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korkenzieher

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Posts posted by korkenzieher

  1. 7 minutes ago, sanemax said:

    You use Thai Visa , which is similar to Facebook

    Not sure that is true, maybe partly. While all social-media platforms share the vulnerability that FB has, not all chose to abuse that power. That said, politically (even financially) motivated moderation can push sites down that route in no time at all - sanctioned speech only - which is precisely why I read stuff on here, and no  longer use the HH local forums.

  2. I chose B because it is basically correct - friends and colleagues have been keeping up with each other for years using it, and for that it is useful But the 'echo chamber' / 'preaching to the choir' nature of many groups and news outlets, including mainstream, is IMHO absolutely insidious. And it is getting worse. Folk can (and do) isolate themselves from any dissent, proving yourself  to be absolutely right about anything you choose; no conflict (diversity, opinion) allowed. Then some helpful soul at FB directs new feeds to you which are borderline insidious, with the only objective to get you emotionally engaged in some aspect of your (largely self-chosen) narrative. If not for the friends and colleagues aspects, I wouldn't look at it - and as it is, I don't allow it or messenger on the phone - only by browser from the desktop.

  3. Option 5 might be better written as 'Consider whether still I want to'. I'm actively considering leaving, even though I have just got a new extension based on an Embassy letter. It seems to me that one might consider the 'writing to be on the wall'. It is getting hard enough to jump though the hoops now. God only knows what other changes may make it impossible, and at a time when changing tack will be much harder for me / us. Relocating has definitely become an option for me. If I stay - and it really has become an 'if' - then it will probably be the 800/400k method. But the simple fact that I cannot accrue any rights to stay here is becoming more of a barrier to continuing to do so.

    • Like 1
  4. 19 hours ago, OJAS said:

    So Hua Hin weren't, at the time of your visit, giving out the same info as they were giving out at the time of @HHTel's visit yesterday, as he reported at post #2172 in the attached thread?

     

    https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1065147-just-received-some-bad-news-for-us-citizens-no-more-income-affidavits/?page=145

     

    There was  no discussion about the available alternatives - but thanks for drawing my attention to that, as I have been expecting some information about a remittance basis being introduced at some point. I haven't heard anything about that anywhere  else (that it is expected to happen). Note that he went to the BluPort office, not Hua Hin in Soi 39 - standards of English (and arguably, service) at BluPort are generally much better but they don't handle Non-Imm renewals there at all. I would trust the info though.

  5. 2 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

    The rule is 6 months on the embassy-letters.

    I just posted elsewhere - Hua Hin is planning to stop taking them in January.

     

    Separately, I know the Embassy (UK) was asked by immigration to turn them around in 2 weeks because of the risk of exchange rate fluctuation, and that said that was impossible and agreed on 1 month. So I personally would not risk in this environment, trying to do a 6 month lead on a pension letter.

    • Like 1
  6. 3 hours ago, giddyup said:

    It's designed to force expats to actually prove they can meet the financial criteria instead of signing a possibly fraudulent stat dec.

    Could be part of it - but really what do they care as long as you are not being supported, or needing support, or working illegally? The 800k is a safety-net deposit in reality.

     

    Actually, I think what is happening is that slowly but surely we are heading towards retirement visas being issued on a remittance basis only. In other words, you will have to show on an ongoing basis that you are transferring that money into the country. Whether *you* feel it is necessary or not. And it smells like government has become desperate to shore up its foreign currency reserves to me. IMO an increasing number of people will take this as a sign to leave, whether they are financially secure or not. You are being *told* what you have to spend!

    • Like 1
  7. On 8/31/2018 at 9:16 AM, HarrySeaman said:

    Actually those box wines such as Mont Clair were (are?) "fruit wines", meaning that they are real wine that has been cut with fruit juice.  This was done to lower the alcohol content and reduce the taxes. 

     

    Drink box wine and you just might be getting your grape juice.

    That's not correct. Reduce taxes, yes, but not cutting with fruit juice. Wine boxes were described as alcoholic fruit juice, to get around the differential tax rates specific to bottled wine. The reason (cheap) wine went up so much is because that loophole was closed at the same time as the new tax rates were applied - so the jump in price reflects the normalisation of boxed product to the rates for bottled product, plus the new tax levels on wine per se. Certain brands even had secondary paper sleeves wrapped around the standard printed carton, to use the appropriate wording implying that they were not 'wine'. Are you seriously trying to suggest that the Mont Clair wine in boxes was not the same stuff as in bottles?

