JimGant

Thanks. I had not noticed that some folks (apparently the walk-ins) were being treated differently. And, yes, they took my paperwork, told me to sit, and when I asked about a queue number, they told me 'no need.' So, I guess there is an advantage to having an appointment, as one would hope. Very few empty seats (1:30), but I was out of there in about 40 minutes. No re-entry stamp.

My recent retirement extension, in Aug, at CM Immigration had an appointment, which I made online (very easy, efficient). After having all my paperwork screened in the tent area, I was told to head for the counter. No one had asked if I had an appointment, so I added myself to the queue (not very long), then quickly went to an open counter. Handed in my paperwork and told the Imm officer that, "I had an appointment." Oh, he said. Didn't ask what time it was for (I was about 20 minutes ahead of schedule) and didn't seem to act as if it made any difference. Anyway, he said go sit down by counter (the one furthest left) and wait for your name to be called. I asked about a queue number, and he said, "no, just wait for your name to be called." Anyway, after name called for photo, 20 minutes later was called to collect passport. Most of us sitting there were called, so not even sure if the queue number system was applicable at this counter.....maybe it was being used, but I was not really paying attention. And were those being called, the ones with appointments (and thus some kind of ahead of queue priority)? Question: Is getting an appointment worth anything? If I'm on time, do I get to jump ahead of the walk-ins? Am I then a "wait to be called" vs. someone with a queue number? Or if I'm late (or early), am I just another walk-in? If the appointment has no benefit, why subject yourself to the lack of flexibility of when to show up at Immigration. Thus, hopefully somebody reading this has a better understanding of the appointment system than I do, or can find with a search. Thanx.

Meaning the testator must accomplish one of the two forms of an Amphur Will? Otherwise, I'm still confused on what are the mechanics of showing up with a Will at the Amphur and saying, "register this." Or, is there some other official location for registrations of Wills?

Or the historical printout of your last 12 month bank activity. Not required by all Imm offices, but certainly by CM. Thus, if you don't update your passbook often, a consolidated entry might hide withdrawal activity not allowed. The 12 month report would see thru this.

My dual citizen wife checks into the airline with her US passport, and goes thru Imm with her Thai passport, which, of course, doesn't have a US visa (as the US passport covers that aspect). They don't care -- if the US detects somebody screwed up allowing her to board that flight, well, it's the airline that screwed up, and it's the airline that pays for her return. Immigration has no pertinent interest. The OP's daughter apparently checked into the airline with her UK passport. Then, what she should have done, is fill out a brand new TM6 departure card, with the arrival part still attached. Using the old departure card, where the arrival part was now on file in the data base, might have triggered a situation. Thus, for all intent purposes, she would look like a new passport holder, on her first flight out of the country. Yeah, if they were curious about no visa, she's just flash her UK passport -- doubtful they'd spend any time researching the Thai entry stamp in that passport.

Where in the Civil Code can I find that?

The term "registering" a Will seems to be getting a little convoluted here. Since I can only think that the Amphur is the only place where you could register a Will, I guess we're talking about Amphur Wills. And they come in two flavors: Or... So, if you write you own Will at home, or have a lawyer prepare it for you -- the only way to have it "registered" at the Amphur is to present it as a secret Will, sealed away in an envelope, with no one in the Amphur knowing what's on it. [The first method has you making your Will out at the Amphur, not submitting an already made Will.] Obviously, you must leave information with the Amphur on who's to retrieve this sealed envelope, upon showing your death certificate. I guess your Executor would be the one. And, yeah, your Will hidden away in the Amphur's safe seems to give added authenticity to such a Will, should you be worried about its authenticity being contested. But who here fits that bill? Not many, I'm sure. Thus, there certainly is no requirement to "register" your Will -- nor for most, any real reason. So, no, you (or your lawyer) don't just swing by the Amphur with your already prepared Will -- and say, please "register" this.... But, the secret Will, I guess, fits the bill.

Geez, cut the poor dad some slack. You think the ways of Immigration are straightforward?

You need to use the same passport for exiting Thailand as the one (or the country thereof) you entered on. She could not switch to her new Thai passport to exit through Immigration. But, she could, and should, use her UK passport when checking into the airline -- to avoid visa questions, as airlines don't know or care that you also have a Thai passport. So have your daughter use her new Thai passport next time she enters Thailand (and when she exits) -- at least at Immigration.

Obviously her UK passport was involved in her entry. Her mistake, as her Thai ID and an expired Thai passport are perfectly allowable for entry for Thais. My wife is dual US/Thai and years ago she was advised to hide her US passport when entering Thailand on her Thai passport --'cause some Imm officers are not well briefed on dual citizenship, and will opt for the US passport. That your daughter was standing at the counter with a Thai ID, expired Thai passport (?), and a UK passport -- guess what they'll reach for.

