redpill17

2 hours ago, Deli said:

This airport is in the middle of nowhere, relatively close to an highly unimportant town, which has nothing to offer. Who the hell will fly there ?

1. To do a border run to Myanmar.

2. To visit national parks and hot springs.

3. Locals/expats will have an option of traveling other than by road, since there's no railway there.

17 hours ago, teacherclaire said:

OP, please don't listen to the free this and that.

 

   Buy a Kaspersky key for your machine on e-bay for almost nothing and you'll see that online banking, etc will be much safer. It automatically goes on a protected site when you do anything similar.

 

 

 

   

Kaspersky is the worst of all, don't buy anything from them. This company has a long history of being in bed with Kremlin.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/technology/kaspersky-lab-israel-russia-hacking.html

5 hours ago, KannikaP said:

More info please, either publicly or via PM. Ta.

Sure, one cheap option is to get a virtual machine from Vultr, they have a 1-click OpenVPN installer.

https://www.vultr.com/docs/one-click-openvpn/

Also, Amazon offers a 1-year trial for AWS. After that, it gets a bit pricey, but hey - that's free VPN for a year, and it doesn't spy on you. AWS is a bit more technical, but there are step-by-step guides how to do this:

6 hours ago, Rhacsyn said:

The operating system is IOS and should not require antivirus. If somebody is hacking in to your devices when you are connected to the internet then why not install a VPN such as iVpn or others...

Just like Mac/iOS "Antivirus", VPN is unlikely to offer any protection from stolen passwords or identity. If anything, using commercial VPN service makes you more vulnerable. I'd only trust a VPN I'm running myself; actually, it's cheaper and faster, and it takes one click to install.

I suggest checking website address and lock icon (real bank websites usually have a green one) before typing in password. You can also filter out most potentially dangerous scripts with an ad blocker such as AdGuard (they have a free Safari version).

I haven't used antiviruses for many years (even back when I had Windows), because they're practically useless against Internet threats. Here's a bonus regarding VPN services:

3 hours ago, HampiK said:

You can have a yellow book without a longterm visa. I did my yellow book with only a visa excempt stamp! This was about 4 years ago.

Which province, if I may ask? Did you need a rental contract? Thanks.

I just can't imagine someone living here with tabien baan, but not having a bank account. Normally, long-term lease or property ownership is needed to get TB, as people reported here.

On 10/19/2020 at 7:26 PM, DanFromHawaii said:

Which bank will open a savings account with internet banking for me with only: 

1. USA passport without further certification from the US Embassy

2. A valid Tabian Baan (yellow book) 

Since you've obtained a yellow book, I image you have a long-term visa, my guess would be retirement.

If so, you can try any of the large non-government banks near you (Bangkok Bank, K-Bank, SCB, Krungsri, UOB, etc.). Since you're American, they'll also ask for your SSN for FATCA compliance. Maybe someone will clarify which banks accept US citizens.

Those who need a work permit (meaning their income is sourced from Thailand) are not "digital nomads", they can register BOI-approved company and get a Non-B visa. Giving WPs to sole proprietors would conflict with the idea of "foreigners taking jobs from Thais".

For everyone else (foreign company owners) there's already a kind of "digital nomad visa" called Thailand Elite. You pay one time, and the government leaves you alone for 5-20 years (you can view it as a lump-sum tax). The cost is comparable to Non-ED visa and cheaper than Non-B+WP.

I think the government made it clear they don't want "cheapskates" extending every 3 months, they only need those who have 800k THB or more in the bank.

Coming soon: THAI-branded somtam stands and pad-THAI.

On 10/16/2020 at 12:27 PM, Grapefruit said:

Your interpretation of my comment is 100% incorrect.  The agent I recommended does not help to bypass any of the DL application requirements, "their" applicants need to meet exactly the same standards as anyone else going through the process independently. 

 

Their service bears no comparison to Immigration agents in the way that you suggest, they simply makes the process completely hiccup-free for those foreigners who may not want to risk going through the process on their own or those whose confidence in their Thai language skills is not that high, that's all. 

I didn't mean to compare the two. Just wanted to point out that I never needed a translator or representative when dealing with Thai officials (in case someone is worried). And there's literally no forms to fill at DLT - just your name and phone number. I'd use such service if they let you skip the queue and boring 4-hour video ???? 

11 hours ago, KeeTua said:

Including Chubb. And how will Chubb use your health data gained from this app? People better study the disclosures very carefully before using.

To raise your insurance premiums most likely ???? 

If you really want to bring in booze, fill up some cola bottles with black rum, or mouthwash bottle with blue curacao LOL (just kidding)

2 hours ago, Grapefruit said:

The point is that some people prefer to do it that way and be guaranteed that there will be no hiccups.   You don't have to queue, don't have to worry about whether you've got everything perfect or have any conversations, in Thai, with the staff if you don't want to.  

