CMBob

Condolences to UbonJoe's family and friends. The comments in this thread are a true testament of his knowledge about Thai visas and his patient help to a whole lot of people.

The banks don't inform Immigration of anything. Given you are leaving permanently, I'm wondering why your concern isn't taking the funds with you. If it was me, I'd transfer out the funds ASAP as you may very well be unable to do so from your home country.

Amount you do or don't have in a Thai bank has nothing to do with the 90-day address reporting; however, if what you're talking about is that Immigration told you to come back 3 months after your extension to prove you kept 800k (or whatever amount) in a bank, that's a totally different thing (and most people advise to ignore those requests to return to show you've maintained the proper amount).

Don't really know but would suggest stopping in one of the furniture shops at Baan Tawai and I'm sure they can either do it or advise you who to talk to at Baan Tawai. Had a large coffee table custom made there a decade ago so I'm sure they can take care of refinishing your desk. If you or somebody with you speaks Thai, all the better. Good luck.

You clearly have the right to resign as a director of a company and do so (1) precisely as provided for in the corporation's constitution/bylaws and (2) in a manner you can easily prove you did it (i.e., saying something over the phone doesn't cut it). But I know of no method you can simply "resign" your shareholder status other than by lawfully transferring those shares to another person or entity who/which accepts the shares. Whether doing either or both actions causes a problem for the corporation would be dependent upon the rules of the given corporation or the applicable jurisdiction (if you're talking about a Thai corporation, only way to be sure is to check with a Thai lawyer).

I'm on the usual annual extension based on retirement here in Chiangmai and have had no problem doing the online TM47 (90-day) reports until last week, same being rejected because I stayed in a hotel in Hua Hin a couple weeks ago which filed the usual TM30 for me. So, I had to do the 90-day report in person (no issue, took 5 minutes) and then separately had to go in to "update" my TM30 address (and that only required for me to show them my passport which had the old TM30 Receipt of Notification with my long-time address on the form). As has been noted, the TM30 rules were changed 2-3 years back and supposedly one doesn't have to do a new TM30 or "update" if one returns to the same TM30 registered address. Regardless of the so-called rules (which appear to vary by office and officer at times), I'm told the online TM47 reports are all handled somewhere in Bangkok and that at least occasionally other people are having the same problem I've had. And it doesn't always happen that way (I stayed in the same Hua Hin hotel early last year too and had no problem in continuing with the online TM47 reports). And apparently the problem never happens when one leaves and re-enters the country (I've been to Vietnam 3 times for short trips since January of 2022 and those hotels thankfully don't file TM30s in Thailand that would gum up the works). (The only reason I did the TM30 "update" was so I could merrily continue to file online TM47 reports)

Having never heard of the reason they initially gave you (that you were not located in the UK), one wonders why an embassy clerk reached that conclusion. Perhaps a simple error or computer glitch on their part or, for some reason unknown to you, they saw something leading them to believe you were not in the UK. As to the latter possibility, only thing I can think of that might cause that thinking is that you were using a VPN which would indicate your online application was sourced in another country. In any event, hopefully there's no issue in you doing a border bounce in some fashion and activating your now-granted Tourist Visa.

Not very likely OP can use a cancelled/punched passport for any purpose (other than to show visa/permit status and/or to transfer stamp(s) to new passport).

Agree except I believe a fair number of international tourists are becoming aware of the air quality. But, as concerns the so-called "tourist tax", most tourists wouldn't even be aware of it (given the airlines, when the tax is implemented, won't disclose the nature of the extra 300 baht charge).

One option might be Kantary Hills....they have a salad & antipasto buffet on Wednesday evenings and a carvery buffet on Fridays. You can check it out on their website for times and prices.

While I'll have to admit the thread contained some interesting info about rabies treatment, overall I found the thread rather weird. Why? (1) A guy sitting on a moat bench at night (which evokes certain questions as to why) and getting bit by a rat. (2) Then gets a bit huffy because a few found the whole deal a bit weird/funny. (3) And nobody as yet has expressed any concern about the rat.....555555.

Repeating notions posted above and also repeating a fair number of often-heard comments from US expats here in Chiangmai, it would be nice if the Consulate employees would actually earn their nice US government salaries and actually provide services that would actually be helpful to US expats. Let's see, you quit doing passport renewals for the most part, quit doing residence certificates (which expats needed for obtaining a vehicle, etc.), you quit doing income affidavits (which made it more difficult for extensions based upon the 65k a month), and now you're even quitting providing the form letters to assist transfer of Thai stamps into a new passport. And you're spending mega-taxpayer dollars to build a mega-building out next to Index mall. Given we US expats pay US income taxes which help fund you're operations and palace-building here, how about actually asking the US expats what services they would prefer and, then (I'm not holding my breath), actually provide them.

