JimGant

10 hours ago, lordgrinz said:

are they looking for the end date of the Extension of Permission to stay?

Probably, as that would tell them you currently reside in Thailand, which is a requirement for renewing your passport by mail.

The US State Dept has, in recent years, been guilty of using the terms "visa" and "visa extension" interchangeably -- samo samo Thai gov't. Can, and does, cause confusion.

https://www.pay.gov/public/form/start/790155895

You now have to use the US Gov't's secure payment site to pay the $130 for the passport. However, a bank draft is still needed for the return postage.

This info came out several months ago, when, apparently, they got tired of revising too often how much baht on the bank draft equated to $130; easier just to require the payment in dollars.

30 minutes ago, Pib said:

I had to do the facial recognition thing which worked like a charm. 

I wonder how many zits you're allowed to have before it doesn't compute.....????

29 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

As said in the beginning I believe that an English persons Will is expected to be in English how it turns out to be translated into Thai is a Thai problem.

Yes, if your Will is in English, because you prepared it yourself, then the Thai version is just a translation, needed for the court. As such, any conflict between the English and Thai wording interpretation defers to the original (English) version.

When you have a Thai law office prepare a Will, in both Thai and English, it's assumed the Will was prepared in Thai, then translated to English. As such, the Thai version holds precedence.

55 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Did an online transfer yesterday of 50K, had to do biometric identification.

What bank? Obviously you, a farang, has his facial scan successfully  recorded at the bank. Thus, another piece of the puzzle to this thread...

19 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

the province district office said she can because the bank doesn't have to be notified of my demise

That's key, because a bank has no legal obligation to freeze your account, if it doesn't know you're dead. And, unless you die in the bank lobby, how would they know you're dead? So, make your wife a co-signatory on your solely owned bank account, so she can waltz into the bank before you're cold and, with your passbook -- which has her signature only visible with black light -- withdraw most of the funds (she can't close the account).

Better yet, make sure your accounts are all online types, so the wife can log into your account and transfer the money. No co-signatory requirement here -- functionally speaking.

So, my wife, as sole beneficiary and executor of my Will, has instructions to empty my account soonest. No other potential beneficiaries out there that might complain. No debt. Bank doesn't know I'm dead. Thus, no aggrieved parties to file a lawsuit. Fait accompli in its finest form.

But, until Thailand gets Pay on Death (POD) type beneficiaries for financial accounts, we're stuck with having to improvise. And saving 50,000 baht in probate fees, and putting a dent in some slimy lawyer's car payment fund -- sounds good to me.

12 hours ago, ianguygil said:

I would put the Mobile Banking Apps of any of the leading Thai banks up against any from the USA, UK, Australia, NZ etc.

Is FR just for mobile banking -- or will this eventually extend into IBanking? Or is Bangkok Bank considering doing away with IBanking altogether, as have some other Thai banks?

I ask because Wise asked me to do a FR, using my passport as the baseline, before I could proceed with a transfer from my desktop, i.e., no mobile banking involved.

If you're a Yank, just plug the Thai tax into Form 1040, Schedule 3, Line 1 of Nonrefundable Credits. No Form 1116 required, if refund is less than $300 single ($600 filing Joint). Two minutes vs two days of wandering Thailand streets between tax offices and banks.

Based on all the dialogue, above -- if you're getting SS retirement checks prior to moving to Thailand, do two things: Don't notify Manila you now live in Thailand; and, two, keep your US bank account open to receive your SS direct deposits. Then, you can move whatever amount of SS dollars to Thailand you'd like, using a service like Wise.

Get a mail forwarding address, and update your My SSA account with it (they don't require a physical address, so your move to Thailand is not noticed. You look just like an RVer, moving from camp ground to camp ground). Updates to your SS, then, are either by mail thru your mail forwarding service -- or downloaded from your SSA account.

Completely legal. Only need to notify the SS administration, if you're getting retirement payments, if you move to Cuba or North Korea. Otherwise, the only SS recipients that need to notify SS of leaving the States for over 30 days, are SSI recipients (i.e., the welfare group). This is where the confusion occurs about having to let Manila know of your move to Thailand -- if you're getting retirement, not SSI, no legal requirement to notify Manila.

And no "are you alive" letters. Ethically, I have no problem ducking this item, since when I croak, the wife's notification to get her Air Force survivor benefit alerts SS of my death.

