannot come from a job and selling drugs is illegal! I went home, logged on to the USA government pension site, downloaded a bunch of monthly and annual statements showing my monthly income, took all that to the bank to get a statement from them showing the monthly deposits, paid my fees to the bank and YAY got my extension in May of this year without having to pay any extra 'expediting' fees. They said the documents from America needed to be notarized and I said..."ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" I explained that I didn't vote for Joe Biden and that he was not going to sign anything on my behalf. I don't think they got the joke. They accepted the printed statements because it had the official American seal..or so I think. I figured I'd celebrate that day because next year there was likely going to be new rules that I don't qualify for and it will be back to paying the 'expediting' fees so I may as well enjoy my success while I can. Good luck sorting this out.

And I heard the USA approved the 3rd Pfizer booster shot for those over 65 and for the ones at greater risk. Can anyone venture a guess as to whether I can get that one here?

Thanks for all the comments. I think the cable is adjusted ok as it is smooth upon engagement and light duty work but once the RPM increases or the resistance on the tool in use increases I hear an irregular clacking coming from just below the seat..in that area anyway. Holding onto the the engagement/RPM lever I feel a jolt on every clack. It is not mundane like if I gear tooth were broken and every time it came around it complained..it's not that. In fact I can lift my rotary up off the ground and run it at normal tilling speeds and it is smooth as silk..but when I ease it down into the soil the clacking starts with the frequency depending on how hard the soil is. Soft soil not that often...hard soil..yikes all the time. The group on one USA tractor forum who often do their own repair with some venturing into case-splitting came to the conclusion it was the PTO over-running clutch plates and considering how hard I was pushing my little tractor while trenching for irrigation and down-pipe water management, I'm sure that is what it is. I'll deal with that later. I've almost gotten my auger differential put back together and found the double gaskets were to set the ring/pinion gear mesh so the last bit is a seal plate on the output shaft. Of course that is at the bottom. Alas I needed my hoist to lift that <deleted> up off my workbench but that darned winch went sideways on me. Here it is 2 days later and the winch is back from the shop so tomorrow I'll finish up. Hurry up and wait seems to be the slogan of the week for me.

I think there should be a way for a foreigner to own the land that his ONE house is sitting on but no more. If there are no laws or limitations, foreign investors will drive the prices up so high only foreigners can afford to buy property. In America, Russians own 100% of uranium mines and the Chinese own many food related factories all that were once 100% American owned. I'd hate to see this happen here more than it has already.