smedly

what really bothers me, all this showboating on display by Immigration fighting corruption - patting themselves on the back for a job well done when hundreds of foreigners are using agents and "allegedly" paying bribes to bypass financial requirements for 12 month extensions - are these agents and their IO contacts above the law

Maybe time they started showboating in their own offices

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Wirat reportedly told police that they bought the fake watches from a manufacturer at Bt500 apiece

worth noting for all you suckers that are paying 3000b + for fake watches on the street

55 minutes ago, johng said:

That includes "democratic soldiers" too .... right  ?

what do "you" think ?

I was very clear in my post - I didn't have any exclusions …………………...right ?

he owns a money tree - called "The Thai people"

Time for Thailaind to get very serious with these criminals - death penalty sounds about right

42 minutes ago, webfact said:

A useless transport system including baht buses that rip people off

MB taxi's are worse, when I show them the official fare tariffs (which I have on my phone) it becomes threatening, many of them are also drunk after 1am, what is the point of people using public transport to avoid drink driving when the actual taxi drivers are <deleted>

6 hours ago, z42 said:

The Brit was completely out of order. For all the petty stuff some foreigners get lifted for, this degenerate needs to be hauled in and seriously taught some manners.

 

Sad to see this 

I do agree with you but there is a bigger problem, this idiot should not have reacted the way he did - there is no excuse but like I said above there an endemic problem with using a phone in your hand on a busy transport carriage - someone is going to knock it out of your hand very easily

Time maybe for a ban on using phones on busy transport systems 

8 hours ago, chrisandsu said:

The Canadian Jeremy corbyn 

I think worse and that is hard to fathom 

He's also very hard to listen too

7 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

 

Still safer in the water than on the road getting there.  And not just in Thailand.

 

 

add them together and it makes for a very challenging holiday experience, if the minibus doesn't get you there's a big man eating shark waiting at the beach 

3 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Thx, and yes, well aware of that one.

 

Who knows maybe all the hype with the clamping down on the current requirements is having a detrimental impact on future retirees who were thinking of coming, now hearing of all of the changes, TM30, O/A mandatory insurance and 800,000 baht in a Thai account 2 months before and 3 months after with 400,000 required to remain in the account for the remainder of the year, if not using the 65,000 baht per month, which might be out the window in due course, unless there is that 400,000 baht in the bank amount as well ?

 

Now if it does have an impact, the corrupt Thai will only have themselves to blame, because the less farangs that come, the less corruption payments there will be, but then again, those that currently pay the corruption money for the retirement extension deserve what they get when and if it all blows up in their faces, why, because they have been fuelling it but not having the relevant funds in their accounts.

 

I am waiting for a farang to end up in hospital who requires emergency treatment, Dr asks, what visa he is on, retirement extension he adds, but has no funds in the account, as he paid an agent to get it for him, 15,000-25,000 baht, but the Dr doesn't know it, and thinks he has enough funds to cover the surgery of say 380,000, thinking he has 400,000 in his account, carks it during the procedure and then when they make a claim on his account for the funds, the $<deleted> will hit the fan, and when escalated because the hospital is wanting payment, someone is going to have answer for it, and who knows, someone up top, if high enough and not on the take, might make an example of those responsible, and not by transferring them to another desk.

 

Just my thoughts, no doubt will put a few noses out of joint for those reading this who will differ and obviously will say it's more convenient for them not to have the money (that they don't have) back home ????

 

LOL ????

It won't stop because money No1 - corruption is imbedded into Thais its like a religion a culture a way of life - no guilt when they extract it from foreigners - job well done, not so sure when they are thieving from the Thai people though - that's a whole different level

4 hours ago, jacko45k said:

But they take a whopping 59GBP to do the transfer, where my bank does it for free. 150 GBP savings is bunkum.  The 1.5% figure you mentioned does not appear to be there. I just calculated 0.8%, half of what you claim. 

 

 

it all depends on what the TT FX is with the Thai bank at the time of transfer - the difference is usually about 1.5%  or a 3-4% swing between buy and sell, or of course you could get your home bank to do the FX which in my case would be about 3% because UK banks give a really bad FX rate, when I used to do transfers using swift I always instructed them to transfer sterling and the Thai bank did the FX

On 1/9/2020 at 4:36 PM, 4MyEgo said:

The long of the truth.

