DineshR

Hello, I just submitted my application to start social security benefits. I have read some prior posts on this topic before and I remember that benefits for expats in Thailand would normally be handled out of the Manila office. I was a little surprised when I received an email stating that my application would be handled out of the Baltimore, Maryland office even though my application clearly states that I live in Thailand. Has anyone experienced their applications being handled out of the US instead of out of Manila ? Any advice appreciated. TIA

All, Apologies. I thought I had replied to your messages but it looks like that message never posted. In any event, thought I would update the group on current status. Thank you for your helpful comments. I did replace the windshield and it cost (parts & labor) 8500 for the windshield and 1500 for the film on the interior side of the windshield. I did have first class insurance but I was in the process of switching between insurers. It was a minor ding on the windshield that was probably caused by a pebble bouncing off the road and hitting the windshield. Nothing more than a small ding but no cracks. I thought I would do it later but then forgot about it and then switched insurance carriers. The new carrier did a vehicle inspection and noted the ding and told me they would not cover the windshield until I first repaired the windshield - which is why I ended up having to pay for it .....

Hello, I am currently looking to replace my windshield on my Ford Everest and am wondering if anyone in this forum has any experience with this. Specifically, I am looking for the cost of replacing the windshield - cost of windshield + labor. I have been quoted a range from 10,300 to 14,500 from various dealers / repair shops here in Korat. This includes film applied to the inside of the windshield. Am wondering if these prices are roughly the norm for a Ford Everest ? Would appreciate any input. TIA

@burlapMy apologies ... I hadn't logged in here for a while and did not see your question. The answer to your question is NO. That said, you will need to state in your letter that you will cover all of the caregiver's expenses for the duration of the trip including airfare, housing and meals etc.

Hello, Many years ago when my wife was incapacitated and required nursing help, I had a live in nurse who was my wife's caregiver. We would go back to the US every year and I have applied for US visas for actually several different caregivers over the years and they were all granted visas. 1. Apply for a non-immigrant visa. (B2) 2. The application should be made by you as the employer. The non-immigrant visa form is self explanatory and quite easy to fill in though you will need all the details of your caregiver as required in the form. The US address, and the person she will be visiting in the US will be you. Use your email address in that application not the caregivers. 3. Purpose of the trip is to take care of you. You should write a cover letter stating what your disability is and why you require a caregiver and that you will cover all her expenses. 4. It will ask you if the applicant intends to work in the US - answer is NO. 5. Application is prepared by you and relationship will be employer. That's pretty much it. The form itself is quite simple - just need the data to fill it in. I've taken 3 different caregivers to the US over the course of almost 10 years and have never had a problem. Good luck !!

The way I have done it is to set a new email in Thailand. Then on your Iphone under settings, click on your name and log out from your US apple ID. The login with your Thai ID. Then go to the app store and download the app that is only available in the Thai store. (don't remember if you have to turn off and on the phone after changing the apple ID for the setting to take - if it doesn't work, try turning your phone on and off after changing your apple ID email. ). Once downloaded, you can then switch back to your US apple ID. I've never had any problems with any of my US or Thai apps working but I don't use Cashapp so I can't speak to that particular app but I do use other US banking apps. Good luck !

Just go to the Kumon's in your area and ask. Kumon started out with math and English initially but they added Thai a few years ago. My son had been going to Kumon for a while and I got to know the Kumon teacher there pretty well after a year or so whenever I went there to check on my son's progress. After my son started Thai in Kumon, and a few months later, I asked if I could sign up for Thai lessons as well. She agreed and that's how I got in. I am not sure if all Kumon's have Thai as a subject but you have to ask around. Each Kumon center needs to be certified by Kumon HQ to teach a subject and that means having teachers get certified by Kumon first. If they are not certified, they can't teach the subject. Just for reference, the fees in Kumon used to be 1500/month/subject for kids under 15 I think and 1600/month/subject. When I joined she offered 1500 per month for me. This was in June 2019. As a benchmark I remember taking Thai lessons in Bangkok almost 20 years ago and they charged 6000/month. I did that for 5 months and then stopped but it gave me basic conversational Thai. Kumon is much more intensive. I would go to Kumon class once a week usually on a Saturday (along with my son) but once Covid hit, I did weekly video lessons. I got to level C1 (the levels if I remember correctly, start with level 5, 4, 3, 2 ,1 , then A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, D2, E1, E2, F1, F2, G1, G2, H1, H2, I1, I2, K1 and K2, From about B1 onwards, you do a lot of reading and answering questions in Thai. I took a break after finishing C1 but intend to continue perhaps early next year but I am revising my earlier lessons in the meantime to keep the vocabulary fresh. After C1, you can pretty much read most emails and texts sent to you along with understanding a lot of what is being said on radio or TV. There will be words you will not know but then I turn and ask my wife what the word means. Most times now, I reply to emails and text back in Thai but occasionally I will use Google translate to make sure I got the spelling right. Kumon worked for me but I can't say it will work for everyone. As a poster mentioned earlier, people learn differently. Kumon though is a commitment - daily homework that never stops. It is at least a 1 hour daily commitment. Good luck !

