wpcoe

Only thing I noticed about the taxis was that there are three separate booths on Level 1 and lots and lots of taxis without hardly any passengers. There was no line at any of the three booths.

I've heard that from other sources, and it worries me a bit. How long will the taxi drivers continue the practice of coming to the airport to wait and wait and wait and wait? Pretty soon, won't they think they can make more money by avoiding the airport? A taxi parked in a queue is not a taxi making money.

Or, will the B50 surcharge have to be increased to encourage them to come and wait?

I have four attachments scanned to show, now to see if this works, haven't tried an attachment on Thai Visa before.

Thanks, Mac, for the time and effort you took to post that. I am most grateful to learn your process and will do it the next time I need to transfer funds. I just need to locate the bloody check book. I've been doing online banking for so long, that it has been *years* since I wrote a paper check!

So far, mainly because of the US$50 SWIFT transaction fee my credit union charges, my plan has been to transfer large lumpsum transfers that last me for several months. I just got my initial retirement extension stamp in September, so I'm still considering different strategies. I only need to show a balance of B200,000 to supplement my early-retirement pension to qualify for the retirement extension, so I transferred about B300,000 in September and am now just waiting to see how long it takes for me to spend that much.

I was a little surprised to see your SCB bank letter in English. My SCB branch provided me with a bank letter in Thai.

I dont think so, they have been operating, 747's and MD11's internationally but no triple 7's.

That's odd. I've been flying TG 777-200's and -300's between BKK and NRT for several years now.

As was clarified above, the headline was a bit misleading as TG has received the first of six additional 777's to their fleet.

This works fine, I do it monthy, did so yesterday. Once a month I write a personal check on my U.S. bank account for the equivalent of baht 65,000. I get a fomal receipt for this foreign exchange check from the bank which shows both the $$ and baht amount. These are copied for Immigration when I head down for my "retirement" renewal. I've been dealing with several branches of the Siam Commercial Bank now for 17 years, has always worked the same. The SCB charge is baht 200 for the check plus baht 3 for a duty stamp of some sort. SCB holds my access to the baht 65,000 for 45 days even tho the check normally clears the U.S. bank in 7-10 days. This is only a "problem" for the initial check as afterwards you're ahead of the game and on a roll. I've been told by the bank that I do get interest on the baht from the day of deposit to the savings account.

FYI, my U.S. bank now charges $45 for an international wire transfer, up from $15 then $25 some years back, so it's a rare occasion that I use this mode of moving funds over here.

Mac

Wow. Live and learn! You mean that for B203, you can write a personal check from your US bank checkbook and deposit it into your SCB account in Thailand? The 45-day wait is no problem for me.

My US credit union charges a whopping US$50 for an international transfer to SCB bank.

Gammy, in line with what Satu said, I agree that you should be fine with the embassy letter verifying your income.

That said, based on reports here on ThaiVisa.com, occasionally individual immigrations officers seem to present additional criteria such as:

The embassy letter must be "current" ... i.e. cannot use a letter from last year. In my case a month ago, the Pattaya office took my original letter and kept it, even though I offered two photocopies. Other people have reported using the original letter year after year and just submitting new photocopies.

You should have a Thai bank passbook for the officer to take a look at, although not for the purpose of verifying B800,000. Apparently they just like to see that you have some bank activity.

Just be prepared to be flexible in case you meet some request not covered in the written guidelines. And smile a lot. :-)

Hmmm, when I check to read his previous posts, I only find *two*, dated 11-03 and 09-25. What happened to the third post?

Does he need to do that at least 21-days before 07 Dec? Or can he do it any time up to 07 Dec?

Also, will he be violating the terms of the retirement extension if he is buying paintings in Thailand with intent to resell via his USA partner?

Reading this thread jogged my blurred memory of something I heard in the past: That when a falang changes his/her residence (whether house, condo or hotel) they need to report it to the police with 24 hours. Is that something obsolete, or something that applies only to tourist visas/visa-waiver stamps, or is is some mis-remembered "fact" I resurrected?

I'm now on a retirement extension and know I fall under the 90-day report provision, but if I were to move before that, do I need to alert any authorities?

Stevo: Are you referring to (a) a 30-day visa issued in a Thai embassy/consulate overseas, or ( a 30-day visa-waiver stamp in your passport that you received upon entry into Thailand?

In a townhouse I rented in Bangkok, I put a 13,500 BTU unit in a bedroom about 23 sq meter, and during the daytime it could never get the room below 28 degrees ( C ). That chart says for a room twice that size the base calculation should be 12,000 BTU? I wonder....

Possibly the a/c in the townhouse had problems (dirty, freon, etc.) I have a 12,000 BTU in my computer room (got it cheap, why so large) and it is also about 23 sq meter. My room temperature right now is 22.5 degrees and that is set on level 3 out of 7, a 7 and I would need winter arctic gear.

In my bedroom I have 9000 BTU and it is about 40 sq meter and keeps it at temperature with no problem.

I just noticed that my Thai chart for a bedroom of 23sq.m recommends 15,300 BTU (or 15,300 or 18,000 BTU if sunny). That is more consistent with my (sunny) townhouse bedroom, while your computer room is consistent with the chart you posted. Interesting! (Is your computer in a bat cave? )

And, yes, 22.5 degrees is downright CHILLY!

Its even in the Independant newspaper in England. Brighton has tuk tuks.

Yes, as an article from BBC News explains:

"The vehicles are environmentally friendly, running on compressed natural gas with super-low emissions, the company said."

"The UK versions have been fitted with hoods and curtains to keep out the rain and cold of the English city, and special safety features including passenger and driver seatbelts and strengthened overhead and side-impact protection."

So, they aren't exactly "your father's tuk tuks".

