Presnock

Yeah, I went off to war over 55 years ago, did my share, now if the rest of the free world wants to keep it that way, let THEM do their share.

I am no expert on Thai taxes, the BOI, the LTR, etc but reading about visas, Thai explanations from immigration and BOI to me say that in order to keep that visa, one must maintain the qualifications during the period of the visa. I know from this forum that people getting other visas do not always maintain the qualifications they used to obtain that visa, especially when they talk about agents providing assistance. I don't if they are telling the truth or exaggerating but sure seems like that has been going on for a long time. As for me, I have never faked any qualification necessary for the visas I have held and within Thailand alone that is over 20 years of doing necessary re-newals. I will easily keep the necessary qualifications for the LTR during the entire time I have that visa. I do not require anyone else to get that visa or not in anyway. I also realize that under some visas that I have never had, one does not need to maintain all of the monies throughout the period of the visa. AS the Thais say " UP TO YOU". Good Luck.

Listening to experts, exercise not only increases blood flow to the muscles but also to the brain. Some international studies have found various methods of exercise that can stem the progress of dementia sothat one doesn't reach Alzheimer's. Yes, just like studying another language or other mental exercises increase the Synapses within the brain, thus helping to prevent Alzheimer's. DIet can also affect the health of one's brain, the proof is out there.

If any of the insurers of EU ex-pats will guarantee at least USD $50K for hospitalization at Thai hospitals, then there should be no problem. Not all US insurers will provide that coverage either but some do and are willing to provide written confirmation of that for the insurer who can then use that guarantee for a BOI LTR. If there are no EU insurers that will provide that coverage then it is clear under the qualification documentation, that the applicant must self-insure with a proven USD $ 100K account that is 12 months old. The initial BOI officers checking an applicant's documents, has to insure that when the application is sent to the deciding officials for the visa, that the documentation does exactly that. They are not dumb, they are fluent English speakers and are very patient and helpful in my opinion based on many decades of working with foreign government officials. These BOI officials are a breath of fresh air so to speak and this visa, in my opinion is undoubtedly perfect for my situation at a reasonable cost to me. If any current or prospective resident meets the qualifications and checks all of the other visas and compares cost and benefits it would have to be the best too! However, I can's speak for all as I realize I am just one person whose current financial and insurance situation does qualify.

But the US occupied and rebuilt Japan under under the leadership of Douglas Macarthur whle the PI were granted their independence from US so were led by Philippine presidents who had to borrow money from the US to re-build. Actualy many Of the local people wanted to be a US state vs an independent country. I was assigned there a couple of times and there was still an office calling for US statehood. Poor and I guess some corrupt leaders hasn't helped it to progress much.

Putin came from the cold war KGB and wants to regain the former glory of the USSR...when Obama and the rest of the world allowed him to take Crimea, that opened the gateway to the rest of Ukraine. If Ukraine falls, then nearby countries will join Russia too in my opinion, especially if Trump is the next US president.

Doesn't matter how many he loses, Putin has oil, he also has autocrat allies that will supply him with arms to continue to strike civilian targets, power stations, fuel depots until Ukraine runs out of soldiers and Putin will continue to get mercenaries and felons to act as cannon fodder. He is a sick defeated spy who took over power and wants to get Russia back to the "glory days" no matter the cost in manpower. He also reportedly has kidnapped hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian kids who are reportedly being forced to become Russians. Meanwhile the world mostly stands by....

Putin went head with the invasion of Ukraine because Obama sat quietly in the background when Russia took Crimea. The UN is a puppet for the losers as far as I am concerned and can't really do much against autocrats as several sit on the Security Council. TIme to upgrade the organization but I sure don't know how that could be done in the world of today. Now a full fledged invasion AGAIN from the Russians and looks like Ukraine is going to need some more help - long range missiles to make Putin less popular as Russian cities are struck too. Sanctions from what I see against autocrats seldom work at all since the autocrats help each other out to alleviate any problems from the sanctions. I feel sorry for any country near Russia with the US election looming and Trump in the lead since he already announced no support for NATO and even told the world that very thing so his buddy Putin will know he can do whatever he wants so he must feel he needs to get rid of Ukraine, grab their ferile fields control grains around the world and then in the near future move into other nearby countries as he tries to re-establish the USSR. Scary sitution for much of the world suffering this year from weather conditions.

