Yes, no problems to add a virtual wise card to Alipay and WeChat pay.

Make sure to set everything up before you arrive in China.

Prepaid is fine for a bank account.

Go to an official AIS store and tell them what you need (data, voice, social media etc) and ask what promotions they currently got going.

I'm on a 300B per month unlimited 4G internet plan (it was only available when I signed up a few years ago)

@Brandon ***********

I've had some push back with that when I wanted to do the 90 day out of province in Chiang Rai. Had to be politely affirmative to get the IO to accept the printout of Hotel registration.

She at first wanted me to drive back to Chonburi for the 90 day report.

Did my 1 year non-o extension at Jomtien in November, using Bangkok Bank account. No problems at all.

Correct, the 2 year license is considered "Temporary" and not valid in other ASEAN countries.

@Branko ******

Thai health insurance is not regulated like in Switzerland: Premiums go up considerably with age, and sometimes also after making any claims.

Moreover, any new policy will likely exclude any pre-existing conditions, have $ limits on annual coverage, and lifetime caps on amounts reimbursed per condition.

Anyway, I hope that the cost of insurance in Switzerland isn't the only reason to consider moving to Thailand... Living here is very different from taking a holiday here.

It's not mandatory to have health insurance in Thailand unless she's in an O/A Visa. Most retirees are on a O Visa that doesn't require it.

At her age it will be nearly impossible or prohibitively expensive to get a Thai insurance.

She might qualify to keep her Swiss insurance, or get a KPT policy for outside the EU.

Google "Swiss abroad health insurance – what are the options?" On the Swissinfo webpage as starting point.

@Erik **********

that's partially correct.

The online form (done by Hotel) is not sufficient to get a Certificate of residency in Jomitien.

One first needs to get the paper TM30 (example is attached) from immigration.

I don't understand why you paid 1000B, unless you paid an agent to do it for you.

The paper TM30 is free and the certificate of residency 300B. Both can be obtained in about 1-2 hours.

In Jomitien they issue the certificate of residency on the same day (300B fee) and will accept a hotel as address, actually many hotel in Pattaya offer monthly long stay rates.

- when checking in at hotel ask them to register you right away online and print out the confirmation

- Get a Thai SIM Card at a 7-Eleven

- take the printout from hotel to immigration and get a TM30, in low season that should take less than 30 minutes and is free.

- with the TM 30 you can then immediately apply for the residency certificate, usually issued in less than 1 hour, unless it's before lunch or closing time.

Bring 2 passport Photos, and you need a Thai phone number (Hence, the step above to get a SIM first)

The Immigration information counter in the left building on the parking lot will give you all the required forms, tell you what passport pages you need to cooy

and finally hand you Q number once they checked if all your documents are in order.

Photocopies can also be made there for just 3B per page.

I recommend to go to Immigration around 9:30am, the initial opening rush should have cleared by then.

Blue= regualr savings account, with e-banking & ATM

Orange'= time deposit, no ATM, cash withdrawal only at Bank counter, an only the same province it was opened