jesimps

Thais could fall asleep on a washing line, even after 8 hours sleep. I've never been in a country where there're so many accidents through drivers dossing off. Sheer lack of common sense, like children in adult bodies.

"My experience was similar to every trip to the CM IO - businesslike but always friendly.  From my viewpoint, CM IO has an undeserved bad reputation."

Took me ten minutes to stop laughing after reading the above para. Chiang Mai immigration should have you stuffed, you're a one-off.

4 hours ago, baggies666 said:

The money has arrived fine 3 times already to bb with the correct codes so this part I am not worried about

 

@ubonjoe I will gather all the information and ask on extension so far only been able to talk to volunteer & read whats on website  thanks

Keep an eye on your BB statements, all my TW transfers were sent direct to them except for December's which went via TMB, so it isn't foolproof.

4 hours ago, borderhopper said:

Is it that difficult to maintain THB400000-800000 in a bank account

year round?

For many years, I have been keeping  the THB800000+ amount in my term deposit account.  And I do not touch it.

I make a fund withdrawal little by little from my saving account

to cover the cost of my living in Thailand.

I am far from being wealthy.

I have never earned more than $35000-40000/year while working.

And I am well under pension age.

But still I can do so.

 

 

 

"Is it that difficult to maintain THB400000-800000 in a bank account

year round?"

It is for people less rich than you, obviously. You can't judge others by what's ok for you.

6 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

absolutely, the system is rotten to the core.

 

over the weekend i mentioned the election to two friends, both told me vote buying was rampant - but not in every province, and i asked if they would accept the money - both said yes but also said they would not vote for the party that gave them the money - because they disagreed with corruption!

Accepting money to vote is the ideal way of putting the boot in on the party you dislike by voting for the party you support. Anyone who doesn't do that is a mug. I therefore don't see how vote buying can work.

4 hours ago, blazes said:

I wonder if Thailand could learn anything about political action from the "gilets jaunes" of France.

Judging by the passivity of the British (over the snatching of Brexit from the 52percenters by the Remainers among the MPs and peers), it would be unreasonable to expect anything unusual to happen here.  Britain sends the ruling class here a clear message about how it is done.....let people talk, as long as the talk (and vote) is meaningless.

 

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Good post. Us Brits never react until it's almost too late, then the sleeping tiger wakes to put things right. Then sleepy-byes again.

6 hours ago, Cadbury said:

And if that doesn't work as planned there is always the fall-back position of another coup led by the new military commander General Apirat Kongsompong who will likely make PM Prayut look like Mother Teresa.

He has the same row of shiny plastic medal ribbons that my teacher wife wears once a week! I must recommend that she gets some shiny plastic para wings as well.

6 hours ago, MaxLee said:

You mean, Ultra corrupt with a lot of hidden agendas, cheating, corruption, vote buying, stalking and brown envelopes behind the scenes.

I still say that anyone who takes a brown envelope and doesn't vote for the party he really supports, is a nutter. It's an opportunity to put one over on the opposition, TWICE!

I don't condone the murder of any human being, but I'm not surprised by this retaliatory attack. I dont think it'll be the last either if things carry on the way they have been over the last few years.

2 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

NoW I doubt Humpty Trumpty's CIA would be behind this ?

I doubt your excellent President Trump would be involved in this. I for one look forward to his second term as POTUS.

Maybe you'd be treated as being on overstay from the day you dropped below the required amount and punished as such. After all, from the moment you drop below the limit, you're living here illegally. Not saying it's fair, just my guess as to immig's reaction.

26 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Throwing things and shouting is a big no no in Thai culture. Sounds like this women is a complete nutter.????

Maybe, but I think just a little Hitler, like many in TI.

4 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

You really think that the EC will give wiggle room for parties that are opposed to the junta. Where have you been all this while mate. 

Snurgling around the junta on here!

18 minutes ago, sumrit said:

TV threads for one. Just look at the threads that were started towards the end of last year when these extension changes first filtered through. Read all the hundreds of posts by panicking expats

I haven't read one from anyone saying they deliberately abused the system. I've read plenty saying that they have difficulty proving their source of income under the new rules now that they can no longer swear to it.

1 hour ago, trd said:

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

Ditto but you can get a P60 from UK Tax dept showing your total earnings  & taxation level.  This SHOULD be enough & straightforward for even the average Immigration officer to understand.  But this will be deemed insufficient.
Someone above mentioned having no alternative.  Wrong - I'm checking out Vietnam to see if they value my pensions more than Thailand.

Do you know what a P60 is? You get it if you are drawing a salary for employment in the UK. Why would I have a P60 if I'm not resident in the UK or working in the UK. What are you talking about? You don't get a P60 for pension. You are also making a big assumption that an IO would accept a P60. Where does that idea come from? Why do people keep assuming that IO's are going to accept bits of paper that they think are okay and should be accepted?

I get an annual P60 for my works pension.

2 hours ago, sumrit said:

Although not normally requested, Immigration have always had the option of requesting the source of the income. This is not new. Nothing has changed.

 

I suspect that with the reports of apparent widespread abuse of the use agents and income affidavits that led to the recent changes, I think Immigration will initially ask for proof of income source from many more extension applicants to try to prevent people from recycling the same 65k/40k every month.

 

 

Your UK state pension is probably below the UK tax-free allowance. If you don't pay any tax your total UK income, from all sources, must be less than £11,800 pa. HMRC would normally hold a record of those (taxable) income sources.

What widespread abuse? Grateful for genuine sources.

58 minutes ago, bangkoken said:

Yes, they are. The countdown starts on the date you arrive in Thailand.

Agreed. The countdown starts on the day you arrive in Thailand, or from the the date of your 90 day report. If you leave the country before your 90 day report date, then it starts from the date you arrive back in Thailand. It is completely independant of your 1 year extension.

I can't figure out by the description what really happened here, but if I make a left turn onto a dual carriageway and have to make a right turn shortly afterwards, I'll instead carry on to the next u-turn and come back at it. No sense in trying to quickly cross three or four lanes of traffic in this place.

32 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

Rather than the Embassies reinstate some form of letter for Immigration, I believe the opposite could happen and TI stop accepting Embassy letters.

1. It's clear that certain expats were making false claims on their affidavits/ statutory declarations.

2. It's now becoming clear that many using the Embassy letter are not in fact transferring the amounts as specified under the Police Orders.

 

From 2020, we could see only Thai bank statements (which TI can verify) being the only acceptable form of proof of income.

"1. It's clear that certain expats were making false claims on their affidavits/ statutory declarations."

I keep reading this but don't know of any myself, please give some actual examples. If it was happening, then I personally think it was probably only a small minority who abused the system. Some people are just too quick to blame their fellow retirees for some strange reason, rather than the embassies and immigration authorities.

"2. It's now becoming clear that many using the Embassy letter are not in fact transferring the amounts as specified under the Police Orders."

It isn't becomming clear to me, I just see farang being jerked around again. Once more, lets have some proof of this statement.

"From 2020, we could see only Thai bank statements (which TI can verify) being the only acceptable form of proof of income."

I sincerely hope for the sake of those affected that someone manages to sort out a more acceptable way of TI checking the the monies coming in from abroad. Retirees are paid/earn money in so many different ways to finance their retirement here that for some it's almost impossible for them to prove 65,000 (or whatever) coming into a Thai bank EVERY month for twelve months.