Polar Bear

I got a lot of useful info here, so I thought I'd post my experience. My husband renewed his 2 year to 5 year a few weeks ago. He used an agent because he'd only had the 2 year for 14 months, but he needed the 5 year for an IDP. I don't know if the agent was needed or not, but he was able to renew early, got the 5 year licence and an IDP. Because he did them at the same time, he didn't need a new residence certificate for the IDP (though he had one with him anyway.) His licence is nearly 6 years because it's 5 years + 10 months until his birthday. I did my 2 year>5 year today. No agent because it was straightforward. My licence expired a couple of days ago, and I'd booked an appointment months ago at https://gecc.dlt.go.th/ This was at DLT ALTO 3, Phra Khanong. As of today, the next appointment available is November 14th, but they were accepting walk-ins as well. When you book the appointment, you get a list of required documents, and it says the residence certificate is valid for a year. I printed that off in case there was a problem (mine was about 10 weeks old), but no one queried it. I needed: Original and copy of passport Original and copy of visa 2 year driving licence Medical certificate (1 month) Residence certificate (1 year) 505 THB I also needed the QR code from my appointment booking. I'd printed it, but you could show it on your phone too I think. If I hadn't had the QR code, I would have to go and wait with the walk-ins. I did the online video and had the QR code for that. I'm not sure if it was needed or not. It wasn't in the list for 2>5 docs, only for 5>5, but I did it anyway, and they took it, so maybe it was needed. My appointment was 11am. I got there 5 minutes early. Was seen immediately at the 'foreigner' information desk window. She checked my docs, gave me another bit of paper and sent me to the licence windows. The guy there checked everything, I signed something and got sent to the testing room. I had to do 4 tests. Moving the sticks so they aligned. Reaction time with 'accelerator' and 'brake' pedals. Colour test with 3 horizontal lights that could be red, green or yellow at any position. You just had to say what colour it was. And a sort of box where a little white panel was shown on the left or right and you had to press a button to say which side it was on. I had to do each of them a few times each. One of the testers spoke English and he talked me through them. The tests were easy enough, but I would have struggled to figure out what they wanted me to do without his help. Then off to the picture desks. Paid my 505 THB, had my photo taken, waited a few minutes while my new licence was printed. I was done and out in less than 30 minutes. One thing that nearly caught me out is that when you go to the info desk, you get your number slip for the next window. You keep that number through the whole thing, and you have to show it each time. I left mine at the first counter and had to go back and find it before I could do the tests. I guess I could have gone back to the info desk and got a new number if I'd had to, but just keep hold of your number slip. It was all very organised and painless.

There is a Mailboxes, etc., but I thought it was on the ground floor. I might be misremembering though, but it's easy to find in any case. It's on the righthand side as you come from On Nut BTS station. The signs say they are agents for DHL, FedEx and UPS. I sent something from there with UPS last year and it was straightforward.

Probably a huntsman. We've a few of them recently too. I have no idea how you would keep them out. They can make themselves almost completely flat and get under or around a closed door. They seem to like the bathroom, the humidity maybe, or the bugs. Spraying stuff like mint or citrus around doors and windows is supposed to deter them from coming in, but I can't say I've noticed a difference. If you find something that works, please let us know!

As a rough guide, cooked meat and cooked veg are usually OK for about 3 or 4 days. Rice and pasta will have a couple of days longer. If you aren't going to eat it within 24-48 hours, it's better just to freeze it.

You also have to specifically allow online payments if you want to use that option. But I was talking about the M points that you earn with the M series card. They have a separate app that's different from the banking app. I've never bothered with the points so I don't know much more about it.

I have the SCB M Visa. I don't remember being given a choice when I opened the account, but I'd have chosen the cheapest option anyway. If you want to use the points, I think there's a separate app for that, but I've never tried. Other than that, it's an ATM card and a debit card. What else is there to say?

She may not have had her first season yet, but if not, it won't be much longer. Will her owners allow you to get her neutered? The last thing Thailand needs is more puppies.

Pre-book it in the app. If you can't pre-book because it's full, allow extra time because they may not have drivers available. But I've never had trouble getting a car at that time. It starts to get difficult after about 6 am, but it probably depends a lot on location.

I was including that in the visa hoops that have to be jumped through. But technically, the residency requirement for naturalisation is 3 years for a spouse (https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-spouse), but they still have to be considered settled first. UK immigration laws seem to be designed to make it as difficult, complicated and expensive as possible for Brits to return home with a foreign spouse.

Try https://www.veteransgateway.org.uk/ They can also direct you to other related organisations. https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/what-we-do/armed-forces/ With You, the alcohol and drug support charity have specialist services that you might find helpful as well.

It wouldn't even automatically guarantee them a UK visa, let alone citizenship and a passport. But once you get the visa, and you live in the UK for at least 3 years, pass the tests and so on, then they can apply for citizenship. Any kids born here would usually (but not always) be entitled to British citizenship, but they wouldn't be able to pass that on to their own kids unless they had them in the UK.

Did you rent it out when you weren't living in it?