I can't comment on the feasibility of obtaining Thai citizenship but I can suggest a way to learn Thai. I approached a Kumon center and asked if I could learn Thai there. I was lucky enough to be accepted into that school and have been going there now for 2 1/2 years. I can tell you that it is by far the best way to learn Thai. The Kumon teaching method slowly builds your competence in the Thai language over time. Today, I can say that my Thai is better than average - in reading, speaking and writing. What does it cost ? They charged me THB 1500 per month. Aside from the monetary cost, it will cost you time - you will need to spend at least 1 hour a day doing your Kumon homework EVERYDAY and go to the Kumon center at least once a week. I did that for 30 months straight and am glad that I made that investment - I can now listen to Thai radio and watch Thai TV news and can pretty much understand most of what I hear. Worth the effort if you really want to learn Thai and I think you will pass with flying colors in the citizenship language test. My longer goal is to get Thai citizenship and I started with learning the language. I am going to get my yellow tabian baan in the next few months and am planning my next steps in terms of contributions to Thai society before I actually begin the process of applying for Thai citizenship. Don't be deterred by those that say it is next to impossible - maybe, but you won't know until you have tried it and crossed the t's and dotted all the i's. Good luck !!

Just for reference - applied for Thailand Pass at 11.27 am May 16 and received approval via email at 12.18 pm May 16. - 51 mins later ! Email included the QR code to be either printed out or used in the phone. Hope this helps.

On my last 2 visits to Korat Immigration in the last 6 months, I was told that the back of the Thai ID should not be copied as it contained sensitive information and that only the front should be copied. Going forward, I will only submit copies of the front of the ID. However, that said, knowing how things can change on a whim, I keep a copy of both the front and back with me just in case. For what it's worth.

Here in Korat, at a local no name pharmacy, I get Atorvastatin 10 mg 30 tabs for 510 baht - 17 baht/tab. Lipitor runs 1250 for 30 tabs - about 42 baht/tab. Not what you are looking for but thought I would give you an idea of pricing. As other posters have recommended, do check the local pharmacies. While living in Bangkok, I used to go to the pharmacies opposite Siriraj Hospital and I found that generally they do have the best prices on most medications and you can find almost any medication there. There are a lot of pharmacies there on one side of the street. Just walk down that street and ask for prices.

@Sheryl and @NancyL Thank you both for your advice. Truly much appreciated. Both my wife and I have been pulling our hair out trying to figure out what we need to do given the conflicting opinions we have received. My wife just turned 43 this year. 1. The largest was 2 cm by 2 or 3 cm. But there apparently were several of them that size and several more that were smaller. What both said about laparoscopy was that, yes, it is doable but they would require a lot of blood because of the time it would take to remove all of them. That's why both said the abdominal hysterectomy was the way to go - with one doctor saying it should be done now if we had no plans to have kids in the future. No one said anything about vaginal hysterectomy. 2. Neither doctor mentioned medication to shrink the fibroids. 3. Both doctors were at private hospitals - the one that suggested surgery now was a doctor that was recommended by a friend of the wife and one who apparently does a lot of these procedures. The one that recommended waiting was a female gynecologist at a more expensive private hospital here in Korat and who spent a LOT of time explaining what fibroids were, asking a whole of questions to ascertain if my wife had any symptoms, and spent a lot of time explaining why it is better to wait. She said if my wife had no symptoms, then surgery is not what is recommended but rather surveillance to see if the fibroids continued to grow or if the wife started to experience symptoms related to the fibroids such as abdominal pain, difficulty urinating, unusual bleeding etc. If there are symptoms, then surgery would be considered. 4. After considering your inputs, I agree that wait and watch is the right approach. 2 things I will ask the next time we see the doctor is 1) should she take any medications to reduce the size and 2) when and if surgery is indicated, then why not laparoscopy or vaginal hysterectomy ? Thank you so much for that input. Very helpful.

