Soondae

Korean farmers have been bringing wives from Vietnam for years. There are Cupid services that specialize in match making, none of it is forced, the ladies sign up for the service and the Korean men pay for the service. They travel to Vietnam, meet the ladies and go on dates to see if they are compatible. Korean women refuse to live in the rural farm lands, they all want to be city girls. I lived and worked there for 23 years, this is very common place. I am surprised the Korean media is making such a big deal what has been fact. There are also many women from Mongolia and Russian Korean descent ladies from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

I like the eggless potato salad from TOPS Market

Wire it by Swift transfer to your Thai bank account. For an amount that large you will find the fee greater in Wise than the swift transfer fee. Swift transfer will show as FTT so no issue there with immigration. Coming from USA you will receive a phone call from the Thai bank as they are required to report the deposit via a USA form, no issue for you though. I suggest you put the funds in a fixed account to receive slightly better interest over time. With the funds in the Thai bank long term you will need to submit a FBAR report annually to the US treasury department. Once again no issues for tax liability, just a formality. Oh, very important; wire the funds in US dollars, you'll get a much better exchange rate from the Thai bank. If you let your US account make the swift transfer in baht they will charge a fee making the exchange rate terrible. My last swift transfer I received a great rate from SCB bank. As others have mentioned I use Wise for smaller transfers which the wire fee would be higher than wise. It really depends on the amount you need to move. Typical wire fees from US banks are $35-$45.

I just moved to a new iPhone; I backed up the old phone to my Mac computer, then restored the backup to the new iPhone (was easy and worked great).All my old apps and data were now on the new phone. I hadn't moved the sim card yet from the old phone (True) when I tried to run my KBank app it recognized I had a new device and sent me a code to unlock the app, since the sim was in the old phone the code was received on the old phone. When I entered the code in the new phone it wouldn't unlock the app. So I swapped the sim into the new phone and tried again and success, the KBank app unlocked and is working perfectly. Same process worked fine for my SCB account, and APP.

Actually the account is not frozen with KBank in this circumstance, only the Mobile APP is locked since the bank and mobile carrier's data are not the same. Happened to me at KBank, my mobile carrier passport was an old passport and my KBank account was my latest passport. While the APP on my mobile was locked, I was still able to make transactions with my debit card and withdraw via ATM. Went to the mobile carrier and updated my passport, they gave me a print out of the updated information and took it to KBANK whom then processed some paperwork and after a day or two my KBANK APP started working again on my mobile.

For a sum that large you would be better off sending the money via SWIFT transfer. Do the math; wise fees on that sum will be higher than the swift transfer fee and Swift is garunteed to appear as FET transaction.

K Bank has now added facial recognition for foreigners, I added mine on Friday the 20th. Of my accounts only SCB has yet to sort it out.

Yes this correct statement, Kasikorn is the money hub for WISE and offers instant transfers.

I went to SCB after receiving said message and was told they are still trying to figure out how to handle the facial recognition issue with foreigners. And I was told same as others have mentioned that I can make multiple transactions of 49,XXX per day or call to clear a large transaction. A shame as I preferred to use SCB for my swift transfers and large payments due to the better exchange rates they offered. On a similar note, I needed to visit the Kashikorn local branch on Friday (was inquiring about a debit card issue I had) and was asked for my bank book, passport and Debit card, the agent processed an update to my account adding facial ID (photo taken with her tablet), gave me an updated bank book and told me from now on I will need to use facial ID as a second security measure when making large transfers. So K bank figured out how to do it, also it seems BBL has as well, I will visit them on Monday to sort this out with BBL. SCB is behind on this issue, I'm sure they will figure it out soon.

Western Union converts on transfer with very poor exchange rates, that's how they make their money. I stopped using them a couple years ago when WISE was the better deal due to better exchange rates. However when I need to transfer large amounts such as your 30K I find that a Swift transfer from your bank is a better deal for a small flat fee and very fast. When I Swift US Dollars from my stateside bank I have the option to send in dollar currency or to let the bank exchange and send in baht. Do not have the bank perform the exchange, it is always poor. Send the original currency and let the receiving Thai bank make the conversion, you'll come out far ahead that way. I get great exchange rates from SCB when I perform a Swift transfer.

