mudcat

We recently bought a Toyota Veloz to replace our eight-year old Chevrolet Spin (also 7-seater but missing many of the automotive advances over the last few years, particularly in terms of safety, e.g. blind spot and crossing traffic monitoring, side airbags, and IsoFix car seats). No long trips as of yet as still have red plates so no real world experiences (and remember to request an English user manual - no charge but they wanted a copy of my passport). A factor for us was Toyota's reputation for service and the much better retained value should we sell at some point in the future. It feels and looks much bigger even though the measurements are not much different. I understand the Honda BRV is being updated so I would do some research on it and see if delivery will be a problem (it was for their Mobilo when we bought the Spin).

I also closed my term account (mine at BBK). I had always described the ThB800K for my non-imm O (retirement) as a parked car without any keys, so when I got the stack of bills I turned it into a new car (Toyota Veloz). Anyone want a good but inexpensive family car? 2014 Chevrolet Spin with 80K km - very clean with all service records - it will get your family out of the back of the pickup into air conditioned comfort with 6 shoulder belts and one lap belt at the bargain price of ThB200K including 9-months of first class insurance. If interested PM me.

Not seeing the actual application your friend submitted it may be that they selected 'Option 1' which requires health insurance with the 10-month validity 'gotcha' or 'Option 2' that requires a form of Social Security that includes health care (not sure if anyone has gotten BOI to accept TriCare or the civilian version of Tricare). To have one's liquid assets considered (not sure what form their assets take - mine were in U.S. IRAs). To have the BOI consider assets, one needs to select 'Option 3' and leave 'Option 1' and/or 'Option 2' unselected. Wealthy-Pensioner p 3.pdf

It sounds as if you have health insurance in your home country and have a travel/long-stay policy in mind. See if you can qualify using your assets to avoid the expense of purchasing a Thai policy or an overseas policy and coordinating policy expiration date 10-months in the future.

I do not remember any screen numbers during the process - but now that I have my visa it does show Screen 8

I did discuss that Roth IRAs are not subject to tax or early withdrawal penalties (if one is 59 21/2 or older). I included and boxed the graphic from my consolidated statement (attached) to demonstrate that the value was sufficient to assure that I had sufficient resources to avoid being a public burden.

I am also concerned about what happens as I get truly aged (not there yet, but I can see it coming). The OA offered a much simpler set of requirement for maintaining and extending my stay . I sent a email to BOI asking that they consider explicitly the visa holder, if unable to attend because of disability to include the TM7 verbiage allowing for that eventuality: When it comes time to obtain stamps for the second five-years of the visa after the BOI has reviewed the qualifying documents it would be very helpful to those of us who are older that accommodation for disabled or handicapped visa holders to have a family member or an agent to attend at BOI and OSSC be included in your form similar to the phrasing that Immigration uses for annual extensions on their TM.7 form (attached): ค ำเตือน NOTICE 1. ผู้ขอจะต้องยื่นค าขออนุญาตด้วยตนเอง APPLICANT MUST SUBMIT THE APPLICATION IN PERSON เว้นแต่ ผู้ป่วยหรือผู้พิการที่ไม่สามารถมายื่นด้วยตนเองได้ WITH THE EXCEPTIONS OF HANDICAPPED PATIENTS OR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES I understand that the BOI may have little experience with the older population applying for WP visas, but like many long term residents I saw this as an opportunity to have an easier time complying with Thai Immigration requirements. The program offers us a easier path forward than Non-IMM O extension based on retirement or marriage to a Thai national. It would be a shame that such minor details such as where annual reports need to be made or failing to build in accommodation for handicapped or disabled holders would discourage many applicants by replicating the same sort of troublesome details that seem to be built in to mainstream Immigration rules. I may be one of the oldest LTR Visa holders - I am 74-years old and will be 79-years old when my visa needs to be extended. None of us can predict the future, but I can easily imagine that trips to Bangkok may become difficult or impossible over the ten-year visa validity.

I chose to qualify using my brokerage account, including my Roth IRA. The consolidated statement had a three-year lookback chart as well as a current valuation - this may have given them some assurance that the account was stable (or at least as stable as any account can be these days). I don't consider this option as self-insurance, rather I see the health insurance I maintain here as protection for my assets from medical expenses. After I retired I kept my employer provided Kaiser HMO plan and after 65-years old their Senior Advantage plan, but these plans required that I be out of their service area for no more than 6-months, so I dropped when I relocated in November 2020. Check with your HR if any of the options they offer will provide coverage if you are living full-time here once you are 65-years old - you may have better luck with traditional Medicare not dropping you as they are not tied to a service area like Medicare advantage plans. In any case Medicare will not pay for regular, non-emergency care overseas, so you will at some point need to straddle the Pacific Ocean or keep an accurate calendar.

I submitted my IRS transcript which is non-editable with Social Security number(s) showing only the last four digits. Be helpful to point out the lines showing the income you wish to be considered, e.g. Social Security full benefit, pension, and any IRA distributions.

Traveling to Bangkok annually for a ministerial report of address makes no sense, and is counter to the approved notice from the Royal Gazette that aublumberg kindly posted and I repost here. The notice we receive from immigration is on page 4 ant the TM.95 we are required to file is page 16. T_0024.PDF

I doubt that the TM.95 is intended to be used only at One Stop Service Center, as the notice of when to review states: Any alien who has been granted a Long - Term Resident Visa (LTR Visa) and permitted to temporarily stay in the Kingdom must notify a competent official at a local or central immigration office of his/her address every year.

