Mike Teavee

I agree, a Singapore Sling at Raffles is almost a "Rite of Passage" when you visit Singapore ????

It's hard to comment without knowing what you & your partner enjoy doing but I would echo the other posters views on Universal as it's not worth it IMHO, if I wanted to take my partner to a theme park in Asia I would take her to Disneyland Hong Kong. The Zoos (especially the Night Safari) are great though & the Singapore Flyer is worth a whirl (assuming it's open again, it had been closed for some time when I last visited). For evening entertainment, a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel is one of those things that's on "The List" of things to do when visiting Singapore followed by dinner at Chjimes or Clark/Boat Quay & maybe a few beers at Asia Bar (May have changed name but it's the bar at the top of the Stamford Hotel).... All within a short(ish) walk from each other. BTW, I assume you & your partner are fully vaccinated as Singapore has some pretty strict rules about what you can & can't do if you're not, mate of mine who lives there is an Anti-Vaxer (I don't agree with him but it's his body so his choice) & he is not allowed to go into pubs or dine-in at restaurants. Edit: Sentosa is quiet a nice day out as well, some very chilled bars on the beach there & a some entertainment https://www.sentosa.com.sg/en/things-to-do/attractions?gclid=CjwKCAjw-8qVBhANEiwAfjXLrq5titxNbvInlrcXU_cJfRB8RNRAdA-EbTMXTjq99ufNk6TvPuQbbRoCTh4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Unfortunately you still need to go on the day, apparently guys who pay the 12,500+ fees don't always have to go but I would worry that my extension was being done "Up Country" if I didn't go. I do think you're treated a little better if you go with an agent known to the IO & it wouldn't surprise me if 1-2,000 from the fees you pay found it's way into the Immigration Benevolence fund ????

I'm not saying the 2nd option is completely legal but there is scope for a Senior Immigration Officer to use his discretion to waive the financial requirement so if he were to do this without any "inducements" being given then it would be 100% above board. There have been guys who have accidently fallen foul of the seasoning rules (seem to recall 1 guy got caught out by a 300THB fee for a new debit card & another who's wife took 15K out of the wrong account) and turned to agents to help them get that extension before going back to doing it themselves so there is a legitimate need for Senior IOs to be able to "Bend the rules" every now & again. Obviously I'm not naïve enough to think that this is the case for the vast majority of agent assisted extensions but I don't think the person who got the extension would be the one in trouble, at worse they would need to be able to show that they can meet the financial requirements for their next extension which granted would probably be impossible as if they didn't have the 800K in the bank at extension time, they probably didn't have it in the bank for 3 months afterwards.

The 5,500 (I paid 7,900 in Bangkok & will pay 8,000 in Pattaya) is if you meet all of the requirements so there is nothing to be "Caught" for. The agent is simply doing the paperwork for you & ensuring that it's all in order so you can be more confident that you're going to be successful in getting the extension at the 1st try. Quotes of 12,500+ are typically for when you don't meet the financial requirements but even then a Senior Immigration Officer has the authority to waive the requirements so your extension is legit & should cause no problems with future extensions (though sometimes it's done in a different Immigration center so your agent may need to do your 90 day reports for you).

You're very 1st 90 day report cannot be done online (I believe you can mail it in, I paid an agent to do mine) but there are no problems doing a 90 day report online if it's your 1st report since returning to thailand (as I mentioned I did mine last week following a trip to the UK in March and no problems, all approved in 40 mins). Agree about the TM30, my Estate Agent* (Who did my Tm30 when I moved into this condo) scalded me for not telling her I'd been out of the country as she thought I had to do a new one when I got back (Not required at Jomtien IO if you're on a long stay visa & returning to the same address). *Can I briefly go OT & recommend Som at Ocean Properties https://pattaya-ocean-properties.com/ Lovely lady who not only found (on another agents books) the condo that I wanted, but also managed to get us renewed here for another year at the same discounted price.

I agree with your reasoning, but this is Thailand (TiT) so I'm > 90% confident that it will require "Fresh" investment (hope I'm wrong). But if you do have the financial means to be able to meet the requirements, why wouldn't you just pay 1Million THB & get an Elite Visa (I keep asking myself the same question as I have 800K deadweight in the bank & think why not just add 200K to it & be done with any visa hassles for the next 20 years).

Elite Visa is now 600K for 5 years but worth it for guys who are <50, not married to a Thai & want a (visa) hassle free life. One thing I hadn't realised is that during the lifespan of your 5 year visa, you can pay the extra 400K & upgrade to the 20 year Elite Visa...

I view these things as just another option so as long as they don't displace any of the current visa options then it can only be a good thing (even if it's only relevant to a small minority). However, I haven't seen it mentioned that financial commitments already made will count towards any investment needed. E.g. I wouldn't be surprised that even if you have already bought a $500K Condo in your own name, you may still have to bring in an additional $500K to fulfil the requirement. NB I'm not saying this IS the case, it just seems to make more sense if the purpose is to get more foreign investment.

Reminds me of the Parable of 10 men in a bar... Suppose that every day, 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:... https://thewealthnavigator.com.au/the-parable-of-10-men-in-a-bar/

Lol, I can understand Boris, but why have Harold Shipman in the background ????

