Red Phoenix

~ ... and Tippa is a 'pure' Man level 3. No offense here, as I would categorize myself as a blend level 2 - level 3.

Yep, imo you have experienced glimpses of Man level 4 consciousness, and are working to fully attain that level (which of course is the stepping stone to levels 5, 6 and 7).

~ Yes, and the two main takeaways from this are that: #1 - You have to get insight into the content of the DTA between your home-country (or the country where you earned the income) and Thailand, to determine whether the types of income you earned are ASSESSABLE income or whether they are exempt according to the terms of the DTA. #2 - Irrespective whether as a result of the above research, you fall under the tresshold that you will effectively be taxed by the Thai IRS, you would have to submit an income declaration when your assessable income is above 120K (or 220K when combined with the income of your Thai wife).

~ Actually Tippa's question asking what level @Sunmaster has achieved is not as 'daft' as it might look to those that are not familiar with the notion of the levels in man's possible evolution. G.I. Gurdjieff - the rascal sage - never used the term 'enlightenment', but distinguishes 7 'levels' of man. Every man is born number one, number two or number three, depending on where his 'center of gravity' lies (in the physical, emotional or intellectual center). And every man has the potentiality through consistent and conscious effort to develop into man number four, five, six or seven, but it are only the very very few that are able to make that transition. For sake of clarity > Man number seven is what referred to in this thread as being enlightened. In G.'s words "Man number seven means a man who has reached the full development possible to man and who possesses everything a man can possess, that is, will, consciousness, permanent and unchangeable I, individuality, immortality, and many other properties which, in our blindness and ignorance, we ascribe to ourselves. It is only when to a certain extent we understand man number seven and his properties that we can under­stand the gradual stages through which we can approach him, that is, understand the process of development possible for us." The distinctions between and characteristics of man number one to man number seven (as well as the types of religion/spirituality that those levels are inclined to), are addressed in P.D. Ouspensky's rendering of Gurdjieff's teachings. Here a link to a 4-page extract on this notion of 'levels of enlightenment'. > http://www.doremishock.com/ouspensky/mannumberseven.htm

Thai definition of 'swift action' ...

> There are many answers that can be given to the question what is enlightenment and how to 'achieve' it. There is no ultimate answer, but this one by OSHO is an elegant one... Source: This is an excerpt from the transcript of a public discourse by Osho in Buddha Hall, Shree Rajneesh Ashram, Pune. Discourse Series: Come, Come, Yet Again Come Chapter #14 Chapter title: The Forgotten But Not the Lost 9 November 1980 am in Buddha Hall

To OP < @Happy happy > The problem when leaving the required funds in a Bangkok-based Bangkok Bank branche bank-account is that you would need to go to that branche to get hold of the required Bank-Account statement when applying for your 1-year extension of stay. And when you move the funds from a Bangkok based-account to a Pattaya based-account, even when both are Bangkok Bank branches, that the funds will be a short time in 'cyber-space' during which you did NOT meet the +800K requirement anymore. However, you could transfer +400.000K from your Bangkok Bank account to a Pattaya bank-account (and making sure that there is still +400K+ on the account from which you sent). Obviously this has to be done during the 'intermediate 7 months', thus ensuring that you still continually meet the minimum tresshold requirement of +400K. After the first batch has arrived you could then send the 2nd batch of +400.000K to your Pattaya bank-account.

~ @Sunmaster & @Tippaporn - Enjoying the debate between the two of you. And the Winner is ...

If your Mom flies back to Canada before the expiry date of the 30-day Permission to stay she received on entering Thailand, there is no need for her to get hold of a TM-30. Such 'notification of address while in Thailand' is only required when she would be applying at a local Imm Office for an extension of stay. Note that according to Thai law, YOU are supposed to notify your local Imm Office that a foreigner (your Mom) is staying at your premises. But unless you have some strife with one of your neighbours, who would tip off Immigration that a foreigner is staying at your house, there is no way Immigration would know about it (and even if they knew, they would probably just ignore the 'breach' as it is just a short family-member stay).

