gaviny

Today I have been to Nong Khai Immigration to do my 90 day report. I took the opportunity to ask how long a British Embassy income letter was good for and he told me six months. He asked why so I told him that from January 2019 that the UK Embassy would no longer issue statements of income for its citizens. I asked him if he was aware of this and he said no!

But you had an embassy letter, yes?

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Against the law in the USA to bring in more than $10k (of any currency) without 'declaring' it to US Customs.
 
Anyone with experience 'declaring' money while entering the US?

This is really getting ridiculous. You put 800K baht in account for three months then it is yours to use for 9 months when you then have to put back in whatever you took out for the next year's extension, Huh? And there will maybe be less than 800K baht in your account if you die within the 9 months and not within the 3 months? So what?

Manual labor is not in the vocabulary of the majority of millennials.  

2 million of those are people here working minimum wage (or less) jobs. They are not bringing money into the country. 

Once I deposit 800K in a thai bank I was wondering what would be the best way to close out the acct and withdraw my funds if at some point in the future I get to the point where I have had enough of the land of smiles. Since the funds would be in thai baht I would want to most likely convert it back to usd. I guess I could take the thai baht to a currency exchange place and exchange the thai baht for usd. I would then have to get the necessary form to bring the usd back into the US since it would be more then the 10k limit for bringing usd currency into the US. 
 
     For all you astute financial wizards would I be better served to transfer or wire the funds back to my US  financial institution if I decided to close out my acct in Thailand? How cost effective would that scenario be since I am sure I would have to pay the associated bank fees to change the thai baht back to usd before wiring the funds back to the US plus whatever bank fees would be charged for wiring the funds back to the US. 
 
    Does anyone know what would be the most cost effective way to transfer or bring my funds back to the US if I decide to go that route.  Thanks for any info or advice.

You will need a Bank-letter, passbook just-updated, and balance in that acct not below the 800K minimum for 3 months (2 mo for the 1st extension). 

I would caution anyone not to rely on this. After January 1st the embassy letters are supposed to include the statement that the embassy have verified the income. We don't know how long pre-Jan letters will be accepted.
 
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, just that no one should rely on them being accepted.
 
IMO it is best to start funding a Thai bank account with the request 400K/800K until we know how this is going to pan out.

The Embassy Letter will be issued until 1 Jan 2019- It is good for 6 months- Thai immigration has informed the Us Embassy they will accept the letter  with 6 month validity- that means if one applies 30-45 days early the letters will be good thru June 2019 for extensions based upon income letters.  If your extension ends in July or first week of August- you should be good as many offices allow applications for extension 45 days in advance.

Lovely.  My retirement extension is up for renewal mid-January, so it's now too late to have the B800,000 on deposit in a Thai bank for 90 days.  What the heck am I supposed to do?

Why only 2 nations? Does this not mean Aussies stat decs will be stopped as well? Indeed all nationalities retiring here should be treated equally?

This guy tells them he's collecting monies owed to his late father in Malaysia from Oetronas .Sends all the docos and photos and then ask the ladies for $800 to top up $10000 cash he needs to open a Malaysian bank account so the cheque can be deposited.

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I remember this ; he used to play for Newtown Rugby League first grade,
of course he was only a carrier , one must remember who visited him in Thailand countless times AND paid for his kids private school fees, no other than advertising man John Singleton what a great guy to do that,and famous Radio host John Laws ,what a great bunch of guys along with Gerry Harvey of then Norman Ross furniture chain.
 
I always admired these 3 guys for “helping” out Hayward and Warren Fellows , of course dont forget Bill Sinclair who paid his Bail to leave prison, he was suppossed to come back to Thailand for a trial but never did and they obviously knew that !!!
i imagine he would be dead by now he was about 65 then so we are going back to 1978/79
 
I heard Warren Fellows lives still in Sydney 
 
As for the nice guys Singo,Laws and Co they are still helping out people i guess or has that moved to other shock jocks?

As long as the Aussie  embassy still issues a stat dec, go with it. It's just more convenient for me to keep the 800K in the bank. It's also a fall back if I needed money for emergency medical treatment.

I only renewed my extension 3 months ago. They asked for bankbook copies because I had to go back outside to the shop next door to do it, and they have asked for it every time I renewed extension.

Jomtien immigration asks for the bank letter verifying the 800K deposit as well as photocopies of the bank book front and last entry page. There is never any mention as to what I live on through the year, even though I have a separate savings account. Whether I could live on the 800K for 9 months I can't say, but it clearly says that the 800K only has to be in an account for 3 months prior. I guess only your local immigration office can say for sure.

Now , to add salt to the wound , a friend of mine uses the 800k method to secure his visa . The 800k not only has to be in his Thai bank account for 3 months but the account has to be seen as active with regular deposits and withdrawals with the account never below the basic 800k  amount . This was fairly recent .

When I bring physical cash over twice a year to top up my 800k amount for visa time I think it would be prudent from now on to keep my exchange booth receipts and pay the exact same amount into my account. Threads like this sometimes indirectly make you realise improvements in your funds audit trail you hadn't previously thought of. Maybe not required but a sensible precaution I feel

'I make $100k USD working online,''
 
 
Course you do.

Yes just download Freeview FV app and all Oz free to air is on it and also Foxtel Go app , however you would need a Vpn to view them.

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'I would never have invested into Queensland property'

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/i-would-never-have-invested-into-queensland-property-20180718-p4zs5e.html

Shared from my Google feed

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