In the process of bringing mine from Canada. It's hit or miss in my experience if you don't use a pet shipping service.

My Daughter is coming for a visit so I offered to pay her ticket if she could bring my dog with her (too big for cabin so has to go cargo.) I checked with Air Canada on a flight and told them I wanted to bring the dog. The ticker person was helpful and walked through all the airline requirements (which I already knew) but then I asked about the connecting flight (South Korea) and if they could make sure that this flight accept pets moving on to Thailand ... they went away for about 20 minutes and came back and told me they do, so great ... I called by Daughter gave her the flight details and to tell them she was bringing a pet ... they told her that she needs to book the ticker first, then they could look at the pet issue (??? ... oh, well, I already checked and it was okay) So she booked the flight (no cancellations of ticket allowed) and told them she wanted to bring a dog ... they told her to check with the connecting airlines herself as they didn't do that kind of thing (???)

Okay, so being cautions I decided to call the connecting airlines, and shock!!! They don't do pet services for international flights, only domestic!!!

So, I ended up booking with a pet service out of Toronto ... probably not of any use to you in the USA ... so just a recommendation that you are probably better off getting an IATA registered pet shipping service for the sake of convenience .. but if you do go with the 'do it yourself' method, and your pet is too big for Cabin travel (and even if it is they might just refuse you if someone on the flight has a severe allergy) then check carefully with all airlines involved and the specific flights and dates to make sure they can accommodate your pet!

@John-Paul *****

Thanks John-Paul, but as I have stated already I am NOT looking for a good agent, just some answers to some specific questions. Hopefully others who read this thread in the future will be helped by the recommendations, but it is not an answer to my question ... at least not an answer that question that allows me prepare for future eventualities.

@Peter ***************

thanks Peter, as you suggested I'll eventually check with the immigration office (Chiang Mai) since I've read somewhere that Chiang Mai might be one of the ones that might not accept combinations.

@Peter ***************

thanks Peter... just to clarify since it's not always clear if the 'original application' and 'extension process' have the same requirements.

are you saying for retirement you can use the 'combination' of bank account and salary affidavit for both the application and the extension process?

I ask as right now I'm on a marriage visa and use the 400K bank account method, but as someone who had been widowed once already (in Canada, had nothing to do with Thailand other than to teach me to prepare for the worst,) I'm wondering about the conversion process if my marriage status goes away?

can I convert to retirement status with minimal effort just by continuing to use the 400K and an income verification letter to make up the rest of the 800K, or will I need to watch out for some 'gotcha' in the conversion in either the application process or extension process?

@Paul ******

thanks for the advice, I appreciate the effort, and if I were in Pattaya and not interested in learning the details I might consider that ... but I was looking for another type of advice :-) thanks.

@Paul ******

any advice on how to tell if you have a 'good visa agent' without the 'drama' of learning about the details of the visa process? ;-)

@Stuart ********

awesome, thank you very much ... when I get there chance I'll check with the consulate on point 1 and update the thread when I find out ... but I suspect it's gross as when I did this for my marriage visa if I recall correctly they used gross (but I didn't bother to make note as it didn't matter what they used I was working then same way over the minimum needed no matter what they used, or the exchange rate!)

@Stuart ********

Thanks Stuart, a couple of final question then (not super important if you don't have an answer as I can always check with the consulate)

1 - do they use gross income or net after taxes? (Gross income is no problem, net would mean that I might have to adjust my retirement plans as to how to use my private pension funds to make sure exchange rates and Canadian withholding tax don't cause an issue in what gets deposited every month ... yes, I could just deposit the 800,000 and be done with it, but i'd prefer to use that for legitimate investing and only transfer it to an 'immigration account' when absolutely necessary!)

2 - Does this mean the bank account deposits or minimum balances no longer apply? Just a yearly update affidavit from the embassy and I'm good to go?

Thanks Again!

@Maxim **********

Normally there's no waiting list here either ... except when the manager is away, then the signing part goes on hold! ;-)

is 2030€ enough? If I understand correctly you need to have foreign *deposits* of 65,000 Baht into your Thai Bank account. I'm Canadian so of that were my 2030€ equivalent then I would lose 15 to 25% for withholding tax which would not leave me enough for the 65,000 Baht deposit depending upon exchange and transfer fees ... not sure how that works in the EU, but I thought I'd make you aware of the possible issue so if necessary you can be ready with some creative solutions (maybe combination of a 'permanent' lump sum deposit and monthly income?)