JimGant

My favorite is "Nam Plaa 129 Hour Anti-Perspirant." Good for fending off annoying neighbors, or unruly soi dogs.

Yeah, we keep getting an argument against taking a tax credit on your US tax return -- because Pub 514 says: So, take the US tax credit, as there's nothing 'reasonably certain' in this situation about a Thai tax refund. And from an ethical point of view -- no tax evasion here, just that the country where the income is earned, and in which it is paid, and in which you live -- gets to keep the taxes. Sorry, US, the tax credit trumps your ability to tax. Yes, there are some fine points against the credit that could be argued. But my limited years as a CPA saw some letter audits that were won with less evidence than I could provide here, namely, the many situations reported on this forum, like no work permit, thus no tax ID, thus no tax refund. Yes, this is cherry picking, since there are many reports on this and other forums stating that getting your Thai tax back is easy. But -- big BUT -- you're no obligated to provide the IRS with counter arguments against your case -- those arguments need be provided by them. But, again, this is not an ethical situation, as there's no tax evasion. It's just a matter of detail and interpretation. So, take the bloody tax credit and don't waste your time trying to get a Thai tax refund. The chance of an audit, for a three figure, or less credit, is zip -- the IRS still can't afford to audit the billionaires. But if you do get audited -- PM me for a pro bono assist.

Arrogant Yankee! What do you mean, refer to the passports themselves?! You're in Thailand, where we, not you, define the requirements for transferring immigration information between old and new passports. Are you telling us that, since you've stopped issuing linkage letters, that it is no longer a requirement? Man, you're messin' with the wrong country... Anyway, hope your citizens will put this action in their portfolio of gripes, along with no more income letters issued. In the meantime, no linkage letter, no immigration stamp transfer. Understood, Uncle Sam? Geez!!

As I'm sure you're aware, this link lists 10 items related to transferring your LTR stamp: https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/transferring.html Hopefully, the OSS Imm has gotten the word that the US Embassy no longer issues certificates related to transferring stamps from old to new passports. This seems to be a continuing problem at provincial Imm offices.

I would think so, although stranger stampings have occurred with the LTR's learning curve. For sure, you'll have five years permitted to stay, regardless of "until" date, since now you have a passport whose longevity exceeds five years. Since most of us reading this, with in-country LTR stamps, will have to go through this drill -- could you please report on (assuming you interfaced first with BoI LTR, not Imm): Did BoI LTR folks hold your hand in this process, mainly in the interface with Immigration? Any surprises on paperwork required? Could you just "walk in," or would an appointment, or at least a before hand phone call, be advised? Any photos required during this process by Imm (if not, maybe I could have an agent do all of this for me...). Thanx.

How'd you get that idea? Why wouldn't they transfer it -- we've already had a forum member report on the transfer drill at IMM OSS for LTR visas. And, sure, the permission of stay will only go to the 5 year demarcation for getting your last 5 year permission. My only point was the fact that, when his passport died, he had to transfer it, and in Bangkok (not his local provincial Imm office). This inconvenience is eliminated with a eVisa or sticker visa.

Visa remains valid until the passport is no longer valid. So, yeah, maybe "expire" is the wrong word, as the visa will be re-validated with a new, valid passport. But the boilerplate language on the stamp says visa remains valid for 10 years (paraphrasing) "if passport remains valid." Red stamp at the top reinforces this, with "permitted for validity of passport." Thus, your visa is no longer valid when the passport is no longer valid. Not the primary reason. With an LTR visa, Stay Permit is entirely dependent on validity of visa, not validity of passport. Again, using Misty's five year permitted stamp, which was issued in spite of her passport expiring well before that five year mark -- this five year permit was entirely due to her eVisa being valid for ten years, as it is not affected by passport expiration date. So, in the situation described above, his permission of stay died on 22 Oct 2024 -- due to the death of his visa, not the death of his passport -- although the death of his visa was due to the death of his passport. Sure looks like it died due to passport expiration -- but this was only a secondary cause. Anyway, bottom line is: If you want your LTR visa to be valid for an uninterrupted 10 years -- get an eVisa or sticker visa, not a stamp from IMM OSS.

