MarleyMarl

1 hour ago, rikiderorck said:

@MarleyMarl Thanks for sharing your story. Just wondering, if you been on a Non B visa with a work permit for over 10 years, how come you never applied for permanent residency? I thought you could apply after 3 years on a Non B, and from what you said, you would have already qualified a long time ago. anywys, just curious, hope you don’t mind me asking. btw I was documenting and gathering infos on permanent residency and got some info from this page for reference: https://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand-visa/permanent-residence-thailand

I thought about it however first problem after 3-4 years I found out my income was not high enough i.e. 50k instead of 60k per month. Then due to being screwed around with by immigration I had issues of work permit or visa lapsed instead of being consistent for the 3 years or so.

With my experience of simply trying to renew Non-B without an agent or bribe, despite paying income tax, corporate tax, social security tax for my staff, I don't want to deal with any Thai bureaucracy. Marriage visa & extension is easy enough. I've enjoyed my time in Thailand, and don't want to sound bitter, but I don't invest anything here anymore and plan to leave eventually.

I had Non-B visa (with Work Permit) for over 10 years, I moved to marriage Non-O a few years ago. I had the Non-B through my Thai company that I setup and run. In my country (NZ) I was only ever able to get 3 months, but in Australia, they regularly gave me 1 year, multi-entry Non-B.

Extending at immigration was always a pain in the ass, without an agent they just make up any nonsense to not give it to you, because they want the bribe from the agent. For several years, I left the country every 90days, taking short holidays, rather than go through the hassle of extending at immigration in Bangkok. Then each year I would get a new 1 year, multi-entry Non-B back in Australia. When covid hit, I had no choice but to use an agent, which cost me about 47k THB. Bare in mind I run a legitimate, tax paying business, with Thai staff, and hold a work permit.

Then I got married, now I do everything myself, it's much easier, less documents, no ways from them to make stuff up or change requirements on the spot.

Same thing happened to me at Bangkok Bank where my company has an account. It’s a big branch in a stand-alone building, tried selling some b.s. insurance product. Politely said no, then got it’s “full”.

It’s very frustrating.

There is some good content but most of it is annoying and having them come up in my feed are people who lived here for 6 months talking like they are experts in all things Thailand.

Let guess, if you live here, pay taxes, you still get hit with this...

1 hour ago, Danderman123 said:

Trump negotiated an exit from Afghanistan, but failed to develop an exit plan.

 

Trump spent taxpayer dollars like a drunken sailor, and compounded the financial impact by cutting taxes for billionaires.

 

While there was minimal inflation during most of his term, Trump did nothing to increase wages for working Americans, and little else to help them.

 

Trump talked about infrastructure, but did nothing about it, letting US infrastructure rot during his 4 years.

 

Trump failed to deliver a healthcare plan, despite multiple promises to do so.

 

Got the picture, or do you need more?

The alternative, which is how Biden left Afghanistan seems worse than carefully planning an exit. The hasty exit gave the Taliban billions in military equipment to use/sell, and US troops and other innocents died.

The spending has been huge in Bidens presidency too.

I don’t know the finer details on all their policies.
 

As an outsider, and trying to be objective, Trump presidency wasn’t that bad. He is not without his flaws, like Biden. But for the last 8 years, the media/dems relentlessly attack anything he does and makes up so much crap I.e. Russian collusion and several other b.s. impeachment attempts, all proven wrong.
 

It is so obvious the machine does not like the orange man.

If you have any ounce of reason, are a centrist on most issues, you are far right.

I usually buy all my stuff from JIB online, and it comes to my house in a few hours, pretty amazing convenience. Never had an issue.

They took yer jerbs!

KWEB - Chinese tech ETF (up 20% on this already).

BATT - EV/Battery manufacture/material ETF.

Third pick, I'm not sure, been looking at GRAB recently, or just continue to DCA into A200/VHY.

