Misty

You mean this guy, USMA Class of 1999? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hun_Manet

No, the Visa conditions in Thai just say the visa was approved according to the BoI's Notification Letter. There is a line in English which says "Visa must be used by 24 October 2032"

Hi J - congratulations! Just for Pib's records, when did you apply? If you live in a location where the Thai embassy or consulate grants e-visas, no, you don't go there in person. It's all done online, and you'll get the e-visa as a pdf by email. Once you have the BoI's "Notification Letter" of approval, you can create an account at this site to apply for the LTR e-visa: https://www.thaievisa.go.th/ My LTR e-visa says: Date of grant: 25 October 2022 Visa must be used by: 24 October 2032 So that's five years....hope this helps!

In the US it was $1600 per LTR e-visa (so x 2), payable by debit or credit card online.

I'm not sure if this helps, but have you seen this document on the BoI's LTR site: https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/laws-regulations.html If you click on the link, you get a pdf file of "Order of the Immigration Bureau No. 150-2565 TH" . Go to page 4 of document, ตัวอย่าง ใบนัดรำยงำนตัว 1 ปี (LTR Visa)

I used Fast Track yesterday when entering Thailand for the first time with an LTR e-visa. The airport was extremely busy - much more so than I've seen it since the pandemic. Lines looked long elsewhere. There was no line at Fast Track. The IO hadn't seen my type of visa before and called in a supervisor. But all went pretty smoothly - stamped in within 5 min.

Another update: arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport yesterday and went through the Fast track channel. Gave the IO a print-out of my LTR e-visa. As with aublumberg's report above, the IO hadn't seen this type of visa below and called for a supervisor to come take a look. After a little bit of consultation, the IO put a stamp in my passport - admitted "11 Nov 2022" until "9/11/2027." Hand wrote in "LTR- " and "E-visa" and my flight number. All pretty straightforward. IO said "you can stay for 5 years" as I collected my passport and looked at the stamp. I'm planning a trip flying out of Don Muang over the holidays. Will report back what happens upon exiting Thailand at DM. Just a side note - my flight was fully booked and airport was extremely busy, much more busy than I've seen it since pandemic. Not sure if this is related to APEC, or was just a normal Friday as tourist travel picks up.

Pib, thanks so much for asking about the digital work permit. That confirms what I'd been hearing. I'll also try to call in the next week or so and see if they have any updates as to time frames for issuing the digital work permits. They've been saying not to worry that just having the LTR visa is enough to work, so maybe they're not putting much resources behind getting the system to work in this case. To answer your question, yes, we applied for and received two LTR visas - one main one and one for family member. It was pretty straightforward and they were both granted at the same time, LTR e-visas also issued very quickly and at the same time.

Thank you for the updates. In the call, did BoI staff mention why they hadn’t looked at your application yet? If they’ve been flooded with applications that would be one thing. But recent reports make it sound like applications have slowed down. Wonder what’s going on. I’m still waiting for my digital work permit. Initially It was supposed to be available immediately. Then BoI said at the end of Oct. Now I’m hearing maybe in one or two months. Not at all clear what’s happening with work permits, or if any at all have issued.

Has anyone heard if digital work permits are now being issued? Due to IT glitches, the BoI said they would start issuing them at the end of October. Just wondering if anyone has received one yet.

It works similarly when you're outside of Thailand. You don't pay anything during the LTR application process on the BoI site. Then, if you are approved and receive the BoI's Notification letter, you can start the process to get the actual visa. If you are outside Thailand, it could be in the form of either an e-visa (if your location qualifies) or going to the embassy/consulate in person (if your location doesn't qualify for e-visa). If you are inside Thailand, you make an appointment and go to the BoI's immigration site. In all 3 cases (both inside and outside Thailand), you have to pay before you get the actual visa or e-visa. But not before that.

To apply for the LTR e-visa, you will need to uplaod the BoI Notification letter from the https://visa.boi.go.th/register site application. No payment is needed to do that. Do you have the BoI letter already? Only after you complete the LTR application and get the BoI Letter can you go to the Thai e-visa site and apply for the LTR e-visa.

Hi Billpro, your screenshot is from the Thai e-visa website. Have you already applied for the LTR program on the BoI's site? If not, you'll need to start the application there: https://visa.boi.go.th/register Once the BoI approves your application (they say 20 working days after application), they will upload #5 to your online vault and then you can apply for the actual LTR e-visa by complete #4 (download & sign) and #5 above, and then pay for the e-visa.

