Mike Teavee

OP - What time are you arriving in Thailand? If it's close to midnight then just hang around airside before going through immigration

Otherwise as others have said, try to get through immigration on the way out before midnight.

22 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Is staying the 6th year on it still possible or has there been a crackdown on that sort of a loophole? A member here said he was told by an Elite representative that you can't do that anymore. I find that hard to believe but just checking.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

I haven't heard that one, in fact I seem to recall somebody confirming a few weeks back that they'd come about 1 week before the end of their 5 years & had been stamped in for 1 year from their date of arrival (i.e. got an almost 6th year).

I do know that if you do go past the end of the 5 years, you must get a Re-entry permit if you planned to leave/re-enter the country - Could what you heard be something to do with that?

OP I'm considering this as well, all depends on how my Retirement extension goes next week, i.e. If I have any problem getting the extension then I've not got time to mess about (Need to be back in Singapore for work) so I'll just apply for TE

Anybody know how long the application process is nowadays, it used to be 1-2 weeks but I've heard it's considerably longer than that nowadays.

Edit to add: The Application form for the PE 5 Year says "Privilege Entry Visa; 5-year multiple entry visa with extendable 1-year length of stay per entry" - So it sounds like they are still offering a full 1 year stamp even if you've less than 1 year left of your membership [NB assuming you don't have less than 1 year left on your passport]

On 8/3/2019 at 8:34 PM, Lamkyong said:

the uk embassy requirement was for original documents as proof of claimed income so i do not see why the service was terminated  like no copies and updated yearly  the embassy could easily have confirmed this with work and pensions uk

I did mine via email so know that they used to accept scanned copies, in my case it was a computer generated pay slip from Singapore which would have taken seconds to pull together but the fact that I also shared copies of my bank statements showing the monies going in & a copy of my Singapore Employment Pass would have helped.

Back to the OP, I maintain > 800K in my Thai Bank Account 12 months of the year but will be using an agent to complete the paperwork & help to ensure I get the extension on the 1st attempt as I don't have the time to go back for a 2nd attempt because of something I missed, nothing illegal in doing that (I hope!!!)

18 hours ago, NightSky said:

To the op, be careful what you invest in because from your comments you don’t seem to understand what is going on with the currencies and you know nothing of the condo market in Thailand.

 

In my opinion..

 

Gbp will rise if a brexit deal is reached. My guess is to 42 level ish. It may rise slowly maybe to 42-45 range over a longer period as more deals are put in place,

 

if no deal the gbp will dip to 35 before bouncing higher after a year or so but it would never goto 23 unless a few nukes or a giant asteroid hit London

 

the condo market is saturated in Thailand and the build quality isn’t great.

 

keep it simple. Put your money in an isa because it sounds like you’ll lose it otherwise.

 

thank me later

If you're not a UK Resident for tax purposes then you cannot open or add funds to an ISA...

On 8/4/2019 at 1:44 PM, Tongjaw said:

Heard a lot of people taking about Transferwise. I live here in Thailand but bank is HSBC in Singapore which is a US dollar account. Can TW be set up for this or do you require a U.K. account? 

I use Transferwise from Singapore with no problems....

1. You tell them how much you want to transfer in the currency you want to transfer it from
2. They tell you how much THB you'll get
3. You transfer to their local account the amount in the currency you're paying with
4. They transfer the agreed upon THB to your account in Thailand

Easy Peasy... 

I've used these guys a few times... https://www.thelimopattaya.com/ 1,600 THB 

But on my last trip from Pattaya-2-Bangkok, I used the little booth opposite the Whitehouse Condotel on Soi 13, 1,200 THB for a taxi or 1,300 for a car (Toyota Camary) [NB I was sat in the Sportsman having breakfast while the GF went and booked the car so I probably got the Thai Price]

On 7/26/2019 at 11:02 PM, Xavnel said:

Why are people here stick on using 800,000 as a figure for their calculation?  I know it is what is needed to be in bank account.

