You clearly don't live and have never lived in CM.. your information does not reflect the reality of living in CM one iota.. in fact your 'insight' couldn't be further from the truth.. I'm interested to learn who did the measuring you refer to, when was it taken, and what was their professional accreditation.. you say it was worse than Lahore without saying worse for what exactly.. maybe its for the number of fresh markets per square mile I'm not sure.. I'm guessing it was a 10 minute spot check on a Wednesday in February with a reading taken from the edge of a farmers field that he'd just started burning.. because there's no other way this data can be factual.. do you think millions of people would live in CM province if it was really as bad as the picture you paint!

You also need to be aware of any employment laws that may be relevant to your transition to a 'Thai' worker.. because you could find your employer terminates you employment as a 'foreigner' and then re-employs you as a 'Thai' and you lose continuity of service.. this could be very important in relation to employee rights and any benefits (company or state) that you may presently qualify for.. but could lose if you are suddenly considered a 'day-1' employee again.. you may want to investigate this aspect further.. and if your employer assures you that there will be no break in your service record you should get that in writing just to be safe!

Us Nek Personally, i would go to the nearest DLT to your current home in Bangkok.. take along the Green book/s for the bike/s, and certificate of insurance (ie. the compulsory Por Ror Bor), your passport, proof of address (such as Yellow book or CoR), the copy of your lease agreement (if you are renting an apt) and your latest tm30.. and ask them if you can transfer the registration now that your are living in Bangkok.. you should find they will be, able to attend to it there.. meaning without you having to return to Pattaya.. but they will advise you and supply the correct forms for completion.. it's best if you have a Thai friend with you to help you fill in the forms since sometimes it has to be written in Thai as well as (or instead of) English.. although again, the staff at the DLT might be willing to do this on your behalf.. but best to go prepared and fore armed as they say.. to save you a return trip.. worse scenario is they insist it's done in Pattaya first.. but i haven't hunch thst won't be necessary my friend.. good luck 🍀

If you don't change your address on your registration.. then a problem could arise if a fixed penalty notice.. say for speeding or some other driving infringement.. gets sent to your old address and it is returned to the police.. you should also consider that any insurance you have could be invalidated.. since your address is a factor in the premium calculation and the price could change if you move residence.. so witholding a change of address could be considered a material variation to the contract of insurance.. leaving you uninsured if you have an accident.. however, once you notify the DLT in your old province of a change of address to another province.. they will normally give you 7-14 days to go to the DLT in your new province to re-register it there.. meaning you don't have a choice in the matter.. and failure to do so at that point will result in a fine.. i would suggest it is advisable to simply re-register a vehicle in the new province in all such cases.. so as to avoid creating problems for yourself later.. it will also make it easier to sell it later on.. since potential local buyers could be deterred if they see it is registered in a distant province!

@Nick ***********

I completely agree with your appraisal.. if a particular immigration office gets pressured (from above) to vet applications received from agents 'properly' at some point.. and discovers that every app a particular agent submits thereafter has to be rejected because the hitherto 'friendly IO' can no longer intervene and smooth out the wrinkles internally.. then said agent is going to be red flagged and they could be ordered to review all visa's previously issued via that agent to check for irregularities.. and if you used that same agent to cheat the system because you didn't fully meet the criteria.. eg. you didn't have the required funds available.. or you simply refused to use your own money because you didn't want to disturb a 'better investment' elsewhere.. then they will identify this and deduce that you knowingly abused the process.. the bent IO who received a sweetener to 'look the other way' could be removed from their position (or retire) and you then you lose their protection.. and if they are replaced by a jobsworth who can't be bribed you will be in the sh1t.. you won't be able to claim ignorance of the agents malfeasance as a defence either.. because you signed the forms and declared it to be a truthful disclosure of all material facts.. and if you are mid-term on that visa it could be cancelled and you could be deported on grounds of an intentional overstay.. and you have no way of knowing whether they will ever entertain another visa application from you.. most likely you'd get say a 5-year ban or something like that.. especially if they want to make an example of somebody to deter others from such misdemeanors.. but to make matters worse you could be prosecuted and fined heavily.. also likely if they find hundreds or even thousands of such cases and realise how much revenue could be raised that way.. i know everything I've stated here is hypothetical.. but that's exactly what 'risk' is.. it's the hypothetical downside of making a decision or taking a certain course of action.. and if you can't handle the worst possible outcome from that decision you probably shouldn't be making it.. i accept that agents can save you time.. eg. paying them to fast-track say, a certificate of residence, will make sense when time is of the essence.. or to get your overseas marriage certificate endorsed by your embassy, translated and rubber stamped by the MoFA etc.. but they are kosher services that do not involve blatant fraud.. I'm not suggesting all agents are bad.. but when it comes to visa's most of them make their money by using their relationships with IO's to get applications approved that would ordinarily fail upon closer scrutiny.. and that only happens because money changes hands.. from applicant to agent to IO.. if discovered the IO and the agent could both be looking for another job.. but the applicant (or visa holder) could be searching for another country to live in.. so tell me who is taking the brunt of the risk!

I read this week that Thailand is modifying the tax rules imminently.. such that retirees (and other long term visa holders) with pension income originating from overseas will be exempt from taxation on that income.. on the proviso that it is remitted to Thailand in the year it is received.. so current year pension income being flipped into your Thai bank account every month will be exempt.. which suggests they have realised there are significant benefits (to the economy) in encouraging expats to bring more money into Thailand!

A friend of mine recently obtained a 10-yr Uk visa for his Thai wife.. allowing unlimited entries of up to 6 months stay each time.. and he told me he paid around £1,000 for it.. and it didn't take anything like 12+ months to process the application.. if all the correct documentation is prepared and ready to submit it should take several weeks rather than several months.. but of course, every situation is different and will have it's own peculiarities.. so timescales will potentially differ between applicants.. I'm considering doing something similar shortly.. no immediate plans to travel back to the Uk, but I'd rather have it in place ready for when it's needed 😉

Consider porting your established number to Expatfone.. it's a digital VoIP mobile phone service that works through an app called Devyce.. you don't need a sim in your phone to use it.. so you keep your Thai sim in your handset for every day use and revert to the Devyce app to use your UK number.. the big benefit is that the app shields your location when using it.. meaning anyone you call or message receives it as if you were still in the UK.. and when you call the UK they will just see your mobile number as they would if you were making the call locally.. which is great for communicating with your UK bank if you're not ready to inform them of your overseas domicile.. which could help you avoid the risk of having your UK bank account cancelled.. which many banks appear to be doing if you no longer have a registered UK address.. and i forgot to mention that calls to UK landlines and mobiles and sms's are completely free.. you just pay a fixed monthly subscription to keep it active.. and if you return to live in the UK and want a conventional UK sim again.. you can simply port your number out again and retain the number.. it was a no brainer for me!

Our original KR22 was accepted by CM immigration at the last renewal without any query whatsoever.

I'd suggest that having a Thai bank account is very relevant.. since you can only be taxed (or assessed for tax) on the income you bring into Thailand.. and the only way that can be assessed is via your bank deposits.. meaning if you self declare your income on a tax return they will ask to see your bank statements to verify it.. your overseas bank account is irrelevant.. so if you don't have a Thai bank account you will never pay tax.. unless you volunteer to do so.. however the reality is that you can't stay here on a long term visa (eg. married or retirement visa) without having a Thai bank account.. and these are the majority of people that will be caught by the 180 day ruling.. very few people will live in Thailand for 6 months without a bone-fide visa.. so it's nonsensical to suggest a Thai bank account is not going to be part of the tax equation!