theblether

People don't know that the drive for the 800,000 baht deposit was a foreign currency cash grab after 1997 financial crisis. The number of farangs that fell for it is off the scale. Name another financial deal where paying up front is more expensive than paying monthly? You really need to twist in the wind to justify that.

It's possible. Here's the problem. The last time there was a review it had a brutal outcome. I don't know, no one knows.

There were 80000 people on O-A visas given a months notice to obtain insurance without grandfathering. I'.m a busy man, I apologise to forum members for mixing up O-X and O-A. I will not apologise for warning forum members that this review has the potential to be far more serious than avoidable taxation scenarios. ps - the 80,000 figure was announced by the Thai government.

On the subject of insurance causing O-X to fail. What do you think the chances are of mandatory health insurance not being included in the upcoming review?

You are correct. O-X failed partly due to the insurance requirement. Remind me of the retirement visa category apply from overseas, was that O-A?

Fair enough, I did say I needed someone with a better memory than me. I did think that the failure to grandfather the O-X visa insurance requirement was brutal - again, from memory, 80,000 people held that type of visa and they got a months notice to obtain insurance. One female pal ended up paying $6,000 a year for limited coverage. She tolerated it for a couple of years then repatriated. Anyway, my point is that people are getting hot under the collar about the taxation situation. The result of this imminent review could be extraordinarily painful.

I need someone with more knowledge or a better memory than me - from my recollection the last time the conditions were adjusted existing retirees were "grandfathered." That meant that they continued to qualify under the old requirements. People who did not have a retirement pension had to qualify under the new regime. I don't know what the adjustments will be. I think I can safely say that the financial requirements will not be adjusted downwards. If you are on the edge of applying for a retirement visa get on with it as you may receive a shock when the review is announced. More recently, the O-X visa requirements were adjusted to include mandatory insurance. The Thai government gave very little notice of the new requirements and put many people into an impossible position as they could not source legitimate insurance policies due to pre-existing conditions and their age. They did not grandfather those new requirements. Will this review be a nothingburger? I doubt it.

Okay - you need to bookmark this link - this is critical to retirement planning, especially for people planning to retire soon. https://www.thaigov.go.th/news/contents/details/83599 This is the crucial passage: 2.) Medium-term measures (consisting of 3 Measures starting from September - December 2024) include: 1. Grouping and reducing the code governing visas for temporary stays. (Non-Immigrant) from the original 17 codes, remaining 7 codes, which will begin operations within September 2024. 2. Adjust the criteria and conditions for receiving a Long Stay visa for the elderly who wish to spend their final days in Thailand. It will begin operations by September 2024.

The results of a government review into retirement style visas.

First, you'll be amazed at the number of people who do not anticipate changes. Second, it could well be a Black September. The last financial review was devastating to upcoming retirees. I don't know what is going to happen. My admittedly off-the-wall prediction is a statutory fee for retirement-style visas. It would be a simple tax to collect. People are unaware that the highest tax compliance category is airport tax, with 99.7% collection rates. Imposing a higher anual fee for retirees would be simple and many would rather pay than get entwined in the Thai tax reporting system.

May well be except every new policy actually enacted has been aimed at reducing long stay for poorer individuals, and opening new visa streams for high net worth or highly educated, entrepreneurial types. We'll know in September when we discover the promised outcome of the review into retirement status which surely includes financial requirements.

I warned you about this ten years ago when I pointed out why you shouldn't retire to Thailand. Expatriate crisis on it's way ( again ).

Please tell me this is not a serious reply. I quite like a bit of witty trolling but this is not on.

Aww man, there's two of them. It's hilarious that a thread about the poisonous Alex Jones has drawn out the Democrat Dunning-Kruger brigade.

I detest Alex Jones, he's a poisonous, mentally disturbed town clown. However, the village idiots that constantly comment on this vile fool are just as bad. There's something wrong with your head if you wake in the morning eager to continually post on threads about this guy. Get a life.

I support independence but not the SNP. All they are to me is a useful Trojan Horse. All they had to do was empty the bins and enact law & order reform. Instead of ensuring that no one serves less than six months in prison they allowed male rapists into female prisons. Absurd. They deserve to pay for that calamity alone. I'm choosing to not vote in this election. This next four years will see us back in 1976/79 territory. Horror show upcoming to the point my family is cashing out. Don't be shocked if for the first time in history the pound is worth less than a dollar under the Labour government. And don't be shocked if it goes under 35 Thai baht. If you have spare capital in the UK and live in Thailand move it now.

Oh dear, Hunter. Oh dear Democrat conspiracy theorists. What a disaster. Biden's DoJ and FBI have verified the laptop. The last thing Hunter needs is a court case where its proved specifically that it was not manipulated. And it wasn't. The contents of that laptop are a horror show for Joe. Hunter is looking at more charges. His best option would be to cut a plea deal as he is looking at jail time. And Joe is looking at the worst family crisis since the death of Beau. An utter horror show.

Stretching again. Public polls and one July Trump campaign poll. You are desperately delusional if you believe that had an affect on the November result. By the way, Hunter has dropped his manipulation case against Guiliani. https://www.nationalreview.com/news/hunter-biden-drops-lawsuit-against-rudy-giuliani-over-abandoned-laptop/

A few years ago this forum had genuine big hitters. These days I regret to say the intellectual standard has collapsed. Now we have digital scum linking to Wikipedia- a source banned by amazon.com as being unreliable. In that link this digital scum clown forgot to point out that it says " no proof was found." You are surrounded by insignificant, hysterical lunatics. Even Biden's DoJ calls them conspiracy theorists. A brigade of vocal halfwit. A total embarrassment

Did you read that link? Are you genuinely that stupid?

Flat out lie. You are lying. You are a liar.

You've never seen me troll. Pm your degenerate hysterical pal and ask him about me. I regard people like you as the digital scum that you are.

No one is this stupid. Hunter is going to have to answer for every bank transfer and every payment. Worse? He's going to have to answer for the redistribution of the money. Epic calamity on the way. Epic.

You know you are stretching there. How disappointed you must have been when RM said - we found no collusion. How disappointed will you be when a CALIFORNIAN COURT of all places puts Hunter on trial for tax evasion linked to influence peddling. And, yes, the laptop has plenty of verified e-mail threads that deal with influence peddling. Conspiracy theorists like you and that hysterical guy have forgotten that the RECIPIENTS OF THE E-MAILS have either verified the contents, in a couple of cases under oath in front of Congressional committee(s), or agreed to testify for the prosecution. People like you are the reason I rarely step into US political discourse. I've seen better behaved toddlers in tantrum mode.

I'm not engaging with that hysterical village idiot again. Convicted felon Hunter will be in court in September for tax evasion. The source of the money will be front and center. I don't care what the demented Democrat conspiracy theorists assert here. That court case could not come at a worse time. And if it results in conviction, Hunter is going to jail. And you are truly demented if you think Joe Biden in his second term or leaving office if defeated will allow his son to fester in jail. Zero chance of that, none.