aublumberg

Yes called MEA and they recommended to sign up again, works now. All a rather underwhelming experience ...

Yeah same issue here …

Upgraded to v4.0.0 of the MEA (Metropolitan Electricity Authority) app today and as a result lost all login access, nothing works not even password reset. Same on their website login. Used to work fine in the last couple years without problems. Anyone else have this issue? Any suggested solutions (other than calling MEA)?

Yes he was implying I arrived (to IO) on 18 July but the online form said 17 July. I had zero interest to start arguing with the guy and within 2 mins had copied the 17 July form to a new one and changed it to 18 July and was whisked through with a smile.

ad 1. Scheduled arrival date of the flight is 23:50, in this case Thu 17 July, that's what I entered on the form ad 2. 17 July ad 3. 17 July, just before midnight, but then takes 10 - 15 mins to walk to immigration ad 4. 18 July, 5 mins past midnight

Bureaucrats. 5 mins past midnight at immigration counter in Fast Track (LTR) “sorry Sir wrong date”. TIT. Luckily had used the https://agents.co.th/ site so no need to retype everything just change date and get a new ticket which was immediately visible on immigration computer.

For me Bangkok Bank and UOB work. Kasikorn and SCB do not work.

Interesting. Did you just apply online or went through a special contact / channel? Thanks.

Just got in from Hong Kong. Very smooth. No checks at departure check-in. BKK immigration briefly glanced over the confirmation email on my phone but didn’t scan QR code nor check any details. This was LTR fast track lane so maybe less stringent. Plenty of staff around to support travellers who need assistance. I wish the system would have the option to create a traveller profile so one doesn’t have to type in all the details every time, like eg the equivalent Singapore app. Feature wish for the next release …

You should consider getting a usufruct (สัญญาให้สิทธิเก็บกิน) which gives you permission to stay in the house, either for a specified duration, or for life. An alternative is a right of habitation, but usufruct has more extensive rights including ability to let out the house and receive the rent. Both can be done at the land office, and you will be listed on the chanote. Lots of info online if you google these terms or here in the forums. Recommend hiring a Thai lawyer to assist.

You're a tax resident already when "residing in Thailand for a period or periods aggregating more than 180 days in any tax (calendar) year". Whether you remit money or not doesn't matter. So the BOI statement is incorrect to begin with. Of course Revenue Department will have the final word, that's their job. Wouldn't expect a different statement by BOI on a public social media website.

Thanks Pib for your post. Good to see BOI changed from reporting applicants to reporting approved LTR visa holders. I am not too surprised about the ~50% rejection rate to be honest given many of the discussions and experience sharing on this forum and on others like Reddit especially for Work From Thailand Professionals (LTR-T) category. Perhaps this may have contributed to the recently proposed separate DTV visa category. 21 months into the program, the figures of approved LTR visas are very small, especially compared to the envisioned scale when the program was first promoted. Considering many of the Wealthy Pensioners converted from an existing O visa, and presumably many of the Wealthy Global Citizens and Work From Thailand Professionals may spend substantial periods of the year outside of the country (at least I do), then the total economic benefit may come down to just ~2,500 (pure estimate on my part) individuals including dependents living (and spending) in Thailand fulltime. Falling short just a tad of the 200k target per year on average. Let's hope BOI will continue the LTR program ...

Here you are https://image.mfa.go.th/mfa/0/rdX909e54m/อัลบั้มภาพ/New_Measures_as_of_29_May_2024_-_1955.pdf

Ah - yes, that makes sense, thanks.

Just as an FYI, I noted there are 3 new documents available recently under the Laws and Regulations link of the BOI LTR website: 7. Announcement of Ministry of Interior Affairs (TH) 8. Order of the Immigration Bureau No.150-2565 (TH) 13. Announcement of the Ministry of Labor (TH) No idea whether these are new laws or just to complete the list of legislation pertaining to LTR visa. I believe it's the latter. All are in Thai, the English versions are not (yet) available.

Am afraid you will need to get it translated, BOI only accepts Thai or English documents. Ich kann https://www.thailaendisch.de/ empfehlen, die sind zuverlässig und in der Nähe der Deutschen Botschaft in Bangkok. Alternativen gibts auch https://bangkok.diplo.de/th-de/service/uebersetzerliste/1393030

That's actually their new corporate head office (690 Sukhumvit Road), not just any branch. Agree the service there is good, and modern systems and processes.

No personal experience with LTR-WP but a couple observations with regards to the LTR Wealthy Pensioner requirements: earned income does not qualify at all, only passive income. As per BOI website "unearned or passive income includes, but are not limited to pension, rental, capital gain, dividend, and interest payments". So capital gain in general seems accepted, at least in their generic overview. Not sure whether that includes crypto. However, under the list of requirement documents BOI states "Individual income tax return such as P.N.D. 90/91, BIR60, Form 1040, SA100, T1 General etc. showing income of no less than 80,000 [...] USD per year in the past 2 years. In case of “Wealthy Pensioner category”, please provide a pension certificate or individual income tax return e.g. 1099r or any documents showing UNEARNED or PASSIVE income such as interests, dividends, royalties or rental incomes etc. of no less than 80,000 [...] USD per year". So (a) they seem to want at least 2 years history and (b) there's no more mention of capital gains in this section and the examples given for passive income have a recurring connotation. At the end of the day every case is different, and I would suggest you speak to BOI directly about your case and ask whether the documentary evidence that you can provide is sufficient for LTR-WP or not. They are usually quite responsive and helpful. Good luck!

You'd think so, yes. With a human in the middle theory and practice don't always match.

Yup exactly, happens even in Bangkok. Went through the Suvarnabhumi Fast Track channel (where you would expect the IOs to be very familiar with LTR since it's one of the few permissible visa types to use Fast Track) a week ago and at first the IO stamped me in visa exempt, then she asked whether I have a visa and I said LTR and pointed out the LTR visa stamp page, she then manually edited and signed the immigration stamp and revised permission to stay until date. Made a mental note to point out the LTR visa page proactively during future returns to Thailand.

Same here

Have you considered HSBC Expat? Found them good to work with. https://www.expat.hsbc.com/international-banking/products/bank-account Interest rates offered: https://expatexplorer.hsbc.com/interest-rates

For many the 800,000 would be in a fixed deposit account, so ATM card won't work in that case

Thanks for sharing the latest stats. I would have thought the tax exemption for remittances under LTR-T, LTR-WP and LTR-W would become a bigger draw, but perhaps that is yet to come. So it looks like we're on target ;-) "Thailand on Thursday (1 Sep 2022) started accepting applicants for its new Long Term Resident (LTR) visa scheme which hopes to attract 1 million wealthy or highly-skilled foreigners over the next 5 years and generate some 800 billion baht (S$30.5 billion) in new investments in the country."