  8. Similar with fruit juices last year. About the time the wine prices increased, certain fruit juices spiked in price (notably, grape which is in any case an exotic fruit for Thailand). Wasn't sure whether it was to dissuade people from home-brewing,  or because people actually *had* started buying loads of it (perhaps for home-brewing), so it made a good farang tax point. Either way, the prices didn't seem to stick. Within 2 weeks, there were 3 for 2 pricings which made it cheaper than previously. Oddly, dried goods - beans, lentils and the like - spiked too. All rather too obviously stuff that the Thai don't consume in any quantity.

    • Like 1
  9. Also consider: my 11yo mitsubishi, in spite of repeated cleaning, for about a year just kept making ice and a crunching noise we got was basically ice crystals falling into the rotor vane. Eventually, they had the thing off the wall (inside unit and outside compressor) had it in bits, and cleaned it pretty much with a toothbrush. Since then it has behaved. But that must have taken 5 visits for servicing.

  10. On the 'fruit mixed' subject, this is my understanding:

     

    The tax on *WINE* was different to that on alcoholic fruit juices. So some enterprising (mainly South African) producers labeled up their wine as alcoholic fruit juice - the fruit being grape. That bit of getting around the tax law was spotted and changed.

     

    So in effect, it means that the 'correct' rate for wine has been applied to the alcoholic fermented grape juice, and then the duty rises applied to it as the wine product it is - leading to the eye-popping increases we've been witnessing.

     

    My solution is to buy the grape juice and convert locally :-) - however, the price of grape juice has also risen. Whether that is due to that potential loop-hole being plugged, or many others are doing it, affecting supply, I can only guess. (Added to that, the Mont Clair 10 litre box, is pretty good value on a per glass basis and while still of modest quality, it is a better wine than it was a few years back).

  11.  

    3 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

     

    I opened it and completed it. Are you saying you opened it multiple times or that it kept somehow popping up?

    I got it 3 times - completed it the first time. Second time I started it, thinking maybe it was a different survey / supplier, but soon twigged that it was the same. 3rd time, just ignored it. It use different browsers and PC's so in fairness, if they were using tracking cookies, that might be expected - but if they were doing it based on ID, then they should know they've served it up already.

  12. I think there's some price gouging too - after all, Thai buyers of wine are few and far between, so this is ultimately a tourist tax. Prices will probably fall back into line with reason - price elasticity isn't as high as Thai like to believe it is. Likewise, a few weeks ago, grape juice (a constituent of wine... ahem :burp:) shot up from 49 baht to 76 at most stores locally (Bluport, Villa, Tesco). Now it is 69 baht but buy 2 litres, get one free, making the net price at 46 baht - 3 baht lower than it was before the exercise started. People just stop buying the stuff and move onto something else. Meanwhile, the shops are probably congratulating themselves on their marketing strategy. :cheesy:.  The main food plaza here (Hua Hin) has absorbed the price rises so far for the most part (beer particularly) , and they are busier than ever, which is just intensifying the pressure on local bars - I'm simply not prepared to pay (up to) 130 baht for a bottle when I can get it for 60.

     

    • Like 1
  13. Thus far, I have only been hassled by one account provider out of 4 - and it is the only interest bearing account. I have asked them to revert the account to non-interest bearing (I was only receiving something like £1.30 per month!), and it seems that that is the red-flag issue - where do they tell the UK that I file for tax on that £1.30.

     

    Hoping it goes away in the new year...

  14. I had a lot of grief yesterday from a big Green bank in the UK, who inherited my CI based account from HBOS in 2008, about this particular issue. It seems as though the solution - so far at least - is to switch the account from savings to current. If there is no income generated on the account, then it is not flagged for having a tax liability (or reporting requirement), or so it seems. After a couple of extremely heated and frustrating hours of phone calls with their international section (why *exactly* I am expected to return information to a jurisdiction in which I am not resident (25 years+), and do not have a bank account, [ the one under discussion was only opened after I left the UK]; is *completely* beyond me). So I called the branch and simply asked them to stop paying me interest. Girl said it would be processed within 2 days, and I should stop receiving the letters. I live in hope (though not expectation!).

  15. On 24/11/2017 at 2:58 PM, Jedsada3 said:

    This was the first time out of 5 that they asked me a map.
    A mate has to give a map every time but he has an extension of stay based on marriage. Mine is (and always was) based on retirement.

    Yes. House visits by Imm Police were a 'norm' for marriage visas, basically to check that the marriage was real and that you were living together. My own visa, like yours, is retiree, and this  renewal (17 Nov) is the first time I have been asked to produce one.

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