aublumberg

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."

Foreign currency brought into Thailand exceeding USD15,000 or equivalent has to be declared. Exchange Control Regulation (bot.or.th) ศูนย์บริการศุลกากร - Customs Care Center

It's not closed at all but if you don't meet the criteria (see photo above) for Fast Track then you are being directed to the other immigration queue. Agree the 'Priority lane' to the far right of the normal immigration queue could be better sign posted.

Thailand Privilege = Elite

I think the photo above is dated, here is what it looked like in April. As you can see they dropped First / Business class and changed ‘Long stay’ to LTR. Since a couple months they usually have an immigration officer there that by default tries to keep people out. Even with my LTR and separate APEC card at one time I was refused, probably IO ignorance. 9/10 it works just fine. No queues, and multiple booths. Mind you, over on the departure side it still has ‘Long stay’ as well as F and J class. 🤷

PromptPay has been integrated with equivalent mechanisms like FPS (Hong Kong) and Paynow (Singapore), there may be other countries as well, not sure. You can use your respective banking app from HK, SG and scan the QR code in Thailand to pay. I think this generally hits your debit card or savings account, not aware whether it works with foreign credit card. But certainly helpful to avoid carrying baht in cash. Joint Press Release Launch of PromptPay x FPS Link between Thailand and Hong Kong (bot.or.th) Microsoft Word - Media Release - PayNow - PromptPay v7.0 - clean (abs.org.sg)

Got mine from Immigration Department at Chamchuri Square, that's where BOI issues your LTR visa, used at DLT for same reason.

Many different Visa card options ... Bangkok Bank Credit Cards

ltr [at] boi.go.th

FYI ... it's an advertorial but some useful content and further clarity here Mazars in Thailand to Advise Thai Taxpayers on New Taxation Rules for Foreign Income (bangkokpost.com)

Lol ... yes of course it does because you're setting up the app for the first time

First item in the screenshot posted earlier ('User ID') as per latest app

Yes that was the case for me. I only had the account for a year and never signed up for the iBanking (browser based online banking) account because the app is just fine. But without the iBanking account (which is the first option in the mobile app registration screen I posted above), it doesn't work. So last weekend I went to the branch and they explained to me that I can actually do it myself at their ATM, there's an option to register for iBanking account. It gives you a temporary ID (some x long digit number) and you set a 4 digit password. Then you can use that to activate the mobile app, and you can use iBanking where you can change the password to something more complex and also change the random digit string to a new user name. So strictly speaking 'branch' visit (with associated waiting time) not needed, can do self-service at an ATM. But it requires obviously that (a) you're in the country and (b) you still have the same mobile number that they have on record for your account.

Thailand Foreign Source Income Personal Tax - SHERRINGS

Here are the 3 options (plus credit card option)

Same issue here, new iPhone. Kasikorn, SCB, UOB no worries and works fine to register on new phone. Bangkok Bank app big drama. All latest app already. Branch visit this weekend ...

What makes you think it would be retroactive? Any indication in any announcement or regulatory changes? Their announcement says effective 01 Jan 2024.

At long last we may see a rapid rise in LTR visa interest if the tax exempt benefit for LTR-T/P/W categories remains (and no indication for any changes).