Red Phoenix

Opening a Fixed Deposit Account to keep the required funds for Immigration purposes, instead of an additional Savings Account is not only a matter of the 'peanut' difference in interest. It also has the advantage that with an FD Account you cannot accidentally slip under the 800K tresshold, because that account does not come with a debet-card and to make any transactions on the FD Account that needs to be done in person at the Bank (or on-line if you opted for that, which I didn't ). There are many posts on the Forum of members that were faced with a short dip on their sole Thai bank-account (either by accident doing it themselves of their spouses using their debit-card). And that forced them to start the Non Imm O Visa application process from scratch again. Personally I never touch the +800K on my FD-account, except one a year when I withdraw a couple of 1000 Bath (the interest the account provided) to update the account and then request my Bank-branche to provide me with the Bank-Account statement and 1-year Bank Transactions statement. I simply consider that 'sleeping' +800K THB on the account as a kind of insurance, that can be used in case of urgent need. Each to his own of course, but doing so means I don't have any worries about not meeting the financial requirement.

In case you have one Thai Bank-Account where you keep the required funds to meet the financial requirements for your Non Imm O or O-A retirement based Permission to stay, it is indeed recommended to open a 2nd bank-account solely for Immigration purposes. Opening a Fixed Deposit Account would be the logical choice for such dedicated Bank-Account for immigration purposes. However, to avoid slipping under the 800K tresshold (which is the minimum amount required during the first 3 months and last 2 months of the Non Imm O retirement based Permission to stay), it is recommended to transfer the funds in two steps. Once you are over the 3 month period in which +800K is required and it is allowed to lower to 400K, you can transfer a first batch of 405K from your original account to the new FD account (while ensuring that you stay well over 400K on your original account). Then wait a couple of days and once the 405K has been confirmed on that new FD-Account, then in course of the following days transfer 400K, so that you now have a balance of 805.000,- THB on that FD-account. This avoids that you temporary would not be meeting the tresshold fund requirement while your 'funds are in cyber-space' between the moment of transfer and arrival.

Occasionally - once every 3 days on average - I have heartburn (acid reflux). I don't like the taste of Gaviscon, and Rennie chew-tablets are relatively expensive. But I tried BELCID liquid, which you can buy at any pharmacy/Lotus for approx 50,- THB a bottle. A small sip (tastes OK) and works instantly. Note that although BELCID works perfectly for me, I prefer pure natural remedies and so will try to get hold of the 'fennel seeds' as mentioned in the post by @flyingtlger

@carlyai > Easiest option is to enter Thailand VisaExempt (without a Visa) which will provide you with a 30-day Permission to stay stamped in your passport by Thai border-immigration. And then apply at your local Imm Office for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement, when you still have at least 15 days left on that Permission to stay (note that at CM they require 21 days, and at Phuket it's 15 business days). But be aware that on check-in for your flight to Thailand, that airline-staff might (and probably will) require that you show an 'onward flight' to an international destination from Thailand at a date prior to the expiry of the 30-days Permission to stay yu will receive on entry. That shouldn't be a problem as you can buy a fully legit flight-reservation for 16 US $ at onwardticket.com or other flight-reservation service provider. As such genuine reservations are automatically cancelled by the provider of the service 48 to 72 hours after issuance, it is recommended to make the booking the night before departure to Thailand, and the reservation will be sent immediately (or with a few hours delay) upon payment by credit-card.

