Larkin

Kasikorn, which seems one of the easier to deal with. Plus she has friends who work in branch. edit - sorry I meant not having a lease was NOT a dealbreaker.

Thanks DrJack. Yes that was my overall understanding and what you outlined is what I planned to do. my concern was the issue re rental agreement but you have all collectively suggested that’s a dealbreaker.

probably sitting by the pool of the house in question in Jomtien, sipping a glass or wine. while I’m working in cold and rainy Yorkshire. welcome to my world 🤣

I’m not sure you read my original post properly fella 🤣

Currently in the U.K. and this won’t happen until second half of 2026. It will be Jomtien immigration office. I don’t have Non O yet. No point applying before I need it. I’m just trying to get the processes right in my head ahead of time. Bank. I previously had accounts with both Bangkok Bank and Siam Commercial when I worked in Bangkok 15 years ago but they are long closed. I was thinking Kasikorn this time as it’s where my wife banks.

Thanks. And to be clear, is the CoR all I would need? Not a yellow book? Not sure how I would get the latter so quickly after just arriving on the 90 day Non Imm O

As I understand it I will need to have a CoR to get a bank account, as part of getting the extension for retirement for a Non-Immi O Visa But what exactly do I need and how soon I do it? According to Google, this is a list of required documents: 1. Residence Certificate Application Form in Thailand 2. Original passport (as well as a copy of the biodata page, current visa, most recent entry stamp, and TM.6 Card) 3. Receipt of 90-day Report Notification 4. A copy of your Address Notification Receipt (TM.30). 5. A copy of your house lease agreement and rental contract where you stay including: – A copy of ID/Passport (if a foreigner) of the landlord – A copy of the house registration book of the landlord – A copy of the title deed to confirm who is the owner required if the landlord is not a household 6. One passport-size photo (white background taken within 6 months) All is fine, but my situation is that I will be living with my Thai wife who already lives in the house she owns, which I bought for our retirement. In other words I will not have a lease agreement or rental contract. She can of course do a TM30 for me. How do I address this? Would I just take my wife with me, perhaps a copy of Thai marriage certificate? or am I overthinking it?

Not true. The only country in SEA where the uplift is given is Philippines. In fact it’s the only country in all of Asia. Thailand isn’t treated an an exception.

It’s such a weird business decision by the owner. He must have factored in that he has immediately alienated 65% of American expats, and probably 80% of Europeans, none of whom would touch the place with a barge pole when there is such a wide choice of other crappy bars to choose from.

Yes. You get a proportion based on the number of years compared to how many you should have paid for a full SP (people wrongly think it’s 35 years: it used to be but it’s more complex now. My own situation is I needed only 32 years) But it’s still worth paying for extra years. Even at the higher rate it represents great value for money.

It is overly generous, I grant you, and that’s why there hasn’t been much of a reaction to it here in the U.K. As for your last point, I believe EU countries allow it, providing the person remains in another EU member state.

There is zero chance of U.K. pensions being unlocked. It’s been campaigned for for decades and successive governments ignore it, largely because the beneficiaries are so far away. Few people in the U.K. would lobby on behalf of a group they see as sunning themselves in tropical climes.

That may or may not be the case, but new governments very rarely reverse revenue-raising policies of the previous ones, especially if, like this one with expats, the target is small and of little political importance. After a year or two, such policies become entrenched and part of the new prevailing fiscal landscape. In fairness, this is a loophole that expats have been able to take advantage of for decades. They were ridiculously low cost, and it seems to me prudent to close it now (especially as I'm all paid up thank you very much . . . )

It was an excellent deal. I think i paid a grand total of £1200 ish pounds to fill gaps of 8 or 9 years a few years back, and as a result have just got a full swathe of NI years to qualify for the full new state pension in 2031. A nice little kicker to the retirement funding.

Nonsense. He's the healthiest President in US history. He is 6.4 and 220 lbs, and it's fake news to compare pictures of him with other men of a similar build. Furthermore, he told us yesterday that he had won no fewer than 38 golf championships. Weirdly, they are all at Trump courses. Rick Reilly, the golf writer, tells some great stories of how Trump cheats at golf quite openly, and explains that when he opens a new course, he has a championship in which he is the only player, ensuring he wins. On several times during his last presidency, he was playing in a tournament but official duties meant he missed some days (understandable enough, of course). But on those days Trump quite literally phoned in and provided his score. We live in strange times. (by the way, how does one block people here? that MAGA idiot is driving me mad with his incessant <deleted>).

