oldcpu

I don't know. I suspect it reduces the annual paperwork. That is a benefit for immigration having to do less. And I think some pensioners, like myself, had to invest more in Thailand to retire on the LTR, after using Type-OA and Type-O in the past. Who knows the actual numbers? .. and I believe the annual paperwork reduction is a big benefit for both sides regardless of the numbers. That is the main reason I am considering an LTR .. and when I see how late Thai immigration staff work processing the paperwork of annual extensions of foreigners permission to stay, I suspect they too consider it a benefit.

For the OP, in case curious about the experience of some others , ... this is what my timeline was for a One-Year extension on my Permission to Stay based on Retirement on a Type-O Visa: * 7-October-2022 - entered Thailand visa exempt (obtained 45-day permission to stay until 20-Nov) * 18-October-2022 - Applied for a 90-day Type-O Visa at immigration based on 'retirement'. They accepted all my paperwork. I was told to come back to Immigration on 21-Nov, 1-day after my permission to stay expired, and I was told not to worry about my permission to stay expiring the day prior (presumably as I was 'under consideration' although there was no such stamp in my passport). * 21-November-2022 - Showed up at immigration and was advised my 90-day type-O Visa not yet ready. They kept my passport this time. I was told they would phone me in about 1 week when my passport and Visa were ready to pickup. * 7-December-2022 - I still had received no phone call from immigration, I was mildly nervous (they had my passport), so I showed up at Immigration, and they had my Passport with the 90-day Type-O visa (for reason of retirement) stamped inside (back dated to 18-November-2022) with a permission to stay until 15-Feb-2023 stamped in the passport. So I had my passport back with a 90-day Visa. * 3-January-2023 - I showed up at immigration and applied for a 1-year extension on the Type-O visa, for reason of retirement. They kept my passport. * 4-January-2023 - I showed up the next day at immigration and picked up my passport, and it had the 1-year extension on my permission to stay stamped in the passport, giving me a permission to stay until 15-February-2024.

All that indicates is your Type-O was granted for reason of retirement. If you go around calling it a "Retirement Visa" you will likely confuse everyone as to the type of Visa. One can obtain a permission to stay in a Visa for more than just reason of retirement ... Its far more clear if one states "Type-O Visa" or "Type-OA" visa, and then add to that the reason one is using to justify the visa or the permission to stay, such as "Retirement" or "Marriage" or other ...

I recommend you stay away from the "Non-immigrant Visa-OA (Long Stay)" as ultimately you could be hit with Health Insurance requirements that are not suitable for your personal situation. Back in 2019 to 2021 timeframe, living in Thailand, I was on a Type-OA visa for reason of Retirement. But then Thailand implemented a brand new requirement for that Visa, where one pretty much needed to obtain Health Insurance from a Thai branch of a Health Insurance company for subsequent 1-year extensions to the "permission to stay in Thailand" associated with that Type-OA Visa. In my case I already had very good European Health Insurance that was not recognized by Thailand (as it was not from a Thai branch). I disliked buying double Health Insurance. So in 2021 to 2022, instead of paying for double health insurance (as I did not want to give up my superior European Health insurance) I went for a 1-year extension, on my permission to stay in Thailand for reason of marriage to a Thai person (where my underlying Visa was still a Type-OA visa). That extension of the permission to stay in Thailand, for reason of marriage to a Thai person, did not require health insurance from a Thai branch of a Health Insurance company. .... However it did have a LOT of extra paperwork associated with it, and extensions took a long time to obtain approval. .... and also since you are not married to a Thai spouse, this approach of an extension on a permission to stay in Thailand is not relevant to you. To (1) reduce paperwork, and (2) avoid the double Health Insurance situation, in 2022 I left Thailand without a re-entry permit on the permission to stay with my Type-OA visa. This basically meant the Visa and its associated 'permission to stay' were now void. I re-entered Thailand in October-2022 on a 45-day Visa exempt, and about 33 days prior to my 'permission to stay' (on my 45 Visa exempt) expiring, I went to a local Immigration office and applied for a 90-day type-O visa (for reason of "retirement"). Note Type-O .... this is NOT a Type-OA. That application required 800K THB in the Bank (which I have had for some years). By early December-2022 my Type-O Visa (with it associated 90-day permission to stay in Thailand) was approved. Then within the past week this year (2023) I went back to Immigration and applied for a 1-year permission to stay in Thailand, based on retirement, on that underlying Type-O Visa. I received this 'extension on my permission to stay' (on the underlying Type-O visa) within 24 hours, and I now have a permission to stay in Thailand until mid-February-2024, based on retirement. Note this is NOT a retirement Visa. To the best of my knowledge there is no such thing as a "Retirement Visa". The advantage of this Type-O visa, over the previous Type-OA visa (which I had previous) is that I am not compelled to purchase Health Insurance from a Thai branch of a Health Insurance company, as the Type-O visa has no associated requirement for a user to buy Health Insurance from a Thai company. So its possible there are superior ways for you to go about this, that could be recommended to you, but its difficult to give a precise recommendation without better understanding your details.