Sorry about attaching the wrong TM - here is the TM.95/ TM.95 blank.pdf

Thanks aublumberg. Here is the TM.95 extracted as a one-page acrobat pdf TM.94 blank.pdf

A helpful resource for U.S. citizens is here along with a Thai translation: https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/death-of-a-u-s-citizen/

The U.S. embassy stated that for them to direct the hospital to release the body after a post mortem they require to see an indication from the deceased they wish to burned here. We added that to our Thai last wills and include it with other identifying documents including our U.S. wills in a to-go envelope at home, with a niece, and in our car's glovebox Remember to make sure that a dual national spouse is well identified otherwise getting the Consular Report of Death will be more difficult as the authorities in the U.S. expect to see that before dealing with the estate.

Just to confirm, I asked my BOI Sherpa if I could delete all my documents and he stated it was ok.

I believe that this is where, because I had attempted to delete and re-order my documents which lost them. I re-submitted my pension letters, backed them up with a tax-transcript from 2021. I have now deleted all of my personally identifiable documents with the exception of the bio-page of my passport which I first submitted.

Received my passport stamps on Halloween (October 31st) on a trip to Bangkok to celebrate our tenth anniversary on November 1st. My timeline: August 24th - Applied for new U.S. passport September 14th - Received new passport - expiring September 1, 2032. September 15th - Transferred Stamps to new passport September 16th - Applied for LTR visa - Wealthy Pensioner October 4th - Preliminary approval - request for more documents October 18th - Qualification approval letter October 31st - Stamps entered Visa expires on September 16, 2032 Permission to stay expires on October 30, 2027 Re-entry permit expires on October 30, 2027 Notification due on October 30, 2023 I assume that a five-year re-qualification will result in a permission to stay expires when my passport expires on September 1, 2032. There have been questions about where the notification of address needs to submitted if have been in the Kingdom for one-year - when I questioned the immigration officer taking my payment receipt and stamping my passport she was adamant that notification needed to happen at the One Stop Service immigration office, but when I looked at the notice in my passport (attached) it stated: NOTICE NOTIFICATION FOR AN ALIEN WHO HAS BEEN STAYING IN THE KINGDOM LONGER THAN 1-YEAR Any alien who has been granted a Long - Term Resident Visa (LTR Visa) and permitted to temporarily stay in the Kingdom must notify a competent official at a local or central immigration office of his/her address every year. Not sure what form to submit a one-year notification - maybe there is a one-year form somewhere - if anyone has found one or had one supplied by BOI please post it as a pdf for others.

I successfully substituted my U.S. IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) with my broker as demonstration of assets >$100,000 for medical expenses (Option 3). I maintain Thai health insurance with Pacific Cross to protect my assets, not to qualify for a visa. The Deposit option allows me to tailor my health insurance with the goal of protecting myself, my family, and my assets today and in the future. I maintain other forms of insurance - Social Security Part B and long term care insurance should I return to the U.S., which I have no plans of doing, but the consequences of not maintaining this 'useless' insurance would be a cost I choose not to risk. All insurance is a gamble - I have maintained auto insurance for >40-years without an at-fault claim, but pay my premiums every year. I am off to Bangkok to collect my visa stamp(s) tomorrow. I will seek clarification on a number of lingering questions: What forms of yearly notification are acceptable - electronic, snail mail via registered EMS, visit to a local immigration office, on-line video appointment - requiring travel to Bangkok is non-sensical. Can I delete my application information from the BOI website now that the documents have been reviewed an visa has been issued or can BOI do it for me and other applicants who have their visas What happens if, because of health issues, a visa holder cannot travel to Bangkok to extend for the second five-years after paperwork has been approved (for me this would be when I am 79-years old).

Wonder if you get an extra day in leap years? This is the wrong way to look at it - what happens if your one-year report is made on February 29th, 2024 - does one get four more years until the next February 29th in 2028?

We have kept first ckass on our eight-year old car simply to retain the 200K cover for a downpayment should it be stolen or destroyed. The cover is minor as is the premium above third class which has has about the same liability, medical payments, and bail bond. The real question is what value the insurace company would assign at what premium should you find a company to write a policy.

Head scratchers indeed - what is supposed to go where is unclear. Should you choose to upload U.S. tax documents it would be good to let them know what they are looking for: On a 1040 pension income is on line 5B and gross Social Security Benefit is on line 6a (6b has the 85% that is taxable income). On the transcript my pension is on the bottom line of the first page, while my gross Social Security Benefit is on line 14 of the second page .

I decided it was wiser not share my widower status with my wife when it appeared in the summarize document.

I never managed to get BOI application and Pacific Cross Health Insurance expiration to coordinate. I simply provided a brokerage statement and tax return with my account and social security numbers redacted from the pdf. I am sure someone could figure out a way to reverse engineer into my account, but I have faith that it would be difficult to access and drain an account with a U.S. brokerage firm.

Oops. The visa expires October 16, 2032 not December: The notice has an effective date of October 17 - the letter expires on December 16, 2022 and the visa expires on December 16, 2032.