buick

where did you register the will ? your local amphur office ? is that right ? i got a quote of 30,000thb to prepare a will, translate it and register it (i'm in bkk). all i've got is two bank accounts. i clarified that with the law firm and the price didn't change. then i found another lawyer that said he'd do it for 5,000thb. that sounded reasonable. but he never did the work, i sent all the relevant data including filling out the basic will form that i got online. so he needed to translate and register it. i don't really want to visit the local amphur office and would prefer to pay someone to do that. i've read that a will doesn't need to be registered but i'd rather have it registered than not registered. i'd be leaving the assets to two thai people i know. my assets in the USA are covered. generally speaking it is really just my 800,000 for retirement extension plus a little extra, sometimes another 200,000 or so. so about a million baht that i could give to two people (50/50 split) here in thailand if i can get the will done.

i wonder if the govt can 'adjust' their booster criteria of 60% to include people who have had two shots plus a covid infection. i don't know a large number of people in thailand but within the group i do know, nearly everyone has had the virus (confirmed with a test). the majority of that group had two shots, no booster. seems reasonable to me and the govt likely has that data, who got vaccinated and who got infected.

i asked bangkok bank (main office on silom rd, bangkok) if i could list a beneficiary on my savings account and foreign currency account. they said 'no'. i need to prepare a will instead. the two accounts are the only assets of any real value that i have in thailand so it seemed simple enough to try the beneficiary route but i was denied. as of now, i still haven't prepared the will. my bank accounts in the USA are covered by the beneficiary route.

OP - i did this change/convert visa twice. the first time, i got everything taken care of on the thailand side of things (letter from USA embassy, copy of lease, bank account - bangkok bank main branch on silom rd). but when it came time to send the money, i had a problem with my bank in the USA (wells fargo). they had limits on how much i could wire at any one time and per month/30 days. $15,000 was the max for 30 days. they wouldn't make changes to those amounts unless they could send a code to my USA phone to confirm who i was. wouldn't do email. at the time, my USA phone didn't get those codes for some reason (it does now). so that ended my effort on that initial try, i ended up having to wait another year due to my travel schedule. i'd never done a wire before and it was the last thing i expected to 'go wrong'. but it did. so i'd suggest you check your bank limits if you don't know them already and hope you can get codes to your phone if required. the most recent change visa i did was last year and they added a requirement for three months of rental receipts.

you could try etrade if you need a back up. more of a brokerage like schwab but serves the purpose you are looking for. i've had the issues you note, ATM kept my card once. i couldn't get it back. twice i left my ATM in the machine, my fault. a couple times, my ATM expired while i was here in thailand. this is all etrade cards over a 15 year period. i used my wells fargo bank ATM as the back up, i think i paid the ATM fee but i don't think i paid the foreign transaction fee. the ATM fees are tough but it wasn't that bad. but you definitely need a back up ATM card, that's for sure.

covid or no covid, sometimes travel doesn't go as planned and gets very frustrating. pre covid, i flew long haul three times a year and probably 1 in 12 was 'a bad trip' (that is one way of six round trips went 'wrong', created delays, etc..). i was generally on star alliance airlines, thai, ana, asiana or eva. when i flew asiana, SEA-ICN-BKK, last july, everything went fine. no issues at all.

i got a moderna dose on feb 1 at bumrungrad (i paid for it). it was in a sealed bag and i saw that 100mcg was on the sticker on the bag. i'd previously had 2 pfizer april/may 2021 in USA. i never felt sick after any of the doses. but did feel fairly major fatigue. watch tv, eat and sleep for a day or two.

when entering visa exempt, don't the airlines require one to have a flight out of the country before the 30 day permission to stay ends ? i know i had issues with this in the past. buying a cheap one way ticket to cambodia or vietnam as a 'throwaway' is how i got around the issue. flying in may with a flight out in sept for a visa exempt entry, might be an issue at check in. i flew in visa exempt in july last year on a roundtrip ticket, less than 30 day stay (aug return). i was able to change the return date after i arrived for no fee or change in ticket price (i was also doing the visa change to non O with money already in the thai bank). some airlines are very flexible with changes these days. i bought 30 day insurance.

