Trvlr

I guess we should thank you for that nugget? But what relevance does it have to this thread? That is what I meant by my reference to "arguing till the end of time" above. You always want the last word, even if you have to twist the argument to do so. Yes, most of us realize that a Finn will get a retirement in Finland, an American in the US, and so on. Ever heard of the "impersonal you". Or do you need an English lesson too? And you appear to be a moderator...what a travesty!

No, you are just trying to confuse things. Go back and read my post. My question was very simple: has anyone heard about a change in financial requirements for obtaining retirement visas. It was not about any other procedure. THAT requirement is the same wherever in the world you obtain the retirement visa. So, what could have been answered with a simple "no" has turned into a long winded discussion about... nothing. Crap.

You can argue till the end of time, but it won't make a difference to the fact. "Extension of stay" is a heading...what you are getting is a visa to stay in Thailand. By definition it is not a fish, it is not a passport, it is a visa! It is for retirement purposes, so it is a retirement visa.

I can see that there is some method behind the madness of board names. Your name must be a reflection of the French "idee fixe", a common meaning of which is: An idée fixe is a preoccupation of mind held so firmly as to resist any attempt to modify it, a fixation. And from Webster: an idea that dominates one's mind especially for a prolonged period : obsession While I always appreciate someone introducing accuracy into proceedings - I am sure others do too - in this case I think you are merely introducing confusion. For some reason you do it every chance you get, to the point of... obsess

I don't know that there is any difference in the proof of income. The document I obtained from the Los Angeles Thai consulate had exactly the same income requirement as the document given to me by Jomtien immigration. I actually showed the Thai consulate some of my papers documenting income, and they were fine with them. Exactly the same papers I was prepared to show the US Embassy folk here. And if there is any change - in line with the rumor - then I am pretty sure it will apply wherever a retirement visa is obtained.. But it sounds like there is nothing behind the rumor. I hope not, be

I am not sure why you say it is incorrect to call it a retirement visa. The stamp on my passport says in bold letters "RETIREMENT". To me that means I can correctly refer to it as a retirement visa. Besides, just about evryone refers to it as such, even officials. It may have some official letter designation, but that is meaningless to most people.

Did you even look at the headline? It says retirement visa. And the rumor is about the proof of income required for retirement visas.

I hear a rumor the other day that from next year pensions and other sources of income will no longer be accepted as proof of income when applying for a retirement visa. Everyone will have to deposit 800,000 baht in a bank to show they can support themselves. This is a rumor, but rumors sometimes do come true. Has anyone heard anything of this sort, officially or unofficially?

Did the sellers credit the amount, or did BOA do it? I think it should be possible to tell by looking at the account.

What kind of Internet speed is needed for this box to work? Is the basic 3BB 10 mb speed good enough? (Without buffering in the middle of a movie.) Also, is it possible to take a look at the box in action some place? If so, can you post the address?

All the answers are above. One phone call and about 5-7 minutes is all it took for me to get all the information I needed from Bangkok Bank. All you need to know is the exact amount of the test transfers in cents. Since you have linked to two banks in the US (I did too) make sure to find out the transfer amounts from each bank. I talked twice with Bangkok Bank - once before and once after the transfers. Both times I got knowledgeable people who knew what was going on. (Adding steps) 1. WHen you see the test transfer amounts in your account (I hope you have online access), they will be i

Thanks...pretty fascinating stuff. They even offer advice on state residency! I wonder if this can be posted as a separate thread...it should be of interest to many US citizens. And maybe someone will comment on the pros and cons.

In the interests of accuracy, ACH transfers take place within the US - that I know of. They work with Bangkok Bank because the bank has a branch in New York with a US routing number. As has been explained above by people who knew more than me about the Bangkok Bank procedure, when you transfer dollars into their New York branch, the amount is automatically converted to baht and appears in the Thai bank account number that you used for the transfer.

Quite sure. This is not a wire transfer we are talking about. This is a procedure some US banks adopt when you want to link one bank account to another account for transfer purposes. The arrangement stays in place until canceled. If you want to link Bank B to Bank A, Bank A may make two micro deposits into Bank B and ask you to find out how much that was, and type it into its system. They call it verification, and it is a way of establishing ownership of the Bank B account. It wouldn't make sense for Bank A to post the amount when it is asking you to verify it.

Ebay is a facilitator, that's where its roots are and that's what it does. So I would expect crap like this to happen. One reason I have never used them. I did buy a phone once, but I asked a friend who did a lot of business through them to get it for me. (No credit to Ebay, but that HTC phone is the best I have ever had, for its time. After 8/9 years it will still work if I need it to, and the battery has been changed only once!) Direct sellers like Amazon are a whole other story and we should expect a much higher degree of service from them. Again, I don't know where AliExpress falls,