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The BYD Seal came out on top in the "D-Segment" for total registrations in 2024....beat out number 2 Honda Accord and number 3 Toyota Camry. Then we have two more BEVs coming in at number 4 and 5 followed by Mazada ICEV at number 6. Looks like BEVs are now dominating the Thailand D-segment. See below 18 Jan 2025 car250 article....see weblink for full story. D-segment cars are mid-size family cars or sedans that are longer and wider than cars in lower segments. They are designed to be comfortable and have enough room for passengers and luggage. https://www.car250.com/d-segment-th-2567-1.html

Any shortage won't last long....almost always slow delivery for a few months of any new BYD model. After the initial spike in sales and interest begins to wain the price cuts begin as this price war continues. Yeap, by 1 July.

It will probably just be another infotainment system function like most of the Advanced Driving Assistance System (AFAS) functions in my BYD Atto that I turn off now. 😀 The only intelligent driving system I trust (especially Thailand driving) is my own senses and brains; not computer software and algorithms doing the driving.

I just went to the K-bank used car loan webpage to see how much a person could finance/borrow to buy a 2023 BYD Atto 3 Extended Range EV....the answer was Bt563K. https://www.kasikornbank.com/th/personal/autoloan/Pages/used-car.aspx

And, I bet the Sealion 7 models undergo a big price drop (say in the Bt150K to 200K ballpark) by 1 July 2025 or earlier which will be here before you know it I like really like the looks of the Sealion 7 interior and exterior but have not test drove one....do not plan to test drive either as I'm still happy with my almost 15 month old Atto 3 Extended. It seems the price war has slowed down somewhat but I expect 2025 to be another sluggish sales year for EVs and ICEVs with maybe a little growth over 2024 which will push many car manufacturers to offer some BIG price cuts again. 2025, especially the last half, should be another good year for folks in the market for a new vehicle.

I have a LTR WP visa. I'm not filing this year as I didn’t remit any money in 2024, pension income exempted under Thai-US DTA, and Expat Tax Thailand confirmed during a free 15 minute consultation in my case no tax return is required since I have no assessable income for tax year 2024. I already have a Thai tax ID number from around 8 years ago when I filed for refund of bank interest withheld on some Thai bank "fixed" savings accounts where the bank by law withholds 15% tax on interest earned on fixed accounts. After I stopped having fixed savings accts I didn't have need (nor requirement) to file in ensuring years because of no refund to claim or other assessable income.

As I posted before. To "safely" do it you should evaluate/measure how much current is used on the branch you plug the charger into. That is, see how much current that circuit might normally have on it....then add on what the charger will add....see if the result exceed that branch current rating. Or pay a local electrical tech to come check the circuit with his clamp-on ammeter...it would just take him a few minutes to remove the panel, you turn on a bunch of stuff around the house, and him to measure the current draw. Now you know....no need to guess by experimenting by just plugging in more stuff like a charger to see if and how long it takes for the circuit breaker to trip. Spend a few hundred baht to check things out. You can buy clamp-on ammeters for around Bt200 off Lazada/Shopee....then remove the front panel of your main circuit box....then clamp the meter around the wire that feeds out of the controlling circuit breaker for your driveway socket....see what level of current the meter now shows....even turn on most everything in your house for a few seconds/minutes to include things you would only turn on at night....to see if the ammeter then displays a higher current level. OK, after doing this you know how many amps the circuit the driveway socket is on normally carries and/or carries when certain equipment is turned on. Say, the ammeter always shows zero amps....then that means the driveway socket is on a dedicated branch....it does not feed any other branches in the house. If always showing zero amps and assuming it's at least a 16A circuit/breaker then you can safely start at a 16A charger setting. Now my carport socket is "not" on a dedicated circuit....it only a circuit that powers some stuff inside a downstairs portion of my home...that circuit is always drawing a few amps. But since my portable charger only draws 10A when I rarely use it to check it still works, that circuit breaker circuit never draws more than 16A as I've checked with the ammeter that is built into my main circuit breaker panel and also my clamp-on ammeter. I have confirmed I can safely use that socket with my portable 10A charger when I check it out maybe twice a year. But say the ammeter showed some level of current like say 2A, 5A, 6A, etc., with the charger "not" plugged in & charging, then that "some level of current" needs to be your starting point to determine what charger amp level you can safely use. If the circuit was drawing 3A sometimes without the charger being used then when charging at 16A like you are thinking about doing it going to go to 19A being used on say a 16A circuit for an extended time....like hours and hours as you charge your EV. When will the circuit breaker finally trip raising concern for you? Well, it depends on breakers trip curve, how much current is being drawn and for how long like we have discussed. And note I've been using a 16A circuit breaker circuit as an example....your driveway socket may be on a 20A circuit which would mean if that circuit was normally drawing 4A without the charger and then you plug in the charger at 16A then you are still safe at a total of 19A on that 20A circuit breaker. But don't exceed the 16A on driveway socket because the socket itself is probably rated at 16A amps. Or you can do it an unsafe way of just plugging it in an see what happens over the coming months like the circuit breaker trips "many" minutes or hours after you plugged in the charger---that means you a drawing significantly more current than is safe for that branch.....and if the circuit breaker trips within a just a few minutes then you are really drawing a current way, way above the circuit breaker's rating. Circuit breakers have two mechanisms which determine how fast the trip. One is the bimetallic strip that "slowly" responds to an overcurrent condition.....and the second an electromagnet coil that "very quickly" responds to large overcurrent/shorts. Just review that link I gave earlier on how a circuit breaker works....it's trip curve....it's not like the how many people think a circuit breaker "immediately" trips when exceeds the breaker's rating by just a little bit like a 16A breaker tripping at 17A--nope, don't work that way. Yeap, you can either do it safely by first measuring how much current the circuit is using....Or, do it by just plugging in the charger and see what happens although you will not be able to see what damage it may do to wiring in the wall over a long or short period. Good luck.

