Groongthep

New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or Washington-DC.....  From your experiences, which of these Thai consulates in the US is most efficient in processing O - A (retirement) visas. The smaller honorary consulates like Houston, Portland, etc. are no long authorized to issue them.

Let's be honest. There is no good Mexican food in Bangkok. Some places are better than others but even the better ones must be qualified by the statement "not bad for Thailand". None of them would still be open after a month in the West.

I meet them quite often at immigration. i alway like to talk to people who enjoy flashing their US passport. I always ask, WHat state are you a resident of? if they dont answer or even speak english... i give them this lower class look i always get when i walk down town. ... its funny to me.

You know whats funny to me? i actually treat such people just the opposite of you...I treat them with courtesy, because I've walked in their shoes here in Thailand and know it can be tough.

Youre that new breed of American...the bitter and angry American. The one that appeared under Bush Jr...reminds me of an old Russian peasant saying:

"My neighbor has a cow and I don't have one.

I want my neighbors cow to die."

To me, being an American means brotherhood, it means helping each other out, it means working hard for a dream and helping others with theirs.

Thanks to guys like you, now saying that doesn't sound American. It sounds Australian or Canadian ;-)

You think this change occurred under Bush Jr? You can't be serious. Obama, his administration and his sycophants are the one's who are ruling America with vindictiveness and encouraging and breeding "class envy" . They are also encouraging and increasing racial hatred in America. If you are white and/or Christian what every you have you got because of "White Privilege". The Obama administration is preaching this claptrap. The Obama administration is hell bent of taking away whatever white middle class, American's have and making them pay and punishing them for their success. In fact Obama and his followers think America itself is illegitimate. America to the Obama lemmings is just an extension of British colonialism. This man, Obama and his followers are destroying what was once the greatest country in the world. Only the mid term elections will tell if there is a chance to save America.

So SanSaiExPat, you are buying the whole line of BS that Fox "News" is selling huh? Your incredible ingnorance and gullibility embarrasses the rest of us.

I have to admit the very IDEA of TEXAS kind of freaks me out (other than Austin).

I couldn't agree with you more. I lived in Austin years ago and it was a great town. Unfortunately, it has become quite expensive for that very reason.

Why NeverSure cannot accept any place other than the north central part of Texas as having any characteristics making it worth living in is beyond me. Someone who has experienced the international diversity of travelling and living in Thailand would be bored to death there.

Animals much larger than human beings get painlessly killed every day, why it is beyond the technical capabilities of the Americans to do this to (sometimes innocent) human beings is beyond me. I really have the impression that they want to make the process as unpleasant as possible. Probably the guy that thought this up was terrified of needles. Solitary confinement for many years, never touching another human being in all that time... and it doesn't bloody well work as a deterrent, it is about revenge.

Exactly! Veterinary surgeons use Nembutal (Pentobarbital) and the result is a peaceful and relatively quick death for the animal. I have never understood the need to administer this cocktail of drugs in prisons during the death penalty.

Pentobarbital is the lethal drug they use for executions. They administer tranquilizers first. I learned this from a friend who used to be a prison guard.

It appears that they all are moving in that direction. But they appear to be doing it piecemeal, machine by machine, probably a software update that is needed

Eventually AEON ATM's may be the only 150 THB machines available until they get even more greedy

The AEON ATMs now charge 150 baht too. There is a another long thread on this same subject.

An American named Karta Singh Harta. Hmmm. New one on me.

Indeed his name was not Sitting Bull or Gernonimo or any other real American who were exterminated by the whites stealing their land.

Quite hypocritical to call an other who has not one of your white names not a real American. I was always told America was a melting pot of cultures and people. Guess I was misinformed.

Neither Sitting Bull or Geronimo were killed by white men and the 3 million Native Americans (American Indians) living in the US today would be surprised to learn that they have been exterminated.

Just1Voice has a point. Mark is already stinking rich. Why not get out of politics altogether, take a position on the Board of some large company, earn a salary far higher than he's worth and live the good life out of the limelight.

If you can afford it hire a tutor. Speak all you want and he or she can help correct your pronunciation or select the correct word(s) to be used in spoken Thai.

Make sure you hire someone with teaching experience and a degree. You will get much better results from someone trained in teaching Thai to foreigners. Lots of people have tried learning from their spouses with little success.

Why doesn't he just reveal the details of his proposal now? What's the point of the political wait and see drama?

It really helps to have traveled a lot and actually seen and spent some time across the US to form an opinion.

Really? This from a guy who says Portland, Oregon gets "tons of snow and ice"? FYI, some winters Portland gets not snow at all. Winter temperatures, on average fall below freezing only about 33 days a year, that's only 7 more days a year than Dallas. The summers in Portland are much more comfortable than in the DFW area too.

Perhaps you should travel around the US and spend some time in the places you comment on before giving out inaccurate information too.

You are correct however, about the housing prices in Portland being much more expensive than in North Central Texas though, and Oregon has a hefty state tax whereas Texas has none.

