BigStar

On 10/26/2019 at 10:43 AM, Old Croc said:

A popular refrain, particularly for those living in areas where their local IOs are business like, organized and don't treat their clients as enemies or potential scam targets.

I (and wife) have been stuffed around by the local IOs on numerous occasions. Refusal to accept documentation until some new requirement is met is common. The most annoying prank they pulled was the personal information form that required details like banking and other personal financial dealings, social contacts, venues patronized and even the name and address of my "headman" in my home country.

However, Immigration is not always the worse part of the extension process. This year the visit to my bank to simply have the bankbook updated, get a statement of my account and a short letter about funds, took about 1 1/2 hours.  When my turn for service came the only available customer officer went to lunch, leaving me sitting there fuming. When I was finally served, the lengthy process involved taking several copies of my passport, the filling in of numerus forms, many signatures, much photocopying and payment of several fees amounting to hundreds of baht.  

The extension process is not just about the time taken when Immigration is finally satisfied with the documentation. The banks (and now insurance companies) are co-conspirators in the scams.

 

 

Not only did you have to get out of your armchair and waste a trivial amount of time when your time is SO critical to the survival of the world economy, but you also spent "hundreds of baht," which of course represented a "scam." ???? OMG. What I could do with hundreds of baht . . . .

 

So tragic. How can we alleviate some of this suffering? I filled in the forms years ago on my computer and just change the dates and print out fresh copies. My phone number is also preprinted on the forms. When I learn about a new form, I do the same. What with signing, that takes about 10 minutes, once a year.

 

On my way to the Immigration office I stop by an ATM and update my passbook if need be. Went to the bank the day before and BTW withdrew some good spending money. I bring along a music player, tablet, Kindle, or good book to pass pleasantly any waiting time. I might also have lunch and/or beers in a nearby resto. ???? I'm dressed neatly in long pants and golf shirt, not that stupid "checked shirt (shirt out and hanging over fat gut) and cargo pants" uniform. I smile and greet the IO when my number is called, he/she gets my neatly typed, easily read copies, spends a minute looking them over and I'm done for that day. Time to relax! Which can take many forms here in LOS.

 

I seldom go for 90 day reports as I pay a motorcy man to go do it for me or use other means.

 

Now this HUGE effort and having to do something new once in a while is infinitely small compared to dealing w/ paperwork and paying bureaucrats back in the West. Remember? Types of Tax in UK. Oh, you wish it was "hundreds of baht" not thousands of pounds and not a scam. ????

 

Note we never compare Thailand w/ the most comparable country in the region with a similar level of development, Malaysia. Why's that? Malaysia is SO expat-friendly. You're loved purely for your wonderful self there, true loved. Lovely beaches, friendly people, food, lovely women. Check out that retirement program just to lure in expats, unlike hostile Thailand. Yeah, MM2H, bee's knees. Then you notice the, ah, paperwork and financial requirements for all that love. ???? But, of course, no health insurance required, right? Whoops.

 

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MM2H will have certain eligibility requirements they need to meet like passing a medical evaluation and showing proof of financial stability. Additionally, approved applicants and all dependents must be covered by international health insurance that is valid in Malaysia.

 

And try opening a bank account if you're not in the program or don't have work permit. Whoops.

 

I think I'll just continue living here, LOL. It's so manageable with so many conveniences. ????

 

41 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

The difference is that someone living in Florida would get the discount, regardless of country of origin.

 

He is a local in Thailand but it is a discount for native Thais, not a locals discount.

 

A discount for all locals would avoid the feeling of being ripped off and insulted, which is a result of letting some locals like his wife and kids in for the low rate and the husband who is also a local has to pay the high rate.

 

 

The difference is that Thais define "local" as Thai, regardless of country of origin. Hence any farang with a Thai ID card gets the Thai price as well. You can read about the process of getting one for yourself here: 

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/121353-story-of-my-thai-citizenship-application

 

Nothing to do with race either, except foreign Asians who look Thai are often mistaken for Thai. That's annoying, but it avoids the inconvenience and possibly lines of people all showing their ID cards or lack thereof for small profit.

 

So no need to feel ripped off and insulted, now that you know how it really works. ????

1 hour ago, Thomas J said:

Yes they do but not to verify income. 

At the desk where they check your other documents, they also verify your income by checking whether your submitted bank records and bank letter meet their requirements.

2 hours ago, Thomas J said:

Consider, if you are from the USA and I would guess it is the same with other countries if you want an OA visa you apply at the Thai Embassy in that country.  It is then the responsibility of the Thai Embassy in that country to verify that you meet the income requirements before issuing the visa.

