Mike Teavee

Requirements for opening a Bank Account are now (Since March) Need to have at least 30 days (some agents can do it with 20 days) left on your permission to stay Need a Certificate of Residency from Immigration (NB This has to include the name of the Bank that you are trying to open an account for). It sounds like you'll have no problem meeting the 1st requirement, not sure how hard it will be for you to get the CoR, where will you be staying during your initial 3 months? Also might be worth considering that there are currently lots of rumours about potential tightening/changes to the Retirement Visa/Extensions so might be an idea to get your Non-IMM O Visa in Dec 2023 & then hopefully you'll be "Grandfathered" in should any changes happen next year [Though there are no guarantees that there will be changes or existing holders will be grandfathered in]. If it were me (I hate bureaucracy & tend to err on the side of caution when things look like they could change to make my life harder) I would enter Visa Exempt (Tourist Visa will do the job just as well) & get an agent (in Pattaya Maneerat on Soi 13/2, aka Soi Post Office) to:- Get a Certificate of Residency - 500b. Open a Bank Account - 3,700b (if <64, 4,700 if over), NB 500 of this stays in your account as an opening deposit so it's really 3,200/4,200b cost. Do the conversion from Visa Exempt/Tourist Visa to Non-IMM O Visa & get the 1 year extension (so good for 15 months stay) - 23,500b Approx. 27.5K & you're all set... I know some people will say you can do all this for 3K (& with enough effort/determination you probably can) but I view this as part of the retirement "Setting Up" costs & so should hopefully be easy enough to budget for before you retire. I.e. it's not like it's an unexpected 27.5K expense out of your budget when you're already retired.

The Sixth Commandment Follows the deaths of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, and the extraordinary events that unfolded in the following years. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20916306/ Can't believe this was based on real life events!!!

Triple lock: State pension could go up less than expected next year The work and pensions secretary has refused to commit to raising the state pension to match official overall earnings figures. Under the government's triple lock pledge, next year's pensions are meant to rise by the highest of 2.5%, prices, or average wages. Data released earlier suggested this was likely to be 8.5%, the average wage figure for the summer months. But Mel Stride said he could not commit to using it for the calculation. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-66786874 From what I've read elsewhere it sounds like they're considering excluding bonuses from the average wage increase which would reduce the planned 8.5% rise to approx. 7.8%

If that's the one where Brian Cox plays Hannibal Lecter then it's excellent & (IMHO) much better than Silence of the Lambs. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091474/

As has been mentioned already, mandatory Health Insurance wasn't grandfathered for existing Non-IMM OA holders nor was the requirement to keep 800K in the bank for 5 months (2 before extension, 3 after) & not go below 400K at any point in the year for existing Non-IMM O & OA holders - Although this technically wasn't an increase to the required amounts, people now need to keep spending money in the bank on top of the 800/400K so in reality there was an increase. BUT I think the biggest area of concern for some would be a clampdown on "Agent Assisted Financed" extensions (something which Big Joke hinted at in the original news item & was the intent behind the changes to the 800K/400K rules which he introduced) and that could see a lot of people heading for the door. Personally I can't see it happening, nor would I wish it on anybody, but if I was in that position I would be thinking about a "Plan B"... Just in case.

I'm assuming there's a way of searching for your entry & doing a screenshot of it that is acceptable to immigration as numerous people get TM30s from their hotel when they need to do something at immigration.

I took "Agent" to mean his "Real Estate" Agent not "Visa" Agent, the Lady who found us our previous condo did my TM30 (in person) without me even asking her to do it & then did another one when my GF happened to mention to her I was visiting the UK & would be away for a couple of weeks (though I didn't need her to as I was returning to the same address). For the last move my new Landlord offered to do it online for me but as I was doing my Extension, Multi Re-Entry Permit & 90 day report at that time, I just got my "Visa" agent to do my TM30 for me (500b) [Nothing dodgy about it as I keep the 800K in the bank all year round & I know it was done in Jomtien because I had to go there on the day to have my picture taken].

Nothing unusual about your agent doing the TM30 (most agencies will do it online for you) but they should give you a "Receipt" (either from immigration if they did it in person OR print out from the system if they've done it online). So simplest way to be sure is to ask your Agent for the TM30 receipt.

As mentioned, I've recently (2 days ago) subscribed to WizzTV (<3,500b per year), mainly because I'm a big fan of British TV Series & sometimes struggle to get them on my Android Box using the free options (Cinema HD & TeaTime, I used to use Kodi but my box is too old to run it now). So far so good (was watching the EPL Football on Sunday & it was flawless) but almost all of my mates in Bangkok who are more into watching sports (especially Horse Racing) than me have moved to the iViewHD Plus service https://www.iviewhd.com/index.html which is roughly twice as much Can get a 3 day trial of the iView service if it's of interest.

As a Brit (so am pretty sure it would be the same for somebody from the EU) it's 30 days on Arrival & your 1st extension will be for 29 days, though I do recall one time being stood behind an old gentleman who the Immigration Officer did a 29 day extension for there & then. After that you can extend for 1,2 or 6 months depending on a number of factors (not least where you're staying in Philippines, personally I'd recommend Davao City for a longer stay) up to a maximum of 3 years. Do have a return flight (or throw away ticket, e.g. https://onwardticket.com/) out of Philippines within the 1st 30 days as not only do you risk being denied check-in by your airline but there is also a risk of the Immigration Officer wanting to see it when in the Philippines... Happened to me a couple of times when I used one-way flights from Singapore to Davao & returned on a different airline from Cebu/ Kalibo (Boracay). Has never happened to me in Thailand.

