aublumberg

1 hour ago, JimGant said:

Certainly a Wealthy Pensioner can be less wealthy than a Wealthy Global person. 

Yup but a pensioner needs to be age 50 or above to qualify, no such age requirement for the wealthy global citizen.

5 minutes ago, JimGant said:

You're quoting the requirements for a Wealthy Global Citizen, which are more onerous than the requirements for a Wealthy Pensioner. Those requirement are given, above, by soisanuk.

Yes I am indeed and I did that because the original question above was related to the USD1m investment. There is no other category than the WGC that has USD1m referenced (but USD1m in terms of assets, not investments which is USD500k). Whether one category is easier than another depends on each individual's circumstances. 

16 hours ago, wtboatr said:

Is the requirement to qualify for the LTR visa:

$80k per year in income and $1 million USD investment; or 

$80k per year in income or $1 million USD investment.

If the requirement is the former, yes I qualify.  If it’s the latter, I do not. 

 

Neither is correct. The requirements are (see https://ltr.boi.go.th/#type) :

• At least USD 1 million in assets

• Personal income of a minimum of USD 80,000/ year in the past two years

• Investment of at least USD 500,000 in Thai government bonds, foreign direct investment, or Thai property

• Health insurance with at least USD 50,000 coverage or social security benefits insuring treatment in Thailand or at least USD 100,000 deposit

• Applicants must fulfill all of the above requirements to be eligible for Wealthy Global Citizens application

15 hours ago, JoeHo said:

[...] pressing question that I have about payment of the 50k THB for the visa stamp. I've read from both @ThailandRyan and @BKKNono that payment can only be done by QR app banking. But how to pay if you'll arrive in Thailand on a (tourist) visa exemption? On a tourist visa I'm not eligible to open a Thai bank account, so how should I pay? [...]

Yes one of those not uncommon catch 22s in Thailand. Different banks and indeed different branches at the same bank have varying practices. You could consider to go to e.g. Siam Paragon in Bangkok and try to open a bank account there. I recently checked with Bangkok Bank branch there by phone and they just require a certified copy of your passport from your applicable consulate in Thailand. So you could get that first (may require booking of consulate appointment), then get the bank account, then pick up LTR at BOI office. The LTR notification approval letter may also help as additional evidence when opening the bank account. Shop around among a couple banks. Bangkok Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikorn Bank are considered the most foreigner friendly. Check out popular downtown places like Siam Paragon and Central World, go from branch to branch. Once you have the account, deposit sufficient money in cash right then or instruct e.g. a Wise transfer to have adequate funding for the THB50k LTR visa fee. It takes 1 - 2 hours to open the account and they help you install the mobile app as part of that. I am not entirely sure whether you can immediately get access to pay from the app on the same day, sometimes the full functionality is only enabled overnight for next day use. So I guess all of this adds up and is rather tight in terms of schedule based on your current planning. 

If you are planning to stay in Chiang Mai longer term then it may be better to have a bank account there, closer to where you live, to avoid cross-province transfer fees and more flexibility to visit the branch if needed. In that case maybe fly back to BKK once you have a BOI appointment. Or if you plan to fly out of Thailand do it on your way out.

I'd suggest you keep a couple days buffer in any case, especially given the current system glitches, public holidays this week (little to no progress for the rest of the week), the growing backlog of LTR recipients and other unforeseen circumstances. Hope it works out for you, good luck.

Hello, appreciate everyone's sharing here. My chronology:

05 Sep 2022 submitted application online for a LTR WFTP
26 Sep 2022 request for additional documents but actually everything was already provided correctly in the first place
04 Oct 2022 email approval received
12 Oct 2022 received formal Notification Letter for Qualifications Endorsement

Next step to make an appointment at the Royal Thai Consulate in Hong Kong for the visa stamp. According to the published fee schedule it's HKD15,000 or approx THB72,000 currently. 

Called a couple times into the BOI office in Bangkok along the way to enquire progress. Always super helpful team, keeping spirits high despite the system glitches, with some still persisting currently.