I read that it is not necessary for your wife to be present, but that you would need a signed front-back copy of her Thai ID-card and a handwritten document equally signed by her requesting the Thai Consulate to provide you - her husband with the 1-year ME Non Imm O Visa for reason of marriage.

Afaik you can still apply for the 1-year MultipleEntry Non Imm O Visa for reason of marraige at the Thai Consulate in Savannakhet. What has changed is that while previously you only had to provide evidence of being married with a Thai national when applying for that 1-year ME Marriage Non Imm O Visa, is that the consulate now requires that you provide evidence of having +400.000,- THB on a Thai bank-account. So if you visit your Thai bank and ask for a Bank-Account statement printed on the bank's letterhead paper, stating that you are the sole owner of that account, as well as the balance it shows, that will be irrefutible evidence of meeting the criterium. And it would be wise to make a small transaction and update your bank pass-book just before crossing the border, in case the Consulate wants very recent evidence of you still meeting that criterium. Note that if you cannot provide evidence of the required funds, that the Consulate will provide you with a 90-day Marriage Non Imm O Visa, for which no financial requirements need to be fulfilled. NOTE: Not sure whether the Consulate would accept the equivalent of +400K on a non-Thai bank-account, as it would be difficult to provide official documented evidence of such (a bank-account snapshot downloaded from the web would be probably be rejected).

Hi Tippa, I have some furniture with uneven legs, and your envisioned "How to Speak Greek in English" book-series, will come in quite handy to even out the legs and stop the wobbling. The more voluminous books of the series I can use as door-stoppers. And of course they will also 'burn nice in the stove' (a dutch expression), as my shed and garage would be far too small to store the whole series. 😁

Note that I do not have any personal experience with that, but from what was mentioned in the many threads on applying for the MultipleEntry Non Imm O Visa in Savannakhet, I gathered that they do not accept 'thai dependant children' as reason for the application. But maybe some applicants did succeed in doing that, and then that would be your way to go. There is also the possibility to apply at the the Immigration Office of the province where you are currently residing, and ask for the requirements when applying there for the 1-year extension for reason of dependant children. However, even if that Imm Office does allow applications for 1-year extensions for reason of dependant children (not all Thai Immigration Offices provide that option), you would NOT be able to apply for it at this moment because the FIRST application for a 1-year extension has to be done for the SAME reason as the 90-day Non Imm O Visa you currently have (probably acquired for reason of retirement).

~ Thanks and agreed. Your comment is also a reminder to me that I didn't consider the home-country executor yet, but will have to do some research on that aspect as I definitely do not want it to be the notary that executed the heritage of both my parents.

Thanks @Sunmaster Indeed a beautiful Sunday morning, and for those preferring not to watch a video but doing something else like meditating, gardening or simply relaxing, here a link to the wonderful Keith Jarrett album "G.I. Gurdjieff - Sacred Hymns" https://open.spotify.com/track/0bxwbztejleFKUk6RMSi0u?si=56053f522561496d Note: You need to subscribe to Spotify in order to listen to the album, but it's free (no cost) so give it a try...

Don't know in Thailand, but in my home-country when you are not officially married or have close blood-ties, your girlfriend or any other 'stranger' mentioned in your will will be heavily taxed on what he/she inherits from you. Obviously you can already gift/donate it to your girlfriend before your demise. But that needs to be done - at least in my home-country - more than 6 months before you die, as otherwise the gifts will be retracted. > In my specific circumstance, where what I would write in my will would not be different than the normal heritage procedure (all my possessions going to my 3 children), there is no need for me to make an official will. But you could say that I have made an 'informal will' by making arrangements with my 3 children that after my demise they will provide part of their heritage to my girlfriend (thus avoiding her being heavily taxed on it). Obviously that requires full trust in that my children would honor that agreement. And in my case there is no doubt about that, as I also have full confidence in the 'in laws' (a factor to take into consideration whenever money is involved).

~ Yes he sure does! And here the re(sun)mastered version to really rub it in...

