kimothai

I was in the same boat with OA visa and BlueCross and having to use Pacific Cross. It gave me a great sense of pleasure to cancel the expensive Pacific Cross that I never used for 3 years and get a partial refund. Not to mention not have to deal with the silly 90 day report or bank reporting. LTR was like a breath of fresh air.

I have found going to a Dermatologist and having them burned off with liquid nitrogen has worked 100% for me. At least when you see a doctor they can determine exactly what is wrong. This whole self-diagnosis/self-treatment is risky and could lead to further complications IMHO. This procedure with the whiskey and razor is a bit too barbaric for me.

The motorbike parking at Central Festival in Pattaya has become a nightmare since they allocated space for the big bikes. Simply not enough space for non-big bikes. Smaller bikes are parked on top of one another. My solution is to simply not to go there anymore. I go the extra distance to Terminal 21 where there is plenty of parking. If I absolutely have to go to Central, I'll park across the street and walk over.

I had that same problem with PC WIN 11. The PC would randomly shutdown or restart. Turned out it was UPS software for auto-shutdown if power loss. The software made my desktop think it was a laptop in respect to the power settings. Was never able to resolve the problem so I just use the UPS without the auto-shutdown feature. I have idea if you are using a UPS. Just thought I would mention it.

"She speculated that she may have unintentionally cut him off". Now there's a laugh. Driving in Pattaya, seems like I get "unintentionally" cut off half a dozen times just going to the grocery store.

To answer your question about how I checked the exchange rate, I used a FX app on my phone at the moment of the transaction. I've done this same process with my Capital One Credit Card (not debit card) and the difference was night and day. I didn't write down all the specific numbers, but I recall the exchange rate fee of my debit card was about triple that of my credit card. I only did this "exchange rate experiment" because a friend, who also has a Schwab account) who had heard the exchange rate with the debit card was not so good. He was right. Don't misunderstand my opinion of the Schwab debit card - I love my Schwab debit card, it's a perfect backup for my Capital One in case I have a problem. I just reserve the use of the debit card to making USD purchases.

I would think a scanner would be a better option than a Webcam (or phone camera) for saving documents to digital format.

I can't speak about the NFCU problem, but I've had the same issues with play store "not available in your country". Because I use an Android phone that is located in Thailand (Google/play store account), I found a used iPhone that I located in America with the Apple account. I do my banking/credit card that are country sensitive on the iPhone. You don't need a sim or phone number in the iPhone - just an internet connection. I'm only using the iPhone as a platform, not a phone.

Yes. I (American citizen) opened a Charles Schwab International account while living in Thailand. As part of the initial application for proof of residence (in Thailand) I used a scan of my electric bill (from electric company - Thai language) and my water bill (from condo - English language). I did this about a year ago when I was informed by Morgan Stanley that I would need to close my account due to foreign residency (even though I did have a USA mailing address) but that's another story about how that all came about. After the account was approved it has to be funded with 25K USD. I accomplished this by transferring my 2 Morgan Stanley accounts (1 brokerage and 1 Roth IRA account) to Charles Schwab International. Each account has to be transferred separately (same process twice) but that's only if you have more than one account. Schwab provides you with instruction for the transfer. The whole transfer process was less than 3 weeks. I was initially apprehensive about how difficult it would be to do the account transfer, but it turned out to be super easy. If you use I different method to fund the account, I can't comment on that. Note: as a foreign resident you are not allowed to have mutual funds registered in USA so you'll probably need to convert those to something different (probably should call Schwab to determine course of action if mutual funds are involved). I didn't have any, so it wasn't an issue. Once your account is open and funded you can use your Thai number for OTP's. You can get a debit card and checking account that will be mailed directly to your Thai address. The exchange rate for the debit card is terrible so you may want to limit use to USD transactions. The whole process was a lot easier than I thought it would be. To be honest I like Schwab better than Morgan Stanley.