I researched this further (checking with my thai wife) and I do have a blue book for my condo ... but it has no one's name in it as a person currently resident in my condo. My wife has her name in a different piece of property Blue book. Rather only my Yellow book has my name in the book (Yellow Tabien Baan). .... Thinking now, perhaps they would have accepted the "name empty" Blue book for my condo, and at that point only, retracted their original approach and agreed to accept a TM30 (since my name is not in the Blue Tabien Baan) (Blue Book)? I have no idea thou if that would have worked As it turned out, the Yellow Book pages satisfied them in the end.

Not sure if I understand that. I may apply for an LTR visa soon, in which case I will use my condo as part of my proof of investment in Thailand (needed for a "LTR Wealthy Pensioner" whose income is > $40K US$/year). But for the Type-O visa that I currently have, its not the case. I recently obtained a 1-year extension on my permission to stay for reason of retirement on my Type-O visa, and my condo value has nothing to do with my proof of financials. I have (and for some time have had) the appropriate 800K Thai baht in a Thai bank to meet the immigration's 800K Thai baht in a bank requirement. When I went for that Type-O permission to stay in Thailand extension, I was asked for proof of residence. I provided a TM30. That was rejected. I started to speak /dispute that, but I was told unequivocally they wanted my rental contract and a copy of my landlords blue book. I explained I owned and lived in my own condo. They then stated they wanted a copy of the deed to my condo and my blue book. I tried to explain that as a foreigner I could not get my name in a blue book but I had a TM30 filled in on my own property (with my name in the TM30), but they insisted - they wanted my blue book. So I made copies of my condo deed, and copies of the pages from my Yellow Book (ignoring what they stated about wanting about a non-existent blue book with my name inside for my condo) and they accepted copies of the Yellow Book pages (which I believe look very similar to such pages in a Blue book). Most bizarre - the TM30 should have been adequate, but it was not accepted. The Yellow book, for whatever reason, smoothed things over. As I suggested before - perhaps immigration was just having a rough day.

As noted in this thread ... buying Thai government bonds is not easy. At least it was not easy for me. Initially I investigated to see if I could purchase Thai governments on a secondary market, but I could not find an institute via which I could so such. Then in early December last year my Thai wife and I learned of a new Thai Government bond offering being available soon. We saw this advertised on the Internet and I received email/notifications from Bangkok Bank. I have accounts with Bangkok Bank and Krungsri Bank and we went to both banks to see if I could participate in the new offering and try to buy bonds there. My Krungsri bank branch had nothing setup (yet) for a foreigner to buy Thai government bonds in a new issue, but we were advised by our Bangkok bank branch it was possible, if I could prove my residency (specifically via a yellow book) and if I had a pink-Thai-ID card. Honestly? I am not convinced that is necessary (as I do NOT think it needed), but in my case, it satisfied the Bank branch manager and I had no further need to research this further to satisfy the yellow-book/pink-ID detractors. I am confident one of them will research this far better than myself, and show how this can be done without needing such (ie not needing yellow-book/pink-ID) ... so maybe just stay tuned until one of them does so. When talking to the Bangkok Bank staff, we learned that this Bond issue would be handled differently than the past (and I posted on this previous) where instead of the big financial institutes getting 'first dibs' on the bonds, and hence none left for the 'little guy' / small buyer ... We were advised that for the 10-year term bond, priority would be given to the small bond purchaser (where 2-million Thai baht bond purchase is small compared to the big financial institutes that purchase such). .... We were thou told that the 7-year term was only available for financial institutes ... we did not try to verify if that was correct. Still - I see it was a gamble in saying I wanted to buy 2-million Thai baht of government bonds, as it was entirely possible I would have ended up with only 500,000 THB of Thai government bonds, which would have been problematic to prove I had the appropriate investment in Thailand (when combined with the value of my Thai real estate purchases). Fortunately, I obtained the amount of bonds that I requested .... likely because interest rates are expected to go up, at which time the face value of the bonds will decrease and only come back to par at maturity - hence less people are interested to buy bonds at present time.

