oldcpu

I can't help but think this is Bangkok Bank specific staff experience at the OPs Bangkok bank branch. Less than a year ago I wanted to move Euros in an FCD from Bangkok Bank to SCB bank FCD. Initially the bank advised it needed to be done via a conversion to Thai baht. When my wife and I challenged that, the local branch manager was querried, and they noted if transferring via SWIFT transfer from Bangkok Bank to SCB bank, then no conversion to Thai baht needed. So we successfully proceeded.

Dependent on one's financial situation, my understanding is one advantage (if one receives a LOT of Thai interest) of having the 15% withholding tax on one's Thailand bank/bond interest, is if if the withholding tax is withdrawn automatically by the bank, then (per Thailand tax law) , that satisfies one's legal tax filing obligations for that interest, and such need not then be included in the assessment whether a Thailand tax return need to be filed. I presume if one's bank/bond interest in Thailand is relatively small, and if one has no other remitted income to affect one's income status in Thailand, then one may wish to consider trying getting back that withholding tax. I don't fall into that category (of qualifying for a return of withholding tax) , so I have never pursued that.

The financial institutions (in Canada) where I have accounts have requested I provide a Thai Tax ID. Since I don't have one (the RD in Phuket would not give me one after they were fully (100% accurately) advised of my tax situation), I instead provided the Canadian financial institutes my Thai Pink-ID #, noting it not yet activated as a Tax ID. That is consistent with what the Thai RD office told me. On the other hand, the German financial institutes, where I have accounts, have not (as of yet) asked from me a Thailand Tax ID. I suspect there a vast number of different tax situations for all of us - and to varying degrees, each expat's liability/requirement to file or not to file a Thai tax return is different.

That is 'branded content'. ... ie it is funded by an advertiser. ie ExpatTax Thailand. So IMHO, one can expect a spin to the article, where the full story is not being told. .... Just saying .

Indeed. My view is if one is retired with a Thai wife, and has adequate financial means, and if one also prefers not to go the LTR visa route, then the non-immigration type-O visa, with annual extensions (of one's permission to stay) for reason of retirement, is a GREAT way to go. If one has a Thai wife, and one's funds are a bit tight, and if one wishes to keep open the option of working (regardless of one's age) then the non-immigrant type-O visa, with annual extensions (of one's permission to stay) for reason of marriage, is a good way to go. Why Type-O and not OA? In that case (with Thai wife) one could also go for a Type-OA (with subsequent extensions of one's permission to stay for reason of marriage), but that IMHO sort of depends on the stability of one's marriage and on the health of one's Thai wife (if she is up in years). Having to change from a Type-OA to a Type-O due to a marital crisis (divorce or death of one's spouse) is not the sort of stress one may wish to add to their life. The Type-O/OA (with extensions of permission to stay for reason of marriage), as many noted, does open the possibility for working in Thailand for one on that Type-O/OA Visa. And financial requirements for Type-O/OA visa permission to stay extensions for reason of marriage (to a Thai) are less than for reason of retirement. If I may add - one thing I like about Thailand is the different Visa options that are available.

Google Maps calls it the "Muang Phuket District Office" in downtown Phuket ...corner of Yaowarad Rd and Mae-Luan-Rd / Thungkhar-Rd. Possibly we picked a bad time of the day ... but my wife's Thai friends stated, it doesn't matter what time of the day. In fact, we were told a 90-minute wait was an excellent time.

Apologies - I missed which Amphur you go to? When I went to the Phuket Amphur, it was always a zoo, with a typical 90 minute or more wait - plus a 20 minute drive there and a 20 minute drive back home. I was told by some Thai friends of my wife, the waits at the Phuket Amphur were always lengthy for practically anything. Mind you that was a few years back ... maybe its changed today.

