Mike Teavee

I did a Wise transfer yesterday (mate has had his bank account closed in the UK so wanted me to pass the money he had in it on to him) & it struck me that as the money shows up as an Intra-Bank transfer (not FTT / Foreign Transfer) have I really remitted it to Thailand? I gave the money to Wise in the UK and they paid me the money from their account in Thailand so technically no money has been remitted into Thailand.

Far be it for me to suggest what a Mod of the Visa Forum does or does not take interest in but I would suggest a lot of guys in here are from Chiang Mai & even more from Pattaya so might be worth keeping an eye on what's happening in those IO offices. If commenting on a Mod's post earns me a "Holiday", then (unlike Arnie), I won't be back.

Hopefully as you have very recent experience of doing an Extension at CW where an (updated) TM30 was not required, the OP will be ok. I can’t really comment from recent experience as I moved condo at the time my last extension was due so had to do a TM30 (as I’d changed address), Extension/Multi Re-entry permit & 90 day report (it was due) at the same time.... But I did remember reading that article so made a mental note to do a TM30 on my next return from UK (Probably need to do one anyway as I'll be getting a new passport when I'm there) and thought it worth mentioning. I’ve posted many times that I use an agent (for convenience) so looking back through my paperwork they filed my TM30 then did my Extension/Multi Re-Entry permit on the same day, next day they did my 90 day report. For anybody keeping score it was 8K for the Extension, 4K for the multi re-entry permit & 500B for the TM30 (90 day was free).

From Ground News: https://ground.news/article/chonburi-immigration-bureau-tightens-address-reporting A recent change in procedure at Pattaya-Jomtien immigration (and Sri Racha) means that all foreigners requiring a service must have a TM30 form receipt in their passport. This now applies to long-term expats as well as short-term tourists. A TM30 receipt issued before the last entry to Thailand will be regarded as out-of-date.

It wasn't like that at Jomtien until this year so I couldn't say whether CW does the same or if they accept an older TM30 as long as you're still at the same address. Seems the change was made approx. 2 months ago... Now occasionally you fly back to your home country be it the United States or Portugal or the UK, or wherever, and then come back to Thailand. Well, the past three years you haven't had a problem with the TM30 because you just have your original TM30 you filled out in the beginning and that is all you have had to deal with, and they haven't asked for further TM30 documentation in connection with your extension for example. They may ask for the TM30, the one you originally did but what has changed here is you now have to file a new TM30 after your latest arrival. So moving forward, it looks like when you leave the country, maybe it's a day or two whatever, you are going to have to file another TM30 before any subsequent extension. So that is what we are looking at moving forward. https://legal.co.th/resources/visa-immigration-law/thailand-immigration-law/tm30-making-thai-visa-extension-processing-more-complex/ Edit: If you read the comments under the Video it seems Chiang Mai also want a new TM30 This is what happened to me at Chiang Mai Immigration yesterday. I was asked if I had a receipt in my passport, to which I answered yes, but I hadn't reported my last two entries last May and August. They asked me if I'd changed my address and I answered, no. They said that I needed to update and gave me a ticket to queue. When it was my turn, I was asked again if I had changed address and then some details were entered in the computer. Then a new receipt was made out and handed to me. That was that - free to go. My last entry was on 22nd August and the receipt is dated 18th October. Edit2: The "Confused" amongst us might want to google the Pattaya Mail article "Chonburi immigration bureau tightens address reporting"

Have you been outside of Thailand since you got that TM30 only some offices (E.g. Jomtien) seem to want a new TM30 if your last one was prior to your most recent entry into Thailand. It used to be that if you were returning to your previous address you did not need to get a new TM30 but has apparently changed this year & they now want the TM30 to be dated after your most recent entry into Thailand when doing your extension. If you've not been outside of Thailand since you got the TM30 then your old one should be fine.

It’s 100B for an agent to do a 90 day report which is cheaper than a Bolt taxi to/from Immigration (please don’t suggest I take 2 Baht buses to get there). I normally do mine online but there have been periods where it wasn’t working so it’s good to have a backup.

I pay an agent 8,000B (includes the 1,900B immigration fee so 6,100B really) to do my extension purely for the convenience of not having to do it myself (though I do turn up on the day for a quick photo). Some might say I’m wasting money to which I’d reply, show me your spending & I’ll point out where (in my eyes) you’re wasting money, classic example being my 2 mates giving me a lecture about exactly this whilst puffing away on their 150B per day habit (6,100B pa wouldn’t even cover a pack a week). End of the day it’s “To each his own”.

I recommend Bell Bus, great service & IIRC only 190B. But the bus between where you want to go & the Bus station is an extra 110B, worth it IMHO as it turns it into a door-2-door service.

What about Princess Anne? Does she not get a look-in?

