DogNo1

I have been mailing in my 90-day report for several years now.  It takes 30 minutes to prepare maximum.  I give it to the front desk with mailing instructions about 15 days before it is due and get the report slip back 3-4 weeks later, then staple it in the back of my passport.  It’s good to schedule the day that you go to immigration carefully because some days it really is crowded.  My technique is to go just when lunch is over and get a queue ticket for the “L” line.  I always find that people with some queue numbers have left which speeds things up a bit.  If you can somehow manage to get a re-entry queue number early, it will also help speed things.  It’s good to know exactly where the photocopy shop is so you can rush down to get your new extension photocopied.  Be sure to get your queue ticket before you get the photocopy.

The Chinese are a much greater danger to the US than the Russians.  On the advice of Gen. Robert Spalding, a senior adviser to DOD and the NSC, the US is decoupling technologically from China.  Hopefully financial decoupling will come too.  The American Depository Receipts sold by Wall Street are junk.  NO Chinese financial documents are reliable.  A trade agreement will NOT be signed.  For complete details and up-to-date information, see Gen. Spalding's lecture on American Thought Leaders on You Tube.

All this political fussing over Russia is ridiculous.  We need to face the greater danger - China. 

Well, IMHO, these sex offenders should be confined to a psychiatric prison where they would be thoroughly psycho analyzed.  I think that societies should start trying to identify these extreme offenders as well as mass shooters.  Perhaps they could be identified as likely offenders and put under special scrutiny before they offend.  There are so many mass shooters and pedophiles these days.  If the resources are available, society needs to be protected from them.

Handing SE Asia to China?  Are you up to speed on the stance of the DOD and its present actions toward China.  Did you see the statement of Gen Mattis regarding China last year?  Check it out.

Whatever action you decide to take, be sure to protect yourself.  You probably no idea what lengths a scorned woman can go to.  Abandon the idea of teaching her anything.  Walk away and find someone more compatible.  Read some of the books such as "Patpong Sisters," etc.  The rule of thumb is "You can take the girl out of the bar but...."

The outlet malls in the US tend to be stocked with items that didn't sell at the full-price retail stores.  Look out for subtle defects in the merchandise.  The items will be marked down for a reason.  I learned years ago not to shop at luxury outlets.  

If your funds transfer needs to show a foreign source, it is safer to do an international wire transfer to Bangkok Bank from your US bank.  My transferred funds show up in my Bangkok Bank on the same day (if it is a weekday) and are posted as “FTT.”  My Fidelity transfers cost me $30 regardless of the amount.  Bangkok Bank only charges me 200 baht on their end.  

As someone who watches murder mysteries on Centre Point’s channel 28 every night at 10:45, I see murders with surprising perpetrators.  The murderer finally caught last night was a man who had evaded detection until an investigator, on a whim, had a 20-year-old rape kit’s vaginal fluids’ DNA evaluated.  The murderer turned out to her father who, when she was 13, had raped her, strangled her, stripped her body and left her by the side of the road so she would be discovered quickly and thus allow him to collect her $10,000 life insurance payout.  The police finally extracted a confession from him but he never showed any perceptible remorse.

Those types of murders probably exist in Thailand, but I have never read of a father-daughter murder on Thai Visa during my 15+ years as a member.

I'm aware that states do provide long-term care under Medicaid but you must lose most of your assets.  My sister receives long-term care under Medicaid but it is inadequate.  A lot of her care must be done by family members.  I would not like to be in her situation.  I have had friends who have wasted away 6-7 years after having strokes.  It's a boring way to go.  My fear is having to live on for many years when it is not comfortable to live.

In the case of the OP, her mother is not reported to be uncomfortable even though she is bedridden with a broken leg which, I suppose, is good.  I hope that the OP will report on her mother's situation once she is settled in the PI.   I wonder how she will monitor her mother's care once she returns to Thailand.

Medicare in the US does not provide long-term care.  States provide some assistance but, in my sister's case, it is inadequate.  Family members must make frequent visits to check on her care and fill in the gaps.  I wanted to buy long-term care insurance for myself 20 years ago but couldn't because I live overseas.  If I have a stroke or develop Alzheimers, I only have my savings to rely on.

