JackGats

The 10-year tax exemption on foreign pensions was repealed a couple of years ago in Portugal. The present tax rate is still no higher than 10% though. If I'm not wrong Greece is now the latest EU-country levying no taxes on foreign pensions.

Pity straight men do not show "extraordinary courage" too in fighting for their sexual rights in the US.

People who say they are hearing voices unfortunately may be de facto hearing them, ie they really hear someone "talking" to them as far as they are concerned. The brain manufactures real language sound as though it were coming through the ear-drums. This was brought home to me when a girl-friend in Thailand had a recurring bout of schizophrenia. She was a foreign girl "working" in Thailand. Eventually the voices told her to go to the airport in order to bord a fly home. She had entered Thailand illegally and got herself arrested big time. She spent some months in the IDC where she continued hearing voices. I wish I'd taken her reports of hearing voices seriously, instead of just telling her "stop the nonsense". So when George Bush said God told him to invade Iraq, he may have meant it, alas.

I ran to my usual visa agent, who then proceeded to lose my passport (or have it lost by immigration, who knows?). This debacle happened around Songkran. I described it in its own thread on Aseannow. My hopes are now set on the LTR visa, for which I qualify hands-down but which I might still miss on technicalities. What I liked about Thailand is that I could live in hotels and short terms rentals while not paying a rent for months when I was not in Thailand.

I was asked for a rental contract when I tried to renew my retirement visa on my own (without an agent) at Chonburi immigration. I was caught by surprise. Such a requirement couldn't be more akward since I renew my visa every year just before flying back to Europe for 4 months (ie just before my rent ends).

Mexico is more of an alternative for US citizens since it is very close. Otherwise if you must fly half-way around the Earth there are other countries in Latin America which don't tax foreign pensions, like Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina.

What is one trying to divert attention from with this scare-mongering about AI? The problem with machines are noisy dumb machines - like lorries - that crush and kill and belch fumes, not silent intelligent machines that interract and take over drudging work.

Punitive custom duties.

How did she get into Kenya without the yellow fever vaccine?

Wouldn't they be progressive morons in this case?

Having availed myself of legal cannabis in Thailand over the past 8 months, I'm amazed at how little addictive it is. I stopped one week ago to allow for some washing-out of my system ahead of my flying back to Europe for the summer, and I feel no missing, craving or withdrawal whatsoever. If I delay my morning coffee by as little as a few hours I get a stiff headache.

People with real money do not retire in a country with no road safety, no walkable streets, no environmental conservation, no town-planning rules ...

Why did she "fall asleep in the cab". I've been taking cabs all my life, never fell asleep in any of them.

11k € by SWIFT transfer from Europe to BKK BANK no problem, low fees, good exchange rate.

I guess they want a mug shot of people who shift money around. It's not just about verification and safety. Anyway, one more safety layer doesn't bother me, provided of course the system doesn't malfunction. By the way, why don't EU banks use fingerprints and face recognition instead of TANs and PHOTO-TANs with which so many things can go wrong and lock you out of your account for weeks? Probably because of crappy data protection laws. Data protection laws protect nothing at all, they just f..k up people's lives.

So the would-be PM wants to break the alcohol monopoly. I presume he wants to do so in order to make alcohol cheaper and more accessible. This proves he is just an opportunistic manipulator and no more forward-looking than the other candidates. Pushing alcohol gets more votes than pushing cannabis that's for sure.

Medicalisation of any psychotropic drug is a bad thing. It means doctors and pharmacies will take their cut, making an already overpriced commodity even more expensive. The medical professions are eager for this to happen of course. They lost their dictatorial powers when covid ended. They want to regain part of it.

I started with strawberries, only to move on to cannabis later.

What about the number of Indian tailors? Of massage shops? Of shops selling suitcases?

This is further proof of global warming. How can climate deniers be so stubborn? CO2 ("carbon") even gets under tiles!

That is the question. I thought it meant this:

Please take a look at the visa stamp I posted. It says "visa-class: NON-RE". It doesn't say "visa-class: NON-Ext". What is there not to understand? What is to be gained in calling a NON-RE whatnot "extension" instead of "retirement visa"?

Cannabis shops near schools are a problem. Speeding traffic right in front of the school isn't though.

Not sure using the term "visa" instead of "extension" is incorrect. After you secure an extension on a Non-O visa, you are in Thailand on a retirement visa. On my transfered stamps, it reads "visa class NON-0" for the initial 3-month visa issued out of Thailand. It then reads "visa class NON-RE" for the extension up to May 2023. The "RE" in "NON-RE" stands for retirement doesn't it? So I don't see how "retirement visa" could be a misnomer. The terms to keep separate are "visa" and "re-entry permit".