DogNo1

Today I talked with an acquaintance from the UK who told me that he planned to renew his one-year multiple-entry non-O visa that he had gotten at the Thai Embassy in the UK last January early next year.  He said that he had been required to put 800,000 in a Thai bank to get it.  I told him that as far as I knew, non-O visas were only obtainable in-country.  I told him that I supposed that when he applied for a new visa, he would be required to get an OA visa and would be required to buy health insurance.  He pulled up a website in the UK that apparently said that non-O visas were obtainable there but that they were now single entry only.  He was dismayed by the new Thai rules and said that he may just not come back to Thailand.

What he said was confusing to me and I don't understand why he would have to put money in a Thai bank to obtain a visa in the UK.  He said that he had gotten one-year multiple-entry visas in the UK for the past several years.   Knowing how old guys get confused about visas, I suspect that he got things mixed up.  Can anyone sort out what his visa status might be.

I don’t mean to minimize this event, but has anyone driven on the Southern California freeways recently.  The incidents of road rage are incredible.  People are sometimes shot.  If you have ever been stuck on the 405 South in the late afternoon, you will have seen extreme behavior.

BKK Bank gives you the option of MasterCard or UOB.  I have had no problems using my MasterCard but can only charge a maximum of $50,000 per day.  I continue to use my Navy Fed care everywhere for the 1% caskback feature.  

Sondland doesn’t KNOW that there was a quid pro quo.  He INFERS that there was an unspoken quid pro quo.  He said there was “likely” a quid pro quo.  That means he doesn’t know for sure.  That wouldn’t stand up in a court of law.  Now there is an argument that if there were a quid pro quo, it wouldn’t have been illegal.  The crux of the matter seems to be that it involves his political rival Joe Biden who has his own quid pro quo on the record, not to mention his giving the Chinese a free pass which apparently was rewarded with $1.5 billion being invested with his son.  It gives the appearance of Joe being bought off by the Chinese.  We know that the Chinese have bribed a lot of people in the US.

I only transfer in about 66,000 per month to meet the financial requirements for my yearly extension of stay.  I keep around 150,000 in my Bangkok Bank account for local cash purchases but pay for most everything with my Navy Fed Visa Card to earn that 1% back.  Most of my money stays in my US accounts for the sake of convenience but I also keep about $60,000 in my Sumitomo-Mitsui account, also for the sake of convenience of making and collecting payments in Japan.  In short, I don’t keep any more money in foreign accounts than is necessary for convenience. We Americans have FBAR and income tax reporting requirements so it is a hassle to keep much money overseas.  So far as investing goes, it is tedious to file about 15 K-1s each year that include a foreign investment component.  I only do it because the rate of return on each fund makes it worth it in my investment advisor’s opinion.

Can’t find Flulium through Google search.  Is there a generic name?

I get crystal-clear Amazon Prime on my Fire TV HD stick here in my serviced apartment in Bangkok.  Last night, I watched the first two episodes of the new season of Jack Ryan. The series is interesting and beautifully filmed.  The director has a great knack for making the background and composition of the shots visually pleasing.  I highly recommend the series to posters who are able to watch it.

I use the Fire TV HD stick and it works quite well.  Many programs come already installed and I enjoy watching Amazon Prime.  I am looking forward the first episode of the new season of Jack Ryan tomorrow.  I find the Fire TV stick easier to use than the various android boxes that I have had.  There are several You Tube videos about how to use the features of Fire TV.  If you pay the subscription fees, all of the paid streaming sources are available: Netflix, HBO, Showtime, etc.  What I particularly like about Fire TV is that you can talk to Alexa through the remote and don’t have to laboriously type your searches.

Many posters appear to be thinking of the American (or western) model of government when they criticize the Thai government or government officials.  Perhaps we should evaluate it in terms of the  Chinese model which China is trying to promote around the world. Increased surveillance and control?  Check.

There are many videos explaining the Chinese model and China’s promotion of it.  The recent talk given by Newt Gingrich at USC is on You Tube.  There are many others explaining China’s world-wide objectives.

It’s something to think about.  What exactly is the Thai government aspiring to?

This was mentioned in a thread some time ago but I think it bears repeating for the benefit of Americans who have an account with Fidelity.  Bank wires from your cash management account to Bangkok Bank are free but you must have a written standing order with Fidelity and must telephone each month to have the wire sent.  The signature on the standing order can be a problem.  It must be certified by a bank IN AMERICA.  Also, if you are using monthly transfers to fulfill the requirements, now is a good time to increase your dollar amount so that you are not left short of 65,000 by the falling number of baht that you get for your dollar.

Sheryl,

You provided it about two years ago but I can’t find it now.  Could you kindly tell me the name of the company that will insure people over seventy-five?  I sure hope that I will not have to buy the insurance because my Japanese National Health Insurance will cover emergency care over here but at the amount the care would cost in Japan.  So long as I can get on a plane after treatment, I don’t really need in-country insurance so I am taking my chances for now.

Is it politically incorrect to identify the root cause of the violent extremism as the long-standing conflict between the Shia and Sunni sects of Islam?  Does anyone remember the lengths that Gen. Petraeus had to go to in Iraq to stop the violence? Does anyone really expect this inter-sect violence to diminish?  It appears to be a never-ending conflict to me.

