Mike Teavee

As other's have said, he can't change from a Non-IMM OA to a Non-IMM O in-country so chances are he's simply changed his reason for extension to Marriage which does not require Health Insurance. If he can't leave the country then he might be able to get around the Health Insurance requirement by getting a letter from an Insurance company saying he cannot get Insurance & depositing 3 Million THB in the Bank (NB I'm not recommending he does this, just saying that it's a possibility). Alternatively I know guys in Pattaya who don't have Health Insurance so use an agent for their Non-IMM OA extension & it costs an extra 2,500b on top of the normal 12,500b.

They need to copy over details of your last entry to Thailand So I’m guessing that was the Visa he last entered Thailand on & he has since got his LTR in-Country. If he did get his LTR outside of Thailand & entered on it (not picked it up in Bangkok) then the only reason I can think off why they would put details of his old Visa in his new Passport is the LTR is so new they’re still getting to grips with how to do things like transfer to a new Passport & are used to copying the old Non-IMM O/OA info across.

Don’t understand the question. Are you saying they stamped him in on his Non-OA Visa & his LTR? In which case he would have 2 different Permission to stay stamps/dates, highly doubt the Thai immigration systems cater for that! Or Stamped him in on his Non-OA Visa then he picked up his LTR (at BOI in Bangkok) at which point they should have cancelled the permission to stay stamp from the Non-IMM OA & the Visa and gave him a new PTS for his LTR. Anyways this discussion is mute as the question was something like “What would happen if I no longer met the Criteria when applying for my 2nd 5 year Visa, would I revert to my Non-IMM OA” & the answer is NO because that Visa would be gone (should be gone when you get the LTR but would certainly be gone after 12 months… Unless you have 2 passports & extend it each year, but we’re just getting silly now).

That Wise article was written 8 years ago before Wise started offering “Bank” accounts & Debit cards hence the number of posts saying that their pensions are paid directly into their Wise account. Another question that comes up is whether you can pay funds into your UK Stockbroker account from Wise, I don’t see why not but haven’t had chance to check it out yet… Anybody Know for sure?

You might have missed @sammieuk1 But you could always open a GBP account with your Bank & have your pensions sent there, then convert it to THB when you need it/FX rates are good.

I don’t know if it was just a Covid thing at the time, but when flying back from Manchester in March 2022, one of the duty free shops at the Airport (not the main one, a small one selling Belgian Seashell chocolates) wouldn’t take cash so I had to pay on my Barclays Credit Card. And I’m pretty sure that in May this year, a shop at Cheshire Oaks said they didn’t accept cash but it wasn’t a problem as I was paying for everything on my Barclays Debit card that day. It is becoming more prevalent everywhere (went into a Starbucks at Lumpini MRT and they wouldn’t take cash) & if the Bank of England does introduce a Digital £ then I would expect it to become even more the norm.

I confess that I don’t know how “EVisas” work & have always assumed that they were a means to entering Thailand where you would get an actual (as in physical) Visa put in your passport but now I think about it my mate is on a BOI “Smart” Visa & I don’t think he has an “actual” Visa in his passport. I’ve always been under the impression that you cannot hold 2 valid visas simultaneously (unless you have 2 passports) & adding a new Visa to your passport would cancel the existing one but if these Visas aren’t in your passport then I can see how that wouldn’t happen. But surely they cancel an old Electronic Visa when you get your new one or wouldn’t that cause confusion at the airport?

You cannot hold 2 valid visas at the same time so your old Non-O would be considered cancelled once the LTR was put in your passport. But as you say it’s irrelevant anyway as the Non-OA has a maximum lifetime of 12 months & we were discussing what happened if he didn’t meet the criteria when it came to getting the 2nd 5 year visa.

As I said, some guys have kids at my age & much older & good luck to them, but it's just not for me. I'm sure your daughter adds to your enjoyment of life in ways that I can only imagine BUT the fact that I don't want kids at my age doesn't mean that I can't/don't have a meaningful relationship with my partner (For starters what about Gay couples? are they excluded from having meaningful relationships?) - Which was the point of the post I was replying to. I'm probably thinking too much with my Western brain as I know it's much more "Normal"/Acceptable in Thailand, but having a father who's old enough to be your great grandfather would single the kid out in the UK & you know how cruel other kids can be. And obviously the other major consideration is the risk in the child having some kind of medical problem dramatically increases with the age of the Father. I don't think too many guys plan on having children when they come here to retire but if it happens then I would hope they would adjust their life/plans to give the child a loving home (And I would do exactly the same if my partner got pregnant). This subject has been on my mind a lot recently as my best mate (of 40+ years) Thai Girlfriend is due to have a baby in the next 10 days which might cause my GF to become broody & could lead to issues in our relationship, but I'm pretty adamant that I want to be free to travel for at least the next 10 years so I don't want anything that is going to tie me down (I don't even want a cat & I really love cats ????) - Selfish I know but it's my life/retirement so as long as I'm not hurting anybody (GF included) I should get to live it how I want to. To Each His Own...

