freeman01

Just in case I used an AIS pre-paid plan with internet unlimited only for 300bath a month and i receive sms everywhere in SEA.  It's a bit annoying to have to top up every month but i avoid the nonsense bills at least.

Also the AIS app is pretty good, you can set everything inside including roaming and can register your phone number with an email address so you can login without sms afterward.

On 10/15/2023 at 8:26 PM, Eddie45 said:

Does anybody know if Vietnam is okay with staying 3 months on a tourist visa and then flying out for a few days and coming back and staying another 2 months. Thinking about staying in Thailand for 5 months a year and then Vietnam for another 5 months. Was going to stay in Thailand for 12 months of the year until they decided to change there tax laws. Trying not to stay 6 months in 1 spot as dont want to become a resident.

yes they don't care for now, you can do visa run on cambodia or laos border indefinitely for about 100 usd or less.

also flights to KL or Bangkok are very cheap so yea very convenient and would cost about as much as a visa run to cambodia or laos.

make sure to study a bit about tax laws in vietnam if this is a concern for you, I vaguely remember reading some weird stuff like if you rent something long term technically you would become a tax resident even if not in the country ...

I only got a 30 days visa right before the new 90 days got into effect, but on my 30 days visa letter it clearly stated the full 30 days written exactly like in the first picture you provided and this were the exact date of my actual visa on my passport.

probably an error I would say, would try to get another one if I were you or try to contact them by email ... if you are patient.

let us know how it goes if you cross the border with this letter.

returning a few dollars worth of stuff to a shop in Thailand ? really ?

this has nothing to do with "Thai hospitality", this behavior is akin to a beggar not a foreigner with several time the income of the average Thai, no wonder you are treated like one.

go back to europe if you like those freaking laws so much ... and watch as you slowly drown into them.

these events are likely bringing tourists to the islands so cracking down on it would be like shooting themself in the foot, not happening.

32 minutes ago, BritTim said:

I wonder if there might be a rule somewhere that says money earned in Thailand cannot be paid in an overseas bank. I could imagine that kind of regulation, and it being misinterpreted to imply you must receive all your income in Thailand.

good point, like you are employed in Thailand by an oversea company and the money earned must land in a Thai bank within the calendar year.

sorry i don't have the incentive I had years ago to dig into this again, this is from memory i can't find the source unfortunately, also it might not be as clear as I stated it and perhaps with some more context around it.

anyways my point stand as Malaysia has a very simple rule "no capital gains tax" that cannot be misinterpreted or lost in translation and that is very valuable for anyone with significant amount invested.

8 hours ago, BritTim said:

I do not recall such a rule. It does say that earnings from abroad brought into Thailand in the year that it is earned are subject to Thai tax if you are tax resident. That is different from saying you must import earnings so they can tax it. Do you have a more specific citation other than just Thai law?

I didn't save it unfortunately, pretty sure I learned this on a thread here referring the official text, that was a few years ago before covid if I recall.

1 hour ago, K2938 said:

Where does it say this, please?

where do you think ? Thailand tax code.

11 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

Not sure I understand what you're saying here as Thailand doesn't tax any overseas generated income (Including Capital gains) if you don't bring the money into Thailand in the calendar year it was earned (& if you did they have no way of knowing unless you declare it).

 

 

I don't believe they charge Capital Gains tax on profits made from local real estate either, but have never bought/sold property in Thailand so don't know for sure, just have never read/heard anybody say that they've had to pay CGT when selling property. 

 

 

The only thing I can see Malaysia being more "Tax Attractive" on is if you were working there where the top rate tax is 28% Vs Thailand's 35% but I don't think that's applicable here as you can't work on the Thailand Elite visa. 

 

Malaysia as very clear tax rules, no capital gains tax period.

Thailand is a little bit grey area, you achieve the same but its not as clear cut.

for instance as a Thailand tax resident you are required by law to remit any money earn outside the country into a Thai bank and therefore pay tax on it when it land in Thailand. I know we are all ignoring it and they don't enforce it but its there ... and Thailand has signed CRS not long ago and it will go into effect at some point this year or the next.

also for those who invest/trade in crypto ... well let's just not talk about it ...

Also another point of interest is everything tax related is in English in Malaysia, you can file yourself online, its dead simple I was very impressed.

On 8/27/2023 at 12:00 AM, K2938 said:

In what regard would Malaysia be more tax friendly than Thailand?  It is the reverse

territorial taxation and no capital gains tax (exception on local real estate). This is godly for those who do trading/investing abroad.

now getting a visa in Malaysia is expensive as hell below 50 and the regular M2H has now ridiculous requirements like 10k usd income a month and 1 million in liquid asset or something stupid like this ...

there is still one option affordable above 50 with the Sarawak M2H but god know for how long ... from memory the requirements are 10k ringgit income per month OR something like 150k ringgit in a fixed deposit account. Also some presence in Sarawak per year, like a few weeks to a month.

my ESE 20y application took about 6 weeks to be approved by immigration and 3 weeks after payment to be processed and get the welcome letter.

