DogNo1

My USA bank will rush a new card to me here if I have a problem such as losing my card, etc.  I wonder if the Scottish bank would do that for him.

If you object to the cashier, s/he will check on it.  If they have mistakenly charged you will sometimes get it for free if you involve a manager.  At the least, you get the correct price.

Iherb packages can't exceed four pounds. It's a bit of a bother but you can break up what you want into two or more orders.  Iherb warns you if a particular supplement can't be imported. I forgot the prohibition on Chia Seed and ordered some capsules of Chia Seed from Swanson because I don't like to grind it myself.  It was held up in customs for two weeks until I submitted the "for personal use only" document suggested by FedEx.  I finally got everything but the customs clearance cost was a little more than the supplements cost me. It's best to use iHerb because they protect you from such mistakes.  I've been using iHerb for many years. They have quality products and quick and cheap shipping.

I suggest that you try out your income stream from a company that you own in your home country and work out all of the kinks before you settle in to live in Thailand.  Your plan to keep your money abroad is sound.  The unexpected can always happen so it would be good to have a Plan B. I could tell you stories of people whose financial plans went south but I'm sure that you can imagine them. So far as setting up a company in Thailand, please research thoroughly.  If you search through ThaiVisa, you will find lots of business failure stories.   You can search on Google and it will bring up links to the ThaiVisa pages. Your biggest threat is psychological - that of confirmation bias.  You can unwittingly disregard negative facts that might influence your wish to move to Thailand before you have adequate financial resources to do so.  I have seen my own daughter lose her entire $125,000 investment in a cell phone business and my ex-wife scammed out of her life savings TWICE.  So be careful.

What good news!  May all of your applications be accepted so smoothly.  If you plan to do one-year extensions in the future, now is the perfect time to prepare to meet the financial requirements.  You can either put a 400,000 lump sum in a bank immediately or start to transfer 40,000 monthly from a foreign source into your Thai bank account.  The transfer code in your bank book must indicate that the money is coming from a foreign source. The code that shows in my Bangkok Bank pass book is FTT.

My understanding is that only the 65,000 per month retirement income transferred monthly to a Thai bank in order to get the retirement extension is subject to the condition that it must be sourced from provable (if asked) retirement INCOME in the home country.  That condition does not appear to apply to the lump sum 800,000 and 400,000 in the bank method.

I sign all of my copies in advance. The applicant who was told to come back in 90 days was obviously using the lump sum in the bank method.  I chose the monthly transfer of 65,000 baht into Bangkok Bank to avoid that.  Also, I get to spend the money right away rather than have it sit in the bank.

I will be transferring 780,000 baht's worth of my retirement income into Thailand each year.  My retirement income is taxable and I pay tax on it in the USA.  The Thai Government requires (but as of now doesn't check closely) that the money that you transfer into the country comes from retirement INCOME, not savings.  Technically, it can't have been made in a previous year so it can't meet that particular Thai tax exemption. It may not be Thai practice to tax foreign-earned income but what is the law?  Two years ago, none of us were worried about paying tax to Japan for our foreign-earned income but now we are.  The new law taxing foreign-earned income was passed in 2017.  The Japanese Financial Times, the Nikei Shimbun and other economic newspapers stated that one objective of the law was to catch wealthy Japanese tax evaders who stashed their money abroad.  As we have seen recently, Thai immigration policy can suddenly change.  So, I assume, can Thai tax law.

I don't know Thai tax law but certainly there must be a foreign earned income exclusion.  I wonder if it would be equal to or higher than 800,000.  Does anyone know?

I have and always will pay all that I owe to the US IRS.  What I am worried about is what authority Japan and Thailand have to seize my money in the US or to arrest me for tax evasion.  Could I be extradited to Japan or Thailand to stand trial if they accuse me of tax evasion? Japan has recently revised their inheritance tax law to apply to former residents of Japan for ten years after they leave.  If anyone doubts that Japan is prepared to deal harshly with foreigners who they accuse of breaking the law only needs to view the news about the arrest and re-arrest of Carlos Ghosn.  Fortunately his wife was able to escape to Paris even though her passport was seized.  

So far as I know, the Thai and Japanese authorities do not have that power now.  I keep little money in Japan and Thailand so I don't care if they seize my local assets.  What I am worried about is my funds in the US and my daughter's inheritance of them.  She lives in the US and I have warned her never to set foot on Japanese territory including Japanese embassies and consulates.  The Japanese tax on her inheritance would be 50%!

Well, Japan has a new tax law that requires Japan residents to report their worldwide assets and pay tax on worldwide income.  Supposedly the new law is meant to collect tax from wealthy Japanese who have squirreled their money away overseas.  I am an American resident of Japan but until this year I have only reported and paid tax on my Japanese income.  I don’t yet know the peculiarities of the new Japanese tax return but because the USA and Japan have a tax treaty, I may not have to pay any Japanese federal tax but the worry is the city tax which is quite high.  To file, I would probably need to hire a Japanese accountant which could be quite expensive.  In addition, long-term residents will have to pay an exit tax based on their total wealth starting in June 2020.  I mention all this because I have been planning to flee to Thailand later this year.  It looks as though Thailand may be planning to enforce the worldwide asset reporting to collect tax from wealthy Thais who keep their money overseas, especially in tax haven countries.  If this comes to pass, it will cause trouble and extra expense for Americans who will then need to file two returns even though no tax may be payable due to the Thai-US tax treaty.

