1tent42

I've entered Thailand twice in the last two months. They do not staple anything in your passport, at least in BKK.

1. I had an METV. Immigration officer refused me entry on my second inbound trip on the METV. The interaction started routine and polite then suddenly he started asking me questions about purpose of my trip and suddenly raised his voice. 2. Yes, one of my first posts on this forum. 3. After the immigration officer yelled at me, he called the IO supervisor, he took me at the back wall where I was questioned and was told I needed to purchase an outbound flight, and that I needed an OA visa on next entry. I booked the flight on my phone and show the booking to the supervisor. 4. I stayed 55 days on first entry on the METV. Prior to that I stayed 45 days on visa exempt a four months before. Total time in Thailand over four years prior to this incident was less than 140 days.

This happened to me around a year and half ago. BKK Immigration wouldn't let me in unless I bought an outbound ticket right there and then. And I had a tourist visa.

I used one of my old cycling water bottles and gently squeezed the bottle to flow the water into my nose. I mixed sea salt with hot water out of the tap or add boiling water. Looking back at it, I should probably just use the saline solutions sold at the pharmacy. Probably much safer.

You're correct. A Thai court must approve the US request for the property seizure. And I would assume that it would be true in this case otherwise it would be pretty easy to for a local lawyer to undo. How could Thailand be reluctant to enter into such treaty they already signed?

Per Google: The United States and Thailand have a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) in force, which was signed on March 19, 1986, and entered into force on June 10, 1993. This treaty facilitates cooperation between the two countries in the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of criminal offenses. It allows for the exchange of evidence and information, including the execution of requests for search and seizures, serving of documents, and transferring persons in custody for testimonial purposes.

Baguio, Philippines has an average temperature of 28º for June and July.

Congrats on the LTR! Though, even as a wealthy pensioner, 50K is a lot for one hour of work for me. That’s about the time it took to get my documents together and submit them online. They did asked for my tax returns an hour later so maybe 1 hour and 5 minutes total.

I departed and arrived using fast track with my wife a month ago at BKK. No issues, no one even asked what's her relation was to me. I'll probably never depart using the fast track at BKK again, much easier and quicker to go through the e-gates.

It has a rooftop, swimming pool and a gym. I rarely go to the rooftop. No good can come from being that high up. But I do laps almost daily at the pool. I suppose this is temporary as we plan to move to the US in a couple of years. My wife owns this condo so she plans to rent it out after we leave. I would rather keep this condo empty and come back to it whenever we visit.

I'm retired. My wife still works. Our condo has floor to ceiling windows, a tiny balcony where we hang dry our clothes, and has fantastic views of the city. Location is my main consideration as well. I would want to be close to amenities and accessible to public transportation which is were I am now. I absolutely hate driving in Bangkok. I fixed this by not getting a driver license. I'm glad it doesn't bother my wife at all.

I live in a 35m2 condo with my wife in Bangkok. It's plenty of space for us. Very much easy to clean. My wife doesn't want to live in a bigger place and I'm very much fine with that. We don't own a lot of things. But we have everything we need. Maybe if I can figure out how to ride a road bike safely in the city I'd look into more space for bike storage.

I just got married recently. 1. You need two documents notarized ($50 per notarized document) from the US embassy/consulate: a. Affidavit of single status b. Certified copy of your US passport. 2. The documents need to be translated then legalized. I used a translation services close to the US embassy to have the documents translated and have them legalized (3500 THB). This process took me almost three weeks. 3. Schedule an appointment with your Amphur. This took over two weeks as they need to verify the documents you submitted are legitimate. 4. Register your marriage on your appointed date. I read some Amphur do not require witnesses but mine did. Here is the link of the general process from the US embassy: https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/getting-married-in-thailand/ Good luck!

The message clearly says that it is a virtual town hall in the beginning of the message then at the beginning of the last paragraph. In addition, it mentions that the in-person attendance is fully booked and then that participation at the ambassador's house is fully booked. It also mentions that you can register to attend the meeting online twice. I'm not sure how clearer can the message get.

Can you please explain why one would want a USD account in a local bank? Can't you just wire money directly from your overseas bank account to your Thai bank whenever you need the money? I'm not understanding the benefit of a local bank account in USD.

I redacted my social security, bank, brokerage and pension account numbers when I submitted my documents and they were accepted just fine.

On my METV and OA eVisa applications last year, I recall that the application only ask for entry flight# into Thailand. I didn't provide my full itinerary, only the final leg into BKK. I was approved for both.

Ah, yes, you're correct.

The opportunity cost of 800K Baht or let's just say 400K baht ($11K USD) held in a low yield Thai bank account is enough to convince me that LTR is a cheaper option over retirement extensions. Current APY for 5-year CDs hovers around 5%. For $11K invested in CDs, the ROI will pay for the LTR visa twice over at the end of the term.

Also, you lose flexibility on that $100K if you keep that in a bank for the health insurance requirement. You can no longer withdraw it as you please for as long as you rely on it to remain eligible for the LTR visa. Just a thought.

As long as you qualify, why not continue to buy the annual health insurance? And keep your $100K invested in the market? Your bank may not pay that much interest. The highest high yield savings account available right now is paying around 5%. S&P 500 is returning 14.5% so far this year. Current dividend yield is 1.34%. Even if you pay for the insurance cost, you'd still be ahead. The stock market may go down but the HYSA and MMF yields aren't guaranteed to stay high either.

I applied a couple of months ago and only submitted last year's tax returns. My passive income last year didn't even meet the requirements. I did submit a pension certificate showing that I meet the requirements and they accepted that. I was approved with no issues.

I applied this past April over the Songkran holidays. It only took 3.5 weeks from submission to BOI to e-visa issuance. The application online was super easy. Not sure why one would need an agent.

Yes, I did. Thanks for this information. I would’ve been lost.

This is good to know.