One of the things Jingthing mentioned he was interested in was public transportation and Portland has some of the best in the country. Dallas/Forth Worth? Everybody there drives a full size pick-up.

In Bkk, I plan to use Citibank at Asoke. They do not charge the 150-180 (yet) and have a 20 000 B limit.

Are you still sure about Citibank at Asoke? Last September when I used the ATM there it was indeed free but upon my next return in February a screen popped up informing me there would be a 150 baht charge.

If you live in Thailand either retired or working the obvious solution to the ATM fee problem is to open an account at a Thai bank. If you are like me however and simply come to Thailand often (I am a merchant seaman and work a 60 day at sea 58 days off schedule.) opening an account at a Thai bank is very difficult at best.There is another thread on this subject of non-resident foreigners opening accounts at Thai banks where some claim they have done it, but I spent a whole day in Bangkok once going from Thai bank to bank and was rejected at all of them so I have given up on that idea.

What I have done my last two stays was go back to the old method of just bringing lots of cash. Where I stay has a secure safe deposit box so I have no fear of theft. In Bangkok anyway, (I cannot speak for outside the capitol) the Super Rich Money Exchange off Rachdamri and the Vasu Exchange on Sukhumvit give better rates on cash than you'll get at any ATM and there is of course no bank fees. I can exchange as much as I want then simply take the thai currecy out of my safe box as necessary.

I certainly share everyone's dislike of bank service fees but think it should be noted that fees are now the primary method in which banks generate revenue. In other words, that's the primary way they make their money. In the "old" days banks made their money through the difference between the higher interest rates they charged for loans compared to the lower interest rates paid on deposits. In recent years however interest rates have been so low many banks struggled to stay afloat using just this method. Then they dicovered the cash cow of charging fees for everything which more than made up the difference. As interest rates are now rising do you think that they will lower their fees? I wouldn't bet on it. They are pirates.

This profit through fees system is particularly angering since, according to The Economist, banks make a considerably higher percentage of profit on each dollar spent than even the big oil companies. This is also reflected in share price. Click on over to any finance site on your browser and display the chart over the last 2 years comparing BoA share price to that of Exxonmobil. You'll see that the bank shares have doubled which is about 5 times more than the appreciation of the XOM shares.

If you are an American and have any connection to the military whatsoever, even if through a relative, open an account at USAA and get their debit card. As mentioned by many others, their card reimburses ATM fees charged by other banks and their FTF are lower than most.

if you have some extra money to invest, BoA stock has been doing well. I do have an account with them because of the abundance of BoA ATMs in the US and their online banking website is unsurpassed for ease of use and versatility but I would never use one of their cards overseas.

Now it is obvious that the AEON option is gone now too. I believe I will now go back to using cash and travellers checks as I used to in the 80s and 90s. What a pathetic hassle.

It's been donkeys years since I ever handled traveler's checks. And they're probably more suited to tourists vs. expats.

But, the other night, I was passing by a TMB exchange booth near my supermarket that had a big sign up about "no fee" exchanges, whatever that means. And not a great exchange rate to boot.

When I looked closer, though, they had a paper sign pasted in the window talking about their fees for handling traveler's checks. And although I just looked quickly, I thought the sign said 150 BAHT PER CHECK and then the smaller per check fees about stamps and whatever.

Are per TC fees really 150 baht per check in Thailand these days???

No place that I know of charges 150 Baht per Travellers check. If I did run into such a place I would simply go to one of the hundreds of other exchanges that charge one small fee per total transaction.

If you have a safe place to store it, exchanging cash at the better money exchange outlets like the Green Super Rich or Vasa (in Bangkok) has once again become a viable way to save money converting money.

As has been mentioned many times before however, this is only practical if you are exchanging large amounts. It doesn't make sense to run all over the city to save a few baht on small transactions.

But you first have to get money over to you from your home country. Fine to do above if making short visits to Thailand and you brought along a lot of money to cover the time you would be in-country, but for folks staying long term they still need to get/replenish money from their home country and figure out the best/lowest cost way to get that money transferred over.

I am in the former group. I come to Thailand about 3 or 4 times a year for usually between 30 and 50 days each time so now that there are no longer any fee-free ATM machines I will bring cash to pay the biggest expense which is always lodging. I can safely keep the money in the building's safe deposit box without worries.

To bump this a little.

Is the "green superrich" different to the other website?

Do Vasu offer better rates or are they essentially all the same?

Just looked and on the Vasu website was .1 better.

RAZZ

True. It's better today also. It changes day to day so it is always best to check the websites before going to the exchange. As a general rule though, the Green Superrich and Vasu nearly always have the best rates, but you are correct in noting that one is not always better than the other. Again, check the websites immediately before you head to the exchange whichever it be.

. My home bank charges me USD $0.95 for a non-network ATM transaction fee, plus 1% of the total amount I withdrew (maybe Ray's is free for his home bank, but this is the fee I incur with my particular credit union). If I use this same card at a point-of-sale - like in Tesco or Big C, for example - it's done the same way: they swipe the card and I sign just like I would for a credit card purchase. When I purchase items in store like this, my credit union does *not* charge me the ATM transaction fee, so these types of debit transactions are free. If you require proof further than this, I'm afraid you'll have to meet me at the store and watch me buy something.

