Mac98

2 hours ago, Thomas J said:

I traveled to Thailand one time from the USA on a one way and encountered no questions.  However, the past two times, I have been asked for where my return trip to the USA was.  I had to show them my retirement visa and though it took a few minutes with a supervisor, both times I was allowed to fly with no return.  I suppose if pushed, you could always book a one way refundable and then just cancel after you arrived in Thailand. 

You don't have to have a return flight home as a flight out of the country to a neighboring country will do. Imagine the outcry if every businessman had to return home instead of wherever he was needed next.

23 hours ago, quadperfect said:

And yet most expats live on 45,000 bht a month in a big article here on tv. So whats youre issue with 42,000.

from my experience he can live in phuket so that pretty much means anywhere here,live in a nice 2 bedroom villa and even support a thai family . The only issues i see is the buy in. The car,the furniture the visa seasoning. 

36.000 for an agent is a lot easier to get hold of than 800,000. No seasoning required. Live without a car. Public transportation; save the planet.

   You are correct about living OK on 42000. I have made it on 40,000 for years. (I get 65,000 but have deductions as soon as SS hits the bank in USA.) Nice ocean-view, one-bedroom, 1 1/2 bath condo with pool on Pratamnak Hillside. Also have part-time home care (age 77), twice-weekly massage, girlfriends, and other friends. I'm well looked after. As far as medical, set aside an empty credit card to be used in an emergency. If you go to a government hospital it will be cheap enough to pay cash.

    I question advice on TV. OP is being advised to stay home, a place he obviously can't afford (I know the feeling). Or to try Latin America, a place where you are likely to be mugged twice just going to the grocery store. Probably a lower percentage of English speakers there than in Thailand.

I get health care not covered by medical insurance in USA (physical therapy for constant pain) at one-tenth the cost. That's how it started and then I got used to the weather, the food, the low rents, and now good friends. Oh, and you can look at a girl without her pointing you out and screeching like they did in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", 1970s version.

If she said do a 30-day visa on arrival, can't you just extend for 30 says at Immig. office?

I bet they want to get higher hospital rates for farang so they will feel grateful to buy into the proposed health insurance requirements, a program which would surely be expanded.

Private hospital in Pattaya did 15,000B in tests on me and said I should check into ICU at 50,000B a night for them to do further study on it. Not a chance of that! Went to Government Hospital by ambulance (500B) and the doctors had the problem figured out right away. Left 3 1/2 days later in good shape  and down only 15,200B. Paying double would still be a deal for an American. A year before I had a reaction to prescribed medications. Three days in U.S. hospital - no surgery, mostly just withheld medications - was billed at $37,000+. Insurance would run about 120,000 a year and cover nothing but being run over by a herd of goats. 

6 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

Why would you bother going through the rigmarole of an "O" visa when you can get an METV from your home country that will give you six months (with extensions + one visa run) with far fewer hoops to jump through?

Correct. And no need to tie up 800,0000 baht.

The landlord must report your stay. My landlord lives 800km away, when he isn't in Australia. Now what? And the requirement to report within 24 hours when arriving from out country can be a problem after 40 hours of sleepless travel, counting highway travel and layovers, and arriving to residence at 5 a.m. You really don't have anywhere near 24 hours to drag your exhausted butt to Immigration.

On 7/28/2019 at 10:37 PM, Martyp said:

Have you considered getting an O-A visa before coming here? Just check for the list of documents on the website of the Thai Consulate in your country. Where are you from by-the-way?

O-A requires health insurance. At 77 there is none for me. My credit cards are my health insurance.

On 7/28/2019 at 9:20 PM, ubonjoe said:

The 15 months total stay is for those that have a tourist or visa exempt entry and includes the 90 day entry from a non immigrant visa application and the 12 month extension.

For a existing extension of stay it would only be 12 months.

On 7/29/2019 at 6:38 PM, Tropicalevo said:

I believe that if you leave the country and return just before the 12 months is up, on return you receive another 90 days. Hence the '15 months'.

Except the agent said I would not have to leave the country, and another TV would require returning to USA.

On 7/28/2019 at 10:37 PM, Martyp said:

Have you considered getting an O-A visa before coming here? Just check for the list of documents on the website of the Thai Consulate in your country. Where are you from by-the-way?

USA. Planned on O-A but rules changed and now medical insurance needed. At 77 it is not available. My credit cards were, and are, my medical insurance. 

After 21 years of visits I'm considering using an agent for an extension based on retirement. A popular agent in Jomtien quoted a price of $1200 for a 15-month stamp, renewable for another 15 months for $800. B60,000 sounds quite high considering other posts on TV. Has anyone heard of 15-month extensions? My number one concern is reliability of the agent. Any suggestions for this Pattaya resident? (I say resident as I have a very affordable two-year lease I now use half the year. The other half it's a storage bin for my belongings.)