i agree that dealing with immigration at the airport is likely the best bet (versus the hospital helping with an extension or going to immigration to deal with it). but i'm not sure about this ATK testing on entry at CW ? are you sure about that ? the OP would likely be going to MTT as they are extending a visa exempt entry ? a friend went to MTT early this month and didn't have to do a test for entry. i was last at CW in august and october and no testing back then (and things were pretty bad on the virus front in august !!).

for those commenting on the airlines flying/not flying, earlier today a friend and i were wondering about airlines flying to/from russia. i'd read somewhere that turkish was still flying. i didn't check that one but i did check emirates. i was redirected to their russian site and it was 100,000 rubles for an economy r/t moscow to bkk. about 30,000thb. i don't know how they manage payment (visa and mastercard blocked ?) but i assume there is a way to get it done.

hopefully, the hospital that 'partners' with the novotel will be able to help obtain an extension of your permission to stay. but unclear on how much help they will provide, could be they take your passports and get the extension done. could be they give you a certificate and you have to go to immigration when you are released. i had a friend in hospital about 5 yrs ago and he just gave them his passport and it was done. so that has happened in the past. worst case scenario is overstay at 500thb/day payable at the airport. max is 20,000. no other penalties as long as you don't stay more than 90 days (then it is a one year ban from entering thailand). depending on your financial situation and your desire to go home ASAP, you might opt for paying the overstay fine if the hospital says you must visit immigration on your own.

i'm not sure where you are but i got one at wellmed clinic on sukumvit btwn soi 23 and 25. i think it was 3,000thb but i'm not sure, i got it back in sept so my memory has faded a bit. no need for an appt. i believe you could get same day results if you went before 9am.

i must admit i had a bit of a laugh at the 'opener' in the column this week. the no drinking for a year isn't the best topic for column on bars, go go's, etc.... i will say i also went a year w/o drinking just due to the virus. there wasn't much to do and i don't drink at home alone. but i returned to thailand in july and in october things got a bit better and i was enjoying beer again. i notice some on here are not sure about the status of the site. stickman did sell the site. and agreed to continue the column for a salary of sorts. as i recall, he claimed he didn't get paid for awhile and stopped the column. but then it started again. i would suggest that stickman go w/o the 'opener' piece and just do the bar news portion. what stickboy reported on his site was roughly the same stuff that stickman reports in that section. now that stickboy is gone, maybe stickman can just replace him. there was no need for both of them unless you like the 'opener' in stickman's column. much of the bar news and such was the same on the two sites.

it can be very confusing and frustrating. when i was doing my first change to non O, my US bank had a limit on how much i could wire overseas at a one time and per month. so i got through all the 'stuff' needed on the thai side and then my bank in USA threw up a roadblock. i called to try and get a waiver on the amounts but they wanted to send a code to my USA phone which at the time wouldn't come through to my phone in thailand (now it does). so i had to wait an entire year to start the process again as i'm rarely in the country more than 60 days at a time. so i just kept rolling with the visa exempt and tourist visa entries until i knew i'd be here for a longer stay. everyone agrees working with a law firm or agent is not great. definitely a last option type of thing. but it is good to have that option. i know an agent in bangkok and all he does is call his contact at the bank and then you go to see that person at the bank to open the account. that is all it is, a simple phone call. i haven't asked what the financial deal is, i assume they split the money. i believe he charges 2,500.

i've done the change to non O a couple times in country. the money doesn't need to be in the bank for two months to get the initial non O. so you are okay getting the 60 day ext to visit wife and then work on getting the bank account. sometimes you have to pay a law firm or a visa agent to get a bank account opened. or maybe you know a 'hi-so' type thai that can arrange it for you. i'm not sure what 'letter' the bank wants you to get from immigration, it might be some kind of resident certificate, not the actual non O. so try to clarify what the bank is asking for and maybe you can get that at immigration and avoid using the law firm, agent, thai contact to get the account opened. when i opened an bank account bank in 2016, i had to get a letter from my embassy (USA) which basically said my passport was real. plus i had to have a letter from my landlord along with my lease saying i lived in my apartment. not all banks/branches have the same requirements. i was on a tourist visa at the time. edit: the 15 days you mention above relates to getting the non-0, not a covid extension or one to visit wife.