I think you're mixing up the TM30 (notification of staying at a new address, typically used to notify of a change of address nowadays) with a TM47 (90 Day Report) The new 90 day report site (https://tm47.immigration.go.th/tm47/#/login) has worked really well for me (Did my latest report on Wednesday & it was approved in 40 minutes) so definitely worth giving it a go if you've given up trying online because of the old site.

I can't see a maximum in official UK Gov advice https://www.gov.uk/private-renting/rent-increases#:~:text=For a periodic tenancy (rolling,the rent if you agree. so any constraint would be in the rental contract. My contract states Rent review It is agreed that the rent as defined in this Agreement will be reviewed on the anniversary of this Tenancy and upon each subsequent anniversary in line with the change in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) for the previous 12 months and the rent varied accordingly either by way of an upward or downward adjustment. But my agent said that I could increase the rent by a maximum 10% (I don't know if this is because I hadn't increased it for the 4 years the tenants have been there or if it's a policy of the agent but if we had have increased the rent inline with the contract each year it would be >5% higher than it is with the new increase).

Sadly (for the average working class Brit), i fear your right but I feel that this policy will only speed up the transfer from Private to Corporate landlord. I agree that something needs to be done about greedy landlords evicting people so they can charge the next tenant more rent but this is a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

I know of teenage mums who got a pokey flat on the council but never heard of a pensioner getting a house (maybe a bedsit) rent free. My parents had a 3 bedroom house & am pretty sure they would have been forced to downsize to 1 bedroom after my brother & I left if they’d still been renting. NB Whilst I have sympathy for people affected by this policy, I’m not Anti it as practically my parents don’t need the extra 2 bedrooms whereas there are many families that do… BUT to say pensioners get a “House” rent free is a bit of a stretch.

I "Forced" my parents to buy their council house (after 28 years of paying rent in various ones) by threatening to buy it out from under them if they didn't do so (My mum actually believed I could do this because I have the same name as my dad ????) so they got a mortgage from the council that was less than what they were paying in rent & a few years later owned it outright... They cursed me at times when the council came round to update windows/roofs etc... & they had to pay for theirs but on the whole I think they're happy that I gave them the kick up the backside to do what they needed to do (not sure they could afford the rent on a house like that nowadays on their pensions). Nowadays, I don't think many people living in council housing could get anywhere near to being able to to buy their property ????

Could not agree with your more & am already regretting not saying no to the rental renewal this year (started 1st June) & not putting the place up for sale. If UK Gov continues to make life harder for us little guys who are just renting out our former homes then it's going to be a case of WHEN not IF we sell out & leave the market to the big guys... Tenants, be careful what you wish for...

I put the rent up on my UK property by 8% this year (1st time in the 4 years that the Tenants have lived there & to the asking price at the time they moved in) purely because of the additional landlord costs (>20% increase in insurance costs & a couple of new safety checks all of which are paid for by me). I was secretly hoping the tenants would say No & would have sold the property as it currently yields approx. 3% (excluding capital gains) on the equity I have in it so not a great investment (never was meant to be, I bought it as a home & always thought I would go back there to live but even if I did go back, the house is too big for me now I've got used to condo living). I had planned on leaving the rent at the new rate for at least the next 3-4 years but will need to review this latest bill to decide if I even want to continue to be a landlord. As a private landlord what I would say is that If they keep making things harder & more expensive for us little guys then you're going to see a lot of the big guys moving in (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/aug/19/lloyds-plans-big-move-into-uk-rental-market-with-50000-homes) & if this is the kind of landlord you want then good luck to you,

Is it still a thumbprint to get out of SG or have they moved to facial recognition (I noticed that the 1st person to post on SG mentioned having a photo taken but not thumbprints).

I agree with your point that Thailand should look at the bigger picture and weigh up how much money tourism brings in before complaining about the relatively small amount they may lose in unpaid hospital bills, but if they are going to try to cover these loses, then my point (which I made in the initial part of my post not quoted) was that it's unfair to charge everybody an additional fee when a lot of people already have insurance, some multiple times (I used to have an annual Travel Insurance policy, insurance cover from my Credit Card & corporate health insurance that covered me when I was overseas). I don't think making the airlines check travel insurance at the check-in/baggage drop desk or the 10 minutes it takes to go online to purchase travel insurance is "Onerous" & it's only expensive for people who really should have it anyway (like my parents). Took 2 minutes to get quotes for a sample family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) & when you consider all of the other costs associated with a trip to Thailand it's probably not a deciding factor. But for me charging people who do get insurance an extra $10 ($40 in this example) to cover ones who don't is simply unfair & rewards bad behavior, most people will still buy travel insurance so instead of $250 it will now cost them $290, all because some people won't take personal responsibility for themselves & leave it to others to pay for their misfortunes.

New Netflix series "Web of Make Believe... Death, Lies & the Internet" looks interesting... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20602042/

The old 90 day reporting system was a pain, last year they didn't even have my extension recorded on there so I was showing as "On Overstay" for a year until I did my last extension. Have you tried the latest 90 day reporting site (https://tm47.immigration.go.th/tm47/#/login), this doesn't ask you for your TM6# or details of your flight (other than what date you arrived). I did mine yesterday following a return from the UK in March & it was approved in <40 minutes.