What are your plans with regards to becoming a Thai tax resident upon your upcoming visit pushing you over the 180-days? If your country has a dual taxation treaty with Thailand there should be no tax to pay, but will you get a tax number and file a tax return? I am in a similar situation and wonder what others are planning to do? With the new digital passport tracking length of stay in Thailand, whether this information is automatically shared with the Thai tax office?

@John ******

I don't doubt what you are saying, I can only go by my personal experience. With such a long a duration in Thailand, you must be well aware, that requirements change not by whether you are using Bangkok. Krungsri, Siam, or Krungthai bank, but from branch to branch. I am a much newer arrival than you, both of my banks are based in Pattaya and both required a permanent Thai cell phone number to open an account. You are correct in the fact that both of my chosen banks also required a copy of my condo lease agreement.

The bank will want you to have an annual phone contract with the SIM registered against your passport details. This will also allow you to use the banks online app. I used Dtac for this purpose. Coverage is excellent everywhere I have been in Thailand and for a small extra amount, I was able to use it in Vietnam too. Cost wise, it's very affordable.

Simple, fly to Bangkok on visa exempt entry. Take bus to Jomtien, just 143 baht, then 10 baht bus to Pattaya. Walk down Soi 6 towards Beach Road, but just before you get there, look left for One Stop Visa. Mark will sort everything for you.

Fly BKK to SGN to reset if you haven't already got a history of exempt Thai entry stamps. That's what I used to do before I got a Non O

I looked into that route, as wanted to be based out of Jomtien, but the nearest DTV approved cookery classes that I could find were in Bangkok.

@Betty ********

This is my home in Aveyron. The walls are at least 36 inches thick, so I don't hear anything from inside. I spend the European spring and summer here avoiding South East Asia's rainy season, the other half the year in Thailand with a long vacation in Vietnam to keep me under the Thai 180 day tax residency. Condo rental in Thailand is cheap enough not to be bothered that it sits empty 6 months of the year.

@Betty ********

sorry to learn that you have had such issues. I can't say that I have ever blamed the construction of the condo buildings as a factor in the noise issues that I have experienced. These are the condos where I have lived: View Talay 2B. Laguna Beach 2. Seven Seas Cote d'Azure. Lumpini Park Beach. I prefer not to disclose my current condo location, but it is around the southern end of Jomtien Beach. I have never had shelves collapse, but I hear you with regards to the closure and security of the windows. I always select the highest possible floor, firstly for security, but also not to have any drain smell issues or bugs. I love living in Jomtien even though I split my year between my home in South West France and extended stays in Vietnam.

I arrived in Thailand back in 2017. I rent and I am glad that I didn't buy. I am on my fifth rental condo. While I have always loved each condo, there came a point where I didn't? It has always been because of the same reason. Noisy neighbours moving in. Three were just inconsiderate, the other, a young family with a newborn baby. Of course, in their instance, the crying baby was beyond their control, but still, it caused me sleep disruption every night. Hence my current, fifth apartment in Jomtien.

@Kieran ******

sadly, far from it. How do I know? From the long hours spent in the bank getting my account unfrozen. Expats talk to each other!