At one level it seems like it secondary market purchases aren't really new investment into Thailand. However, secondary market purchases are definitely acceptable by the BoI as per my friend's experience.

Yes, I can confirm this as well, having also looked into in the past. Primarly market bonds mostly go to Thai institutions. However, apparently the bonds for LTR purposes are purchased in the secondary market as per my previous posts.

Here's more detail from the guy who purchased the Thai gov't bond: His KBANK Bangkok branch initially said the same thing as your Phuket branch - can't do it. He called the BoI to ask what to do. The BoI contacted KBANK at a centralized level where bonds are traded, and sent him the contact details of a senior KBANK person (not at branch level) who was able to offer several different choices to purchase in the secondary market. He went back to his bank branch, called the senior KBANK person and the two talked. After that, he was able to purchase a Thai government bond that met BoI requirements in the secondary market. I hope this helps. If you want to do this, it sounds to me like the only way is to get the BoI directly involved.

For your question about purchasing a Thai government bond, I know of a case where the BoI apparently suggested a contact at KBANK to an applicant, and the applicant was able to purchase the Thai gov't bond. It was not a new issue, but an existing bond that KBANK either held on its books or that it was able to access from one of their customers in the secondary market. Suggest asking BoI for the contact details of that KBANK bond trader..

Further regarding the "Wealthy Pensioner" category, here it says it's for "Retirees aged 50 years and older who have an annual pension or stable income" https://ltr.boi.go.th/#type

Agree - check with a good accountant in Australia. In Canada any unrealized gains may be zeroed out with the assets considered "deemed to have been sold" the day you leave Thailand. But this is not the same for all countries - i.e. the UK and US. Depending on Australian tax rules, if you have substantial unrealized gains on your investments you may be better off selling them before you relocate to Australia, even if you purchase them back again immediately and then transfer the investments. That way the gains will be realized before you become an Australian tax resident.

Even with Amity treaty companies, do you not need 3 shareholders? I had thought this was the case, although 2 of them may only hold 1 share each, and they do not need to be Thai citizens. Be great if you only need 1 shareholder.

My guess is a guy like Bezos - no fool - owns more than just Amazon shares. And of course, he has to pay for his ultra-highend lifestyle with cashflow from somewhere.

I think the BoI's asking for income tax filing is one verifiable way to show that you have enough gross income to meet the BoI standard. Not about how much taxable income you have. Guys like Bezos do have substantial gross income (they live on something, right?) but they manage US taxes by offsetting it with losses, for example selling stock that's underwater and netting the loss against any income. Even Bezos pays tax, though. According to this article, while he was able to pay no tax in two years between 2006-2018, he paid a lot of tax in the other years. https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-did-not-pay-income-taxes-2-years-report-2021-6 "For the years he did pay federal income taxes between 2006 and 2018, Bezos paid a total of about $1.4 billion on a reported income of $6.5 billion, or a rate of about 21.5%."

Thanks, Ryan - I'm really glad to get the visa portion of the process complete. It'll be interesting to see what the passport stamp at the airport looks like when I return. I'm hearing the same thing as your friend regarding working - that I can work even without the digital work permit. But I agree, that sounds a bit scary. The last I'd heard there were kinks in issuing digital work permits that are supposed to be worked out by the end of this month. Will post more as I learn about it.

Further update, the NY Consulate went into warp speed and issued my LTR e-visa yesterday - the same day that I had submitted the application. Feeling pretty happy about that. So no need to purchase new tickets or delay my return to Thailand. Now to find out what's happening with the digital work permits. Anyone know?

Hi Pepper, I have to use NY Consulate due to my location. The cost is $1600 per 10 year visa. The only way I've been able to communicate with them is by FB messaging. I've received NonB e-visas before and can confirm that you do not visit the Consulate. You'll get an email with the e-visa as an attachment. I printed off the NonB e-visa and gave a copy of it to the IO at the airport. He stamped me in for 90 days (length of that visa), noting "NonB e-visa" in writing. For commication, suggest trying FB messaging with LA consulate. Last year I did once get to talk to someone there after spending an afternoon on hold, but didn't learn much in the call and I don't recommend that.