Etaoin Shrdlu

Certain financial assets held outside the US need to be reported on form 8938 as part of your annual income tax return. The threshold for taxpayers living overseas and filing as single persons or married persons filing separately is when the aggregate balances of all accounts exceeds $300,000 at any time during the tax year or if it is over $200,000 at the end of the tax year. These limits are doubled for married taxpayers filing jointly. The threshold for US-resident taxpayers are lower. These obligations are in addition to any FBAR reporting requirements the taxpayer may have.

Instructions from the IRS website here: https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8938

A tenant can be held legally liable for damages he causes, both intentionally or by negligence, to the landlord's and/or the juristic entity's property.

Check your lease to see what it says about your liability to the landlord for damage to his property. It should hold you harmless for damages to the landlord's property which are not caused by you. 

Renters' insurance is available that would cover both loss or damage to the tenant's own property as well as the tenant's legal liability to the landlord or juristic entity for damage to property owned by them.

Renters' insurance can get expensive when insuring valuable items or items that are taken outside the premises, such as jewelry and electronics.

It might be worth your while to ask an insurance broker to get you a quote for renters' insurance. If you leave off the expensive options, cover can be reasonably affordable.

15 minutes ago, ttechguy said:

thanks, I did mention in application when asked to fill, and asked if any discount, but the guy said, no discounts, may be he is just staff, looking for direct contact who will handle this Hafu registration process

I've just taken a look at the Berkeley website and it mentions that there are restrictions on the discount for international families, but does not give any details. My kids received the discount when they attended Berkeley some years ago and I recall we used their US passports to register them. Probably best to email the registrar and explain your situation and ask how the discount might apply. Back when my kids attended, they were keen to enroll dual nationals as international students and to give the discount.

When registering the children at Berkeley, do so with their foreign passports as their ID.

Our daughter's school is giving the option to use either the nasal swab kits or saliva kits. The nasal swab kits are being provided by the school. If we wish to use the saliva kits, we need to purchase them ourselves.

Insurance policies sold via banks tend to be stripped-down products. If it is relevant to you, check to see whether the FWD policy covers motorcycling and assault risks, something that is frequently offered as optional cover for additional premium under personal accident policies, but which may be left off of a bare bones policy sold via bancassurance channels.

The OP does not state in what capacity he finds himself in Thailand. This can make a difference.

US multinational companies that send their employees to work abroad will usually have a separate medical insurance program for such employees.  It is often with the same carrier that provides health insurance for the company's US-based employees, but with coverage modifications to make it respond to medical expenses incurred outside the US.

If the OP is here in a personal capacity as visitor, then the provisions of the US-based health insurance likely apply and there may be a number of limitation as the OP has discovered.

Expenses incurred for medical tourism are usually paid out of pocket.

TG: Tomorrow Go

Thailand Pass seems to require basically the same documents as the COE with the addition of evidence of vaccination. More paperwork, not less.

If the volume of applicants increases in a meaningful way, I don't think the Thai consulates will be able to keep up with the workload. Perhaps in addition to re-branding, the MFA has outsourced this to VFS or other third-party processor, hence the new website. 

Covid cases seem to be picking up again, including in the north, south and in Prachuap, so this may all come to nought.  

Need to state in the title that this article is about schools in Cambodia.

47 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

You are wrong, the iPad Air 2 is on the latest iOS version, I am currently getting the latest iPadOS 15.0.2 at the moment. 
the original iPad Air however is on 12.5.5

You're correct. My iPad Air 2 shows the iPadOS as being 14.8 and states "your iPad software is up to date". Automatic update is turned on and it is connected to our home wifi. But now I see at the bottom of the screen that I can upgrade to iPadOS 15. Thank you for pointing this out. I would probably have missed this.

I have an iPad Air 2 that I purchased in 2015 and it still works just fine, although it is no longer eligible for upgrades to newer versions of the operating system. 

Although I have not had any issues with my iPad Air, other family members have experienced failures of other Apple products and i would suggest considering purchasing the Apple Care option that extends the warranty and provides some accidental damage protection.

We purchase apple products directly from Apple's Thai website. They are sent from Apple's facilities in China or Singapore and arrive in just a few days via DHL if they are in stock.

This approach isn't unique to Kasikorn Bank. Many non-US mutual funds will not allow sales to US citizens or green card holders because that can trigger US reporting requirements even though the mutual fund has no other connection to the US. It looks like Kasikorn wishes to at least screen applicants manually to eliminate this potential issue.

11 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

Police in Dubai are thought to have singled out Hood after monitoring WhatsApp

 

I thought WhatsApp was encrypted.

Some years ago Etisalat, one of the two mobile phone companies in the UAE, distributed an unexplained software "update" to its subscribers.  It was widely speculated that it was some sort of surveillance software. Perhaps it can circumvent or break the WhatsApp encryption.

