bamboozled

Oh right, sorry, mixed up my posters! Really, only $10 for a foreign transfer? From which country? That is very cheap, I'm surprised. I will look into it, for sure! Thank you.

I remember the Wise fee for SWIFT was low enough. But there are also the fine print speaking about the fee from the sending bank. I didn't check it but from prior years having sent money via SWIFT the rate is pretty high. Like sending Western Union. I would love to be wrong!

That's from Wise, right? How about from your home bank side?

It's a shame that one has to start out right from the gate with a lot of money or it's a no-go. No chance to ease into it as the set-up fee alone is high. Thanks so much for your help.

Because it's more expensive. But yes, you have a point. Just in a year of doing that you've spent $500 more in transfer fees than you would have with Wise.

Yes, exactly what I am saying. I chatted with the rep and they said I could not tag the account for international transfer, as OJAS suggested. This is when I had opened the Bangkok Bank account and the first transfer showed as international. After that, only local. And the bank it came from was Kasikorn. So I opened a Kasikorn account. And it still says local transfer with the local bank being, wait for it: Kasikorn. This is with "Funds for long term stay in Thailand." I don't get it.

Perhaps that paperwork is inexpensive but I think Gwapo is right that there are many other things that must be paid for to keep everything legal. The bar is far too high for me, unfortunately.

Yes, that's about what I thought/remember, Gwapo. It's a shame it's not easier to open a business as it would give gainful employment to a few people. I'll have to put my thinking cap back on. What I really need is to be reborn Thai. Problem solved. Thanks everybody for the input. Bam

...I should have added that I had done a check-up a year prior and that tumor wasn't there. So, because I went for regular check-ups it was caught very early and was only at a beginning stage of development, prior to when the cancer cells would have been likely to travel. The tissue surrounding the tumor was biopsied and no cancer found. I was very lucky and that luck was helped along by having the regular check-ups. Heck, you can't check for everything but for $200, the cost of the check-up, might as well.

Thanks for the reply, Gwapo. Yes, I'm from USA. Doesn't the special treaty involve companies with a fairly substantial investment such as 100s of thousands of dollars? I seem to recall figures that were far above what I have to invest. Basically, I want to sell online to North America and Europe but need to hire one or two people to do the shipping/organizing/stock keeping, etc... So I don't need to do that work but would over-see it and give direction. I do remember from looking into this in the past that because we are foreigners, there is no inexpensive way to start a business here. "Inexpensive" is all relative but I am not a rich guy. Hmm, I'm married now to a Thai but not for much longer. I will need 4 Thai employees, accountant, social security, pay myself 50k, and all that jazz? The million baht has to be deposited in an account some where, correct? It wasn't ever necessary to show that money when I had the business years ago. To be clear, I had incorporated that business just to be able to legally invoice my expenses to another business that I was part of in Italy. Legally, it was my Italian partner's and I wasn't on any documents...being American. It didn't cost much to start at the time. But I never had to hire anyone or bill anyone so there were many aspects I didn't learn about.

As per the title, as a foreigner, can we own a business, finance that business, but not "work" in it? I'm pretty sure there are plenty of folks doing this, especially restaurants/bars, but when I run it through my mind I can't quite figure it. Is it that the foreigner owner has a Thai partner? Otherwise, how could the business be a legal entity? And does that matter? Certainly, there are plenty of locals running businesses and hiring employees but they are not registered. But I don't think that would be a good idea for a foreigner. Are there agents to help with this? Hmm, now that I jostle my memory, I suppose that's what I did about 15 years ago. I had set up a business and my lawyer and a Thai friend were the partners. I held 49% and the two of them split the other 51%. At the time, 1,000,000 baht registered collateral was needed but it was just on paper and didn't need to be coughed up. I think one can no longer get away with that and that the money needs to be deposited. I could be wrong. Interesting side note... This business I had set up eventually lay dormant for at least 3 - 5 years as it wasn't needed any longer. My lawyer advised me to close it as I still had to pay him to do yearly accounting, etc... If I remember, he wanted 30k or 40k to close it: "oh, we have to do this, that, the other thing, it's complicated." This was 10 years ago, or so. That seemed like a lot. In the end, my wife and I went to some government office and closed it ourselves. Total cost? 150 baht. Is a work permit needed in such an instance? I think not...as one is not technically "working" but just an owner. So, perhaps I answered my own question but if folks would care to weigh in, that would be appreciated. Any people running a business legally as described above? Thank you, Bamboozled.