MS dropped troubleshooting brother printers I think 2 years ago....When we began to have problems with out brother printer I received that note so I checked brother and they provide the latest software update, loaded it an printer works fine now. Within a couple of weeks got a note from brother that there was a new update which took a minute to load and printer/scanner work as they are supposed to. Daughter also uses it for Apple laptop

Again erroneous comments about LTR - there is no REQUALIFY each year - only report of residence, if you don't qualify then why whine? why a free visa for at lest 4 months - the LTR is for long term RESIDENT.

most of it probably because of Prayut as he left the coffers empty and the debts piling up, submarines anyone?

Yes, from what I hear, it thus makes the documentation of proof of income for the BOI. I uderstand that but they are hamstrung by their instructions on what must be presented. Possibly if enough folks that fall into this type situation could all write emails or letters to the BOI explaining in detail what your particular situation is, and IF you can provide bank statements or pay statements or something along with that letter maybe the BOI rep can suggest what else would be needed for their supervising officials can accept that as proof of financial or the 12 month account of a hospitalization coverage. I sympathize with ll caught up in this situation and just feel blessed that the LTR fit perfect with my situation. Good Luck

not only VN - I read that there is a record number of military aged men pouring into the US through the southern border too! getting ready for world dominion?

Yeah on all that has been mentioned. I would not get health insurance for myself locally as any conflict will be decided in the favor against ex-pats as that situation is currently getting even stronger. I was lucky in that I worked for the US govt so I kept my health insurance which is govt sponsored too so they pick up a larger chunk but my family coverage is over 800 a month and once I fade away, I hope it is at least 5 years away, and if so, then believe my wife who is Thai will drop that even if it could be continued at a higher cost (she will understand about that anyway) as she will continue to receive a portion of my retirement which will enable her to lead a comfortable life with a local insurer. I really have no knowledge of US health insurers other than this one which I have had since 1996. Fortunately, I and my family members are healthy and healthy foods are abundant here at least in the major cities. Houses are cheaper than cars here. If one lives in Bangkok then a car is not even necessary at all with the train service. I originally retired in Bangkok but grew tired of the traffic so moved to Chiang Mai 11 years ago and then when our daughter began college in Bangkok we moved back here while keeping the house we bought in CM. We sold our car as we thought we would go to the US for daughter's college but had visa problems for my wife and although daughter had been accepted with scholarships in the US, she opted to just stay here at the #1 college in Thailand - she is doing a degree in Korean and World Culture so the degree will be great anywhere. If you are retiring next year then you and the rest of us will know all about the new tax law interpretation about all remittances into Thailand are to be taxed - there are exemptions but nothing is really totally clear yet. How familiar are you with life in Thailand?

Sounds a lot more promising. Yeah, Mike L. makes it sound like the folks he interacts with at the Revenue Department are somewhat like the BOI folks and very helpful. I am not concerned with the LTR and even if I didn't have that, I only have the govt pension.

well, as for me, I am not uncertain but if you want to do that who am I to say anything about that. Good Luck. But if undertainty bothers folks, then being in Thailand as an ex-pat is not very smart.

well I had a Canon, minor problems probably due to age (mine and the printer) so used my daughters - cost is 5470 right now so above what you asked for but it scans, prints, all kinds of special things as my daughter was in HS and now college and does all kinds of things with it. It has wifi or cable hookup, prints fairly quiet, and easy to fill ink and easy to find - Brother DCP-T520W. Originally windows did the troubleshooting but dropped that I think last year but brother uploads free and so any problems we have had were fixed by upgrading the software easily. Good luckj

If you paid taxes wherever you are a tax resident, that is what they want to see. Part of the new tax interpretations here is to find people that did not pay taxes anywhere and therefire the Thais want a piece of that action - I don't know this for sure but it seems to be from the meetings that the tax agents have hosted or embassy has hosted, that this is one of the people being looked at. As for the health coverage if you self cover then I think it is equivalent to USD 100K and it must have been in an account for at least a year already. Like I said, you may not be an American so I have absolutely little knowledge of your financial world - even if you are an American, based on what you wrote, I know nothing about that world. My finances are from 40 years govt service and I kept my govt financed insurance - I have my finances planned (I am 77 years old) since I retired here 20+ years ago and remarried now with a 20 year old college kid so I wanted to insure that they were to be cared for once I do fade away and my type pension does just that. I am basically ignorant of all the new electronic toys and banking schemes. Good luck.

