Mike Teavee

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.

My Agent just completes/make sure my paperwork is in order before I go to do my extension & at 6,100b (8,000 - 1,900 immigration fee) I don't feel like it's a scam... But I was more asking about recommendations for an Agent to do the Elite Visa process for me (If it costs me nothing & I if I don't need it quickly then why not let somebody else do all of the work for me). I do agree that the 800K is likely to be sharply increased at some point but I sincerely hope that existing Non-IMM O guys are "Grandfathered" in (Yes I am one of them ???? ), be interesting to see how much Agent's "Financially Assisted" Visas go up by when it does.

I have been seriously considering applying for 1 under the current scheme (1Million Baht for 20 years) as in reality it's only 200K (I have to keep 800K in bank for my Non-IMM O anyway & consider that money as spent already). In fact I tried to apply before doing my last extension but the sh1tty application form that the formal Thai Elite Site gives you doesn't work, can't enter phone number in one of the fields + something else that I had to try to edit in with Adobe... Why do they ask you all the questions that the form needs answering & then ask you to provide all that information again on a form doesn't work. My reasoning was really simple, I pay an Agent 8K to do my extension (160K over 20 years) plus another 4K for a multi re-entry permit (another 80K) - I know I can do it myself just like I can queue up at the airport & not use the Fast lane but I choose to pay not to do this (So add in 1,200b per exit/entry to Thailand or 80K for my annual trip home to the UK which I'd do in economy if I can have fast track/lounge access at the airport). Have just extended my current permission to stay so assuming they give me the visa from the end of it (26th Sept 2024) I'll be 78 by the time it expires & that feels good enough to me. Does anybody have any recommendation for an Agent to use to do this for me, It would seem that it wouldn't cost me anything to use an agent & I'm in no rush to get the Visa so why not?

Yes if you spend 1 full year in Thailand, No if you exit Thailand at any point during the year as you will be given a new 1 year permission to stay on entry. IIRC the Guy I mentioned didn't realise this & ended up with an overstay of > 90 days which got him a 1 year ban at that time...

I've been to Bang Saen many times & don't recall seeing any bar areas though granted I was only going for a beach break from Bangkok Are you sure you're not mixing it up with Ban Chang which does have an old school bar area & is somewhere that regular crawls from Pattaya are run to.

It does sound like you were near the Outback Restaurant (though I'd put this at 30 mins away from Central Pattaya ) https://goo.gl/maps/v1oEZGa9Sr5k3Qwf7 Which has a Planet Football nearby https://goo.gl/maps/ccXYVfuKaRZb7oZv6

Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn... Chronicles the rise and fall of former Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, how one of the most admired businessmen became its most famous international fugitive. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15520170/

Yes, spotted that when I was there last week doing my extension & in fairness to them the 90 day queue seemed to be moving pretty quickly. But was thinking that just like Bangkok moved some services (90 Day, TM30, Extension to Visa Exempt) from CW/MTT to IT Square/Laksa Plaza, maybe Jomtien could do something similar & so split the queues across 2 sites.

Was in Sailor Bar (Soi 8 ) last night as I looked out towards the Back of it I could see a sign that said "Immigration Office", why not open this one for 90 Day Reports / Certificate of Residences /TM30 which are pretty straight forward processes & keep Jomtien for the more complex activities like Extensions, Visa Conversions, Visa transfer to new passport etc...