@Sean ********

depends on your home country because as lax as many Thai bureaucratic departments may be I think they'll expect the licence to be in date. I'm from the UK and when I tried to renew my licence I was refused because I do not reside in the UK. Now have a new licence (applied to change the photo - if you apply to renew you have to provide utility bills etc. to prove residence, to change the photo you don't - handy tip for anyone due renewal) and when it turned up it had my full bike licence too (something my old one didn't have) so I'm all set to go.

You can, but unless you have 20 years together....

@Ron *****************

only to the age of 60, over 60 you can't even offer to pay the full contributions yourself.

Steve Maynard no, just too compliant. As I have said, they told me no but once I pointed out how they sent 9 cards to me that went missing in China, which they don't consider a high risk country, and that their insinuation that courier companies we're not reliable and was information I was willing to share with courier companies, they sent a card. Not recorded/registered mail or courier, just plain first class post. Natwest has a long history of not giving 2 hoots about their customers. In the past 4 years I have had nearly £2000 in compensation payments from them for their poor performance and the unnecessary hardship it has caused me. Just stand up to them and they will send the card.

"If you threaten them, it will come."

@Steve ********

I'm with Natwest and got mine sent. To be fair, I had to threaten them. I pointed out that they don't consider China a high risk country to send cards to but they sent me 11 cards and only 2 ever arrived because their complaints team sent them by FedEx. I also pointed out that they stated I had to give a family/friend address in the UK and then GO TO THE UK TO COLLECT IT because mail/couriers were not safe. So I told them I was going to copy their email to all the major international courier companies. 2 weeks later my card arrived by first class post, not even recorded or signed for! You just have to push the right buttons, after all, since 2009 we own the banks.

@Jon *******

er, no. Admitting is not advocating and I did actually state that I was going for the full licence here. Yes, I said that one had to balance the time and expense of doing a bike test as opposed to the occasional 200 baht fine. Did not say it was the best way to go (even though a large majority of Thais seem to be happy working that way).

For the number of times you're likely to get stopped (if you're a sensible rider) you need to balance it up. The cost in time and money of getting a Thai licence or the occasional 200 baht fine. Personally, I'm going for the Thai test and licence but that's just old age I guess, I spent 20+ years in the UK driving 500cc upwards bikes on just a provisional licence and never got stopped because:

a) I was a careful and competent rider.

b) I rode full kit touring bikes (Silver wing, Folding, R100RT).

I'm just looking for a cost effective way of putting my money from my UK account into my China Construction Bank account in mainland China so I'll only get charged 150 baht per withdrawal. (Every little helps, no one ever got rich GIVING banks money, well, apart from the bank directors🤭)

The 20,000 baht was based on people arriving on 30 day tourist visas, VOAs and exemptions and was to ensure you had enough to support yourself for 30 days (yeah, right, like 20,000 would cover that!) However, now the STV and TV are 90 and 45 days respectively so the 20,000 would need to be either 60,000 or 30,000 so no doubt to complicated a task for IOs to count that high. Also, how many people use cash only these days? With access to ATMs easy most will use credit/debit card payment or for cash withdrawal. Also, if you can afford to pay the 30,000 -240,000 for an ASQ I think they have decided it can be assumed that the 20,000 won't be a problem. Even before Covid I was travelling back and forth between Thailand and neighbouring countries by road and air and never got asked to prove I had it, even when I got pulled by immigration at the airport on arrival from Vietnam they were more interested in me proving I was ex forces than whether or not I had 20,000 in my wallet.

It depends on your policy. It has to cover a minimum of $100,000 for Covid treatment. However, many policies only pay out if you are symptomatic. If you get here and test positive you will be sent to hospital and a lot of policies are not covering for asymptomatic cases. Best bet is to work closely with your insurer to make sure your policy covers:

Normal accidents, sickness etc. Up to 400,000 baht inpatient

40,000 baht outpatient

Covid cover $100,000 for symptomatic AND asymptomatic hospitalization.