OJAS

Apologies if this point has already been raised in the intervening 4 pages, but there appears to be a small - but nevertheless potentially significant in my case - omission in the following sentence included in paragraph 19 relating to capital sales proceeds: "If the capital and/or was acquired before 1 January 2024, it is free of Thai tax." Should this sentence, in fact, include the additional word which I have shown in bold below? "If the capital and/or profit was acquired before 1 January 2024, it is free of Thai tax."

IMHO @hotandsticky is to be congratulated on getting anything out of your rambling post. Are you planning to submit it as an entry for the latest Leo Tolstoy War & Peace award by any chance?

Anyone aged 50 or more is eligible for non-immigrant visas and subsequent annual extensions of stay for retirement, regardless of their official retirement status in their home countries.

In practice this would only have been a requirement as far as a non-o visa conversion is concerned had you and your wife been planning to settle in Pattaya, rather than Buriram! Strikes me that you are now well-set for your planned move to Thailand.

Assuming that the OP is a German national, he may instead be able to obtain a 40k monthly income guarantee letter from the German Embassy as per 7.1. of the Immigration Bureau's list of requirements for marriage non-o conversions: https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/6.FOR-PROVIDING-SUPPORT-TO-OR-BEING-A-DEPENDANT-OF-A-THAI-CITIZEN-SPOUSE-VISA-NON-O.pdf @Sparkling - below is a link to details (in German) of the notarisations and certifications provided by the German Embassy in Bangkok, which hopefully includes pointers as to how you go about obtaining the necessary letter should you be interested in pursuing this particular option: https://bangkok.diplo.de/blob/1394716/23a3dbb1493e7ef375d7ae931b627050/beurkundungen-und-beglaubigungen-data.pdf Alternatively a link to the Embassy's home page (again in German) is as follows: https://bangkok.diplo.de/th-de

This concept, which was much-espoused by Tony Blair and his cohorts, was subsequently firmly knocked on the head by the Cameron/Clegg coalition government. Each individual component part of The Great Government Machine (including HMRC, DWP, HMPO and FCDO/Embassy) now appears to be acting under orders imposed by the Cabinet Office (which has the overall responsibility for its allegedly "smooth" operation) to confine their activities exclusively to matters which fall strictly within the purview of their particular silo, with blinkers firmly fixed so as to prevent any "undesirable" sideways glances into neighbouring silos!

Equally likely, of course, is that these 2 pathetic specimens of female Western humanity could instead have told the Thai tourist to f*** off (or worse).

Was your wife with you when you unsuccessfully applied for a marriage extension?

It is not, in fact, crystal clear from the wording which the OP has used whether he is, indeed, referring to an annual extension of stay for marriage. Or to a non-O visa conversion for marriage (for which "under consideration" stamps are also issued initially), as set out in the following link: https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/6.FOR-PROVIDING-SUPPORT-TO-OR-BEING-A-DEPENDANT-OF-A-THAI-CITIZEN-SPOUSE-VISA-NON-O.pdf Both processes are as different from each other as are apples from oranges!

Heads should now roll ASAP at both Fujitsu and the Post Office IMHO.

This is the crucial point, I think. Not a particularly good idea to leave all such checkings until just before your next extension of stay application is due, as appears to have been the case here!

Or maybe to one of these???

The British Government as a whole, not just the Embassy here, is infinitely more useless IMHO. Take those incompetent clowns in His Majesty's Passport Office, for instance. While they have made an online system for the renewal of British passports available (and, indeed, are openly encouraging its use in the UK), they steadfastly refuse to allow us Brits renewing our passports from Thailand to use it for some ridiculous reason. Indeed, even snail mail technology dating back nearly 200 years is considered far too advanced in their eyes, meaning that we are forced to make 2 extremely time-consuming and awkward trips in person (or have an agent make these trips on our behalf at an additional cost of 5,000 THB) to a rundown office building with an extremely silly name located somewhere or other in deepest darkest Bangkok (or its Chiang Mai equivalent), firstly to submit paper applications completed in our neatest handwriting and secondly to collect our new passports a few weeks later! Contrast this with the 90-day online system through which I, like @Mutt Daeng, was able to submit my latest 90-day report from the comfort of my home in under 5 minutes. On this basis, I am supremely confident that the effort which I will need to expend on submitting 90-day reports over the 10-year lifespan of my current passport will still prove to be infinitely less than that which I will need to expend on renewing my passport next in 2032, should the existing horrendously cumbersome and bureacratic procedures inflicted on us by His Majesty's Passport Office still be around then.

Previous advice on here has been to wait a month and, if you still haven't received the receipt of notification slip by then, go to your office with the PO EMS slip as proof of posting.

Plus the "boom-boom" brigade who take great delight in inflicting their sad, pathetic and miserable existences on us in a particularly sadistic manner by cruising around our neighbourhoods in pickups bearing multi-megawatt sound systems with volume and bass controls turned up to max.

Since you are a British passport holder you should be able to enter the USA under the Visa Waiver Program as set out in the following link:- https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html Assuming that your grandchildren are exclusively Thai (and not dual British) nationals, they will need non-immigrant visas in order to be able to enter the USA as set out in the following link:- https://th.usembassy.gov/visas/nonimmigrant-visas/

No, it is not. You are required to maintain an 800k bank balance for at least 3 months after the date of your retirement extension application. Thereafter you can reduce it to a minimum of 400k, but only until 2 months before the date of your next annual retirement extension application, by which time the balance should have been increased to 800k again for the next 5 months. Then repeat this cycle ad infinitum.

Went to that cesspit in 1994 for what turned out to be the holiday from hell. Was hassled by the locals every time I set foot outside the hotel perimeter. Not to mention that I also caught the lurgy which laid me low for weeks afterwards.

Sounds more to me like those clueless idiots at the Swiss Embassy are blissfully unaware of the existence of a double taxation treaty between Switzerland and Thailand! https://www.rd.go.th/fileadmin/download/nation/switzerland_e.pdf

Does this mean that you are a Canadian national and/or your pension income is sourced in Canada? If so you might be able to obtain an income letter each year from the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok (at a cost of 50 CAD currently) in lieu of making monthly 65k bank transfers: https://www.international.gc.ca/country-pays/thailand-thailande/bangkok-info.aspx?lang=eng#NS (see final line under Notarial services heading - might nevertheless be worthwhile checking with the Embassy that this letter is aimed at satisfying Immigration requirements for annual retirement extensions, though).

Yes.

No mention of any need for health insurance in the official list of requirements for non-O conversions for retirement, you'll doubtless be relieved to hear: https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/9.FOR-RETIREMENT-PURPOSES-50-YEARS-OLD-NON-O.pdf Just be aware, though, that, if your local office is Jomtien and you plan on using the 800k minimum bank balance method as per item 7, they will require this to be seasoned for at least 2 months as in the case of a regular annual retirement extension. And, if your office is Chiang Mai, they will require your application to be submitted no later than 21 days before your latest permission to stay granted following a border run expires (rather than 15 days as stated in the heading).

So what is your answer to his question, then, eh, Mr Clever Clogs?

The following link sets out the detailed official requirements for seeking a non-O visa conversion for marriage: https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/6.FOR-PROVIDING-SUPPORT-TO-OR-BEING-A-DEPENDANT-OF-A-THAI-CITIZEN-SPOUSE-VISA-NON-O.pdf

Savannakhet appear to be alone among Thai embassies and consulates worldwide in issuing MENO's for marriage. Furthermore, they were, until recently, prepared to issue such MENO's without requiring any proof of funds (latest reports on here indicate that they now require evidence of at least 400k deposited in a Thai bank account).