DogNo1

tracy3eyes:  I hope that immigration will be understanding of your reasons for not starting your transfers until June. Is there a way that you could deposit 800,000 two months before your renewal date? If not, perhaps an agent could be hired to facilitate immigration's leniency this year.  Next year you would have the full 12 months required.

I have bought two "Refurbished - Like New"  MS Surfaces on Amazon when I was on trips to the USA.  The 17 inch i7 Surface Book works as well as any desktop I've owned.  It's amazing how they were able to fit the i7 proc, 16 GB of memory and a 1 TB SSD into that tablet.  It streams very well with a cable, but not so well wirelessly.  The real champ is my 10.5 inch Surface Pro.  Its wireless is great and it streams an HD image to my LG bigscreen.   I don't do much else but stream with it because of my big fingers and weak eyes.  I can use the Windows pen to do other work but for streaming I find it preferable to the Android boxes, especially because ExpressVPN runs reliably on it and I can place myself in LA to get all of those US programs that won't stream overseas.  This July, while I am in LA, I will buy some more Surfaces, especially the 13- inch one which will be ideal for working in bed.  I have iPads and Android machines too but just find everything easier to do with the Windows OS.   BTW, the refurbished machines have been like new.  They were a great deal and Amazon got them to my American hotel the afternoon after I ordered them!

Yes.  I'll hold back the home country statements and only show them if they are asked for.

Yes.  I guessed wrong that proof of income in one's home country would be acceptable so I didn't get an affidavit of income from the US Embassy.

I plan to apply for an extension of my one-year permission to stay based on retirement on April 3rd so, as I went to the Indra Square Branch of Bangkok Bank today to withdraw money from my account, I decided to get my financial documents at the same time.  For 100 baht each, I got a statement of my transactions for the past six months and a statement certifying my ownership of the account which showed its present balance.  Among the transactions listed are foreign transfers into the account of over 65,000 baht in the months of January, February and March.  I plan to take these documents along with three month's statements from my American bank showing that I have over 65,000 baht's worth of dollars deposited to my account from pension-like sources each month (SS, CALSTRS and a retirement annuity.)  I will present these along with the other documents that I have submitted each year and hope that I will receive my extension of stay without problem.  In the past, like so many others, I used the embassy affidavit to prove my retirement income.  I have never had a problem in the past at Chaeng Wattana and hope that will not have one this time either.

PIB:  I’m confused about your getting your bank letter at CW.  I am using the 65,000 per month FTT method.  My understanding was that I must get the certification of my bank book and the bank letter at my home branch (Phantip on Phetburi.)  Perhaps the CW source of the letter is OK for those using the 800,000 in the bank method (?)  I have just done my FTT for March and plan tp apply for my extension on April 3rd so I am planning on getting my bank letter and bank book certification from the branch at Phantip next week.  My understanding is that I only need to have my foreign transfers verified, not my bank balance on the day that I apply.  Under the rules, I can spend as much of my money as I like so long as I have monthly foreign transfers of 65,000 or more.  Please advise.

The non-O-A visa will have an enter date stamped on it.  There is no 90-day reporting when you are out of the country.  You only report when you spend 90 days in the country.  On-line reporting and reporting by mail are both available but you must report to the immigration office responsible for where you live.  Someone will come along shortly to tell you the length of time that you get to enter with an O-A visa.  I don't remember.

Let's not forget that the Dutch, the French and the Spanish also played a role in the colonizing of America.  Personally, I'm an Anglophile and like reading about the history of Britain.  The history of France and Britain are wound together in interesting ways.  My understanding is that Britain was rather poor but grew rich from the booty of the privateers who stole a huge amount from Spanish ships and settlements.  Check out the histories of Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh who were actually pirates licensed as privateers by Elizabeth I.

I have mailed my report for the last 3-4 years.  It costs me 40 baht each time.  36 baht for the registered mail and 4 baht for the stamp on the return envelope.

Well, overpopulation is certainly a problem.  Warnings of worldwide famine were issued by The Council of Rome in the 50's but the green revolution obviate that problem for a while.  Now the danger caused by overpopulation is to the climate.  Why is that not being discussed?

Perhaps there will be a natural correction with huge die-offs.  When there is a much smaller population, the climate will (possibly) recover.

Thanks, Joe.  Understood that a letter dated after the last transfer will be OK.

I just talked to a friend who extended his one-year permission to stay at Chaeng Wattana last Tuesday using the 800,000 in the bank method.  He presented a bank letter written the day before his application and it was accepted without comment.

I read somewhere that the redone software will make the pitch correction smaller.  Maybe they will also reduce the weight on the stick making it easier for the pilots to pull the nose back up.  