I am also not an expert, but this is my understanding, unless things have changed recently. The initial valuation will be taken from 31 March 1982. (This date is the same for everyone who has owned an asset longer than that, as CGT was rebased.) You will need to get a valuation of what it was worth then. Let's say it was worth £100,000 and it's worth £220,000 now. The gain is £120,000. Let's also say you have receipts/proof to show you did improvements to the property, and for the costs of buying & selling it, and these total £20,000. Now the gain is £100,000. The CGT will be calculated monthly. March 1982 until now is ~ 495 months. The gain is ~£202/m You rented it out for 5 years/60 months and lived in it for 435 months. However, because it was once your main home, the last 9 months are exempt whether you live in it or not (the 'final period'), so it is chargeable for 51 months (60m-9m) and you get private residence relief for the other 444 months. So with a total gain of £100k, you would get PRR on ~£89,698 (444 months), and you would be liable for CGT on ~£10,303 (51 months). You get a £6k annual exemption, assuming you haven't sold any other assets that year. £10,303 - £6k = £4,303 gain. Assuming you are a basic rate tax payer, you would be liable for CGT at 18% of £4,303 = £775 to pay. Aside from the random 'valuations' I've used, there are a lot of assumptions here. If you are officially non-resident, the calculation is completely different, as is the valuation date. There are calculators on the HMRC site that will help you.

I'm sorry to hear about your cat ???? If you can't find an individual who can use them, try Paws Bangkok rescue. You can find them on FB.

We've had problems with soi dogs (and carry a short stick in unfamiliar areas, just in case). We've also struggled to find interesting places to walk outside our usual areas. But we've never had difficulty finding places to stay, and we've taken our dog with us to many places around Thailand. Obviously, you have less options, but it's always been easy to find somewhere we were happy with.

I went to that Serenade store in Emquartier a few months ago without realising what it was. The staff were lovely and helped us anyway. It's the only time I've seen one though, and there is another big regular AIS store there somewhere as well. I think it's on the floor below, but I get lost with the different buildings.

Is he small enough to go in the cabin with you? If not, does he have a poodle's nose or a snub nose like a Shih Tzu? If he has a poodle nose, just call him a poodle cross as realfunster says, and he should be fine. If he's snub nosed, you will struggle to find an airline willing to fly him due to the higher risk of death. Even if you don't declare him to be a Shih Tzu cross, the airline will inspect him when you check in and will usually refuse to accept him if he's snub nosed.

The National Institute of Animal Health in Bangkok is accredited now for the rabies titer test by the UK/EU/USA (but not Japan). You can take them there for the blood draw, or another vet can take the blood and send it to them. (The USA has other restrictions on who can do the blood draw, but the UK doesn't). The blood has to be taken at least 30 (or 31, check the gov site) days after the last rabies booster. Then you have to wait (3 months? 90 days?) after the blood test. That's from the date the blood was taken, not from when you get the results back. Once you've got the titer test results back, they are valid indefinitely as long as you always have the rabies booster done on time. One day late with a booster and you have to start again.

The rules for the UK are complicated and very different from other countries. The dogs have to fly as cargo (not excess baggage), which is expensive. They cannot travel in the cabin. And they will be rejected for the tiniest error on the paperwork. They can only travel on specific routes with specific airlines. Each route is licenced individually. So just because an airline can fly pets from City A to Gatwick, doesn't mean they can fly them from City B to Gatwick or from City A to Manchester. The list of licensed routes is on the gov website. A lot of people avoid flying them into the UK by flying to Europe and then travelling to the UK via ferry or train. (That's what I would do if I had to take my dog back to the UK.) If you don't want to do it yourself, look up Action For Dogs. They specialise in Thai-UK pet transport. They re-home Thai dogs to the UK but also transport pet dogs at the same time. They occasionally have flights straight to the UK. However they have flights via Europe & ferry/train pretty much every month. Because they transport multiple dogs regularly, they have better prices than most pet transport services can offer. They will help you with the paperwork as well. You need to allow 6-12 months to get the paperwork together. They need to be chipped, vaccinated and have the rabies titer test. It has to be done in that order, and the vaccination record has to be completed in a specific way. Good luck!

It matters. Superrich has an 800k limit on transfers to GBP. If he is trying to exchange 100k, he's fine. If it's 1 mil, he's not. Stop looking for ways to get offended-by-proxy, and let people get the correct information to give him the answer he needs.

Did you find out how long they are valid for? I was told today it's only 1 month, but that doesn't sound right. (I think they were confusing it with the medical certificate.)

http://www.sukhumvitvet.com/ at Sukhumvit 51 and http://gammaexoticpet.com/ used to be on Sukh 77 but they have moved further out towards Nong Bon now They both do house calls, but a house call is pretty useless in an emergency. You can get the animal to a clinic faster than you can arrange a vet to come to you. And once they get there, there is very little they can do with what they bring with them. Better to just go straight to the clinic where they have everything they need on hand.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bangkokexpats/permalink/3561535984068320

Is that a special rule for Thailand? I've had 16 & 17 year old relatives travel on their own from the UK to visit me in other countries. None of them needed written permission from anyone. They are all over 18 now, so I don't know if travel to Thailand is different.

You can still speculate about his missing days ????