Boeing holds many DOD contracts.  It can’t fail as a company but it can lose a huge amount of money.

9 hours ago, stevenl said:

It is not about mistakes made, it is about the company attitude.

I very much doubt that has been addressed.

My son-in-law, who used to work at Renton, says that quite a lot has changed.  Whether the rushing of production by the managers will moderate has yet to be seen.

When a person's OA visa is about to expire and he/she applies for a one-year extension of stay in-county, what are the financial requirements?  If the same as for an extension based on retirement or marriage, would not the basis for the extension then revert to be Non-O?

My sympathy goes out to these people.  Even slave-like labor in Japan would have been better than death.  There seem to be no good options for the world’s impoverished masses, especially those in communist countries.

This law seems too simple.  Some mc taxi stands are on sidewalks and the motorcycles must pull up onto to the sidewalk to park.  Some minimum distance should be specified before the law kicks in.

I infer that the OP had recently stayed in Thailand for six months on three visa waivers and extensions before he applied for the tourist visa.  There have been quite a few posts on the forum recently about people with a recent series of short stays being denied entry even if they have a visa. This happened to a friend of mine this year who was forced to go back to Australia for a while until he can come back for a short stay next year.  The reality is that immigration officers are now required to limit the amount of time that a person can stay in-country during one year’s time.  There seems to be no way around that for the under-fifty group except for the expensive Elite Visa.  It’s frustrating for the young group but those are the rules that are now being enforced.

Things have changed for we over-fifties too with more onerous financial requirements.  It is not known whether people on retirement and marriage extensions will be required to buy health insurance but Thai families will be against it if they are negatively impacted. People on non-O extensions are a varied group with some of us just being too old to buy insurance.  If the government doesn’t offer a practical option to me, I will have to limit my stay to a shorter period each year or just return to California to live.  I now split my time between Japan and Thailand but don’t like cold weather.  Since I have health insurance in both Japan and the US, I hope that I won’t be required to buy it in Thailand.

I think that Ubonjoe is right to discourage speculation that the insurance requirement will apply to anyone other than an O-A Visa holder who enters after October 31st.  Extending the requirement to others would have a lot of negative repercussions that I'm sure the authorities are aware of.  There are a lot of issues to take into account, not the least of which would be what would happen to those of us who are too old to buy any of the insurance policies on offer.  Also, there might be legal recourse available to families who are deprived of their providers. The government needs to think out carefully the implications of a blanket insurance requirement for everyone over fifty.  

Terminology is important.  It sounds as though you are presently on one of a series of one-year extensions that you have received based on extending an original O-A retirement visa.  If true, you are no longer on an O-A visa.  Your visa was cancelled when you obtained your first extension.  If, on the other hand, you are still on your original O-A visa which will expire on December 20th, you could leave and return before the visa (not extension) expires and gain an additional year's permission to stay.  So it is important to determine (and say) whether you are on your original O-A Visa or an extension of stay.

That being said, assuming that you are on an extension of stay, you have the option of putting your 800,000 into the bank less than two months before the expiration of your permission to stay, flying out to a nearby country and returning on a thirty-day visa waiver, applying for a 90-day Non-O around the fifteenth day, then converting to a one-year permission to stay around the seventy-fifth day, neatly avoiding the current health insurance requirement attached to O-A visas.  

I'm not sure that requesting and paying the fine for a certain number of days of overstay to meet the two-month cash in the bank period would free you from the health insurance requirement associated with your original O-A Visa.

Whatever you choose to do, good luck!

I could be wrong but a have a premonition that the insurance requirement will be extended to all one-year permission of stay applicants.  Since I am over seventy-five insurance for me is bound to be very expensive and increase the expense of my seven-month stay every year.  Since I am the survivor of cancer and three heart procedures, it probably wouldn't be good for much except broken bones or a stroke.  I wouldn't be willing to keep 400,000 in a Thai bank so it seems that I have two practical options.  One is to spend only three months here and the other is to spend the winter in southern California.  As others have pointed out, an Insurance requirement would only take effect when it comes time to renew your extension.  I don't keep money in the bank here and only transfer the monthly 65,000 but I'm not confident that even people who keep 400,000 or 800,000 in the bank will be exempted from the insurance requirement when it comes.  Time will tell but this government seems to of a mind to impose additional residence requirements

Sorry Sheryl.  I have just discovered that Mefenamic Acid IS Ponstan.  It has pretty severe side-effects so I don't take it any more.  Actually, my pharmacy has stopped selling it too.  If I can buffer it sufficiently, aspirin remains the most effective and trouble-free analgesic for me.

The yellow tablet that I got from my pharmacy is Anpuzz.  It contains Dicycloverine hydrochloride and Mefenamic Acid.  I don't know if it is what is being referred to.  I find it fairly effective for pain. Another alternative is Voltaren.  I find that taking either one, while effective, leaves me exhausted for a day or two after I stop taking them.  The same thing happens with Tylenol which seems to attack my liver.  My favorite analgesics are aspirin or Tramadol.