Mike Teavee

What folks with an income of $80,000 a year? I don’t earn that much (am too young to draw a pension so live from savings & passive income) but $6,500 pm wouldn’t go very far in places like the South of France.

It was 5-6 years ago but I’m pretty sure my Brother & his spouse were pronounced “Husband & Husband”… That was their choice, am sure others would prefer something different.

Just for clarity (as I did mention heterocentric in my post above) I didn't take any offence by your point about taking an heterocentric POV, in fact it made me realise that I was looking at it through that lens & when I thought about it (especially in the context of my brother's life) I realised that it can't simply be looked at in the same way. No offence taken (or intended) here at all ????

I can see your point about how this could be limited to Thai-Thai same sex marriages & when you think about it that would fulfil their election promise with zero impact on things like immigration policies. Same can’t be said for Thai-Foreign same sex marriages & looking at it impartially it does feel like a lot of work for next to no gains for the government so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they never get around to doing it. Hoping I’m proved wrong… PS I understand your point about taking a heterocentric view & when I read that I thought about my Brother who is in a same sex marriage & neither he nor his spouse have the “Traditional” male or female role so it would be impossible for them to go to Immigration to say “I’m the Husband, He’s the Wife”… It does feel like they’ll have to come up with a completely different take on the Marriage Visa to cater for this, let’s just hope that in their tinkering with the laws they also make it better for existing Marriage Visa holders (unfortunately their track record shows that when it comes to immigration policies, their tinkering normally make things worse)

I don’t think it kicks in until 26th June (I don’t fancy sending the GF 51K to check ????) but I haven’t been into the bank to do the setup & have noticed that I’m unable to increase my daily limits on the app now. Which means I can’t send the GF 51K anyway ????

That article is from June 2022 so (obviously) doesn’t take into consideration the Banking Regulation changes made in March 2023 which seem to have resulted in… 1. You have to have an actual Visa (cannot open accounts on Visa Exempt anymore). 2. you have to have at least 30 days remaining on your permission to stay (can extend Tourist visa then open account same day) - I believe this rules out Visa On Arrival (Indian, Chinese etc… passport holders) as these are only valid for 15 days & (IIRC) cannot get 30 day extensions. 3. You need to have a Residency Certificate (which in Bangkok/CW means you have to have filed a TM47 90 Day Report).

I don't know if they will make it harder, but TiT, can you see them making it any easier? What I think will be interesting is the finer details of how it works, by this I mean currently a Foreign Male marrying a Thai Female has very different Immigration obligations/rights than a Foreign Female marrying a Thai Male.... My best guess is that they will go down the route of a Foreign/Thai Male-Male or Female-Female marriage would get the same immigration status as is currently afforded Foreign Male + Thai Female, but it would be great to see them leveling the playing field on this at the same time... No skin in the game as I'm a dyed in the wool Hetro Bachelor & even with any positive Immigration changes can't see that changing, but I do think the current rules are harsh against Foreign males. Apologies if anything in this post offends anybody, certainly not my intention I'm just genuinely curious as to how this will play out & FWIW I've no doubt that it will happen in the next couple of years.

Can also get the 600K 5 year TE Visa & before the 5 years is up pay another 400K to upgrade it to the 1Million 20 year visa. By doing this not only can you delay having to lay out the full 1 Million but you also get all the perks of the 5 year visa (Airport transfers, golf, spas, massage etc...) for the 1st 5 years.

I got one on my Non-IMM O “Retirement” but again, this wouldn’t help the OP anyway.

Answer from one of Pattaya Visa Agents about opening a Bank account as a "Tourist"... If you have 60 days normal tourist E-visa, you can open bank account, but you have to have 30 days left on your visa. If you extend 30 days, the bank account can be opened the same day. With only entry stamp bank account can't be opened. Bank wants your visa document. Again, this due to the the Banking Regulation changes that came into effect March 2023, any experiences (Including my own) of opening accounts before then are not really relevant.

Yep... I already posted a couple of agents (Mot's & Majestic) that he could try as he was already in country, but other guys who are currently planning to go down the conversion route may want to consider getting the Non-IMM O visa before trying to open a bank account instead. As an aside, that's how I got mine (from Penang) But that was more because I was working in SG & only able to spend 3-5 days in Thailand at a time so it was lot easier to do a long weekend in Penang than try to do a conversion - I did already have the Bank Account (3K via Siam Legal in Bangkok).