In my Kbank and Krungsri I was able online to add my account from back home and transfer out, though I think for Kbank I had to fill a PDF document before it would get added as an option.

Also my wife was able to send money to my foreign account without hassle from her account.

Just make sure if you buy through your company, you have control over who owns the other half of the company (if not US amnesty treaty company), you could also buy under your company then have the company lease it back to you for 30 years, but for it to be official you have to pay some tax on it and it goes onto the title deed. It's worth taking as many extra precautions as possible. If you are new to Thailand also, I would just rent for the first few years.

Probably more than putting solar on every house on the island?

Just putting this out there, I've lived here for over 10 years and never done a 90day report, and never paid more than 2k thb fine come extension renewal time...

Pre-covid, 2 or 3 times I brought a cooler bag with me that I checked in when leaving, that I fill with frozen pies from Aus/NZ, then after arriving I just walk through customs with it on my shoulder, didn't get checked.

Funny to see this topic after missed call from an unknown number. I don't answer my phone unless I am expecting a call or they're in my contact list, it stays on silent mode.

There is an application called Whoscall that I use also. It uses a database so sometimes if the number matches on in the DB it will say something like "call center" "scam" etc. 

Got no time of patience to deal with unsolicited calls, I try put as many things in my wifes number as possible.

It's pretty hard to stop someone determined from entering, as others said a few mins with an angle grinder and they are in. As we were closing the sale on a place, someone broke in, they didn't cut the padlock but around the sliding bolt, got into a small room and pushed a step up under the staircase and got in.

Best best is make sure someone is on the property. When we go away we have family come and stay. Second best bet is contents insurance, I've got 1mb contents insurance. It doesn't cover cash or jewelry though, but things like computers, tv's, appliances are covered. 

Part of the stipulation is you need evidence to claim, so we have IPCAMs, we have cameras inside and out, and they upload/email clips when they detect motion. So if the cameras get destroyed there is evidence for insurance claim.

21 hours ago, LarrySR said:

 

Nissan vehicles have been featuring Jatco CVTs for years, but they've demonstrated less than stellar reliability. Maybe they have improved the design in recent years?

 

The dealer may claim the unit never needs servicing but Scotty Kilmer insists it's a good idea to change the oil every 30,000 miles with the correct oil.

 

Just in case,  put aside 100,000bt + labor for a reconditioned transmission.

 

 

Yea I heard about that, hopefully its been corrected with the new generations, the Almeria is a new generation.

It doesn't get driven a lot, I'd say it'll get less than 10k km per year. But something to keep in mind.

With ANZ in Aus, they have the shield app that generates a code, rather than relying on OTP. I switched to this because I was not getting the OTP codes also.

My fiancé recently bought a car, about 3 months ago. We looked at Honda, Toyota and Nissan, thinking to buy a hatchback. I found the Hondas too small, and more expensive for same options Nissan provided. For Toyota, didn't get very good service at the showroom so just left.

Ended up buying Nissan Almeria I think it was about 640k, about 9k per month repayments. It was more spacious than the Note, and the interior was high-quality. It had all the features of the Hondas/Toyotas but cheaper.

I'm not a car expert, and just wanted something cheap, good gas mileage, and something with the latest safety features like break assist and the cameras. My fiancé is enjoying it, it's her first car.

Be thankful it is only 20k? I had to pay 37k last month to renew my visa and I meet all the requirements easily.

I learned my lesson the hard way when I didn't pay before, they messed me around went back and forth 3 or 4 times until my visa ran out and I had to go home to make a new one. Before covid for a few years I was traveling in and out every 3 months because I refused to pay, but with covid I had to cough up the money, it is really frustraiting.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

You forgot lack of slim young available women, who can't divorce rape you.

Which is the main negative in any western country.

 

The west is a great place for guys that don't want women.

For whatever reason.

haha I agree, but I am already married to a lovely Thai lady.

Being single and in Thailand is a huge benefit.