Pib

The exchange occurs several business days before the payment date and the exchange rate is determined either by the U.S. Federal Reserve Kansas City "or" a U.S. Treasury contractor/processor bank. Although the Kansas City Reserve determines the exchange rate for some countries it's the New York Reserve that will transmit the funds to all countries. It depends on the country the money is going to as to whether the U.S. Fed does the exchange "or" a U.S. Treasury processor bank. Citibank Global is currently the U.S. Treasury processor bank for IDD payments going to Thailand.

Things have changed since 10 years ago. Things changed in 2019 with a U.S. Treasury Dept rule affecting ACH transfers "that leave the U.S." You can no longer do an ACH transfer from your USA bank to your Bangkok Bank acct in Thailand "unless" it's transmitted in "International ACH Transaction (IAT)" format when funds are leaving the U.S. (like when the Bangkok Bank New York branch) relays a funds transfer to your in-Thailand Bangkok Bank branch. ACH IAT format is more extensive format than ACH Standard format....and very, very few U.S. banks use ACH IAT format except some U.S. banks do provide ACH IAT services for some businesses who need this service. But for Joe the Plumber ACH transfers practically no U.S. bank will transmit an ACH transfer in ACH IAT format. U.S. banks can "receive" ACH IAT transfers but just don't use ACH IAT format for outward transfer of funds. If an ACH transfer is sent via the Bangkok Bank NY branch routing number and the transfer is not in ACH IAT format Bangkok Bank will reject the transfer back to the sending bank. However, there is one exception where U.S. govt agencies (like the SSA) ACH transfers not in ACH IAT format will still be accepted by Bangkok Bank NY and relayed on to your In-Thailand Bangkok Bank. And as always, if it's a reoccurring U.S. govt payment like social security you must have a special/restricted acct at your in-Thailand Bangkok Bank branch otherwise it will be rejected. You can read more about the 2019 change starting at below Bankgok Bank webpage. https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Transfers/Transferring-Into-Thailand/Transfer-money-from-US-to-Thailand-via-Bangkok-Bank-NewYork-branch Now you can still do a "domestic" wire to Bangkok Bank NY branch using their routing number and your in-Thailand Bangkok Bank branch account number and the NY branch will relay it to Thailand as a wire transfer includes additional info to satisfy the U.S. Treasury rule. Plus, although a domestic wire still uses the ACH system it is sent in a different format, managed differently for a typical ACH transfer, it's more of a direct bank-to-bank transfer. The downside to a domestic wire is it's typically carries a healthy sending fee. Yeap, things have changed since 10 years ago. The great majority of folks who use to do frequent ACH transfer from their U.S. banks to their Bangkok Bank acct (like me) had to switch to using money transfer services like Wise.

Below are LTR Visa applications snapshots as of end of 31 Jan 2024, 31 Dec 2023, 31 Oct 2023, and 31 Aug 2023 to give an idea of applications activity since the LTR Visa Program kickoff 1 Sep 2022...snapshots from the BoI LTR website that now seem to be in the groove of providing updates every month or two on their website. Averages out to 374 applications per month over the last 17 months...since the program's kickoff 1 Sep 2022. Of course when the program initially opened the number of applications per month was probably much higher....that spike you see with any new program. Now, if just looking at the last 5 months from 1 Sep 2023 thru 31 Jan 2024 the average is 303 applications per month. Seems the LTR program is settling into a groove of appox 300 applications per month. Please note this is applications (applies); it does not say how many of the applications were endorsed (i.e., approved). The Pensioner category is still the most popular closely followed by Work From Thailand Professional category.....Dependents category in third place. Over the last 5 months the Pensioner category has averaged about 83 application per month. Thru 31 Jan 2024 Thru 31 Dec 2023 Thru 31 Oct 2023 Thru 31 Aug 2023

To keep from going off topic of this thread it's probably best to ask your question over in the main LTR Visa thread. And be sure further define what you mean by "negotiation"....like maybe falling a little short of the income requirement, different ways/types of income to meet the income requirement, how to meet the health insurance requirement, etc. The LTR visa program does offer "flexibility" in different ways to meet the various requirements. The BOI LTR visa webpage does a good job in laying out the requirements so be sure to review it first....especially under the About and the Application Process menus.