i know a person in buriram who bought the moderna in advance, august 2021 timeframe. in the meantime, her husband got two astras and she got two pfizers. moderna still not arrived but now each plan to use as a booster (4 shots total and the other two will be boosters for two parents). so the delay has not been great but worked out ok in some cases.

this is surprising and refreshing to see given the usual narrative of mostly coming from bars and pubs recently given the 'restaurant' designation. the virus is spreading in all places. suggesting one knows where the most spread comes from is a pure guess and likely a guess with bias. in the past, some contact tracing was possible and it was possible to know the spread points but that is not the world we live in now.

it might help to mention which document(s) you feel might not pass the test. and what you are trying to do at immigration, extend a visa exempt entry, non O, tourist visa, etc.. some officers are more 'particular' than others, that's for sure.

i didn't have to produce much to change my visa exempt entry to a non O 'retirement' at CW in bkk. i had to copy my lease, my bank book, and a few pages of my passport. i had originals of my rental receipts for the previous 3 months. and original bank letter. and a printout from my apt mgr showing my status in the TM30 system. my landlord gave me the copy of the lease so i didn't really have to do anything on that. and i used the copy services at CW for the bank book and passport. i didn't count the pages of all this but it didn't feel like 'stack' of papers. i don't understand the handrawn map thing, is that to prove i know where i live ? they asked me to do that along with fill in some other forms and i forgot to do the map. and they forgot to ask for it again so i was able to skip that one. but i got to draw it when i did the 12 month extension a couple months later.

agreed. the vulnerable (like grandma and grandpa) need to take measures to protect themselves. maybe wearing the N95 masks even if they are triple vaxxed (same goes for other vulnerable groups). the narrative that 100% vax will spare everyone from the virus is an old and tired narrative. it will never happen. kind of like me, a short person, trying to dunk a basketball. ain't going to happen. if the death rate for the children in the 5-11 group was the same for the general population, i doubt the vaccines would have been made. and it might be more prudent to do what the UK has suggested, give the vaccine to children in this group that have underlying conditions. maybe the UK has updated their guidance but that is the lastest that i saw. i'm from the US and i think the officials there are a bit 'vax crazy'. i'm double vaxxed with pfizer plus a moderna at age 55 with no underlying conditions (although age is a bit high). so i'm vaxxed but i do believe there are people who don't need the vax and it should be a personal choice.

just to add some data points to the above. i saw in a separate article today (in the paper we cannot post links to), that 1.9 million indians arrived in 2019 and spent an average of seven days in thailand spending 44,000thb. so call that 1,300USD. i don't think india has a large income tax (5% ?) and i'm sure it is tiered like many countries. so maybe one can rely on these middle income people retaining the vast majority of their gross income. just to throw out a cost estimate, maybe $200 for the r/t flight and $30/nt for hotel (x7) puts you at about $400 for flight and hotel. i assume some indian tourists can survive on 1,000thb/day (or less) so add about another $200. so that's $600 for a semi budget type trip. the lower end of the income group might not make the trip but it seems feasible for the higher end of the group. if the travelers were mainly the wealthy class, i have a feeling the average spend would be alot higher so there must not be alot of them as a percentage of that 1.9 million.

i see that as a reasonable approach. who knows what will come next, we may end up getting a better vaccine that works 'forever' against infection/spread. or we may need annual boosters, etc... those at risk need to be careful. but a young child with no underlying conditions doesn't seem to be in the risk group. i'm also triple vaxxed and not an anti vaxxer.

i don't think i said anything contrary to that in my post. and i agree with what you say.

that is just a popular narrative that people have learned and said over and over again. it sounds good. recently there was a czech folk singer who refused to get vaccinated. her son and husband were vaccinated and got infected. she decided not to isolate from them and get infected on purpose (and died !!). so the people that were close to her got infected, even though they were vaxxed. vaccination doesn't always block infection and transmission. sometimes yes, sometimes no.

the doctor part came in with regard to the 'no underlying conditions'. beyond that, it is a personal choice.