On 8/23/2023 at 7:51 PM, El Matador said:

And after that, the program will be almost dead.

People who really want it will have it before the 15th of September.

Unless another COVID or war comes into play, they will have a hell of a time to market their new visa to new potential applicants.

i highly doubt that, the demand for this visa is not going down any time soon, about 4-5k a year since 2020 ... huge amount of Chinese, Japanese and Europeans from tax hell countries will still be interested even if the price double, and still a lots of Russians applying now with the sanctions according to an agents.

lots of people out there for which that amount of money isn't much of a concern or is worth it for them. note that most people use debt to pay for it which then doesn't requires spitting out the whole amount from savings.

also I don't think the elite visa is intended to get that many applications as they have seen the past years, pretty sure the government is expecting a natural cap beyond what they could pause new applications for a while or make adjustment in the requirements like they are doing now.

if you have many stamps in/out make sure to have the amount in Thai Bath (she insisted on it for me), a flight ticket out and an hotel reservation plus a print out of a bank account statement with like a few thousands USD equivalent in it (important). This will make it almost impossible for them to reject you if you get pulled by one of those over zealous female IO officer ... without all this one would have kicked me out (before covid). This is important because If you have everything and she still try to refuse you entry, you can request to talk to a superior officer which will likely let you in.

and never lose your temper during issues like this no matter what very important, stay cool and keep pushing politely.

Also I realized later the hag messed up the dates on my passport several more days than the expected 30 days. when I went to the immigration office a few weeks later to get an extension of stay, the IO quickly corrected the date on my passport in front of me saying I was lucky to have come many days before the wrong date on my passport or I would have been in overstay, yes unreal ... 

I would bet she did that "mistake" on purpose out of spite trying to get me into trouble and be caught overstaying that way, so be careful they can be very cunning ...

very likely the owner where you stay didn't report to the immigration that you are staying there, hence there is something missing on the system for them and thats what they are asking.

try another line or another day with someone else really, nothing to lose ... immigration officers can be very lazy and annoying some time, not mentioning the horrendous level of english, some of them if they see one thing to turn you down they will do it. welcome to thailand !

not sure this has been mentioned already but Thailand Elite explicitly state more than 1 overstay within the past 3 years, so if more than 1 overstay just wait for the oldest overstay to be over 3 years old ...

most people don't realize how mad inflation has gone since Covid ... 15-30k USD is not as much as it used to be ... very likely also the main reason behind the coming price change for the whole scheme, every rich people have gotten way more richer the past years ...

a reminder to anyone who is thinking they could afford this, Elite visa was not designed for you but for wealthy people for whom 15-30k usd is close to nothing and the price increase will likely reflect this.

i wouldn't take that bet given the minimum cost is 600,000THB, basically Thailand Elite sells you a visa but ultimately the immigration can deny you that Visa afterward after you paid for it ...

I don't think the duration of the overstay matters much, rather the amount of visa overstay, aka more than one is not ok. also the reason for overstay might matters a lot ...

fantastic news !

of note, the 3 months e-visa cost 25$ for single entry and 50$ for multiple entries.

also you can do a visa run the same day on a visa-exempt entry stamp !

of course they will allow people to upgrade to the old scheme, otherwise it would make them look really bad and this whole elite visa scheme is not much about money but rather mostly to facilitate visa for rich people. changing the term of a contract people signed would just create unnecessary trouble and bad reputation for them.

for anyone under 50 with some capital and the ability to borrow money, the Elite Visa is a no brainer, the 20 years comes down to roughly 1500 USD a year (perhaps a bit more with interests if you borrow money for it), very reasonable for being able to enter Thailand at will for 20 years ...

also the ability to pay using Cryptocurrency for this visa at various Agencies is very underrated I think, as long as you clear background checks you are good to go and don't need to go through the banking system ...

also of notes for all the retirement and marriage visas, the rules can change any time and take effect after the annual renewal ... the elite visa lock the term for 5, 10 or 20 years which is quiet good for the price really, I personally really appreciate the peace of mind the elite visa brings.

Apparently all countries can apply for the 3 months E-Visa, interesting ...

Very good news !

All the following countries now have 45 days visa-exempt entry on arrival.

On top of that it is allowed to exit and re-enter Vietnam on the same day! There used to be a requirement of 30 days out of Vietnam before re-entering on visa-exempt entry but it has been explicitly lifted.

there is a new website to apply for the 3 months visa.

https://dichvucong.bocongan.gov.vn/

direct link to application form, click "submit application" to start the application process.

https://dichvucong.bocongan.gov.vn/bocongan/bothutuc/tthc?matt=26277

Quote

 

Fees 

 

US$ 25/single-entry electronic visa

US$ 50/multiple-entry electronic visa

 

this is the official government website to apply, application cost 25$ currently, take a few days to be approved after payment.

https://immigration.gov.vn/

you can use agents web site to have the visa processed within hours if in a hurry.

also of notes, Vietnam immigration doesn't care about visa runs ...