Above BoI implies only a tax document is the only thing accepted to prove income which is not true. Various types of documents can be used to prove income....see a partial snapshot from the BoI Requirements document/checklist for LTR Pensioner Evidence of Income. Heck, you find reports in this thread where successfull LTR applicants never provided a tax return since the other income documents they provided satisfied BoI. And BOI knows any income that is not reportable for tax purposes is not reported/reflected on a person's tax return in accordance with tax laws/regulations. That's where "other income" evidence becomes very important. That is when you need to be able to provide a document which shows the annuity income is being paid to you. I expect you can get such a letter from your annuity payor. Example: like in the U.S. a military veteran who draws a Veteran Administration (VA) pension/benefit payment that pension/payment is completely tax free....not tax reportable. And the VA does not issue any tax document for tax return purposes because it's not taxable. But the VA does issue a Benefit Letter saying you are receiving a monthly pension/payment of X-amount. For some people (depending on the type of income they have) a tax return only provides a secondary form of income proof...the portion of the income that is tax reportable...the tax return is only showing reportable/taxable income. The tax return helps to support other documents you provide showing your income. And you may need to include a short memo explaining your annuity does not appear in full or in part on your tax return because it's not taxable/reportable per UK tax laws/regulations.

The HSP type is the best example showing some exceptions to the $80K/year income stream in that it can be only be $40K in some cases and even a lot less than $40K if working for a Thai govt agency. Yeap, each LTR type has different requirements.

It's most definitely income....that's why government's usually tax it. But if a person is reinvesting that cap gain income he's actually not receiving that income to fulfil day-to-day spending needs. And BoI considers it income for purposes of an LTR Pensioner visa income when it's being distributed/paid out to the person...gets sent to his bank acct. Now I do not mean being "reinvested" like how mutual funds declare dividends/cap gains once or twice a year and it's up to the shares owner whether he wants those cap gains paid out to him (i.e., sent to his bank acct) or just reinvested to buy more shares. If he's just has the cap gains plowed back into the fund to buy more shares then the person does not have an actual income stream from that reinvestment....he's rich on paper but poor in actual money in hand for day-to-day spending. So if a person is going the route of using a BIG investment to qualify for a LTR Pensioner visa (like regular savings/investment/401K/IRA/etc) he will also need to show $80K/year of that big investment actually being distributed to him...repeat, actually being paid out to his bank acct....that is now income flow vs just a big investment on paper. And BOI may want to see the size/balance of that big investment if that investment is clearly not a special retirement acct like a 401K/IRA which will show whether the balance is large enough to provide 10 years worth of $80K/year distributions...the investment statement would show the balance after each distribution/pay out. Yeap, BOI now needs to see the income stream actually flowing to you for a Pension visa; just setting on a HUGE savings of zillions of dollars but actually receiving/spending little of it will not hack-it with BOI when they want to see an actual income stream of $80K/year. Early on in the LTR program BoI would apparently not require an actual income stream of $80K/year if say you only had $60K in actual income flowing to your bank acct (that's all you needed/wanted each year) BUT you were also setting on a big investment you had "not" started to draw from yet and that big investment was large enough to provide an additional $20K/year to get you to $80K/year. But apparently now BoI no longer does that. I was communicating with a fellow AseanNow member a couple months ago about this....he actually went to the BoI LTR unit at Chamchuri Square Bangkok to talk the issue face-to-face as his income stream fell a little below $80K/year right now but he was also setting on a big investment pot of money he didn't want to start drawing from yet due to his age and wanted to see if BoI would accept that near term/future income stream to satisfy the 80K/year requirement. The answer was no; BoI no longer accepts that. They did early on in the LTR program in some cases like discussed in the YouTube video way back in this topic where the LTR visa spokesperson was interviewed, but now they no longer accept future/potential income streams...maybe it turned into a slippery slope type thing for BoI....don't know. Instead, that stream needs to be flowing right now....not just dammed-up saving your water for a possible future drought. Heck, if a person is under 50 years of age and therefore can't qualify for a Pensioner visa even if going for the LTR Wealthy Global Citizen visa where a person needs to show $1M in assets they "also" have the basic requirement of an income stream of $80K/year unless an exception applies. Even the Work-from-Thailand Professional and Highly Skilled Professional LTR visa types also require an $80K/year income stream although there are a couple of exceptions in the different LTR visa types which allows a $40K/year income stream (or even less) in some cases when coupled with some other requirements....see the details of each type for the exceptions. Only the Spouses & Dependents LTR type does not have an income requirement. https://ltr.boi.go.th/#what 1st four LTR Visa types below have income stream requirements; only the Spouses & Dependents type does not.

