Mike Teavee

Wrong... It may be cancelled... From https://thailand-elite.com/faq/ The only time I can recall anybody reporting an overstay on TE was the guy who overstayed by > 90 days & was given a 1 year ban but his Visa was still valid so he could return to Thailand after the 1 year had passed though he'd effectively lost 1 year of the (IIRC) 5 year Visa.

I've found the best approach is to... 1. Do the legwork & find the area that you're interested in, In our case we did a "Tour" and stayed 3-5 nights in Pratumnak, South Jomtien & Wongamat having already ruled out central Pattaya/Jomtien 2. Find the Condo building(s) in that area on HipFlat, Thailand-Property, Lazudi etc... & make a shortlist of potential units/prices. 3. Find a local agent that is likely to not only have units in the Condo Building(s) you're interested in but also be aware of any units that are coming available soon (In our case it was easy, we'd narrowed it down to 4 Condo Buildings in Wongamat & went to see Som at Ocean Properties who had us viewing units in 3 of them within the hour, the last one we had to wait until the evening, wasn't even on her books but it was the one we ended up choosing so she brokered a deal with another Agent to get it for us) Once you've found a Condo Building that you like then it's worth a chat with the condo management team to see if they know of any units available, we're in the middle of moving & the unit we're moving to ended up being one that wasn't yet advertised anywhere as the owners had only recently decided to rent it out (they actually had 3 2br 2bth units on their books that weren't advertised anywhere else) - Same thing happened with the Condo I had in Bangkok.

I paid 900b in Feb, I did check on Bolt (or was it Grab) afterwards & think it can be done for 600b Same 900b coming back NK-UT Airport but you have to walk past the initial touts who were asking up to 1,500b IIRC NK-Vientiane was 400b.

I don't think that's correct, as Joint Bank Accounts are normally passed by "Survivorship" so the money automatically goes to the surviving holder. This can be challenged but I believe the Banks will allow the surviving holder to take the money so they would need to be sued for it's return. Edit: Example Case... https://www.gadlegal.co.uk/news/elder-law/the-inherent-dangers-of-joint-bank-accounts#:~:text=Joint accounts are ordinarily subject,of great convenience to all. Guy was allowed to take out the money after his mum's death but had to repay it to the estate when it was proven that she put all of the money into the account so rather than being treated as a Joint Account it was treated as a Trust and so part of her estate.

Underbelly: Vanishing Act https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15428452/ The true story of Melissa Caddick, a woman who disappeared after swindling over $40 million from her most trusted clients.

Exactly the same here & fortunately my Bangkok Agent spotted the consolidated entries and took me to the Bank to get the necessary statements to prove I hadn't gone below the 400/800K limits. Would be great if Thailand had an option to stick 800K somewhere "Official" (say a Government Bank/Bond) & if you didn't dip into it you get a simple letter saying "Yep, all good", no need for statements or copies of Bank Book etc... If you did go below the limits then you could revert to showing certificates/bank balances/bank books from elsewhere.

You can update the Bank Book on the Day but the Immigration Office (at least Jomtien & CW in my experience) seem to want to see a transaction on the day you get your "Certificate" from the Bank confirming your Balance, makes no sense to me as an updated Bank Book confirms the balance, but it's just another one of those little "Hoops" that we seem to need to jump through each year.

The requirement was for a 1BR 60SQM Unit, no idea how big the Units are at the Base but it wouldn't surprise me if the 1BRs there were < 40SQM. And a quick check on Hipflat suggests most are around 30SQM https://www.hipflat.com/projects/the-base-central-pattaya-zuiltg

I used a Fixed Deposit account for the 1st time this year and was told that I needed to make a small Deposit (100B was mentioned but Bangkok Bank Mobile App wouldn't let me Xfer less than 10,000B) before getting the Book updated & photocopied for Immigration, did you not have to do this? Also, just curious to know whether doing a transfer the other way (FD-2-Savings account) would do the job, I don't see why not as it seems Immigration just want to see some movement on the account around about the time your doing your extension.

When I worked in SG I needed to have an Employment Pass & condo lease agreement to open my Citibank account, IIRC I just needed the EP when I was opening a POSB account, am pretty sure you wouldn't be able to open an account there if you didn't have a longterm permission to stay (EP, PR etc...). On the other hand I left SG 3.5 years ago & cannot get Citi to close my account, seems they're happy for me to have a Thai address (Sent my new Debit Card here) & Thai Phone number (Which I use for OTP via SMS) so I just leave it ticking over with a few SGD in it.

If you don't mind me asking, what are the monthly fees & minimum credit balance for an account like that.

Pretty sure the larger fine (5,000B & 200B per day) is if you are "caught" not doing your 90 Day report (Though I can't think how you could be), if you voluntarily go into Immigration and do it you should get a 2,000B fine & that's the end of it, No "naughty" stamp in your passport or anything like that. Am sure if you went with your mother they'd be very sympathetic to her forgetting to do it. Alternatively you could go to an Agent and ask them to do it for you, I've no idea how much it would cost but a normal 90 Day Report is usually 1-200B.

Have seen a few condos advertised in Pattaya Tower Apartment on Soi 4which I think is one of the quieter Sois near Beach Road.