A lot of guys move here & meet their wife at an age where (IMHO) they shouldn’t be having children I moved here full time at 53 (57 now) & count myself in that camp, the idea of being 65 and having a 12 year old kid isn’t for me & IMHO would be irresponsible/unfair on the kid. Appreciate there’s a few guys who have kids when they’re in their 60s and are very happy, good luck to then, again it’s not for me.

(It certainly used to be the case that) that your very 1st Report had to be done in-person (might be possible to mail it in) following which you can do them online. Depending on how far your Immigration office is from you it might be worth looking into get an agent to do it on your behalf. E.g. When I lived in Bangkok it used to take at least 1.5 hours to get to/from On Nut to CW or 1 minute to get to my Agent (they had an Office in my Condo block)... No prizes for guessing how I did mine before the online system became "Stable". IIRC it was 375b per report but the 1st one might have been more expensive, (I remember paying 1,500b once but this might have been for my 1st TM30, it would have cost me 1,200 in Taxis to get to/from CW + take up the whole of my day so even at 1,500 it was still worth it to me). In Pattaya it's 200b for a "Normal" Report.

Or people like me who not only haven't lived in their home country for 16 years, but 12 of those were spent living in a country that will not provide Police Clearance certificates for non-citizens/permanent residents (Singapore).

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You might be getting confused between doing an Extension & converting a Visa Exempt / Tourist Visa to a Non-IMM O visa. For the Non-IMM O Extension without the funds in the bank, it's typically 12,500-15,000b in Pattaya, I wouldn't imagine it would be too much more in say Bangkok. For the "Conversion" it's 23,500 in Pattaya but I have heard 35,000 being quoted in Bangkok (Believe it was Siam Legal), this gets you the 90 day Non-IMM O Visa + 1st years Extension so you get a total of 15 months permission to stay after which you would go onto doing Extensions.

Thanks for sharing your experience, not many people have the OX visa so it's good to hear from somebody with actual experience of applying for/holding one . As I've said in previous posts, if I qualified for the LTR visa I wouldn't even think about going for the OX but I don't,. However I do have the money in the bank & the health insurance (Visa Friendly policy with Pacific Cross) to meet the criteria for the OX & even if I didn't go for it that wouldn't change, so I'm thinking why not try. Can I ask where you got your Non-IMM OX and how long it took you to get it

I understand your point but the way I look at it is the 3Million is just for the initial Visa & even this can be 1.8Million if you can show 1.2Million pa (100K pm) income. After that you need to maintain a balance of not less than 1.5Million (I don't believe you can offset any of this with Income). 1.5 Million is roughly what I spend each year (though past couple of years it's gone over 1.6) & I keep roughly 2 years spends in the Bank (Topped up every 6 months) so am going to have the money there anyway. Appreciate that I could be making more money by investing it elsewhere but it's just one part of my overall "Portfolio" of assets & I think I should keep a certain percentage of it in cash. E.g. If I had assets of $1,000,000 (approx. 35Million THB) then 1.5Million THB would be approx. 4,2% of my overall net worth (I'm from the UK so deliberately chose a USD example so as not to get side-tracked into a "How much are you worth" debate). I know people will point out that I'm only insured for the 1st Million THB BUT if Bangkok Bank goes bust what I would lose in THB would be dwarfed by the extra THB I would get for my GBP... Thailand would be royally screwed if something like Bangkok Bank went belly up.

Agree 100% Conversion to a Non Imm O-X is probably possible with enough money thrown at it but I'd be concerned (read wouldn't touch it with a barge pole ) if I wasn't sure that it was something that could legitimately be done in-country All indications are that it's not so I'm hoping Maneerat will confirm this. As a new Question? Does anybody know how long it takes to get a Non-Imm OX in their home country (Ideally UK)?

