think_too_mut

To open a bank account in Thai, you need at least Non Immigrant "O" Visa. I submitted my application 23. June 2025. and received email approval June 30th 2025 (it was today). Took them 5 and a half business days. Applied from Japan, Osaka Royal Thai Consulate looks after Nagoya. During the application process, you must be within the jurisdiction of that particular Thai Embassy/Consulate. I could not go to Thai on 60 days exemption and wait on the approval there (within Thai). They will quickly find it out and cancel my visa application. My neighbour, an American, 15 years in Bangkok, 2 children, Thai wife, opened his account 15 years ago when the rules did not really exist. He received a call from his bank, June 1. 2025, his account was blocked, asked him to supply some documents that he is living in Thai. That much about 4,000 THB to an agent and "someone knows someone in some bank". My next steps: Go Thai (July 3) with the printout of that "O" visa (still, have to present TDI form about my arrival and departure). Get Yellow Book (I own the condo, wife and daughter have their "Blue Book") and get into the system. With that, go to Immigration for their document (not sure what it is but it is needed). Open a bank account. Transfer 800,000 THB to my newly open Thai account and let it season for 2 months. In the meantime, I can get my Japan driving licence converted to Thai DL, no test, no exam, eyes and reflex test only. When 2 months seasoning of the funds are up, apply for my retirement visa (O). I do not have to sit it out in Thai, can leave and come back 2 weeks before my "O" visa expires, September 27. 2025. No agencies as yet.

But I watched the whole series of "King Naresuan", Thai history drama, 8 hours, watched it half one way, half the way back. Wanted to buy DVDs, went to several DVD shops, none had it with English subtitle. The mercahts said "Ony Thai Airways have it with English subtitle. Watched some classics (for 2nd time), they did not have all the bells and whistles, OK for an in seat screen. Like "Psycho", "North by North West", then "Butch Cassidy and Kid"

I had to wait for 4 hours for something to be done, went to CinePlex (Nagoya) and watched Tom Cruise's latest "Mission Impossible" or whatever it is called. It is an extreme action, thrilling, as expected. It requires a large cinema screen. I remember, on a Thai Airways flight, the previous part of the movie, shut it down after 20 minutes, impossible to enjoy (even if you are killing flight time) on an airplane in-seat small screen.

That song , "In Zaire" was played every where late 1970s, into early 1980s. I don't remember "Rumble in the Jungle" by them. I remember "Bungle in the Jungle" by Jethro Tull, 1974.

No, I said it is significantly less than what Burma went through. My building is safe, people took a fright but no damage, civil engineers inspectors confirmed. 17 story buildings.

Since my retirement, read the whole opus of Shakspeare (5,880 pages), again. All of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy War and Peace, Ana Karenina. Read them when I was 21 years old, now again.

Thai Kingdom, their rules, what can we do about that? They let us (retirees) a path to live there legally.

They are asking for money in my bank. The property is for my certificate of residence (yellow book). That is not something of a show stopper.

Important is, with that visa, that I can open my bank account in Thai without anyone (agencies) . Put 800K THB in it , on my own. I own my home in Bangkok, the property deed is in my name. I have Thai wife, 21 years, she is irrelevant here. She has been with me in Japan (the whole family, are permanent residents in Japan) since September 2007. I will not go "marriage visa", I can be on my own.

How the fcuk could anyone survive this? Poor Burmese, "undocumented migrants", might be the most of the victims. What a gruesome death.

True but the shoddy static and materials used were there when the sceleton of the building was done. Maybe a year back. Bangkok has thousands if not 10s of thousands of high rise buildings, none of them collapsed or even had an unrepairable damage. Not even visible damage. I suspect, it was this particular building where the developer was cutting corners. Pity it attracted such a wide audience, the world may think Bangkok is like Cairo where buildings collapse without any earthquake.

That was a mistake by Air Traffic Control and the pilot of the propeller plane (De Havilland Canada Dash 8-Q300 operated by the Japan Coast Guard bound to bring releif supplies to Noto, hit by the earthquake, 2. January 2024. The small plane simply stood in the way of the landing ANA Airbus 350 from Sapporo. Nothing ANA pilots could do. None of the passengers and the crew on the ANA airplane got hurt, 100s of them evacuated before the plane (Airbus 350) burst in flames.

This is an old post. Bumping it up. Just found, there is a visa (eVisa), can be obtained online, that gives you 3 months stay. Can be done from anywhere, printed out and shown upon arrival to Thai. Important is, to open a bank account in Thai, you need some visa other than 60 days stay stamp. No visa agency would tell you that. You need a bank account to deposit 800K THB into it. The funds have to sit in there for 2 months. The last month (of the 90 days visa), you can apply for "O" retirement visa. No police report from your country of residence, no health insurance needed, almost nothing. The funds statement can be from your bank from wherever you live. This is the site where you go, the screenshot below is what you get: https://www.thaievisa.go.th/visa/non-immigrant-o

Was it me? Mekong river and our hotel?