 

 

And so they do. Applicants submit a certified bank statement of the required income.

 

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The Thai immigration offices should have an area where you bring in your bank statements, or tax returns to verify your income.  That is the simplest and most efficient solution.  But this is government .  That says all it needs to about making sense or being efficient. 

 

But they already have such desk. And there you will bring your bankbook, copies, and a letter from the bank. Not tax returns. Efficient enough and certainly sensible. It would probably be more efficient and sensible for you to read and understand the system and new requirements before posting.  

1 hour ago, Thomas J said:

To me, the whole idea of verification of income should lie with Thailand.  They are the ones who establish the rules for the Visa.

 

 

The embassies agreed. Fortunately, Thailand will now be verifying, just they've been doing all along w/ the deposit method. :)

 

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  Seems pretty simple to me. 

1

 

Yep, really is. Dunno why so many here find it so complicated except that they want to.  

4 hours ago, DogNo1 said:

Actually, it would have been simpler if immigration had just continued accepting the proof of income that they had been accepting all along.

 

Not for everyone, actually. Some find this much better. Saves a trip to the embassy, transfers are cheap via ACH, and withdrawals will be much cheaper from a Thai account. 

 

But you see they didn't continue accepting the old proof of income. Why didn't they simplify it to just accept your word only, phoned in? Why fool around with any documents or appearances. Yeah!

 

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 In my case that was regular retirement income shown on my USAA checking statement.

Oh, your USAA checking statement was accepted in lieu of the embassy letter? This is news. Should have let us all know about that before.

 

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If all of the cash-advance money were deposited into my Bangkok Bank within five minutes of the cash being produced, how would that not qualify as a transfer of funds from a foreign source?

 

For you, it qualifies. Which is cool.????  For TI, no, because it won't be shown in your bankbook as a transfer from a foreign source. Now you could deposit B800,000 of cash-advance money five minutes after the cash is produced if it's then kept in the account for the 3 months before you apply for your extension. Then the foreign bit all goes away. Are we done yet? 

40 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

1. I specifically mentioned the new monthly transfers into Thai bank aspect applied for people WITHOUT Embassy income letters. 

 

NOT in the paragraph I quoted that claimed "FULLY" complying--w/o mention of the letter. The HONESTLY appears to have evoked some disagreement as to interpretation. Did you HONESTLY sign an affidavit and HONESTLY present it to TI? Oh, yes. ???? And some can still do so. For the others, it's water under the bridge now.

 

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2. The combo method is only available for retirement extensions, not for marriage extensions. So it's not, as you said, available to "anyone."

And the context of that little discussion was for retirement extensions. ???? Yawn.

 

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The rule BEFORE was you had to have 65,000 baht of income, but you didn't have to show it arriving into Thailand each and every month. It could stay entirely in home country accounts and be spent here by ATM withdrawals, debit or credit card transactions, etc etc...  And that was FULLY and HONESTLY complying with the rules.

 

It seems you don't know what all the rules were, and are, as you've entirely omitted the rule about the income affidavit from your embassy. If your embassy still offers the letter, then you can comply with that rule now. If not, then you have the new option of proven int'l transfers. It's a red herring to chant that these don't prove your income. Nor do the embassy affidavits. The point is that TI also now defines the transfers + bank letter as the evidence of your income.

 

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NOW, for those without Embassy income letters relying on monthly income, the money has to be transferred monthly into Thailand and deposited into a Thai bank regardless. Doesn't matter if you need all of that amount or not.

 

Yup. But you've conveniently omitted the combo method that allows anyone to transfer the amount normally needed, with appropriate seasoned balance in a bank account--which can also be spent after the extension is granted. 

 

It's nice of you to note that the new rule may mean less convenience for those without the income affidavits from their embassies. It's about time after all these pages that somebody said that! FINALLY. Of course, for some it's actually more convenient and cheaper as well, another omission.  Now that we finally got that out, shall we move on? 

37 minutes ago, mlmcleod said:

The ignored portion of these rules is that now every expat utilizing the monthly income method must transfer at least 65K baht to a Thai bank every month. 

Who's ignored that? Why do think we have 29 pages filled with squawks?

 

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This appears to be a huge win for the Thai banking industry.  As an American, I have always used my American credit union for banking.  I use any ATM I want at no charge.  The only difference now is that I have to use a Thai bank and put up with all the miscellaneous charges that they deem necessary. 

*Nitnoi. Get used to using Thai debit/credit cards. ???? You can get a secured credit card, BTW. 

