onera1961

On 10/11/2018 at 1:25 PM, gk10002000 said:

Wait one or two years after you stopped making high income before starting Medicare B,

Can you wait one or two years or you have to enroll in Medicare part B as soon as you enroll in Medicare or lose it forever?

9 minutes ago, smedly said:

Are you willing to pay 50k baht for the service instead of the current 12-25k

No I am not. 

25 minutes ago, mogandave said:

The income affidavits could be faked as well, yes?


Most people aren’t criminals and generally aren’t interested in participating in criminal activity.

Does a fence keep everyone out? No. Does it keep most people out? Yes.

That's why I am advocating money (65/40K per month without embassy letter) in a Thai bank. Is it fake-proof? May be not, but some body has to go to great length to fake it and it can be verified using Data Mining algorithms (Thailand 4.0)

11 minutes ago, mogandave said:

Or documents that substantiate their income...

All documents can be faked. It will create a new fake document industry, just like they have fake Social Security card industry in the US.

1 minute ago, a977 said:

Centrelink is the Government agency in charge of pensions for which we all have a number similar to social security, not sure what called in other countries.

But not everybody gets pension. In the US, it is 62 minimum age to start receiving SS. Have to think about a generalized solution that covers everybody. Monthly regular deposit in a Thai bank is simple and easy. Have to make sure TI accepts that without embassy letter. Then the problem is solved. 

6 minutes ago, a977 said:

For me as an Australian all the Embassy has to do is look up my Centrelink number and they have all the info they need right there in front of them, but no that is too hard instead they say no more letters that's easy. 

Many people have lots of other incomes that may not be in Centerlink (not sure what is Centerlink, sorry). Need a solution that covers everybody not a single person whose income may be in Centerlink. The only generalized solution is monthly money deposited in a Thai bank

2 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

- No change till today in TI rules

- No announce of a change to come for next year

- None of us knows for the future

Some brave souls whose extension is due soon can test the water by not submitting the embassy letter and solely relying on up to date monthly deposit in a Thai bank of 65K/month. 

7 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

Thailand Average Monthly Wages in Q3 2018 : 14'065 THB, about 425 US$/month

I was talking about ISAAN. Every village has a fancy house belonging to a farang.

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Or even in many cases to start selling up and PACKING.

They want to live in a foreign land and they have no way to raise money (worst case 800K for three month seasoning but I also believe 65K/month will be accepted). How pathetic. Yes, I understand they have spent all their money building fancy houses in a place where average income is 200USD/month. Thirty years ago, when I was searching for a house in the USA, I said to myself I would buy the cheapest house in the richest neighborhood rather than the most expensive one in a poor area. And I still go by that motto. 

31 minutes ago, mwbrown said:

I met an African man at Hua Hin immigration several months ago.  He ran a football training school and seemed like a great guy.  I hope he wasn't faking anything and caught up in this.

Five years ago I was living in Thailand on visa run (not yet 50 at that time). I was chatting with a black guy in Sukhumvit Soi 13 and curiously asked him how does he stay in Thailand? What kind of visa he has? He told me his agent fixes visa for him. I inquired how much. He said 20K, he will fix it for one year. I got his agent's number and called him multiple times. The phone was not answered.  I thought I would call again the next day. That same night, I got a call from a start up in the USA working on an AI project and asked me if I could be in Pittsburgh the following week. Last year, the start up was sold to one of the largest software company and I came back to Thailand again on an O-A visa. If not for that call from Pittsburgh, perhaps, I would have ended up with forged documents to stay in Thailand.

46 minutes ago, mejomini said:

A compulsory proof of insurance a la Schengen

I like the insurance idea but it is not new. All O-X visa holders must buy a health insurance and it is around 60K/annum. I am thinking about buying it. It will just add another 5K/month to my expenses. 

5 minutes ago, smedly said:

you would be surprised - I retired before 50

And you get pension? In the US you don't get private company pension any more. Private company pension (even if it exists and you're eligible) before 62 is a meagre amount. I let it stay in their pension fund to increase in value. 

3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Yes IMO.

They can be done online or by mail or you can have somebody do them for you if you don't want to spend a little time doing them in person.

I will do that in the future most probably. It is not that intentionally I went out of the country to avoid 90-day reporting. I wanted to  travel and I was renting from month-to-month in Bangkok. Though my GF has a house in Banglamung, I did not want to drag her into reporting TM30 and other TI nonsense. Now that I have rented a condo in Jomiten and my TM30 is filed by the agent, I can do my 90-day. I will do the first reporting in person and subsequent reporting online. When I was living in Bangkok circa 2011-2013, I hated going to CW for extension, etc. It was a full day affair. 

7 minutes ago, smedly said:

not talking about other incomes which on the face of it are not guaranteed for life and that is totally understood

Nothing is guaranteed for life, including the extension of stay. And I don't receive a pension yet (who on earth receives pension at the age of 50?)

1 minute ago, BB1958 said:

For you!!!

I am on an O-A visa and I will continue to do so in foreseeable future. Getting an O-A visa is simpler for me and two years of no headache. For the first 9-month of my stay in Thailand this year on an O-A visa, I avoided doing 90-day report also by leaving the country. But I am not sure how long I can continue this. So, I rented a condo and made sure the the agent do a TM30. I simply like to avoid dealing with TI. 

I am only advocating for Thai embassy to accept 65K/month transfer to a bank account in Thailand without embassy letter. This is simple and solves all the problems. Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

5 minutes ago, BB1958 said:

My understanding is that A US Person and a Singapore person is exempt from this requirement - A THAI is not exempt.

Ok, from the Regulation, it seems insurance is required only when you apply for a visa. People form the USA or Singapore, or japan, or Korea, or a host of other countries don't need a visa to enter Schengen area and they don't have to buy  any insurance. 

4 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Have you ever been to Thai immigration?  Have you ever been to Thailand? 

Right now I am in Thailand on an O-A visa. I used to live in Bangkok circa 2011-2103. Did made a few trips to CW at that time. After I received my O-A, I have not been to any immigration office. Trying to avoid 90-day report by leaving the country just before that and come back.

1 minute ago, BB1958 said:

{SNIP}As the expatriate Chinese community grows, real estate investment is also on the rise as Chinese look for second homes in Thailand.{END}

Chinese tour buses are now making stops in Condo sales offices at Jomiten. I rented in a brand new condo and most the units in the complex are sold to Chinese or Russians. The one I am renting is a one bed room condo from a Chinese lady who lives in China. It is good for renters though. As Thai developers build more and more condos and bought by Chinese who has no interest of staying here, they will rent it out and there will be abundance supply of condos for rental. 

3 hours ago, BB1958 said:

such as adopting the "Schengen" system and applying this to ALL tourists. It WILL add an insurance surchage to a visa/visa exempt.. of about $22.00 US dollars.

I (US passport) don't remember giving a surcharge while entering Schengen area. Nor my friend (with a Singapore passport). Is it added to airfare? I just came back from Switzerland and Portugal and don't see any insurance surcharge in the ticket price also. 

12 minutes ago, Spidey said:

"Yes in Thailand but retirement age in UK is 65".

No country in the world has 50-year retirement age. I think London Thai embassy is a big joke.

30 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

I don't follow why it's not accepted by immigration that a Thai bank could (I assume?) provide proof of the cash coming from abroad regularly, on a transaction-by-transaction basis? They accept 800K Baht balance in the account.

I think they will accept without embassy letter. Nobody has ever tried it so nobody knows.