Fore Man

Im an elderly American married for decades to my Thai wife. We now live in the USA but will be moving back to Thailand late this year. She is also a U.S. citizen. I will likely predecease her and want to locate a reputable financial & tax advisor in Thailand from whom she can receive expert advice on how she must handle various tax, IRA and investment issues that she will eventually have to negotiate once on her own. If anyone can post recommendations or thoughts on this topic, please do so. Very much appreciated.

Dear fellow posters, I have looked into applying for a visa through the Thai Consulate website in Washington, DC. It looks like a straightforward effort to complete the online application, albeit a stilted experience in mastering the site's peculiarities. But I could not find any reference to a Type 0 Non-immigrant visa. The only choice that I could see germane to my situation was the type 0-X visa...pertaining to a non-immigrant married to a Thai spouse. So I dutifully began the electronic application leading to this type of visa. Is this the correct visa for my situation? I am a year away from our anticipated departure from the USA so cannot complete the entire application at this time....have no airline booked yet because we don't really know exactly when we will be ready to fly. Does anyone know how long the site will retain my information before deleting it from inactivity? Thanks in advance for all responses.

Much obliged, Andrew. When my wife and I met with the Nan IO last July, I am almost sure we didn't mention the idea of first obtaining an O visa and then using that as our basis for extension based on retirement. We have friends in Nan and will ask them to pay a visit to that same IO to confirm the advice you have given. And as others on this thread have suggested, obtaining a visa from the Washington, DC consulate isn't the onsite hassle it was in the past. I will investigate that route first.

Great advice; thanks BritTim

So sorry to learn this! What a fine man he was to have assisted thousands of fellow expats all his years of service. RIP Joe!

Ubonjoe, sorry, I am just now seeing your response,,,a year after you posted it. I returned to the USA and missed your reply as well as others due to PC crash and the litany of repair issues in its aftermath. Thank you for taking your time to advise me!

Thanks; that’s what I thought too…but I seem to recall that an IO in Nan nixed that idea when I asked her last August during a home visit with my wife. I believe but am not sure that what you proposed can be accomplished, but perhaps not all provincial IOs are in agreement.

Right! I meant to say that I plan to enter Visa Exempt. Can such a short term visa be converted to a Non-O, then extended for purposes of retirement? what I’d really like to avoid is going the Thai Consulate route and acquiring my visa in the U.S. We live 500 miles from the DC consulate and would incur big expenses to drive up there and spend the necessary day or two lodging in that costly area. I’d heard that a tourist visa can be extended once in country.

Hello Mates, A fairy robust septuagenarian, I am relocating back to LOS next year after spending the past 3+ years in the US with my Thai wife. Whereas we lived in Chiang Mai for 16 straight years before returning to the States, this time we will be resettling in upper Nan Province where we own property. I try to keep up with the latest in Thai Immigration policies but seem to be stymied by this one: Can I enter Thailand with a Visa on Arrival next year and then apply for a Non-O in the Nan Immigration Office, followed by an extension of stay based on retirement? I already have a bank account solely in my name established in a Nan City bank, but will need to deposit enough to cover the THB 800K requirement several months prior to my return. I'd heard anecdotally that Nan Immigration may not authorize this type of conversion whereas most provinces do, such as in Chiang Mai and BKK. I am also of the understanding that I must submit my application only to the Nan office as we have no legal domicile in any other location. If anyone knows of a good agent up in Nan, please do suggest them to me. I normally did not use agents when living in Chiang Mai except for my annual retirement extension of stay, and once I've converted to a Non-O visa, I will probably just do the annual paperwork myself. Thanks in advance for any advice and cheers...

Can a person apply for an extension of stay based on retirement using a 45-day visa on arrival, or must it only be done with a non-O visa obtained from outside Thailand?

Can you please clarify which passport name you used to book flights for each journey? My wife’s Thai passport uses her maiden Thai surname while her U.S. passport was issued in her married (my) surname. I’m not sure how book a round trip for her….because the airline will likely not accept the Thai passport at check-in for the return flight to the U.S. if it doesn’t match the name shown in the U.S. passport used to travel to Thailand for the outbound leg.

I had same problem at our home in Chiang Mai. We had songbirds chirping up a cacophony every morning at sunup…too early for yours truly to rise and shine. I solved the problem by buying some 1/4-in plywood and cutting out a long strip matching the dimensions of our balcony, then I drove nails through the wood, creating a spiked surface that the birds decided wasn’t any fun. They flew over to my neighbors house instead ????. Then we had cats jumping up to vertical airflow slits formed in our concrete carport wall to roost and look for mice below. I used the same plywood/nails design and put an end to that problem…our furry friends venturing in from the street quickly decided to go elsewhere in search of prey. ????