   People have vastly different lifestyles and needs. Two changes would simplify everything. 

  1) If an expat is not working illegally and is paying his rent, then good enough. Export the homeless. 

   2) A campaign to get home country health care to pay for expat/tourist medical care not exceeding what they would pay at home. In most cases it would save their home country much money over that same care at home. 

21 hours ago, lastminutebozo said:

Oh, i should've mentioned, i'm applying from canada but it's usually the same treatment. I'll book a cheap flight out and probably throw it away I guess. 

Buy a first-class ticket out. Most airlines let you cancel those without charge. Check the fine print.

 -If there is a tip box next to the register ask the cashier if the staff gets any of the money collected. Most of the time I am told they do not.

 -A post here says a tip is not needed in a girly bar if she was not a fluent conversationalist. It also depends on how busy your hands were, with sign language, of course.

 -An unexpected tip for a small service from an attractive lady can bear great rewards. 

18 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Ha ha, you're writing as if you seem embarrassed not to give a tip.

As a Brit, I've always been baffled why Americans give tips.

An American friend once told me that service staff receive an absolute  minimal salary and need the tips to make any money. Why does a restaurant expect customers to pay the waiting staffs' salary directly? Shouldn't it be included in the price of the food?

 

The Brits receive a salary from the restaurant, so don't rely on tips to survive, although they are definitely appreciated. All I can remember is whenever we went to a restaurant in the UK, a tip was never given, nor expected.

 

It's a cultural difference. Perhaps things have changed more in recent years though?

 

In the U.S. the minimum wage is $7 an hour, although higher in some areas. But many states allow service staff to be paid less than $3 a hour because of expected tips. In some places management takes a piece of these tips for themselves.

20 hours ago, potless said:

You do need to lodge a TM30 at Jomtien at some point as far as I know. I know people that have been fined for not doing so. The concession at present is that if you are on a retirement extension, you dont need to lodge a new TM30 if you travel as long as you return to your registered address.

If you travel in Thailand you don't need to get a new TM30 upon return home, but you do if returning from foreign travel, even if you stop off at a hotel in Thailand, where you are reported, and then return home. (I asked.)

Paranoia? Mandatory health insurance for expats is likely to come in the future, and how can you plan for retirement in Thailand when insurance is nearly unobtainable once you hit normal retirement age of 65-70? 

Oil massage $9 an hour in Thailand, $60 an hour in U.S., on average. $200 an hour at upscale resorts, but you can hear a landscaped waterfall. I get two 90-minute massages a week at $26 for my painful neuropathy. Helps me sleep. Yes I tip, and expected  U.S. tipping is massively higher. You can see how that works out over a year's time. And, no, it's not covered by insurance in U.S. Even if it was the co-pay would be higher than the full rate here.

Insurance not available to older residents. Makes sense as insurance companies only want to insure people who won't collect on it, like banks only like to loan money to people who don't need it. But how can anyone feel secure about retiring here knowing that in the future they will not be insured even if they have been paying into it for 20 years and never collected one baht? Seems to work only if planning on starting over in your home country in old age. Suggestion for over 75: Catastrophic coverage. It pays nothing up to 100k baht, but covers between 100k and 500k for emergency care at any hospital, but longer-term care only at government facilities. That should be enough to stabilize anyone for a trip to their home country.

My Pattaya condo landlord lives in Chiang Mai when not in Australia. Bit difficult for him to show up for every TM30. A lot of paperwork later his Thai wife got legal authority to represent him and she flew down to report to Jomtien Immigration. A lot of wasted time and money. I don't know why she couldn't report me up there and have it faxed to Jomtien. I've been able to report in by myself since then.

American married 27 years to a Montreal girl. Now divorced 28 years. Four great kids. But much happier being off the leash. The entire family gathers for holidays. Go enjoy life.

I am always reading that you must have an exit ticket that matches your visa, i.e. 60-day tourist visa, exit within 60 days. This totally ignores the needs of those planning to get an extension. I get reservations to match my planned stay and put a note saying so in my application to the consulate in L.A. So far, after 21 years of visits, no problem with them, the airlines, or Immigration.

Topless 'pretties' on the beach would lure more than a few touring sun worshippers.

6 hours ago, GordonP said:

Until two years ago we hadn't submitted, however following a request to visit the headman and finding an IO in attendance all the foreigners in the village (5) were told we had to register. By all accounts the headman got a bit of a rollicking as well. We are only 5km from the Immigration office so an easy target especially as there are a good number of foreigners passing through and staying over. It is a pain in the butt because I to and fro at least twice a month and have to go through the same rigmarole on returning to Pattaya. 

Jomtian IO told me no need to report when returning home from travel within Thailand.