Wow, that would be inconvenient, if you used one of those fraudster agents (unless they have a secret handshake with Imm to deal with this, assuming Imm is hard over on this requirement....). Certainly in this situation, ignore would be the operative word -- if possible.

Some banks (not including Bangkok Bank) require some activity before they'll update the passbook. Obviously CM Imm wants a current, accurate updated passbook -- so if you need to do a small deposit or withdrawal to do this, so be it. But CM Imm doesn't require such activity just for its own sake. Thus, my Bangkok Bank passbook updates just fine without activity -- and this is fine with CM Imm. By the way, CM Imm certainly does require two bank letters: the twelve month variety (that would show activity that might be disguised in a consolidated passbook entry); and the snapshot letter of your current passbook balance (and don't forget to get a photocopy of this page with the latest balance). The below is the guidance I got several years ago from an agent (the hand holding, legit kind), which I could show to a Bangkok Bank clerk otherwise not familiar with such bank letters:

The flex points are between five months, seven months, and the two months of the new season's beginning. But, yeah, slighty disjointed, indeed.

You're right. They need to bring these folks under the same insurance mandate now required of OA extenders.

The OA's are an anomaly -- that's a whole, sad, not thought out program. But, the majority of retirees in Thailand are not OA's -- and that's where the requirement, from the Thai side, for self-insurance makes sense.

They're not looking for that pile of money you spend down to live day to day -- they're looking for a self-insurance pile of money, available for emergencies, that can't be dipped into, except for such emergencies. That they allow you to cut in half (to 400k) for part of the year, does show their fairness of flexibility. But, they certainly don't want that pile empty, on the day you crash your motorcycle -- and then run up huge hospital bills -- and don't have any medical insurance. Makes complete sense, since only folks with Non Imm OA extensions require medical insurance to live here in retirement. So, why not require the uninsured to have a dedicated source of funds that a hospital you stiffed can legally attach. Sounds fair to me, especially if I were a Thai, paying Thai taxes, and not wanting any of those taxes bailing out hospitals stiffed by indigent farangs. And, actually, if I were a Thai tax payer -- letting that self-insurance fund dip below 800k makes little sense. Stay tuned....

I find that getting my bank letter in the morning -- and have the clerk update the passbook *plus* make a photocopy of the passbook's last page -- eliminates having to visit Immigration's photo copy center just to do a one page copy, which I'd have to do if I'd updated my passbook outside the bank. I learned this the hard way, last year at CM, when I forgot to have the bank clerk make the photocopy. As a result, for an early afternoon appointment, I had to stand in a huge queue at the photocopy center, as they, like Imm, close for lunch. Thus, maybe updating at an outside the bank machine has less utility than you think.....

Sounds like LMG's policy, as they're the only ones, I believe, jumping the required policy coverage of 3M baht to a policy of 3.5M inpatient coverage. And, if this is the policy you have, then you do have a 60K baht outpatient coverage (not that it's required in the police order).

I think you're right. A few years back on this forum we did some number crunching of alternatives. Funding a Wise account and sending money from that was the winner. For some reason I've stayed with the bank debit option, finding it wasn't too far more expensive. Maybe I should relook the numbers....

As long as you don't have a re-entry permit. Don't know if you can do a same-day turnaround....

I assume your Chase bank is in the US... If so, I don't see the option for a "bank transfer" as a way to get money to Wise and then on to Thailand. If I'm to send money through Wise from my US bank, my options are: bank debit (ACH); wire transfer; debit card; or credit card. All my transfers over the years have been bank debit (ACH) -- and these are an ACH "pull" by Wise from my US bank account, which I established with Wise, using two trial deposits. A bank transfer is a "push" from your account -- so, yeah, you might run into trouble with your bank, unlike "pull" activity. But, as far as I can tell, bank transfers aren't an option for sending US dollars -- but they are for sending GBP and EURos. What am I missing here?

Not 100% certain, but this subject has been investigated on this forum for ages, as many of us would like to avoid probate with our bank accounts. And nobody has produced bank paperwork that would allow establishment of a POD beneficiary. Why? Maybe because Thailand doesn't honor trusts; and a POD is a form of trust. In the US, a POD is also called a "Totten Trust." So, for whatever reason, maybe Thailand doesn't allow POD type beneficiary arrangements due to their strange approach to trusts: And, no, I'm not an attorney. My mother and father were married.

Indeed. Let us know how it goes...

While physically in Thailand?