 

If you don't want to do it that way you can do it whichever way you prefer.

Perhaps an agent is useful in some cases like dealing with "Non-" visas at Immigration, but it's really hard to mess up at DLT. Just renewed my DL today, needed passport copies (photo page, visa page, stamp page) and residency certificate - that's it!

Even if the staff doesn't speak English (which I'm yet to encounter), they'll point you in the right direction. No need for Thai wife or friend ???? Good luck to everyone! There's plenty of threads on this forum about getting a new DL from scratch.

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Any form of advertising or marketing communication of kratom is prohibited

How are potential buyers supposed to find it then?

I have a feeling kratom will be the same story as cannabis - "legalized" in 2016 or 2017, but still impossible to buy anywhere.

Nothing good in the supermarkets, unfortunately. Royal Project tea (if you find it) and 3 Horses are drinkable, but I'd try to contact farmers/roasters who have online presence and ask them to send you their produce by post. The stuff I got from Lazada wasn't great either.

For example, Cottontree roastery in Chiang Mai has premium quality local beans at good price and they agreed to mail them to me.

1 hour ago, mwbrown said:

I just got a Huawei 5G hotspot working for my home Internet service.  It hits 420 megabits/second and costs 1099 baht/month.  That's 8 times faster than my wired DSL for about 300 baht more per month.

 

Why? No fibre internet in your city?

12 hours ago, Jon1 said:

This is exactly what I'm thinking about. If I buy a new membership and the membership is active, shouldn't I be able to extend the permission to stay even though TE visa is expired?

 

If someone has knowledge if there is some special law regulating TE visas and especially that the visa itself, not only the membership has to be valid for the period of extension, would be very interested to know.

 

I think this is something I'll try to find out with the immigration and TE office if I'm still going to try to stay in Thailand with TE visa at this time.

Jon, you can try emailing them that if you're forced to leave the country, you won't buy the membership again. Maybe the bosses will see this and come to senses ????  Did you communicate with sales team or someone else?

That said, you'll probably have to clear some overstay after 26th. When I got my visa last month, they were already quite busy and setting appointments at CW two weeks in advance. This may be another reason for such answer.

I think people are confusing visas and Immigration stamps/extensions.

Visa = permission to entry

Stamp = permission to stay

So if Immigration stamped you for 1 year, you can legally stay during this period, hence 6th year is possible. Obviously, Thailand Elite isn't happy when someone is getting extra time for free, but they have no power to void the entry stamp. That's my understanding.

For example, tourist visa is valid for ~90 days, but you can enter on the last day and still be eligible to stay for 60 days and then extend it for 30 more, even though visa would be expired. Why would the rules be different for Elite visa, unless there's special law regulating it? (which I'm not aware of) 

I don't know much about Non-Imm visas, so i'm curious: if someone gets a 1-year marriage extension, then gets divorced, can they still stay until stamp runs out?

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I'd be up for a 2,500bht return flight and 500bht/night.

AirAsia keep sending me '990bht special offer' emails, but when I go to the website they aren't there.

 

Sounds like all the special offers are a scam.

When I can click and pay, without paging through nonsense, I'll go.

Bangkok Air had 2,500 thb for round-trip promotion last month. I've booked it no problem.

AirAsia is more annoying though - usually they offer only a few seats at special price and you can't see a list of discounted routes. I prefer to book when they have 20% off sale on all tickets.

Or try mashed mung beans, they taste similar. Better than buying imported stuff.

Maybe roaming is disabled on your number if you've never activated it. 

http://www.dtac.co.th/en/prepaid/services/roaming/preparation.html

5 minutes ago, TGIR said:

redpill17, you didn't read my post.......I am talking about transferring money from California to Thailand.  I did write them a check, in fact I wrote them two checks.  The first one worked perfectly and took 31 days to clear......the second one ended up in the boonies and I had to chase it around for a week......so yes, it can work, but it can also be a big pain in the rear.

 

 

I've suggested the check for original poster to send money from Thai bank to US bank without a SWIFT code.

You've mentioned you can't use TransferWise because of phone number requirement, but in fact you can use any supported number - doesn't have to be from the US. Hope this helps. 

35 minutes ago, ThaiWai said:

Are you saying you can send money from Thailand to the US with Transferwise?

No, at least not at the moment. I'm just saying there's no need for UK address and phone number for someone with UK passport to use it. Same goes for other nationalities. Bank statement or Internet bill is enough to verify an address in Thailand.

OP, maybe you can send them a check?

2 hours ago, TGIR said:

Brits can easily use Transferwise, but for me it's a no go because of the requirement for a phone number.....plus I'm not comfortable using a British company, a Thai Bank and a U.S. Bank to get a simple money transfer from one of my accounts to the other.  

You can register with Thai address, and phone number can be from any country. TransferWise makes life much easier.