Karma80

I guess this level of failure will mean it can't be blamed on external factors and they might be forced to revisit the criteria sooner rather than later when they twiddle their thumbs having run out of retirees.

It's pretty clear what happened to the LTR, outside of wealthy investors or retirees who were already accessing retirement visas anyway. It got bounced between a bunch of civil servants and committee members that just piled on requirements that are out of touch with reality, or the target demographic. Meanwhile, neighbours and other countries are waking up to the reality of how much money can be poured into the economy from higher-earning remote or independent workers. It's quite sad to see this potentially transformative moment slip away due to the shortsightedness in the program criteria. I hope that someone fixes it, but on past form, the loss of face involved with an overhaul to make the program work may just be too much.

I sincerely hope that controls are put in place, and quickly. To be clear, I am not anti-weed, but last night I walked into our local mall where there's a night market. Two tables with weed vendors selling to anyone with cash. Walk out into the car park and a stink of weed smoke. One guy in our building has decided that it's his new hobby and stinking up the common areas. It's not a good situation to be in, where people now just do as they want - technically illegal or not. How many people are stoned on bikes? Make clear some rules around it that work to protect the public and just avoid it becoming a worse public nuisance. I'm totally behind people smoking weed if they want to, but you shouldn't get to impact others with your decision.

I sympathise with what you have experienced during covid both in a real and mental health sense. We are all in that same boat and I doubt there are many people that have not had varying moments of darkness throughout this time - myself included. These are the worst of times that a generation will hopefully see, and I have no doubt the lasting impacts socially, politically and economically will be felt for many years to come. People had to migrate, expats return to their countries for a variety of reasons. Some even could not, finding themselves in bleak and dire circumstances. But, I disagree that your or indeed anyone's personal perspective and values should be put upon me for a sense of comfort or normality. In the same way that I would absolutely refute anyone who insists I should wear one on that point of principal. If there is no legal requirement, it's my choice and yours. I hope that you found a better sense of peace wherever you are now.

Some people here are really triggered by masks. I wear one when I think it's prudent and for my own reasoning that's not for you to debate. It doesn't impact you. Please carry on with living your own life as you see fit.

Not sure why people get triggered by other people wearing a mask. Don't wear one. It's your choice. However, I do continue to wear one in crowded spaces and on public transport. Likewise this is my choice. This is Asia, not the west.

Don't worry. The global financial disaster and the biggest international conflict since WWII is ramping up now. That will keep people nicely occupied ????

Remember that to qualify for the retirement version, you must show $80k USD per year from pensions or similar, not employment. Now that becomes more of a select group of people. I have some decades up my sleeve, so am still gainfully employed. I would need to look at the other options, of which even fewer would qualify or care to park investments. The government has set a lofty goal of the number of visa applicants. I think they will be pulling up very short given the current terms.

This isn't true and should get push back. The world is trying to move on and effective vaccines are a part of the roadmap that gets everyone globally to a better place, rich or poor nation. Covid is now with us for years to come. You know, like flu which we annually vaccinate for...

https://ltr.boi.go.th - download the forms and the requirement document checklist there.

You might be right. But one thing I did notice on the application document checklist for the wealthy pensioner (and all the documents) is it certainly does appear you can apply for a work permit. But since the required document is a WP.46 (Employment Certification), which is for Thai companies, it will be interesting to see how the procedure settles.

Sorry to hear that. That's very shortsighted and lacks understanding of the corporate structures of many listed companies. 1 million people they reckon? Seems like they want a whole bunch of retirees and not much else.

Congrats! I somehow thought they would be doing this at Chamchuri at the BOI One Stop Service center, which is a pretty good experience. Be interesting to see if you can get an open digital WP. As I approach 50 I am curious to know if the "wealthy pensioner" bracket income must be from a pension or just straight out stable overseas income.

That's good news. I would rather take something if I get ill rather than get never ending booster shots. I stopped at 3 and am not interested in getting more until vaccines catch up with evolution.

China tourists returning is pure click bait. There is still mandatory quarantine in China and HK for any returning passengers and outbound travel is still restricted to essential only. And guess what - you don't get to to decide what is essential and risk your passport being removed if you try from the mainland. There's some physical barriers for you. But more than that, China isn't vaccinated against covid broadly at this point and saw what happened in Hong Kong. Nobody is about to walk back zero covid policy. Economically, there is a lot of money that wants to leave China and this situation is very convenient for preventing that. There isn't anything in it for China to drop it's current play book on travel and they could care less about tourists headed to Thailand.

Not 80%, but pretty much the same here in Phuket. 99k Indians vs next group down 41k Aussies arrivals reports by the island immigration.

I have an SCB Prepaid Visa credit card which works very well and meets all my needs for international purchases and so on. It also dodged the hassles of having to apply for a credit card locally, when I don't actually want any credit line, just secure access to my bank funds with card protection etc. https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/cards/prepaid-cards.html

The Thaiger has descended into a pure multi channel marketing garbage machine and I don't follow it much anymore. I agree, Jett is the only person I can abide watching. I'm happy to subscribe to Tim's new channel, which is I find more personal and honest as someone else living in Phuket.

The shift in working from home as the pandemic bit never rolled back to normal. More people work remotely than ever before and can do so from pretty much anywhere in many cases. Why not reduce your cost of living and not sit in an expensive shoe box in a western country? Add in the economies starting to tip into recession and corporate earnings being hit, and those overhead costs of more offices are not looking too attractive. A distributed workforce is suddenly the smart move when wanting to keep and find staff in a tight labour market. That's one big driver to longer-term stay.

I don't think he meets the minimum qualification to remain in office - some Generals stars.

My eyes hurt reading the number formatting. Perhaps the TAT is on the way to recreating their own arcane numerical system to avoid the criticism that they are always wrong, every time.