NorthernRyland

Personally I am very much unimpressed by this house. No interesting features. Boring location with no views. No garden or landscaping. I would never guess this is the home of a wealthy person unless someone told me. Here's some more pictures of the area.

Hey guys, so the today these did indeed approve me visa without a return ticket out of Thailand (I only provided a roundtrip ticket leaving and then returning to Thailand. This was the L.A embassy in case anyone wants to know if the future. I would say this was less hassle than appearing in person in Chiang Mai and waiting for at least 2 hours then returning again in 2 weeks and spending even more time. Less paper work also which was nice. In the receipt PDF they didn't say I needed to send in my passport so I assume (as was mentioned) I can simply present this at immigration entering the country and they will give me the stamp there. Right?

Yes I checked and it's just not completed yet but I didn't realize I didn't need to send my passport in the mail. It's no problem yet I'll just wait for their response and see what they say.

Really? I thought I had to send the passport in via snail mail and get the stamp. Good for them if that's really the case. As for your remarks on flights, they did ask for a return date and my itinerary which is the return flight which I bought in Thailand, i.e. one way to Thailand.

Well I already paid their $80 fee but I'm going to get rejected I think because I didn't provide a return ticket even though they asked for it. There was some other field which was N/A so I thought they may let the return ticket go also. I'm getting a 12 month extension anyways so this plane ticket is unfair and necessary.

Darn it again. I thought it would be easier doing it online than waiting in line at immigration but having to buy insurance will be a problem. Btw, I'm applying for the visa on the basis of marriage to Thai national and I didn't see any insurance requirement on the form I submitted so maybe that only applies for retired folks?

Darn it but thanks for telling me. I order from Orbitz sometimes and they have a 24 hour free cancelation policy at least.

I'm trying to apply for a non-O in the US and used the https://thaievisa.go.th website since I thought that was the new system since COVID (I used it to get a COE last year). It's been 1 week already and they haven't responded so I'm actually curious now, is this the correct way even? I will be sending my passport to the LA embassy since it's closest to me (Colorado) so I referenced their website but notice the DC website doesn't mention anything about doing it online and just provides a download link. https://thaiconsulatela.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/non-o-family-member https://thaiembdc.org/consular-services/non-immigrant-visas/non-immigrant-visa-category-o/ Anyone have any experience doing this recently and does it just take more than 1 week? Also one other question if anyone may know. The LA page said proof of ticket TO Thailand which I provided but the online system required me to enter a return flight also, which I don't have because I'm planning to do my 12 month extension once there. I just put in a random date but there's reason to believe they would reject me for this. Has anyone applied with the non-O via this system and not provided the return ticket?

Deposit the 400k and keep it there for 2 months and then spend it since you're in Thailand and you need money anyways. Next year top it off. Rinse and repeat.

I envy your optimism sir.

everything was better back then. Not having a smart phone and maps, had to explore and find your own way, less traffic etc... etc.... All better.

It's a riddle? "the good old days of 70+ to the £"? I remember for a very brief time 45 baht/1 USD in 2005 when I first came but I have no idea what the pound got then.

What year was this? You can't get anything more than a shack for 660k nowadays.

I just applied for a non-o online and they asked for this also. I found some letters addressed to me sent to my parents house and I took a picture of those. No idea if they'll actually approve me though. Maybe they just want proof you are actually able to receive mail at the address provided?

"If it's not on paper and duplicated multiple times it doesn't count" - some Thai bureaucrat.

Do it yourself. You need your wife and a witness to accompany you anyways so you don't really get much having an agent do it for you. Paper work wasn't too crazy but you may need to spend some time finding an amphur who accepts marriages to non-Thais and setup an appointment.

Godspeed sir and thank you for your service.

also don't forget the nagging women.

I will own nothing and be happy. ????

I have no faith whatsoever that the money I'm paying today for SS will be returned to me in 25 years when I'm 65. I just count the 15% FICA tax as lost income and try to budget around that fact.

but in the context of inflation holding cash is a guaranteed lose. In fact the reason central banks and governments induce it through interest rates and deficit spending is to shift purchasing power out of the hands of savers and into the hands speculators. It's the most insidious tax because only so few actually understand what's happening.

SS is funded by current taxation, hence the endless mass immigration. It's a ponzy scheme of course but they can keep it alive as long as they can get fresh bodies paying taxes.

I'm 100% for this. Excellent policy.

My wife couldn't believe it could be this simple and insisted it needed some high level lawyer-ish language so she looked for examples. For reference here's one she found for the UK embassy which has an additional "will return" portion which I don't believe the LA embassy requires as they didn't ask for a return ticket. It's in English though which doesn't make sense to me. I would expect it to be something like: "My name is XXX and I am currently married to XXX. I hereby request he be issued a visa for purpose of returning to Thailand. Signed XXX."

If I had 40 million baht I could afford not to live in Thailand so what's the point anyways?