I suspect that the OP is an American and America has few decent options for people who are not wealthy.  Perhaps she could have found a solution for her mother if she had appealed for advice on TV earlier.  I hope that her mother will get on well in the PI.  It does seem that if she had selected the income method for her mother, she could have routed 65,000 worth of her mother's care from an overseas bank for transfer into her mother's bank account, or better yet, have gotten an extension of stay for her mother as a dependent.  This is all coulda, woulda, shoulda at this point. I hope that things go well for her from now on.

I think that the assumption that the 100 Baht insurance fee for all arriving tourists would somehow provide each of them a type of insurance policy is wrong.  It is likely that it will do no such thing.  The money is likely to be used to reimburse hospitals and other medical providers for the unpaid bills left by tourists and little else.   Tourists will probably still be responsible for paying for their own health care.

Lopburi3 is a long-standing and very knowledgeable member of TV. I would take his word for it when he says that no type of extension requires that the holder have health insurance, especially when it is his word against that of a salesman.  Don’t be conned.

Sorry.  I have lost track.  Why would anyone want to switch from an extension of stay to an O visa?

Wow!  This thread must contain the most confusion about visa terminology that I have ever seen on ThaiVisa!

Since the age of 70, I have lived in Bangkok on continuous one-year extensions and during that time have paid 12-13 million for various health care charges to a hospital that has raised its fees to a gross overcharge level.  Last year, I paid more than the maximum listed amount for a colonoscopy ($800.)  I no longer use that hospital and am now paying 33% of what that hospital charges for everything.  I am able to self-finance my health care costs and do not want to pay for extra insurance costs to cover people who can not self insure.  If I were to be required to pay that insurance fee, I would be forced to limit my length of stay to 180 days or less and seek my medical care back in Japan where I need only pay 10% of all my medical and dental costs.  That would be too bad because I enjoy living in Bangkok nine months of the year.

I always go in just after lunch and usually find that there are a lot of queue numbers to which nobody responds.  I get my extension and re-entry and am usually out by 4:00.  I have all of the forms on my computer ready to print out once I edit the appropriate data.  I file my 90-day reports by mail.  I just print out the TM-47 and mail it with the appropriate copies and previous 90-day receipt.  It costs me 51 baht and takes about 15 minutes of preparation.  From my point of view, using an agent is only a little less troublesome but then I am used to doing the paperwork.  Some people are not used to doing paperwork and feel more confident if someone does it for them.  To each his own!

I recommend viewing Studio Brule on You tube regarding feminism.  I am not sure whether giving the name of the channel is permitted on TV.  If it is removed, send me a PM and I will send you the URL.

I have been very unhappy with the cost and quality of my dental work in Thailand until my last procedure, the installation of an implant, which was done well at St. Louis.

Noticing that the dollar - baht rate was up slightly, I did my monthly $2,200 transfer from Fidelity yesterday.  Was charged the $30 transfer fee as usual.  I can’t seem to get fee waived until I submit the wire transfer form with the “medallion” signature that can only be done in CONUS.  Nuts!

You were unlucky about the lack of senior officers.  Maybe they are attending the coronation. Like you, I was not asked for a TM 30 but did need to sign the two new forms and draw a rudimentary map of the location of my apartment.  Last month when everyone was onboard, my application was processed very quickly.  I asked a clerk at the re-entry desk if he could expedite my permit and he did!  No money involved.

I presented two financial documents at Chaeng Wattana when I received my one-year extension earlier this month: a bank-certified statement of my past six months’ transactions which included transfers from abroad of over 65,000 baht for the months of January, February and March and a statement from the bank certifying my ownership of the account.  I obtained these from the branch at Indra Square two weeks prior to the submission of my application although my account is located at the Phantip branch.  The immigration officer required me to get a new document certifying my ownership of the account dated the day of my application.  This was easily done at the Bangkok Bank branch downstairs.  Each document cost me 100 baht.  These two documents were accepted as proof of my retirement income. No proof of the source of my funds was required.   I think that offices that require documentation of the source of the funds transferred into Thailand are either willingly or unwillingly misinterpreting the police order.  Ubonjoe has posted the pertinent wording of the police order and it does not state that the funds must only come from pensions.

I was not required to show the source of my monthly 65,000 baht FTT transfers earlier this month at Chaeng Wattana.