Here's an observation that lends itself to getting an LTR eVisa, or an LTR Visa sticker, rather than an LTR stamp at BoI/IMM OSS, Bangkok: If you've got an LTR Visa sticker, it's good for 10 years, period, independent of the passport's expiration date. So too with an LTR eVisa. But if you've got an LTR stamp from Immigration at OSS, it expires with the passport -- and has to be renewed (transferred) at IMM OSS. Ugh. Since most of us have passports with a 10 year lifetime , this means that at some point during our visa's 10 year duration, we'll have to make a visit to Bangkok to obtain a transferred LTR stamp to our new passport. [There's a trip report earlier in this thread on this transfer process -- several hours and four pages of blank passport required.] Now, if I had a visa sticker, or an eVisa, this trip wouldn't be necessary. Here's a good example of the limitations of a stamp. I believe I got this example from this thread (but forgot to note its author): stamps from a forum member, with only two years allowed.pdf Note that his passport apparently expires 22 Oct 2024 -- and that the boilerplate language in the stamp says his visa is only good for the duration of the passport (this is further emphasized with the red stamp at the top). Thus, his visa expires on 22 Oct 2024. And since permissions of stay, in the LTR situation, must apparently coincide with active visas (vice active passports), so too expires his permission of stay on 22 Oct 2024. Wow! We saw with Misty, who has an eVisa, that she was stamped in for 5 years even tho' her passport expired in just a couple of years. Saw something similar with someone entering on an LTR visa sticker. What an advantage of never having to go to Bangkok when your passport expires, as is the case with a visa stamp. Why couldn't they just have left off the boilerplate language on the stamp tying visa validity to passport validity.....? This, at least, would have equated the three methods of obtaining an LTR visa. Oh well. My passport will expire 3 years into my second 5 year permission of stay. Instead of waiting until then to travel to Bangkok, maybe I'll renew my passport early, coinciding with the second 5 year LTR period renewal. If this second 5 year renewal also requires a trip to Bangkok (OSS/IMM), a single trip might just do the trick. Maybe by then agents can be involved, if IMM has no photo requirement.... Anyway, sticker or eVisa weren't an option for me, living full time in Thailand. However, for those thinking about an LTR visa, and who still have a foot in the home country, consider initiating the LTR process from the Thai Embassy/Consulate.

The prevailing gist of this thread -- never trust a Thai "lady," especially if she's your wife. Fortunately, I did marry a lady, and she's co-signer to my bank accounts, with her own ATM cards; can waltz into the bank with our co-signatory bank books and withdraw what she wants; and can go online, with my password, and transfer what she wants from my accounts to hers. This latter situation is what she's briefed to do when I croak, in order to avoid possible probate. Can't imagine not trusting her, as she's never given me cause to in our 44 years of marriage. This thread just reinforces my belief that so many marriages between farangs and Thais are mismatches, which is what it is if you can't trust your spouse. Sad.

Geez, nice for someone to give some aid and comfort to someone whose long, apparently happy, marriage had hit a speed bump due to the wife's business desperately running out of options. Hopefully, both extension and marriage preservation will be successful.

No they don't -- in fact, they don't charge for checked baggage, unless you actually have checked baggage. Unlike Nok, whose charge includes a checked 15 kg bag, whether or not you actually check one. And, this shows up with the difference in fares, with Nok charging about 400 bt more, on average, for flts between CNX and DMG. But, why argue nitnoy fares akin to bus fares -- flying domestic in Thailand, whatever airline's fare, is a waste of time, when you compare these fares to flying back to the West, especially in Business Class (mandatory for arthritic geezers). Airline competition keeps a friendly availability schedule, particularly between DMG and CNX. And competition keeps prices, well, competitive. So, seems meaningless to cry over Thai domestic airline fares.....

Why would someone who dislikes Thailand make 592 posts in a Thailand related forum.......? Sounds like your poverty has created a case of sour grapes.

Then that account will have to go through probate. Naming a co-signer has no drawbacks -- the bank isn't going to pull a fast one, for whatever reason, and make that account a joint account rather than a co-signatory account. That would be obvious, as the joint account passbook would have two names on it, prominently displayed. So, advise you make your Imm account also a co-signatory account....

