mudcat

Received an email notifying me of my approval and directing me to make an appointment and gather documents. I chose to substitute my brokerage account statement showing >2x the required 'deposit' in my IRAs. Letter issued without any issue. I am glad I have broken the link between two of my favorite bureaucracies - insurance companies and immigration. A few notes: The notice has an effective date of October 17 - the letter expires on December 16, 2022 and the visa expires on December 16, 2032. There is a bunch of confusion about the size of the photo - the list of required documents has it as a 3x4 cm but the approval letter has it as 4x6 cm (the standard immigration size called out on the back of the TM94). Anyone have any luck with a payment alternative to putting a Thai application on my phone?

My status still shows reviewing additional documents and the 'bell' notification is still referencing the initial document receipt date back in early October. There is nothing when I click on the three dots. I will give it another week on the assumption that the individual who called me had access to my files that I submitted (tax return and transcript, pension and Social Security benefit letters) and had knowledge that everything was in order and the approval would be forthcoming. Not worried about the delay as my extension on Non-IMM O expires in January.

I submitted a brokerage statement with both retirement accounts (traditional IRA [income taxes due upon distribution] and Roth [income taxes already paid]) and a small robot managed non-retirement account with a combined balance well in excess of the requirement. I had a phone call late last week that my application had been approved but I have not seen the notification. Use of my assets was prompted by the difficulty of having my health insurance expiration date changed along with dropping out-patient coverage. I realized that what I really wanted was health insurance to protect my assets rather than to be used to qualify for an immigration visa as that is its true purpose here - to serve as insurance against a major medical expense not to pay for every headache and band aid. I will post when I receive the 'letter' as that will confirm that use of my brokerage statement was acceptable. I do note that a statement might be questioned if it was not current and did not show the required balance for the past year.

Received phone call informing me that my application has been approved but no letter as of yet. This resolves the question whether they would accept a retirement account instead of a bank account. I have Pacific Cross health insurance but rather than wait until it renews in January I chose to use the financial assets option, thus unlinking health insurance and immigration. This allows me to have insurance protect my assets and serve as a major medical policy

It appears the process is beginning to move faster, at least on the front end. My application was submitted September 16 and approved October 4 after one document update, so less than three-weeks. Will see what happens with my use of my IRA in lieu of a medical policy during the document review process.

Assuming it is the same as immigration's four deadly diseases, I had my doctor at Kaiser sign mine, once had to run it through medical records, once he just signed it.

I received my approval letter this morning for my WP visa. I have submitted documents and await their letter. The only thing unusual is that I chose to qualify my medical cover by using my Roth IRA account (> 2x the $100K required in a bank account) in lieu of submitting my Pacific Cross policy when it gets renewed in January. I had queried staff members about using an IRA and even sent off a description of the account from the web, but I have never received confirmation that it was acceptable. I dislike all bureaucracies, and tying my Immigration status to my health Insurance is something I want to avoid.

I believe that cards issued after 70-years old do not expire. Unlike my wife's there is no expiration date on mine.

I have been pondeing and parsing that popup for the last few days as well. Not a clue as to what it means in terms os progress.

This recent back and forth about getting the Thai BOI and Immigration authorities to do a plain reading of an insurance coverage letter makes me more than certain that I will comply with the self-coverage using my U.S. retirement account(s). The real benefit of the LTR for wealthy pensioners is keeping as far away from immigration as possible and to obtain only that insurance coverage that makes sense to you for your situation (for me it is major medical), I am certain that I will be able to meet the self-cover option as long as I am alive, but meeting such arbitrary requirements for insurance 'validity' as people are running into with TriCare or other offshore coverage will always be subject to what eyes are looking at your life and the arrangements you have made.

There are two options - if you apply now and you are approved you must activate the visa within 60-days at either the One-Stop service center in Bangkok or at your embassy or consulate. As far as any of us know approval is taking at least 3-weeks so you may ruin into being forced to travel to your embassy or consulate if your travel would put you outside of the 60-day window. If you are close to the embassy or consulate you should contact them and see what their procedures are for activating the visa. If that does not work out you can delay your application to enter visa exempt and activate the visa in Bangkok.

