kalidescopemind

This was always a fishy requirement, as the embassy can't adequately determine real bank statements from fraudulent ones.  The move will force Thailand to come up with a new idea for their proof of income requirements.   You could get a notarized letter from the Bank, but that won't prove there is any money in the account by the time it is submitted for review.   The Thai banks know what your balance is when you make a withdrawal, so they will probably go in that direction if they think it is really important, and knowing Thais, I bet they will.  Some wealthy criminals may be dissuaded and they don't really want that either.  Decisions decisions!  lol! 

What's ridiculous about all this is the police in the USA have total access to your savings/checking and all your credit cards.  Its how they catch people on the run.  But if we want a visa its hell to pay to prove how much money we have.  lol!  Might as well laugh about it.  

I wonder when the day will come that you can stick your ATM card in a reader and they will know how much cash you have?  These pieces of paper are a joke.  

It happened to me twice.  Report to Bank immediately, got refund.  Had to order new cards, no ATM for two weeks.  We had a friend in Pattaya who was a police Captain who investigated ATM fraud.  He asked for the transaction number from my bank where I last used the card, so he could find the exact time I last used it to view the security camera to possibly find the culprits.   I was about to leave by then, I didn't ask, and I'm 99.9% he would not have shared that information with me.   Its police business, not yours.  The perps can stand behind you with their phone.  I would go inside a bank if possible the next time I used an ATM in Thailand.

I wonder, how many other countries charge you $15/day for overstaying your visa?  Most just kick you out and won't let you back in.   Thailand is such a shakedown, it gets irritating.

I didn't see this mentioned, so I will.  I LOVE that my Thai wife never has to shave her legs, so smooth!  I had a girl who could almost draw blood with her leg whiskers in the States!    Also agree with the point about their responsibility.  They as expected to take care of their families just like men are in the west.  The bad part about that is that's where you come in, so a smaller family is definitely easier to deal with.  I'll end with: its easier to find a good Buddhist girl in a massage parlor than a bar.   If they work in bars, you know what they do 24/7.

If you like to meet Thai people, you can visit your favorite WATS!  My favorite was Wat Yananwa, by the river.   Your local nice one is best.  They love it when farangs visit, and the English speaking Thais will come to you and offer you books on Buddha.  You can go to retreats where they are masters of teaching meditation.  A lot of farang men think it is phony, but it most certainly isn't.  You can nitpick any religion, but there are many devout Thai women and they take it very seriously.  It is where THEY socialize.   You will be accepted into Thailand this way, and they will love to teach you proper ceremony AND the Thai language.   If you hang out in bars, they will think you an alcoholic farang.  :)   I did both, so I they put tp with me.  My wife is very devout, and it helped me get along in Thailand tremendously, and its helped her acclimate to Sacramento CA, where she has found lots of friends.

"Practiced proposals" will mean little to you when you realize you are dealing with people who have the power to decide where in the world you two will live.  I thought it would be a simple process when I first got to Thailand.  I felt a whole lot differently when I had to leave my wife in BKK because my Thai visa expired.   They only gave me a two month extension on my 6 month visa in TH when I got married there.  I had to go back to the US and get a one-year marriage visa to return. 

US Immigration lawyers are a lot cheaper in Thailand (get a farang) than in the US.  You can also get a fiancee visa, but they seem to prefer you go all in with an immigration visa.   Its time consuming (9 months at the soonest), and a hassle, but the sooner you start, the sooner she will have that nice stamp on her passport and a two year greencard.   A fiancée visa may be faster, get a lawyer, a mistake on your application can cost you months.  Then you need to report in two years to show you have behaved like a married couple, (not hard if you have) and then you get a 10 year immigrant visa and you can forget about it for a long time.   So check with your lawyer before you get married.  I paid B55,000 a few years ago, American lawyers in the US are 2-5x that price.   I heard some talk a year ago that they may phase out the fiancée visa, but I don't stay on top of it anymore.

7 hours ago, kannot said:

yeah also som stand, but your right som sit most of the time

Yeah, sim sod, it was late.  Did yours cost you too much?   Or do you just like drunk jokes?   I get that.  :)

There is something called som sit, or something, its how much you have to pay the family to marry the girl.  Maybe you should inquire about if you can afford her first.  :)