Equatorial

I'm pretty sure DrJack54 is referring to the opportunity of making 8% interest with the money that is tied up sitting in a Thai bank account. From a financial point of view, it is better to pay an agent or to use the income method, instead of tying up money and letting it sit idly in a Thai bank.

What a great idea! The only potential drawback is the possible expiration date limiting validity of a cashier's check. Here is Grok's answer:

I agree. There may be illegal ways to get around the rules, but they involve risk. Not just the risk of losing they money, but the risk of going to jail. I've been trying to solve a similar problem (wife rather than GF) and based on the feedback I got here and elsewhere, here are my conclusions. 1/ Avoid anything illegal - it involves the risk of losing the money, and going to jail. 2/ Avoid will and probate and anything that have to do with Thai legal system; it takes forever, it is expensive, and the results are not guaranteed. Besides, there is a risk of the GF's family getting involved and succeeding in getting some or all of the money in question. 3/ Joint accounts are out (because of the immigration requirements for EOS), and in you case, being a GF, she can't be a joint signatory (at least that is my understanding). 4/ The only bullet-proof way to make sure she gets the money in case of your death, and she gets all of it without any delays, it to keep the money in a bank account in her name. However, for this to work, two things have to be true: - She has to be 100% trustworthy. With 1 mil in her name, she can take the money and disappear, and you have no recourse whatsoever. - Assuming that the funds in question are the money that you are currently using to satisfy the financial requirements for the retirement-based Extension of Stay, you would have to switch to the income method and show foreign-sourced THB 65,000 per month deposited in a Thai bank account. At this point, I am strongly leaning towards the option #4 myself.

It's even worse - one day you are guaranteed to die. The jury is still out whether the immediate cause of death was the serving of Pad Kra Pao consumed a few years earlier, or excessive alcohol consumption.

From the context it sounds like Kra Pao Neua Neua is a restaurant in Chiang Mai. Can you provide more details? Searches on Google Maps and Grok came up empty.

I am curious, was the fridge actually manufactured in Sweden an imported? Or, was it Made in Thailand under the Electrolux brand. The reason I am asking is, I was looking real hard for a Made in Japan refrigerator recently, but all of the Japanese and South Korean brands' products that I could find were actually made in Thailand.

With his old passport expiring in ~7 months, is sounds like it is a renewal passport rather than "two passports." Of course, only OP knows for sure.

When faced with the same issue earlier this year, I opted to bring the boxes with me as check-in luggage. EvaAir allows 2 pieces of luggage free, plus up to 5 additional pieces per person, at ~USD200 a piece. I used large moving boxes from Home Depot, that are compliant in terms of dimensions. I filled then up to the limit of 50 lbs per box. 14 boxes altogether fit everything I wanted to take with me, at the total cost of USD 2,000. And, it arrived on the same flight as I did, so there was no wait time or having to deal with a shipping company. I mailed them to the final destination from the Post Office at the Suvarnabhumi airport, overnight, for another USD 150 or so.

The reason this is confusing is that it is different from what we normally understand as visa. Here is how Grok breaks it down: In Thailand, a visa and a permission to stay are distinct concepts related to legal entry and residence: Visa: A visa is a document or stamp issued by a Thai embassy or consulate before entering Thailand, allowing you to enter the country for a specific purpose (e.g., tourism, work, study). It determines the initial duration and conditions of your entry (e.g., 30-day visa-exempt entry, 60-day tourist visa, or 1-year non-immigrant visa). Permission to Stay: This is the actual period you are legally allowed to remain in Thailand, granted by an immigration officer at the port of entry (e.g., airport or border). It is stamped in your passport upon arrival, indicating the date until which you can stay (e.g., "Admitted until [date]").

Correct. This is one of the situations where the distinction between visa and permission to stay is crucially important. I agree that it is important to get the terminology right, and clearly the annual Extensions of Stay are just that and not visa, as they are sometimes called in error. My thinking is as follows. The initial Non O is a proper "visa," which is defined as follows: an endorsement issued by an authorized representative of a country and marked in a passport, permitting the passport holder to enter, travel through, or reside in that country for a specified amount of time, for the purpose of tourism, education, employment, etc. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/visa A visa is a permission to stay for a specified amount of time. In case of Non O, that period of time is 90 days. It is my understanding that that that visa, i.e. permission to stay, expires at the end of 90 days. If that is incorrect, when does the 90-day Non O expire?

It gets confusing with many options. Unless you have a reason to do otherwise, I'd suggest considering the easiest option for marriage-based Non O (in terms of requirements and effort), which I believe is as follows: 1. Get a 90-day marriage-based Non O eVisa in your home country 2. ASAP after entering Thailand, open a bank account if needed, and deposit THB 400k so that it is seasoned for 2 months by the time you apply for Extension of Stay (EOS) 3. Apply for EOS before your 90-day Non O expires

I believe the same is true for Non O. When the eVisa is issued by the consulate/embassy, you have 3 months to use it (i.e. to enter Thailand) from the date of issue. You get to stay in Thailand for 90 days starting with the date of entry, rather than with the date when the visa was issued.

Ha-ha. Not Baht. I was speaking of USD. USD $1,000 per month.

Regarding the timing, normally the processing of a Non O application takes a few days, a couple of weeks max. The eVisa has to be used within 90 days. If you get it mid-July, it will expire mid-October. If you're planning on entering Thailand in October, you might consider waiting with your Non O application until August or even September.

Agreed 100%. That's what I do. Spend 3-6 months a year in Thailand, and I split the rest between the US and Europe (with Australia soon to be added to the mix). While in Thailand, I live on ~1,000-1,500 per month. Outside Thailand, $3,000-4,000 per month. No more than $40,000 a year.