bigbamboo

Foreigners trying to dupe Thai ladies....... it's a disgrace. Some farang are obviously taking going native too seriously!

LOL!

As a farang living in Thailand I accept the rules here. Isn't that what any guest should do? Don't like it? No one will stop you from leaving this fantastic and great country which I love.

Bully for you !

No one is saying don't accept the rules - that is our obligation in this great country.

Doesn't mean that a free-thinking person can't question the validity/effectiveness of some rules.

I am sure the Thai government don't want all their 'guests' to be simple-minded, sycophantic automotons ........

...... or perhaps they do ?

Not their 'guests' just their voters.

The bottom line is that Thailand is an unequal society that needs reform and unifying but Thaksin (or 'Thaksin clones' for that matter) are not the answer.

All very logical providing you are a Thai lawmaker. Why not make Thailand's struggling tourist hub shut it's bars down for the weekend and hack off the very people who make Phuket viable in the first place.

Don't forget a few hundred voters will travel hundreds of miles at great expense and inconvenience and the authorities don't want to do all that and then suddenly get distracted by the sight of a bar, get drunk and forget to vote... or even worse vote for the wrong candidate?

With Thai politics you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Whats confusing is that some individuals have an income but not a pension as yet.

So do they now want to see pension proof or income proof?

As many i know that are over 50 but under 65yrs don't qualify for their pensions in their home countries.

Private pension?

Ocupational pension?

Pension annuity?

Aren't those "pensions" just like the State Pension that you seem to be refering to?

Those are just 3 that spring to mind that qualify as pensions in the true sense

Penkoprod

What about investment income? I am not 65, so get no pension, but receive more than the required money, in (documented) investment income. I wonder if that qualifies, has anybody gotten retirement visa with same?

Like you I am many years away from pension cashing in time having 'semi retired' in my early forties and have been living in Thailand and happily married for nearly a decade now. It does happen you know!

So I also had to show my income through investments. However, even though in the good old days before The Crunch I had easily more than enough in monthly investment income to satisfy the Thai government's requirement and again when it was doubled later but I found that with Thai Immigration in my experience it has been less problematic to place the 200k and subsequently 400k in an account for a short period prior to the 12 month marriage visa renewal 'audition'.