Pawpal

I married my Thai partner in America 10 years ago. We now live in Bangkok and are wondering if the marriage is automatically recognized or, if not, what the procedure is for having it officially recognized/registered in Thailand. (We have certified copies of our Pennsylvania Marriage License.) Thanks!

My policy is with April International and my broker is based in France. I originally had a broker in Huahin, but a few years ago they were no longer allowed to represent non-Thai-based policies and I was advised to not go with a Thai-based April policy; so I switched to a broker in France and continued with April International.

Thanks again! I've had a policy with April International for 5 years now, and the one time I needed to be pre-approved for a surgery, the process was smooth and I didn't have to do a thing, as BNH communicated directly with April's representative. I asked my broker why he's pushing Now, and he thinks the premium is more economical and the annual increases will be less than April's. But I think I'll stick with what I already have since there's no guarantee about future increases in any case, and it's better to use a company with a presence in Thailand.

Thanks for your insight. It seems that Now Health doesn't have much of a presence in Thailand. A friend at BNH says the hospital has rarely dealt with this company.

My insurance broker recommends Now Health International. I'm not familiar with this company and don't know anyone who is, and am hoping someone on the forum might be able to share their experiences. Thanks!

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It seems like nobody in the forum has ever used them. I suppose that might be a red flag of sorts.

An insurance broker recently recommend Now Health International. I'd never heard of them and, though their website looks fine, was hoping someone on the forum might be able to share their experiences. Thanks!

On the "Check Status" screen, my application's status has changed several times from "Pending" to "Processing" and vice versa. Does anyone know what this indicates (or if it indeed indicates anything)?

I had a bit of a worrying surprise yesterday. Some background info: My current "retirement visa" expires in mid-November, and the BOI representative I spoke with by phone in September assured me there was plenty of time for me to apply for the "wealthy pensioner" LTR as it would take 20 working days. I submitted my application on Sept 14 and assumed all was in order with the documents since I heard nothing further from BOI. On Oct 12, the 20th working day after my initial application, I received a request for another insurance document. (I assume the problem was that the one I'd submitted didn't have an expiration date but stated the policy was automatically renewed every April.) I phoned the insurance rep and he promptly issued a document saying my policy was good till April 2024, and I immediately uploaded it to my online LTR application. Yesterday I phoned BOI to see how long it would be before I would be notified whether or not my application was accepted. The representative said "20 working days" and that the clock started ticking when the updated document was received (Oct 12). She was very sympathetic when I described my concerns over my soon-to-expire retirement extension (another 20 working days would really push things to the limit), and she said she'd talk with the officer in charge of my application. I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar situation. Is there a chance the other docs originally submitted have already been vetted and that approval of the LTR visa is a real possibility and/or they'll get back to me in less than 20 working days? Thanks.

Congratulations! I was wondering when you applied/how long it took to receive approval. Thanks!

I'm an American citizen living in Thailand. My Thai partner and I got married during a trip to the US ten years ago. I'm already retired and my spouse plans to retire in 3 years, and we've begun thinking about applying for a green card in case we ever move to the States. I tried to research the topic on the internet but, despite an overload of information, am still not sure about whether or not it's possible to apply for and be issued the green card while residing in Thailand or if it's necessary to reside in the States first, and whether or not there's a US residency requirement to retain the green card's validity and eventually getting citizenship. Thanks for your advice!