weelegs

As pointed out in other posts, a visa is nothing more than permission to apply for entry to Thailand at an entry point. The IO makes an independent evaluation and decision to grant, or refuse, entry. That's pretty much the standard in most countries is far as I know.

As for shxttxyness of Thai immigration, my Thai wife and I maintain residences in the US and Thailand, and while I have been consistently treated in a professional manner on return to Thailand, the treatment of my wife by US immigration has often been abusive, even cruel. I guess the EU isn't like that.

(And thanks for the word shxttx. It's almost Shakespearean.) 

Unusual flooding up here in Chiang Mai also. Ping River overflowed its banks yesterday. Heavy rain in the city combined with even heavier rain in the Doi Sutep and Cheng Dao watersheds which drain into the Ping; water now on its way to BKK. Gonna get wet, wet down there.

20 hours ago, Grecian said:

My midlife crises was the moment i substituted myself from the game. Walking off the pitch was painful as fudge. Pain until deep into the tunnel and the last of the crowd noise could be heard.

It ended (mostly) when I was in the players dressing room, in a warm bath and realised that this was actually quiet a comfortable place to be.

spent quite a bit flying around Asia while walking off the pitch mind.

Ah, Mr. Grecian. Based on the responses to your clever post, metaphor is a touch too literary for this site. But still, a delightful little composition. 

An interesting question. I think the OP was using the terms working class, middle class etc. as they are used in sociology, defined primarily by educational level and job classification. There are plenty of retired diplomats, professors, ex-United Nations staff and others who were at high levels in their profession living in Thailand. And they love it. Many of them live in Chiang Mai, or in Bangkok if they are still semi-active in their field. They communicate among themselves, and in activities like a film appreciation course or book club. While many of them read, enjoy, and learn something from ThaiVisa (sorry, ASEAN Now), they will rarely (if ever) submit a post. I think this is because in their professional work they would give an opinion only sparingly, in their area of expert knowledge, and after careful review of the relevant facts, while the ThaiVisa (sorry, ASEAN Now) posts are more ... um ... free-wheeling.

But if I'm needing to know how to fix my leaking roof or how to keep my 12-year-old Toyota on the road three more years, I'll come to you guys! Seriously, you are great! And we "intellectuals" would be lost without you.

Why do I get the impression that the assumption behind this submission is that women are cattle?

Our daughter, 14 years old, was doing well in school, online since COVID-19. Now, early in grade 9, she has crashed. She has lost motivation and fallen behind academically. It has reached the point that we are not sure she can continue in school. We would like to arrange a consultation with an English-speaking (ideally western trained) psychologist. We would be grateful for recommendations.

Another option often used by Thais when a spouse dies: be sure she has the user name and password for your account, and she can log in online and withdraw the funds from the account, maybe is stages 50-100K each time, until the account is empty.

No formalities/documents etc. Typical Thai workaround.

On 1/8/2021 at 12:41 PM, Liverpoolfan said:

I'm talking beaches, bars, beers, girls, food, trips, anything goes!

The drinks are on me once all this s**t is over!!!

 

See you on soi bintabaht, Hua hin.

I will be the guy dancing with his shirt off making a complete foool out of himself with not a care in the world.

I may also steal your wife/girlfriend in the process.

The local women find my liverpool top too much to resist ???? 

***cue that right said fred song***

Liverpoolfan, I sympathize. Your sentiments are inspiring. But sorry, this is not going to be "over". And while I've done my share of going wild (and chasing the ladies), that's not going to be part of the future in LoS. All of the restrictions that the country has placed on us and the rest of the population are only effective so far as there is prudent behaviour before and after the restrictions. I wish things were different, but you are setting yourself up to be part of a COVID 3rd wave and I doubt Thailand is going to let that happen.

Trolls, bring it on. 

I love reading you guys on subjects like automotive repair, light bulbs, home renovation. You are experts! 

On the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 (the Covid-19 virus). not so much.

                                                                                                                                           ????

22 hours ago, timendres said:

90 reporting online same for both. The retirement visa is a much simpler extension to apply for, and most IO's prefer processing the retirement extension over the marriage extension. Using the retirement extension also means that you are not exposed if your marriage happens to fall apart. I have used both, and found the retirement extension to be my preference. In my opinion, the only reason for choosing the marriage extension is the lower financial requirement.

