Misty

I was able to pay for my digital work permit with a credit card at the LTR One Stop Service desk.

As far as I know, how the various types of income of each LTR visa is taxed hasn't been clearly laid out, and as you say, even the definitions of the various types of income aren't clear-cut. My best suggestion would be to ask your employer to consult with a legitimate tax firm regarding this issue. One of the big 4 would be best, to get a real answer. Questions were asked about this topic in the call with the BoI LTR unit last Friday, but there were no clear answers. A request was made for a tax summary table clarifying each type of visa, by each type of income, with clear definitions of the types of income being taxed. Let's see if that transpires. We know how what's legal is often are deliberately left unclear.... right up until the moment clarity arrives (take nominee structures). The BoI LTR unit is great in many ways, but they aren't tax advisors and I think they may answer some questions optimistically, rather than factually. For example, at one point an answer was "How would they (Thai Revenue Dept) know?" Well, yes....but I can remember that used to be said about the IRS, and then FATCA arrived.

Isn't he also best friends with George Santos? ????

And if they want to work here? I've got a 5 year digital work permit now, no need for 4 Thai employees, thanks to the LTR visa. Can't do that with an elite card, or any other visa.

In Friday's BoI LTR call (it was sponsored by AMCHAM) I'm pretty sure the LTR senior rep mentioned something to the effect of "soon medical insurance will be required for tourist visas." It was something of an aside, and unfortunately no one asked for clarification in the Q&A. I don't know how realistic that is, but there does seem to be a general trend in the direction of requiring insurance..

How is "grey business" defined I wonder? It sounds like it's being used to describe clearly illegal activities - not at all operating in a "grey" area. Wouldn't these be better called either "black market" or just illegal? Or is this an attempt to somehow make it sound less bad. Am I missing something?

@TallGuyJohninBKK have to concur, but I'm guessing it's a joke? One thing was mentioned in the LTR call Friday: Translation of documents for some nationalities is slowing applications down. I was thinking maybe that explains Japanese, who are the largest, or at least one of the largest, foreign investors in Thailand and you might think would otherwise be in the top 5. Also, US citizens have something of an early advantage, language aside - due to the US system they are likely to readily have tax filings, proof of income. These will be easily understood by the BoI LTR unit, at least as compared to a financial or tax statement in Japanese.

Another update from the BoI LTR unit call Friday: Health insurance requirement: some changes have been made, including that US Tricare coverage for retired military is now accepted. Also, health policies that otherwise meet the requirement and are "guaranteed renewable," but that may renew annually at a date that is less than 10 months from the LTR application date, will also be accepted

I do wonder where the Australians are.... Penang?

Yes, how about the Japanese, and Australians

Correct, and to work you also need a NonB - this is the case even though you already have the elite card

Unfortunately I'm not sure what was meant by that comment. There wasn't more elaboration and no one asked about it in the Q&A. And I'm afraid I was too busy scribbling numbers and just wrote a note on the side about the rejection figure.

Yes that is a huge plus. BoI is professional and courtesy. Other pluses: the 5 year x 2 = 10 year work permit it comes with. Also the no need for 4 Thai employees per LTR work permit....

The latest LTR program numbers from a BoI LTR presentation yesterday: To date: *2,120 applications * 745 approved * 1,168 in process * 207 rejected (but it was noted that about half of these apparently returned for more information or translations, so not fully rejected) Top 5 nationalities applying: * USA 386 * China 247 * Russia 182 * UK 168 * Germany 121 Breakdown of LTR visas approved: * Wealthy Global Citizens 41 * Wealthy Pensioners 254 * Work from Thailand Professionals 216 * Highly Skilled Professionals 75 * Dependents 159

It's all in that pesky definition: what is "overseas income"

I think an important definition to clarify would be "income earned outside Thailand." Does the LTR visa change the definition? Does what would normally be considered "Thai source" (because the earner is working in Thailand, doesn't matter where the company is) for the purpose of the LTR-WFT visa somehow become overseas income, or foreign-sourced? I don't know, but a tax professional would. For the residency definition, from PWC "Residents are defined as persons residing in Thailand at one or more times for an aggregate period of 180 days or more in any tax (calendar) year. Short-term residence is not defined under Thai tax regulations." I really appreciate the LTR Unit, most especially their professional courtesy. However, it's also true that some of the information I've received from LTR unit staff has not been correct. Sooner or later they do correct the wrong information, however, if you have Thai income tax questions now, my suggestion would be to go to a competent Thai tax advisor for clear answers.