I have never spent any US-earned income in Japan and have never spent any money earned in the current tax year in Thailand.  The bulk of my pension funds and investments are located in the US.

The bottom line of all this is the enforcement power of Japan and Thailand.  In Japan, the penalty for not declaring your worldwide assets is a $5,000 fine and/or a year in jail. The power of the prosecutors in Japan is formidable.  I hope that Thailand will retain its policy of not requiring foreign tax residents to report income from overseas but you never know.  It may follow Japan’s lead in order to ensnare wealthy Thais who keep their money off shore.

It is quite easy to get medicine that you need at St. Louis Hospital.  Immediately after you enter the front (not side) entrance the pharmacy is on the left.  I think that it has an English sign that says "Medicine" over the door.  Prescribing doctors are on duty at all times.  Just go to the nurses' station on the left and tell a nurse what you need.  She will take your vitals and give you a queue number.  There was no one waiting when I went there and the doctor agreed that he could prescribe what I wanted -Zolpidem (Ambien) 10 mg.  The pharmacy won't be able to give you more than 100 tablets which is a little over a three months' supply for me.  I had been paying Bumrungrad 77 baht per tablet.  At St. Louis the cost was 22 baht.

Trazodone was mentioned earlier.  It is indeed a potent CNS depressant but one of its side effects is deafness.  I think that it caused the temporary deafness in my left ear.  I immediately went to a doctor who confirmed the deafness and gave me some nasty-tasting medicine plus a high dose of vitamin B12 which brought my hearing back within about three weeks.  I presently take Ambien for sleeping problems.  It wears off after about 10 hours or so.  I would prefer to take Temazepam which wears off in 8 hours,  Optimum functioning during your waking hours is important and long-acting depressants like Diazepam can dim your vision and spatial awareness when you don't want them to be dimmed.  Anybody thinking of taking Trazodone would be well advised to read through its side effects first.  People who lose their hearing and don't receive prompt treatment can become permanently deaf.

Yes, the statement proving my ownership of the account is the one that had to be issued by the CW Bangkok Bank branch.  Apparently the officer at the Indra Square Branch used the wrong form.  I regret not getting a photocopy of it to post as an example.  The FTT transactions were underlined by the IO on the six-month statement of transactions stamped and signed by the bank officer.  What was notable to me was that I had to update my bank book on that day and show it to the IO.   No photocopy was needed though.

One detail that I left out was that I was required to draw a map locating where I lived.  I just drew three pairs of parallel lines showing Ploenchit Road, Ratchadamri Road and Soi Mahatlek Luang 1 with a box representing the location of Grande Centre Point.  That was accepted. 

When I lived in Chiang Mai, I knew a girl who collected a year-round salary from three different men.  One was a sea captain who also built her a house and another a white South African soldier.  I never met the third one.  She managed to schedule things so they didn't run in to one another.  She wanted me to be her local farang.  She was at loose ends with two small children and not really knowing what she wanted to do with her life.  I felt rather sorry for her.  She was good-looking and of at least average intelligence.  Perhaps that's why her girlfriends did not help her to stabilize.  If you read the various book by professional researchers such as "Patpong Sisters," it seems that relationships with other bar girls and boys form their relationship universe. They certainly can't trust fickle farangs.

You must transfer at least 65,000 into your THAI bank account EVERY month or have money in your bank account plus and amount transferred in each month so that together they meet the combo method or deposit 800,000 in a Thai bank so that it will be there two months before and three months after your extension and then never be drawn down to less than 40,000.

Incidentally, O-A visas can only be issued in your home country.

Also, you seem to believe that money in your Aus banks can certify retirement income.  Only money in a Thai bank can do that.

I failed to see an IO today.  I went just after lunch as I usually do and was given queue #174.  The lady at the desk said that there would be no possibility to submit my application today since the IOs were just then working on #74.  She recommended that I come back tomorrow at 0730.  It seems that the people who could expedite your paperwork for a fee are no longer there or at least I couldn't find them. I am debating whether to go tomorrow or wait until a date later in the month.   My extension expires on May 13th so I have some time.

Immigration was absolutely mobbed today in all departments and the traffic out and back was horrific.  Perhaps after Songkran will be better.  I would appreciate your opinion, Ubonjoe.

Well, it is not easy to search on ThaiVisa but there are, many, many mentions of the six-month validity of the embassy letter.

Thanks, Joe.  Scratch the non-OA in Penang and Savannakhet.

I will not show my American bank statements unless they are asked for.  Also, thanks for the heads up about the non-O-A retirement visas available in Penang and Savannakhet.  I'll keep those places in mind if I need to fall back to option C. 

I do not have 800,00 on deposit did not make 65,000 baht transfers prior to January when the new rules came into effect. The Bangkok Bank officer did seem to know what I needed and stamped and signed the document certifying my transactions for the last six months.

I will report my experience on Wednesday night or Thursday.

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.