Onerak

My take on this subject is as long as you could prove your identity and legality of your stay in Thailand, it is OK. So a copy of passport and the stamp that shows how long you are permitted to stay in Thailand should suffice. I was once caught in the Big Jok's infamous raids at Nana, prior to Covid-19 and I think may be circa 2018. I did not have my passport but there were immigration officers who did verify my identity and legality with immigration office using their Mobile phone. However, they asked me to pee in a cup to check drug. And that was another story and I don't want to discuss it here because I was indeed high on ice.

It was a shame they had to subject her to such a plight. What she would be doing in Thailand except vacationing. There is no greasing required to get visa exempt entry but saying that she deserves it is not correct. She does not deserve anything. It is up to the IO to let her in to Thailand or not. But in my wildest imagination I would never think that they would have denied entry to an 80-year old lady.

You mean I can open an account in Euro? What advantage I will get by doing so?

Well, if somebody can explain to me at least a few benefits of using Wise Account, instead of a traditional account, I am not convinced. Not saying there is a sinister ploy but a bank with direct deposit amounting to millions and millions of cash at hand at anytime gives enormous advantage with investors when raising funds, but to the consumers like me it is useless unless it reduces my fees.

Thanks, from all these discussions it is obvious to me that that the Wise Bank account is useless. It is just another ploy for Wise to bring money from US bank to their account. No wonder, they created an account for me even if I did not ask them to do so and sent me an email inviting to initiate direct deposit. What a sneaky way. I would stick to my current method for sending money ot my Bangkok bank without using Wise account.

I really don't know or don't care. That what Wise charged me and deducted from 2,000 USD before converting the renaming to THB and sent the full conversion amount as you could see from the image screenshot I have posted.

I think in the US, a witness can be anybody who is not a party to the document being signed. But in the US, no random person will be willing to be a witness. However, this is Thailand so anything goes will be my guess.

So basically it is a wash. I can't even save $10 by pulling money from my US bank to Wise bank and then sending it to Bangkok bank. I need to convince myself with hard proof that I could save at least $10 per $2,000 transaction. Otherwise, it is not worth it for me.

Hmm. Does that $12.93 from your Wise USD account, or in other words 12.93 + $6.93? This was charged to me last time when I sent directly from my US bank xxx which is almost instantaneous. No shenanigans involved.

I tried to pull 2,000 USD from my USA account xxx to wise account and the total fees shown is $6.93. After I pull the money to Wise account (it takes a few days but that is OK for me), when I send it to Thailand, is there any additional fees? Or it is a simple conversion from USD to THB? If I don't do all these shenanigans of pulling money from my US bank to Wise bank and then sending it to my Thai BKK bank, my fees is $17.78 but it is almost instantaneous (or a maximum of 24 hours) not that I really care.

So, I push $2,000 from my XYZ bank to Wise account (using their routing and account no.). And then send it to my BKK bank. How much is the fee? I know the fee when Wise to do a pull to transfer to my BKK bank. Want to compare which one is better.

Today, I got an email out of the blue from Wise with a title "You have got a new USD account". I opened it and logged into Wise (after checking that it is not some kind of phishing attempt) and lo and behold I have a USD account with a Routing number and an Account number. It says There’s a 4.14 USD fee to receive wire transfers Now I have two few questions. Is it $4.14 for unlimited amount of wire transfer? If a put some money (let's say $2,000) in that account and then send it to Thailand, there is no ACH fees? I checked my last sent amount and it was $17.78 ACH fees to send $2,000 from my Bank to Thailand BBK.

Three month t-bill is now above 4% but taxable unless in a Roth IRA. https://ycharts.com/indicators/3_month_t_bill

They should be left alone because many people are in search of their future brides for their "wife visa" and bonnie living at age sixty or seventy. Of course most people will visit brothels fronting as bars for that but some may be so undesirables that they need to resort to beach road hos.

