oldcpu

Possibly this is Bangkok Bank branch specific. At the Bangkok bank branch that I use there are no such signs re: passport. The Bangkok Bank branch that I use in Phuket does not require my passport to update my Bank Book. Neither for that matter does the Krungsri Bank branch that I use in Phuket require my passport to update my bank book.

Its not totally uncommon that a permission to stay in Thailand stamp, can be different from a Visa validity / expiry date stamp. I assume that when you get close to the end of your permission to stay date, you need to then apply for the remaining 5 years. Possibly sometime during that time-frame you may also need to go through the hassle of changing passports and having stamps transferred to a new passport. Those who know more than I will hopefully chime in here and correct me, or confirm what I suspect.

Back in year 2016, when I opened a Bank Account at Bangkok Bank, I also had to obtain a proof of residency paperwork from Immigration. This was in Phuket and it was not difficult to do. I showed up at Phuket immigration with a passport sized photo, and my passport, filled in the form, waited in line, and received the one page piece of paper which was sufficient proof of residency for Bangkok Bank. I was on a 30-day visa Exempt tourist entry at the time. I used my Thai brother in-law's apartment address (which is where we were staying). I was also purchasing a condo, and planned to move the funds for buying the condo from Europe, via Bangkok Bank to the seller, so that may have helped a lot in Bangkok Bank opening an account for me. I've read that subsequent to my success, others have not succeeded. So I don't know the current story. I've also read some people claim getting an agent help to open a bank account can work. I also don't know as to how accurate that may be.

I just read now, you typed "your agent" ?? You are planning to use an agent? That seems inconsistent to me with your desire to save money. While I have friends who use agents (they are in their 70s) who swear by using agents (and they don't mind spending the money) as it saves them hassle (they go for extensions on Type-O visas for reason of "retirement"), ... agents cost money. Some agents are shady. Some are very good. Its highly possible any money you save by having only 400K in a Thai bank (and the other 400K used for a higher yielding investment) will be lost by your paying for the agent's fees. Its just my take on this - but I ask? Do you really need an agent ? or did you just ask an agent the question with no intent to follow through with an agent.

I have obtained 1-year extensions on my previous Type-OA visa for reasons of retirement and marriage (in a separate year) and I can say unequivocally that obtain the extension based on marriage required massively more leg work to setup, and then massively more paperwork to get approved than based on "retirement", and finally massively more time to have approved (than based on "retirement"). My Thai wife and I were married in Canada. So when back in Thailand, I had to have my passport and my marriage certificate translated to Thai language, have the translation certified by the Canadian embassy (if my memory serves me right) and then have the translated certificate certified by Thai Foreign affairs in Bangkok. Then back here in Phuket we had to register our marriage here at City Hall, AND had to have two Thai people who knew us go to Phuket city hall to witness the marriage certificate, so to get a Thai Kor-22 document. Every year that Kor-22 has to be updated (to indicate/prove we are still married). Further, there is MORE paper work when applying for the extension on the permission to stay (for reason of marriage, as opposed to retirement) and I suspect also likely true for the 1st application for the Visa. For example one needs copies of one's wife's ID in addition to all the other documents. It used to be in Phuket, only for 'marriage' would one have to draw a map to their place (for immigration) and expect a home visit, although recently Phuket immigration have expanded such extra proof (and paperwork) to include for 'retirement'. Marriage typically takes longer than Retirement for processing: While 1st getting the 90-day Type-O Visa for reason of "retirement" took 3+ weeks (for me in Phuket), it was still a bit less time than the time it took for me to get a 1-year extension (on a Type-OA Visa's permission to stay) for reason of "marriage" (which took 5 weeks). Further, for me to get a 1-year extension on a Type-O Visa for reason of "retirement" took ONLY 1 day, as opposed to taking 5-weeks for an extension based on "marriage". In my view, if money is not a big concern (and it appears for many on this forum it is a MAJOR concern), but if you don't mind having the extra money in the bank (800k THB vs 400k THB) or if you already easily have the proof (to Thai immigration satisfaction) of a higher monthly salary for permission to stay based on "retirement", then for a Type-O visa "retirement" is a FAR superior option. If on a Type-OA visa I have a different view, as Type-OA has a Health Insurance requirement which doesn't make sense for some of us (as our superior Health Insurance which we do not want to stop is not recognized by Thailand Immigration). Fortunately the Type-O visa does not at present have a Health Insurance requirement. Also it reads like money IS a concern for you, so maybe for you the extra hassle of the paperwork, extra visits to Thai government offices, and extra time waiting to get the Visa (or the extensions) approved, that goes with a "marriage" reason, might be worth your while as you want the few extra thousand baht you may get by freeing up 400K Thai baht. For me, that money difference is so small (between the two) there is no question that retirement is the way to go (as opposed to marriage).

A question on the Annual Reporting requirements of the Long Term Visa (LTR). I understanding that nominally LTR visa holders and followers (spouse and children) must report the status of their residence with the associated government agency (ie BoI in Bangkok), annually. Is this also true if one is in/out of Thailand a few times per year? ie. does the counter for one's 1-year annual report restart if one goes out/in of Thailand? My guess is (unlike Type-O/OA non-immigration Visas) , for the LTR one still must report after one year, even if one goes out/in Thailand, past Thai immigration a few times during that year, and those occasions passing immigration don't count to restart the 1-year counter. ie One must still report every year to BoI (?) in Bangkok ... but I wanted to be certain I understood that correctly.

When I went for my 90-day Type-O Visa (for reason of retirement) in Phuket Immigration I was asked for the Blue Book for my condo, copy of the ID of the Thai person's name on the Blue book, and for a copy of the deed ! I jointly own that foreign freehold condo with my Thai wife, where her name is on the "Blue Book". However she has subsequently transferred her 'official residence' to another property she owns, so according to her, having her name on the 'blue book' for our jointly owned condo is misleading as to it being her residence (for tax reasons). For reasons not fully understood by me (my wife says tax reasons), my wife dislikes having to provide a copy of the Blue book for our jointly owned condo, when her principle residence (according to official government records) is her other property. So I instead provided copies of my Yellow Book for the condo and a copy of the deed, and Immigration accepted that. Roll for forward almost 2 months later and I applied for a 1-year extension on my permission to stay on my Type-O Visa. Again I provided a copy of my Yellow book and a copy of the deed, and they again accepted that.

I think in many cases extensions via agents are perfectly legitimate. If one meets all the requirements for an extension, but does not want to go to immigration for what ever reason (one is sick, or has other issues) then one is in essence providing the agent 'power of attorney' to conduct the transaction on their behalf. Myself? I prefer to go to immigration myself, but as I have posted before, I have friends who think different from me, and they are more than happy to pay an agent to do (what they consider to be a hassle for) the leg work to obtain one's extension. Their age is in the late 70s, money is not an issue for them, and they would rather not sit around immigration for 1 second. .... Possibly it also depends on what immigration office one goes to ?? I have read some immigration offices are easier to deal with than others. Regardless - for certain some extensions via agents are 100% legal - but it does cost one more money (money I prefer to spend on meals and toys).

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This is also my experience.

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.