 

The video in my opinion is nothing short of trying to stir up the hornet's nest. It showed no options, therefore is implying that Thailand doesn't want farangs to retire here, which for those of us that live here know is a load of rubbish.

 

My take on this is simple if you think outside the square.

 

Could it be that Thailand wanted to strengthen a current loophole whereby it make it mandatory for those who do not have money in Thailand to have money in the bank to support themselves if hospitalisation was required ?

 

Making sure that those on the retirement visa otherwise known as an the non O visa have 800,000 baht in their Thai bank account for 2 months before they apply for their extension and 3 months after their extension, with 400,000 baht to remain in the account for the remainder of the year, i.e. making sure those on the O visa/extension based on retirement have at least 400,000 in their bank account, which in hindsight reduces the exposure to Thailand's hospitals from those farangs who have no money in their bank account to pay for any necessary treatment/s if and when in hospital.

 

By doing the above I believe that the Thai government has understood that doing things this way, it is not impacting on most farangs, as those farangs should have the required 800,000 baht in the bank anyway and as has always been the case, albeit they tweaked the law to make it so that the farangs have 400,000 baht or half of that 800,000 baht requirement in the account for the 12 months to assist those farangs for any such unforeseen events should they require hospitalisation as opposed to peein it up the wall and leaving it for the government to pay the hospitals, well someone has to pay the tab.

 

I call this good management and the Thai's being understanding of the fact that if they imposed mandatory insurance for farangs on the non O visa/extension, it would have a major impact on a lot of elderly farangs who couldn't get insurance over a certain age, perhaps they looked at the statistics and said, these guys have been here for years and xyz of them are in their 60's, 70's, 80's and would have to leave which would create a big mess for them and also impact on a lot of Thai's, although minimal, then you have those who have families and are not married to Thai's although have Thai partners that they support, get my drift, so I applaud the Thai government for shoring up the loophole, it's responsible and for not making it mandatory for the retirement and or marriage visa/extensions to take out mandatory health insurance, and do not see them making it mandatory in the future for the above reasons I have stated. If they do, we will all have to address it when and it arises, speculating will only cause us stress, and we are all here to enjoy ourselves, are we not ?

 

Those on the O/A visa don't require to have the 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account and can enter and leave Thailand when they want, so it looks that perhaps they know more than what they are wanting to say, just my thoughts, i.e. maybe they have uncovered a system where those on the O/A could enter, get what they required from the hospital system and exit without paying, just my thought as paranoid as it sounds, and if true has left the Thai's with a loophole which costs the Thai taxpayer to foot the bill. If they don't want to take out the mandatory insurance, they can simply changed visas to an O based on retirement or even go for an elite visa, they have options, it's not a do or die scenario and has nothing to do with farangs not being welcome.

 

Whoever made this video simply cannot see past his own nose, because it's that big it's obscures his vision.

 

This is just shoring up the loophole, i.e. if you have a non O, then you are now required to have mandatory insurance before you depart your country, and it must be with a Thai health insurance company, which they can verify, unless it is one on the list that fits the criteria, like I said, they are shoring up the loophole, call me mad, I don't mind, but I like to think outside the square.

 

I am all for mandatory health insurance in all countries, I mean why should someone else pick up the bill, in Australia where I come from, in the state of Melbourne last year if I recall correctly, the government had to pay $80,000,000 in costs to hospitals for visitors to Melbourne who had used the system, had no insurance and then left, I believe they had recouped 3/4's of it, but $20,000,000 or a 1/4 was ridden off, so why should Melbournian's have to foot the bill, for those that don't know, Australia has 7 states last time I checked, although I haven't been far south for a couple of days if you would excuse the pun. 

 

I have a pre-existing condition, I have health insurance, I am on the marriage extension, albeit it is expensive and it only covers me for emergency cover, and it will go up when I turn 60 this year, like it or lump it, I have to carry my own, rightfully so as I am a guest here in Thailand, although I can self insure as there is no mandatory requirement for me to have health insurance in Thailand, and I could self insure and pocket the annual expense, but like I said, I should carry my own and not rely on the Thai's to cover me or allow me to self insure because monitoring such I would imagine would be difficult unless they want to put a few farangs noses out of joint, like make it mandatory to have x amount of baht in the bank for 12 months of the year. 

 

I don't have the solution, but the video is all one sided and for those that can see through the propaganda, will stay on to enjoy Thailand with her warts and all.

