Robin

I do not believe that DWP are so trusting as to accept that every pensioner is still living in UK and eligible for annual increases. Apart from the letter asking if you are still alive, I think they can check if you are receiving National Health care or prescriptions. My impression has always been that DWP do not want to pay any pension unless they have to, so if they do not see any activity that indicates that you are still alive, they can decide that you are dead and stop your pension To be fair to them, if they find that they were mistaken and that you are still alive, they make up to missed pension with no quibble.. If you are going to keep a UK bank, check that your bank will allow a current account with credit card etc., when you are living in Thailand. Not all will. If you have a UK based credit card, also need to check where the replacement card will be sent when due. Default could be to your (unused ) UK address. Some will not send a credit card to Thailand under any circumstances, other are happy to use DHL at no extra charge.

Checked some air fares from London. All seem to be 50% or more up on what I ws paying before the pandemic. Nothing Thailand can do about that unless they try to get TG to fly a a bigger loss to encourage tourists. Fares published above for Emirates economy are about what I was paying for Business last year. With recession predicted and the UK pound falling, who can afford to trave now?.

Easy answer; Gen Pratyuth will order the situation to improve.

I thought it was usual for banks and building societies in Uk to deduct interest at source n all investment accounts. If you have rented property your rental agent should also deduct UK tax before paying income to you. Do you now make a tax return in the UK? If so HMRC will know if your bank is deducting tax from your investment income. I was told, by my accountant, that to get any income in UK paid gross (free of tax deductions) I had to get a letter from HMRC stating that my tax affairs were considered to be in order and that I was paying tax as I should. Unless you have done thi, it is most likely that Santander will have been deducting tax from your interest. With the interest rates offered in UK you must have a lot on deposit if the tax on interest is enough to bother you

Important thing with UK pension is to be sure that DWP know you are still alive. (It is in their interests to get you declared dead!) Once a year, or so, they will write to you asking if you are still alive! letter might go to your UK address if you still have one. Make sure you get this query, and answer it asap. If not you pension will be stopped. Safest to check your bank account regularly to see that their payment is going in. If not call DWP and ask why not.. Even when you phone them they will not believe that you are actually alive. You will need to get your Thai doctor to certify that you are alive!. NB I have always kept UK address, and UK mobile phone, and still do not get cost of living increases.

I went through the process of getting a "Yellow Book" a few years ago, since CR immigration told me I should. Since then I have not found a single time when it has been needed, or wanted. I have tried showing ti at SVB Immigration when entering, at local I/O whne doing TM30, 90 dy or normal extensions. Nobody is interested in even looking at it, nor can anyone tell me why I need this book.. I do not live in a Condo, but in wife's house. Theoretically, easy enough to get yellow Book, but so much fuss, not worth he effort.

Go to your local I/O and make an appointment for your visa extension. Then ask your friendly I/O to give you a list of paperwork you will need for this extensions, (helpful for getting the right papers from your bank) maybe you do not need to do this, but I find it simplifies the procedure, and you do not have to go back with new papers.. At my local I/O, this also ensures that the right official is at the office when needed to sign of the extension.. Getting the right paperwork fom your bank can be a pain, as some bank's software will not update your statement unles you make a transaction

Plenty of vague qualifications to 'Free Speech' so that action can be taken against virtually anyone.

Can anyone here offer advice on adjustment of the standard carb. for a Honda Dream 125. Ous is becoming difficult to start and keep running on these colder mornings. My feeling is that the tick-over mixture needs to be riche and the tick-over faster, but how to do this. I would expect there to be a mixture screw adjustment and a tick-over speed adjuster. If i could see a picture to the carb with these two adjuster identified, I should be able o set it up to run better fort thing. Any assistance welcome. MY Thai is rudimentary and not up to explaining to Honda mechs., and wife's tech knowledge not up to knowing what I am on about. She just complains it 'won't start properly' "knowledgeable" local has told her to change the oil.

I would think hat your Will is far too important to be done by DIY instructions from the internet. You will not be around when it is being enforced and never underestimate how unscrupulous some can be when money is at stake. My advice would be to contact a reputable firm of solicitors in UK and get them to prepare your will. following your instructions. Thye should point out any errors and lose ends in your draft will. For instance, what if your G/F predeceases you? Or you both die together in an accident. Wha if you separate before you die? What if a 'long lost relative ' of yours appears and claims his share of your assets? I have personal experience of how badly written Wills can go wrong, even in UK, so i advise taking trouble to get it right. Sure it will cost money, but think of the misery that could be caused if your will is wrong.. name your solicitor as executor and take the stress away from your G/F.

Look about you. There is a reason why most rural Thai houses now being built follow a similar design;- That is re-in forced concrete frames with brick or blocks infilling. R/C frames are also foundations, first beam is cast in the ground, about 30 cm deep. Roof beams ae metal with corrugated covers. This is a proven design, which woks and is reasonable cost, proven over time by many Thais, both builders and DIY. Trying to improve on this might not be easy. Why ry to re-invent the wheel, when the design is well proven? Single floor, bungalow will need a high roof or be very hot in the day when the sun is on the roof.. 2 Floors, at least the ground floor stays cool in the day. Wood ,especially Teak wood, is a scarce commodity in Thailand whihs is why there are so few wooden housed.. I have used bamboo for garden furniture and structures, and it does not last. Rots or attached by insects. probably why This only use it for rough building like chicken houses.