 

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Every American with Social Security has the ability to provide a certification letter from SSA showing the pension amount and the payments made every month. 

The certification letter from SSA doesn't show transfer to a Thai bank. And the average monthly SSA benefit falls about $700 short of the amount needed.

 

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The bank book method is just cumbersome and subject to the whims of Thai immigration.  Of course the documentation requirements will be high so they can fill another warehouse with unread and useless paper.

Not as cumbersome as going down to the Embassy every year. Besides, you always had to provide the same documentation if requested. I think they will read the paper, as they always do with the deposit method. If you really believe they won't, then just give them the same copies yearly. Nor is the warehousing any concern of yours. The non-sequitur "so" is just the usual silly bash; get over it.

 

1 hour ago, Jim7777 said:

Finally some extremely good news!  No more trips to the embassy every year I get my extensions, from now on I just make a short trip down the street to my local Bangkok Bank branch.  Just have to make sure I make the transfers into Bangkok Bank every payday once a month which is fine because it's actually saving me money in ATM fees by using Bangkok Bank instead of my stateside bank.  I just simply transfer half of my monthly pension payments into Bangkok Bank once a month every payday which is equivalent to about 75,000 baht a month and that's just half of my monthly income.  The rest of it I just leave in my bank in the states.  That's not so bad this is actually good news for a lot of us.  

 

 

On 9/18/2018 at 9:44 AM, PerkinsCuthbert said:

Always fun when the aged TV warriors start the "I've been here here since Methuselah was born" nonsense, as if longevity automatically infuses wisdom. 

 

What they want to hear is what they never get enough of: Thai bashing from a viewpoint of moral, cultural, and intellectual (!) superiority. The article had none so is therefore most unsatisfying.

This "issue" by an as-yet-untested blogger reminds me of a kid who needs to spend lots of time sharpening all his pencils to postpone doing his homework.

I think before investing a lot of time on the blogging platform, maybe writing your own , better just do some blogging first and see if you've really got anything to say that anybody cares to read. You probably don't, same as most bloggers who find their hopes disappointed.

So just register with a free blogging site, which can be done instantly--some of these offer an ecommerce option--and get to it NOW. If, as is unlikely, you have any success, you can just move your blog later. Or before bringing out the big guns, like Wordpress, you can start modestly with a couple of plugins for a fast & easy flat file CMS like Gpeasy or Getsimple. Yes, these have responsive templates. If you want to mess around, mess around with the template. Good luck!

has anyone used Soi Berkow hospital yet ,how good are they?

Very good indeed. Brit friend of mine went there to die of AIDS after years of not using condoms. Cost a pittance, stayed in a common ward for a week meeting charming Thais for a most successful demise. No hassles about his lengthy overstay, and he exited Thailand peacefully without bothering with tiresome Immigration officials and paying them one satang.

Bonus is that Wat Sawangfa is quite nearby with full service cremation facilities and chanting monks, and a body can be just loaded onto a baht bus for the delivery there, as it's on the route. All the old favorite bar girls can easily find it and attend the ceremony. So he did take advantage of that added convenience as well.

Highly recommended.

No trust law in Thailand, can't establish trusts as in the UK.

I wonder if there's any way to establish a pseudo-trust for a beneficiary, somewhat reminiscent of the property agreements farangs make w/ their Thai wives. Say, (just to throw out something), make a loan agreement w/ a Thai whereby the Thai borrows a sum of money that must be invested in a certain way, and will receive a regular payment, until such time as the "loan" must be repaid or given to the beneficiary who reaches a certain age. Maybe it could be done thru a company kind of structure. Difficulty as always is how to ensure the Thai doesn't just take the money and run.

Any point in talking to somebody like Sunbelt about this or a reputable lawyer?

I know three people who have bought government bonds for visa reasons. Two never got a penny back but the third one did though it took a good year and he refuses to say how much it cost him in legal fees to do so.

Seriously? The redemption procedure seems quite straightforward:

http://www.bot.or.th/English/FinancialMarkets/DebtSecuritiesServices/DebtSecuritiesServices_OwnershipTransfer/Pages/Redemption.aspx

I have the possibility of receiving payments from online purchasers of an intangible product sold abroad. For various reasons, it's more convenient that payments not go directly to me.

We're not talking about a large amount, maybe $500-$1000 per month, if that.

Anybody established a Thai company for a similar purpose? Establish a bank account for the company (difficult?) and then an account at, say, Thaiepay? What would be the Thai tax implications?

Another idea would be to use the Thai company to open a bank account in Singapore and recieve payments there. I wonder if that is possible.