Would love to, but I don't currently meet the income requirements (am 2.5 years away from my pension) Having said that I apparently do, @Pib has kindly shown that Capital Gains can be included as income but my problem is, as a Non-UK Resident for Tax I don't need to report my (None Property) Capital gains so have no way of proving it Maybe in 2.5 years when I hit the big 60 ???? In the meantime I'm gonna stick with the Non-IMM O (Assuming they don't "Age me out")

I've seem to recall 1 guy saying an Immigration officer had offered him the opportunity to convert to a Non-IMM OX & I did stumble across a Website (I can't find it now) which suggested you could do the conversion but everything else I've read says you would need to get the Non-Imm OX from a "Royal Thai Embassy/Royal Thai Consulate-General in the country of their nationality or where they have permanent residence."... https://consular.mfa.go.th/th/content/80939-non-–-immigrant-visa-“o-x”-(long-stay-10-years)?page=5d68c88b15e39c160c0081e5&menu=5d68c88b15e39c160c0081e6 It doesn't cost anything to ask so will ask on Tuesday & report back but I am expecting a resounding NO...

Sorry @DrJack54I’m the OP & am more guilty of dragging this thread OT than most. Back to Topic I have read elsewhere that I can convert to OX in-country so will be visiting Maneerat on Tuesday to do my annual extension& will ask them if this is an option (I have the money in the bank + health insurance), but am expecting I’ll end up with another year on my Non-IMM O ????

To be honest the whole Capital Gains thing was an eye opener to me as I just assumed they would want to see a more “permanent” kind of income. Appreciate Dividends & Rental income aren’t “Permanent” or guaranteed & in reality only a solid pension could give you that kind of surety but Capital Gains are by definition a 1-off (you get it when you dispose of the asset) so I didn’t think it would be included. I appreciate you can re-invest the Capital Gains to get future income but assumed they were looking for income you can spend in country not recycle back at home. Anyway, thanks again for the heads up, I’m gonna stick with my plan of waiting 2.5 years for my guaranteed income to kick in in the meantime my Dividend/Rental Income are on track (famous last words) to meet the $40K pa threshold for the next 2 years & unlike Capital Gains, are (mostly*) evidenced on my Tax return. *in the UK we have ISAs “Investment Savings Accounts” which are not reportable on our Tax returns but I’m sure I can get something from my Broker to confirm income earned in there, hopefully I won’t need to ????

Cool, so in that case LTR guys should check your income every year to ensure you’re still meeting the income requirements as in no way are capital gains guaranteed every year (Even if you’re Warren B). By your measure I could just sell enough stock to generate £65K gains for 2 years in a row so I meet the LTR income requirements, then not worry about having any income (or investing anything in Thailand) for the next 5 years until the mid-visa check happens Makes no sense to me at all…But again, I’m not the one making the rules so “play where I’m put”

Yes… sorry I posted my reply before reading the image you’d provided (was on my phone) and saw that it specifically mentions Capital Gains as a valid income source. Makes absolutely no sense to me as Capital Gains are a “one off” whereas Income should be more or less consistent/guaranteed. But then again, it makes no sense to me to use an Income ”yardstick” for a “Wealth” Visa… the 2 things are not synonymous. Hey, TiT… we work within what we’re given ????

Wow! How do you prove you’ve made a gain on the sale of Shares? As a UK Non-Resident for Tax purposes I don’t need to report (Non Property) Gains on my Tax return so do I just send them a screen shot from my Excel spreadsheets? I could send them contract notes from Shares I bought 20 years ago but I’ve sold /re-bought these dozens of times since so would that be acceptable? Normally (for Tax purposes) Gains are treated on a “Last In / First Out” basis but how would they know that the proof of purchase I’m giving them wasn’t from a purchase I made years ago which I’ve sold/re bought many times since? Plus obviously Capital gains are a 1 time thing with no guarantee that you will do the same next year, appreciate Dividends, Bank interest & Rental income aren’t guaranteed but at least you still own the income generating asset so it’s more likely you’ll still be getting income from it (there is zero chance of getting income from an asset you no longer have). Makes no sense to me to have Capital Gains included as Income but as we all know, This is Thailand ???? As an aside, the LTR “Wealthy Pensioner” scheme based on Income is the only time I’ve seen a “Wealth” criteria be based on Income… All of the “Wealth”/HNW products I’ve ever had have been based on investable assets Citigold? $200,000 USD invested, Bangkok Bank Gold? 4Million Baht Invested, Barclays Premier account £100,000 GBP invested (though they recently changed it so you could qualify if you earn £75K pa).

I agree but I do think they would Grandfather in age requirement as unlike the money in the bank requirements & (for most) the insurance requirements your Age isn’t something that you can change to meet a change to the requirements Anyways this is an LTR thread so apologies for going off Topic… Will just say again that when you get your LTR all previous Visas are null & void so if you were to lose it you would be starting from scratch, nobody is going to blow the cobwebs off your previous Visa.