JackGats

One reason I prefer Thailand over many other retirement countries (eg Malaysia, Indonesia, Kenya etc.) is that Thailand doesn't make such a big deal out of porn. If I am not mistaken in TH one is allowed to have sex pics on one's phone.

Interesting for I had been reading the opposite as well. Namely in heavily vaxxed countries most deaths are now vaxxed people because they're very old and very old people are nearly all vaxxed. Note that in some countries the unvaxxed are becoming thin on the ground so it is not surprising that whatever patients still die of covid should be vaxxed. This, of course, is exploited for desinformation to the tune of "mostly vaxxed people are dying of covid".

Brazil hands down if only their retirement visa included a tax exemption! If I have to bail out of TH, Peru or Argentina are on my plan B list (foreign pensions tax-free for holders of a visa de rentista).

... Yawn

Do you take blood pressure or some other medication every day? If not in a few years you will have too as you get older. Read the small print about the recorded side-effects of such medications. Scary isn't it? And you have to swallow those chemicals every day! So my point is: an "experimental" vaccine once every 8 months is probably nothing in comparison.

I was being ironic. I pretended to assume that a right-wing head of State should be blamed for the bad things but never be credited for anything good happening during his mandate.

Of course not. Brazil's progress in vaccination was only achieved over his dead body. Just like the development of vaccines in the US was only possible over Trump's. Stands to reason.

Because I've spent 3 months in Brazil over the last 8 months. People don't remember non-remedies now being dug-up by the media for Bolsonaro-bashing purposes. All kind of sh** was "disseminated" at one time or another by governments as Covid treatments. Some cheap sh** (ivermectin, chloroquine), some expensive sh** (remdesevir). Bolsonaro's Brazil has overtaken Biden's US for the 1st dose, and is quickly closing the gap on the 2nd dose. Portraying Brazil as a failure regarding covid vaccine implementation is a lie. The state of affairs with respect to covid vaccination in Brazil is easy to google.

Trump no longer available. Only Bolsonaro left to bash. Brazil is one of the countries where vaccination has been aggressively pursued. Few Brazilians know what Ivermectin is, why should they? 95% of Brazilians want to get vaccinated though. One of the highest vaccine acceptance in the world. Trump sorely missed by the fake media.

Indeed. Come to that, whose gun was it?

I've read that being seated for too long on a seat is bad for your internal organs and/or blood circulation. There may be some health benefit to squatting.

That is yet another variant then, ie 72 hours becoming 72 hours + up to 23 hours 59 minutes.

There was at least one hefty discussion on Thaivisa about this before. The meaning (in good English or Thaiglish) of "issued" was controversial. I go for the safest interpretation, ie time of the swab. If you rely on "time of printout" and the airline employee insists on "time of the swab", you're toast.

Typical. I got that too last year. I think I could eventually get into the system only after phoning or emailing the consulate. I didn't even get the code in my first attempts. Then when I finally got it it said "not found". At every step I dispaired ever to ever get a COE. So you're not alone in having to go through this.

I had an old Galaxy S7 and it wouldn't work on that. Itworked on my newer Galaxy S10+. I assume the Thais didn't want people to run the app on older phones instead of the number one phone you carry around.

Norway has been known as a special case for years. Just like Norwegian AOC laws or Norwegian prostitution laws apply to Norwegians who have sex abroad, instead of local laws. Regarding pensions, expect hyperfeminist misandric countries to try and reduce the net income of MALE pensioners (sex refugees) in 3rd world countries. I wouldn't be surprised if Norwegian females living eg in Japan got their pensions free of tax. I mean taxed neither in Norway nor in Japan.

Now what about if your are not a taxpayer in "your" country. Such a case would be for example if your get a pension from country A which gets paid untaxed into a bank account in country B before getting transfered to Thailand. I wonder how many expats are in that grey area. A double taxation agreement can only kick in if you are a taxpayer in 2 countries.

Some expats play by the book and have a dedicated bank account in their home country where they leave money to "cool down" for one year before they transfer it to Thailand. In that way the letter of the Thai law ("not earned during the same year") is fully complied with. Most people don't give a damn. Money is fungible anyway. "Savings" are almost by definition money not earned the same year and a savings account (not a current account) is what you get in Thailand anyway.

Even if you flew on a "semi-commercial flight" from say Germany, you would first take a "fully commercial flight" from Paris to Frankfurt, and this first flight would appear on your COE as well. I think the Thais coined the phrase in the days before the introduction of CEOs, when passenger flights to Thailand were repatriation flights for Thais only.

I would first transfer a small sum as a trial to make sure your have entered the correct account data your money lands into the right account.

Dunno, between 3 and 5 days from a German bank.

To be fair, SWIFT transfers to countries like Thailand (not to eg Uganda etc.) are not overly expensive provided you send substantial sums each time. For me one of the perks of living in Thailand. No use having money if you can't get at it wherever you live.

Let them jab everyone from birth, plus pets. I've had enough of lockdown and travel bans.

I am less enthusiastic than most about this yet another doctor advocating continuous hard lockdowns.

In the EU banks have gone a step further, requiring two-factor verification through banking apps. It's ok as long as you don't lose your smartphone. If you lose it it's a hell of a hassle to start the whole installation and verification from scratch. TANs sent by SMS had been phased out some years ago, to be replaced by "photo-tans", ie TANs generated on your smartphone by a TAN app. When SMS TANs were used I remember there was a problem with non-EU phone numbers. I can't think it was a question of cost. More like making life as difficult as possible for expats, which has been the mission statement of banks for some time now.