100 to 150 square feet - 5,000 BTUs

150 to 250 square feet - 6,000 BTUs

250 to 300 square feet - 7,000 BTUs

300 to 350 square feet - 8,000 BTUs

350 to 400 square feet - 9,000 BTUs

400 to 450 square feet - 10,000 BTUs

450 to 550 square feet - 12,000 BTUs

550 to 700 square feet - 14,000 BTUs

700 to 1,000 square feet - 18,000 BTUs

1,000 to 1 400 square feet - 24,000 BTUs

In a townhouse I rented in Bangkok, I put a 13,500 BTU unit in a bedroom about 23 sq meter, and during the daytime it could never get the room below 28 degrees ( C ). That chart says for a room twice that size the base calculation should be 12,000 BTU? I wonder....

1st column after BTU - bed room

2nd column - bed room with sun exposure

3rd column - guest room (actually receive guests, so maybe living room)

4th column - same but sun exposure

5th column - work room

6th column - work room with sun exposure

There are so many other variables involved that this table is not a very good guideline.

Thanks so much for the interpretation! I realize there are lots of variables, such as room height, if on top floor with uninsulated attic, amout of window glass, etc, but it sounds reasonable for a starting point.

I found this chart on a Thai web site (www.ruamair.com) and was wondering if somebody could translate the column headings, especially in the first chart. I assume they relate to directional exposure, etc, but it would be nice to find out.

(Click here for a larger version. I was afraid to post it inside the message for fear of being too big, but the Thai script is more legible.)

Thanks!

could be complex job digging up the floor and laying very long lengths of waste pipes and water supplies to the new latrines . Unless they plan to run them at high level.

BTW, what are "Coyote Girls"?

I don't see what scantily clad girls have to do with selling just about any product other than scantily clad girls. I don't care if DTAC has scantily clad girls gyrating in front of a display if the dtac service sucks. same goes for girls selling Nescafe or Leo Beer or whatever. Of course, I may not be a typical consumer in Thailand, I suppose.

Whitey, I'm with you on that one.

Once I was at Pantip Plaza and the ground floor had a dance troup of young ladies half clad in sparkly silver outfits performing for a computer manufacturer. I thought to myself: "How bad must their products be that they can't be sold on features, performance and reliability alone? How does a gyrating half-naked lady in any way persuade me to buy their computer?"

i wanted to get an OA in UK which is really difficult as consulates cannot issue them - only the embassy can!

So, the Tourist visa must be converted to an "O" and THEN the "O" to an "OA (retirement) - correct?

It is converted to a "O" as it is inside Thailand. The "OA" is only given by a Thai Embassy.

FWIW, a friend got an O-A Retirement Visa this past week at the Royal Thai Consulate in Chicago. I also have heard of people getting an O-A Retirement Visa at the Royal Thai Consulate in Los Angeles as well as at the Honorary Consul in Honolulu.

Maybe the UK consulates won't but other countries' will? <shrug>

Both DTAC (Happy!) and AIS (1-2-Call) have counters along the wall facing the customs exits. (By that I mean along the wall whose back is the front of the terminal. Hmmmm, I can't seem to describe it well.) I think they were between exits B and C.

I went there to top-up my prepaid DTAC account while waiting for an arriving friend. They could not oblige. The only thing they do there is sell SIMM cards.

I'm using TT&T MaxNet in Jomtien (west of Sukhumvit) and starting at about 1600h on Friday the 27th, my DSL signal keeps dropping about 20 times per hour.

Yes, sometimes the connection remains connected 60 seconds or less. <sigh...>

I called customer service (1103) on Friday about 2000h and they said a technician would call me that evening or Saturday morning.

I called customer service on Saturday afternoon and was advised they woud "ask" a technician to call me.

I called customer service on Sunday afternoon and... well, you get the picture: after two full days of largely unusable ADSL service, no technician has called.

TT&T MaxNet is a great service when it works, but when it doesn't there is next-to-no support. I go through problems about every six months, though it's usually just slow throughput, not a complete loss of signal like this time.

PS: So far, I've lost the DSL signal three times while trying to post this reply...

Thanks. That's interesting.

Anybody out there with a retirement type visa that is allowed to work?

Terry

This is not what you are asking to hear, but when I received my retirement visa extension in Pattaya last month, the official who sits at the back and actually processes them sternly told me I could not work in Thailand, and asked pointedly if I understood that. She certainly made her point that I could NOT work on the retirement extension.

As I said, MAYBE they will throw this in the too-hard basket.

I decided not to use a Visa Service as I have the time to take care of it myself and could not justify the additional cost. Instead of paying fees to an agency I prefer to use the money on airfare/hotel and have a little holiday somewhere whilst getting the Visa.

//There was no need for a visa - conversions have been available from vise free entry for awhile now//

Is that still the case since October 1? Another poster had said that an Immigrations officer told him (in September) that the converson of a visa-free entry was just on an exception basis until October 1. [edited to correct a date]

I have also learned that Hull is now offering 3-year (yes, three YEAR) Non-Immigrant 'O' Visas. But you have to apply in person. So another option was to fly to UK, go to Hull. But UK is expensive and especially miserable this time of the year.

//That's news to me - and don't believe it is a normal O visa if true//

I think that might be the "3-year Multiple Non-B Visa" discussed in this thread. It's so easy to get twisted with the different visa categories.

What immigration wants to see a letter from your embassy saying you have the income. If you are a US citizen, all you do fill out form, put any amount you like, sign it and have consulate officer notarize it (you do have to affirm to them it is correct).

Has there been any update on the reports that US citizens were now needed to show documentation BESIDES the too-easy-to-falsely-obtain US Embassy letter? I recall a post (by Sunbelt?) saying that some US applicants were being required to show something like regular deposits in a Thai bank (?) in addition to the letter.