No - after some more investigation I dropped that idea of changing the deed ownership of my condo from 50% (where 1/2 in my name and 1/2 in my wife's name) to 100%. Why? Turns out in doing the transfer, it is considered by the Land Office as being like a sale , and I would need to pay 2% tax on my wife's 50% ownership at an appraised value. That would be some number over 150,000 THB tax (probably closer to 200,000 THB). .... Ok ... I confess its not that much, but a quick back of the envelope calculation convinced me it made more financial sense to just buy 2-million Thai government bonds, despite their relatively low return. lol ! ... I guess .... I haven't watched TV for more than a few decades ... so I am not familiar with the Big Bang TV show. As for my persistence ... honestly ? I thought the LTR was not a good idea ... .. but I have friends in Canada and in Europe who have Thai spouse, who are considering such. They kept asking for my opinion, and initially I replied the 1-year extension approach (every year on a Type-O visa retirement or marriage extension) was far FAR superior. So they started debating it with me, and as we started to dig into the details, I came to the conclusion that I possibly misjudged the LTR Visa's merits and benefits. I may not apply thou until February or March thou. Don't laugh, but my fear is if I apply now, it will get approved possibly as early as mid-February, which might complicate my life. I want to fly to Canada from 13-to-24-Feb-2023, and the last thing I want at that time is Visa complications. I read that as soon as the LTR is approved (??) one's current Visa is made void. .... I don't want to be about to leave for Canada, or in Canada, and find out the extension on my Type-O Visa's permission to stay in Thailand (with re-entry permit) is void, but to get my new Visa I need to somehow get to Bangkok to pickup the LTR. Crazy thinking on my part? Possibly ... but why stress over this. After all, this is Thailand and one never knows. Likely I will wait to February and then apply, that way the approval is likely to come sometime in the April to May timeframe when I will be in Thailand, with no chance of complications with my current permission to stay in Thailand.

They wouldn't accept the TM30 I had. Which made no sense to me. Maybe it was a bad day for immigration. They insisted on copy of my condo deed and blue or yellow book. .. For a rental ( which was not my case) they wanted rental contract and copy of owner's ( Thai owner) blue book. It's almost seems every immigration office has its own detailed requirements, which sometimes change from one year to the next. So on this particular occasion for me, my having a yellow book made it much easier. .. No having to argue that a TM30 ( which they rejected) should be adequate.

I obtained a 90-day Type-O Visa back last year, and this month a 1-year extension. Immigration asked for proof of my residence location in Thailand. They accepted a copy of my deed of purchase but wanted a copy of my blue book indicating that condo was my residence. Well - to the best of my knowledge foreigners don't get blue books. So I gave them a copy of the appropriate pages of my yellow book. They accepted that. ... Was there another way to do this? Likely - but I did not have to. I had the yellow book. Why use another method? I am likely to apply for an LTR Wealthy Pensioner Visa. But my condo purchase value is not enough to fully meet the investment in Thailand requirement. So I decided to purchase a couple million Thai baht of Thai government bonds. I currently have no bonds in my portfolio, relatively speaking this is not a large amount of money for myself, so why not? Again this LTR is for a "wealthy pensioner" - ie IMHO for a person who is not worried about not earning a lot of interest on a bond purchase. I went to my Bangkok Bank branch, but for a foreigner to buy a Thai government bond (a new issue) through their branch, they require BOTH a Yellow Book and a Pink-ID card. The Yellow-Book to prove residency and the Pink-ID (to use the # as the Tax ID number). Is there another way to purchase a Thai government bond without that? Quite possibly, but how ?? The easiest thing for me was to purchase such at my bank. So when you state a yellow book is a complete waste of time and not worth the effort - I 100% agree with you, for those who were not attempting to do what I recently was able to do easily. Each to their own. For some a waste - for others, not so. I do agree, that getting the Yellow book was a hassle. The "Pink ID" ? The Pink ID was easy to get, but only AFTER I had the Yellow book.

