JimGant

Have her made a co-signatory of your account. This gives her legal access to your account -- and she can have her own ATM card if she wants. Her name is invisible on your passbook (UV readable), so Immigration won't consider it a joint account (which it isn't) for visa extension purposes.

That's not correct. The land office will certainly accept a Will properly probated, without having an Amphur involved. But, yes, an Amphur requires a Will prepared at the Amphur to be in Thai. Furthermore, they also require that you, the testator, be able to speak and read Thai. So, not many farangs writing their Wills on Amphur templates. But, you can go the secret Will route, bringing your English written (or whatever) Will to the Amphur, folded, witnessed, and affixed with an Amphur stamp. Then, sealed in an envelope -- and put away to be retrieved by your executor upon your death. Your executor can then have it translated, if need be. Or, I guess, you the testator could have a certified Thai translation of your Will be included in the sealed envelope. But bothering to include an Amphur seems a waste, because "registering" a Will is not a requirement (accept in a few peculiar situations, not affecting most of us).

Certainly a Wealthy Pensioner can be less wealthy than a Wealthy Global person. In fact, he can only have 40k in current income, plus investing 250k in Thailand -- half the investment required for Global persons.

Actually, it's only current income of 80k for Wealthy Pensioner. The 2 year requirement is for Wealthy Global Citizens. Probably makes no difference for most. And in my situation, I'm retired Air Force, 20 years only. But that pension plus my Social Security gets me to 75k. The remainder is made up with drawdowns of my conventional IRA, which the BoI views as a self-administered retirement annuity. And remember, BoI is only looking for gross income (I asked). So, if you've got an IRA of any flavor, or a 401k -- you may be closer to the 80k retirement than you think...... It was no hardship to withdraw from my IRA, since I was required to withdraw anyway, due to the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) requirement, which more than covered that 5k gap.

You're quoting the requirements for a Wealthy Global Citizen, which are more onerous than the requirements for a Wealthy Pensioner. Those requirement are given, above, by soisanuk.

Can be issued from a foreign bank. But a debit card must have either a MasterCard or Visa logo. Thus, my Union Pay Bangkok Bank card wouldn't work (not that I'd try and use it, having a nice cash back US credit card -- and being adverse to any and all debit cards, for security reasons).

So if you're paranoid about your passport, why would handing over your passport to an agent middleman vice handing over a sealed envelope at the post office assuage your concerns? Particularly since the agent will then have to use the mail renewing system, identical to what you would have to do... So, if you're paranoid about continuity of possession, not sure an agent is your huckleberry. But, there seems to be some interest in an agent for renewing US passports, based on some replies here. Just for my own curiosity, what are some reasons posters here see an agent as superior to the easy mail renewing system for US passports? This question for computer literate types, and those who are ambulatory enough to go to the post office and bank. Thanx.

My post office will accept a photocopy of my passport. For EMS and DHL deliveries, I've never had to show ID -- just sign. For my and wife's passport renewal this year, the deliveries were signed for by our maid, who didn't have to produce an ID. I suppose, if I'd signed for them, and ID was asked for -- again, the photocopy of passport would suffice.

So, you had to drop it off, then pick it up at the Embassy -- and you don't even live in Bangkok. And you liked that method very much.... Unless you're computer illiterate, so too your partner -- doing it by mail is about as easy as it gets. Yes, you must drive to the bank for the return mail bank draft and then to the post office (or DHL) to mail the application to the Embassy. Then wait 18 days (in my case) for the new and old passports to be delivered by EMS to your house. Not much easier than that Now the agent's going to have to do all the same steps as you would for a mail application, since there are no passport renewal appointments at the Embassy, except for emergencies (which doesn't include an expired/expiring passport, says the Embassy). And there's going to be some shoe leather involved, unless they do home service (which, for 12000 baht, I would hope they might...). So, no real advantage for an agent, that I can see, what with the ease of mail renewal. IMO

Sounds like the results of a probate hearing, where the Will's declared beneficiaries are validated. Probate fees have been shown on this forum to be as much as 50,000 baht. Obviously, situations and lawyers would affect this figure -- but haven't seen anything higher in price shown on this forum -- for what that's worth.

Why, then, do we have so many here in Thailand, and -- at least those with rudimentary reading skills -- haunt this forum with their complaints? Some folks are never happy wherever they live -- and, sadly, many of those end up in Thailand. We can only hope that their 'never satisfied nature' will eventually rid them from Thailand. Fortunately, most farangs here are happy, decent residents of their new country -- and don't have the time to waste complaining on a forum or FB.

