khunPer

As I understands it, citizenship it's not aimed on retirees. You need residency and work income.

To my knowledge it's been on larger companies in property business that have been scrutinized; I've never heard about a "crack down" on a small legally correct set up company holding a single property, rented out to a foreigner. By "legally correct set up" means that there are no nominate shareholders in the company, which is where the authorities can step in and claim corrections. Do you have any references to that small companies being "crack down"?

Crime seems to be (much) worse now in my Danish home country than where I live in Thailand; when I left it 20 years ago crime was increasing in my home country but still not a major problem as now.

I looked at it, but it seems not to be for our annual non-O extensions based on marriage or retirement, we still have to visit the local immigration office.

It might not be that easy to apply for Thai citizenship; a Permanent Residence might help, but to my knowledge you need to have been working for some year and paid income tax. There are some excellent threads with advice in the forum. Opening bank account is not a problem, if you have a long-stay visa, which you easily can obtain from your home country or a visa run to a nearby country, and an address i Thailand. You can invest in property without being citizen, if you open a Thai company limited, for example together with your future wife, as you can only hold 49 percent shares of the registered capital. With the right set-up – which an experienced business lawyer can do for you – you can secure your ownership pretty well. Investing in luxury end pool villas can be good business, especially if you use an agent to take care of rentals and service. If you do it yourself, it will require a lot of work, which you to my knowledge cannot do yourself without a proper work permit; i.e. you might need to employ or pay someone to do it for you. Airbnb rent needs to be for a month or longer, and when changing renter the villa(s) need to cleaned and serviced. If becoming a Thai citizen you will be eligible for government health care, but you might still prefer a private hospital, so either a health-insurance or enough funds for self insurance is needed in both cases. Having a non-immigrant visa you can stay with annual extensions based on either marriage to a Thai – which makes you eligible for a work permit – or as retiree, where work will not be allowed, but you can still own shares and be CEO on board member level in a company limited. If you wish to invest seriously in Thailand, there are other visas available, one of them also makes you eligible to own 1 rai of land. I'm not British, so I don't know about UK health care, but fin my European home country we loose our health care when settling abroad. We can keep dual nationality and keep both government and private retirement pensions. Brits' government pension will however be frozen at the level upon when settling abroad. As it seems like you have enough fund for investments – attractive pool villas in tourists areas are not cheap – then in my view and experience, it's important to consider if investment inside Thailand is better than offshore investments.

You country of primary residence is your present home country. If you travel abroad, you can be eligible for a travel insurance with repatriation. A primary question to ask oneself is also: Am I prepared to die in the country of my primary residence? If you are elder – or have illness or difficulties, which might makes you not eligible for air transport – you should seriously consider, if you should leave your original home country, if you are not prepared to end your life abroad. If you don't have some savings beyond a relative small government retirement pension, you should think twice about settling abroad. A good plan B often is that if something goes seriously wrong when living in Thailand, one can return to the home country of birth, but in some cases it might not be possible. Therefore the above question are important to ask oneself and make clear before settling abroad.

If you don't have some level of extra savings beyond a government retirement pension, you shall think twice about moving to Thailand; and it's worse for Brits that got their pension frozen.

Yes, the old terminal was charming, but way too small to handle the increasing tourism and arrivals in general. Some "good old time" flash back from a sunny day in Big Buddha Airport; screen short from one of my 2002-videos... Airport entrance... Departure terminal... Check-in counters... Departure terminal with check-in seen from walkway to gates... Refreshment corner... International departure gates and tax-free... Domestic departure gates... Domestic gates viewed from runway-side with carts to transport passenger to the airplanes parking space... Passenger carts on their way to an arriving airplane... Luggage band in arrival terminal... Arrival area with waiting minibusses...

Easy peasy, you should consider opening a TikTok-profile and also share the stuff here in this forum, so we can follow your success...

Thank you, because I'm glad to see that you found a small pile for good tourist promotion, instead of sharing the real stuff piled up on the Ring Road...

We need "quality tourists" that can pay more...

Yes they can, foreigners can be registered in a Yellow House Book for aliens, but not in the Blue House Book. I don't have PR, but I'm registered in my Yellow House Book, and I also have a pink ID-card for aliens.

Thanks for your explanation. It seems like you have been reopening an account. Opening a new account without a long stay-visa has been mentioned, to be difficult by now. It's especially a problem for those entering visa exempt or on a tourist visa that wish to apply for a non-immigrant visa domestically and therefore needs a Thai bank deposit. The common advice is to shop around between bank branches, as there can be difference in what they accept.

Thanks for your info. Recently or when?

At the moment there is a lot we don't know about details for the new income taxation of foreign funds, transferred into Thailand. In principle, so far, yes, all foreign income is income taxable if not covered by a double taxation agreement. However, savings from before 2024 – i.e., until 31st December 2023 – are free from income tax, but you need to prove that the money is savings. Details about how, has to my knowledge not yet been published.

A non-immigrant O-visa (called "non-O") as retiree and extension of stay based on retirement might be the best for you. This is the easiest paperwork and you are not dependant of being married to a Thai. A retirement extension requires that you have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank deposit or not less than 65,000 baht in monthly transfers into Thailand. You might be able to apply for a non-O visa domestically, but you'll need a Thai bank account in your name with 800,000 baht (monthly transfer cannot be used here). It might be easier to get a non-O visa abroad and enter on that, it will give you 90 days of stay and with a long stay-visa it might be easier to open a Thai bank account, which you shall do immediately after entering Thailand. Your deposit needs to mature for two month before you can apply for extension of stay based on retirement – or you need two monthly transfers of not less than 65,000 baht each – which you preferably shall do two weeks before the end of the 90-days stay. I'm using the retirement extension-method and 800,000 baht bank deposit, it's the easiest way to stay in Thailand.

