Lee4Life

I checked into the marriage green card application process last year for a friend, at that time the average processing time was three years. I just heard from them that the application was now "on hold" because of Trump putting a hold on immigrant visa processing.

My Ex? What a sad statement, that you think everyone is the same and has the same trail of broken relationships. I have been married to the same woman for 45 years.

I believe you're correct when you mention the issue of expected support in one's home country, but I don't believe "many of the weaknesses of Thailand will show up in any home country", although home countries may have other weaknesses. As for aging and medical care, I'm not sure I agree with the "crap shoot" theory. Aging in a country with consistently high levels of pollution and other health hazards is likely to have a huge difference on not only the quality of life, but also it's longevity. As for me, I believe the points the OP brought up are valid.

Can't say as far as CM goes, but here in NongKhai it just seems to matter which officer you get, or how the boss feels about it. We have been told by an officer there that as long as we didn't travel outside of Thailand and returned to our normal residence, we didn't need to do a TM30 when we returned home. But a couple of years later in the same situation we were told we should have done a TM30. There were no fines or consequences though, just the suggestion to do one next time.

"move to another neighborhood" is not sound advice, unless that neighborhood is near the top floor of a skyrise condo. The neighborhoods are all full of "stray" dogs. I have been here for a couple of decades now, and am an avid walker and bicycle rider. It has been my experience that the "stray" dogs are for the most part not strays at all. If the dog does something bad, such as biting someone, it's common not to be able to find anyone who admits to being the owner. However if a bad act is committed towards the same dog, the "owner" will often reveal themselves. On the same token, we have asked some of our neighbors about their aggressive dogs, only to find out the dogs actually belonged to other neighbors further down the street and moved themselves into our neighbor's place because our neighbor thought they weren't being fed well enough and began feeding them. A few blocks from our house there is a street that has only a few homes, there are about ten "stray" dogs that lay around in the street there at certain times of the day, but at other times are nowhere to be seen. That's because a generous fellow from a nearby neighborhood drives there at certain times during the day and dumps out a bucket full of dog food for them. There are truly stray dogs here...but it's not at all easy to discern which they are...at least that's been my experience.

The problem is knowing when to use a gun, it can escalate a problem and make it a fatal confrontation. Who's to say the other person doesn't have a gun also, or can go get one? It needs to be the only option, not the first.

The TM30 can be done online if the person who is registered on the House Book (Tabien Baan) registers online with immigration to do so. Our Thai niece does ours as she is on the book, I have a yellow housebook and I used that to do the TM30 myself for years, but last time the IO told me that's not acceptable, the residence has to be registered to a Thai and the TM30 has to be done by them. That doesn't seem correct to me but oh well.

Nineteen years here, and the only time we have been talked to about the TM30 not being filed was at our 90 day check-in at immigration, and at those times they just did it for us, no fines. Our family and friends have come for multiple visits and we haven't filed the TM30 as many times they are heading off on trips into Laos or other areas of Thailand and it seems redundant. That being said, the answer to the question of whether or not to have it filed probably depends on the amount of stress and worry it causes a person if it is not done. As for us, the house owner does them online, it's really not a big process for a Thai house owner to register to submit the TM30.

And maybe you should give some rational behind your wisdom?

In my experience nothing can be done, but maybe talking to them nicely as others suggested will help. The tracking system of an online order of mine showed it was at the post office, I went there six times to pick it up and was given excuses every time, they said I didn't pay my P.O. Box rent, so I brought receipts in showing otherwise, I talked to the supervisor, and he said they had refused to accept my package because the courier refused to pay them to accept it. But the company I ordered from insisted it was there. Finally it was returned overseas and the company refused to refund my money. It was a horrible experience.

