Mike Teavee

Season 3 of The Witcher has just dropped (on Netflix) 

On 6/25/2023 at 1:20 PM, bamboozled said:

Isn't CoR needed for reasons other than just buying a car? I don't recall being asked why I needed a CoR when I got them in the past. True, my memory is not the greatest. For a TM30, for example. The IO officer might also not have his info correct and putting the cart before the horse.

When I got my CoR I was asked what it was for (to get a Tax Identification Number) & was told that I could only use it for that purpose, if I needed one for another purpose (e.g. Buying a Car) then I would have to get a new one. 

As an aside, it seems a CoR is needed to open a bank account (at least in Pattaya / Bangkok) nowadays

7 hours ago, Terry2905 said:

I don't know how to pm you. 

As has been mentioned, click on @Shannoblic name on one of his posts or his highlighted name in this Post) and you'll see a screen that looks like... 

Click on the "Message" option & you'll get a screen that looks like... 

His name will already be populated so just give your message a Subject, type out your message & hit send in the bottom right hand corner... 

27 minutes ago, Tazmo said:

My Thai partner just started using the ATM without a card, hence saving on the annual fee!

 I am going to see if I can do the same!

Cardless Withdrawals are great but what if you need cash & are somewhere that doesn't have one of your Bank's ATMs (My closest Bangkok Bank one is a 20 minute walk from where I live & I've never been able to find one in Terminal 21, Pattaya) or need to buy something online (assuming you don't have a Thai Credit Card). 

For the sake of 3-400b pa it makes sense to me to keep the card.  

Re: Reclaiming Tax, I gave up on mine after:-

1. Visiting the office 3 times (3rd time sent to a different office)
2. Completing a form detailing my pension by answering "Not Applicable" a dozen times as I'm too young to draw my pension 
3. Providing photocopies of every page of my 2 bank books & passport. 

The final straw came when they asked me for photocopies of every statement of my overseas accounts, it would probably cost me more in photocopying/paper than the 4,331b they owe me in withholding tax. 

1 hour ago, Phillip9 said:

I can never understand why people don't buy a fully refundable onward ticket and then just refund it when you get to Thailand.  I've done this many times when traveling on one way tickets to various countries. 

 

It ends up costing nothing, you get a real onward ticket, and you can buy it as far in advance as you want.

Fully Flexible/Refundable tickets are more expensive than a restricted ticket so it does cost you when you purchase the ticket but I get some guys want the flexibility so are willing to pay more. 
 

10 minutes ago, Harsh Jones said:

For overstaying under 90 days, he doesn't even get a years ban. 

For getting arrested (i.e. not going into immigration to sort it out voluntarily) you get a 5 year ban for any overstay less than 1 year & a 10 year ban for over 1 year overstay.

17 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

I wonder why he would return to the Uk to pay 400 quid, that’s about 18k baht? You can get a nice place in Thailand for that much.

As he’s too young to get a Pension & doesn’t have any other income I’m assuming he’ll get housing benefit so council will be paying. 

4 minutes ago, sandyf said:

I plan to do exactly the same in September, just hoping the service is not affected by industrial action.

Not going to bother having stamp transferred as extension due for renewal in Nov.

I plan on doing it on my next trip (either October or May depending on whether my parents visit us in Oct/Nov), will be getting my extension in September & wasn't going to bother getting the stamp transferred as I thought most people just travelled with 2 passports until they're next extension.

If it is going to be a problem for travelling outside of Thailand during that period then I'll probably get it done at Jomtien IO as I tend to use the Fast Track Channel as BKK & don't recall seeing an Immigration Desk 3 whilst going through. 

https://onwardticket.com/

7 minutes ago, gargamon said:

What's a stone? Some sort of metric measurement? 

No it's an Imperial measurement & equates to 14lbs or approx. 6.35 KG  

33 minutes ago, simon43 said:

So my UK pension of about 800 quid should see me fine

Is your Pension frozen in Laos Simon? 

I know it is in Thailand & it's not in Philippines but have no idea when it comes to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia etc...   

12 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Another vote for "The Black Mirror". 

 

Re-watched season one last night and loved it again. It is so refreshing to watch stuff that all you have to accept is the premise, after that everything is reasonably believable. Decent dialog and acting as well. 

 

I have to say I think S1 E3 is the best television I've seen in a good long while. Toby Kebbell was great. When do we get a "RocknRolla" sequel? 

Another vote for Black Mirror but for me the best Episode of Season 1 was the 1st one especially as Rory Kinnear came across as a lot like David Cameron at that time. 

3 hours ago, foreverlomsak said:

Being married does not remove the difficulties in your partner accessing the funds after your demise

Am sure I’ve read reports of guys having their bank account set-up so their wife is a Joint Holder on the account but their name doesn’t appear as part of the account name so it looks like a solo account. 

17 minutes ago, stevenl said:

When was the sub supposed to surface BTW? Can it not be a simple communication issue?

I believe it's supposed to be a relatively short (8 hours?) trip but they have an extra few days of oxygen onboard in case something does go wrong. 