Problem is the OP doesn't have a Bank Account to get his "Retirement" Visa so is in a "Chicken & Egg" situation where he can't get one without the other. It used to be Bank's understood this & would open you an account to enable you to seed the money to convert to your initial Non-IMM O without leaving Thailand, but in March this year Bank's were instructed to tighten up their account opening procedures which has made it even more difficult (read expensive) to open an account to start the visa conversion process... If it were me, I would... Get my Non-IMM O visa in my home Country (A bit late for the OP as he's already in Thailand) or a country near Thailand (Laos seems to be the go-2 place at the moment). Enter Thailand on the 90 Day Non-IMM O & immediately use it to open a bank account Seed the 800K Get the 1 year extension

Thanks Jack, I updated my post to include the requirements for getting a bank account & these also include proof of address but I believe a Certificate of Residence is easier to get at Jomtien IO than CW... OP another agent you might want to try is Majesty Visa Service Jomtien, who reported (on another forum) opening a Bank Account for somebody in exactly the same circumstances (wanted it for Non-IMM O) 3 weeks ago... Not sure what they charge for the Bank Account but the Certificate of Residency is 700b ( a bit expensive but if it helps you to get your bank account then worth it). Contact details: Phone: 0626464394 Whatsapp: +358503444603 email: [email protected]

If you fancy a trip to Pattaya then there have been recent reports of people using Agents to open an account (IIRC costs 3-5K) E.g. Mots is offering the service for 4K https://www.mots-services.com/mots-services1 but you will need 30 days left on your permission to stay (They can help with extensions at the same time). OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT. FEE 4000 BAHT Banking Regulations have changed since March 2023. If you are a tourist, you must now have a minimum of 30 days left on your visa to open a Bank Account. Mots Services can assist you to extend your visa if you need to do this to have the correct amount of time to a open Bank Account. To open the account we need your Passport, 2 passport photos, proof of residence in Pattaya and you need a home country driving licence or a Thai driving licence. You'll need to check with them whether a TM30 from a hotel will be enough for proof of residence or whether you'll need a cert from Immigration.

LOL... I don't hang around in Bars & almost everybody I know who's here on a "Retirement Visa", uses the 800K in the bank method (Some have it, some don't). But it is time to move along so I'll apologise again if I shared incorrect information, the point of the post was supposed to be to highlight the impact that the removal of AUS, US, UK Income Letters had on some people...

Yes... I use the Agent & have the 800K in the bank (costs 8K) they use the same agent but don't have the 800K in the bank (costs 12.5K).

Ok so having re-read the OP I realised that it could/should be read as MS closing an account registered with them under a Gmail address. Aside from a complete close down of service, I have never known MS to (genuinely) write to Users saying that they would be closing their accounts so I obviously (skim) read it as MS were threatening to close their Gmail account. OTL??? - I did Google & it came back with One True Love https://slang.net/meaning/otl#:~:text=%2B6-,One true love,adoration for their favorite celebrities. ? I'm assuming you didn't mean this. Maybe I should have Bing'd it...

Can only go off the 2 people I know who xfer > 65K pm so could use the income method but the (Pattaya) agents they asked told them they would only help if they use the 800K in the bank method. Hardly a large sample I know, if you know from personal experience that Agents will help facilitate you with Income letters / xfer > 65K pm then obviously I was wrong (but Not disgusting).

LMAO... GMail is Google's email platform ???? Lamest attempt at a scam I've ever seen ????

There is nothing illegal in using an agent to facilitate your extension if you meet all of the requirements (e.g. have the 800K in the bank). But what did cause a "Harsh Punishment" were the guys who were fraudulently getting letters from their embassies claiming to earn 65K+ per month which resulted in the AUS, US & UK embassies no longer providing Income Letters so now people using the "Income" method have to transfer at least 65K every month, this obviously needs to be net of any taxes/expenses in their home country (previously it was Gross Income) so there will no doubt be some guys who were 100% legal & now aren't. Ironically I'll bet most of the guys using those income letters were doing their extensions themselves & those who didn't really meet the 65K+ requirement are now using "Agent Assisted Finances" with their extensions. Edit to Add: It was only AUS, US & UK who stopped providing the income letters (Denmark stopped for a while but then started providing them again) so am sure there are guys from other countries who don't meet the income requirements but are able to obtain a letter from their embassy saying they do which lets them go to immigration & do their own extension (Agents won't do extensions based on income even if you do xfer >65K pm).

A non-Imm OA Visa is typically obtained in your home country (or a country where you have legal residency rights). Non-IMM O Visa's can also be obtained other countries e.g. I got my Non-IMM O on a long weekend trip to Penang in Malaysia (I'm British & was living in Singapore at the time).

I go to Bangkok Bank & they give me a 3 month statement there & then which is enough for my (agent assisted) extension. This will be the 1st year where I’m using a fixed deposit account to support my extension so it will be interesting to see if I need the 3 month letter or whether a copy of the Bankbook (funds have been seeded since 1st July 2022) will do.

I believe a lot of it has stemmed from Brexit whereby the UK Banks can no longer service EU customers so have spat their dummy out & are saying they’ll only service UK customers

Exactly, it’s my money & I choose to spend it making my life easier/more comfortable. Some guys travel economy even though they can afford to fly Business, I choose to allocate 10K pm towards my annual trip to the Uk so I can fly in Business… I could add this to my drinking pot or maybe take up smoking but choose to spend my money like this… Live from the Man-Doh flight…

The best website I’ve found for comparing Insurance Policies is Mister Prakan https://misterprakan.com/th/health/main?lg=en But maybe best to speak to a reliable insurance broker (obviously this will depend on where you’re located).