As to the requirements for the 'annual' 90-day report I have seen nothing official. During the Webinar there was a response about rationale for the 10-month validity for health insurance that stated there would be no checking on health insurance until the 5-year requalification. I just applied this morning - as Pacific Cross was not willing to change my policy date until I renew in December-January, I opted to qualify by offering up my JPMorgan investment statement that includes >$100K in my Roth IRA - we shall see if that flies. I waited to apply until my renewed passport arrived - why carry the wreckage of the past along into the new sunny uplands of the LTR visa. When I went to my local immigration office to transfer stamps it was clear he had heard about the LTR and seemed ignorant about the Wealthy Pensioner option of investing less in Thailand than the ThB 800K extension - he seemed to think I was going to invest real money here instead being forced to park an unused car in the garage as it rusts away through depreciation.

Received our passports and passport cards back yesterday via Thai Post, so 23-days since we dropped them off at our local post office and they got delivered yesterday - that time included 3-weekends and one holiday (Labor Day in the U.S.), so 16-working days. The passports were the new style with a leading "A" number. Our sequence was A....8216 and A....8218 separated by one digit - wonder who the lucky applicant was who snuck in between myself and my wife. The passport cards were separated by two: C....299 and C...302. I know that Passport Cards are not much use here, but because our California driver licenses are expiring and we don't want to give the Franchise Tax Board a reason to try and collect taxes they provide a wallet sized substitute for carrying one's passport and get you onto a plane and into a federal facility un the U.S.

In regards to the 3 x 4 cm photo . https://www.epassportphoto.com/ has a template for that dimension under Japan:Alien Registration - remember to choose the free do it yourself option at the bottom as the defaults are for pick up in the U.S. at a photo shop. After following the cropping directions you will receive a JPG with four correct images. If you choose not to go for the LTR visa, you can supple the 6 x 4 cm image for Immigration extension of stay by selecting the Greece:Passport option and proceeding as above.

Tax issues can be complicated if the assets are in a traditional IRA or 401K and are being left to a foreign national through a trust. My wife is a US citizen and my assets are in a Roth IRA with her as my sole beneficiary, but should she pre-decease me getting anything at all from my estate to my stepson was really tricky so I left it to my executor to "gift" it to him. A scholarship fund and one other charity are contingent beneficiaries so it is not a lot but enough to buy a new pickup.

As far as I know there is no provision for Trusts in Thailand. There is a provision for minor children and disabled persons called a "Controller of Property" who can distribute funds after approval by a family court. There is no provision that covers a competent adult. Upon majority the person you are leaving the assets to has full control, but it may work for the last few years of school and the beginning of university if that is in the cards. Do you have a person here who is both trustworthy and competent to deal with family court?

We bought through https://mattresscity.co.th/ - offer a large selection and something always is on sale. We are happy with our 13K Dunpillo. Remember to check the height of the mattress or your existing linens will not fit unless they were already deep-pocket.

I raised the question about 10-month validity for an existing policy during the webinar (receiving an expression of understanding of the issue); having no official response I followed up with and an email to the webinar presenter, presenting my current policy and three-years of signed receipts - no answer as of yet: Could you please direct this question to Ms Kantarot Laopradith who presented the August 19th webinar. Dear Ms Kantarot Laopradith You were so kind to respond to a number of questions I had during the webinar. I want to present more detailed information about my situation in regards to LTR's requirement for 10-months of remaining health insurance validity at the time of the BoI's final approval letter. My question during the webinar was whether there could be some forbearance for those of us who have maintained LTR compliant coverage over a number of years. This allows those of us with an existing LTR compliant policy to be approved based on that basis contingent upon your review. As most health insurance policies issue on an annual basis, requiring 10-months of remaining validity for those of us with existing coverage creates about a 2-month window for approval between invoice being presented, payment being made, and the signed receipt being received. One of the important advantages of the LTR visa is the rational health insurance requirement unlike some of the immigration issued extensions such as the shifting and bewildering health insurance requirements for those extending an OA visa, causing much angst in that community. The LTR opens up the opportunity to put my health insurance dollars where they are most protective of my health and finances. I plan to modify my existing policy, by dropping my outpatient coverage and increasing my deductible from 20,000 to 40,000 ThB. The savings generated will more than allow me to increase my total cover from 3-million to 5-million ThB. I have reached out to Pacific Cross but have been informed that they will re-open a policy only upon renewal, which in my case is January 12, setting my earliest receipt back into late December even if I turn around their invoice on the same day. I would appreciate hearing whether the LTR program can give consideration for those like myself who have maintained LTR compliant health insurance over time. I attach the last three years of coverage receipts, my schedule of benefits, and my analysis spreadsheet.