That is a good example IMHO - where one might be inappropriately subject to taxation. In such a case, one would need to make an extra effort to show such funds were covered already by a Double Tax Agreement between one's source country (and Thailand) or extra effort to prove such funds were covered by Thai ministerial directives PAW.161/162 (and were pre-1-Jan-2024 savings). ... Having to keep internal records to document that would be a bit of an annoyance given the funds were never intended to be (in practice) remitted to Thailand as the end destination of the funds. And it further illustrates that a Thai based Wise account/card is not very suitable for use outside of Thailand if the source of one's funds is not Thailand. Only LTR visa holders (such as LTR-WP or LTR-WGC) don't have to be concerned about the taxation aspect. ... But even they (LTR visa holders), if using a Thai based Wise account, get 'hit' with the double conversion fee (ie say Euros > Thai Baht > Hong Kong dollars ). ... So the 'Thai' based Wise account is more limited, than say a 'Germany' based Wise account.

Like many I was curious as to the implications. My Wise account and debit card is based on a German address so this doesn't affect me. However my wife has a Thai (address) wise account and this could affect her. Wise: no bank guarantee. Neither of us use Wise to 'hold' any more money than necessary. Wise provides no 'bank' style guarantees for the funds in Wise, and near as i can determine only provide trivial interest on US and on Euro funds. Don't time currency exchange with Wise/Thai baht. I always (with 1 exception) keep my foreign money outside of Wise, and ONLY when I want to transfer to Thailand, do I transfer funds to a Thai bank via Wise. So the conclusion is do not use Wise as a 'holding account' trying to time the exchange rate. Rather use one's foreign bank account - which means try to keep a foreign bank account (which is something my wife and I do). Foreign banks pay better interest than Wise: Our foreign bank accounts pay interest ( better than Wise). We only use Wise for transferring funds (with one exception). I should qualify the above by saying, I rarely have done such transfers to Thailand with Wise. In the past, my transfers to Thailand bank have been too large to use Wise (as Wise only has made sense for relatively small money transfers). For larger transfers to Thai baht, as strange as it may read, SWIFT can be better than Wise. Pensions: I have my pensions deposited into foreign bank accounts (and NOT directly into Wise). Possibly those who have pensions deposited directly into Wise, if they wish to attempt to 'time the exchange rate' (which frankly IMHO is difficult to always reliably do) then do so with a foreign bank account. Stop transferring all one's foreign pension amounts directly to Wise if one wishes to time the Thai baht exchange rate. Taxation: Reference concerns re:Thailand tax ... IMHO it has always been a risk that money remitted to Thailand via an institution such as Wise could be tracked (for Thai taxation purposes) - - so has this really changed ?? IMHO only changed for those who considered there was no past risk for remitting such funds. Transfer money out of Thailand is an improvement !! The big positive is (after the change is implemented) is it will be possible to transfer Thai baht from one's Thai bank to Wise (I think) and then convert to a foreign currency. Of course that assumes one keeps Thai baht cash in Thailand that can be transferred to Wise - which I suspect is not that many (as Thai interest rates are low). The big negative I see (which is the exception I noted), is one's Thai based wise card (if one can obtain such) is less useful outside of Thailand, if one's foreign income is used to fund the Wise card. Say one transfers Euros to one's Thai based Wise account. It will be immediately converted to Thai baht as an intermediate currency. Then, say one is going to Australia for some travel, when one transfers the Thai baht to Australian dollars, one ends up paying 2x currency exchange ... ie Euros > Thai baht > Australian dollars. That is a downside. i am currently travelling in Australia, and I am using my Wise debit card for most payments - where I converted Canadian dollar (from a Canadian bank) DIRECT to Australian dollar in my Wise Account (and fortunately did NOT have to go through Thai baht). Keep foreign Wise card if legal: So for myself, I plan to retain my German address for Wise (where I try to visit that German address every year). My wife, thou, with her Thailand address Wise account, needs to take note. At least that is my current viewpoint - but I am modifying my view as I learn more.

I have a protective jacket cover over my passport, and the auto gates do NOT work for it (in Thailand, Singapore, Australia, nor Canada) if I leave the cover on. However, if I remote the cover, the auto gates work fine! ... So for every immigration crossing (using an auto gate) I remove the cover. Is there any chance you have a protective jacket cover protecting your passport?

