A residence certificate (and thus TM30) is not needed if you have a pink i.d. and thus yellow house book. In that case the whole process starting from getting a medical certificate to receiving your license will take about 2 hours in Bangkok.

" I don’t recall the actual literal Thai wording for it but it’s something along the lines of “Visa for waiting out the term of your life”

The correct wording is วีซ่าใช้ชีวิตบั้นปลาย

I don't think the English translation "retirement" is for PC reasons, but rather that it is short and easy to use. English translations have no legal binding whatsoever anyway.

@Bennett *******

Bangkok allows 45 days. (and don't forget your re-entry)

@Sarick *********

don't abuse the system at the cost of people who need it. The more freeloaders, the more the system gets overloaded. It's for people who really need it.

It is normally the airline who might refuse you at check-in if you don't have an onward ticket.

But in your specific case with IPA , as far as I know you shouldn't have a problem boarding without an onward ticket.

My brother and his girlfriend fly IPA all the time and don't need an onward ticket to be allowed to board.

Surprisingly, the rates can be found on the bank websites. What sorcery is this ??

The current "number 5" sticker goes from zero stars up to 3 stars.

The zero stars is just the plain number 5. Each step is a 5% to 10% increase in efficiency.

The number 5 as base has its logic, because in 2019 this current system replaced the previous system.

In the previous system, the sticker showed a 1 to 5 rating, 5 being the best. You will still see these stickers with the old system on appliances bought before 2019

According to Thai law, this identity card is valid for 10 years, but if that exceeds your 70th birthday, then it is for life.

--> Meaning that from the moment you are 60 and apply for a new one, it will be for life.

Different wording but same result. But the first wording is the correct legal wording. As strange as it may seem, there is logic in it. As it is universally applied regardless the years of validity of the type of identity card : any identity card which exceeds your 70th birthday must never be renewed.

@Garry ******

Find the exact exchange rate for AUD (specifically the rate for telex transfer, not bills) on your friend's Thai bank website at the day and time slot in which it arrived. IF you relied on google for the exchange rate, then you have the wrong rate for your specific case for several reasons.

@Vincent ****

It COULD maybe be cheaper to go around via USD. But unless I see the exact rates I won't bet on it.

I'll do the test as I'm writing (and put up the comment no matter how the result turns out) and look up and do the math as I write.

You : via USD, the best rate I could find somewhere in Kuala Lumpur is with mymoneymaster : 100K MYR -> exchange rate to USD is 4.393 => gives 22,763 USD Then at Super Rich main branch change to THB at 34.07 THB for the bills and a bit less for the other bills => 775,533.75 THB

Me : 100K MYR to super Rich at 7.7 = 770,000 THB

Wowww... (Unless somebody can point out any mistake I made) for 100K MYR it would be worth it, even with some transport costs... Looked up another money exchanger with a bit less favourable rate, and there was still some profit going through USD.

You're right.