Hello, I am seeking some guidance on the following. My wife was recently diagnosed with having multiple myoma (uterine fibroids). There appear to be mulitple fibroids with a few about 2cm in size along with multiple smaller ones. My wife, however, does not experience any symptoms. We were quite surprised when this was discovered during a routine ultrasound check up. The total size of all the myoma combined apparently is quite large - large enough that laparoscopic surgery is not advised due to potential high blood loss. We were told this by 3 different doctors here in Korat. It appears that hysterectomy is the only option. We are not planning on having more kids so this is ok with us. One doctor suggested we do this immediately, while another recommended that we wait and do another check in 3 months to see if the fibroids have increased in size. If there is no increase in size, then repeat the test in another 3 months. If there are no symptoms and the fibroids do not increase in size, the recommendation was not to do anything. Further, in an hysterectomy, there will be a scar on the abdomen. We have asked the doctors to understand if the surgery could be performed to minimize the scarring and scabs formed when the incision heals. The doctors say this is unpredictable and based on the patients skin, the length of the incision etc. This scar is concerning to my wife. We want to try and select a good gynecologist to perform this surgery. We would like some suggestions as to who we might go for further consultation based on whoever has had any experience with this. We are open to going to Bangkok for this and we have good insurance cover so I believe cost should not be an obstacle. Your recommendations on a good gynecologist and hospital would be much appreciated. TIA

@ubonjoeThank you very much. which is exactly what you said. Phew ! I have my extension due next month and I was sweating bullets thinking about this issue today ...

@TomKorat33Apologies Tom ... I never did see your question to me (last Nov ...earlier in this thread). It was a B1/B2 visa. I hope you got your visa issues sorted out. Just some additional info if it is of any use to you. 1. Though my wife (and her son - applied separately for the same trip where we all flew together) both got 10 year visas, when you do finally make the trip, they usually get 6 month stay approvals ... meaning there are allowed to stay for 6 months from date of entry. 2. In a previous life when I had an invalid wife (now deceased), I was able to get B1/B2 visas for 5 different nurse aides to accompany my wife and I back to the US whenever I went back home. The nurse aides came along to help me with my wife. I had no trouble on every occasion over a span of almost 10 years in getting visas for every nurse aide that I had. And they all got 6 month stay approvals whenever we went even if it was only for a month trip. 3. I always wrote cover letters for every application and I had the nurse aides carry that letter with them when they went for the interview. Never had to use an agent. PM me if you need any further detail if in need of any help.

Hello, I usually do a TM30 only when returning home from an international trip. However, last month I did a 2 day trip to Hua Hin and did not do a TM30 when I got home. Is this a problem ? If it is needed, should I just do one now even though it is about 2 weeks late from when I returned ? Any input appreciated. TIA

There should be no problems with getting a visa for your wife if you are legally married and provide all the required information. My wife got her 10 year visa with no issues. You should go back and check the application one more time to ensure you made no errors in the application and also review what happened at the interview to determine if there were any issues during that interview. You should try again but double check everything to make sure the application is flawless. Good luck !

Hello, I am in the same predicament as you. I applied for my COE on the 2nd - on the same day that my wife (Thai) applied for her COE. We got pre-approvals almost immediately and was asked to submit documentation for ASQ hotel and flights (insurance documentation was turned in when we first applied). I turned those in on the 3rd. My wife got her COE that afternoon but I didn't get anything back. I waited a week and then called. I was told that they were only processing COE's for those traveling in the next few days and that mine would be issued only just a few days before my flight. Today is the 17th so I have been waiting now for 14 days. I am planning to call them next Monday the 23rd to follow up. My flight is on the 28th. I'm hopeful there will be no problems. Hope this helps.