wpcoe

Also are Article 6 and 8 covering the same thing?

Article 8 covers impeachment. There are other ways to remove Assembly members. I shudder to think, though, that they would be included/sanctioned in a Constitution, however "interim" it may be.

wp, if you're talking about the old Brit bikes where you shifted the gears with your right foot, and operated the rear brake with your left foot, that was prior to 1975, so your limbs have already forgotten.

No, I've never done any gear shifting on a bike. Ever. So, it's a bit intimidating.

And, to whomever wondered about the water-cooled engines begin better or worse, they are much better in hot climates. The pavement in the daytime here can be 46 degrees, and that can warp the cylinder on an air-cooled bike.

VERY interesting. Thanks!

Good luck, wp.

Many thanks!

I've started spending more time on the roads (with a rental bike) to increase my comfort level in preparation for the license test. Yesterday I drove up to Bang Saray, drove up to Phoenx Golf Course, etc. All I'd used one for before was to/from Tesco or Foodmart about 1km from my condo. I'm kinda like the retired lady who just uses her car to drive to church on Sundays. The first several times I rented a bike, I would only go places where I could do so making only left turns. :-)

The required list of documents did not include a medical certificate but I got that one anyway at a Bangkok hospital just in case.

I just did a quick check of my web page. "2. Obtain a medical certificate from a hospital or doctor. (My hospital charged B500, and it took about ten minutes)" Whew. I thought I'd left it out or deleted it!

One word of warning: the female officer in the retirement visa section warned me that if I failed to file prior to October 1 I might be faced with new regulations on the Baht 800,000 bank account requirement. As it was, I was required to state that the money in the account had been earned entirely in Thailand while I was previously working under a Work Permit. Don't know if this is really a requirement.

And an other angle: having the B800k but NOT having it transferred from overseas, because you legally earned it in Thailand. There are just SO many variables, the mind boggles.

Thanks for confirming that the process can be done in Bangkok.

Slightly off topic: I notice they use the postal code of 20150. Didn't all of Jomtien change to 20260? Being the Immigrations office is *new*, I'm especially confused to see 21050....

When I got my new passport in Sept 2003, the US Embassy gave me the letter for Thai Immigrations when I didn't need it ... I was only using 30-day passport stamps.

That book will do it for you.

What book is that, doctor?

One girl was going so slowly through the slalom I was sure she would tip over, but she didn't!

I might give her a run for her money. I wonder where the point comes that they say "C'mon, c'mon speed it up!"

I was informed by two Immigration Officials that the upgrading of a VOA stamp was a 'limited offer only' i.e. they will allow it this month to help those in need now, but the practice will cease when the new regulations take effect.

UH OH!!! I need to advise a LOT of people, if that is true!

The airlines know all about dual passports. There is no arrival card in a Thai passport - they fill it out on departure, not arrival.

So the showing of the US passport is only for the purpose of being entered by the airline into the computer system that forwards pax information to US Immigrations. Got it! (I think...)

If the wife leaves the US on the US passport, and enters and exits Thailand on the Thai passport, when she presents her US passport at US immigrations for re-entry, it's okay for her to have no entries for a foreign country? As finnicky as US immigrations and customs can be, that's quite accommodating of them!

Nobody on retirement visas is being asked to pay tax. Many would be exempt at any rate due to tax treaties. Like most Thai laws (very broad) the implementation is by policy rather than literally spelled out by the laws. The general policy is that money brought into Thailand in the year earned is taxed. If it is from another year, savings, it is not.

The "Personal Income Tax" page doesn't even make reference to the year it was earned.

I wonder if part of the confusion is reading the sentence: "A resident of Thailand is liable to pay tax on income from sources in Thailand on a cash basis, regardless where the money is paid, as well as on the portion of income from foreign sources that is brought into Thailand" out of context. The context being, that it then has to be "assessable income" as listed in the next paragraph.

I agree with lopburi3 that nobody on retirement visas is asked to pay tax.

Following is the definition of "assessable income" for taxation purpose, i.e. taxable income.

In which of the following would you say pension would be included? My impulse is to say "none of them" and hence pension income from overseas would be non-taxable.

It also seems to exclude bank interest overseas, as #4 says "interest on deposits with banks in Thailand."

Now, overseas dividends, overseas rental property income, and overseas mutual fund income are not so clear.

Assessable income is divided into 8 categories as follows:

(1) income from personal services rendered to employers;

(2) income by virtue of jobs, positions or services rendered;

(3) income from goodwill, copyright, franchise, other rights, annuity or income in the nature of annual payments derived from a will or any other juristic Act or judgment of the Court;

(4) income in the nature of dividends, interest on deposits with banks in Thailand, shares of profits or other benefits from a juristic company, juristic partnership, or mutual fund, payments received as a result of the reduction of capital, a bonus, an increased capital holdings, gains from amalgamation, acquisition or dissolution of juristic companies or partnerships, and gains from transferring of shares or partnership holdings;

(5) income from letting out of property on hire and from breaches of installment sales or hire-purchase contracts;

(6) income from liberal professions;

(7) income from construction and other contracts of work;

(8) income from business, commerce, agriculture, industry, transport or any other activity not specified earlier.

Your wife as a Thai citizen will be able to buy land.

Did your wife keep her last name, or did she adopt yours? I thought I read/heard that if a Thai wife marries a foreigner and adopts his last name, she could no longer own property in Thailand. Now that I write it, it sounds kind of strange.

Here in Thailand at the airline counter she shows her American Passport and then puts it away.