....meaning, they would make your administrator a co-signer on those accounts you so designate --'cause there's no avenue in Thailand to make him or anyone a designated beneficiary. But granting co-signatory rights is akin to granting a limited Power of Attorney (POA). And the POA dies with the grantor's death. Now, there's nothing specific in the Civil Code, at least that I can find, about co-signatory legal aspects. So, there's a good chance your bank manager might be confused about the rights of a co-signer after the death of the account owner. But why chance it that the bank manager freezes the account when your administrator announces your death? Instead, have him show up with your passbook, bypass the manager, and have a clerk deal with the withdrawal. As long as the bank doesn't know of your death, they have no legal obligation to take any action, which would probably be to freeze your account. The co-signer option will become even more popular as facial recognition kicks in. Currently, my instructions to my wife are, upon my death, to go online, log into my account, and transfer all but a few baht to her account. But if Bangkok Bank goes to facial recognition for both mobile and online transfers -- well, my wife as co-signer will have to physically go to the bank with my passbook.

Sounds like Christianity, where, "Jesus suffered for your sins, now it's payback time, sucker." And now in the States, Christianity is indirectly forcing women to have babies they don't want. God Da...., is there any religion that has done any good for living -- or ending -- our lives? Fortunately, there are some countries in the world -- and even a few States in the US -- that have gotten around the religious bugaboo about aiding death in terminal situations. Amen. Yeah, ain't religion great. So much better knowing death is just going to sleep (with, hopefully, pain reliever, if needed and available, and never knowing you didn't wake up). Why concern yourself with heaven or hell. But, hey, what if there really is reincarnation....? What might be worse -- coming back as a Muslim, or as a Trump supporter? But, don't think I'll worry too much about reincarnation -- just another religious fable for those who can't accept the reality of dying.

Yes

Well, if excessive fraud is making the cost of online banking prohibitive, maybe that's the reason. But there are safeguards with facial recognition that can be used with online banking. Recently, with a Wise transfer, I had to take a picture of my passport (as a baseline), then a selfie for comparison. When these matched, I was told to continue with my online banking transfer, which I happily did from my desktop computer. There'll be enough IT illiterates out there to cause at least one bank's business plan to retain online banking. Yes, there now may be facial recognition thrown in, forcing one to buy a mobile phone, or maybe just a Webcam. This could be problematic for geezers, who believe a "selfie" refers to masturbation.

If you have online banking, at least with Bangkok Bank, you can opt for everything in English. For my savings account, I have two line items, spelling out: "Interest Credit" and "Withholding Tax."

That would be a new wrinkle, because several of us explored the use of agents to make the insurance requirement disappear -- and came up empty.

The only way to kill the O-A is to border hop, without a re-entry permit, and re-enter visa exempt, then apply for a Non Imm O. Or, alternatively, go to a Thai consulate abroad and get a Non Imm O "retirement" visa. I had planned to do this with Saigon, then Covid hit. When this option allowed itself again, the LTR option showed up.

Well, at least with the LTR visa you can medically self-insure, with $100k in a liquid, non investment, account. In my situation, I have Tricare (based on my US military service), which BoI has realized has a very substantial coverage, that meets all their requirements. Either way, LTR wants you to be insured -- but is flexible, and realistic. Now, on my now-elapsed retirement extension off of a Non Imm O-A visa .. I was required to have one of 12 (maybe it's 14) Thai medical insurance policies. This is a complete scam, hosted by these Thai insurance companies. My LMG policy has a 1 million baht deductible, per procedure! Is anybody realistically covered under this scheme? And the annual premium is 69,000 baht (and this is the cheapest of the 12 (14) Thai insurance companies). So, the LTR visa allows me to cut loose from the Thai insurance mafia. This would never happen while I was on a Non Imm O-A retirement extension -- just too much gravy for the insurance mafia -- and their government co-conspirators.

Maybe that's only for foreigners with round eyes.....