I am interested in this topic as well. In early August after my Thai wife and I had been vacationing in Thailand visiting her family, I was nearing the end of my 30-day exempt visa which had been extended for an additional 30 days. This extension was granted by the Nan Immigration office. During this visit, my wife inquired if I could, in a future visit to Thailand, convert my initial exempt tourist visa to a 90-day Non-O at this office, as has been suggested by many in this forum as an easier, less difficult method to remain in Thailand and then apply for a subsequent annual retirement-based extension of stay. The officer explained that it was not possible to convert an exempt tourist visa that had been granted upon entry into a Non-O at their Nan office. This bit of news surprised me but I did not dispute what the young female captain told us, but simply went away confused as we prepared to fly back to the U.S. two weeks later. Does anybody truly know which immigration offices will grant a Non-O based on a visa exempt tourist entry? Based on our experience at Nan, it appears that not all offices will honor this procedure.

I was with my (Thai) wife visiting family in upper Nan Province and Mueang for six weeks back in June/July. I am very familiar with Nan as well, having spent a lot of accumulated time there over the past two decades. I can tell you that Nan is quite rudimentary when compared to Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai. Services and goods availability drop off dramatically compared to the larger northern cities. The only bikers I ever saw were simply using bikes to commute around Mueang Nan. Big C sells bikes but I can't speak to pricing, size/type or quality. Nan will also be getting chilly soon...coldest during December/January..so factor the weather in too.

Yes, you'd assume any sailing yacht of this size would have fitted an auxiliary or an outboard.

There was an excellent article in an Asian economic affairs magazine 15+ years ago that compared the span of marriages between Western men and Asian women, ranked by nationality of Asian wives. By far, the most enduring mixed marriages were seen with Thai spouses. These marriages averaged well over two decades, likely inhibited primarily by the death of the western husband. As I recall, Filipina wives ranked just behind Thai women. The gist of the article was that these two groups of women tended to be more loyal, less demanding and easier to live with than women from other Asian countries, particularly Korea and Japan. There's always outliers of course and we all know of failed marriages between Farangs and Thai women, but as a rule these marriages outlast all other nationalities, even when measured against marriages with Thai men.

As the Thai themselves say “แน่นอนที่สุด”…”Exactly”

Yes, there’s the Yin for every Yang theory. An acceptable middle point is there, not too obsessive and not too lackadaisical either. My wife’s beloved father died of colon cancer that later metastasized to his liver. She is so sad today that she didn't take action long before to have him undergo a simple colonoscopy when it would have caught and removed the polyp that eventually killed him. There’s that ugly Asian superstition rearing it’s ugly head again…don’t dwell on ‘it might happen’ possibilities until it smacks you right in the gut.

This happened to me while sailing off Oahu in Hawaii. It was only a simple 20-ft sailboat but my tiller snapped right in the middle of the channel leading into Pearl Harbor. Ours was a rental boat from the Hickam Air Force Base marina and not equipped with an anchor nor a spare tiller handle and seamanship/sail management could not prevent us from being pushed inexorably onto the rocks surrounding Honolulu Airpiort’s Reef Runway. It also didn’t help that a Navy submarine surfaced less than 100 meters from us as it was returning into the harbor, forcing me to steer hard to starboard to avoid a collision. The tiller then snapped and left us at the mercy of the wind and tides. Fortunately I contacted our harbormaster at the marina who sent out a powerboat to tow us in….scant minutes away from impacting the reef. So yes, under certain conditions even a proficient sailor can be washed ashore.

I’ve been married to my Thai wife for over 20 years. We’ve lived in two countries and visited 15 together. She is a well-rounded person, always cheerful and optimistic. Whenever I bring up any notions of taking preventive actions to thwart a potentially negative outcome, such as not talking on the cell phone so much while driving, or suggesting that a relative should shell out money for a certain medical diagnostic procedure, will draw her immediate displeasure. When this happens, it’s as if a switch was thrown in her mood and she morphs into a suddenly different person. I realized long ago that Thais are deeply superstitious and don’t want to bring up any topic that evokes painful or unpleasant “what if” thoughts because they live almost totally for the here and now. Whenever we discuss the subject at hand in more detail so I can better understand why she always reacts so negatively, she tells me that if we dwell on what bad outcomes might happen, then in her mind there is a greater likelihood that they will. This superstitious mindset exists deep within in many Thai and oriental psyches. So it all boils down to a fear of the unknown, a lack of inner personal courage to consider potential dangers and a belief that if they dwell on potential negative outcomes, then surely they will happen.