Not sure how easy it is to begin SS from an online account, if you've moved to Thailand. Believe they ask a lot of questions to verify your US existence. But I may be wrong; in which case, certainly initiating benefits online would beat going through Manila (based on all the sour reports earlier in this thread).

4 hours ago, newnative said:

I also recently did a money transfer using Wise and discovered that Wise now requires extra steps, including uploading a document with photo ID before the transfer would go through.

When was that? And from what country?

I used Wise on 6 June to transfer $20000 from the US. Nothing had changed in the process since I signed up with Wise years ago.

On 6/26/2023 at 9:53 AM, Pib said:

Yeap, I expect it works just like the multiyear BoI SMART visa which has 1 year reporting.

That reference to SMART Visa reporting that Pib posted had reporting restricted to in-person (or by someone you designate) at OSS Center, Bangkok. But if you do a little more research on that SMART link, you'll see that you can also report by registered mail. This is probably the route they'll follow for LTR reporting -- and since I used to do all my 90 day reporting by mail, this certainly is no hassle, particularly if it's only required once a year -- a situation for us non-travelers.

Here's a curious observation:

Wealthy Global "Application for Qualification Endorsement....." is clear that they want last year's income, and the year before's income. And this is proven with tax returns. And each year must exceed $80k. They also ask for how much income so far this current year -- now doubt looking at projection. Thus, besides with the other financial requirements, you're pretty much needing to be a $80k per year rich dude for two plus years.

Now, I just did my application, but was curious about tax returns I needed to provide. So, I asked BoI in an email, and here's their answer:

Quote

For Wealthy Pensioner category, you will only need to submit the income of previous year or last 12 months, meaning that it will be for year 2022 only. We do not need an income from 2021.

So, I submitted 2022's tax return, with 1099's -- and also a projection of 2023 income, based on official pay stubs/projections. All above $80k, so no problem with its acceptance.

But what if 2022's tax return had been below $80k? Would that be a show stopper, like it apparently would be for a Wealthy Global dude? Hmmmm.

But their answer to my question said, "income of past 12 months" also acceptable. So, if my past 11 months' income was, say, $65k -- and if I had an IRA account with some substance -- why not cash out $15k (or whatever needed to reach $80k) in order to meet the application requirement?

It's not like that $15k is lost -- it just goes in your pocket or savings account. Yeah, some taxes involved. But if you really want a WP LTR visa, and its advantages -- leaning on your IRA may be an option. [Of course, if you drain it too badly, at the five year renewal date you may come up short. But maybe your investments will tide you over in your IRA account.]

Now, an IRA to take up the slack needn't be just for the 12 month example, above -- using the calendar method for the $80k can also use your IRA to take up the slack. But I found it interesting that BoI's answer to me certainly seems to make the $80k a factor of 12 months, not necessarily of a calendar year. And this does give some flexibility, particularly if you've got some low months you're able to compensate with high months of income.

Called Forxiga here, but it's the same patented AstraZeneca product. I paid 2000 baht per 30 (10mg) at Pharma Choice in Chiang Mai. Availability no problem.

My insurance (Tricare) fully covered it. I self prescribed, after watching a commercial on US TV, where they asked if you'd rather be playing golf, or sitting for 6 hours in dialysis. Duh. As I'd had stage 3 CKD for quite awhile, a quick Google on Farxiga showed "greatest breakthrough fighting CKD in 20 years." After cross checking with my other medicines for conflicts (fortunately, none) and reading the side effects (some, but uncommon), I've been on it now for a couple of months. Hey, even insurance didn't cover it, it this keeps me out of dialysis, certainly worth it.

Oh, I guess it's also prescribed for Type 2 diabetes; but haven't researched its effectiveness there, not having diabetes.

4 hours ago, smedly said:

you do not need to print anything, why would you do that

'Cause you're required to carry a hard copy of your latest TM47 in your passport. And for some Immigration offices, like CM, you need a hard copy of your TM47 for your annual extension renewal.

On 6/11/2023 at 6:12 AM, DrJack54 said:

Details of your expired non O-A are entered into new pp in very first page on new pp.

Also your reentry permit stamp will be transferred. 

And they'll transfer your current extension of stay stamp, identical to the one in your old passport, to include extension number and date issued.

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

But sorry civilized societies of laws can't condone vigilante justice.