Mrs. Shrdlu has just advised me that there was a meeting this evening and the PM has decided to abandon the quarantine for fully vaccinated arrivals that have negative PCR tests prior to departure and a negative antigen test on arrival.

Waiting to see if this is true.

My wife has a similar approach to Covid safety, although perhaps not quite as extreme.

She also won't accept Sinopharm, Sinovax or AstraZenica and is waiting until the Moderna we ordered back in July arrives.

29 minutes ago, dave moir said:

I understand that the majority of hospitalised people are the vaccinated!!!????

And when everyone is vaccinated, the vaccinated will be the only ones in hospital. This does not mean that the vaccines don't reduce hospitalizations and deaths. Simple matter of numbers, not vaccine efficacy.

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

This is Thailand - not the UK/EU/USA or other such country - and even there people get jerked around trying to obtain payments.  Insurance here is not tightly regulated and is for the 'haves' - indeed most people without special connections would not even consider having as they feel they would never be able to obtain payment (any kind of insurance other than required auto).  

I worked for many years in the Thai insurance market. The insurers with which my employer had distribution agreements paid claims according to the terms and conditions of their policies. Perhaps it was because if the did not, they would no longer do business with the firm. That does not mean there were not disputes about claims, but the denials did not go without explanation or reference to the terms and conditions of the policy in question or meaningful discussions as to differences in opinion as to matters of fact.

You are correct that the regulatory environment here is less stringent than in many developed countries, but it is accessible and the regulator will deal fairly with complaints. And yes, even in developed countries there are disputes regarding claims.

10 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

I have to differ with your assessment that it is rare for an insurer not to follow the T&C of health insurance policies. Over my years on this  board I have seen innumerable cases, from simply not paying a claim and giving no reason, to refusing to pay for ridiculous reasons. The lack of medical knowledge and evident unwillingness to refer cases to a medical professional lead to some truly absurd leaps of logic as to whether a claim reflects a pre-existing condition.

 

 

I don't question your experience with Thai insurers when it comes to claims. Again, a good broker will advise their clients which insurers have a good track record with respect to claims payments and those that don't. Having a client represented by a good (and large) broker also can bring clarity of mind to insurers when considering whether to pay or deny a claim. When working for an insurer, I frequently heard "who is the broker" when a claim was escalated to management internally.

We had a similar situation last month when we had to take our son to Suvarnabhumi for a flight departing at 23:30 hours. We called the police to see what, if any, documentation was required for travel past curfew. We were advised that a copy of son's ticket and passport would be sufficient in the event we were stopped after curfew on the way back. We were in Bangkok, so we did not have a long journey, but we were not stopped. 

You'll want to arrange this in advance and confirm all details with the taxi driver or the taxi company when you make the booking.

Good luck.

The insurance industry is highly regulated and almost all insurers will pay claims exactly in accordance with the terms and conditions of their policies. There are instances in which an insurance company may act in bad faith, but those situations are quite rare. Regulators take an extremely dim view of anything that looks like bad faith and insurers, believe it or not, are concerned about bad publicity and getting a bad reputation. They also don't want to be dragged into the regulator's office. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner is generally consumer-friendly and anyone with a complaint will get a fair hearing, including foreigners.

In my opinion, disappointment with insurance stems most often from the following situations:

1) The policyholder does not fully understand what their policy actually says, covers and excludes.  

2) The policyholder is unaware of their obligations under their policy, especially their duty to fully disclose all material facts when forming a contract of insurance.

3) Difficulty in providing the documentation required by insurers when submitting their claim.

4) Genuine and legitimate differences of opinion regarding factual issues surrounding a claim.

With respect to the first three items above, a good insurance broker can and should help the policyholder understand their policy and its limitations, the obligations of the insured and the documents needed in order to establish proof of loss at claims time. This is best done early on, and in the case of items 1 and 2, prior to the order to bind coverage.

Number 4 is a bit more difficult. A good insurance broker will advocate for his client at claims time. If the broker places a sizable amount of business with the insurer, the broker may have enough influence to get a difficult claim paid that may otherwise get denied or to reverse a denial. If this is not sufficient and the policyholder wishes to escalate the matter, approaching the regulator is the next most appropriate step. Ultimately, if still no favorable resolution is forthcoming, the policyholder can always take the insurer to court. Going to court is expensive, time-consuming and there is no guarantee of a favorable outcome for either party.

Insurance is an area in which there is asymmetric information and resources and the consumer is usually the one with the short end of the stick. An insurance broker can help reduce the gap and in many cases provide advice that may limit disappointment later on. Insurers have no obligation to provide a policyholder with advice.

To paraphrase a saying from the legal profession, anyone who deals directly with an insurer has a fool for a broker.