RE: Croz,5 Jun 2019 09:03
Totally off topic,
Phoebus, I still live in UK but do have Thai residency visa, not retirement visa as I am married to a Thai national. Retirement visas are easily obtained if you are over 50 and have money. Cha-Am just north of Hua Hin on the western sea board is a great place with English widely spoken, as in all tourist areas. If you plan to live in remote areas of Thailand you will need to learn the language which is extremly difficult at first but gets easier as you learn more. I have 13 years at it and now I save a fortune being fluent in numbers. There is no past, present and future tense in Thai, it is the order in which you put the words that differs. There is also no plural again you switch the words around. eg chang beer bottle 1 ,,,,,chang beer 2 bottle (Chang quart neung,,,,,,,,chang sorn quart)
Retirement visas now require you have medical insurance and a Thai bank account. UK driving licence is not recognized, you must get an international drivers permit, and then you can get Thai driving licence, this eliminates you paying off the police for driving without one!!!
As for investing, just keep a low profile, keep a UK address and say nothing to the Thai authorities. Do NOT work there without a work permit or you will be in big trouble. There are many Thai banks which cater for foreigners but I would recommend Siam Commercial. The down side to being in Thailand is you get the 7AM RNSs at 1PM BST and 2PM BWT.
Austin14, sorry your father is no longer with you but be assured he will have loved his last years. Corruption is honest and open in Thailand as you say but in the UK its all done behind the scenes at government level.
If you want to know more about Thailand try adding me on facebook Nigel Staniland (Logo is keep calm and fly to Thailand)