Yeah, all we can do is watch Charles Bronson's "Death Wish" (and follow on sequels) and wish that somehow real life could imitate Hollywood.

3 hours ago, Hanaguma said:

In this case, the deceased had more than 40 previous arrests. Fourty.  Including assault on  an elderly woman and attempted kidnapping of a child.

Why is this aspect of the situation, which I believe, not foremost on the news? Oh, I get it -- would alter the mind set of, "poor, disadvantaged black kid mindlessly attacked by a white male." The real story here: Don't become a good samaritan, if there's any chance the race card would be played. I hope some passengers on that train will come forth and say, they're thankful someone stepped forward to confront a scary dude. Just sorry it resulted in an accidental death (or, maybe not, if future rides on the train result in less confrontation with scary weirdos).

On 5/9/2023 at 4:46 PM, Skeptic7 said:

Decided I wanted to have some withholding tax deducted from my monthly SS benefit payment.

Sounds like, after all the trouble you went through, that just having whatever additional tax you needed being done as an EFTPS estimated tax. Unless, of course, you don't have a US bank account to tap for this...

45 minutes ago, Pib said:

I've always have a suit photoshopped....I vary the suit color & tie color to stay in style.  

Gosh, you've got my juices flowing -- a zoot suit and a nose piercing might be interesting.... ????

On 5/9/2023 at 8:58 PM, ThailandRyan said:

and acting as a go between. 

I can do my own paperwork, but I'm getting slightly wobbly to travel. Thus, I'd gladly pay an agent to courier my paperwork, and act as my power of attorney, to go to Bangkok to get the visa. But, I guess this isn't part of the package....

I thought I saw on that long LTR thread where a pollo shirt would suffice...... Christ, I don't even remember how to tie a tie.....

 Yes, Dr Choeng at Bangkok Hospital CM.

Wife's macular went "wet" three years ago. Before that, she'd been seeing a retinologist at Bumrungrad -- but we knew that if it went wet, and she needed shots, frequent back and forth trips to Bangkok made no sense. Thus, with our excellent experience with Bangkok Hospital in CM, she made an appointment with Dr Choeng. Been all good since then.

She's had 12 shots (averaging every three months) of Eylea into the eye (OUCH!), with no side effects, and actually giving an improvement in vision, which only occurs in about 30% of the cases (otherwise, the hope is just to stop progression). I'm sure this is patient, not doctor, specific -- but who knows -- a nice surgical technique may help.....

Anyway, he comes highly recommended, at least by me and the wife. He has me in his office when he goes over the latest eye photographs with the wife, so I'm kept up to speed on the situation. Shots aren't cheap -- 100k baht per! Fortunately, our insurance (Tricare) covers it.

Good luck.

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

Your economic expertise?

It doesn't take a genius to realize some jobs would be lost with an increase in minimum wage; so you can't flat out say FALSE about jobs being lost -- only about "how many". Folks at the margin, whose productivity would now no longer match wage payment, would, in most cases, be let go (unless he had a generous employer, with deep pockets).

Both sides of the argument over emphasize their points of view. Your left wing crowd is as laughable as the right wing's argument, that only looks at the math, and not the human element.

The CBO is about as neutral as you can get -- and their studies came out with the following:

Quote

However, different analysts may come to very different conclusions about potential job losses, based on what model that they use. A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated 1.4 million jobs would be lost (0.9 percent of employment) by the time the federal minimum wage reaches $15 in 2025

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-finance/minimum-wage-debate/

But, reading further on into the article, the CBO's figures are challenged, with good arguments, saying only half a million jobs, not 1.4 million jobs would be lost. And that, overall, raising the minimum wage would be a good thing.

Maybe, in some situations. Not sure about 712 baht in Thailand -- not being a round figure draws attention to the methodology used in deriving that number, since there are so many questionable variables involved -- where a round number would highlight lack of definition in the methodology. So much for scientific logic..

Anyway, my argument was with the flat out statement from an apparent left leaning crowd that, "Jobs would be lost: FALSE." Obviously, an emotional jab, rooted in ideology, not economic common sense -- that even a music major could grasp as ludicrous.  And, when you list some of the contributors to this "theory," like Robert Reich, I realize where this logic, or lack thereof, originated.

So, raise the minimum wage to 712 baht -- and no jobs will be lost? You're sticking to this, based on some non scientific article you read on the Internet? Maybe you're not even a music major....