onera1961

1 minute ago, Tanoshi said:

You can then withdraw 1/2 the funds, i.e. 250K (same rule as funds only method) leaving the other 250K in the account for 6 months before topping up to 500K again 3 months before your next extension application.

If only all immigration offices agree to that rule. 

8 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Medical care here is highly specialized and appointments can be made directly with specialists.

Same as in the USA. One can directly make appointments with Specialists. No need to go through a GP. 

1 hour ago, farangx said:

What suggest to you he is working as a maid .... or under the table whatever type of work that might be?

Don't know now. May be it has tightened up. At one time huge numbers of bar managers, real estate sellers, teachers, scuba drivers, telemarketers, event organizers, etc. were all working illegally without work permits. Now most digital nomads are working illegally without work permits. I have met lots of these people in Thermae and also met one guy with smart visa recently. 

37 minutes ago, notamember said:

your friend needs to get a new agent with better connections and more seed money

What do you mean by better seed money? Do you have any insights into this? 

40 minutes ago, Essecola said:

election is March 24, final results announced 6.5 weeks after that, according to news outlets.

OMG Thailand is still in dark ages. When is it going to change? 

29 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

There is no written limit for 30 day extension of a 60 day tourist visa or a 30 day visa exempt entry.

Just a local office making up their own rules if a report of them doing it is factual.

The problem with Thailand is that they cannot make up any rule and stick to the rule. However, harsh the rule may be, better to have a rule and then stick to it in all immigration offices. Better yet, make all applications on line requiring a simple interview for the final decision. The online application process can reject applications not meeting requirements and reduce loads on IOs. 

15 hours ago, Martyp said:

I got my O-A visa at the LA Consulate in February 2017. I stayed in a hotel walking distance from the Consulate and dropped off the application 1 day and picked it up the next

Did you give your hotel address as you US home address?

48 minutes ago, Pib said:

capability for corporate/business accounts. 

Can you please tell me a bank that uses IAT for business accounts. I Have business accounts in a few bank (Bank of America, Citi, and Capital One). I can open an account in another bank if they guarantee IAT format.

5 hours ago, statman78 said:

My bank currently uses the IAT format for my transfers and it has worked.

Can you please tell us which bank it is that uses IAT format? Lots of people are waiting for that, I would guess

1 hour ago, Pedrogaz said:

English speaking helpers to help you fill the forms out. Followed by an I/O who was quick, efficient, helpful and very pleasant. 

Utterly useless. NO details. People are waiting for details because of changes in immigration laws and here comes a post with English speaking helpers.

10 minutes ago, hapy2rtire said:

Regarding the rest of your post... OK, I am NOT a genius, haha!!! And I am "asking". If the sticker says valid until xx/yy/2020 with one year validity, how will I be able to stay 2 years?

There are two dates as I mentioned in my first post. 

1. A date in your visa sticker (visa validity date)

2. A date (Admitted Until) on the square stamp you get when you enter Thailand. (this will tell you the date you're permitted to stay inside Thailand). 

Wait a few minutes. Other posters will explain how you can use to stay for two years. 
 

10 minutes ago, hapy2rtire said:

hope to obtain a 5 year retirement (multi-entry) visa with $$'s in a Thai bank.

There are no 5-year visa or renewal of the original O-A visa. You can get a yearly extension after two years. 

26 minutes ago, hapy2rtire said:

I would like to ship a few boxes from the US to Thailand for my "retirement". Some extra clothes, a few blankets and pillows, very little kitchen supplies, 3 lamps, 2 - 18V battery power tools, and 4 masks/carved wood wall hangings from PNG. About 4-5 medium sized boxes in all. From websites it seems people with work visas are exempt from customs duty taxes on used household items, but people with retirement visa are NOT exempt... anymore, used to be exempt around 2012, but not now. 

OMG, why do you want to bring those here? You can buy them new and shiny. Just donate them in the USA. Lots of poor people in the USA also who would accept them gladly.