When does the military announce next year's COLA? Social Security announces in November and next year's benefit letters shortly thereafter. If you are only $2K short it may make sense to wait if you can

As a prospective 'wealthy pensioner' already living in Thailand the program works for me. I am fortunate in having both U.S. Social Security and a government pension to qualify as a wealthy pensioner. Those from other countries where there is a social safety net often receive lesser pensions but much more government support - they fall on the other side of the $80 threshold and many of the benefits they received at home do not accompany them here. I agree with the above comments that the program will not attract many new truly wealthy residents under the other programs that require moving real capital or working here or from here - way too complicated but one or the other seem to be of interest to those trying to make it work for them. For me the program will work similarly to how a retirement extension used to work when a letter from the Embassy sufficed and my ties to Thailand were limited. Now with a marriage and a life here, this program gives me some assurance that, so long as they don't change the qualifying criteria, I can rest easy for 10-year or until I choose to leave. I am awaiting my renewed passport to file - one less thing to do with immigration in a few short years, one less thing to put on the calendar. \

Both bikes are insured with MSIG through AA insurance in Pattaya. Our contact person is Nam - our car is too old for the previous carrier's first class program, so they switched us to AIG which still gives us enough residual value for a down-payment if there is a total loss.

I always carry third-class insurance on the motorbikes owned by my wife and stepson as they provide me protection the consequences from an unfortunate accident such as injury or death at an exceedingly reasonable cost of ThB3,000 per year. For that payment I avoid paying for 500k/10M/1M (per person/per accident/property )liability and the first 50K of medical payments (not to mention bail bond). I don't care about first class on the bikes we have - chump change, but even though I am not the person riding (gave up after 50-years), I know I would be on the hook for costs can afford to insure against, so I am glad to pay the modest costs of keeping third-class insurance.

A further advantage I get from my limited interaction with the BoI LTR team is that a LTR holder will be treated with respect as someone who is contributing to their country rather than someone who is treated with suspicion and contempt that many receive from Immigration officers -

For me there are a few advantages besides retrieving my 800K hostage account. 1. I currently have OA compliant insurance, but with outpatient dropped my initial 50K application is covered after two years. Outpatient is very expensive - dropping it receives a 20% discount over the stepped rate which really adds up as I get past 75-years old. 2. I resent immigration poking into my life and finances, I grin and bear it, but really resent it. 3. My government and U.S. Social Security combine to be in excess of $80K so the qualification and re-qualification at 5-years is simple compared to running around to banks for letters and waiting to been 'seen'. 4. I am older and want as little to do with immigration as possible and hope that my wife can deal with the little remaining paperwork from LTR. 5. I appreciate the LTR visa functioning as the retirement is sometimes translated to 'end of life'.

A good option for those OA holders who can qualify; they are already 50-years old and have health insurance coverage. Those with the 400K/40K will need to up their limits as they would have needed to do in any case upon extension, but they will now have the option obtaining of a major medical policy which provides >=USD 50,000 hospitalization cover. In speaking with my carrier (Pacific Cross) it appears they will allow me to drop outpatient (which I never have used), increase my deductible should I choose, and move the renewal date to where there are 10-months of validity. Together this will just about pay the one time application fee for the LTR. Once the dust has settled we can stop parking a ThB 800,000 car in the garage and take it for a spin.