That doesn't seem to matter in my case. I have always clicked, "For long term stay". I'm not really sure why Wise even has that menu. I think it's for our own memory. I have tried transferring 50 bucks and clicking on every option for reason for transfer and nothing ever changes. I chatted with a Wise rep and they said they cannot guarantee which bank they will use nor if it will be recorded as international or local. Again, not sure why some folks have zero issue with it showing international. Perhaps depends on what bank international bank it is fished from?

I went for a routine check-up and what turned out to be a cancerous tumor in my bladder was discovered during the ultrasound. A procedure not done in the US for standard health check-up. I think the check-ups are a smart move. Up to us to parse the results and recommendations, I would say.

I have the same problems. I had SCB bank but that's not one of Wise's transfer banks so was always a local transfer. So I opened a BKK Bank account as that IS one of the banks they use for international transfers. First transfer with Wise was international and after that local via Kasikorn. Wise said they can't guarantee who they will use. So I opened a Kasikorn account. Now it says local transfer and the partner is listed as Kasikorn. Can't win. I don't get it. My buddy uses Bkk Bank and has no issues with it showing as international transfer. Wise has been no help. I tried a year or so ago showing the bank "advice" which shows the paper trail and which Wise claims will help with Immi. Immi wouldn't accept it. One can transfer with Wise via bank transfer and I'm not sure the fees from Wise but you will incur a wire fee from your UK bank. But they do say it will show as international. Good luck.

I wonder if that's the one that closes last...meaning it is the first one that is opened. That is, the vertical lip of the right-hand door sits on top of the left-hand door. So the first door to open and pin back would be the right. ...Just a thought.

I just did a successful visa run today. Drove my car to Chiang Khong Friendship Bridge, parked on the left about 200 meters from immi, walked over to Thai passport control, no problem, smiles, stamped out...super quiet. Bought my 25 baht ticket for the bus across the bridge and waited only 5 minutes. Crossed the bridge, got off the bus, and at the Laos immi go to the right side it says Visa on Arrival on a small office window. I told the officer I was just getting a stamp and going back and he said 1800 baht. I said $40 USD ok? He said, no, not if you're just going back straight to Thailand and not entering the country (Laos). I didn't have to fill out anything nor give a photo nor walk through passport control. I paid the 1800 baht, he stamped me both in and out (two stamps) and I got back on the bus to Thailand. Word of caution, on re-entry to Thailand I was given only 30 days instead of 90 for Non-O visa. Luckily, I checked after receiving my stamp and pointed it out and the immi officer was very apologetic. I guess she didn't see the visa number on the TM6. She corrected it and hopefully all the scribbles and crossed out dates don't rear their ugly heads in 90 days. Again, very quiet on the Thai side, too. I will say, the Thai immi there is very friendly. Was the same experience 6 months ago when I was there. Good luck humans!

Anyone have any new news on this? That border run company still says closed. Or rather they haven't posted anything about it being re-opened so I'm assuming still closed but who knows if could re-open as quickly as it closed.

Good call. I had to rewire the power cord in my vacuum (circumventing the retractable cord feature as it broke) and the connectors I used completely melted. Luckily, the vacuum just stopped working and when I opened it up I saw the melted blob. Lesson hopefully learned. The unknown unknowns....

Try reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Goog it. For me, it was and is very powerful and a good reference book to jump in anywhere when feeling lost or at odds or desperate or depressed. Gets you out of your head...which is always the problem.

I just found this. They say perhaps reopening in a week (from July 3). Hope so!

I was thinking if it was Thailand to close it perhaps they would have noted that somewhere on a gov. website. Hopefully, some boots on the ground will check in.

Hmm, how would one find out the official news if open or closed? Googling it doesn't show anything current, not that I found. Is there an official webpage by Myanmar gov. perhaps? Is that expecting, um, a bit too much? I wonder if it was closed by Thailand or by Myanmar.

Huh? You didn't get a visa?

It could be from the chemical dyes. What color were they? Black is the worst. Did a LOT of color come out in the wash? Now you'll tell me they were white and there goes my argument. ....ah well, scratch the whole thing: they were used shirts....my bad.

If he was better looking dressed up as a woman there would have been no issue.