47 minutes ago, hapy2rtire said:

I am over 50, have a "clear" FBI criminal record check document in hand, "clear" medical certificate from my doctor, and bank statements of way over 800,000 Baht X years (in US bank - I am not able to open a Thai account because I am not there yet). The Los Angeles Thai Embassy webpage states if you have a plane ticket, you can drop off your passport and documents in person one day, and pick up your passport with visa the next day (equal to a processing time of approximately 24 hours). I plan to drive to LA next week.

So, you have everything. Why don't you do the last thing and that's dropping your documents and passport off in the Embassy and then collect the passport with a shiny visa sticker. 

1. The visa sticker would say valid until xx/yy/2020 (it has one year validity).

2. When you enter Thailand, the IO will put a stamp with another date called Permitted to Stay date ll/mm/2020. It is one year from the date of your last entry.

Never confuse between date 1 and 2. If you do, you can be a overstayer and charged, arrested and sent to Thai Gulag. 

This visa will allow you to stay two years in Thailand without seeing immigration officials, except your 90-day reports. 

Now figure it out how you can stay for two years using the two dates 1 and 2. If you can figure it out, you're genius ???? If not just ask. 

17 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

but was kept for more than 2 hours at the counter because used the wrong visa number and it was a lady also at Don Mueng coming from Macau,

What? You were questioned for two hours at the counter? Unbelievable. 

37 minutes ago, Sambotte said:

But here she was like accusing me of changing places in Thailand first.

How did she know that you changed places in Thailand often? Is she looking at all TM 30s in her computer? 

14 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Not if you marry a Thai that works for the government.

Small thought for a small being. If you want to engineer your marriage, why not aim for some thing greater than a government officer.

15 hours ago, LosLobo said:

When I got home I expected to go online to Bangkok Bank and transfer my 800,000 baht back to my home country bank. Just reversing the original process.

Very bad. One must set up DeeMoney and make sure they can transfer money from Thai bank to their home country bank remotely. 

1 hour ago, YogaVeg said:

Any scheme that would require me to plant my cash in a whimsical untrustworthy banking situation just to stay in the country is a sad joke and I wouldn't even consider it.

 

So what would you do? Leave? Get an O-A? If married, get an O from savannakhet? 

3 hours ago, Tony125 said:

You mentioned in earlier post you didn't want to go back to USA, if you are saying your country (USA) won't let Thai's in at all that is blatantly wrong. Been coming here 19 years. Me and fellow coworker from USA live here with our Thai wives , 4 others live in USA with their Thai wives for now. Thai can get into USA and I even know  2 Thai girls who went  to school and had business in USA. You seem reluctant to give us more info so that we can help you.You may have misunderstood Im

on reason for not giving you retirement extension and we could help explain. Could also inform you how to transfer funds out of Thailand but to where? We have already told you that you could get 90 day medical extensions which I guess you did not know about, we need more info too many unknowns

Visa to the US is easy and difficult. If one could prove that he/she has a compelling reason to come back to the the home country, then it is easy. It does not matter if the person is coming back or not. It is called intent and US immigration laws assume that one could change his/her intent as soon as they board the plane. But the first hurdle of proving that you would come back is the most difficult.  A good job, some bank balance, a house, a family etc. all are considered in evaluating a person's intent at the time of interview.

 

It just boggles my mind why Europeans want to come all the way to Thailand. They have better options in Spain, Portugal and Malta. I have lived in Albuferia and Benidorm and liked it. But I can't stay more than 3-months. I have to spend my next trip for three months in Malta. 

https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/baby-boomers/slideshows/the-best-affordable-places-to-retire-overseas?slide=9

1 hour ago, champers said:

Portugal would be my pick.

Go to Algrave region. It gets chilly in the winter but still better than snow.

5 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

I've lived in places in Texas and Florida where one does not need a car and are as vibrant as South America. 

I can't live in the USA (except in a few large cities) without a car. Uber is OK but it will soon become expensive 

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Not much sex available there for old men ....... which is why we chose the third world.

Lots of sex available but they are expensive to buy. 

12 minutes ago, Hummin said:

If you come from a country they only give 15 days, and not 30? 

There is no exemption for 15-day. For 55 countries, it is 30-day and for Korea, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Chile will get 90 days.