They will give you a list of organizations that you can choose to join - I joined American Citizens Abroad - once you join that or one the multitude of organizations, the bank will give you an account with no problem at all that I recall They were very helpful and unstood my problem with BOA cancelling my account of 50 years since I live overseas. They give one a choice of cards with different benefits and they alert you if there is strange acty on the card. Once, after using the card for a flight, I was hacked but the bank pended payment so they didn't lose any money but they cancelled the card. I recieved the replacement a tad slow but they provided why that occurred. Anyway I have nothing but positive things to say about the service provided by this bank since opening the acct there. That is why when I see someone write that the same situation has happened, I recommend them easily and confidently too. Good luck

well any question about my finances and health was to give them for finance, my 1040R tax returns for 2022 and 2023. I had the govt 1099R from which I file my taxes as it gives the total amount paid to me during year and taxes paid and health insurance paid but as for the health insurance, I have a US govt sponsored insurance that I had before I retired and kept that and the benefits booklet for that showed that hospitalization coverage was "unlimited" so that means to me and other Americans, more that the $50K that the BOI was saying they needed. Another former govt retiree who has the LTR saw my response and said he ran into the same problem so he emailed the insurance company in the US and explained about the BOI needing the company to spell out that the hospitalization was at least $50K. I did the same and got a letter (email) spelling out that very figure and BOI accepted it immediately. Total time with 5-8 telephone calls to the BOI showed to me that they were very helpful and patient but that they needed certain documentation that the more senior advisors who say yea or nay would understand I think that is the reason. So, I assume you are in a EU country and therefore I am not sure what documentation your govt provides to you yearly and thus I am not able to really provide you with anything. Just remember, this is an opinion, I think the low-level people within the BOI are pretty well Fluent in English both spoken and reading text but more senior folks while they can sometimes carry on a conversation fairly well, sometimes certain written material such as insurance benefits pamphlets were quite extensive and while I highlighted some of the 17 pages of the same from my health insurer, 99% of it had nothing to do with the hospitalization so it snowed them under. This is only my opinion but it seems thaty need government provide documentation that spells out the qualifictions of the LTR. For me, it was almost too easy and took only 3 weeks from applying and approval but like I said above - 5-8 telephone calls too where they would spell what they needed and since I also have dealt with foreigners since I worked overseas for 30 years I learned I needed patience too om order to fully understand what they wanted. I hope this helps somewhat but like I said I know my situation and this visa fits me perfectly in every aspect. good luck

The Thais have a favorite saying for that - as you wish! I always say "be my guest!"

like i have often mentioned, I wouldn't vote for either as I truly do not blv they have the interests of my country. I do not blv that they always follow their oaths to our constitution either.

Incorrect info just like others who have no idea, this is your erroneous interpretation of a Thai regulation...you are WRONG so why spread false information - are you a tax agent or what?

I sure fail to understand WHY you continue to state annual re-qualifications - there are none, if you have an LTR you don't even have to go to provide your address. Stop puting out the wrong information and if you can't under stand our English then contact the BOI and ask them.

Yessir know where you are coming from...I was a runner for over 50 years, did a couple of marathons (body responded by no more of those) so ran half marathons and weekly races of 10-15 K races. Daily after 55 ran 5-10 miles a day every morning except thunderstorms. Then at 65 I thought to myself that since I only ran on sidewalks and roads, I was probably going to have to have my knees replaced in the future so I started just walking - 8-16 kms a day. Did that until I intentionallylost 15 kilos - now I have maintain that weight - I am 77 doing 6 kms a day 7500+ steps as one of the latest studies says this is the optimum though if I do more, I may extend life around 1-2% a year. Walking is just normal for mankind...I check my heart rate, no problems, BP well within range for someone much younger and enjoy those walks plus I lift light weights several times a week and since I stopped running even have definition and bulking up a tad. I eat according the Dr. Li's best sellers and blv Thailand has to be one of the best places to be to get the great fruits and other benefits from good healthy meals. Only real problem here is the pollution so I run with a surgical N95 mask. Good luck