However that is NOT the figure in which a person spends... (averages out to be $2000 /month)

Take my situation for example, my wife has an ED Visa,  I work a Rotation Schedule (outside of Thailand) and come back using VE's... We easily spend over $2K a month ,  sometimes even double that depending upon what we decide to do or get.

 

For everybody like you (x2) there's probably somebody spending 1\2 that & good luck continuing your frequent visits on Visa Exempt, I work in SG & visit an average of 3 times every 2 months, 1 awkward conversation with an IO & i got a Non-O (over 50) & count in these numbers.

End of the day your average Expat probably has a lot less Purchasing power today & looking at the fact that they count for ~1% of the the population, its not hard to see why Thailand is not too concerned whether we stay or go.

On 7/28/2019 at 7:02 PM, Gumballl said:

I for one have coin, but 375 baht for corned beef in a can is the topic.

 

I agree with the OP... just walk away.

IIRC a tin of corned beef was about that (maybe even 395) in Villa but I bring mine in from Singapore where it's < s$4 (< 100 THB) a can 

A timely reminder, I'm pretty sure I've run out so will need to bring some back with me on tomorrow's return. 

16 minutes ago, zorrow424 said:

Exactly....owing outstanding US100,000,000,better paying loan off at GBP .90 to the $,than GBP 1.1 to the $

 Everyday transactions do not apply

Again, you've got it backwards... 

If you owe $100 and the GBP-USD is 1:1 then it costs you 100 GBP to repay it, if the GBP-USD rate is 0.9:1 then it costs you 111.11 GBP 

15 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

You have made a mistake.  What do you expect anyone to do?  

I think this is a little harsh, circumstances (micro & macro) change all of the time and it's easy to see how the drop in FX values + events like Global Financial Crisis could decimate somebody's carefully planned out retirement plans... so whilst we can't personally do anything (well we could, we could stick 800K in the Bank for them), we should at least have some sympathy for them.

1 hour ago, marcusarelus said:

Expat worries - I don't have many.  Insurance could make it impossible for me and a lot of others to stay and moving my wife to America would create many problems as we'd have to dissolve nice housing here for substandard housing in the USA. 

If it did, i don't believe anybody could reasonably say that you made a mistake & should have planned for it when you were doing your retirement planning so many years ago, however anybody who is planning their retirement now HAS to have it on their list of things that might happen, we all know it's not required today but I would say that anybody planning their retirement today made a mistake if they didn't plan for it & it happens sometime in the future. 

20 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

ALL?

Excluding Income in Tax efficient vehicles (e.g. ISAs) all income in the UK is taxed, it's just the 1st 12,500 or so is taxed at 0%, so effectively it's tax free, but the distinction matters when it comes to Dual Taxation Agreements as it is considered to have already been taxed (at Zero Rate) 

"What's" Next has to be an increase in the financial limits (how long have they been at the current levels)?, my guess would be 1 Million in the bank or 80K PM income.

9 hours ago, stament said:

So are all full year 52 weeks the same in terms of pension benefit?

Yes... Every full year (52 weeks or 12 months or however you pay it) gives you 1/35th of the pension entitlement, irrespective of how much NI you pay 

9 hours ago, Thainesss said:

 

Do you have a link for this service? Never heard of it.

Have PM'd you their link... NB their services are only offered at Swampy...

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

No, she just means passport, that's all you need through an agent.

I can understand that being the case for somebody not able to prove the financials but would have thought the costs of that would be higher than 8,500 (15,000 or so) 

2 hours ago, murraynz said:

`not everybody who pays an agent, is bad....i pay an agent, my application is 100% legit, bank deposits etc..

i just cant stand the 'ever changing' requests from immigration people...

the agent does everything, in very quick time...

Mind if I ask how much your Agent charged for a 100% legit application & what documents you needed to provide ?

I've been quoted 8,500 to do mine (Plus 5,000 for a Re-entry Permit) but the lady I spoke to doesn't speak English very well so when I asked her what documentation I needed she just said Passport, but I figure Passport, TM30/Proof of Address, 2 Photos & proof of 800k in the Bank (though can probably get this from the Bank on the day),

Oh, and did you need to visit immigration in person (I believe you have to for Extensions).