As maybe a point of interest, my own Will was written in 1983 by the Air Force JAG office in the Pentagon (thus it looks nice and official, which the Thais love). Since it says I leave everything to my wife, period (same Thai wife as today), it's about as simple as you can get. So, I'm satisfied that it would suffice here in Thailand (since foreign Wills are acceptable, if properly witnessed, which it is) should it (and its translated version) need to go through probate. But I doubt it will need probate, as all my assets subject to probate are bank accounts. And one is joint with the wife, and the other one (my immigration related account) has the wife as the co-signatory. So the wife has been advised that her first order of business, even before I am barbecued, is to go online and move most of the money from my account to hers -- and also most of the money from out joint account to hers (as there are reports that some bank managers believe half a joint account is subject to probate; wrong, but the manager's belief would prove inconvenient, if she froze the account). No need to close the accounts, as that might require my presence -- so just leaving a few thousand baht should suffice. Several threads (search "asean now wills") on the legality of the above, particularly the co-signatory's authority when the primary is dead. So, I don't want to reinvent the wheel on this thread. But my take is: Who's going to complain, if your Will leaves everything to your wife (or partner) and there's no one contesting your assets? Plus, why would the bank even know you're dead (?), and thus they would have no reason to freeze your accounts. And, if they don't freeze your account, 'cause you're dead but no one told them, they have no legal issues to confront. And if there is no wronged party, who's pressing charges? So, yeah, good to have a Will, should probate be necessary. But if all you have subject to probate are bank accounts -- consider briefing the wife on the above.

Geez, your Will can be in any language you like, assuming it can be translated into Thai so that it can be processed by the courts or other Thais with an interest (e.g., your bank manager). That the OP says, let the translation wait until he's dead -- makes good sense, particularly for the following reason: If you make a Will with a lawyer, who says he'll make it in two versions -- and he's a crook -- his Thai version may have a few goodies to his benefit inserted, and as you can't read Thai, you'd never know. But, if you have it translated by an independent party, like, after you're dead, with no interest or possible benefit in the Will -- well, certainly a better chance of having a legitimate translation of your original Will. So, just having a Will in your home language, properly witnessed, and whose location your executor knows -- should suffice. Have it translated later, if needed. Oh, yeah -- if there's a dispute between your home country language Will and its translation into Thai -- the Thai version wins. But I would assume, if your executor is attuned to your real wishes, that he could ask the court for another translation. But, I digress too much -- as a translation by a disinterested party, and not the lawyer preparing your Will (if any), shouldn't be a problem.

What a lot of hoopla. The Thaienquirer's supercilious reporting is kinda amateurish: Look at us, we'd never report such horrible scenes: Well, good reporters vacuum up everything available. Then, it's up to their news organization to do the editing. If too bloody to show, then the worst scenes are edited out. Any remaining scenes come with the warning, "If you're squeamish, please look away now" -- or similar. We see this every night on US news shows. Not to take any pictures, even if allowed to, 'cause they're too horrible -- would call for a change of occupations. And, having said all this, I'm sure CNN edited out the worst of the pictures. But, that they showed any seems to be the bone of contention. FOX news must be smirking at all the heat their nemesis is receiving. Thank you CNN for being such a supportive employer. And for believing your reporters' version of the situation. Sorry the world is so full of horrible events. But keep hiring reporters with initiative -- and please, in your editing, don't completely whitewash the situation due to over sensitivities. We need to see for ourselves the horror of these situations, at least in part.

Yeah, same in America. Democracy really is overrated. Thailand needs a few more Rhodes scholars as future army generals -- to insure solid leadership after the next coup.

Actually, his current permission of stay is "until" Oct 6, 2027. And in keeping with the way re-entry permits have worked, he should be stamped in with the "until" date reflecting that of the current permission of stay. But I think you're dead on with the concept. And, yeah, the reporting notice is for aliens "staying in the Kingdom longer than one year." Ergo, if you stay in the Kingdom for less than one year, this notice doesn't apply to you. My take, anyway.

Makes sense, that if you never spend an entire year in Thailand, you don't have to do a one-year report. Same concept as with 90 day reports, i.e., never spend 90 days in Thailand, never do a 90 day report. Thus, only us non-travelers will be submitting the new TM95 one-year forms.

