Bruce Mangosteen

Got a text today at 4:15 saying that I could pick up my passport any day. Before 4:00.

They why would you be remotely interested in a US visa?

Surrender accepted, hilloshitsme. Irrelevant quoted post ignored. As I said to awesum4, I had planned to use a service after I got here, right from the beginning. That decision should have been clear from the get-go based on a previous post I made on this thread: That post clearly shows that a) I had planned on using a service from the beginning, and b) I know the correct procedure to get the visa without a service. That plan and decision was based on my several decades of visiting, working, owning and running businesses, and living here, having held a variety of visas during that time; and factoring in the fact that the visa situation was going to be more difficult here than usual due to recent changes in government policy, and my unshakeable distrust of the Thai banking system. That is, I used my decades of experience as an actual Thailand "seasoned veteran", made up my own mind about the best way forward in my situation, and achieved the exact result I wanted. I do not dispute the fact that there were other possible ways to get the visa, and I do not dispute that they are cheaper. I simply decided not to get the visa that way. Based on my decades of experience and direct knowledge of Thailand, I decided that parking ~$25K of my hard-earned retirement money in a Thai bank account was a risk that I was not prepared to take, so the official way of getting the visa for me was a non-starter. The work-around I tried failed, but it cost me exactly $0, and it was an interesting experience with Thai immigration that I learned from. Therefore the only real decision I had left to make was which visa service to use. My money, my choice. It's really just that simple. [/exchange] And, to repeat: I harbor no ill will toward you or anyone else on here. If I run into you somewhere, first drink's on me. Cheers. [/exchange]

Not if the 800K disappears from my account with no explanation, as happens occasionally, including to Thais. And yes, I do personally know someone it happened to.

To be quite honest, and notwithstanding some of the commentary on this thread, I had always figured on using a service when I got here. This was partially because I underestimated the increase in cost of the corruption involved, and partially because I don't want to tie up $25,000 or so in a Thai bank, preferring to leave it where it will earn a better return and be safe from the waves of bank account closures and freezes that sweep through the country occasionally. I got the exact outcome I wanted: A non-O, retirement extension, and a bank account, and $23,500 of my retirement money still safely in the US. My next step will be to ascertain what it will take to document monthly transfers in a way that will be acceptable to Thai immigration. I will document that on here.

Anyway, this seems as good of a place as any to state clearly that I harbor no ill will toward anyone on this board regardless of the tenor of past exchanges (specifically including teelak and hiiloshitsme), and would have no issue drinking in company with anyone on here. The board is the board, real life is real.

The immigration officer mostly focused on the income verification during the interview. Without the bank account, the only thing she said she could accept was a letter from the embassy. The US Embassy stopped that in 2019 because they refused to comply with the Thai requirement for a statement vouching for the specific income amount. Before the interview, we specifically asked the information desk outside if the documentation I brought was sufficient (a form letter from the Social Security Administration documenting my monthly payment, and a screenshot of the deposits from the account they are deposited in), and they said it was. The form to use to convert an airport stamp to a non-O is TM.87. I had one of those and she wasn't bothered to look at it, likely because of the above. Pretty funny, eh hilloshitsme? BTW, p'raps you could point me to all this advice I supposedly got from "seasoned veterans" (most of whom have been coming here for half the time I have, and whose entire Thailand experience consists of paying for blowjobs and getting treated for STDs), as well as you? Reading board posts from random alcoholics and whoremongers about Thai immigration isn't particularly persuasive I'm afraid.

Maneerat got the job. At 50,500 baht they were about 10K under my next best offer. Bank account, non-O visa, retirement extension, multiple reentry permit.

Went down in a massive tower of flames! LOL! Oh well, worth the try. Now researching visa services. Maneerat on Soi Post Office best so far.

Ha, the clamor of the crowd has reached our ears! 😆 The condo was repaired and we moved in the 21st of last month. Life has been a blur since. Family visiting, prepped for and attended the wife's daughter's wedding in Kanchanaburi where I was honored to stand "father of the bride" and give the bride away, back to Ayutthaya for a few days featuring a couple of drunken nights at Cowboy Bar and a photo session in Thai formal garb at a couple of old temples, then 4 grandchildren accompanied us back to Pattaya. They went home yesterday, groaning under stacks of new books and pastel pencils. Wife and I are now decompressing from all that with some well-deserved downtime. Just set up my computer for the first time since I got here. Managed to keep my world turning until now with my S24Ultra and its "Dex" desktop feature and a portable monitor, but some things still need Windows unfortunately. Next hurdle will be the visa. Working with a Thai friend who has some experience with this to try to avoid the extortionate prices the services now charge due to the present visa situation. Might have found a work-around, which I'll post if it works. Otherwise, I might have to leave Thailand for a spell and apply for an O visa. Negotiating with a customer for some remote work. Might have sold him a monthly "subscription" for a few hours' work at a reasonable rate. He's on holiday I think so waiting for him to break his radio silence. To be continued...

In my calendar already. See you then.

OK, sorry for the radio silence. Been here for a couple of weeks, not spent much time on the internet. It looks like we have found a place. It's actually two adjacent studio apartments on a low floor in VT2 with a locking door between, owned by a friend. The plan is to modify one of the rooms into an office/TV room with a folding bed for visiting grandchildren. 15K/month complete, rent to buy option under discussion, which I thought was a good price. It's currently unoccupied so needs some cleaning up, and there's also a problem with one of the bathrooms he's working on getting fixed. We're hoping to be in there around or before October 1. Fingers crossed. I'll update this thread occasionally. Thanks to all for your suggestions. See yas around town! 😃

After my several posts earlier, I decided to book the Holiday Inn Express on Soi Buakhao. Lo and behold, they're running a special, 1077++/night. Solid savings over the LK, similar quality hotel.

Huh, didn't know that. https://www.agoda.com/about-agoda/weve-been-doing-what-we-do-since-2005/ The Agoda company was acquired by Booking Holdings [NASDAQ: BKNG] (previously The Priceline Group) back in 2007. We share the same parent company as other familiar names such as Booking.com, Priceline.com, Kayak.com, and Opentable.com. I haven't booked many rooms since I came back to the US to work ~7 years ago, so my experience with this sort of stuff is admittedly sparse and stale at this point. That will soon change... 😎