@เดวิด *********

USA bank is one of the few that is compliant. Most major banks in the USA do not do this.

If you are American, you can’t beat the Schwab debit card although you are limited to how much you can withdraw each day. You will get the 220 Baht ATM fee refunded and you will get the interbank rate (not the TT rate). Visa typically takes about .2-4% for using their card which will be about half what you pay for most other methods including Transferwise. There is also no minimum account balance with Schwab. It is very difficult to set up a Schwab debit card from Thailand. I tried to do this several different ways and had to go back to the USA to do this.

Ron Angel I don’t know Robert Lagas and he is not blocked by me. I was at Jomtien immigration 3 months ago. I arrived at 4:15. The place was empty and I did my 90 day check in. I was in and out in a few minutes.

@Tod ********

No, I’m applying for another yearly extension of stay.

@Tod ********

thank you. I guess the person that stated this in the last thread made an incorrect statement.

It is very typical to make education visa runs to Vientiane. Most foreigners living in Thailand can not easily get to Savannakhet. Vientiane is easy to get to through Udon from DMK or UTP (cheap flights and cheap taxi) or directly (more expensive). Van rides for most take 12 hours. If you arrive at a time and day in Vientiane that they are not busy, it is not horrible. The busiest days for arrival are likely Monday and Thursday mornings when the minibuses make their group visa runs. You may wait a long time if you arrive early in the morning. You will wait less if you arrive at 11:00. It is usually a 2 day process. Leave documents one morning and pick up visa the next afternoon.

I think you need to talk to a lawyer about setting up a business in Thailand. You need at least 2 million baht in capital. Since you are American, you have an option to set up a business per the treaty of Amity in which you do not need a Thai partner/director (non-voting). The lawyer can tell you exactly what you need to do for the business visa.

I paid Laos immigration in Thai Baht and the cost was 1500 Baht which was $48.38 at the time or $45.17 at today’s exchange rate. I overpaid by $13.38 at the time that I crossed.

A visa on arrival costs US $35 for US citizens; the fee varies depending on citizenship, for as little as US$30 to as high as US $42. To facilitate processing, pay the visa application fee in exact change with USD although I think they may give you change in USD or Kip.

Jomtien Immigration. I did not even wait in line so it was not like they were busy. They even had 2 times of the day posted when you could pick up passports and they gave me a specific day to come back that it would be ready. I went there about 2 weeks ago.

If you get your new passport at your Thai embassy, they should provide a letter to Thai immigration requesting them to transfer all your pertinent Thai details from the old to the new passport. You will need to provide copies of the old and new passport. You turn your passports in to Thai immigration with a form and they will give you a date and time (usually a few days) to pick it up.