timendres

If I read this correctly, the exemption applies only to VAT, not income or capital gains taxes. In other words, brokers will not have to pay 7% VAT on transactions they perform trading. However, I believe that if you realize a gain on your trading, you will still likely be liable for income and/or capital gains taxes.

This is precisely the risk. In a world coming off the rails, USD will power higher, and the THB will fall, and all that debt will get a lot more expensive to repay. That said, $1B USD is not earth shattering in that scenario.

WISE gave me a "Digital card". I have not tested it yet. But this is not helpful with airline reservations, since they can require the physical card at check-in.

I have been in Thailand for 14 years. I had a Thai job with a salary paid in baht for the past 9 years. So I had no need for money transfers. Until now. I have retired, and now money flows into Thailand. Many AN members use WISE and laud it, so I decided to give it a try. I am signing up as a US citizen. Setting up the account was simple. Took no more than 20 minutes. WISE used an uploaded photo of my passport and some sort of face ID to verify my identity. The face ID opened up on my mobile in Safari and worked very well. I connected my Capital One 360 Savings account to WISE in just a few minutes. I then made the mistake of trying to send money, but only seeing the SWIFT option. Of course, this was outrageously expensive and the wrong choice. Eventually I found the correct answer, which was to "send money to myself". I set up a simple $20 transfer to test it. The fee was $1, or 5%, but a larger transfer would have a much smaller percentage fee, of course. The transfer happened within 5 seconds!!!! I have never seen that sort of delivery anywhere. However, that is not the most amazing thing. What blew my mind was the exchange rate. I was looking at live USDTHB on OANDA. The live rate on OANDA was showing 35.992. The rate I got on the transfer was 35.9905. I have never seen an exchange rate that good. Ever. Needless to say, I am more than impressed.

Have used IB for over 17 years, and I am very happy with them.

Thank goodness they blurred those handcuffs.

Someone told me that the rat population was previously "held in check" by large snakes. But then the city made a concerted effort to remove said snakes, and the rat population exploded.

I cool 68 sqm during the day (24deg) and 60 sqm at night (25deg). For 5 hours in the afternoon, the A/C is fighting a virtual oven created by a wall of windows. My bill last month (Jan 15 - Feb 15) was 4,100. That will likely be my cheapest bill of the year.

Sweet! First time i have seen a product like this.

That is odd. Two clicks and I had every detail I could imagine for both tourist visa and visa on arrival, both with sufficient details for any visitor.

I would allow her to bite me. Gently, of course.

The condo I just rented was problematic. The owner is not in the blue book. However, CW accepted the property deed in lieu of the blue book to show proper ownership.

"The list" has remained virtually constant for many years. Application of "the list" is forever inconsistent.

33.28 is suspiciously close to the USDTHB rate, and it is a common practice for online retailers to perform a "test charge" to verify that your card can be used for purchases, typically a subscription. The test charge is then refunded. The charge is very often $1. So, I wonder if the perps are performing this $1 transaction because it would evade certain security filters.

SCB is the worst bank I have ever dealt with in Thailand. Would never open another account with them.

You cannot do a yearly extension? That is what an associate of mine does.

@jaywalker2 and @LikeItHot thanks for updating me on that. I did mine in 2022. But my neighbor is doing his now, so I will let him know about this change.

This is true, in the sense that they appear to have 2 or 3 "out of date" pages that look like the right answer. It took trial and error for me to find the correct page, after which all was straight forward. They need to purge those dead end pages.

I like JIB

I renewed my passport by mail using the services provided by the US Embassy. Easy and efficient. That cost to me was about 1,900 THB if I remember correctly. The important point is that when the embassy returned my new passport, it came with a letter on embassy letterhead with a signature. The letter informed Thai immigration of the issuance of the new passport and requested any relevant stamps be transferred to the new passport. Without this letter, immigration at Chaeng Watthana in Bangkok would not proceed with the transfer. Since this method of renewal is the only method available (I believe), I think your agent did that and received the letter I refer to. Thus, they have you on the hook for doing the transfer, unless they are willing to hand over that letter (or Pattaya immigration does not require it).

Right. There is a big difference between staying the full length of a VE entry then exiting and entering in one day for another VE to stay the full length again (rinse, repeat), as opposed to coming VE for the weekend two or three times every month, or coming VA for 30 days two or three times a year. And this is not lost on IO's (in general). That said, I believe most people here know what a "proper visa" is for their case. It is just that sometimes that visa/extension is not available to them.

You are probably referring to the law passed some years ago that placed restrictions (like only one month deposit, etc.) on landlords. That law does only apply to landlords with 5 or more properties. Here is a law firm's take on that law: https://www.sunbeltasia.com/new-rental-laws-in-thailand Aside from the above regulations, the only means of breaking a lease are contained within the lease itself. My leases all have a "livable" clause, meaning that if the property becomes "unlivable", the lease can be terminated without penalty. This would need to be addressed in the lease. "Bad state" is generally not going to fall under any clause for termination. Unless it causes the property to be "unlivable". If this were me, I would talk to the landlord and explain what you think needs to be addressed. Explain that you will need to relocate if the issues are not addressed, and that you are willing to abandon the deposit. This will hopefully get some attention and generate action by the landlord to correct matters.

So not true. Let's correct that: every person thinks they are unique and believes they have a life story that will prove valuable for posterity.

Unless your deposit is more than 100,000 THB, simply moving out and abandoning your deposit is going to be much cheaper than "going to court".

You may want to consider buying a ticket for your gf to bring your belongings to you in Vietnam (or where ever you end up).