 

If you don't have money in the bank albeit 400,000 baht to keep in the bank for a year at a time without touching it, you shouldn't be here, it's not a great deal of money, and if you drink that much, i.e. 12 Changs a day, you won't be on this planet much longer.

 

Just my two bobs worth. 

correct and great post

problem is that Immigration will take bribes to overlook those that don't have the required financials - processed through an agent

6 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

It was exactly 10kGBP, I live here and use 800k in the bank, so small transfers aren't my usual need.  

Very small savings using TW is what I see, not worth the extra risk of involving a 3rd party. 

even for that amount TW will be cheaper - you will gain about 1.5% saving in FX rate on 10k that is 150GBP saving

5 hours ago, flurry said:

I am using 12 months of transfers into a Thai bank from abroad plus 1/2 money in Thai bank. I had my statement from Bangkok BKK Bank. All of my documents were 100% in compliance.

 

They told me the 12 months of transfers into a Thai bank needed to be at least 65,000 baht.

if your transfers do not show FTT then they will not be accepted - even if only one was BAHTNET (Internal)

Perhaps your transfers were all FTT in which case ignore my comment

On 1/9/2020 at 12:11 PM, Max69xl said:

Were you supposed to use the combination method and got denied? You mentioned 500k in the bank. Several immigration offices reject the combination method when not having an income letter from an embassy/consulate even if it's officially accepted. BAHTNET means that the last leg of the transfer went through Bank of Thailand. 

it doesn't matter if combo or not his bank transfers are internal BAHTNET and won't work for either combo or income, BB can get a breakdown of each transaction show exactly the path it took into Thailand - he would need one for each transaction

The other option is as suggested already

Start again by leaving/re-entering Thailand and converting to 90day type O in Thailand - topping up his 500baht to 800naht and getting a new 12 month extension based on bank balance - no requirement to show where it came from and needs to be seasoned for 2 months

On 1/9/2020 at 9:31 AM, ThailandRyan said:

Can someone explain the BAHTNET issue.  I have been transferring a monthly sum in excess of 65,000 baht, from my U.S. Chase Bank account into my Kasikorn Bank account, and it shows up as a BAHTNET transfer, not FTT.  Why would this transfer from a foreign bank account not be accepted for proof of funds for a Retirement extension.  I also can obtain a letter from the State of California's CALPers pension account which indicates I receive a monthly pension in xxxx.xx amount of money for life.  I am on an O-A Visa, and will need to convert this eventually into an Extension of Stay, but still have almost 9 months until that would need to be done unless I leave before the date of my Admitted until Date, and return before that date and then obtain another year.  I originally was here on an "O" based upon marriage but due to a divorce had to return to the U.S. and obtained the O-A visa for retirement.  Of course I do have the required Health Insurance plan required by Thai law as I have lived here for awhile.  Please help me to understand the issue of why the banks transfer now shows BAHTNET which is a TFO, and not showing as a TFN international transaction.  As I read the above if I transferred in USD then I would not get a BAHTNET code but the FTO which Kasikorn lists as an international transaction.  Kasikorn does not show FTT on their lists of codes anywhere I could find.

 

As of know this is what I see on my Statement:

TFO13271-TFO13273, TFO13276-TFO13278
รับโอนเงินจากต่างธนาคาร Bahtnet
 

Instead of:

TFN05027 – TFN05032
น าเงินเข้า/หักบัญชีธุรกรรมต่างประเทศ International Transction
 

your chase bank uses an intermediary bank in Thailand for your transfers so they show up as local deposits, one of the common handlers in Thailand is HSBC - they give a <deleted> FX rate and usually add a charge that can appear on your home account months later

On 1/9/2020 at 7:59 AM, jacko45k said:

It may have been the timing, (ie before the bank updates it's rates this morning), but look closely. I just looked at  Transferwise and their 'Low Cost Transfer Fee', was not so 'low cost' at 59GBP. My UK bank does free 'SWIFT' transfers and the receiving rate in Thailand makes this competitive... just the Thai Bank receiving charge of 500 baht to worry about. Transferwise have put their charges up. 

how much was the transfer that cost 59GBP it must have been close to 10kGBP

TW charges more for larger transfers - 1000GBP fee is about 7 quid

The big saving with TW is the exchange rate and ultimately how much Thai baht actually hits your account, TW has always shown to be cheaper by quite a margin