Normally yes, for the land under the house – a foreigner can own a house, but not the land under it – but mind you that nominee shareholders are not allowed, so you only own 49 percent of your company, which is modest 980,000 baht, some Thai(s) have to come up with 1.02 million baht in cash...😉

No difference if you are tax-resident in Thailand – i.e., stay more than 180 days in a calendar year – you'll be taxed of all money you transfer into Thailand after the new rules per January 1st this year.

Has it changed recently? Otherwise it must be depending of the bank; the two Thai banks I use insist so far to use my passport number.

Firstly: Do you own the house: I.e. superficies or similar agreement with the land owner, architect drawing with your name as owner; building permission in your name? The Blue House Book will be issued by tessa ban district office – the office that issued the building permission when the house is 80 percent or more finished – and is used for Thai residents. If you are house owner, you will be registered as "house master/host" and be the one to permit any Thai person to be registered in the Blue House Book. You, being an alien, need to be registered in a Yellow House Book for aliens. To be that, you need to check with the local tessa ban-office what they need of documentation; it can vary (a lot) from district to district. But normally you will always need a certified translation of your passport's name page and two local witnesses, often a neighbour and a government employee, to certify that you are the one, you are. For opening a bank account you only need proof of an address with a letter from the local immigration office, a passport and often a long stay visa. To get that you have to be TM30-registered on the address; TM30 is the name of the form used to register an alien on an address within 24 hours from the alien's arrival. You don't need to be registered in a House Book. However, someone need to be registered as "host" in the TM30-registration system, to register you on the address; it can be done online. For retirement visa you only need a TM30-registration, if you apply for a non-immigrant O-visa domestically; you don't need address proof when applying abroad or in your home country. For annual extension of stay based on retirement, you need a TM30-registration.

Why do you need a company limited in Thailand? Cheap and affordable is very relative, just as a the length of a rubber band. Typically, you'll need a registered and paid shareholder capital of 2 million baht, of which 51 percent needs to be hold by one or more Thai shareholders, minimum is two shareholders in total. The Thai shareholder(s) must proof to own the funds used to buy shares. You cannot perform any work, apart from CEO on board member level, without a work permit. For a company to obtain one work permit for a foreigner, the company normally need four Thai employees. Company tax is from 20 percent to 30 percent, depending of the profit. As a retiree you can personally invest in Thai stocks, for example with a SET (Stock Exchange of Thailand) trading account, which many banks offer. Withheld dividend tax er 10 percent, and you don't need to do anything else, if you accept that tax. Capital gain on SET-stocks is not taxable. Foreign stocks you can invest in and trade from offshore bank. You will not be taxed in Thailand of any gain, before you transfer fund into Thailand. Transferring money from abroad into Thailand is income taxable, if it's not savings documented from before 2024. You need to check Double Taxation Agreement with your home country or US, if you bring gains from US-stocks into Thailand. You will have a personal deduction of 60,000 baht and the first 150,000 baht is not taxed. The tax rate starts at five percent and rise in steps up to 35 percent of incomer over five million baht. You can use the search function and find threads with details about Thai income tax. For remote work (probably not including Thai clients) there are special visas available, including the new 5-year visa from 1st June. You are officially not a retiree, if you work.

So, why are the long staying expats the problem – is it because you don't like people in larger hillside villas with a pool..?

Thanks for point of view. But if you read my comment again, they wou'll see that I didn't mention cruise visitors as users of electricity, hotel pools and water; I said the opposite. However, they use traffic – i.e the roads and vehicles – as they are moved around the island on one day sight seeing and shopping tours; and it's not only in the southern part, as that area is without Big Buddha, Plai Laem Temple and shopping facilities. And yes, there might be some or a number of budget long stayers, but those that can afford all the available luxury apartments and villas – which is the kind of villa that Tropicalevo to my knowledge handles – can normally also afford to pay the costs of infrastructure. How much do you contribute/pay for your garbage collection? From where do you get your water? Are you concerned about your electricity use in peak periods and switch off not necessary units? Some of us longstayers actually brings money in to the nation and also pay little tax in Thailand, apart from v.a.t...

Isn't that just a case of changing job/work in the work permit book..?

Cruise ship tourists only stays on the island a few hours, but makes a lot of traffic problems on a road system that is already overloaded. No hotels and resorts gain anything from cruise ship, and the guests will be back onboard for dinner cruise along Phangan Island towards next destination. Surat Thani-province stated earlier this year that tourism was all time high – and tourism in Surat Thani is mainly the island Samui, Phangan and Tao – and as the article clearly says, the infra structure already suffers. I know it's unpopular by some when saying it, but higher tourist income is to focus on "quality tourists" – those that can afford to spend money – rather than budget mass tourism. And of course still solve the major problems: Garbage – not only incinerator problems, but as well the visual bad looking and smelly garbage deposits on main roads – water, electricity and not to forget taxis that shall be using their meter. For the latter, the price is not the most important – let the taxi-drivers earn a fair living – but eliminate the the often rip-off negotiations about the cost of the ride; it a (very) bad feeling for tourists, even the negotiated price might be close to a fair cost.