I must express strongly that just because Bumrungrad has a HoLEP laser, it doesn’t mean that their surgeons are proficient in the technique. It takes years of operative experience to operate the laser proficiently. Think of the HoLEP as an optically assisted, microsurgical technique in which the surgeon uses a specialized laser tool to blast away (enucleate) all of the pulp, seeds, and connective tissue inside of a lemon while leaving the peel untouched. The ‘peel’ in this case is the prostatic capsule that needs to be left unharmed. As the operation progresses, all this enucleated tissue is placed in the bladder. The surgeon them morcellates (grinds up) this debris using a microscopic grinding tool and then evacuates it out through the catheter. It’s an extremely delicate procedure that requires hundreds of operations to thoroughly master. Most urologists who practice HoLEP have studied under a highly experienced teaching surgeon and thus gained valuable insights on how to use the equipment, minimize any potential unwanted side effects and how to best prepare the patient for a successful, pain-free post-operative experience. I underwent my HoLEP at The Mayo Clinic and everything went perfectly well. 18 hours post-surgery, my catheter was removed and I was able to urinate like a teenager again with only very minor discomfort. This discomfort was a very temporary effect caused by bruising of my urethra by the Foley catheter used during surgery. For the following two weeks I experienced minor bleeding caused by blood clots that were passed through the urethra during urination. It took my bladder muscles another 4-6 months to retrain and recalibrate due to the sudden lack of any constricting obstruction that I’d lived with for the preceding decade. The decision to undergo prostate surgery of any type is not an easy one, but I wholly recommend HoLEP because of its very high success rate and minimal post-operative problems. Good hunting and caveat emptor!

My wife and I were in Tha Wang Pha for five weeks ending on 2 Aug. we saw increasingly heavy afternoon rainfall over that time, but no flooding. These are truly friendly and decent people and it is heart-wrenching to see what befell them.

Of course they don’t need the F-35. If I was to take a stab at why the F-35 buy is so vital to the RTAF, my guess is that you’d need to follow the money. The official statement of need is generated of course to launch an action leading to a procurement, but nothing gets bought or sold in this country unless someone is enriched by the deal. From fake airport scanners to submarines, these are pretenses to buy something with government funds where part of those funds can be siphoned off. We’re takin’ the big “C” word here, and if there’s one constant in Thailand it’s that corruption is deeply ingrained and prevalent at every level within this society.

Towards the end of my military career and my second coming as a defense businessman, I was once very closely connected to the RTA’s field artillery community which is based in Lop Buri. Based on those experiences I believe that all we are seeing now is routine combined arms training taking place. Thai artillerymen routinely fire their howitzers downrange throughout the area all year long, even after nightfall and carry out combined exercises with their infantry and cavalry counterparts typically during August. There’s probably nothing to be concerned about now.

Piggybacking on tomacht8, I can add that during my direct business experiences in selling defense systems to the Thais, I learned quickly that in their penchant to please everyone, they steadily have purchased multiple, dissimilar weapon systems that each generated its own specific set of logistics needs. This zeal to spread their procurement budgets across multiple national vendors greatly complicated derivative aspects such as ordering, cataloging and storing spare parts, fulfilling maintenance requirements and undertaking proper lifecycle planning. The variety of unalike weaponry really complicated the roles of maintainers and supply personnel who have to learn esoteric, often totally unlike procedures and provide separate work/storage areas to keep it all combat ready. Moreover, I sincerely doubt that RTA pilots can be trained to effectively use even a small part of the F-35’s vast integrated system complexities.. It’s akin to a expecting a Cessna pilot to operate a 747 and takes years of highly specialized training and huge annual maintenance budgets to achieve and sustain. There is the additional aspect of sortie generation rates to consider. In his seminal 1981 work “National Defense”, author James Fallows demonstrated how buying overly complex and costly fighter aircraft resulted in an Air Force plagued with fewer available fully combat ready aircraft to deploy against an aggressor. Back then, his comparison pitted the F-5 against the state-of-the-art F-16, and demonstrated that far fewer combat F-16 sorties could be mounted in a given timespan. Yes, the latter added substantial new lethality to the air battle, but it came at the cost of fielding far fewer operationally-ready air assets to confront an enemy. Perhaps in their enthusiasm to acquire the latest and greatest hardware available, the RTAF has figuratively only shot itself in the foot.