JimGant

Amphur Wills used to allow avoidance of probate -- your executor would just take this Amphur official document to the bank, land office, whatever -- and the designated beneficiary (ies) would collect whatever the Will has designated for his benefit. This 'poor man's Will and probate' was understood by bank managers, land office bosses, etc. The rice farmer had a nice, legal, cheap avenue to handle his estate. Enter the lawyer mafia. The probate fees well-exceeded Will preparation fees. But if Amphur Wills avoided probate, how would the lawyers be able to get money for their Mercede's payments? Ah, put out the word that probate is required by law (nothing in the Civil Code says this) and scare bank managers and such to no longer honor Amphur Wills. This worked, to some degree, although small town bank managers, who knew the parties involved, often still honored Amphur Wills. Anyway, if Amphur Wills won't avoid probate, there's really no need to have one. Yes, it does "register" your Will -- but to what effect? If you still must go through probate, what difference does a registered Will have compared to a non registered Will? Anyway, as discussed on many of these Will threads, just have your beneficiary, likely your wife, who's also your executor, just clean out your bank account(s). If she's co-signatory to these accounts, so much the better (but not a requirement). And if the bank doesn't know of your death (and why would they, if not told), they have no legal obligation to freeze your accounts, so no legal liability. And if it's your beneficiary cleaning out these accounts, who's the aggrieved party (other than the lawyer with no probate fee for his car payment)? No one is going to press charges. So, brief your beneficiary/executor accordingly.

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.

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: 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.

'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.

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.

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.

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).

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...

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

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.

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: 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....

You say you also have online (website) banking? Is that also a problem? Reports here and elsewhere say online banking is not a problem, only mobile banking. Dunno. I don't have a mobile banking app -- and after all these reports, probably never will. I do my banking from the comfort of my office's desktop, or from a laptop in my hotel room -- nice, big readable screens, with buttons the size of my finger tips. No, mobile phones are for keeping in touch on the road -- not for making a bank transfer from your car in some parking lot. Sorry for the rant. Guess I'm outdated. Just saw that, to get a LTR visa, I couldn't use a credit card, but needed to go the QR route. Jeez, I don't even know how that works! Fortunately, they now say I can use cash (a compensation, I guess, for us geezers).

.... that the BoT, like the US Treasury, will make up the difference between your insured amount and the amount in your accounts. It certainly has had a calming effect in the US -- preventing a bank run. A lesson certainly not lost on Thailand, or other financially solvent countries. No, would be foolish to let folks lose money because they didn't put their 6 million baht in 6 different banks. I know I don't lose any sleep 'cause I've got well over 1 million baht in Bangkok Bank.

Only a progressive socialist, who never had Econ 101, would come to this conclusion. Sure, some businesses could absorb the added cost, without having to layoff employees. But in countries, with a large sweat labor workforce, like Thailand -- you can't increase this workforce's productivity in a timely-enough fashion, to meet the added cost of a minimum wage. Thus, some flying at the edge businesses will need to close. Others, like my having two gardeners, will need to let one go, as the cost of two gardeners just wouldn't equate to having my hedges trimmed on a timely basis. Thus, sloppy hedges -- even with the one remaining worker now being overworked. Hopefully he will realize what it's now costing him, in added sweat, for that additional wage. Not sure socialists are aware of all the aspects, mainly bad, of a minimum wage. So, certainly some job loss will occur. How could anybody think otherwise?

14,500 baht from LMG, the cheapest of all the TGIA required insurance companies. One million baht deductible. Not a reasonable insurance policy, so hopefully you have a home country policy that realistically covers you. But, yes, it does meet the OA extension requirement for Thai issued health insurance policy. https://www.lmginsurance.co.th/en/long-stay-visa-plus-premium-plan-100000-usd

I don't ever recall telling Medicare my address. I received Medicare automatically at age 65, as I was already receiving SS. Presumably Medicare used the address I had on file with the SSA, as I've certainly never contacted Medicare (wouldn't know how) for address upgrade, or whatever. So, I assume Medicare now uses my mail forwarding address I gave the SSA on my Online SS account. Makes no never mind for me, not getting Medicare here in Thailand. Not sure how one would disentangle their Medicare from SSA account to accommodate Medicare Advantage.......