Thai Time 😂

Everybody gets a 60K personal allowance & the 1st 150K is taxed at 0% so the bare minimum would be 210K Then add on additional allowances for things like > 65 (190K), buy health insurance (25K), Life assurance (100K), have kids (30K each) etc…

I agree (& have done) but that’s not for somebody who just wants something to work out of the box 😊

I bought a Mecool 2 Plus from Lazada for 2,180B I added WizzTV (approx 3,600B for 1 year for the Plus version with built in VPN) & now have more movies/TV Shows/Live events than I can shake a stick at, worth every satang 👍🏻 I do keep a Netflix subscription (though downgraded from 419 Premium to 169B… The 250B per month saving goes a long way to paying for WizzTV) so the GF still has subtitles when we’re watching movies. The only downside of the box I can see for you is the Browser is a bit limited & as it’s Android TV you can’t just install Chrome on it but the inbuilt web browser has been fine for the couple of times I’ve wanted to use it. Edit: WizzTV does come with approx 600 Netflix movies/shows with more being added all the time, but GF was well into a couple of Thai Soap dramas at the time I bought the box so switching that off was more than my life’s worth…

I understand the 190K (> 65), 60K(personal allowance for everybody) & 150k (taxed at 0%) but can I ask what the 100K allowance is for? I get 60K +25K (Health Insurance) +150K = 235K

Hardly surprising given your thread on wanting to find a “Gringo Ghetto” where you can live without having to interact with Thais… Cleary your idea of what makes a place good to live in wouldn’t be shared by the vast majority of people.

That's the easy part... As the bus pulls into Pattaya Nua Bus Station book a Bolt it will be there in 2-3 mins. Approx. 70-80B (for a Car) to Wongamat Beach so I would imagine similar into Central Pattaya, cheaper if you're ok with taking a motorbike. Failing that there's a group of Baht Bus drivers there that will drop you off at your hotel for 50B (100B if you're going to Jomtien), but you sometimes have to wait for these to fill up (usually not a problem when the Bangkok Buses come in).

Me & all of my mates found our way to Pattaya after living in Bangkok for a few years (I came down here 1st as my Partner had close family living in Rayong & we wanted to get out of the city & live by the sea), none of us moved here for the Mongering. It's like judging Bangkok by Soi Nana / Cowboy etc..., or Singapore by Geylang / Orchard Towers (Now gone) etc... Yes it's there if that's what you're looking for but it's not hard to avoid if you're not looking for it. Again, you're talking about one small part of Pattaya City, out by the lakes there are some really nice houses, I live in a really nice beach front condo, there's something for everybody here.

A couple of mates have houses near Lake Mabprachan & it's really nice around there but I prefer to live near the beach so live in Wongamat & it's perfect (for me). There are no bars here where "All Expats" spend their days drinking (& no "Girlie" bars), people just live a normal Expat retired life (whatever that is) with maybe the odd trip into town, for me that means 1-2 times per month to catch up with friends over a few "Mad Beers" but most of the time we're out in couples having something to eat or will have a guys night out playing pool at a bar around the Lake, there's a fair few decent places to choose from. Oh & as most of us live here with our long term partners, we don't "Indulge" in the other thing that people who don't know Pattaya think every guy in Pattaya is doing everyday... Pattaya a great city to live in if you actually live here & are not just here on a monger holiday.

As others have said, 1,700b is reasonable for a door-2-door service booked by a hotel but if you want to do it cheaper you could book it yourself with Cherry Taxi Services, prices start at 1,400b from DMK... [The hotel will be using somebody like this & pocketing the 300b]. https://cherrytaxiservice.com/services-rates/

Watching today's Fabulous 103FM News report & there's a story in there that people have been reporting Immigration (am guessing Chonburi/Jomtien) asking for proof that Income has been taxed at source when doing retirement extensions (presumably using the 65K Income Method)... 2 minutes in... It does go on to say that it's unlikely any income taxed at source will be taxed again BUT makes no mention of what happens if the income hasn't been taxed (Obviously if it is Income & hasn't been taxed then the person remitting the money should have filed a Tax Return & paid tax on it in Thailand).

That doesn't say that everybody will have to file a Tax Return, it just highlights what I said about income earned from 1/1/24 being Tax Assessable if remitted in later years.

Do you have a link to where that was said? Fact is the only thing that has changed is that income earned from 1/1/24 will now be tax assessable any time in the future (assuming you're Tax Resident) instead of the current "Rules" which says it would only be tax assessable if remitted in 2024. If you do not remit anything that would be Tax assessable this year then there is no need to file a Tax Return in 2024 & if you do not remit anything that is Tax assessable income in 2024, there will be no need to file a tax return in 2025... and so on... Am sure you could file a Nil Return if you wanted to but there is absolutely no need to unless your investigated by the Revenue & if you've not remitted anything that is Tax assessable then you've nothing to worry about.