Mike Teavee

I'm by no means an expert but I believe income from Dividends & Interest would count but capital gains from the sale of shares/options wouldn't. Other Income streams that would count are salary from a job, Pension & Rental Income.

You would obviously need to revert to a New Visa so (currently) could get the Non-IMM O which (currently) doesn't require Health Insurance. For me one of the downsides in swapping my Non-IMM O Visa for a longer term Visa (& this is more the Thailand Elite than LTR) is I would give up any Grandfathering rights that might apply to existing Non-IMM O Holders... E.g. If somebody was 50 & they lost the LTR at 55 & during that time Thailand raised the Retirement Visa age to 60, they would be screwed... Whereas if they were on continuous Non-IMM O Extensions during those 5 years there is a high probability they would be "Grandfathered" in and allowed to keep extending that Visa. A lot of "If, Buts & Maybes" but just the thought process I've been going through when trying to decide whether to get a 20 year Thailand Elite Visa (I won't qualify for the LTR for a couple of years as I'm too young to draw my pension).

And now the latest thing to [not] "Worry" about with Retirement Visas is raising the age from 50 to 55 or 60... Personally don't see it happening & if it did, I believe they will Grandfather in existing Visa holders.... (bloody hope so as I'm 2.5 years away from being 60) but the main guy in the murder that started all this off with Big Joke was 52 so it wouldn't be a complete shocker if they threw the baby out with the bathwater. It would be nice if they could announce any changes before Sept 15th so, if I needed to, I could get my Thailand Elite Visa application in before that changes...

I'd go even further & say they were happy to open accounts for anybody, I opened mine in 2017 on a Visa Exempt & know guys who have done the same as recently as January this year. In March (might have been May) this year the Banking regulations changed & you now need at least 30 days remaining on your permission to stay to open an account which more or less rules out Visa Exempt holders though I do know of an agency in Jomtien that will take you to do an extension to your VE & then to open a Bank Account the same day.

So the only reason for being denied insurance is age? You Never heard of pre-existing conditions that make some people simply uninsurable. That aside most insurance companies have a maximum onboarding age of 75 so whilst mine will continue to insure me until I’m 99, I couldn’t get a new policy with them at 76. Please share the name of your Insurance company (mine is Pacific Cross) as I’m sure a lot of guys > 75 would be interested.

Your proposed criteria for PR was >70, been here 10 years & Thai ability didn’t matter. Mine was <60, has a few Million THB in the bank & speaks/reads Thai to at least a Basic level You then said you would meet that criteria anyway which was a lie as you’re > 70 Thats where the <60 came in. The irrelevant part of it was you making a stupid suggestion of who they should give PRs to.

So you don’t meet all the criteria I listed (I.e. you’re not under 60, the very 1st thing I listed) & I’m the one who needs to learn to Read/Comprehend! So yes, I was right to not believe you not that I give a Flying F.

First part you are the only person to have a Non-IMM OA who’s ever reported needing money in the bank except at Extension time. But you are Special. 2nd part youre making stupid assumptions, there were some guys who have more than enough money to Self Insure (the amount quoted for LTR is 3Million) but were unable to get Medical Insurance so switched to the Non-IMM O.

So you’re under 60, speak/read Thai & have a few Million in the Bank? Seeing as you advocated Over 70s with no Thai ability I simply don’t believe you…

He should have called Sex, Sex, Sex, Free sex tonight [666-3629]

You mean it would solve problems for you Why should they give you PR if you’ve lived here for 10 years & are too lazy to bother to learn the language? . No country wants Old Foreigners who are likely to cause them problems with unpaid hospital bills / unclaimed bodies so instead why not give everybody <60 who has a few Million THB in the bank & speaks/reads Thai to at least a Basic level PR? Fun factoid, it’s more or less impossible to get a PR in Singapore after 50 unless you’re married to a Singaporean (or insanely wealthy)

Was that a Bank Statement (if so was it 3 months, 6 months or 1 year) or the normal letter from the Bank confirming the amount you have that day? Also when was this? only the rules seem to have changed in the past 4-5 months

I mainly eat at home & so was referring to the quality of the food that was available in the supermarkets there. Even in Davao City at the SMs/ Robinson it was pretty poor. I love Korean & Japanese food and have had some of the best I’ve ever tried in Cebu.

I was dating a Filipina (in SG) for 8 years (Went 1/2s on a house a couple of hours north of Davao City) so when it came to retirement obviously considered moving there & around about that time (just prior to Covid) there was talk that they were going to put an end to the seamless 3 years on Visa Exempt entry & make people leave after 6 months (Philippines isn't the easiest country to do a Border Hop from). No idea if this will come back on the table but the SRRV has to be amongst the cheapest Retirement Visas out there & if you go down the Marriage route, you get an automatic 1 year on arrival & just have to show "Proof of Finances" (I can't find specific amounts) if you go down the 13A route. Food sucks so I chose Thailand though the women are much hotter (especially in the Visayas) so it's clear where my priorities lay!