Manila SSA Office has a download link (below) https://ph.usembassy.gov/services/social-security/

Probably not a good idea. What the SSA really wants to receive back from you is the "bar coded/partially completed" 7162 they mail out. But in those cases where you did not receive the bar-coded form by 1 Nov (which is several weeks after their 2nd mailing in the Sep/Oct time frame) then the SSA is willing to accept a manually completed 7162/7161 which you can download from the Manila SSA website. It would be a good idea to include a short, signed memo saying you are mailing a manually completed form since you have not received the bar-coded form by 1 Nov....a reoccurring problem with your 3rd country postal system. Mail a copy to Wilkes Barre and Manila. https://ph.usembassy.gov/services/social-security/ And I would mail it using "regular airmail"; not registered mail as register mail can frequently take 2 to 4 times longer to arrive its destination and not even be tracked for the entire trek which can imply it never arrived when maybe it did. Plus registered mail costs a lot more now after the big price increase several years ago. The SSA don't want to see a manually completed form before 1 Nov because you haven't given enough time for the 2nd mailing process to complete its course. In the past Manila SSA had a webpage saying they don't want to see any manually completed 7162 before 1 Nov....and one year when I didn't receive a 1st or 2nd mailing when I contacted Manila before 1 Nov about not getting the form they responded to contact them again if I had not received the bar-coded mailing by 1 Nov. They simply would provide a form before 1 Nov....but come 1 Nov they were more than happy to provide/accept a manually completed form. IMO when you mail in a manually completed 7162 a couple times of year because you are assuming you will not receive a bar-coded 7162 that Wilkes Barre may not process the form unless it arrived Wilkes Barre after 1 Nov. They may feel you are just creating work for them, maybe its not really you mailing in the form but maybe the spouse that had you quietly barbequed at the local temple and really wants that SSA pension to continue flowing into a bank acct the spouse has access to. Yes, it's getting harder for death of a US citizen living in a 3rd world country to not go unnoticed/reported to some US authority like SSA, US Embassy, etc., but apparently it still does happen...or at least the passing notification gets delayed/hidden for months and months. Your suspended Feb payment should occur a few weeks after the SSA unsuspends you account versus needing to wait for it to be included in the next regularly scheduled payment.

A purchase annuity would surely be fine as its a fixed income stream that will provide a steady stream of income for many years....it would just need to be able to provide that income stream for at least 10 years.

I sure wouldn't want it to be net income after taxes, deductions, and various other money eaters like alimony. I would have been way too messy. Plus many potential applicants would probably feel they are being penalized/picked on just because they happen to pay alimony, child support, live in a high tax rate country, live in a US state that has a state income tax compared to a state that has no state income tax, etc. Plus, you can be guaranteed BoI has enough worldwide income and individual country income info (gross, net, average, median, etc.) to know how much spendable income will be available on the average if they set the gross income requirement at a certain like $80K.

Seems from looking at the overall/total Jan stats in the www.thecarexpert article Jan 2024 sales were significantly better than Jan 2023 stats, especially for BEV and PHEV. Car manufacturers selling more than last year. But the article focuses on a negative sub-stat for private buy vehicles to catch attention....yeap, the private buy stats are down for various reasons mentioned in the article....probably economic reasons causing the drop and not due people not buying more EVs since the chart below still shows strong overall EV sales growth....much better percentage-wise than for ICEV.

