timendres

It's a brilliant scam. Human engineering at it's best.

I think of it as Darwinism at work. Unfortunately taking the old and immunocompromised. Stupid is not on it's radar.

What matters is what your specific immigration office tells you. However, I was informed by my agent that I needed to renew my extension on April 17 (Chaeng Wattana in BKK) and I did so. When my staff read the decree for the amnesty, in Thai, they indicated that there was no mention of "extension" in that decree, only visas.

Good for you.

I would think that if you were depositing directly to IB's SWIFT account, then your name should be the account name. But if the SWIFT code is for Citibank, then they are acting as an intermediary, and then it might be different. In that case, you may need to use IB as the account name, with a secondary piece of information indicating the account at IB that the funds are intended for. You really should call IB support on this one, as it is quite confusing.

I can't wait to die...

I believe those people know exactly what is going on. And they have decided that they are going to live the way they wish. No one was forced at gun point to attend that event. Sooner or later, people are going to have to accept reality. COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon. The vast majority of people are not at serious risk from COVID-19. Those who are elderly or immune compromised need to take extra precautions. Those who interact with the elderly or immune compromised need to take extra precautions. End of.

I suspect that what you were told is wrong. You should contact an immigration officer at the Samui office and confirm this information. I am on an extension that expired on April 17 and was told this was not covered by the amnesty program, and renewing the extension was definitely required.

Translated as: regrettable. You will hear sia daai often, but I have never heard a Thai person say naa sia daai, even though it would be more correct, and Thais recognize it instantly when I use it. Thais will just drop the "naa", since it is typically understood in context There are also a couple of words for "Alas", but I have personally never heard them in Thai conversation: พีโธ่ phi (high, pronounced like pee) tho (falling, pronounced like toe). อนิจจัง ah (low) nit (high) jang (medium short-A like in haha).

As best said by the Beatles - free your mind instead. Security and safety are illusions. We are all on this marble together. But there is no doubt that things are about to get strange.

Then you have been quite insulated. It is here, and quite unpleasant at times. The things I have heard spoken by Thai men directed at my (now ex) wife and my girlfriend would make your hair stand on end.

There are some exceptions. There are US celebrities who come for the islands and beaches. However, this is but a handful of people. Not going to help the overall picture.

And this will doom a large segment of the tourism industry. So not good news for those folks. The problem is simple - high end travelers have far better choices, and there are is not even close to enough of them to offset the losses in this sector. Thailand's tourism industry is in for a very serious shakeout.

Exactly correct. It is not an app. The government needs to emphasize this fact. It is not an app. There is nothing to install.

I use KBank's Web-Shopping Visa card, which is a "virtual" Visa card. It has worked with every online purchase I have ever attempted, including subscriptions that bill be every month. The card is "debit" in the sense that it withdraws from my account immediately, and I cannot charge more than I have in the account. In my mind, this is the same as a "secured" credit card, but much more flexible. It does not require some large fixed amount locked up in the bank. If I want to draw down the account, I can, then build it up again later for the purposes of using the virtual card.