Tuvoc

Do find a good builder. Our house was built and with some faults. The builder did fix them except then when it came to the roof which had a small leak, he simply stopped taking phone calls.

Will the UK company who employs you let you work in Thailand long term ? Most would not.

I've been to Anjira's clinic the last couple of weeks. She did a very nice job of fitting a new crown, I'm really happy with it.

Maje sure that you don't reach a judgement based on just one tank, give it two or three I'd say.

Don't some ECUs have a tampering alert on them - the ECU will always retain the real mileage that can be read by a standard diagnostic tool. Later BMWs I was told that was the case. Japanese stuff, don't know.

Yes, they do happen.

I'm a fan of Chiang Rai and the north of Thailand generally. Some people like the beaches; I prefer the mountains and landscapes. Crop burning is a downside, and it drifts across from Myanmar too I think. Nowhere is perfect.

Well, got home tonight and the approval email has arrived. So exactly 8 weeks.

Not correct, there is no distinction. 180 days present in a calendar year and you're tax resident for that year, tourist or otherwise.

It will be 8 weeks tomorrow since I submitted mine. I guess they got a flood of applications for the old deals.

I think that is right but perhaps worse - if you have ever had such a visa at any time past or present. Someone will correct me if wrong.

That makes sense. Presumably also if they do approve you and you don't proceed, you also forfeit it. I guess they get quite a bit of that too.

I've always had great service from the Chiang Rai office, better than Mae Sai. I think it depends on which IO you get on the day.

Aways a good conspiracy theory

Doing it at the airport isn't my first choice, I would normally get a multiple re-entry permit at the same time as my extension of stay. But last time I only got a single re-entry so rather than going back to immigration I decided to do it at the airport. I made sure I had plenty of time, and kept my eyes open for it, and it was easy to spot. You can also ask one of the staff.

One calendar month has passed since my Elite application was submitted. Given how busy they must be, I would say it will be the full estimated 2 months before I get an approval letter. That is fine. Anyone else have recent experience with timelines ?

Last sentence - "authorised competent officer" - well that could be anyone.

After the high profile rollout, I'd say no. My guess is that they have far more members now than they ever thought they would, and want to limit further expansion because they won't be able to cope with the numbers. That and the fact that the 20 yr one at 1m was too cheap compared to the 800k you have to put aside for retirement extensions. I don't think that the original goal was to attract "ordinary" retirees in such big numbers.

My existing non-O is in one passport with reentry permit, and I've applied for the Elite on a different passport (dual National). Immigration should be wanting to cancel the existing Non-O because my understanding is that you can't have two active permissions to stay. I'll have to see how they want to play that, I'm currently outside Thailand.

Yes, same here.

Yes, great investment for those who bought those originally ! I don't think the new pricing is necessarily a death-knell, there will still be plenty of people who would pay those prices (but not me.)

Always possible of course that you may be out of the country when they call. I guess they would want to know when you are coming back and follow-up again.

Always possible of course that you may be out of the country when they call. I guess they would want to know when you are coming back and follow-up again.

That is incorrect. Yes there was a bare-bones 1M 20 year package. But comparing apples with apples, the old 20 year package with all the privileges was 2M baht. The replacement for that package is now 5M baht, which is "only" a 150% increase, not 400%.

Moving, or an additional office ?