Had stamps transferred to a new passport 3 months ago here in Chiangmai. Besides a copy of the new passport photo page and a filled-out "Transfer Stamp to New Passport Form", they also wanted a copy of every page of the old passport (in my case, every page including stamps from other countries). Was quick and easy and there was no fee.

I also got mine in Chiangmai about a decade ago, a lady at the revenue office providing same. I do recall that, besides a copy of a couple pages of the passport, she wanted a residence certificate and that she did accept a copy of one I had although it was a few months old. I obtained the tax ID number solely for the purpose of filing a Thai tax return to retrieve the 15% of bank interest withheld.

Rather obvious that the "many years" hasn't added up to a fair amount of awareness of the rules. And, given he's on annual extensions based on retirement, the usual stamp (at least as granted in Chiangmai) reads in part: "TO KEEP YOUR STAY PERMIT RE-ENTRY PERMIT MUST BE MADE BEFORE LEAVING THAILAND."

Went once to the Blind School (near Suthep gate) as they offered massage and was turned over to about a 65 year old blind woman who grabbed me by the shirt sleeve and dragged me into a two-story teak building. Once inside, she flipped the light switch at the bottom of some stairs and no light came on (which, of course, was unknown to her). She dragged me up the stairs.....it was absolutely pitch black, I couldn't see a thing....and then hit me with the standard massage outfit (baggy pants you tie, pull on shirt). Once the massage started, I realized she also was hard of hearing too (and/or didn't understand my yelling "jep maak!" every couple of minutes). Not sure if she knew how to give a Thai massage but she had most excellent torture skills. Stick with the Olde Time Medicine School, you won't regret it.

Ditto on that recommendation......and don't hesitate to advise of your specific desire to have them concentrate on your back (best to tell the ladies at the desk so they can advise the masseuse as to your needs).

I've always understood the name stands for "crystal stream", referencing the stream that fed the moat at Hua Lin corner. The "crystal" likely means in this instance "crystal clear." The now closed mall - gat suan gaew - essentially had a meaning of crystal garden market. I've also heard (but have no clue whether it's true) that the there are underground remnants of the stream that may still reach the moat on occasion.

Never got a text message from them but was told (by the gals that prepared and filed the returns at the revenue office) that the refund checks would arrive in about 3 weeks. And they did. Think this was the fifth time I filed returns to retrieve the withheld interest and I don't think the refund checks any time arrived later than about 3 weeks.

I went to both SCB and Bangkok Bank roughly 6 weeks ago. Got statements for the past three years from SCB but only asked for a statement for 2022 from Bangkok Bank (only opened that account near the end of 2021). Took about 15 minutes at SCB and maybe 10 minutes at Bangkok Bank. As has occurred for me in the past, the banks have forms for this purpose and are well aware of the requests for annual interest statements.

I've read a few posts over the last couple of years that one can obtain a Thai Tax ID, give that info and a request to stop withholding to the bank, and they'll stop the 15% withholding. That may be true for some people in some locations but hasn't worked for me here in Chiangmai at either Siam Commercial Bank or Bangkok Bank (I've tried it at both banks....... they affirmatively respond that they don't know what I'm talking about and the withholding continues).

I have no idea how they file the withheld tax if one doesn't have a tax ID number.....but presume it's filed under the person's name and account number. Given revenue would also have the written bank verification of the account number, amount withheld, person's name, and address (all that information is on the forms issued by SCB and Bangkok Bank), I'd guess that the revenue department wouldn't have any problem matching it up.

Hasn't happened to me.....and, as mentioned, just got checks for the three years (2020, 2021, and 2022) I filed returns for.

The "form 90" the OP refers to is a Thai personal income tax return. And one is required to first have a Thai tax ID number. I obtained one of those here in CM about 10 years ago and to get one, besides copies of a couple of pages of your passport, they wanted a certificate of residence (in my case, I had one that was several months old but they accepted a photocopy of that). You get the tax ID number at your local revenue office. Here in Chiangmai, one can do this by simply going to your relevant revenue office and they will fill out and file the income tax return for you. About three weeks later you'll get your check(s) in the mail which you take to Kasikorn bank and you can retrieve the funds. I understand, given the lousy interest rates the last few years, one can decide to not bother for low amounts withheld; however, you can file for 3 years back (I just did this a month+ ago and got three checks for the amounts withheld for 2020, 2021, and 2022). Easy process and worth my time. Edit: If you had other Thai income and you owe personal income taxes, maybe you do or do not simply get the withheld funds back. In my case, I'm retired and have no Thai income. Once they asked me if I had any other Thai income (answer was "no") whereas on at least two other occasions they never asked me anything (i.e., there was zero "digging into my business").

Yea, biggest wind I've ever seen here in CM. A piece of somebody's roof landed in our porch area. And I'm told that billboards and other stuff went down near Airport Central Plaza.. Thankfully, we didn't lose power.....although a lot of places are still without it.