I am nearing 65 and will enroll in Medicare in 2026. So, I am gathering as much information as I could for Medicare and watch all the YouTube videos about Medicare. In 2023, the basic premium for Part B is 164.90 as others pointed out provided your income in 2021 is less than 97K. To keep my Medicare part B premium to the basic, I have to keep the income in 2024 less than 97K. 1. Does the income limit increase every year or is it fixed? 2. Does the income include any withdrawal from 401K, IRA and Roth IRA? Write now I stay 6-month in Thailand and have a high deductible health insurance with a HSA debit card. I had been stuffing my HSA debit card to its legal limit for almost a decade when I was working. It has around 20K USD. The card is acceptable in any private hospital in Thailand. I Have tested them in BPH and Saint Louis hospital in Bangkok. My current high deductible health insurance reimburses 50% outside the USA. I will start my SS when I am 67 (in 2028) at my full FRA and the SS website shows it is $3000/month. 3. Should I start early at reduced benefits? After a few years I may move to Thailand full time and return to USA for a month once a year. However, I will still keep paying for my part B in case I need it in the future. 4. Need planning to keep the income less than 97K per year. Does it the income include Social security income? I have a daughter in the USA and she has a decent job and would inherit my house in the USA and my ex-wife's house (which is my house in fact she got when got divorced). I also have a daughter in Thailand (late age mistake or whatever you call it) and she is 15 years old. I have a house and a condo in her mother's name that she would inherit. Do people think I need to go to a Social Security/Medicare planner (or a retirement planner) right now to get better advise for future retirement planning about approximate 500K USD that I have stashed up in 401K, IRAs and Roth IRAs? I am now drawing from my savings for expenses as I stopped working during Covid-19 and resigned from my Job in the Great Resignation

I was reading a report and all Indian insurance companies denied any insurance claim on stolen gold necklace. Lo go figure.

North Pattaya to Ekkamai is slower due to heavy traffic in Bangkok and the distance it has to cover on busy Sukhumvit road. Pre-Covid I always travelled from Jomtien to Airport and took the train to Phayathai. From Phaya thai to anywhere in Bangkok on BTS or MRT route is faster (at least mentally). Not sitting in a bus in busy Bangkok traffic. Of course if you have a luggage it's another story. During Covid, I took the North Pattaya bus station to Ekamai when bangkok traffic was lighter and there were no buses from Jomtien to Airport. Have the Jomtien to Airport busses resumed fully like every hour?

I read many chinese are now posting in cantonese in Chinese social media for avoiding Chinese AI censorship which is based on Mandarin.

you can extend on Monday (if your permission to stay expires on Sunday). Go to a hotel for few days that will do a TM30 and then Monday go to immigration to extend it. After you extend it, you can fight with your AirBNb host but I am not sure what that will accomplish.

I book one/two days hotel in Bangkok for the day of arrival and upload it. Never had any problem.

I have travelled throughout Europe and stayed in AirBNb. From Rome to Lisbon, from Amsterdam to Paris, London to Stockholm. Had a few problems with AirbBnb host in almost every country. Once I had to wait 6-hours for the host to show up. So, it is nothing new that people encounter problems with AirBnb hosts and people also trash their Airbnb rooms. Now I stay in hotels and find it much more comfortable for some extra money. Going to a lawyer will accomplish nothing. First thing is to take care of your immigration situation by whatever means. Immigration is not going to show any sympathy because your AirBnb host screwed you up.

A TR visa will allow you to stay in Thailand for 60-days. You can extend it once only for an additional 30-day. Extension is 1900 Baht. Extension is easy. If you travel twice outside Thailand, TR is the perfect. At the end of 90-day from your above stay, go out of Thailand and enter again with visa exempt. That will give you 30-day. You can again extend it once for another 30-day. That cover 150-days. Exit Thailand again at the end of 150-days and enter again with another visa exempt and that will give you another 30-day. You can extend it again for an additional 30-day. Total of 210 day. Each extension costs you 1900 baht. Exempt entries are free.

1. I don't use all cards in Thailand. Only a handful that does not charge foreign transaction fees and that give me cash back for every charge. 2. All cards don't incur fraudulent charges at the same time.

I stay 6-month in a year now in Thailand. I get a TR visa from the USA and extend it in Thailand for 30-day. Then I do a visa run to a neighboring country and extend it again. Instead of a visa run, you can do two land border runs and extend them for a total of 7-month. No need for retirement visa if only staying for 6-month and no plan for extended stay in the future.

Why you don't mention why he was denied Non-O conversion. The officer must have given a reason. Thousands of people apply for conversion and they get it successfully. And why your friend is not able to post it here? Is he not aware of this forum, handicapped, etc. etc. What are his problems? Tell him to post here with details of why he was denied his application to get meaningful suggestions so that he could take corrective actions and reapply. Never heard of anybody denied Non-O conversion for no reason at all. If he is living in Bangkok, applying in a different location is not recommended. If he has not yet decided where he would live, he can come to Pattaya and live in Pattaya and apply in Pattaya. And then after he successfully gets his one year extension, he could move wherever he wanted.