I tend to agree with that, although it is doable. Late last month (December-2022), during a recent new series of Thai government bond offerings, I purchased 2-million THB in Government bonds (10 year term), which I will use to contribute to part of my investment in Thailand (the remainder amount will come from the purchase-price/value of my condo in Thailand) for an LTR. (For the investment Guru's who totally hate this bond purchase idea and want to use every last penny to earn an extra 5% interest or so above and beyond bond interest ... let me just say this is NOT a large amount of money for myself, and further, I have no bonds at present in my portfolio, so I thought why not buy some bonds?? The LTR is for a wealthy pensioner , perhaps I will put emphasis on wealthy where one doesn't mind such an investment ) I did spend a long time at a Bangkok Bank branch to do this purchase, as they were not used to foreigners trying to buy Thai government bonds. The bank staff consulted with the branch manager, who stated if I had a "yellow book" and "pink Thai ID card", it was doable ... If I didn't have such, he did not think his branch could do it. ... I have no idea if that is a real requirement, but it was for that bank branch manager (and please, for the yellow book/pink-ID haters, please don't shoot the messenger). The biggest issue the bank had was to figure out what to put in the computer for my Thai tax number, as that is a required field in the computer. I have NO Thai income, so typically I don't have to file a Thai tax return. To my knowledge I have no Thai tax number. My Thai wife was with me, and she noted to the Bank staff, that the Tax-ID for Thai people, is typically also the same # on their Thai ID card. So why not insert the ID-# from my "pink Thai ID card" into the computer? The Bangkok Bank staff did that, and to their pleasant surprise my pink Thai ID card number was accepted by the computer. I also had to have the 2-million baht in my bank account prior to applying for the bond. After a LOT of paperwork and time at the counter, all was done, and it was a matter of waiting to see if I succeeded to buy the bonds. Some days later, after the bond issue date, I received an SMS that I was to report to the Bank re: my application to purchase 2-million baht in bonds. So I showed up the next day, and the bank confirmed I had successfully purchased 2-million Thai baht in government bonds. BUT they were out of 'bond bank books' and could not print out the proof for a week, so they requested I come back a week later (which I did) at which point they were able to give me the Thai government 'bond bank book' which was my proof of a bond purchase in my name. So its doable - but even the banks struggle doing something they are not used to doing.

Your efforts in trying to estimate the numbers are appreciated. I thou, am curious to read the actual numbers if they are ever published. From what I can tell BOI are struggling to provide rapid LTR Wealthy Pensioner processing/approvals and I suspect many applicants are still being processed. Accordingly I have a suspicion the numbers are not as pessimistic as that estimate you calculated. ... But I concede at present, a suspicion of mine is not as good as the guess that you are attempting.

I scrolled up (back) one month, and could not find those statistics. The best I could find was a link to a fulcum.sg article you linked to on 20-Nov, but it did not contain those statistics for a Wealthy Pensioner application.

I have been looking for such 'statistics' but I have not been able to find such. What is the source that provides to you this appearance? I think that is great advice. Unfortunately, to obtain good solid 'confirmation' prior to investing/committing money is not something I think fully 100% doable in practice. To submit one's paperwork to BoI without the financial proof, is I believe setting one up for rejection. I believe the financial proof needs to be in place as part of the application for the LTR Visa. I believe that the best one can do, is what I am attempting, which is to contact/phone BoI in advance (of investment and in advance of LTR submission) and obtain a verbal assessment of someone on the phone that the investment is something they will accept. .... and then proceed from there. That (IMHO) verbal assessment is no true confirmation, but its likely, I suspect, the best that one can do. This is Thailand and I think many expats will agree, there is a degree of risk in anything one does here. All one can do is manage their risk (following guidelines like you suggest with respect to confirmation prior to acting) is best that one can do.