Once the LTR is endorse d(approved) you have 60 days to complete the necessary actions to have the LTR visa actually issued....that is, stamped into your passport or issued by the e-visa process. Failing to get it done within 60 days means you will have to start the application process from zero....start all over...unless BOI might possibly grant a waiver in your particular case like maybe you being on the international space station for the next 90 days. 😁 Once BOI endorses (approves) your application you can immediately make an appointment for issue of the visa at BOI immigration in Bangkok...plenty of appointments. Heck, on a Friday afternoon I made my appointment for the following business day of Monday. If not going the route of issue at Bangkok you can immediately start the process for issue via the e-visa system. Just remember you have 60 days from the date of endorsement to get the visa actually issued....stamped into your passport so to speak.

BOI s hardcore on this issue and would ask for documentation showing you have at least 10 months left on a policy or documentation for self-insuring. 3 months will not hack it. Now BOI does have offer some flexibility in "some" special policies that do not show a policy end date like some government provided or sponsored policies. An example would be the US Tricare for Life health insurance provided for US military retirees over 65. Or some govt sponsor policies that may not show a policy end date because they are automatically renewed each year...but BOI will probably ask for a separate letter from the company saying such. But to repeat, if your policy reflects start and end dates and the end date is not at least 10 months out from the LTR application date then BOI will ask for additional documentation...and your LTR application will just march-in-place, go nowhere until you provide the requested docs.

With all these new Chinese brands some of them have a very small dealership support structure in Thailand where you can take your EV for service/maintenance. I wouldn't want to buy a particular brand if the dealership was more than 1 hour drive away...and preferably much closer. When I bought my BYD Atto in late 2023 BYD had 101 dealerships in Thailand....many of which were in Bangkok where I live....one dealership is a mere 3 minutes away....and then another one is around 10 minutes away.....I use these two dealerships for service/maintenance. You can take you BYD EV to any BYD dealership for support; not just from the dealership you buy the EV from. Whatever EV I bought I wanted to ensure there was "plenty of in-Thailand" support which BYD has (not to imply everyone in Thailand has a BYD dealership within a 1 hour drive). I looked a few minutes ago and BYD now reports 133 dealerships....continuing to grow dealerships. And just last week when I was going to the dentist in highrise mid Bangkok I passed a closed UOB bank that was being converted to a new BYD dealership. Yeap, BYD dealerships are continuing to grow in Thailand.

BOI publishes LTR stats every two months on their LTR website. Up until around mid 2024 the stats only reflected the number of "Applies" (a.k.a., Applications) but didn't say how many were Endorsed (a.k.a., Approved). So a person didn't have any idea as to how many get Approved like for every 100 Applications 50 get Approved, etc. Then around mid 2024 BOI changed to reporting the number of Approved (Endorsed) applications but didn't reported how many Applications were submitted. So, once again, a person didn't have any idea to what the Approval "rate" was....the percentage that got approved. So, what I did was to take some LTR stats from the two charts at the bottom of the post....one that reported the number of Applications and then another that reported the number of Approvals but each covered a different period of time...one for 20 months and one for 27 months. Put those stats in a spreadsheet, did a little extrapolation trying to make an apples-to-apples comparison from two different types of stat charts, and did a little more math in an attempt to determine the "Approval Rate"...the approximate percentage of Applications that cross the Approval finish line. Below is that data...a chart and the two BOI stats charts I used for the source data. Turns out the Wealthy Pensioner LTR visa has an approx 59% approval rate, the Work From Thailand Professional a 31% approval rate, etc. See the chart for all the LTR types. Below chart just shows stats for the number of Applications over a 20 month period...does say how many were Approved. Below chart shows how many Applications were Approved over a 27 month period but not the total number of Applications submitted.

Bangkok Post 15 Jan 2025 version of the LTR requirements easing. See weblink for full story...a partial quote also below. https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2940265/thailand-eases-visa-rules-for-professionals-wealthy-foreigners PUBLISHED : 15 Jan 2025 at 12:40 WRITER: Bloomberg News Thailand eases visa rules for professionals, wealthy foreigners Thailand's cabinet this week approved changes to the nation’s visa rules to make it more attractive for skilled professionals, investors and wealthy foreigners to secure long-term residency permits. The changes include the scrapping of a minimum annual income requirement for those seeking visas in the wealthy global citizens category and a reduction in the minimum revenue requirement of companies allowing employees to work from Thailand. The long-term resident visa holders will also no longer face any restrictions on the number of dependents they can bring in, the Board of Investment (BOI), which oversees the program, said in a statement Wednesday. Parents and other legal dependents can reside with the visa-holders as opposed to just four dependents allowed earlier.