When applying for the 1-year extension of the Permission to stay based on your original Non Imm O or O-A Visa for reason of retirement using the Funds-in-Bank method, you need TWO documents providing evidence that you met the financial requirements: #1 - A Bank-Account Statement (sometimes referred to as the 'Bank letter') printed on official Bank letterhead paper stating that you are the owner of the Thai Bank-Account and the balance it shows at moment of issuance. That statement needs to be issued at the date of application for the 1-year extension, and hence before heading to Immigration you first need to visit your Bank to get hold of that statement. On arrival at the Bank first do a small transaction on that account before asking the Bank for the statement, which will then show the updated balance. #2 - Evidence that you met the requirement that you did not slip under the 800K and 400K tressholds during the preceding 12 months. Some Imm Offices do accept copies of the 12 months of transactions as featured on your Bank Passbook, and in that case it is a simple matter of bringing your updated Bank Pass-book (and copies of the pages with the transactions made during those preceding 12 months). However as some Thai Banks in a paper-saving effort consolidate these transactions when not regularly (approx bi-monthly) updating your Passbook, Immigration will in such case not be able to determine whether you slipped under the required tressholds during the consolidation period. And so many Imm Offices now also want an official Bank-issued 12 month 'Bank Transactions' statement. When your Imm Office requires this, you can request your Bank to issue that 12-month Bank Transactions statement, at same time when you visit them on the day of application when you get hold of the Bank-Account statement. That's no problem at most banks, but be aware that many Bangkok Bank branches can only issue such Bank transactions statement for 6 months, as they do not have the data to access transactions older than 6 months, and many do not have the codes/authorization from HQ to do so. And in that case you need to request your local Bangkok Bank branche at least 5 working days before you plan to apply for the 1-year extension, to order that 12-month Bank Transaction statement from BKB Headquarters, so that it is available at your local Bank branche on the date of application for your 1-year extension of stay, when picking up at same time your Bank-Account statement.

@dinsdale > The large majority of your posts in this thread I wholeheartedly agree with. But you are currently in a somewhat uncomfortable position. You are still praising the merits of the jabs while at same time being 'accused' by the covid jab-enthusiasts of being a loony anti-vax conspiracy adept. A bit like dr John Campbell who started as a pure sang covid-jab Believer, and had the genuine intent of providing accurate information to his viewers about the subject, but gradually - as the evidence kept on accumulating - came to realize that the holes in the official narrative were too big to be ignored. To his credit he is still providing accurate information even though he is now Persona Non Grata to many of his previous audience. And unfortunately he must walk on eggshells in his current videos as he cannot show the back of his tongue as that would mean him being banned from YouTube. Hence he lets his audience draw their conclusions from the data he presents, by asking rhetorical questions.

Because older not so healthy people who work with and interact with these unvaxxed "young healthy " people would be more likely to be infected and spread the virus to others who could very likely have a very bad hospitalization and maybe even DIE. Yep, suggested perhaps likely maybe... But more relevant > When infected by Covid the symptoms are suppressed in the vaccinated so they are actually MORE likely to unwittingly spread it, than the unvaccinated who simply would stay home when feeling unwell.

If you never exited Thailand to 'kill' your Non Imm O-A Visa, your annual extensions are still based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa. The agency is correct that when applying for the 1-year extension for reason of marriage, it does not make a difference whether your original Visa was Non Imm O-A or Non Imm O. But if you would want to get rid of the bureaucratic extras that come with a 'marriage' extension, and want to switch to a 1-year extension for reason of retirement, you will be confronted again with the Health Insurance requirement.

Excellent comment. But may I suggest to use the term 'reacting mind' instead of 'thinking mind' as there is very little thinking gong on in that part of your mind, because it are mere automatic responses to external stimuli. The responses can be physical, emotional or mental, which each type of person having a preference (or rather a routine habit response). Silencing that 'reacting mind' will allow the 'observing mind', the quiet spectator at the back of the room, which is your real I or essence to momentarily take over. And with that comes the realization that 99.95 % of the time we are nothing more than automatons jumping like monkeys from one branch to another with no control over that reacting mind which we mistakenly see as our True I. But with 'self-remembering' practice the glimpses of Real I can become longer, and once the Master has awakened - even if it is only for less than a minute every week - he won't be satisfied with his pure spectator role and will start whispering to you. And as a result your outlook and what you encounter in life will slowly but drastically change. Once you tasted this, it will dawn on you that there is NOTHING more important in life than awakening that 'observing mind' but of course it will be a long hard struggle with your 'reacting mind' which does not want to give up its illegitimate Master role.

When you already were on a 1-year extension of stay based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa, there is no problem extending for another year for reason of marriage (provided you meet the additional marriage requirements of course). And in that case there is NO insurance requirement. But contrary to what you wrote, in your case your Permissions to stay are still based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa (as you only applied for a different reason, and did not 'kill' the original Non Imm O-A Visa on which the extensions are based). The point is that in many Imm offices they will not allow you to apply for the 1-year extension for reason of marriage the FIRST time that you apply, because according to their rules you can only change the 'reason' for the 1-year extension application when you are already on a 1-year extension from that Non Imm O-A Visa.