It should certainly have re-surfaced by now. 

There's a story in the UK Papers about a friend of Hamish Harding who was booked to go on it but pulled out due to safety concerns... 

You would think that at $1 Million (4 x $250,000) a trip they would have some form of rescue vessel (like the unmanned vessels they've used to explore the Titanic) that shadowed the craft in case of emergencies. 

Yet again, using the correct terminology is essential…

The OP states that he applied for a Marriage Visa in Thailand, then that gets him a  Non-IMM O visa & 90 days permission to stay.
 

If in fact he applied for an extension to his current visa/extension then he should be given 1 year or till the date his passport expires whichever comes 1st. 

OP did your friend apply for a Visa or an Extension & are you applying for a Visa or Extension. 

41 minutes ago, Albaby said:

I am merely trying to give the OP the details of my recent "lived" experience

How recent is "Recent" only reports from Bangkok & Pattaya say that since March's changes to Banking Regulations, Banks will not open an account unless you have...

1. Visa (I note you said you had a Tourist Visa) with at least 30 days left on the permission to stay
2. TM30 
3. Certificate of Residence from Immigration (am assuming CM IO accepted your Yellow Book as proof, obviously most Tourists don't have one of these). 

We all know that different Branches/Branch staff have different "Rules" on different days & so it might be that what worked for you with that member of staff in that Branch in Chiang Mai might not work for the guy who was at the next counter (or a guy who came in the next day & spoke to the same member of staff), but it does seem that the perceived wisdom of trying another Branch or go back on another day no longer seems sensible in Bangkok/Pattaya.

NB The OP reported that he was able to open an account in Hua Hin, so maybe worth trying different cities where they might not be as stringent about following the new rules. 

11 hours ago, davee58 said:

For the past few years we have always used PT Taxi, mainly between Suvanabhumi airport and Pattaya and vv, also to Jomtien and from Don Muang airport.
Good smart cars, good price, never had any problems.

Current rates on their website: https://www.pttaxi.com/

Thanks for this, looks like they offer a larger car to the Airport for 1,000b + only charge 1,000b to get to to Ban Phe (for Koh Samet) Nam charges 1,300b for this which I can sort of understand as unlike an airport run, the driver is unlikely to have a fare coming back.

We will probably stick with Nam for the airport runs (though when my family visits we might use PT for a Minibus) but will definitely try them out on our next Koh Samet trip. 

5 hours ago, 2baht said:

Impressive exchange rate! Super Rich??? ???? 

looks like they used the mid market price…

On 6/16/2023 at 7:41 AM, doctormann said:

I've read something about 'one-time-use' virtual credit cards which, as the name suggests, are created for a specific transaction and only work once.  I don't know how well these work - what about having to show your CC at check-in, for instance?  Some banks apparently offer these but I haven't looked into this yet.

Had a random YT video pop up around personal security / privacy and the guy was recommending getting virtual credit cards from https://privacy.com/ 

Their lowest plan is free & allows you to create up to 12 new virtual cards each month, great if you want a Single Use card but the guy also suggests setting one up for regular payments from your card (e.g. he has a Netflix card that has a credit limit of $15 so can pay his bill each month, if this was compromised the most they could steal would be $15 and they wouldn't have any of his personal details.

NB You have to have an US Bank Account so this wouldn't work for me but am sure there will be somebody offering a similar service for UK account holders... 

9 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Does it say approved?

Good point... can check on the online site & you should see something like... 

47 minutes ago, BritTim said:

 

It is true that the rules can be interpreted that way. However, I do not think that was the intended meaning. Number 4 is really intended as a condition to apply for the next extension. Suppose you leave Thailand 11 months after your last extension, and did not have 800k baht in your account for months 10 and 11. According to the logic that your extension is invalid if condition 4 has not been met, you would be on overstay from three months prior to the expiry of the permission to stay.

 

Further, if you apply for an extension early, the official will also insist that you top up the account to 800k early before accepting your application. That surely confirms that 4 is a condition for the next extension, not the last.

I agree that #4 should be a condition of your next extension but in this case it seems the IO is interpreting it to mean that it applies to the current extension & you can see how somebody could argue that is the case.  

As an aside, I don't believe if you fail to put the 800K in the bank 2 months before extending (or fail to keep 400K in the bank for the 7 months in between) would result in you being on an overstay, at worse I think they would cancel your extension & give you 7 days to leave the country. I've never heard of this happening, guys who have dipped below the 400K just report that they weren't able to get a new extension (Which adds to the argument that the 400K / 800K is more about your next extension than your current one).

Re: the last part about the 800K in the bank prior to getting your new extension, is it the case that you have to top your account up  2 months before applying (e.g. Mine is due Sept 26th, If I wanted to extend August 26th I would have to top-up by June 26th) or is it 2 months before it expires (e.g. July 26th in my case) - I've never thought about it before as I leave the 800K untouched all year round but had always assumed it needed to be there 2 months before the current extension expires irrespective of how early you did you extension.