Further to this, I went to a Bangkok Branch today and inquired about purchasing the soon to be offered Thai Government saving's bond. I was told there are currently two offerings coming up now for Thai government bonds, via Bangkok Bank, which is : (1) selling 3 year and also 7 year term bonds - where Thai citizens and residents to Thailand can buy such, and (2) a week later selling 10 year term bonds - where only companies/select organizations can buy such (I may have described that inaccurately - but private citizens can not buy this 10-year offering from my Bangkok Bank branch). To 'speed up' the discussions with the bank, my Thai wife was talking to them in Thai language and translating to me. At first my wife was told I could not buy the 3 year nor 7 year as they noted a foreigner had to be a 'resident'. My wife then showed them both my 'yellow book' (tabien baan) and my 'pink identification' card, and the branch manager noted that would be accepted as sufficient proof of my Thailand residence. However I have not yet attempted to place an order to buy the bonds - so its always possible they will change their mind when 'push comes to shove' (so to speak). Some other tidbits ... my wife was told, normally when Bangkok Bank sells Government bonds, it is 1st come, 1st served as to who gets the bonds. But this year,they are doing it differently for the 3-year and for the 7-year bonds. The Bank has received so many complaints that its incredibly difficult for the average person to buy government bonds, that they have changed 'the priority'. Instead my wife translated their new policy to be something like 'small lot 1st priority' , which she claimed she was told it could end up be more like a % basis as to whom gets how much. She was advised if I tried to purchase 2-million Thai baht in bonds, it was quite possible I would only get a small % of that purchase amount. My wife was advised if I put an order for, say 2-million THB, then that amount had to be present in my bank account the date the bond was to be purchased. It would be briefly withdrawn from my Bangkok Bank account, and I would then get what ever allotment was available (to myself) and then the remainder of the 2-million THB not used would be returned, together with the Bond. The 'bond' ownership would be recorded in a special book, somewhat like a bank book that one was given (my wife said given by the 'Bank of Thailand'). Interest would be transferred into one's account and tax automatically deducted from the Bond interest. ... Alternatively (?) one could also apply (and pay for) a bond certificate - with the details here wrt Thai tax on the interest a bit fuzzy for me. .... I was told more details, but its not so relevant to this thread. I suspect some of the detail here is lost in the translation so don't take the above as gospel. - - - After this my wife and I visited a Krungsri bank branch, where my wife knows one of the staff, and we inquired about purchasing of mutual fund (Thai investment) ... Krungsri noted they sold such, a foreigner could buy such, and typically they had a new offering every month. My view is if I would proceed there, I should get the exact name of the fund, and then pass it by BoI (likely phone BoI) to confirm that the specific mutual fund would be acceptable. I could then go for a mix of Goverment bonds, Mutual fund, and my 50% share of my condo ownership - which would exceed the $250K US$ equivalent for the Wealthy Pensioner (with an income >$40K US$ but < $80K US$) with some margin. I note my 90-day Type-O Visa permission to stay expires mid-Feb-2023, which is IMHO possibly insufficient time to apply and obtain an LTR Visa (Wealthy pensioner). So I guess I could (1) in early January apply for a 1-year extension on my permission to stay of my Type-O Visa, and (2) in parallel apply for an LTR Visa via BoI. I have not yet decided if I will buy the bonds/mutual-fund and apply for an LTR Visa, but I am giving it some thought.