Report on getting a Wealthy Pensioner LTR visa at OSS Bangkok: Applied 30 May, providing all requested documents. All accepted, except my Tricare medical insurance: Sent an email pointing out that the Tricare document I submitted was the same as that accepted from previous applicants. I even provided some quotes from this forum to that effect. Was told to resubmit, which I did – this time with a cover letter pointing out BoI’s previous acceptance of the DoD letter from other applicants, plus highlighting the operative sentence on that letter: “This letter may be used as proof of current coverage under a Tricare administered program.” [How to get this DoD letter is discussed earlier in this thread.] Didn’t hear anything for several days, so pinged them again as to status, and advised that I could self insure, if that’s what it came to (probably bad move, as this could give them an out to deny Tricare). Finally, on 14 June, received a “Qualification Approved (endorsed).” Obviously, then, my Tricare had been accepted – but I heard nothing more about that decision. Told to submit passport data again; plus latest travel info (stamps); where you want to get the Visa (OSS or embassy); and various requests for other submissions (actually, resubmissions, like a TM47). Also, fill out an online form, with info such as your address, phone, blah blah. When I hit “submit,” nothing happened, except a return to top of page. Realized this probably meant the submission failed – so I queried LTR via email about, did they receive it, or what might I be doing wrong. They immediately replied that, don’t leave any of the blocks on the online form blank. If not applicable, at least fill in with a dash. So, I went back and put a dash in my “street name” block (my gravel street has no name), and presto – I got the “success” when I submitted. On 15 June, all the submissions in the “Document Review for Visa” step, above, must have passed muster, as I went to the next step: “Visa Issuance Pre-approved.” Here’s where you make your appointment to come into OSS. This appointment date will be inserted at applicable locations in the four documents you’ll later download. The appointment calendar has hourly selections. It was almost empty, so I could have gone the next day, had I been in Bangkok. But I wasn’t – so I opted for three weeks later, on 5 July, at 11:00 AM. Bad choice of time (I’ll elaborate later). The four documents to download are: TM94; STM8;Confirmation of Appointment; and Notification of Qualification Endorsement. The buttons to click on for the first three are apparent; however, for the fourth one, you’ll need to go to the “check status” category, click on “print,” and then you’ll be taken to the downloads (one English, one Thai). Check carefully the filled-in fields on your TM94 and STM8; they really screwed up my address, but easily correctable with Adobe. Other application facts: For income, I submitted last year’s tax return, with 1099’s; and this year’s projected income, using pay statements. Both submissions had cover letters explaining what all the numbers meant, translating the monthly figures into a yearly projection. When I queried them as to what exactly they wanted, I got: "You will only have to submit the income of previous year or the last 12 months." Hmmm. Sounds like last year's tax return could stand by itself..... Or you could submit pay stubs for the first 6 months of this year, plus pay stubs from last 6 months of last year. Anyway, what I submitted sufficed. They don’t specifically ask for an upload of that six page “Application for Qualification Endorsement,” but I uploaded it in the “Other Documents” section. Don’t know if it was needed, but it seemed like an important enough document…..maybe not. All communications were via email ([email protected]). Didn't use the contact button, as reports have that as buggy. Never had a phone conversation, as the email correspondence answered all my questions and was very responsive. Appointment Day, 5 July: Not knowing traffic situation, showed up at OSS early, like, 9:30 for my 11:00 appointment. A few customers there, but apparently none for LTR visas. So, they immediately took my paperwork, assigned a minder, and had me sit down. Minder came back from Immigration, requesting the original TM6 (which I had, as it had been recently attached to my passport). And also requesting my original TM47. After explaining I do it online, thus an original is impossible, she went back to Immigration with this explanation. Apparently accepted, as she came back to lead me to Immigration to have my photo taken (polo shirt acceptable). Still in Immigration, she had me sit while she dealt with the next step. She came back, saying it will be about an hour’s wait (the place was really packed) – thus we went back to the comfortable chairs in the LTR office. So after about an hour, we went back to Immigration, where I paid my 50000 baht. Then, to another part of Immigration, where I sat among the masses, inwardly smiling, knowing I’d never have to do this again at CM Immigration. Fifteen minutes later, got my passport, with its new stamps, and returned to the LTR office, where they went over the stamps with me, then said goodbye. All in all, it took about one and a half hours. Thus, if I’d showed up at my appointed time of 11:00, I would have bumped into Immigration’s lunchtime, and thus would have to wait for them to open up again. So, I suggest you don’t use 11:00 as an appointment time. Now, to call LMG insurance and cancel that worthless requirement for OA extensions. The renewal premium I’ll save more than covers the cost of the LTR visa. And the cost of the five star hotel, air fare, gourmet dinners, and limos to and from airport. Good experience. Will probably have to do again in five years, as I doubt the Immigration Bureau will farm this out to provincial offices (except maybe the one year reporting). But, hey, no complaints.

Yeah, great place -- leave there with a smile and a burp -- and an empty wallet. But at my age, the latter is only less inheritance for worthless relatives. Time to splurge. Last there years ago, and had great lamb chops. Geez, now I have a hunger for lamb.... Must be a reaction from too much Thai food lately -- Western roots taking over.

Hmmm. Some good food, and steak. Can't remember a lobster tail on the menu when they were at Promenada...