Congratulations, that's great news. Glad to hear the LA Consulate was quick to complete the LTR e-visa. From here it works pretty much as you state. Keep a print-out of the e-visa in your passport, as that is the LTR e-visa - unlike other LTR visas, there's no stamp you'll get. And no fancy sticker coming in the mail. Immigration will only put a small arrival stamp in your passport listing the type of visa, arrival date, and how long you can stay (essentially 5 years). LTR visa holders can use the Fast Track queue at the airport. Even in Fast Track, the IO may need to consult with colleagues or superiors about how to handle the LTR e-visa, since it's relatively new and few people have them. But so far in this thread, no one has reported trouble or much delay in going through Immigration.

Not sure if this could explain some of the discrepancies, but the e-visa website is used for all types of visas, many of which are only valid for 90 days or less after entering Thailand. The LTR visa is such a different animal maybe it just doesn't fit well into the box. My understanding is that once you have the BoI Notification Letter, you have 60 days to use it to get the actual visa - either in Thailand at the BoI location (One Stop Service) or overseas through a consulate. Once you receive the LTR e-visa, you'll see that it says the visa must be used by 10 years from the date it's issued.

Great list! It looks like in the period 7 Dec - 4 Jan there were 9 people in this thread who received their LTR visas. Could this be an acceleration rather than a slow-down?

Hi TaiMaiTai, Haven't had time to go through your previous post and answer it question by question, but here's a summary of what I did which may be of some help: The really important detail in the LTR e-visa application seemed to be the BoI's Notification Letter. The other requested information is part of any e-visa application (or at least it was for my NonB e-visa) , but I'm not sure how important these details are for the LTR e-visa. For me the actual arrival and departure dates were my actual dates. I arrived in Thailand, stayed for 39 days and then went on a short trip to see friends for the holidays. However, before I had that holiday trip planned I'd asked the NY consulate if I should put in a 5 year period since the amount of time I would be permitted to stay would be 5 years. They said no, just put in a best guess of my next trip, or maybe 90 days if I didn't have any specific plan. I listed my place of residence as my actual place of residence. The flight number was the for the last leg of my journey, from Europe to Bangkok. My overall trip did originate in the US, but there was no where to list the first leg on the online application. No one asked about it. I'm no expert, but as I wrote above, my best guess is the most important item is the BoI's Notification Letter. For a 10 year visa with five year period of stay, of course the dates of arrival/departure and residence may change.

Do you happen to have a debit card you could try? The e-visa payment system "World Pay" administered by KBANK is notoriously awful. I had similar difficulty with it trying to pay for NonB e-visas in the past, and the payment problems continued when I tried to pay for the LTR e-visa. Multiple credit cards failed due to "suspected fraud". Even a KBANK debit card failed, and you'd think KBANK would accept their own payment system. The only thing that finally would work was a USD debit card. If you don't use debit cards, my best suggestion is to try contacting the LTR e-visa issuer (is it a consulate or other?) and report the problems in making payment. I found NY consulate in the US was very helpful when communicating by FB message. Then try calling BoI directly. Sorry I don't have any better ideas. Feel the joy in the approval, and the pain in the payment system.

For consistency and planning, instead of having the local currency price change with currency fluctuations, I think they just set the price once in the local currency. As an example, here's the USD price translated into Thai baht on the day the program started, the day I paid for my LTR e-visa, and today: Different currencies will have moved against the Thai baht at different rates since the program opened.

Not familiar with a 15 month business visa. Is that a NonB visa, or something else? Does it come with a work permit?

Yes, just echoing what Pib says above. In a foreign chambers meeting with one of the senior architects of the LTR program, we were told that the targets were basically aspirational, and maybe used as a political incentive to get the program in place. There didn't seem to be any expectation that these would be necessarily achieved. It didn't sound like anyone would be embarrassed if the targets were not met. Remember that the LTR program is a significant departure from the previous status quo. There was push back against it from vested interests in the old system. Just getting it in place is definite progress, and an achievement in itself. I for one won't be critical if the numbers fall short.

Some great questions - some of the answers may be found in the legal documents downloadable at this link: https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/laws-regulations.html Would be good if there was also an English language FAQ including answers to your questions.