Perfect thanks. Very helpful.

So I'm starting to get my head around sorting out retirement in Thailand and have what might be a naieve question. Situation: 61 UK citizen (in UK). Married to a Thai national. Currently searching for information on the Thai e-visa website. I understand the process, but I'm wondering about the difference between Non-Immigrant O and Non-immigrant O-A visas. Both seem to be used as a base to get an extension of stay based on retirement. What is the difference between them? As far as i can ascertain, O is valid for 90 days and has one re-entry permit, and O-A is valid for a year and comes with multiple re-entry permits. On the basis that i would arrive on one or other other, open bank account using it and deposit funds, and sit back for two months before seeking retirement extension, why would i opt for O-A over O, particularly as the former requires lots of other bits and pieces such as health insurance, police clearance etc? What am I missing here?

Nonsense. The earth being round or flat is not a different viewpoint. It's a demonstrable fact. It's a scientific fact. It's quite literally observable. Your analogy re Trump being great or the worst ever doesnt stack up. THAT is the expression of a viewpoint, not the shape or dimensions of the planet.

Really? I must be going senile. I could swear I saw it in January. Is there another branch in a similar mall or major store in Pattaya?

I'm not sure what the thread is about: is it simply to point out that Superrich is there? It's been there ages; i certainly used it back in January when i was last there.

Of course. And likely for all the right reasons. I think my point was that it's prudent to make sure your loved one(s) have the means to support themselves and have access to cash locally while overseas assets are being sorted following your death. The poor woman I referred to below is not financially savvy, and her husband has rather left her in straightened circumstances. They were together 15 years and she lived in a nice house with him (owned by him via company structure, which further complicates it), and of course took his word that everything was in order. Now it seems there are kids and even ex wives coming out the woodwork back in the UK, smelling cash, and she is reduced to borrowing from friends. We have a moral responsibility to make sure our people are looked after properly.

I'm leaving it in Baht and I'm leaving it in Thailand. While it's a decent wedge of cash it's not a major part of my retirement funds, it's really not worth shipping back to the UK now only to send it back when i retire, hopefully a year or two hence. I like the idea of keeping it there for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it will be useful to have for a variety of reasons when i do retire. Not only would it be there for visa purposes, but it's also good to have a few years living expenses on hand and easily accessible. Plus of course there is the benefit of having it for medical issues, should they be needed. An added bonus is that it means my pension funds and ISAs can remain invested for a few years longer. More importantly, is that it's money easily accessible to my wife, should anything happen to me before i retire. I've seen too many situations where husbands have put their wives as benefactors in wills, only for probate etc to take a long time. A friend recently died in Jomtien; his wife is seriously struggling at the moment because the wills are being challenged by relatives in the UK, and even should she succeed, it will take months or longer to get a payout. This relieves her - and me - of that worry.

Interesting thread. I haven’t retired yet and won’t be moving to Thailand until early 2027 but my wife is there. We are in the process of selling a small condo in Bangkok and will net around 5m for it, and I’ve been wondering about the merits of bringing it back to the U.K. or leaving it in situ im leaning toward the latter - stick it somewhere safe and have it there as liquid funds for when I arrive and to double as health insurance. managed properly it could be our living funds for 4-5 years. we have a couple of properties in Jomtien, one of which will be the retirement home and a place nearby which is generating 50-60k a month rental income. The bulk of my cash - cash from a future sale of my house in the U.K. and a decent pension fund - will remain in the U.K. though, at least while I’m hale and hearty. I have wills etc in place but if I feel I’m slipping away I’ll bring a sizeable chunk over to make sure the missus will be ok.

I think you’re right. I think the best approach is to minimise drawings from your U.K. based personal pension to under the tax threshold, and I’ll supplement it with rent from my Thai properties and withdrawals from cash savings.

This is helpful thanks. I have three main assets in the U.K.: a private pension fund, a stocks and shares ISA, and my U.K. residency. The ISA is of course no problem from a tax perspective. The house - well I plan to sell that when I retire and shift the funds overseas. So no major tax issues there I guess. the pension is a bit more challenging. By that time it will be worth c£600k. I can reduce that to £450k by taking the tax free sum and then limit withdrawals to the tax free allowance of £12570 per annum. But then it gets harder when yhe state pension kicks in for me in 2031. oh well. Something to worry about later I guess.