Doesn't the airline wonder why she has no TM6 departure card stapled in that passport?

Whoa... sure is difficult to minimize taxes for you americans eh.

You can say that again. Wait, please don't: it's aggravating enough.

I think Americans are the only ones who get taxed on their worldwide income, from all sources, with the exception of the $80k "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion," which the Bush administration tried to eliminate.

Sorry but you are mistaken.

Spain also taxes on Worldwide income and assets too. (Wealth tax and income tax, 2 I know of).

Misery loves company. Much solace to know we are not alone. Yo hablo español tambien.

Honda has two new full Automatic Bikes.

I think those are the Honda Click with a water cooled engine. I was wondering how fragile that was, and how much maintenance/attention it would require vs the usual air-cooled engine.

Thanks for the dealer recommendations. I need to get off my fat keester and check these places out. I'm still being a nervous nelly about the bike license road test, but I guess I just have to bite the bullet and try it. (I wonder what would happen if I failed the test, and they observed me hopping on my bike to head home? )

I'm about to head out now to rent a bike for a week to give me more mobility to check these places out. I'm going to see if they have any other automatic bikes other than Nuovo, just for some variety.

Thanks, otherstuff. I assume I'd still have to master right foot braking and left foot shifting, which would be totally new to me. Remember, I'm a retiree. "Old dogs and new driving techniques"?

Someone asked me the procedure/process/costs of the annual renewal of the one-year extension on a retirement visa. This was my reply, based on what I understood the process to be:

I'm not clear which of the fees need to be paid, but I'm fairly sure it would be

a ) the doctor/hospital fee for the medical letter,

b ) the bank fee for the guarantee letter (if you didn't show sufficient income on the embassy letter, and if you were not permitted to keep the original letter from initial application ... I wasn't able to keep mine), and

c ) the TM.7 for another extension.

If you happen to be out of the country when your one year renewal date appears, I know that is no problem, and that you can take care of it at a Thai Immigrations office (or maybe even a Thai embassy/consulate in your own country).

How close was I?

And, can you remind me what the process is if you are out of the country when your visa extension expires, please?

Here's a low resolution copy of a bank letter. I intentionally used low resolution with JPG artifacts because I did not want people printing it out. Although I was able to white out my personal information, it would have taken too long to blot out the bank manager's signature. It is just to give you an idea what the letter is, and looks like. Click here: Guarantee letter from SCB

I had funds SWIFT transferred from my USA credit union on a Friday evening (Thai time) and by early afternoon on Tuesday the funds appeared when I checked my SCB balance online.

I didn't realize the license was an all-day affair until reading posts here. Others make it sound like it's "nothing". But, since I'm retired, I can definitely spare a day.

I'm not confident in my bike driving skills. I've only rented an automatic transmission bikes, and probably that's what I'll buy, although I want to take a look at the recommended Honda Wave 125. If I were confident the girls' rental bikes were automatics, I would rent a songtaew to get me to the license bureau, since I'm not looking forward the the trek to the bureau on my own, possibly returning in rush hour traffic on Suhhumvit. But, I bet their bikes are manual, which means I'd be S.O.L.

If I drive my own bike there, I should be ok, since I have a valid overseas license for a car, I don't have to take those tests.

I would like to know, however, what the road test is for a motorbike. Is it just manouevering around traffic cones in a parking lot, do you take an examiner pillion out on the open highway, or what?

Whoa... sure is difficult to minimize taxes for you americans eh.

You can say that again. Wait, please don't: it's aggravating enough.

I think Americans are the only ones who get taxed on their worldwide income, from all sources, with the exception of the $80k "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion," which the Bush administration tried to eliminate.

I've had BUPA health insurance for four years now without a work permit or even a visa ... just a 30-day passport stamp. I don't think your Immigrations status matters to BUPA.

One treatment for the symptom of hyperhydrosis is diluted Botox injections. I doubt that would be a cure, as it seems that there may be an underlying cause linking all your symptoms.

The Botox treatment is reasonably common in clinics like Apex for heavy underarm perspiration. But in such cases, I doubt there are the other symptoms you have mentioned.

I would think a visit to a dermatologist might be a good start.

Now, let's say your investments are held in Canada and not in the US. Your income would not be taxed in Canada (nor in the US if less than $80,000) and you would be liable to pay taxes only in Thailand on the part you bring into the country.

Not quite accurate.

Investment income is always taxable for U.S. citizens. The $80k exclusion is only for earned income, earned overseas. Interest from investments held in Canada by a U.S. citizen do NOT qualify for the "earned income exclusion."

If, by some chance the Thai govenment does decide all we retirees need to pay tax on the money we bring into the kingdom, every dollar of Thai tax can be directly written off against a dollar of U.S. tax liability. Only if your Thai tax bill were larger than your U.S. tax bill, would you be screwed.

Sounds like if I take my current Hawaii state drivers license, that they will waive the written and driving test for that, right? I don't have an International endorsement, which sounds like a 50/50 chance based on what I've read.

Since I don't have a motorcycle endorsement on my Hawaii license, I will have to take both the written and driving test, right? What is required of the motorcycle driving test? Just weaving through cones?

Does anybody know if the Pattaya office also requires you to be there by 0800 to start the process?

Does the Pattaya office rent bikes/cars, too? If I have to take both driving tests, it's hard to have one of each of my own available. :-)

If you have to do the full exam then yes it is available in english too

Thanks for the quick confirmation. I will have to take the exam, as my US (Hawaii) licence does not have a motorcycle endorsement.