jakow

Is this really a 10 year multiple entry tourist visa?! We weren't expecting that at all...

I just want to follow-up here so it can help other people or set the record straight for others who said this is not possible. Due to the death of my father (my wife's father-in-law, no blood relation) she was able to get an expedited visa appointment the next day and was approved for her visa at the end of the interview. It arrived in the mail about 2 weeks later, but I believe if it wasn't Christmas and New Years it would've been faster. The US embassy has an emergency visa application process. You book an appointment through the normal route, then in the portal area there's a link to apply for an expedited/emergency appointment. It explains on this page what information you need to provide. After applying you wait for the email letting you know if you were approved. We were approved, so we then booked an emergency visa appointment for the very next day. She was approved and we just got her 10 year "M" B1B2 visa. I think (hope) this is a 10 year multiple entry visa, but I'm going to start another post to confirm. So it definitely is possible to get a visa very quickly to the USA, at least in our case.

@Guavaman THANK YOU!! That's great news. It's not a huge amount, but my family definitely needs it right now with the costs of airplane tickets for the funeral, so getting the full amount is extremely helpful. The USA death certificate should be issued by the embassy in the next few days, but the insurance claim almost certainly won't be processed until after the new year, so I'm not sure if the second part would apply here. But, it clearly stating in Section 42 that insurance income is exempt is a huge relief. I'm not sure why none of my google searches found anything related to that. Again, thank you so much!

Does anyone know if money from my father's life insurance policy (from the USA) would be taxed if sent to Thailand? He passed away in 2023 and the money would not be taxed in the USA.

It would be the same for me. Hell, I wouldn't mind if they just dumped me in the nearest bin and got on with it. However my dad had only visited twice before and only moved here two months ago to try out retirement in Thailand. I'm still waiting for family to wake up to break the news and then I can see what they think, but I'm almost certain they'll want to hold a ceremony stateside. I'm in favor of just sending the cremated remains, but I'm not going to make that decision on my own.

Thanks. I'll be contacting them tomorrow morning. He actually moved here only two months ago, so he'd definitely prefer to be sent back to his birthplace.

Thank you. That's a good idea.

Unfortunately my father passed away today and I need to send his remains back to the USA. I'm located in Thailand. I'm still figuring out with the family if it'll be his body or if he'll be cremated. This is all very sudden and we have no idea how to go about doing any of this. We checked one website that said sending the body back costs somewhere around 450,000 THB. Does that sound right? If anyone has ANY advice or suggestions we would really appreciate it. Thank you!

My father recently retired in Thailand, but sadly he passed away today. We're figuring out how to go about sending his remains back to the USA for the funeral. I want my wife (who is Thai) to come for the funeral, and then our children could also come. Is there any special type of visa she could get or any way of getting her a visa in time?

Ok so the JBL support website has a "Product Expert" chat thing and within a couple minutes they confirmed it will work in Thailand and that the voltage range is 100-240V. Cool, time to spend some money... Thanks everyone!

@tomazbodner @impulse Thanks guys! I actually don't own it yet so I can't read the adapter. I have some Amazon US credit I need to use and a friend coming to Thailand shortly, but can't find any info on this damn adapter. I just realized JBL has a really good support system on their website so I sent them a message and hopefully I'll get the info I need shortly. I'll update this post with the info in case other people have the same question.

I actually don't own it yet. I have some Amazon credit I need to use and a family member coming soon, so I was going to order it and have them bring it. I just can't find any info on this adapter. The JBL website's page for the adapter gives absolutely no information https://www.jbl.com/homeaudio-accessories/XTREME-3-POWER-ADAPTER.html. It's really frustrating ????

I destroyed a baby bottle warmer from the states by plugging it in in Thailand, so I'm a bit worried about charging this speaker in Thailand. The speaker's spec sheet says "Power input: 5V/9V/12V/15V/20V, 3A" and "Battery charge time: 4 hours (20V/3A input)" but I don't think that says anything about the actual power adapter. Does anyone know if it should be OK to use? Thanks!

I have a business in Thailand and have been here for quite a while. In my 40s with a wife (Thai) and children. I'd like to start paying into some type of retirement fund every month, but I'm not so knowledgable about all the options. I definitely want something where if I'm gone it'll go to my wife & children (not sure if that's standard or not, but I'd assume it is). I've looked at Bangkok Bank and KBank and I see most of the retirement/investment funds have risk levels from low to high. I'm looking for something with low to medium-low risk, which obviously won't have a high return but my thinking is at least the risk of losing any returns is low. I'm hoping to get some recommendations for funds that I can look into more. I don't live near any branches, so once I find some funds I'm interested in I'll plan a trip to Bangkok to meet with their financial advisors and hopefully get started with one. I'd like recommendations here first, since once I go to a branch I'm assuming they'll be pushing for whatever gets them the most commission. Thanks!

I'm assuming the answer is no, but I figured I'd check here just to make sure. We previously asked the person at our bank this question and she said no, but we've gotten incorrect info from her before which is why I'd like to see if anyone here has any knowledge of this. There's a private residential area that my wife and I really like that would be great for our family, but all the houses are foreign owned and are only sold as companies. We currently have a standard home loan through SCB for our family's house, if that makes any difference. Would/could a bank give a normal home loan for this type of company-to-company sale? If not, are the fees for transferring the home from a company to an individual significantly higher than company-to-company? I suppose we could pay the additional fees, but if it would be too much then we'd have to pass. Thanks for any info!

Can anyone recommend some relatively safe and stable funds Thai people can invest in? My wife would like to put her savings and salary (roughly 15k/mth) somewhere that can provide returns without the risk and volatility of things like cryptocurrency. The savings accounts we've looked at provide very low returns, so maybe an index fund through a Thai bank would be a good place to start? I'm not very knowledgeable with investing, so I'd appreciate any recommendations that we can check out. Thanks!

It was the "love toy" who was blackmailing her. If someone's threatening to post private naked photos of you online, some retaliation is justified. Obviously not murder though.

Unless they publish a photo of those responsible pointing at a 20 baht note I won't believe anything will be done.