Why would I doubt you received it? How the stamps look, and how filled in, might answer some questions I had, and one did: The square "permission of stay" permit looks like a typical one, with an 'admitted' date and an 'until' date, and a 'signed' block. However, that you got a five year permission of stay is the question I've had all along, as some earlier discussion seemed to indicate us non-travelers would have to go to Imm every year to get a new one-year permission of stay. Your example shows otherwise. And the other guidance you got says we non-travelers will only have to "notify" Imm every year of our address, which, if by mail, is no hardship (and if online, even better). So, thanx for providing the pictures, as it now suggests that, if I don't have to visit Imm every year, even tho' I don't travel, an LTR might be worth it.

No!No!No! When they attempted to tweak the system several years ago, it was out-of-order for years to come. No, IT is not mature in Thai gov't organizations. What if you just kept doing 90 day reports? For most of us, they now work just fine online, and only take 5 minutes. Might be simpler than visiting your Imm office once a year, although they did say "notify," which means maybe using the mail system will suffice.... Going in person is certainly not a great selling point for the LTR. Anyway, like with the rest of these early teething pains, this will sort out. I'm just curious about the first LTR holder's reception at Swampy -- hopefully, escorted to Fast Track,where the IOs there have been fully briefed on the LTR visa. Then, what will the 'permission of stay' stamp say -- good for one year? good for five years? good for the remaining time of your five year visa? Or maybe no permission of stay stamp needed, as you already have a five year permission of stay authorization stamped in your passport...... Ryan, go take a trip and let us know. ????

Any chance of showing those? Not exactly sure what I'm seeing when I look at the one stamp picture, above, that you provided, not being able to read Thai. Thanx.

Ah, you've got the contract for the SCIFs in the new US Consulate in Chiang Mai......????

And, in another thread, you designated Thailand as the finest country in the world to live in. What's your game? I take it you're a fellow American -- why did you expat to come here? If the horrible coup so decimated the people and the economy, that the P and P efforts were solely for personal gain -- what, pray tell, would have been a better alternative? Yeah, a democratically elected leader sounds nice, as if you ever get the right person elected. Who might that have been? (OK, I'd vote for Somkid -- but the coup makers employed him to their, and the country's, advantage -- solid decision making.) No, Thailand has some hurdles to climb -- some of them of Prayut's doing (no, Spider, he did not introduce Covid to Thailand), but not from ignorant or malicious reasons -- but from some bad advice (fortunately, he was smart enough to ignore most). I really think he has the best intent for Thailand in his being. But, let's look back in several years, after the new rulers, and make a judgement. Kinda like what we did with Truman, who turned out to be probably one of the top 3 presidents we ever had (quit chuckling -- I know Prayut's not from Independence). Anyway, sit back, relax, and enjoy your favorite country. And remember -- the glass is nearly full, not nearly empty. Think positive, my fellow Yank.

Ah, it's now making some sense as to why LMG wrote the new OA health policy as it did -- 'cause they got the same convoluted guidance about the new requirements as did Immigration Offices, namely, the "400k inpatient, 40k outpatient, and 100k$ Covid coverages." Thus, LMG offered a 3.5M policy, that blanketed both the supposed 400k inpatient requirement and the supposed $100k (3M baht) covid requirement. Then, they stuck in an additional 60k to cover the supposed 40k outpatient requirement. Yeah, some inflation involved in their policy numbers, but LMG saw where the baht was headed and thus built in some protection, given the screwy guidance that policies be valued in both dollars and baht. Anyway, where the convoluted guidance came from is anyone's guess. But both the Dec 27, 2021 Police Order the the Health Ministry publication: https://image.mfa.go.th/mfa/0/tDJBi9m15g/The_Amendment_to_Additional_Criteria_for_Purchasing_Health_Insurance_fo_Non-Immigrant_O-A_Visa.pdf are straightforward on the correct wording -- and the implementation date, namely, 1 Oct 2022 (in the TGIA reference, posted earlier, they were incorrect on implementation date, stating 1 Sept 2022. Isn't anybody in charge with all this....(rhetorical ?).) I don't know if LMG is the only TGIA company writing their new OA policies using the convoluted guidance they got...... Anyone out there looked at the new policies from some of the other OA insurance companies?

If this is a contract between US Gov't and Thai Gov't/military, I would think courtesy visas would be in order: Although the above says ordinary passports would be OK, if the contractors could secure maroon "official" passports, probably mo' betta. Some of our contractors out of PACAF, working in Korea with the ROKAF, had official passports (as did us active duty Air Force types).

Never heard of it! I rest my case.