Cap Gain means "profit" from an investment. It's also unearned income since it not coming from employment/salary/wages. A cap gain accepted by BoI would be some document that proves it was a capital gain like in the U.S. when a person makes a capital gain from a stock investment it would show-up tax related forms like a Tax Form 1099DIV which would show dividends and cap gains from an investment. Or Cap Gains would be shown on a person's annual tax filing or maybe a U.S. Form 1099B. Each country has its own forms/docs regarding cap gains/dividends/interest/etc. And this website https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/capitalgain.asp talks what is considered a cap gain. For a LTR Pensioner visa a person needs to prove they receive at least $80K/year from pension/unearned income/retirement fund/etc., ....that is, a fairly stable income that ensures $80K/year each and every like from a pension which will last the person's lifetime....from an annuity payment that will last at least 10 years....from a large investment big enough to provide $80K/year over 10 years, etc. And regarding the "....from a large investment big enough to provide $80K/year over 10 years..." you'll most likely need to already being receiving distributions/payments from that large investment for a pensioner visa vs just letting that BIG pot of money grow bigger & bigger because you can live on a much smaller amount that $80K/year. Qualifying for an LTR Pensioner visa can definitely be more challenging if your annual income is based predominately on Cap Gains versus being predominately based on a pension/annuity/fixed income which is paying out a pretty stable amount for years to come/your lifetime. Earned income like from salary/wages is not considered for a LTR pensioner visa since the person could lose his job tomorrow and go from an annual income of $80K to something much less. To get an answer straight from the horse's mouth regarding your particular type of Cap Gain income use the Contact form on the LTR BOI website....they answer pretty quick. https://ltr.boi.go.th/#contact

Probably not because a sale can be different from a cap gain. A cap gain is a profit from an investment; a stock sale may have been at a loss; therefore, no cap gain to show--just a loss. BOI would probably need to see the balance of your pot of money "after" you made those stock sales to see if that pot is still larger enough cover a 10 years worth of $80K/year sells since an LTR visa is 10 year visa. And a stock sale or two may have completely drained your pot of investment money...Living high-on-the-hog from some stock sales for a year or two but those sales may have completely drained your pot of money and you no longer can show $80K/year in personal/unearned income.

As Berti said, Cap Gains qualifies as pension/fixed income under the LTR Pensioner category because BOI considers it "unearned" income vs "earned" income/salary from employment. Unearned income is basically any income you receive that is not from employment. Yes, a pension is income from "past" employment but it's not income/salary from "current" employment....still working for a living, etc. Additionally it's common for folks with large investments in mutual funds to have those periodic dividends and/or cap gains distributed/paid out annually vs reinvested in the fund. BOI considers this unearned income since it not coming from employment/salary. So, if a person's $80K of personal/unearned income comes for "cap gains" then they meet the income requirement. But as I mentioned before since Cap Gains can vary greatly from year-to-year depending on how the stock market varies a person needs to ensure he can show $80K "each and every year; not just say every other year, an average over a couple of years, etc."

After you qualify for the 10 year visa there are no annual checks although when you have to reapply at the 5 year point (mid term) to get the 2nd 5 year Permitted to Stay stamp you will basically need to meet the same income requirements that you did when initially qualifying for the LTR visa. Now it is still unknown at this time if at the mid-term term if BOI/Immigration will require you to prove you met income/insurance requirements for the past 5 years (i.e, your 1st 5 year Permitted to Stay period) or if they will just look at one or two years like when initially qualifying. I'm guessing it going to be the latter unless they feel a person is trying to game the system. The 80K requirement is "gross" pay (before taxes, deductions, etc). None of the 80K needs to be sent/maintained in Thailand...you can leave it all in another country if desired....or split it between Thailand and another country (ies). You just need to prove you have the funds somewhere on planet Earth. If your pension/annuity is only distributed on an annual basis that one each annual payment should be fine.....monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually....the key is it just has to occur each and ever year and be able to prove it. No skipping a year where you didn't have at least 80K in qualifying income. You will need to prove the payment is coming from some pension/annuity paying entity (like a statement/benefit letter/etc) versus you or a family member/friend sending you money trying to game the system. And of course they probably be asking for a copy of your tax return where that pension/annuity might be reported "if" it's a reportable/taxable pension/annuity...tax returns usually provide a secondary form of proof regarding income. Unless something has recently changed the BoI responds/answers questions pretty quick when you send them a Contact inquiry/question....like within a few days or less. Much, much faster response time than the first six months of the LTR program in late 2022 when they were overwhelmed with applications/questions. https://ltr.boi.go.th/index.html#contact Good luck.