The OP stated, "Yes, and yes I will need to open a bank account in Thailand. The $30k only grants me the initial 3 month visa. To get the 12 month extension, I need to have a Thai bank account and fund it accordingly " in a later post, but in the original post stated that they had applied for a retirement visa. That's what threw me off. The O-A longstay visa for I obtained from the LA consulate is one year multiple entry, there is no single entry option for that visa when using "retirement" as the purpose when entering the info during the e-visa process. It's quite possible there are differences between the LA consulate E-visa process and the Washington DC Embassy E-visa process. It's all good...I'm glad they were able to get a visa and easily at that.

I understand other visas are available, my problem was that the OP specifically said he applied for a retirement visa, but then said he received a 90 day visa. So it appears that he applied for a 90 day tourist visa on the basis of converting it to an extension for retirement purposes once he gets to Thailand.

I'm a bit confused...you state you applied for a "Non-O Retirement Visa" in the USA and received a 90 day visa. I am not aware of a retirement visa available in the US that has a 90 day validity. Also you did not indicate that you had to submit the medical certificate, background check, or insurance certificate that the Non-O/A Retirement Visa requires? And as for the 30k$ only granting you a 3 month visa goes, the one year O/A Retirement visa requirement is 800,000 baht or the equivalent. The O/A Retirement available in the States does not require the fund to be in a Thai bank account either. What did I miss? Does the Washington DC have different visas and requirements available than others?

We have been getting our O/A Retirement Visas through the LA Consulate for fifteen years now, and have always submitted criminal background checks done by the Washington State Patrol as that fit the requirements listed on their website. (it says either State Police or FBI criminal background check). After applying we received the "additional documents required" e-mail, stating that we needed to submit FBI Criminal background checks. After a bit of a scramble I located an FBI Channeler and we were able to get the FBI checks done rather quickly. After submitting the new documents we received our E-visas within minutes. I am not posting this to bash Thai Immigration, but am posting it so that others who may apply for any visa there that requires a criminal background check will know to just get the FBI background check right from the start. I'm not sure if this is a rule change for all US Embassies and Consulates or not.

I ran into some immigration fellows out and about a few years back, they had badges on a necklace and appeared legit, asked me a few questions and where I lived, asked to take my picture and then took my picture with them. Didn't ask my name or address, just what neighborhood.

Firefox can be problematic, been using it for years and found that Chrome or Edge work better for certain sites including Thai Immigration E-Visa and 90-Day Reports, also almost all domestic airlines in Thailand. Firefox gets hung up on online payments and document submissions somehow.

Were you able to get the "required" letter from the bank certifying your funds? The banks here in Washington State will not supply such a letter or statement to that effect, they say it is against their policy. In the past a notarized statement written by the account owner certifying that the information was correct has sufficed, but I am interested to know what you experienced in NoCal. I had trouble even finding a Public Notary that would notarize a statement of fact made by myself, I was told that our State had recently passed a new law with strict requirements as far as what a public notary could notarize.

Is having the bank statements for three months a new rule? The last time I applied for the E-visa using the LA Consulate only the most current bank statement was required.

It's all business.

Totally self serving with a total lack of compassion, that's what I see of you.

Why do you "seriously doubt dual pricing happens in medical facilities" ? How often have you used them? Do you have access that allows you to see what Thai citizens pay? Thailand has a form of subsidized health care, so there's actually a huge difference in what they pay if they meet the requirements and use the government hospitals and clinics in their provinces. Also "Street markets" doesn't mean just street food, it means goods also, I doubt that you have never experienced being overcharged.

I think JoePai meant when the original finish date was supposed to be, I do believe that has come and gone years ago, hasn't it?

So does the amount of money you possess indicate the amount of money you spend? How do you think wealthy people get wealthy, by spending all of their money? I have met some really thrifty people who have an awful lot of money. I know a millionaire who cuts cotton buds in half, one half for him and one half for his wife.

Was the American guy on a retirement visa? I fail to see the connection.

In other words Immigration is counting the extension as another Visa Exempt entry? Original visa exempt entry plus extension equals 2 visa exempt entries. But that would also mean they are back to the 2 entry per year limit on visa exempt entries. I have to admit I haven't been keeping up on all this.