I think the COVID Vaccine jabs are offered for free to all, and one does not have to have a 'pink' non-Thai 'quasi' ID card to get such jabs ( ... I typing this noting that I also have such a 'pink-ID' but I never used such for my free jabs in Thailand). I don't see that free COVID jab as 'proof' that one qualifies for health care. Having typed that, my Thai wife seems to think if I went for a non-O (or non-OA) Visa for reason of 'marriage', together with my Tabian Bahn and Pink-ID that I could qualify for free Health care in a Public hospital (where I posted that possibility earlier) but I confess - I side with those who say "No - one can't get Thai health care". With regard to the Type-OA Visa Health Insurance requirements, it does thou beg the question, why does Thailand not require foreigners, on a Type-OA visa for reason of being married to a Thai, NOT have to pay Health Insurance. Why? Why would they allow that exclusion because one is married to a Thai ? Could it be there is a way to get free Health Insurance if married to a Thai ? I'm just asking. Don't shoot the person asking the question. Honestly, I don't know, and its not a priority of mine to find out, as I have excellent European health insurance (that comes as part of my pension) that covers BOTH my wife and myself. My health insurance is more than adequate for Thailand's better private hospitals.

Further to this, we investigated the cost of removing my wife's name from our condo unit deed, and only have my name on it (currently the deed has both of our names). We were advised that we would have to pay 2% of the value of my wife's 50% share of the condo as a 'transfer tax' ... which means paying something in the order of paying 80,000 Thai baht as a transfer tax (not counting legal fees). .... I can buy a lot of toys or go for a lot of meals for that 80,000 THB, so dependent on another reason influencing us for the possible condo ownership transfer ... we may or may not go that route.

Further to this, Bangkok Bank have an offering opening soon (this week and next week) for this type of Savings Bond. I have a yellow book (which some consider 'proof of residency' in Thailand, although I 'question if that accurate'). Anyway, I might go to Bangkok Bank either this week or next. to inquire about purchasing a couple million baht or so worth of this bond. ... and at that time, see if I qualify. I am currently on a (new) 90-day type-O visa (having switched from being on a Type-OA visa for a couple of years). My Thai wife also talked to a BOI representative about the purchase of Government Bonds for the LTR Visa Wealthy Pensioner ... and she was advised that the bond had to have a maturity of at least 5 years in the future ... which suggests one must purchase a 7 year or 10 year bond. But my question to that is if one does get the LTR Wealth Pensioner Visa, ... in 5 years one must again prove that they have the required investment in Thailand. At that point of time the 7-year bond (purchased 5 years earlier) only has 2 years left for maturity. Will it be accepted then? If not accepted, it may not be so easy/convenient to sell that bond and purchase a new bond with more than 5 years to maturity. Its possible, if overall interest rates are higher, that such a 7-year bond (in 5 years time) could be worth some amount of money less than its actual par value. ... That has me thinking that it may be better to purchase a 10-year bond. ... or simply go for a Mutual Fund instead ... although cynic that I am, I am not a mutual fund believer. I see mutual funds as a way for the mutual fund company owner to ensure they have a good salary, while investing someone else's money. Their 1st priority will be their salary, and the investment a second priority or worse. I've always done better with my own market investments than in mutual funds. ... But clearly I am far too much of a cynic here.

As noted on this thread (updating what my Thai wife speculated to me - and thankyou to those who corrected/updated what I was mistakenly told), being married to a Thai (even if on a Visa for reason of marriage) does not automatically grant one access to the Thai Health care. One small advantage that I do know of being married to a Thai (as I HAVE used this in the past) , is if one is on a Type-OA Visa, then one can obtain one-year extensions to that Visa's permission to stay in Thailand, based on marriage, and thus not be forced to purchase Health Insurance from a Thai branch of an Insurance company. However in your (Sun3110) case, there is no need for you to go for a Type-OA Visa. Going for a Type-O Visa allows yearly renewals on your permission to stay in Thailand, without having to buy Health Insurance from a Thai branch of an Insurance company. There also may be other Visas more suitable for you. My recommendation is to have Health Insurance if in Thailand. Either have so much wealth that you can in essence "self insure" or purchase the 'best value for the money" health insurance that is suitable for you. We all have different circumstances, so I believe that will vary for each of us.