A 9 Feb 2024 article from FoxNews which is a conservative/Republican leaning news agency and often use scare tactics in their news reports if those scare tactics paint the liberal/Democrat party in a bad light. Of course liberal leaning news agencies also use similar tactics when it suit their needs. So, take the article with a big grain of sale. But regardless, it's effective to suppress/slow down EV sales growth in the U.S. https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/cheap-chinese-evs-pose-security-risk-americans-keep-them-out-economist-warns Cheap Chinese EVs pose a 'security risk' to Americans: 'Keep them out,' economist warns

Atto no-have. I just looked.

Probably an update to the Voice commands app....kinda like an update to "one" of the apps in the infotainment system. Not an entire update of your system that would take maybe around an hour to complete. For my Atto I got one of those notices a few months ago regarding an update for the Voice Commands app....it was only a couple of megabytes in size update....didn't take but a minute or two to update.

BYD Thailand is really growing fast. On the Rever Automotive (basically HQ BYD Thailand) they now show 101 dealerships in Thailand. When I started getting serious about buying an EV in mid 2023 below webpage showed approx 60 dealerships. A new BYD dealership open just a few months ago close to me here in western Bangkok....the dealership bought out the Mazada dealership at this particular location...one day there was a Mazada sign on the building; the next day a BYD sign. BYD Dealerships in Thailand https://www.reverautomotive.com/en/locator/dealer-station

A couple of things caught my eye regarding Jan 2024 BEV registrations: 1. BYD accounted for 46% of all Thailand BEV sales....people like BYD. 2. The BYD Dolphin and Seal sales numbers seemed really high....very poplar EVs right now and maybe a case of end of year sales finally clearing the registration process. 3. The Ora Good Cats Jan sales of only 253 really dropped off compared to their 2023 monthly sales average (see their 2023 sales below) 4. The Toyota bZ4Z (which has had its problems) Jan sales of 66 was more than all of their 2023 sales (60). Did Toyota have a clearance sale on this model? I wonder if that Jan number is correct? 5. 1 out of 5 vehicles sold was a BEV....a pretty awesome stat IMO. Jan - Dec 2023 Sales

I still continue to visit my nearby PTT station as that's where Burger King and Texas Chicken outlets are located...also a tire pressure pump. Need to kept my belly happy with burgers and chicken...plus keep my EV tires properly inflated. And while visiting the PTT station I try "not" to look at the faces of customers filling-up their ICEVs at the pumps because I don't enjoy seeing the sad faces caused by the price of the fuel.

Nothing new about car manufacturers going bankrupt over the years especially when in a huge country like China where many entrepreneurs/investors decided they will give the manufacturing of EVs a try....get in on the ground floor of this technology and major change in what people drive. Heck, in China they open new companies/factories like 7-11's in Thailand. Kinda like the early days of ICEV when some entrepreneurs literally started manufacturing ICEVs in their garages hoping to expand into a big company. List of Recent Dead, Defunct, and Bankrupt Car Companies https://www.zeroto60times.com/2012/02/dead-defunct-bankrupt-car-companies/

Correct. The 1 year reporting resets to zero upon leavng Thailand and doesn't start ticking again until you reenter Thailand. Continue travelling like you are now and a 1 year address report will never be required.

Legacy/ICEV manufacturers develop new sales approach. 6ed5dab8fabe55e47c5d0fb725be8a0b.mp4