Thx

MTV

https://www.worldsim.com/ gives you a UK SIM and offers various roaming packages... 

44 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

I used limousine.in.th for a mid-afternoon arrival last Saturday. Took 1 hour from meeting at arrival gate to handing off at entrance to domestic security after check-in. That included assisting with oversize baggage collection and re-check. Their biggest advantage is getting you through the expedited lane (NOT Premium lane) at immigration.

 

Good value.

What's the difference between the "Expedited Lane" & the "Premium Lane"?

Have used https://www.limousine.in.th/fast-track-immigration.html & found the service (& cars) very good but nowadays I pay 20,000 THB for a 1 year membership with TLM & they take me through the Fast Track lane (In & Out) - I do about 20 return flights a year so it works out approx 500 THB each time. [Never have checked in luggage so genuinely save 1-2 hours on arrival & get an extra hour in the lounge on the way out ???? ] 

On 7/20/2019 at 2:04 PM, Sujo said:

Kota Kinabalu in Sabah is for you. Maybe Langkawi which is duty free.

Tioman island on the east coast.

 Only the northern states like kelantan and terrenganu are backwards but you will not be subject to sharia law anyway.

 

All places is western friendly, no one will bother you.

 

 

Love Penang (& Langkawi) but if I was choosing a place to retire in Malaysia it would probably be Malacca

Next Bond... Tom Hardy, Idris Elba or Tom Hiddleston (my order of preference) 

8 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

A load of bull. You wrote so much so it would take a week to respond to all. I will just take an example. If a Thai citizen settle down as retired in France. Will that one have the health benefits you are saying nobody is without. Answer: No, that person will have to by an insurance.

You are comparing beeing a citizen in a country with living abroad as a non citizen, which is totally misleading. To be eligible for what you are stating you must either be a citizen in the specific country or through unions and agreements be a part of it.

If a Thai person married to a UK guy settles into the UK then there is a surcharge to pay initially but they are entitled to use the NHS, it would be even easier for the same couple if they moved to France or one of the other EU countries as they would have access without paying anything (it's ironic that the spouses of EU citizens living in an EU Country that's not the EU Citizen's "Home" country have more rights than they would if they lived in the EU Citizen's home country)

3 hours ago, Matzzon said:

We never talked about the premiums compared to the value of the different insurances. Why are you shifting the focus, to maybe give you a slightly better chance to come out of the discussion with your head up? Residing in a foreign country without protection is foolish and irresponsible. That´s a fact.

Regarding the value, and that the premium is 25% of the coverage, is probably in most cases BS talk. That might be if a person is over 70 years old, and have choosen to live old age life without a health insurance for too many years. That was a foolish choice to get away from a necessary thing, that the person now have to pay dealy for in a later stage in life. If you take a general and average person at the age of 45-50, which is the age you at the latest should start plan for your retirement, and security, for the later good years in life. Let´s say 50. Then the premium would be about 7-9% of the total inpatient coverage on a yearly basis. That still means, a person that are forseeing and plan their life ahead is going to get a good value insurance. People that tries to run from all things they need, because they cry averytime a dollar is spent, is going to stand with a fan full of shit.

I just hope there is not to many of that kind out there, because I would like to cling to my trust in the evolution of mankind a little bit longer.

So you're suggesting that anybody planning for retirement in Thailand should at the age of 45-50 & whilst living in their own or another country purchase an approved Thai insurance policy so when it comes time to retirement they will have built up some kind of loyalty discount with the provider?

The reality is that your years of purchasing insurance before moving to Thailand will count for nothing if Immigration only accept polices approved by the Ministry of Health (can you really imagine Immigration being able to evaluate whether an insurance policy from <<<insert name of country>>> written in <<< insert language>>> meets the requirements set-out).

I agree that having insurance is a necessity when not covered for health care in some other way but don't see why somebody in the UK for example would take it out just so their future Thai premiums will be lower 

3 minutes ago, nauseus said:

May's deal! 

Let's see if BoJo can better it then... ????