Some of my thoughts on this (I have a Thai wife). If you are only staying 15 to 20 weeks/year in Thailand, my suspicion is there is likely little to no benefit in Thailand, for being 'legally married'. For me, aside from the companionship of a loving helpful person, the biggest benefit of having a Thai wife is she is a walking translator and someone who can negotiate for different things and often get the "Thai" price, as opposed to the inflated foreigner price ... . But one gets that with a Thai partner if not married. One can obtain immigration extensions on one's permission to stay in Thailand, using the 'reason' to visit one's Thai family (and in some cases being married to a "Thai woman"), but that is not essential. There are other ways to stay in Thailand, and there are Visas that can easily give one 15-to-20 weeks in Thailand. Opening a Thai bank account might be easier with a Thai wife (as being a translator she can possibly smooth things over), but again - not essential. Drivers license? I believe there is no need to go for a Thai driver's license if only staying 15-to-20-weeks in Thailand. If you have a Thai driver's license, you will need to pay attention to the date the license expires and renew if/when required. Health care? While I live in Thailand full time with my Thai wife, I have superb European Health Insurance that comes with my European pension, that covers both myself and my wife. So neither my wife nor I use Thai health care. And we go to the more expensive 'private' hospitals and are fully covered. BUT, I believe since you and your Thai wife have registered your marriage in Thailand, you probably could qualify for Thai health care, IF you obtained a non-immigrant Visa for reason of 'marriage'. I believe that 'Visa' may be necessary < but I am not certain > That sort of Visa (justified by being married to a Thai spouse) has a LOT of paperwork involved (more than a non-immigrant Visa for reason of retirement) but it is an approach to consider. It does mean you would have to only go to the Thai public hospitals, instead of going to the Thai private hospitals, where typically the 'private' hospitals are considered by many to be superior to the 'public' hospitals'.

The same day you posted this I filled in the BOI website contact asking if I could use property (a condominium unit) purchased in 2016 in Thailand, to qualify for the $250K investment for a wealthy pensioner (whose pension income exceeded $40K US$ but less than $80K US$). I received no answer to my website (fill in the form) query.. So today (at my Thai wife's urging) I called the BOI contact number, and after less than a 10-minute wait I was able to speak to a BOI representative. They advised me the 2016 real estate purchase of a condominium unit qualified as part (or all) of the $250K investment requirement. ... Of course the "proof is in the pudding" so I won't know until I actually apply, but this was definitely relevant to myself. ... A further tidbit, my condo was purchased for MORE than $250K US$ equivalent in total (but less than $500K US$ equivalent). I was advised I could only use 50% of the value as my investment because the property is in both my name, and my Thai wife's name. I expected this. My Thai wife was not so happy about this. So during the chat with the BOI representative, my wife grabbed the phone, and asked if the property was changed to only being in my name (ie she removed her name), could I then claim the full value of the property as an investment in Thailand? The answer was 'YES' but with qualifications. The qualifications (according to my wife, as the talk was in Thai and I don't speak Thai): * if using 50% of the condo value (with condo in both my name and my wife's name), the proof would be the "deed" and the original "purchase to sale" agreement * if using 100% of the condo value when name changed to ONLY my name after the purchase, then the proof would be the "deed" and also the condo unit investment value as recorded on the Land Office books (which is typically MUCH less than the property sale value). My wife and I happen to know the value on the Land Office books, and that fortunately greatly exceeds the $250K US$ equivalent, so my wife is now thinking to remove her name off of this specific property for this (and also for another unrelated reasons). We also asked if a mix of 50% of the 2016 condo value + new Thai government bonds, to exceed the $250K US$ equivalent would suffice, and we were told yes - we may not go that route thou, if my wife legally removes her name from the condo unit property. We also asked (for the >$40K income proof) if pension coming from multiple sources (pensions from 3 different organisations to exceed the $40K US$ equivalent) would suffice, and we were advised yes (where proof of the pensions would be needed). ... And another unrelated tidbit - we were told that we could also buy shares in a Thai company, or buy Thai mutual funds, to qualify as part or all of the $250K US$ equivalent. We were thou cautioned, that one MUST have owned the shares in the Thai company for greater than 1 year. This is in contrast to owning shares in a Thai Mutual fund or owning Thai government bonds, where they could be a brand new purchase to qualify. It was an interesting chat, and I concede I learned a lot more from a phone call with BOI than I did by filling in the contact form (where I have yet to receive a reply). The BOI representatives on the phone were very polite and they seemed to go out of their way to be helpful.