That's not true, if the foreign country you're living in allows receipt of your entitled SS retirement benefit. Living in Cuba or North Korea, however, puts your entitled retirement payment on "hold," until you vacate those countries. Then, you'll receive the withheld payments. But even here, there's no criminal or civil penalty if you're eligible for an SSA retirement check, but didn't advise that you moved to Cuba. Yes, in the North Korea and Cuba situation, they would like you to notify them -- and if you didn't, and they found out, well, only recourse would be to withhold in abeyance any further payments while in these countries. And if you live in Thailand, yes, they would like you to notify them. But there is no legal requirement that you do, since you're entitled to your SS retirement check in Thailand, and the other 98% of the world. No fraud, if you're entitled. Thus, no legal recourse. Where folks get confused is with SSI payments. These are *not* entitlements, but forms of welfare. They have not been "earned," so are not payable outside the US. Thus, if you leave the US for over 30 days, and don't tell the SSA, you're committing fraud if you receive SSI payments. This is a huge problem, so Google if you're curious. Bottom line: Any SSI payment while outside the US needs to be returned, and any future SSI payments, when back in the US, are held up for several months as a penalty. So, all these discussions on this forum about breaking the law when you move to Thailand, and have an earned SSA retirement benefit -- and don't report your new Thai address -- is scaremongering by the SSA, 'cause they really do want your overseas address. But by not reporting it is not going to affect any future SS retirement payments. So, if you received SS retirement prior to moving to Thailand, and had an SS Online account -- and presumably established a mail forwarding address when you moved to Thailand -- just log on and change your address to that mail forwarding address. They're well aware this can be a mail forwarding address (think of all those thousand RV retirees). And, then they ask, in the affirmative: "This is my physical address." Just don't check that block, and you're completely kosher (didn't check that block three years ago, and no curiosity from the SSA). Anyway, I have no ethical questions about not getting the "are you alive" letters. I understand their concern, but when I croak, the SSA will know it when the wife files for her Air Force survivor benefit.

Well, the three finest presidents the US ever had, in terms of accomplishments, were Washington, Grant, and Eisenhower. Eisenhower's 8 years in office saw the largest leap in GDP growth ever seen in America. Plus, his appreciation for infrastructure saw the building of the Interstate highway -- among others. And being a military man, he knew the horrors of war. So, for his 8 years, not a single American soldier was killed in action, as he successfully kept us out of the Suez Canal fiasco, and the argument to help LANDLOCKED Hungary (note emphasis, that a non military president would not have appreciated). Yes, some other countries have had questionable generals in charge, when it comes to the good of the country. Napoleon and De Gaulle come to mind. But, hey, they can be forgiven -- they were French. Anyway, Prayut is no dummy. He's made some good decisions, and some bad -- based on some good, and some bad, advice. And he's had a hard period of time to govern, what with Covid. But we'll never know if someone else would have done better, given all the available (or not so available) facts to act upon. And, best I can tell, he has no scandal associated with his name, as in corrupt. In fact, I think we'll find he's a rarity in this regard. But, I could be wrong. I hope not, because he seems to be quite the decent fellow. Anyway, come back here in 8 years and lets see how his replacement has done. And, maybe like we Yanks found out about Truman, it takes some years to really appreciate how exceptional a leader was amongst the thorns.

Here's a letter the agent I used a few years back gave me to hand to Bangkok Bank, in case they were clueless. Don't know what most of it says, but obviously it pertains to the two bank statements and the updated passbook. It took about 6 business days to get the 12 month letter. I built in an additional 5 day buffer, then picked the letter up same day I requested the latest balance letter and had passbook updated, requesting the clerk photocopy this passbook update, as required by Imm, and saved me from having to queue up at Imm's copy machine room. Anyway, all done in the morning, with the visit to Imm in the afternoon. Some have suggested you have to do a small withdrawal/deposit to have your passbook update. Not so with Bangkok Bank, as it just drops your latest balance down one line and adds today's date.

A chipped debit/atm/credit card CANNOT be cloned. Yes, some really slick fellas manufactured plastic cards with an inoperative chip inserted, causing some card readers to revert to the "chip broken" mode and, yes, reverting to the magnetic stripe mode, which can be subverted. Now, if the merchant allows this fallback mode, he's responsible for the fraud. Anyway, I'm sure we'll be there someday. But QR purchasing still is not foolproof (couldn't read scotties' WSJ article poo pooing QR, as didn't want to subscribe). DC article was informative.

Sometimes "progress" is overstated. Once plastic cards finally came with imbedded security chips (to prevent cloning), and once we were briefed to scratch out that CVV number on the back (so your friendly waiter can't copy your info to do future "card not present" purchases), then plastic became the way to go. No fiddling around with a phone, with a growling "low bat" signal. And, of course, for the older, cataract infested crowd, no hiccups due to vision problems. Certainly don't recommend debit cards, if you have a credit card (easier to get relief from a bad/illegal purchase). And with my US bank issued credit card, which rides the Visa network, I get the modified interbank rate, which is higher than the TT rate, which is what you get for that SWIFT transfer that presumably is what's financing your Thailand bank account. And that SWIFT transfer came with fees, both front and back end -- my credit card has NO fees, bank or network. And it gives me a 2.5% cash back for every transaction. No, I think I'll stick with plastic for purchases -- less hassle and more profit. But, I guess, someday QR will be mandatory -- just like those self checkout counters popping up all over supermarkets in the States -- being advertised as "progress."