mfd101

42 minutes ago, Derek B said:

Why does it have to be a Thai bank I wonder?

 

So they can check it themselves and not have to rely on unreliable witnesses such as Embassies.

46 minutes ago, cheshiremusicman said:

Seems to me, that the Thai authorities should start to look at a scheme where they look at your track record and start to say 'This person has meet the necessary requirements for the past 5 years', so instead of granting an extension of one year why not make it two, and when you have been here for say 10 years make it a 5 year extension. Surely, if you have been here for that length of time you have proved that you can sustain yourself with your income no matter what it is!

You're being rational again!

1 hour ago, connda said:

“Of course this letter is no longer needed if the embassy no longer issues it,” Col Archeep explained to The Phuket News today (Nov 22).

 

This gets the mealy-mouthed, clap-trap, stupidest, contrived, nonsensical, Captain Obvious Award of the Week. 

And was he speaking in English when he said it?

First Contact. Always fascinating.

There's a marvellous short film from Papua in about 1932 as the first Aussie administrators arrive in a particular valley for the first time and the locals approach slowly to greet them. Very moving.

Good show. Wish he lived near me. I have to call for my bf to come running whenever I find one outside all of 12" long & as thick as my thumb ...

All's well that ends well, for the moment.

The idiot got what he wanted & is now no doubt sitting on the right hand of the right hand. And the natives got some peace'nquiet for the next couple of years till the next moron arrives to try to kill them with his bacterial & viral infections.

A smallish market, but rich ...

Interesting that the Indian Police took no preventative action. It is after all a no-go zone. I guess they figured it would be cheaper to let nature take its course ...

22 minutes ago, tropo said:

Really? You are feeling rather confident. Are you going to apply for an extension before the end of this year? I will be getting mine in the first week of January before the Australian Embassy cuts the service on January 7, hoping to use it in late June next year, but not feeling nearly so confident as you. What is the basis of your confidence? Leading people into a false sense of security is worse than scaring them into taking active measures to ensure continuity of annual extensions. Running scared, I have 3 backup measures:

 

1. Starting to transfer 65k per month to my Thai account.

2. Getting the 800k ready to transfer and season for 3 months.

3. Obtaining my income letter 6 months early, in case they are still accepted.

Excellent. ✓✓✓ Precisely what EVERYONE should be doing.

One of the many things I learned working in the DoD in Canberra for 17 years was that the military spend most of their time watching & jostling each other, rather than - as we civilians tended to think - trying to put us down.

18 minutes ago, bubba said:

Not sure what you mean here with regard to share sales. Do you mean borrowing the funds on margin to buy the shares? That could get very expensive, including the margin interest and the potential for substantial losses.

I'm not talking about share sells in particular. I mean people who really don't have the minimum of 65K a month. They could in theory get around that (in the same way as the 800K in the bank for 3  months people can do) by borrowing funds from a lender of whatever kind, pay it into their Thai account to reach the minimum average over time, then withdraw the funds & repay the lender with interest.

That is - it seems to me - less likely to occur if the 65K is a monthly minimum, not an average.

11 minutes ago, bubba said:

Why would it be considered dodgy if you have an investment portfolio and sell off assets such as shares as you need the money? That is easily verifiable and for many, it works out to much more than 65K baht/month. 

Borrowing & paying it back. The shonky types would be more likely to do that with an averaging system that allows them to borrow & pay back, say, once every 4 months, than with a monthly minimum system (because of the credit costs potentially involved).

4 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Whether they will still allow the combined method and whether they will allow for flunctuating monthly amounts if they average out to 65K/mo, are big questions....and important

Most likely a MINIMUM of 65K a month. An averaging system would allow for too many dodgy work-arounds.

Thank you to PFV. Reasonably enlightening for the anxious thousands of us.

4. is fine. 5 & 6 are disturbing - they show how ill-trained the Immigration officers are. 7 is about where we've mostly been & still are. 8 is a key point for many of us but obviously still up in the air.

25 minutes ago, Chris Lawrence said:

FORMULA 1 2018 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX (sorry for the caps as this came off the F1 site)

 

23 -25 Nov 2018 Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Marina. Just a heads up to the lads as to where he may be this weekend. Last race, big party. Ye ha

Well, in these circumstances the Saudis would certainly have a cunning plan.

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

To have the UK governed by referendum would be stupid simply because most of the population are morons. Just like every other country. They mostly dont know what day it is let alone what Brexit implies.

Yes, you've put it rather less delicately than I did.