@Tony *********

… but then again it’s fortunate that most don’t ever get a catastrophic illness or injury.

I don’t spend a single penny on health insurance. That saves me approx 100k per year until I reach 70. From then on I save 140k per year. Put that in a proper savings account and in the end you can live off your savings.

Now surely some will come up with horror stories about spending millions on healthcare, but no insurance company will tell you about how many of the insured are involved. (In percentages)

Fact is that insurance companies make profit, so the surplus of what you have paid is enough to pay for their expensive offices, let their middle men make profit, pay wages and salaries to their employees and in the end keep their shareholders happy.

Now I ask: What are the odds you will ever claim more than you have paid?

@Marty ********

So you wasted approximately 700.000 baht and advertise that on FB as a smart decision.

Hmm… Ok.

@Damian ********

I have the same experience. We had a chat about picking mushrooms while visiting local immigration and we were exchanging jokes both ways.

Immigration officers are not only officials but also tend to be human beings.

If you have 800,000 thb in your bank then only a few thousands to assist you with opening the bank account.

You can easily get a 90-day non-O visa while in the USA. Diy.

Open a bank account in Pattaya upon arrival. Assistance from an agent might save you some agony. They charge some 5,000 baht for the service.

Then transfer your 800,000 asap, from USA bank straight into the Thai bank account.

Wait two months and extend your visa yourself. You will have two months time to ask the IO for the requirements and prepare all necessary documentation.

Done. Enjoy life in Thailand.

Yes. I opened two bank accounts on a non-O visa in the last 4 weeks. Kasikorn was really easy, SCB gave me lots of difficulties and I had to come back 4 times until they had green light from headquarters.

@Henrik ****

Not entirely accurate, I’m afraid.

When you enter Thailand you need a TM30 with at least 15 days on it. Show it at Bangkok immigration and they will issue the residence certificate.

I had only 7 days on my TM30 from the hotel and the lady at immigration showed me an English document detailing the 15 day requirement.

We went to the Isan village after 7 days so we decided to open the account there. I had an account after two days in the village (after registering a tm30 at the house of my sister in law).

You do *NOT* need to be 3 months in Thailand for the certificate!

@Aake *********

Indeed there are special rules for Americans. The procedure is more complicated for the banks and thus they are less easy to open accounts for Americans.

All caused by the American money laundering paranoia.

@Craig *******

I needed an extraction of the civil registration in Netherlands to show at the Dutch embassy. In Netherlands a birth certificate is hardly used for anything. Instead, they use the above mentioned extraction.

(Uittreksel Burgerlijke Stand)

The (Dutch) embassy required it to have evidence of me being single so they could issue a “Fit for Marriage” document.

I don’t know what specific document would be required for every embassy in Thailand of every country in the world. Apparently you do, so I stand corrected by your worldly knowledge. 👍

@Mike ****

Thai banks do this a lot. You need to be in Thailand to open their apps for the first time and some Thai bank apps even require you to disable WiFi to ensure that you use an in-country connection.