NoDisplayName

Soooooooooo.........they can sell weed for their customers to get high and possibly lung cancer, but harmless laughing gas for the giggles is a crime? What next? Busting a gun shop for selling chocolate Kindereier from a vending machine?

How are those Chinese Baidu searches going for "Will I die if I vacation in Thailand?"

I filed my latest TM-47 online December 3rd at 2:03 PM for a 90-day report due December 18. (Approved December 7) An earlier TM-47 was filed online May 14th at 10:04 PM for a 90-day report due May 29. (Approved May 15) Submission accepted 15 days prior, in Korat, on these particular dates. Filings were on a Sunday, so perhaps the system accepted the filing for processing on the next business day. YKMV

i believe you have a 7-day grace period when submitting a 90-day report in person, but the cutoff for online submissions is the due date. Take a PDF of your TM-47 submission, and a screenshot of the status page showing the date and time of application. Maybe you can talk them out of a 2000 baht fine. Next time remember you can file online 15-days before due date.

Dat's not mine! I dindunuffin!

O-visa and first extension (retirement) at CW last October, no home visit. Extension in Korat a couple months ago, no under consideration period, no home visit.

Unless those with experience live in your district and attend the same immigration office and happen to encounter the same immigration officer, their experience with using a non-passbook account will be nothing more than an interesting anecdote.

That must be some bid'ness! If he can pay off 3 million with an investment of only 30K, the man's a genius. Shirley, I'd hire him to manage my affairs.

You might consider traveling outside of Thailand for lower cost and/or better quality care. I had a valve replaced in Chennai, India. Experienced, English-speaking surgeon, excellent conditions in the hospital. Cost for round-trip airfare from China, surgery, follow-ups, and ten days beach resort recuperation about 10% the cost of surgery in the USA. As for ENT, I had turbinate reduction surgery in Kunming, China to alleviate the same symptoms you now have. Life was a misery during allergy season. I am now cured, only need an antihistamine or shot of nasal spray when high winds pick up heavy loads of dust. Modern private hospital comparable to the best on offer in Thailand. My total cost was $1000, whereas my sister in the states the same year paid that much as insurance copay for the same treatment.

This will end well. Still hoping for millions and millions of Chinese tourists?

I lived in southern China for almost 15 years. If they had a retirement visa...............!

My guess is IO won't accept a change to income method without showing proof of monthly deposits for the prior 12 months. That's assuming the income affidavit confirms current and future income, so he would have to start monthly deposits now, then could apply for income method in January 2025. His only options, as I suspected last year, will be to continue with an agent, or leave the country letting his extension expire, then re-enter and apply for a new non-O visa. He has money in the bank and can prove foreign transfer if required.

As for me........ I had 800K in a Bangkok Bank fixed account in Bangkok from a prior visa that died when I was stuck in China during the covid years. I got a new O-visa mid-July at CW using that old money (no proof of foreign transfer required). I brought in some outside cash, and transferred some in country cash to a NEW fixed account in Korat with a balance of 800K mid-August. I got the first retirement extension at CW using the old account mid-October, after which I CLOSED the old fixed account. This this October I got my second retirement extension in Korat using the NEW fixed account. That account balance covered the entire first extension, but not the entire 90-day O-visa period before that. The Korat IO did not require any bank information prior to the current extension. Only needed updated passbook, guarantee letter showing current balance, and bank statement for prior two months.

***UPDATE*** So here we are, annual extension time. Current extension expires early January 2024. Friend (really! it's not me!) got the full 800K into a new bank about a month after getting his O-visa, which is 1-1/2 months before his first annual retirement extension started. 800K has been in the bank in an account he opened in the city where he resides since mid-November 2022. Then he moved to a different city and submitted a new TM-30, and has been doing his 90-day reports at the new location. He went to apply for an extension, had his passbook showing 800K in the bank since mid-November of last year (the entire period of the annual extension) and the bank guarantee statement. IO said he needed to provide a bank statement covering the 90-day period when the original visa was active, October-December of 2022. That he can do, as he still has the old bank account the agent opened. But other than for half a day when the O-visa application was submitted and the agent deposited/withdrew 800k for the guarantee letter, he rarely had more than a few thousand baht in the account. Why would the IO ask for a bank statement for a period prior to an already approved extension? I think the idea is to force the applicant to use a local agent. His plan now is to get an income affidavit from his embassy (he's not UK or US), and apply for an extension using the income method. I don't believe this will work. I doubt the IO will accept an income affidavit when documentation prior to the previous cash-balance extension has been demanded. Any thoughts?

That doesn't make any sense. The professional, efficient and polite border security officials in China are a welcome change to the harassment, corruption and incompetence seen in much of SE Asia. Not to mention a welcome change from the TSA thugs in the US.

One could. Minsk. Minsk-2 JCPOA "not one inch to the east" Ukraine Declaration of Sovereignty pledging "a permanently neutral state that does not participate in military blocs,"

Did I say that? I simply noted the actual text of the treaty, as opposed to the common perception. Of course, if Germany or France were to be attacked, we'd be there with boots on the ground. But the Baltic nations, or in a mad dream what may be left of Ukraine when this is over? Not a chance we'd risk our blood for the proxy war nations. It's their purpose in life to die for our interests.

That is incorrect. Article 5 “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.” Article 5 has each individual nation "assist" by undertaking "such action as it deems necessary." There is no guaranteed military response. Assistance can take any form.........including sternly worded letters to ambassadors or fiery speeches at the UN, or nothing if that's what is deemed necessary.

So, ummm.....is this where I insert the Youtube video clip from Casablanca? "I'm shocked....."

Scam. Others in her alleged tour group would help her. Nobody gets money from an ATM just before crossing the border. Foreign banks won't normally send a card to random foreign address, shirley, not the next day. Next time, offer to call the real police. Not that they'd actually respond, or be willing or able to help, but to see her response.

You'll need to visit the bank or broker to open any account. You may be asked for a residence certificate or work permit. Once set up, you can buy/sell mutual funds online at Bangkok Bank, or buy/sell stocks at Bualuang. If you're in Bangkok, the Bualuang Office is located near the Silom branch of Bangkok Bank.

Brokerage will deduct 10% before dividends reach your account. Capital gains on Thai stocks are not taxed in Thailand. You can open a mutual fund account at Bangkok Bank. https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Save-And-Invest/Mutual-Funds

Bualuang Securities, associated with Bangkok Bank. https://www.bualuang.co.th/?lg=en

Cop should be fired. Not for letting the tourist wear his uniform, but for being stupid enough to be photographed in the Chinese tourist's selfie. That's the sort of fellow who might write "bribe" on an official receipt.

You might think so, if you consume CIA/Felongong propaganda. That video of fields of EV's I suspect you probably viewed on one of those sites on Youtube was a fleet of cars from a bankrupt cellphone e-rideshare app.