A good summary. One other major difference though: you can't be employed (hold a work permit) on a retirement extension. 

Teabags! Sacrilege! My Grandmother would not approve.

5 hours ago, Mavideol said:

thought the virus didn't like the hot weather, it must have adjusted/assimilated to the heat fast, Prayut better close the country down or lock it down ow whatever he wants to call it .....but it has to be done fast, no more wasting time

There is no evidence that this virus is seasonal (except speculation by Donald Trump, contradicted by his own expert advisers). There are two other serious diseases caused by other strains of coronavirus. These are SARS and MERS.  We do not have enough data on SARS to know if it was seasonal (it died out before a seasonal pattern could be confirmed or ruled out). MERS is not seasonal and certainly not inhibited by warm weather -- it has continued as an endemic disease in Saudi Arabia and the middle east. I assume that President Trump, or somebody he was watching on television, was confusing coronavirus with the unrelated influenza A virus, which indeed is transmitted much less in warm weather. Nobody who knows virology would have made this error. Maybe it's time to listen to the experts. 

Will Covid-19 spontaneously die out like SARS did? Will transmission go down with warmer weather? We don't know yet, but neither looks likely so far.

Adding to the comment of OJAS above: If I transfer funds from my bank in the US converted to Siam Comercial Bank as baht (i.e., transfer as baht) they appear with a channel code as a local transfer. But if I transfer as US$  (then converted to THB after arrival at SCB), the transfer channel is FRCI (international transfer. It took me a while to figure this out. Saves a lot of trouble with the documentation.

The three months after bit is intended to make it harder for someone who doesn't have 800K and intends to borrow it from wherever and then return immediately after the extension is granted.

In Thailand, one's status and income are implied by how one dresses and behaves. I wonder if this may be a factor is the differences in requirements between different applicants, even at the same immigration office. Or to quote Moomseeker: "Dress decent. Slobs stick out."

Hi Carken, I have been working on the SCB/documenting foreign transfers problem for some time. It is murky and inconsistent. My foreign income transfers (from the United Nations Federal Credit Union in New York) sometimes come in with a 'chanel code' FRCI, which is Foreign Remittance and Settlement. That's good. BUT some transfers (also from UNFCU) have the channel code ATS, which means Auromatic Transfer System. Not good. Don't know why it's inconsistent. My calls to SCB's customer Service haven't helped much -- the ATS transfers are coming through a correspondent bank that SCB uses in Thailand (see other posts), probably Bangkok Bank. SCB informs me that they cannot verify that these are foreign transfers for bank letter (extnsion of stay based on retirement or marriage) purposes.  Their suggestion is to take your overseas bank statements showing the origin of the transfers to Immigration, and if the dates and amounts match what has come into SCB, and if you refrain from becoming insulting and agressive with the Immigration Officer ????, that should be OK. Even better, get yourself a very smart Thai wife (expensive but worth it ????) who will tell you, as mine did, to use the 800K/400K method until the dust settles.

As I've posted elsewhere on this site, my wife, who is a former Thai govt. official at a high level and knows how to talk 'bureaucratese' to these people, has been told more than once in no uncertain terms that it's better to stick with the 8OOK method for retirement extensions for now, because the income method is being interpreted differently at diferent offices and at different points in time. For now, I'm maintaining both, and when I go for extension will present my documented foreign monthly income first, will be happy if it works, and will present my 'seasoned' 800K if the income method isn't accepted. When and if the dust settles, I'll rely on the income method only. Like others, I don't like having to essentially give away at least 400K. You would need it on deposit for as long as you live in Thailand and I doubt your wife would get it back if you died. 

On the embassy letters: the notatization you paid $50 for at the US Embassy or consulate is merely a notarization that the signatory is really you. The notarization is not, and never was, proof that the contents (you declaration of income) is correct. ("A notary public is a third-party witness to not only the signature of a document but also the fact that all parties who signed did so willingly and under their own power.) The surprising thing is not that Thai immigration stopped accepting these letters as proof of income -- the real surprise is that they ever accapted these embassy letters at all.