You are much better off making a Swift Bank transfer, much cheaper and when I purchased my Udon Thani home (2022), SCB gave me the current $ to BHT rate on EXAPP (was over 38 baht to dollar), I made a killing over trying to schedule multiple Wise transfers. Also I purchased a Condo around 1989 using Swift and all went well. Wise is a good choice for monthly smaller transfers, but a Swift transfer is better if large amounts are involved. However you must insure that the bank sends your home currency for the swift transfer and let the receiving Thai bank make the conversion. Your home bank will rip you off on the exchange prior to sending the Swift transfer (Just model the swift transfer in your bank APP or website and you will see the poor exchange rates).

So I brought my condo given Blue Book to Hua Hin Immigration to update my ages old TM30 at Imm request. The lady processed me an updated TM30, then mentioned to me that "Do you know this Blue Book is not in your name but a Thai?" I looked surprised... she said don't worry it doesn't matter, you are the owner. Oh I do have Non-Imm O on my annual extensions.

Multiple bus scheduled to Pattaya (4 buses I believe), however someone like myself in Hua Hin only get twice a day( on Facebook is a good post on the new service with all the times. DM to HH is 0700 and 1500). https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1YoDfLM1Jg/

So some one mentioned this Tello service and I've looked into it, looks like this might be the best service for us USA EXPAT in Thailand. Can the individual or others using the service respond about using the service? I'm seriously thinking about the change, currently I have a Skype number and SMS works very rarely. https://tello.com/us_phone_number_for_abroad

This is the same procedure we went through at my condominium in Hua Hin. However our building technicians run the fiber to your room from the 3BB fiber drops and they did a very nice job. I requested that in the room they use panduit and sealant and the install came out very nice. Many people signed up for the service in my condo so our charge for the cable, panduit, supplies and installation came out to 2000 baht per room. This is the normal procedure in these older units that didn't have the infrastructure in place.

If I remember correctly, during the web based course you are asked 5 questions at the end of each video module, once you enter the correct answers you move onto the next module. I took notes during the videos to help with the questions such as how many meters to allow for stopping at 60km/hr, etc..

Only English is available on the web site: https://www.dlt-elearning.com select for foreigner. Takes about an hour then it generates a QR code to print and give to DLT.

I am a Chiang Rai fan. Small city easy to get around and the surrounding mountains are nice. Also airport close to city which makes transportation simple. How ever they do have some air quality issues during the burning season.

You use the customs form from the country of origin. And then have it translated to Thai.

I have a friend that had numerous personal items such as kitchen and some computer related that he sent them from South Korea to his girlfriend (Thai National) and there was no issue what so ever on importation. I believe it was all sent via postal. He had the contents translated to Thai on the customs declaration form as that might have made a difference?? At any rate no duty or delivery issues. I have recently replaced my PC with a Mini and components hand carried with no issue at all, so that is a good option if you can wait until your next visit home. Oh, I believe if you import within 6 months of your arrival there is no duty on household goods, I did that as well, my goods came from Cyprus. I hadn't even had my Non-O visa yet on arrival but my goods were handled by a professional shipping company.

Yep, my $1000 Garmin Colorado GPS went in the recycle bin, my iPhone with Google Maps is better here in Thailand.

Absolutely, even you can use external contractors to remodel your condominiums. I just finished remodeling my villa in Udon Thani with no issues other than you need to notify the complex of what you are doing and the contractor needs to follow their rules as far as hours worked, ( I believe they register with the villa complex) etc.... Same went for my condominium remodel in HH.

The only time I have had online rejection was when my annual extension was expiring before the new 90 day report period would have extended me past that date. I went to HH PKK Imm and they extended my 90 day past the Non IMM O extension date, but reminded me that my extension was due in the next month......This past 90 day I was in the same scenario, so rather than chance the online rejection with Songkhran holiday in the same timeline, I opted to go to the IMM office 15 days prior to my 90 day due date and had no issue with the report, once again they reminded me my extension was going to be due in two months. I think a lot of the rejections are on account of extension due dates? Like to hear from the forum members if they feel this is the issue or not. I'm not sure if a human reviews our TM47 requests or if it is done by AI? Peoples thoughts...

I know that you don't have a Thai bank account, but I thought I'd mention for others that as of this week Kashikorn is now offering international Swift transfers.

Out of the question these days, due to US intel banking laws change a few years ago, only way to use the BBL ABA in New York is for SSA payments and treasury payments such as US Tax return.