Kind regards,

WaatWang

Waatwang, I apologise for truncating your post, but I wanted to highlight the fact that you ARE being charged a fee for the over-the-counter withdrawal - this contradicts the claims made earlier in this thread and others around ATM fees in Thailand. On the equivalent of a 500USD withdrawal, you will pay 5.95USD in fees. That's still substantially better than the fees I've been slugged by the Commonwealth Bank here in Oz, but I have the cure and I look forward to using it in BKK and elsewhere. Game, set and match Citibank.

• Compare Australia's only completely fee free everyday bank account, Citibank Plus, against its competitors
• Instant access to your cash at over 3,000 Citibank, Westpac, St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne ATMs throughout Australia
• Free international money transfers from Australia to any account, anywhere in the world
• Instant money transfers when sending funds overseas to another Citibank account using Citibank Global Transfers (CGT)1

I wish it worked this way with US CitiBank ATM cards. Several years back when Citibank began operating in Thailand I contacted Citibank in the US about opening an account so I could use the US issued ATM card at CitiBank machines in Thailand free of fees. It was quickly explained to me that the foreign branches of Citi, although owned by the same parent company are different banks and that I would be charged as if I was using a local (Thai) bank if I used the US CitiBank ATM card in Thailand (both ATM fee and international exchange fee). I told them to f- off and continued to use the AEON machines. Now it is obvious that the AEON option is gone now too. I believe I will now go back to using cash and travellers checks as I used to in the 80s and 90s. What a pathetic hassle.

If you have a safe place to store it, exchanging cash at the better money exchange outlets like the Green Super Rich or Vasa (in Bangkok) has once again become a viable way to save money converting money.

As has been mentioned many times before however, this is only practical if you are exchanging large amounts. It doesn't make sense to run all over the city to save a few baht on small transactions.

Yes, It appears the party is finally over. AEON machines are all charging the 150 Baht fee now. Americans with links to the military can still open an account at USAA and use it's ATM card which will reimburse any and all ATM fees, but you will have to wait until the end of the statement cycle to get it. The USAA card will also still charge you and international transaction fee too.

Word of caution - border officials do question people who appear to be living here on a succession of tourist visas, so depending how long you intend to stay this might not be a viable option. I got questioned about it on my 3rd successive border hop. You can get a longer tourist visa at Vientiane in Laos, and presumably anywhere else with a Thai consulate. I think it was 60 days, extendable for another 30 when I last did it, but they change it often.

You don't get a tourist visa on a border hop. It is a visa exempt entry. And yes immigration will question you when you have several back to back. Some border crossing are putting a limit on how many you can do.

I don't recall any problems for people with real tourist visas being question at a border crossing.

It is possible to get a 2 entry tourist visa in Laos.

Because your American you are able to get a 30 day visa exempt entry. Do a boarder run into Laos. Just simply cross the boarder by land an enter back on the Thai side ( new rules since I think November is you can do a land crossing and get a Visa exempts entry of 30 days ) .Before you could only get 15 days on a land as opposed to a flight into Laos and get a 30 day.You don't need a visa and you have several locations in Laos to obtain the visa exempt entry. One of which is flying into Udon then taking a van to Nong Kai and cross there or fly into Nakon Phonom and take the bus to friendship bridge to Tha Khet crossing which is very close . Also the Savannakhet from Mukdahan. IMOP.

Thanks for the suggestion but I have already booked my travel. My flight to KL is 2 hours and 5 minutes. I have a 2 hour layover then fly right back to Don Muang which takes another two hours and a few minutes. Total cost of airfare (already paid) about $130.00 USD. Sure beats flying to Udorn or even worse taking a bus. Flying to KL is not too expensive and a whole lot more convenient. I really do appreciate your help though. Thanks.

Best Regards,

Groongthep

Word of caution - border officials do question people who appear to be living here on a succession of tourist visas, so depending how long you intend to stay this might not be a viable option. I got questioned about it on my 3rd successive border hop. You can get a longer tourist visa at Vientiane in Laos, and presumably anywhere else with a Thai consulate. I think it was 60 days, extendable for another 30 when I last did it, but they change it often.

Thanks for the word of warning but as I have previously stated this is the first time in 26 years that I have needed to do a border run/flight. I have always got 60 day tourist visas before I left the US, until now. I couldn't get one this time due to time constraints. I do not live in Thailand full time.

I am a Merchant Seaman who (usually) works 60 days at sea and then have at least 60 days off, sometimes longer depending on the ship's run. I nearly always come to Thailand for at least a portion of my time off with a proper 60 day tourist visa in my passport. I once obtained a 15 day extension on one of the 3 entries though.

Thanks you guys, I appreciate the help. Thanks especially for reminding me that KL doesn't require a visa to get in. I would have wasted my time had I flown to Yangon without one. Cheers.