A couple of fitting quotes on happiness by the German philosopher Arthur SCHOPENHAUER (1788–1860), who was deeply influenced by Buddhist thought. Note that I do not endorse Schopenhauer's utterly pessimistic world-view, but imo he is spot on in these quotes: # It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is almost impossible to find it anywhere else. # Happiness belongs to those who are sufficient unto themselves. For all external sources of happiness and pleasure are, by their very nature, highly uncertain, precarious, ephemeral and subject to chance. # Money is human happiness in the abstract: he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money. # There is no more mistaken path to happiness than worldiness, revelry, high life.

Reflections by Marcus Aurelius:

As other posters already indicated: - You most probably applied for a Non Imm O-A Visa in your home-country (US) which has several options to meet the mandatory Health Insurance requirement. However when you are staying in Thailand and wanting to apply for the 1-year extension of stay of the Permission to stay from that original Non Imm O-A Visa, Thai Immigration ONLY accepts a Non Imm O-A compliant health insurance policy issued by a Thai TGIA-associated insurer. Considering your age and medical conditions, it might be close to impossible to get such insurance. And it is actually not even necessary to do so, as you already have US insurance (which is not accepted by Thai Immigration). - There is however a relatively easy way to get rid of the problem, and that is switching to a Non Imm O Visa, as that type of Visa does not require any mandatory Thai insurance to apply both for the Visa as well as for its extensions. But in order to apply at your local Imm Office for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa, you would first need to 'kill' the permission to stay from your current Non Imm O-A Visa. That can be done by simply exiting Thailand without a Re-Entry Permit for the Permission to stay of that Non Imm O-A Visa (after the 1-year Visa validity has expired). Then you can return to Thailand (can even be done with a same day border-run) and be stamped in Visa-Exempt (without a Visa) by Thai border-immigration which will provide you with a 30-day Permission to stay. When you still have at least 15 days left on that Permission to stay (some Imm Offices like CM require 21 days, and Phuket requires 15 business days), you can then apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa at your local Imm Office. And at the end of those 90 days you can then apply for a 1-year extension. Doing so you have gotten rid of the Non Imm O-A mandatory health-insurance, and the requirements for the 1-year extension of that Non Imm O Visa are exactly same as for the Non Imm O-A but without that #$%^&* mandatory insurance. - Note that when you are married to a Thai national, that you have the option to apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of marriage, instead of the Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement (i.e. being +50 years of age). It might also be possible to apply for the 1-year extension of stay of your current Non Imm O-A visa for reason of marriage, as that does not require any mandatory Thai health-insurance. But in that case you should inform beforehand at your local Imm Office, whether they allow you to apply for the 1-year extension for reason of marriage. Some Imm Offices consider the Non Imm O-A Visa as being acquired for reason of 'retirement' and only allow switching to a different reason (in your case: marriage) when you are already on a 1-year extension of stay. = = = Success!

Do some research on the history of vaccination. It will give you a more balanced view on the risks/benefits of that very lucrative practice. Lucrative for the medical industrial complex, but not so much for the population that are mandated or coerced to undergo the shots. Modern allopathic medicine has succeeded in turning vaccination into a sort of 'unquestioned blessing' and branding every 'non-believer' as a loony crackpot refusing the multi-baptism shots. But indeed, this thread is not the place to discuss that subject, so I will leave it at that...

~ Looks like you did fall for the propaganda of the (p)harma-industry that vaccinations are necessary to survive. The prophylactic use of vaccines is a trillion $ industry and the core-moneymaker of Big Pharma, and from birth to adulthood in the US they are now already over 50 shots. Pure madness, as a person with a healthy immune system does not need any of these poison-shots that are actually deteriorating your health.

There is absolutely no reason to do a 'border-hop' in your case. A 30-day VisaExempt Permission to stay or a 60-day TouristVisa Permission to stay, can both be extended on the spot for 30 days at ANY Thai Immigration Office (cost 1.900,- THB). You would only need your passport and a TM-30 notification as proof of address from the Hotel/guesthouse where you are staying in the province of the Imm Office where you want to apply for that 30-day extension (the 30 days are ADDED to expiry date of your Permission to stay).