Yep, actual arrival date in Thailand so if you’ve been here on Extensions without leaving for 20 years today, it would be 17/08/2003

Naughty Naughty, Very Naughty... Has anybody got any Veras... Lovely...

No I didn't excuse corruption, I said that there were reasons why somebody could go below the 400/800K limits & there should be a process whereby they can still get their extension if this happens. OK so somebody letting a small unforeseen transaction take them under their limit or giving somebody else access to their Bank account could be considered stupid, but what about somebody who has to pre-pay for medical care before getting the money back from their insurance OR somebody who's victim of a bank mistake/fraud, shouldn't these guys have a legitimate channel for getting their Extension? I know there must be a process for "legitimately" getting an Extension if your account falls below limits as Senior IO Officers have the "Power" to approve it, but I've never heard of anybody saying they went through that process & am sure we'd all appreciate it if somebody could share their experience or at least explain the process. Feels a bit schadenfreude to want to clamp down on people using "Agent Assisted Finance" extensions but if I'm honest, the ones that probably annoy me (slightly) are the ones who gloat that they get 5% on their 800K in their home country so it's better for them to keep the money there... No denying the maths but feels like it is taking the p155 somewhat - But they are probably the guys that according to you "Should be Here"... I truly hope you don't have a Medical/Bank Issue that sees your account go below the level and need to revert to an "Agent Assisted Finance" extension despite it not being your fault.

I thought it was only the Government Banks (GF goes to the “Pink” bank to cash her winnings) & seem to recall their commission is 2.5% (100b on 4,000 winnings) which gives them a decent margin over the government rate of 0.5%

Not tough at all, I was used to attending CW in person & the IO taking my picture with their webcam but last year my Agent said I didn’t need to attend Jomtien & they took the photo there. I am the sort of guy that follows rules & regulations (to the point where I attended Jomtien IO in long trousers, collared shirt & shoes) & I know ignorance of a regulation is no excuse for not following it but “This is Thailand” where we know that different IO offices follow different rules which change almost every year so it wasn’t a surprise to me that last year I didn’t have to attend & this year I did… I also wouldn’t be too quick to push for the removal of “Agent Assisted Finance” Extensions, any one of us could find ourselves in a position where for some reason we’ve dipped below the level (thinking of guys who have a health emergency & their insurance won’t pay out or guys who run their account right on the limits such that a new debit card payment takes them below, or 1 guy who’s wife had access to his account & took out some money without realising it would screw up his extension. Could happen to anybody, & in circumstances like those, I think the agents offer a much needed service.

Funny you should say that as she asked me to meet their representatives just inside the door to the side of the main office (IIRC it's labelled for the Elite Visa extensions)

My 1st Extension at Jomtien was last year & I had my photo taken at the Agents so didn't need to attend in person.

Quick update, went to see my Agent yesterday & they’ve told me I need to meet them at Jomtien Immigration today (Office was closed yesterday) to have my photo taken so it does look like they’re tightening up the rules around attending in person this year. Would be interesting to know whether guys who use “Agent Assisted Finances” also have to attend.

I was transferring from my other BKK account using their Mobile App & it didn’t seem to like 1,136.03 THB (was trying to get my FD account to a nice round number) so I tried 10,134.03 (messed up the nice round number by 2b!) & it worked. Maybe different amounts when depositing in person to the mobile app?

Just a quick update, I went in to see my Agent today to arrange for my extension (completely forgot it was a Public Holiday & Immigration was closed today) & they said that they cannot help with the conversion from Non-IMM O to Nom-IMM OX but suggested that I should speak to immigration if I was interested in doing it & they felt it would be possible to do it there. And on that note, they also told me that I need to attend Jomtien Immigration tomorrow to have my photo taken there (last year I didn't need to attend but had the photo taken in the Agents office).

As you know I am one of those people who have in the past been adamant that you need to maintain the T&Cs of your current extension (i.e. keep 800K for 3 months, 400K for 7 months & then 800K for 2 months) to get a new one BUT I am just back from my agents to arrange for my next extension (I keep 800K in the bank all year around but use an Agent to do the paperwork & stay on top of any changes to requirements) & they told me I only had to show a 3 month bank statement (Plus usual certificate that you have X amount in the account as at today) so I am starting to believe that you might be right & they don't really care what you do after you get your extension & up to the point where you need to have the 800K again, & an immediate switch to the Income Method might be possible as long as you religiously put the 65K in the bank for 12 months beforehand. I guess somebody who was planning to use the Income method could test it out, if worse comes to the worse they could always fall back on an Agent assisted extension (or in @DrJack54case use the 800K he has in the Bank) NB, I was also told that I need to visit Jomtien IO in person to have the Photo taken, last year I was able to do the photo at the Agents office so would be interested in hearing if guys using "Agent Assisted Financed" extensions are also required to attend Immigration (I guess not if these are done up-country). 1 final point, I was able to use a Fixed Deposit account BUT I had to make a small! (Minimum transfer in value seemed to be 10K) deposit & get the book updated before getting the statement/certificate.

Or he watched the "Poisoned" documentary on Netflix & realised the least thing healthy thing for him to eat is Leafy Greens...