What Order to do Stuff on first arrival

[Pilotman]

Some advice please. I will arrive in LOS in mid June on a O visa that I will use to enter and then get an extension based upon Retirement at the 90 day point. I have a list of things that I think I need to do, but I dont want to have to keep going back to various offices becuse I am doing them in the wrong order.  Open a bank account will be first and deposit the necessray funds for the extension at 90 days, but then the list is:

 

Get a yellow book

Get the medical cert for the extension sorted.

Get driving license for car and bike

Register at the new house we have bought ( we stay in a hotel for 3 days, then a villa for one month, then move to our new house)

Get a Thai pink ID

 

I have printed out all the relevant forms, but they are not easy to follow.

 

Any tips?

 

  

[ubonjoe]

There is no rush to get the yellow book. Whose blue house book would it be based upon?

No medical certificate is required to apply for an extension of stay based upon retirement. What financial proof would you be using? No mention of opening a bank account.

Probably best to concentrate on being ready to apply for the extension..

[Lamkyong]

39 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

There is no rush to get the yellow book. Whose blue house book would it be based upon?

No medical certificate is required to apply for an extension of stay based upon retirement. What financial proof would you be using? No mention of opening a bank account.

Probably best to concentrate on being ready to apply for the extension..

  (quote op)             Open a bank account will be first and deposit the necessary funds for the extension at 90 days, 

[skatewash]

 

This reminds me of the old puzzle: "A man has to get a fox, a chicken, and a sack of corn across a river. He has a rowboat, and it can only carry him and one other item..."

 

It is a good question to ask, though.

 

Quote

Open a bank account will be first and deposit the necessray funds for the extension at 90 days, but then the list is:

Yes, this should be your first priority.  You may have to try multiple branches before you are successful.  Having the non-O visa should help, but don't become discouraged if you find the bank branches you visit to be difficult about opening your account.  Your persistence should pay off eventually.  Try larger branches of banks and branches that you have some reason to believe might deal with more foreigners.  You might want to consider Bangkok Bank as one you try because they do have a nice mechanism for electronically transferring money from the UK into your account in Thailand.

Krungsri Bank, might also be worth a look, specifically their Mee Tae Dai savings account is nice:  a little higher interest rate than a typical savings account (but less than fixed term deposit), no automatic 15% interest withholding if you are in a fixed term account (meaning you won't have to claim back by filing a return with the Tax Office), is accepted by immigration for your retirement extension, doesn't have a term associated with it so it doesn't mature like a fixed term deposit, which can cause timing issues when seasoning for immigration extension), allows two free withdrawals for month (additional withdrawals are charged 50 Baht each), and interest is calculated daily so if you do withdrawal you don't lose any interest on the amount withdrawn (which is often not the case with a fixed term deposit).

 

 

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Get a yellow book

Put this on the back burner.  You will likely need your Blue Book that you get from the Land Office when you register your new house.  The primary benefit of the Yellow Book is that in some provinces it can be used in lieu of a certificate of residence obtained from immigration (or similar obtained from your embassy).  For example (in some provinces), you could use your Yellow Book to prove your address when obtaining driver's licenses at the Land Transport Office.  (Phuket is an example of a province where the LTO does not recognize the Yellow Book to prove your address, only a certificate of residence is accepted (or similar from your embassy)).

 

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Get the medical cert for the extension sorted.

Generally, you don't need this.  There may be only one or two immigration offices in the entire country that ask for this. 

 

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Get driving license for car and bike

You can legally drive in Thailand on your UK license if you also have a International Driver Permit (which you can obtain for not much in the UK) for a period of 90 days.  You could probably even get by solely on your UK driver's license (because it's in English) but you should really get a IDP while you are still in the UK, because you can use your UK licence and IDP to obtain a Thai driver's license without having to take the practical driving test (maybe also exempt from taking the written part too).  You want to make sure that you get your IDP in the UK endorsed for both car and motorcycle.  In Thailand these are separate licenses.  Having the IDP will definitely make the process of obtaining your Thai driver's licenses (car and motorcycle) much easier.

 

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Register at the new house we have bought ( we stay in a hotel for 3 days, then a villa for one month, then move to our new house)

I'm going to guess that by new house you mean new construction.  I'm also guessing that you are staying in a villa to wait for your new house to be finished.  That could be a problem.... I moved into my condo about 13 months after it was supposed to be finished.  During that year plus I had several promised finish dates that passed by without the condo actually being finished.  I wish you much better luck that I had.  When I finally did move into my new condo (I was the first one) I discovered that it didn't have an official address yet.  Long story, short:  I ended up using the address of my developer's business as my official address and getting copies of her blue book and Thai ID, which was accepted by immigration for my retirement extension.

 

Assuming you move in as scheduled... and assuming your new house actually has a address... and assuming you get a Blue Book from the Land Office... then, yes, you can file a T.M. 30 at immigration and get the receipt of your registration which you can use when doing your retirement extension to prove your address. 

 

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Get a Thai pink ID

You will need a Yellow Book to get this.  There are some amphoe's in Thailand that won't issue a yellow book to you even though they are supposed to.  There are some amphoe's in Thailand that won't issue you a Pink ID even though they are supposed to.  I got my Yellow Book without much hassle, but have been unable to get my Pink ID card.  It all depends on the amphoe where you live.  As a practical matter the yellow book can be useful in situations when you might have to prove your address (Land Transport Office, opening a bank account, etc.), but there's very little use for a Pink ID card.  Nice to have, certainly, but not the end of the world if you can't get one.

Edited June 8, 2017 by skatewash
Added info on Krungsri account.