~ Yes, there is a total misalignment between the requirements to apply at your local Imm Office for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa (which can only be done when you entered Thailand VisaExempt or on a Tourist Visa), and the now more strict requirements to open a personal Thai bank-account (which is needed to prove to Immigration that you met the financial requirements). It's a classic 'Catch-22' > You cannot apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa at your local Imm Office without a personal Thai Bank-account, but to open such account you actually need to already have such a Non Imm O Visa... > The consequence of those contradictory and mutually exclusive requirements from Immigration and some Thai banks (luckily not all of them) is that it becomes as good as IMPOSSIBLE to apply for the 'change of Visa' process, which was set-up to allow tourists to apply for a long-stay Non Imm O Visa at their local Imm Office. So if you do not already have a personal Thai bank-account (set-up earlier before the current and ever stricter Bank requirements to open an accoutn), the only options left are: a) Applying for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa in your home-country, as that Visa will then allow you to open a personal Thai bank-account which is needed when applying for the 1-year extensions based on that 90-day Non Imm O Visa OR b) Engaging a VisaAgent with connections at a local Bank, that can help you open such a required Thai bank-account that would allow you then to apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa (either by yourself or again with help of a VisaAgent). = = = This whole bureaucratic nonsense is a big joke, until you are confronted with it...

When having entered Thailand Visa Exempt or on a Tourist Visa, you can apply for a Non Imm O Visa at the local Imm Office of the province where you plan to reside long term in Thailand. However, such application requires evidence of meeting the financial requirements for such Visa, and the ONLY evidence accepted is from having a personal Thai bank-account. But the requirements to open such a personal Thai bank-account are very difficult, and these Bangkok Bank rules make it as good as impossible to do that yourself. So it seems that help of a Visa Agent will be required to open an account at a Bangkok Bank branche. I hope that this BKB requirements craziness will not be taken over by other Thai banks.

~ Thanks Tippa, And I took the liberty to change the caption you provided, to make it more appropriate. "Hi Seth, share your wisdom - I am all ears..." 😉

@FolkGuitar was not backtracking or being untrue in his response. But it is like @proton correctly wrote that there is a difference between joint accounts and joint signatories. Some Thai banks allow another 'signatory' on the personal account you have opened with them. And that signatory person (e.g. your wife) is not visible in your Passbook, but it does allow the signatory person to access that personal bank-account. And when your request the Bank to provide you with the annual Bank-Account statement (often referred to as the 'letter' to Immigration) it will state that you are the sole owner of that account. Unfortunately at my Kasikorn bank-branche when I opened my Fixed Deposit account there, the staff and the bank manager told me that it was not possible for the FD account that I opened. Most probably it's only possible to have such a hidden joint signatory for Saving Accounts.

Hi TBL, sorry to hear that your response to the Timothy Leary post vanished before you were able to post it. Note that I have also experienced that annoying phenomenon before (especially when writing longer responses). But I found out that it's often just a matter of clicking again on the QUOTE button to the post you were responding to, to see the text where you have left off, and you can then either delete the response started or continue writing it.

The message and the messenger... But the empty talks of the blonde pretties are immediately forgotten, as it is only package and no substance. And then you have the messengers where it almost doesn't matter what they say, but where their BEING shines through in everything they DO and say. I recently came across this picture of Timothy LEARY. What a beautiful and powerful human being he was (just look at his eyes, to feel and touch his soul). And the message he spread is still resonating almost 30 years after his demise. Here an excerpt of one of his books, which touches me deeply. = = = Admit it. You aren’t like them. You’re not even close. You may occasionally dress yourself up as one of them, watch the same mindless television shows as they do, maybe even eat the same fast food sometimes. But it seems that the more you try to fit in, the more you feel like an outsider, watching the “normal people” as they go about their automatic existences. For every time you say club passwords like “Have a nice day” and “Weather’s awful today, eh?”, you yearn inside to say forbidden things like “Tell me something that makes you cry” or “What do you think deja vu is for?” Face it, you even want to talk to that girl in the elevator. But what if that girl in the elevator (and the balding man who walks past your cubicle at work) are thinking the same thing? Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger? Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others. ~Timothy Leary