How are you finding the Mecool K2 Plus? I ordered one yesterday on Lazada (2,158 delivered) which will hopefully be arriving today. My main motivation for buying it is there's a noticeable difference between Netflix running at 4K on my Samsung TV & Netflix running at 1080P on my current (6-7 years old) HiSense Android box. Also curious as to what IPTV service/application you're using, I signed up for 1 year with WizzTV (3,436.46 for the "Plus" service that includes a built in VPN) & so far, so good but have heard great things about "Eric" so was going to recommend him to a mate of mine who's moving to Pattaya in a couple of weeks & needs a "No Fuss" service, he currently pays 5,700b per quarter for a similar service from "Bangkok Bob", but has had this for 6-7 years.

Be interested in when you had breakfast at the Areca Lodge only I thought it was very poor, but like somebody already posted, this was during Covid so might have just been because there were very few people staying there at that time. Great hotel though & one I recommend to all of my friends when they visit Pattaya & want to be "Near The Action". Another alternative would be a condo in View Talay 6, which can be rented for short stays (i.e. doesn't have to be >30 days) from https://www.dancewatchers.com/ or https://www.honeyscoffeehouse.com/

There was a Netflix movie of the same name in 2021… A young woman seeking self-improvement enlists the help of a renowned hypnotherapist. But after a handful of intense sessions, she discovers unexpected and deadly consequences. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt12383460/ And yes, it was bad

The Tower Season 2 ... After a long-serving cop and a teenage girl fall to their deaths from a London tower block, Detective Sarah Collins investigates the dark heart of policing. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14364876/ Evacuation The documentary military thriller revealing the inside story of the perilous British campaign to evacuate Kabul in 2021 - including top-to-bottom access to the Ministry of Defence https://m.imdb.com/title/tt28279011/episodes/?season=1

For some reason I’m reminded of the Monty Python sketch… https://youtu.be/Qc7HmhrgTuQ?si=40GRrfb5A9_oaIop

And I was responding to your initial (Rhetorical) question about there being no alternatives to the Elite Visa for guys who are <50, not married, no kids, don’t want to work, go to school, volunteer, invest money etc… but You’re right, let’s leave it there… Genuinely hope you find a suitable visa so you can stay in Thailand if this is where you want to live, I wanted to move here at 42 (15 years ago) but didn’t learn about the Thai Elite Visa until I was 48 & at that time was earning good money in Singapore & so could visit whenever I wanted before getting my non-IMM O (which I only got because I was stopped at DMK for entering Thailand too many times on Visa Exempt).

And in no way did I argue against that fact… but you asked for alternatives to the Elite visa for <50, unmarried, no kids guys & I simply pointed out that there doesn’t have to be one & the alternative is to live somewhere else Is that simple enough for you to understand?

No offence but none of us have a “Right” to live in Thailand & Thailand isn’t obligated to make one available to us so if there are no suitable long term stay options available (as there wasn’t for me when I was under 50), you simply live somewhere else (in my case Singapore) & visit as often as you like/can. I’m now 57 (born 1966, does that make me a Boomer or Gen X, I feel more Gen X) & on the Non-IMM O Treadmill each year but was/am sorely tempted by the 1Million THB 20 year Elite Visa… At 5Million I’ll go down the Non-IMM OX or LTR route (granted both only available to > 50s so of no use to you at this stage of your life).

Not sure if our American cousins ever came across (Charles) Dickens at school but I always remember the quote… “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness”. “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery”

Anybody use iView Plus HD? More expensive than WizzTV but seems to have been voted the best IPTV channel for live sports for 2022. Can get a free 3Day trial here https://www.iviewhd.tv/shop/index.php?cPath=6

And on the flip side Singapore has some of the lowest taxes in the world (max 22% income tax, I was paying 12% on multi-6 figure salary) & yet is one of the most prosperous countries.

Whenever I hear people say “Tax the Rich more” I’m reminded of the 10 men in a bar story… Suppose that once a week, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this… The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. And the tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every week and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until, one day, the owner caused them a little problem. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your weekly beer by $20.” Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free but what about the other six men? The paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share? They realised that $20 divided by six is $3.33 but if they subtracted that from everybody’s share then not only would the first four men still be drinking for free but the fifth and sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fairer to reduce each man’s bill by a higher percentage. They decided to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay. And so, the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (a 100% saving). The sixth man now paid $2 instead of $3 (a 33% saving). The seventh man now paid $5 instead of $7 (a 28% saving). The eighth man now paid $9 instead of $12 (a 25% saving). The ninth man now paid $14 instead of $18 (a 22% saving). And the tenth man now paid $49 instead of $59 (a 16% saving). Each of the last six was better off than before with the first four continuing to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings. “I only got $1 out of the $20 saving,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, “but he got $10!“ “Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a $1 too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!” “That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back, when I only got $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!” “Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!” The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next week the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important – they didn’t have enough money between all of them to pay for even half of the bill! And that is how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy and they just might not show up anymore. In the fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Do you know if lodging 100K’s worth of stocks with them would waive the monthly fee? I’ve had a quick look at the Barclays website & it does say “Investments” (not just cash).

15 mins in CW but how long did it take you to get there & back home again? When I lived in On Nut it was at least 1.5 hours each way so I used to pay an agent (who had offices in my condo) 380b for them to do the report for me, would have cost me 3x that in taxis had I gone to do it in person.

No need to leave Thailand... Thailand Elite & will take you to Immigration to have your new Visa stamped in your Passport - My concern is my current Permission to stay is until 26/9/2024 so will I get a new Visa from then or will I lose the 1 year that I've just extended.