At my so-called 'in the sticks' Imm Office in SiSaKet province they are more tech-savvy and don't bother with that hand-drawn map nonsense. The Imm Officer asked whether I had a mobile phone and whether I could indicate where I live on the Google Maps site. He then asked if he could have my phone for half a minute. He then went to street-view, rode his 'virtual car' right in front of our house with the number visible, took a screen-shot and sent it to himself. Indeed, done in less than half a minute, and needless to say that I was quite impressed with his dexterity. Note: In my Imm Office if you do the 90-days report in person, you don't need any filled-in form neither. Just tell that you come for doing your 90-day report and hand over your passport, they then fill in everything on their PC, print out the form which you need to sign, and then they staple the notification slip with next due date (highlighted with a fluo marker) in your passport. Done in 3 minutes. Reading the horror stories of Imm Office nonsense in other provinces, I realize that I am extremely lucky with that always very friendly and extremely efficient Imm Office. Next time I go for my 1-year extension I will bring some cake for the office staff, as token of my gratitude with the service they provide.

~ There is a saying that you can only ask a genuinely meaningful question when you already - consciously or subconciously - know half of the answer. Obviously I am not referring here to 'trick-questions' where the intent is to catch the person responding and slapping them then with your 'Aha Gotcha Truth' (which of course can still be incorrect). Personally I do not have any problem at all in admitting that I don't know. Even the word 'admitting' here is wrong, as I am not interested in any puberal p1ssing contests on Who Knows More and Wins the Argument. There will always be infinitely more that you don't know than what you really DO know. And most of what you know is not 'yours' anyway, but you have read, heard or picked it up somewhere and it fitted with your current beliefs. = = = So yes I do believe that there are additional levels beyond the one you were born with, in order to realize your full human potential. And that belief is strengthened as I did experience a glimpse of what lies beyond. That makes it also so god-damn difficult to explain the huge QUALITATIVE difference between what you believe based on what you read (and thought you understood) and what you KNOW because you experienced it personally. A discussion between a man that has seen God (I am not referring to myself in case you wonder) and someone that knows all the scriptures by heart and is an expert in what others did write on the subject, is no match. As Sunmaster wrote: Personal experience trumps borrowed knowledge every time...

>> Sorry Tippa, I still fail to see how anything you wrote in response to the idea that there are 7 levels of man is relevant. "Reincarnational selves, probable selves, for instance,. Not to mention existences in other camouflage realities." I do not out-of-hand dismiss such notions, but why would that "shred" the concept of development-levels attainable to man, and show that to be false? For me that response was a total non-sequitur. A bit like me stating that one could look at the Earth as consisting of 7 continents, and you then dismissing that idea by bringing up penguins, kangaroos and polar bears. >> Yep, you can ask questions and I am sure that @Sunmaster as well as myself will try to answer them. And that answer will of course always be from our point of view ('reality'). And when we do not answer, that's not a matter of unwillingness but rather that either we do not have an answer (we are far from omni-scient in these matters), or that we opt to ignore the questions, as they are 'unanswerable' and require a fertile ground to be of any use. "Ask a foolish question".

Hi Tippa, you might not like my answer but I know you can take it, and so here you go: pure honesty without any sugar-coating... I did not address anything FROM your post, because imo what you wrote is nothing more than a steaming pile of Bvllsh!t. Do read it again yourself: it's pure intellectual masturbation, a thought-monkey aimlessly jumping from one mental branche to another. But in my response I DID address where those excrements came from: a blind automatic self-defensive reaction from the gravity center of Man level 3. The scholar in the High Book Castle sensing what he perceives to be an attack on his own 'reality' illusion, and trying to protect the crumbling fundaments of his worldview. To your credit you seek and welcome discussion, but dismissing what seemingly does not fit in your carefully crafted mental construct, is imo the real 'mindfvckery'. May I suggest to embrace the idea that Truth is by definition 'unspeakable' and any attempt to do so can appear contradictory on the level of the interpreter. Your honest friend RP

~ ... 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' ...