[YetAnother]

9 hours ago, skatewash said:

You might want to consider Bangkok Bank as one you try because they do have a nice mechanism for electronically transferring money from the UK into your account in Thailand.

same with USA; that bank has served me well

[Mattd]

17 hours ago, Pilotman said:

Get the medical cert for the extension sorted.

Get driving license for car and bike

Actually, if it will be your first Thai driving license then you will need a medical for that, nothing fancy needed and low cost.

Others can advise better, but think you might need a medical certificate for each license, as well as a residency certificate for each.

What you haven't mentioned is where it is that you will live, as this will make a difference on what you will end up having to do.

Edited June 9, 2017 by Mattd

[Tanoshi]

First thing I did when I arrived was to file a TM30 at Immigration to advise taking up residence in their Province.

 

Second thing was to obtain 2 x 'Certificates of Residence' from my local Police Station. One to purchase a vehicle, one to obtain a Thai Driving Licence. A Medical certificate is also required for the DL.

 

I then applied for a Tabien Baan. In your case better to wait until you move into your permanent home.

Also consider registering with your local tax office. If you deposit your extension funds in a higher interest deposit account, the interest is taxed at 15%. Each year you can claim a refund on tax paid.

 

Also be aware of the requirement to formally notify Immigration of a change in address.

If you do to much to soon, you'll end up revisiting departments to change address on documents already obtained.

[Ace of Pop]

Good insurance n Bank acc first job


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[skatewash]

4 minutes ago, Mattd said:

Actually, if it will be your first Thai driving license then you will need a medical for that, nothing fancy needed and low cost.

Others can advise better, but think you might need a medical certificate for each license, as well as a residency certificate for each.

What you haven't mentioned is where it is that you will live, as this will make a difference on what you will end up having to do.

This is true.  

 

I believed the OP was talking about needing a medical certificate for purpose of his retirement extension, which in the very few (1 or 2) immigration offices where this might be required I think they require using a specific hospital to get the medical certificate.

The OP will need a medical certificate for obtaining the driver's license(s) at the Land Transport Office.  These can be obtained from any small clinic up to hospital and at least in my experience there was no examination and the cost was 100 - 300 Baht (Phuket prices ;-)).  If that sounds dodgy remember that they are looking for 5 very specific diseases (e.g., leprosy, elephantiasis, etc., which can be seen by visual inspection, I guess).  Since I was getting motorcycle and car licenses I got two medical certificates.  I also got two residence certificates from immigration (300 Baht each).  Could I have gotten by with one rather than two?  Maybe.  A lot depends on which Land Transport Office you need to go to, and quite frankly how the person you deal with feels that day.  My understanding is that there are separate applications for each driver's license so they could legally insist on two sets of documents.  Or they could accept one set of documents since you're making the application for both licenses at the same time.  Or they could accept one set of documents and a copy.  Depends on the phase of the moon and the barometric pressure that day.

It would be helpful to know where the OP will be living as there are differences between how things work in various locations.

[jeab1980]

Just sit back for a few weeks maybe a month when you get here theres no rush  Bank first definatley. Yellow book/ID bottom of list.

Hotel will do a immigration report. Villa for a month then house mster should do the same. Then when you move to pwrminent residence TM30 from hose master and I would give them a TM 28 from you (perminent change of address). If they dont want it you havent lost anything by taking it along.

Driving licence i would wait till you get settled in your new house, then for each licence car/bike if your doing both.

Medical certificate (most doctors will do one 100 to 200bht is normal)

Certificate of residence for each licence.

Normal passport copies and your English licence.

Just let things flow bank you may have to so leg work where are you staying in hotel/villa/new house?.

Things will flow smothly and you will have plenty of time to do things as you need to.

 

[Suradit69]

21 hours ago, Pilotman said:

then get an extension based upon Retirement at the 90 day point.

You can apply for the extension up to 30 days before your 90 day permission ends, up to 45 days before at some offices.

 

A good idea to go in at least a couple of weeks before your permission to stay ends. You don't want to leave it until the last minute in case you need to go back for something you forgot to bring along or there's some other delay.

 

It doesn't matter when you apply, your extension will start from the time the permission to stay ends. For your FIRST extension I believe most/all offices will still accept that money in the bank will have been on deposit for two months.

[asiaexpat]

To provide a true understanding of the sequence of events it is necessary to know where u will be staying at each stage of your move. The sequence could be quit different for Bangkok verses provinces and can vary from Province to Province. A bank account is priority 1 regardless, but should be opened at branch near your new home because some banking activities can only be accomplished at the original branch. Wait until u have a blue book for your home to apply for a yellow book and id card. Use an IDP obtained in UK until u have an address for your home. Hotel will manage TM 30 for your stay there but be sure one is filed when u move into the Villa along with a TM 28 (change of address form.)

[Pilotman]

Thank you all, that has been very helpful. I will be living 10k north of Sattahip. I will start with my wife's bank and see how we get on from there. The infornation on yellow and blue books is really helpful, so thanks to you all. 

[ubonjoe]

3 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I will start with my wife's bank and see how we get on from there.

The 800k baht has to be in an account in your name only. If your wife is Thai she can be your reference to open a bank account.

You will be using the Pattaya/Jomtien immigration office since it appears you will be living in Chonburi province. They will certainly want TM30 for submited.

[Pilotman]

On 09/06/2017 at 8:18 AM, ubonjoe said:

The 800k baht has to be in an account in your name only. If your wife is Thai she can be your reference to open a bank account.

You will be using the Pattaya/Jomtien immigration office since it appears you will be living in Chonburi province. They will certainly want TM30 for submited.

Many thanks, I was wondering what office I would be using.