I'm planning on using a Fixed Deposit account for the 1st time next week so will report back on whether I needed a statement (hopefully not as it takes Bangkok Bank 1 week to produce a 12 month statement). NB. although I do keep the 800K in the Bank (have also maintained > 800K in my "Savings" account incase I have a problem with the FD account) I will be using an Agent to do all the paperwork/running around. So for any "None Lazy Farangs who are not helping to propagate the corrupt Visa System" out there YMMV.

That what the standard Insurance for the OA used to be but it changed to 3Milllion Outpatients cover from 1st October 2021 which I believe is the same for the newish LTR Visa So am guessing would be the standard for any future Insurance requirements... https://www.pacificcrosshealth.com/en/longstay-visa/

I don’t believe that’s true you can get a Re-Entry permit for the Non-IMM O to protect your permission to stay for the whole 90 days from your 1st entry so nothing to stop you leaving & then doing your extension when you get back. Obviously you can’t get a Re-Entry permit if you’re Visa Exempt & I think you would probably need to remain in-Country for at least 15 days until you got your Non-IMM O. it’s possible that your Agent will be converting you to the 90 day visa + getting the 1st year extension in 1 shot (quite a common way to do the conversion in Pattaya, costs 23,500b, takes a couple of days & you get the 90 day visa + 1st years extension so good for 15 months) I don’t know the implications of travelling before your extension “kicks in”, would suggest you ask the question of somebody like Maneerat (Visa Agent in Pattaya who have done all of my friends conversions) who should be able to give you a definitive answer about whether you can travel outside of Thailand in the period between getting your Non-IMM O and being on the extension that the agent has got for you with it.

You 1st need to wait until your re-entry permit expires & then leave the country ending your current permission to stay and Non-IMM OA Visa. You then have a choice of coming back in Visa Exempt/Tourist Visa & doing a conversion (would need at least 15 days) OR do a long weekend in Laos/Vietnam OR go back to your home country to get the Single Entry 90 Day Non-IMM O Visa. Once you have the 90 day Visa you can apply up to 30 (45 days in some places e.g. Jomtien) in advance of it expiring for a 1 year extension which just takes 1 day.... If you did need to leave Thailand in the 1st 60/45 days you would just get a Re-Entry permit & as long as you return with a couple of days left before it ends, can do your 1 year extension when you get back.

I agree 100% & I wouldn't have even bothered getting a Visa at that time if it wasn't for the fact that I was spending almost every other weekend in Bangkok & got stopped on entry at Don Muang one time to explain why, haven't flown from/to DMK since. Penang was by far the easiest place for me to get a Non-IMM O & as a bonus they gave me the 12 month multi-entry variant, at that time getting a Non-IMM O from the UK wasn't possible ( @Bday Pranghas kindly explained that it is now possible even though the Website suggests you need a State Pension) & getting it in Singapore wasn't an option as I didn't go for PR before I hit 50. I think in fairness to long term Non-IMM OA holders, it was a great Visa before the Health Insurance requirements kicked in as you could do 1 trip home every 2 years (Border Bounce just before the end of the 1st year) & get a new one, so never needed to do an extension or even have a Thai Bank account (although it seems when @TigerandDog got his he had to put 800K in the bank after 3 months, am not doubting him but this is the 1st time I've heard anybody having to do that & have read of many guys who are happy with the fact that they don't need to have any money in Thailand with their Non-IMM OA).

I sort of agree with your last point, but think they should scrap both & come up with a new “Retirement” Visa whilst “Grandfathering In” existing holders. Of course this would only “Cement In” your gripe about Non-IMM O getting preferential treatment over Non-IMM OA but again, unless changes are made that impact Non-Imm O holders retrospectively I will always be receiving preferential treatment over you.

You call it “Lazy” I call it making the best use of my time (a bit like paying for Fast Track access at the airport)… works out at <17b pd… Worth it to me, not too everybody. You have consistently complained about Non-IMM O holders getting preferential treatment over Non-IMM OA holders so to make things “Equal” it would have to apply retroactively as it did with Non-IMM OA holders. So either you do want it applied retrospectively or don’t want to see the Visas being “Equal”, make your mind up.

Non-IMM O wasn’t available for me in the UK as it requires you to be receiving State Pension (eVisa website still says you need this) so I got mine in Penang as I was working in Singapore at the time & didn’t have the time to spend 2 weeks in-country doing the conversion.

TBH I think they had somebody who spends the day at CW that would get you a Queue number before you arrived… No need nowadays with the appointment booking system.

If it is/was mandatory to attend then I’d happily show up at Jomtien to go through the formalities. CW was a pain to get to (approx. 1.5 hours from On-Nut) but I found using an agent you were in & out quickly even before they introduced the appointment booking system as the Agents know the best times to attend.

No need to attend for Re-Entry Permits (even at CW) & strictly speaking your attendance is not required for your Extension as you sign an agreement with the Agent authorising them to do it on your behalf, however CW will only accept non-attendance for Medical Reasons so you would also need a note from your Dr. there. I used to use an Agent in Bangkok & did have to attend with them for my extensions but not for the Re-entry permit I got to my initial 12 month Multi-Entry Visa before getting on the Extension treadmill, since moving to use Jomtien IO, attendance is not required.