Maybe the 14% fuel savings are not worth the danger caused by the plane’s altered C of G.  We’ll have to see how the clever minds at Boeing fix the problem.  BTW, my son-in-law works as an engineer there but only works on electrical systems, not aircraft design.

I thought a bank letter from the day before the application was acceptable.  Is this not so?

Uponjoe:  The three months of 65,000 foreign transfers should be OK for this year, right?  I will have 12 months of transfers next year.

I will be going to Chang Wattana in April to renew my one-year permission to stay using the monthly 65,000 baht income method.  I will have a letter from my Bangkok Bank branch showing FTT transfers since January.  I will have the other required documentation including three months’ statements from my American bank showing more than $4,000 deposited into the account from pension sources each month.  I am a little worried in light of the various posts regarding renewal denials at various other offices.  I don't want to deposit 800,000 baht unless I have to but will use that as a fallback method if my renewal is denied on the basis of the three months being too few.

Not to usurp Ubonjoe's reply but your understanding is correct.  The source of the lump sum doesn't need to be proven but the monthly remittances of, as appropriate, 40,000 or 65,000 must show that they come from a foreign source.  Some remittance services don't reliably transfer the funds from a foreign source but from local partner banks.  SWIFT transfers always show that they are foreign transfers.  These is some discussion of how to get extra paperwork to prove that your transfer was from a foreign source on other threads.  I always use a SWIFT transfer from US-based Fidelity which shows up coded FTT in my account passbook.

This phenomenon has been discussed many times before.  With the philosophy "Jai Yen," there is no room for being moderately angry so people in Thailand have to hold everything inside until they can't stand it anymore.  In America, there are anger management classes everywhere.  In cases of spousal abuse, judges sometimes sentence the abuser to anger management classes.  For hot-tempered people like me, anger management instruction and psychotherapy in the form of Psychodrama were a big help when I first returned from Vietnam.  Psychodrama, in which you get observe a person reacting in calmer way to what irritates you, is very helpful.  Is any counseling even available to people with anger problems in Thailand?  I haven't heard of it.

Well, personally, I make every effort to be polite and cooperative with people who hold my fate in their hands.  Several years ago, I wrote the number of my original visa on my entry/exit card.  The male immigration officer seemed irritated at my mistake and snapped, "Write the number of your extension here!"  My comment was, "Sorry.  I didn't know."  He looked through my passport and stamped me in without further comment.  My simple mistake didn't develop into a crisis.  

I'm not always able to remain cool in the face of mistakes but I make a strong effort to be pleasant at immigration.

For bank wires to a foreign bank, you must call Fidelity every time even if you have a standing order.  I recommend calling their direct service number, entering your SSN and when the system asks what the call is about say “bank wire.”  That will take you directly to the bank wire representative.  Only domestic wires and transfers can be done on line and automated.

Fidelity will transfer US dollars.  Bangkok Bank converts into baht for a fee.  I wire $2,200 and I am charged 200 baht.  Be careful!  If you tell Fidelity to transfer baht, there is a 3% foreign transaction fee.   BTW, thanks choudoufu for letting us know that Fidelity has a way to verify our identities and accept the standing order without the Medallion raised seal.

Note to Fidelity clients: You can bypass the Medallion requirement if you have a US-based financial advisor.  Just sign the bank wire standing order, probably best done with blue ink, scan it into a PDF, and email it to your advisor.  Make sure that the standing order is attached to your cash management account.  There is a $30 charge for wires from advised accounts.  Clients with advised accounts can open a separate cash management account online.  Only wires from an individual's cash management are free.

The book Life in a Japanese Hospital discusses the suffering caused to patients who are dying of cancer but don't know why they are dying.  Doctors in Japan didn't used to tell their patients.  I think things have changed somewhat now.  Personally, I would like to know my prognosis but it would be best if someone broke the news to me gently.  There are doctors who don't have a good bedside manner 

I have a question about wire transfer fees.  There have been numerous posts indictating that Fidelity Cash Management Account holders are able to wire money to a Thai bank for free ($0.)  I was charged $30 for a $2,200 wire transfer to Bangkok Bank on February 11th.  I have inquired several times each of Fidelity Direct and of my NY-based financial advisor (LLFA) the reason why I am being charged when everyone whom I know in Thailand says that their wire transfers are free.  Fidelity says that the $30 is a fee charged by my advisor; my advisor says that the money doesn't come to him but that it is charged by Fidelity.  The only explanation that I can imagine for the discrepancy is that the people who are getting free transfers are in fact using domestic bank-to-bank transfers which will be free until April 1.  After that they will not be accepted by Bangkok Bank. People will then need to pay Fidelity $30 for the transfer or use a transfer service that may unpredictably transfer the money from another Thai Bank resulting in the wrong transfer code posted by the receiving bank.  The required transfer code is FTT.

Could anyone who has knowledge of the Fidelity transfer procedures please comment?