Yes true for the initial permission to stay. BUT it is more nuanced than that for subsequent extensions of one's permission to stay in Thailand. One can after a certain period of time, get an extension of one's permission to stay in Thailand, if on a non-immigrant visa type-OA, for reason of marriage. I did that. So have many many others. In my case, after my '2-years' that I managed to get with my Type-OA (retirement) were up, for my first extension on my Type-OA, I went for a one year extension of my permission to stay, for reason of retirement (and I paid for almost worthless (double) insurance (massively high deductable) from the Thai branch of a health insurance company). I was not allowed by Phuket immigration, for that very first 1-year extension of my permission to stay, to go for an extension based on marriage. But a year after that, for my 2nd one-year extension, of my permission to stay (on the underlying type-OA visa) I was allowed to go for a 1-year extension based on marriage -with no health insurance requirement. Basically, given the OPs situation, we are , I believe, nominally talking about the 1-year extensions on one's permission to stay. Your point thou is valid, for anyone initially contemplating to get a new type-OA visa.

Along the lines of what DrJack54 noted, the only reasons (in your case) that I can see for switching to type-OA to type-O is some immigration offices handle a type-O (based on retirement) quicker than a type-OA (based on marriage). if your marriage is shaky, or if your spouse health is shaky, that could be a reason to switch to a visa (retirement) extension now (so to avoid having to change from marriage to retirement visa/extension when under a lot of stress if thing go bad re; the marriage ending). However if on a type-OA retirement there is nominally a need to obtain health insurance from the Thai branch of a health insurance company (unless the local immigration office gives one a 'grand father clause exemption for insurance - but they may no longer be possible). Hence the type-O is preferred by many as it has no health insurance requirement for the single expat who has no Thai wife. I left Thailand (when on a Type-OA (extension) for reason of marriage) to invalidate the type-OA visa, and I returned visa exempt and obtained a type-O (retirement) because at that time, in Phuket, retirement extensions on a Type-O had massively less paperwork (and were quicker at the immigration office) than type-OA (marriage extension) to get. But note the 'retirement' extension/visa requires more proof of funds than a 'marrige' extension/visa. .

My having typed the above, in a recent seminar between BoI and LTR visa holders, held in Bangkok, and attended by an official from the Thailand Revenue Department, purportedly it was made clear in that seminar that (1) LTR visa holders are not taxed by Thailand on any foreign income remitted to Thailand, regardless of year in which it is earned/remitted (after obtaining the visa), and (2) LTR visa holders, if they have no local Thailand income, are not required to file a Thailand income tax return. ... So assume that Thailand RD official is correct, then there is no change in the LTR visa status, contrary to what I typed in my quotation above.

All wars are sad to read about and this war is no exception. I feel sad for every injury and live lost on all sides. In the case of this torpedoed Iranian warship, she was armed with Chinesese designed Surface to Surface Missiles (SSM) ... ie anti-ship missiles. These missiles ( with a +200km range) would presumably pose a threat to any American or Israeli shipping in the area. Also, the attacking submarine may have had constraints, .. constrants that we don't know about, which may have necessitated firing the torpedo at that time else contactwith the warship lost. Sadly, war is war. I pray a way to peace is found.

There is a big 'what if' there .. where 'what if' applies to many things in life and not just visas. One never really knows what the future will unfold. I think also, many of us, on an LTR visa, did not get this visa for the Financial (tax exemption) aspect. In my case, in the most part, DTA with the country(s) of my income source protect me from being double taxed by Thailand, for the income I remit to Thailand. I went for the LTR visa for a matter of convenience. Tax exemption was a distant second item. One need to read no further than read the unpleasant experiences of some renewing their non-immigrant type-O/OA visas every year (where some immigration offices are, dare I say, more difficult to deal with in regards to paperwork). With the LTR - only at the 5 year point need one again reprove finances. That was a BIG benefit from my biased (?) perspective. I seriously doubt Thailand will be able to throw-out / change every Double Tax Agreement (DTA) they have in such a 'what if' global taxation scenario. The Thai Royal Decree RD743, the Thai Ministerial directives PAW-161/162, and the various (many) DTAs, massively complicate any such 'what if'. For now, I think the tax exemption, with its tax exemption status confirmed by statements of both Thai BoI and Thai RD (main office) officials supports the assessment of the LTR-WP/WGC providing Thai tax exemption for remitted income. Yes. Agreed.