mfd101

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.

4 minutes ago, Issanjohn said:

Well the rules aren’t changing they’re just being more strictly enforced so it’s not about preparing for the worst it’s just about making sure you are following Thai immigration laws and it’s really as simple as that.  People are acting like everything’s changing and it’s not.  The only thing that’s changing is that sometime next year Thai immigration won’t accept the income affidavit from the embassy anymore which means they’ll have to verify our income in a different way probably by Thai bank statements, pension letters etc.  As long as you are following Thai immigration laws you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.  Although this transition period with the income affidavits might be a bit of a hassle.  Besides that it’s only gonna effect people here illegally for the most part.  

I don't think that's an accurate representation of the situation.

I've been following the rules with an OzEmbassy letter the last 2 years since I arrived to live permanently in Thailand. But now - for whatever reason, good or bad - that's no longer going to work for next October when my next renewal falls due.

So NOW I have to prepare for all future possibilities which, in the Thai way of doing things, may become clear only at the last minute or remain vague, ambiguous & changeable at all times ... It's called self-protection. So NOW I am starting bi-monthly transfers of funds to my Thai bank account and preparing, at least mentally for - around May next year - selling shares in Oz to have 800K฿ to lodge (as worst case - but it would also function as a partial health self-insurance fund ie one can always look on the bright side ...).

The issue is one of direct democracy (ie referenda) vs representative democracy (ie voting for your representative in the Parliament & the Parliament then decides). The record suggests - & the Brexit referendum rather confirms! - that direct democracy is fine on a small scale (eg local town or village) and in relatively small countries that have no current issues stirring up hysteria on a grand scale (eg Switzerland).

To have the UK 'governed' by referendum however is just stupid because of the size of the country, social & cultural complexity, and the strategic importance of the issues. David Cameron has much to answer for with his negligent, noblesse oblige approach. He should have made it clear that, in Britain, a referendum is simply a government-organised survey of public opinion, with NO binding effects on Government decisionmaking. But that is history.

7 minutes ago, Issanjohn said:

If you have to do your extension after next summer I’d start preparing Thai bank accounts as soon as possible just in case but that’s just my own personal opinion.  I think it’s safe to be prepared ahead of time as early as you possibly can.  

Yes, we can all hope for the best, but should NOW be preparing for the worst. And that applies to everyone - rich or poor, or - as I think most of us are - somewhere in between. We should all be considering carefully how to meet the worst possible new rules that MAY apply to each of us, and we should be moving the pieces on the chess board - Thai bank account, best (cheapest) ways to move funds etc.

This is a very unThai thing but we are all well aware of at least one cultural advantage we have over our Thai friends: BE PREPARED.

23 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

 

You are indulging in wishful thinking. It is very likely that, faced with "no deal", remain MPs across the House will force a vote on a second referendum ... you not liking that does not mean that it cannot happen. They have the numbers in parliament.

WHOEVER has the numbers in the Parliament has no need - legally or constitutionally - of any referendum. Politically however it would certainly be sensible - for EVERYONE's sake - to hold a 2nd referendum on the terms negotiated for putting the first referendum's outcome into effect.

But that might just be too rational for the British, or at least the English.

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

You mean I have to get married..... again!?

I would cheerfully go the marriage route but, unfortunately, my Australian civil partnership with my b/f is not [yet] recognized in Thailand ...

Morrison starting to settle into his new job. The next 3 or 4 months are make-or-break before the Federal election.

13 hours ago, KiChakayan said:

Ohhh you remember  WW2, I remember the One Hundred Years War. Please don't be ridiculous. 

I guess there are a few like you across the Chanel, but I don't think even Farage or Johnson  could have written such nonsense.

Yes, fairy stories are still popular in Merrie Ol' England. St George and the Dragon doing particularly well.

6 minutes ago, totally thaied up said:

And if the Embassy did this, I would be very, very angry with them as this is a privacy breach. My privacy is just that- MY privacy but so many people here are so ready to sell it down the river, I cannot believe. 

Don't worry. What was written about the OzEmb having access to Centerlink or ATO details is rubbish. Just the usual paranoid drivel from some people on this site.