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DogNo1

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Posts posted by DogNo1

  1. Is any sized SSA return letter for the 90 day report OK?  This time I had only a  #9 envelope and affixed my 10 Baht stamp to it.   I usually send a #7 envelope.  I hope that the larger sized envelope does make the 10 Baht postage insufficient.  Immigration doesn't specify an envelope size and 10 Baht covers 100 grams and under.  Does anyone know if the envelope size and postage are OK?

  2. There can be a different due date for your 90-day report if your immigration office gives it to you.   This happens when I file by mail 15 days before the due date.  Otherwise, the 90-day report is due on the ninetieth day after you enter the country.  These dates have no relation to TM 30s or period of stay renewal dates.   I have always mailed in my 90-day reports and have never had a problem.   Some people don't like doing the paperwork but it always works whereas the online reporting sometimes doesn't work for a variety of reasons.  90-day reports should be mailed not later than fifteen days before the report is due.   I will be getting a new passport next year so I will go to report my 90 days in-country in person and have my stamps transferred to my new passport at the same time.   After that I'll go back to mail-ins.

     


    Of course, if you are over 5 days late in submitting your 90-day report, you must go in person and pay your 2,000 baht fine.

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  3. The more things change, the more they stay the same.   Visit Vietnam and read the newspaper Tuoi Tre.  The pages are full of reports of various cruel scams.  I'm a Vietnam veteran 66-69.  My ex-wife was Vietnamese.  She has been scammed twice by other women who took everything.  Some of the cruelest scams are the false marriage scams perpetrated by Chinese women who charge large sums to recruit people who will pretend to be marriage partners for Chinese who want a fiancé visa to get to the US.  She pays Americans to visit the prospective spouse in China.  After the Americans return to the US, she disappears with all of the money that the Chinese have paid.  I have read letters that the Chinese have written to the American scammers.  They are truly pitiful.  
    One of the cruel scams that I remember in Saigon was that of various clinics that sprang up in Saigon offering expensive injections to make childless women pregnant. The women's bellies swelled but none became pregnant.  All of the clinics disappeared..  Plus la change, quelque la meme chose! 

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  4. My grandfather was a GP doctor and surgeon in a small Pennsylvania town.  One day, while rushing to the hospital, he hit and killed a woman pedestrian.  His license was suspended for life but he was allowed to keep practicing medicine.  He had to hire a permanent chauffeur to drive him around for the rest of his life.  In his private practice, he treated a lot of farmers and laborers for free or for a very low fee so I think that he paid his debt to society in this way.  He also donated a wing to the town hospital.  He didn't have much money when he died.

     

    For this football player, I think that a judge should create an appropriate sentence that would included a life-long ban on driving.  That would impose a life-long tax on his income.  A long-term requirement for doing public service would also be appropriate.   His life doesn't need to be destroyed but he should pay appropriate penalties.

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  5. BA.4 has escaped immunity.  The antigens for earlier variants are not effective in stopping it.  There is a large wave of hospitalizations and deaths in NSW (Australia.)  Most of the victims had three or four shots.  The antigens that people who have recovered from earlier variants carry are not effective in stopping BA.4 and BA.5.   In the words of Dr. Fauci, who was sickened twice, there was "an immune escape."   In Dr. Fauci's case, although he recovered once, he was soon sickened again.  It seems that reinfection is a feature of BA.4 & BA.5.  Pfizer is supposedly working on a vaccine to protect against the new variants.   Many people in Thailand will probably get one of the new variants.  I wish that I weren't so old.  I'm taking my vitamin D and wearing my mask and hoping that I won't have bad symptoms when I get it.

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  6. My brokerage transfers the money on the day that I request it to the New York branch of Bangkok Bank.  It is received and posted to my bank account here the following working day at the rate for that day.  There is no settlement period.  Bangkok Bank charges me 200 baht to receive and convert the dollars to baht.  That's the only charge that I pay.  If Wise has a slightly better exchange rate, any advantage would be lessened by their transfer fee.  I transfer $2,300 each month.  Supposing that the Wise exchange rate is 0.5 baht better, I would get 1,500 plus 200 baht more by using Wise minus their transfer fee.  Out of curiosity, when I do my February international wire transfer, i will compare the Wise and Bangkok Bank rates on the day of the transfer.  Could somebody supply the amount that Wise charges to transfer $2,300?  I would like to calculate the advantage of using Wise.  

  7. I don’t take any chances.  I always do an international wire transfer (SWIFT) from my brokerage in USD to my Bangkok Bank account.  Brokerage charges me nothing and Bangkok Bank charges me 200 baht.  The rate is favorable.  There has never been an error and the transfer arrives one working day later.  I use the monthly 65,000 baht option so that I can spend the money immediately.  The downside is that I must telephone the brokerage to initiate the transfer every month.  There is a standing order on file so I don’t need to provide the details.  I just specify the amount in USD and my Bangkok Bank account.  Some people are willing to chance transfer errors to save a little money.  I am not.  Also, I never cut it close on the amount transferred and leave a generous margin to avoid an insufficient amount of baht transferred.  

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