onera1961

23 minutes ago, zydeco said:

Right about that. It's going to be big change for some people. It will push some on the edge to being pushed off the cliff.

How unlucky they are after winning a genetic lottery, they still have to rely on their life/death situation on the vagaries of Thai immigration.

49 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think pension is probably the best wording for what it states in Thai. Some words or phrases are difficult to translate exactly. Even the word pension can mean more than one thing. In some languages and countries per diem or a living allowance is called a pension.

I agree with @ubonjoe. It is not always possible to translate the Thai police order into an exact English language lawyer written document. I cannot read or write Thai language but I believe it's based on Pali and/or Sanskrit where there are no spaces between words and no strict subject/verb grammatical order. Scholars are still as of now trying to interpret ancient Pali/Sanskrit.

But it leads to different interpretation by IOs and when they communicate with native english speakers. As pension (as we understand in the West) was never meant to be a requirement for extension, I think that will stand.

Nothing changes as it was before except how the TI will verify "monthly income" for those countries whose embassies have threw their citizens under the bus.

Kudos to TI to accommodate these genetic lottery winners into Thailand by devising a new path of depositing money every month into their account. If the can't, they can always resort to agents. I agree that before they could cheat by paying $50 to their countries's coffers and now you have to cheat by sharing the some of your money with the agents and TIs

And don't forget it is still a police state where the meaning of true democracy and the rule of laws will take years to get into people's head.
 

7 hours ago, dontoearth said:

I consider a system this complicated (compared to the top 15 retiree spots all over the world) as an invitation to leave.  

Thailand will be saved from its perpetual dependency on retirees and become like today's Malaysia by 2032. 

6 hours ago, laouch said:

Thank you all, I will just do a proper tourist visa by plane with a way back by bus (Laos or Penang I think) with 20k or more in my pocket, I not been here more than 3 months a year the last 2 years so it should be fine. Thank you again

Absolutely no problem getting a second T visa and entering Thailand. I doubt if the IO will ask you any questions, but if they do, just have a reason ready why you're entering the second time immediately after you stayed in Thailand for 90-day. 

36 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

Absolutely spot on. Heretofore, Thailand has had a unique advantage among retirement destinations. They just threw that advantage away in a fit of imperial hubris.

What unique advantage did Thailand had that, for example, Panama or Costa Rica does not have. Just curious. 

13 minutes ago, kannot said:

IS  Thai  Thai  Elite 20 year visa  now  looking a  better long  term  prospect?

If you're more than 50, Thai elite is wastage of money. You can get an O-A and come and go easy for two years. No questions asked. 

11 minutes ago, Lovethailandelite said:

Good luck getting your extension when TI inspect your bank book and account, looking at the 12 proceeding months of income and how it's been manipulated. Do you think they are stupid and are not aware of this?

Deposit 65K in Bank1's account on the first week ok the month. Take out 15K baht every week and deposit 5K in bank2's account. Send a deeMoney transfer every week from bank2's account to your foreign bank. Now you have 20K to play round robin game every month. Fees 150x4 = 600 baht ($20) every month. Agent charges $2000 baht every month. DeeMoney wins ????

 

13 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

Social Security payments, state retirement and annuities are yours to spend however you choose.

All my incomes are mine to spend however I choose. ????

11 minutes ago, Lovethailandelite said:

Transferwise deposits show as incoming foreign transfers if going direct to a Bangkok bank account. Other banks and institutions, it shows as a local transfer.
All due to Bangkok bank being the clearing house for incoming foreign transfers.

New rush to open Bangkok Bank accounts. 

18 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

No one yet got an FET using transferwise?

All my Bangkok bank deposits except 2 last year came "international transfer". I do transfer almost every week for 15K. 

Excellent report @Pib and thanks for enlightening about QR code process. It seems to me the QR code is the way to go for transferring out.

I did some research on currency cloud and they are the fintech borderless payment gateway. DeeMoney is the platform using their APIs. 

I will set up an account (if possible online) and do a transfer and see how it works out. Thai banks will be dinosaurs if they cannot keep up with new technologies. 

Now I guess it will be used by some to play round robin game if TI adopts monthly deposit instead of "income letter" ????

10 minutes ago, amexpat said:

The Bangkok Bank account statement identifies it as "International Transfer".

I transfer using Transferwise only. Last year all my transfers show "international transfer" except two. I transfer almost every week 15K. I am closely watching this year but it just started and made only one transfer that arrived yesterday and shows "international transfer". 

3 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

So my question is - with the proposed changes, do the transfers have to be monthly, or can it be averaged out over the year?

No one knows. If it averages over the year, than seasoning has no meaning. They have to transfer only 65x12 (780k Baht)

4 hours ago, luckyluke said:

An agent can take care of it without problems ( so far ).

Agents will always do using the 400/800K method. They will never use monthly method. 

7 hours ago, Lovethailandelite said:

The last table of expats residing in Thailand if I remember correctly, believe it or not showed the Italians to have the highest concentration here.

After the three neighboring countries, the largest concentration of expats are Chinese followed by UK, Japanese, Indians, US, Germany, France, etc. expats include people legally in Thailand including work permits excluding citizens and PR holders

3 hours ago, mikehongpark said:

I felt that I needed to give the kids a complete package.

Not sure how old you're but you don't need a wife to have kids. I have kids with my Thai girl friend of fourteen years. What does it mean by complete package? You can live with her without getting married. I am not sure why marriage is so essentials. I have never felt the need for marriage and my girl friend always says "mai pan lai" as she never intends to go to the USA. If possible live with her on a modest income (don't brag about your incomes), have kids, and see how things pan out in the next few years. 

On 12/23/2018 at 7:55 PM, jackdd said:

n most places that's possible. In Thailand the buying price of a property usually equals about 15-20 years

Correct. You buy a condo or a house only if you know you're going to bequeath the asset to your progeny, wife, etc. Otherwise, rent is always preferable. 

Having said that, if the GF provides the land, there is another reason to build a house. 

I have a GF for fourteen years and have a daughter with her. I have bought her a condo in Bangkok twelve years ago just after my daughter was born. She now rents the condo as recently I bought her a house because I could afford as I'm financially retirement secured for my retirement. 

My opinion is unless a single person is financially secured in retirement, they should not invest in any property in Thailand because liquid asset gives you more freedom. 

I still maintain a rented condo in Pattaya for me to relax and spend time alone. 

 

On 12/29/2018 at 10:31 PM, balo said:

Just curious, how much did you pay ? 

3,000 baht

18 minutes ago, zydeco said:

What legal implications? Thailand is going to sue the US government because a few odd Americans living in Thailand under Thai law lied on a US embassy notarized document saying the person claimed to have the money?

Even if there is a possibility of one person lying (at least I know one person is lying for a decade and I suppose almost all his friends are doing the same as they told me how easy and hassle free it was before I got my O-A), why should the embassy take the risk of being an accomplice in their lying?