Thanks. My Thai wife and I showed up at Phuket immigration today, to check on the status of my passport and Type-O 90-day Visa application (I applied based on 'retirement') . Its been over 2 weeks since immigration kept my passport, and over 6-weeks since I applied for the Visa. Upon checking, Immigration had my passport, and it had the approved Type-O Visa inside, and I now have a permission to stay in Thailand until mid-February-2023. My wife was told by the IO (in Thai) that if I wished to apply for a 1-year permission to stay based on the Type-O visa that I should show up at immigration 45-days before my Permission to Stay expires. I assume they recommend the 45-days in case I apply for a one-year extension on my permission to stay for "reason of marriage to a Thai", but I intend to apply for reason of 'retirement'. Still, I intend to apply for the 1-year extension 45-days prior to my mid-February-2023 permission to stay expires .. ie on the 1st working day of January-2023. As an aside, I note Phuket immigration was VERY VERY crowded. There was a line up all the way down the side walk, just for people trying to get into the main building (where the information desk is located). I was fortunate that i did not have to get in that line, but rather I needed to go around to the side of the immigration building to door-103, where there is a waiting area. That waiting area was full, with 3 dozen people waiting - almost all waiting to have their paperwork checked. (I also note there were over 1/2 dozen cars in line waiting at the car kiosk for their 90-day reports). I was lucky in that I was only checking on my passport/visa application status, so I was quickly processed and I was only at Immigration for 20-minutes. BUT those in line to have paperwork examined, likely had a few hour wait. Further, those in line (all the way to the side walk) likely had a MUCH longer wait than just a few hours. The immigration officers were all very polite, where this mass of people waiting to be processed must be very difficult for them. My 'hats off' to the politeness and professionalism of the Phuket Immigration. Most of those (but not all) in line were speaking an East European (?) language - quite possibly Russian. The largest group of 'tourists' coming to Phuket at present are Russians, so it would not surprise me if many Russians are applying to stay in Phuket longer. I wish all the applicants in line (for Visas) at the Immigration, good luck.

Well , I waited all week (last week) and Phuket Immigration did NOT phone me (to have me go to receive my passport and an approved 90-day Type-O visa). Immigration still have my passport and they have now had my passport for almost two weeks (where it was almost 6-weeks ago that I applied for a 90-day type-O Visa). I note my 'permission to stay' as recorded in my passport (where immigration still have my passport) expired on 20-Nov. Monday 5-Dec is a holiday, so I plan to show up at immigration on Tuesday 6-Dec and see if they can give me some words of assurance that my passport was not lost in their paperwork. Likely my Thai wife will accompany me to ensure there are no misunderstandings due to my inability to speak Thai.

I applied for a 90-day type-O visa about 6-weeks ago. The IO asked if I had a social media Line account, and when I noted I had such, the IO had me exchange #s on 'Line social media' such that they could do a 'virtual' check that I lived where I said I lived. ... They gave me an appointment to video call them a couple of days later (via Line video). Once the video chat started, they had me stand by my condo unit door (where the door # was visible) and do a 'selfie' ... and then stand by the condo complex sign (where the street# was visible) and do another 'selfie'. Purportedly they took screen captures. I assume that by doing that they saved themselves having to go in person and check on my location. ... Previous, before my applying for the type-O visa, I had a type-OA visa (as easily seen in my passport). ... However I assume their requirements are that they still must do some sort of check on where a foreigner claims to be living.

Its almost 4 weeks after I sent a query to BI on this asking if I could use a 2016 Thai condo purchase (foreign freehold) together with a recent Thai Government bond purchase, to qualify for the per-requisite investment amount, and I have received no reply. I assume either the answer is NO (can't use an investment as old as 2016) or they (BI) are simply too busy to answer. I am thinking I may wait a year and see how this all settles down (with more details known for certain (as best possible)), before applying for an LTR. Until then I will stick with the non-immig Type-O Visa route (with 1 year extension on permission to stay based on retirement).