"I am confident that I wrote very clear Wills in English language, in both stating my girlfriend as executor and also leaving everything to her. I signed both Wills in the presence of witnesses who then signed." You should check; I think that in UK an executor of a will cannot be a beneficiary in hat will.

it would be interesting to know how many members of T/V Forum actually qualify for the new LTR Visa, either s Work from Thailand, or Wealthy Pensioner, Wealthy Global Citizens. As I se it, the minimum income is 80,000 USD, which I do not think I have ever reached, and certainly not now. OR; an investment of 1 Million USD in Thailand; if I had 1 Million to invest, it would not be in Thailand or a Thai company OR property in Thailand, worth over 1 million USD. Thailand is not where i would consider investing my 1 million in property. I can get a better return and safer investment in my naive UK I have always considered myself to be a 'comfortably off' pensione, and happy to retire to LOS, but no way am I ever going o meet any of these requirements. Nor have ai ever met any other person her in LOS who might qualify. So, is this some 'Pie in the sky' group of people who only exist in Thai government imagination, or are the thousands of these wealthy individuals queueing up to live in Thailand? Will the Thai government ever publish figures of how many LTR visas have been issued? My own circumstances? I have been in LOS for 6 years on Non Imm. O retirement extensions. I am married to a Thai and we own our own house, but it is not worth 1 million USD. I can afford to keep 800,000 baht in the bank and pay the fees fro extending my visa every year, but I could never meet and of these LTR requirements. How many forum member could?

Confused as to what O/P has done. I entered Thailand on visa exempt and went to local I/O and changed this to Non Imm O. Non IM O was stamped in my passport at I/O and I was told that I could do a Retirement extension in the last month of this visa. Not required to leave Thailand to get this isa an assume it is valid for 90 days.; that is what is stamped in my passport. Now waiting out the 60+ days until I can do the Retirement extension. Told by I/O when visa issued that no problems, just had to get all the stuff for retirement visa. .

Unlike many who have posted here, I have no objection to the 800KB in a Thai bank rule for a retirement visa, nor do I rally mind the 90 day reporting,or havign to apply fro an extension every year. I simply want ot be ble o stay in Thailand with my Thai wife, and be able to visit Uk once or twice every year. I can now do all this quite easily with a Non Imm. O visa. Unless the Government changes the rules, I am not going to change this to get LTR or any other sort of visa now on offer if it is a case of making money from us pensioners, why not imple up the cost of the current visa? I'll wait and see what happens when i go fro my annual extension in Dec. IF nothing has changed, then I'll stay with that. I am only going to look at alternative if I am forced to do so. Anyone see anything wrong with this thinking?

Enforcement will be the problem, as always with the RTP. Make as many laws as you like, so that will sound good, but if they are not enforced, pointless. So every Thai with an illegal gun is going to meekly surrender it?

Rabies jab will not give you 100% protection, just more resistance to help the real treatment if you get Rabies. Main concern should be 'has your rabbit got rabies?' if he has, your chances of dying are high. if the rabbit is OK so will you be. Just treat the wouln in the usual way, clean and keep clean, possible antibiotics if an infection develops. Take more care when with your rabbits, they have very sharp teeth. I would have thought that the chances of a pet rabbit, kept in a hutch, catching Rabies are very low.

Sparked by a discussion on this board, I have found something new to worry about. . I am not getting any younger or fitter (now 78) and fully expect Khun wife to survive me, and I want her to be provided for. We were legally married in UK, but not in Thailand. We have been together for nearly 40 yrs. I have made a will in UK, covering everything I own.:- Property in UK, Money in bank in UK and Singapore Everything we own in Thailand is in wife's name ( land, house, car..) I have on bank account at Kasikorn of my retirement visa, and another joint with wife. Wife assures me that when I die, all in Thailand will go to her, and has been instructed as to how to inform my solicitor (executor) in UK Can anyone with more knowledge of Thai legal system comment on this as I want everything to e as easy as possible for her when I go. Wife has not made a will, as her mother told her it would be 'bad luck' think about her death. Wife and I agree that if she should pre-decease me, everything in Thailand except my bank account would go to her family, and they can sort it out between themselves. I would not want to live on in the village, but would return to UK We do not have any children but wife has niece she has brought up a daughter, and expects that she should inherit everything in Thailand. To me, everything seems to be in place for easy procedures when either of us die. Am I living in a fool's paradise it will not be as easy as I hope? Wife and her family are typical country Thais with no knowledge of legal matters, as I suspect that many(most) Thais are Being cynical, I am sure that wife's family fully expect to get everything we own in Thailand, and i am not going to try to contest this. AFIK all our property, house. land, in Thailand is properly registered in wife's maiden name, as appears on her ID card and Thai passport. She has ll the paper-work stowed away in our house. I am not looking for a way to get possession of this property, I would probably just walk away after the funeral and leave i all to her family.