Your complaints will only fall on deaf ears. Simple solution: double pane (or possibly triple pane) windows & class lanai doors. If in a condo they'll have comply with condo regulations to have same cosmetic appearance on the outside. Had a friend in Bangkok who did exactly that to kill all the traffic noise.

I agree with everyone that says you don't need an agent to complete the LTR application. The BOI people ate very helpful if you call with excellent English speakers. They usually responded to emails the same day. If you do yourself, you should have a PC or laptop and a printer/scanner along with the basic skills to make a multipage PDF file. Good luck

15,000baht/month is a total rip off. For that amount you can get a gym membership for a year. Have a look at Fitness 7 in the Avenue shopping center on second road. They keep it clean and machine maintenance is very good. The trainers that work there will teach how to use the machines (for free). My gf uses the place as well as a lot of other girls. Never heard of any problems. A trainer will give you guided tour and you can see if it's what you are looking for.

I agree that this road construction could be better coordinated but that’s only half the problem (in my opinion). The other half I’m referring to is all the double parking. I see it everywhere and it creates every bit as much chaos/backup as the road work (especially on narrow roads such as Soi Bukaow). The shame of it is that it could be alleviated by law enforcement which require more police presence on the roads but sadly, most know what the odds of that is. This whole double parking, running red lights, driving on the wrong side of the road, etc, etc is like an endemic road disease in Pattaya. I don’t expect anything to change.

I think the Tik Tokers are just being creative and figured out a way to boost the sales of offensive T-shirts. After all, this is Thailand and it's always about the money. Always!

Correct. You cannot initiate an international wire transfer from a Capital One account. Only domestic transfers are allowed. I linked my Capital One to an account that allows international wire transfers. Very easy to do. Been using Capital one (including CC) for about 5 or 6 years. Never a problem.

If you are in business class you can use fast track. Just take your boarding pass with your passport. If you are 70 or older you can use fast track. If you have and LTR visa you can use also.

I've been using the Mint e-sim for almost a year now and it works flawlessly so far. I activated while in Thailand using a Samsung Galaxy S22. I did the application on a PC and then used the Mint QR code to install the Mint e-sim on my phone. Was much easier than I expected. As someone else stated you need to add $10 to the roaming (up-roam) to receive OTP's. You don't want to use the data while roaming because it's very expensive. I use my Thai sim for data. I mostly have the e-sim turned off while in Thailand but when I need an OTP I just turn the e-sim back on. I used it when I went back to USA (California) and it worked great. No loss of coverage.

Great idea. Maybe some of the intersections will be less hazardous, specifically the disaster zone at Soi Diana/Langkee. Will be interesting to see how traffic flows with all the delivery trucks (and idiots) parking in the middle of one of the lanes. Definitely worth a try.

I would also like to know the latest changes to the yearly retirement visa (a retirement visa issued for one year by an agent.) Where would I find these? Thank you. You need to specify which Immigration office you are using.

You don't need a bank account to apply for an LTR visa for "wealthy retirees" if you have health insurance. Only if you don't have health insurance do you have to show a bank deposit for being self insured. When I applied for LTR visa there was never any mention of a bank account (bc I have health insurance). I no longer am required to keep 800K baht in a Thai bank for a retirement visa ("O" or "OA ").

Charkaphan Osangthamnont(Dr) at Bumrungrad. I had colon cancer in 2017. Thanks to him I am cancer free today. Going back for follow-up colonoscopy today.

Bank for sure & credit card. Went to agent to update driver's license and was told not necessary (nobody does). Your new passport will reference the old passport when visa is transferred.

if you can qualify for a LTR (thru the Board of Investments) Visa that is probably the best visa going. If you don't qualify and have lots of disposable cash the Elite Visa is the next best. If the two visas mentioned before are no go's, then the "O" retirement visa (if age 50+) is probably the nest best bet.

I second that motion. The politics in America are just too ugly now. The advent of the LTR visa has made life in Thailand much easier.

Thai dowry is nothing more than proof that the marriage is 100% about money and 0% about love. Seems more like extortion to me. Walk away, walk away.