The SIM that is currently in BYD vehicle is a SINGTEL SIM....Singapore Telecon...or at least that what was in my Atto that I personally confirmed before having the SIM swap accomplished....and others in Thailand on the social media circuit have made similar posts. After the SIM upgrade...swap...etc., I had a True SIM in my Atto that I once again personally confirmed by going into the Infotainment system where you can see the name of the SIM installed (not to be confused with whatever local network such as AIS, True, DTAC, etc., the SIM may connect to....just like how a foreign SIM will connect with local networks. Now maybe BYD dealerships have the capability to basically rewrite a SIM like a flash drive and they just reuse the current SIM....but I kinda doubt they go that route. Instead, they probably just have SIM swap/upgrade kits with a True SIM and then they update the BYD server in the sky saying the car no longer has SIM so-in-so but this new SIM so-in-so. But hey, whether they put in a new SIM or rewrite the old SIM the results are the same.

No change. This is a good Youtube by ExpatTaxThailand a company here in Thailand. Around the 35:10 point they cover the tax exemption for a few minutes.

Yes...it would work. As to what you can "safely" start with current-wise requires you to know if there are any other electrical equipment on the same circuit and how much that equipment is pulling amp-wise. Like maybe lights, outlets in the house that maybe your TV or similar equipment is hooked to....maybe a microwave....may be an A/C....maybe who knows what. Then add on what the charger will draw when in use. Determine if you will then exceed the safe current draw for that circuit. What if that circuit is not a standalone circuit and it just a branch of a circuit that is also powering other equipment/sockets in your home. What if that circuit (and lets say it's a 16A circuit) is almost always pulling 5A and maybe even a higher current (say 10A total) when certain in-frequently used equipment is turned on. Well, if you plug in your EV charger set to 16A you are now up to 21A (or maybe 26A) being pulled exceeding the 16A circuit safe limit. Well, you might think that the 16A circuit breaker will trip "immediately" whenever exceeding 16A but that is not the way a circuit breaker work. That 16A circuit breaker will only trip once the current exceeds 16A for a certain length of time depending on how high the current actually is. Circuit breakers have a "trip curve" which is typically a B or C curve in homes which determine when the breaker will trip after the 16A is exceeded...and as mentioned it depends on "how long" and "how high the current is"....both come into play as to when the breaker will trip. Seems here in Thailand circuit breakers with a C-curve are used. Just look at the front of the circuit breaker....if it says B16, B20, etc., it's B-curve circuit breaker, if it says C16, C20, etc., it's a C-curve circuit breaker. A B-curve breaker has a faster trip curve than a C-curve breaker, but even that B-curve breaker does not trip immediately unless really high current is drawn. A C-16A circuit breaker (which you probably have) would take well over 1000 (one thousand) seconds to trip with 21A going thru it. If would not trip "immediately" (i.e., less than 1 second overload) until at least 80A and a max of 160A. See below weblink and snapshot for more info on circuit breakers, tripping curves, etc. The only way to "really" know how many amps a circuit is carrying is to measure it with an ammeter. Maybe you have such an ammeter already on your main circuit box. Maybe you have clamp-on ammeter? https://www.electricaltechnology.org/2021/07/tripping-curves-circuit-breaker.html

Yes, it's quite possible. And if you include a short memo explaining like you did above and also identifying the country (because BOI will probably already know if your home country has such a tax law of not requiring a tax return when no longer a tax resident) then BOI will only require you to provide proof via documents from your pension paying agency, other docs showing passive income, etc. Tax returns are not a hardcore requirement when you have good reason for not having any and you can then provide other documents to prove income.

Yeap....the Elite visa provides no tax benefits/exemptions. IMO opinion the Elite visa folks shot themselves in the foot 7 times with a 6 shooter (and that's very hard to do) when they made that HUGE price increase for the Elite visas in late 2023.. And the LTR visas are surely taking away many Elite potential customers....and even the new DTV visas are now surely taking away more Elite visa potential customers. Take a look at below pretty recent Youtube 10 minute video from an Elite Visa agent. While the first minute or so talks glowingly about the limited time Elite Bronze 5 year visa at around the 1 minute point for the remainder of the video he talks pretty much solely about how and why the Elite visa folks greatly damaged (killed) the overall Elite visa program beginning late 2023. IMO it's really an honest assessment of the Elite visa program "after" their HUGE price increase in late 2023. How Thailand Killed the Elite Visa, then Made it Great Again! - Bronze Privilege Card Review

While BOI likes to see tax returns they are not the only income documents they will gladly accept as proof especially if you explain why you can not provide a tax like maybe you do not need to file in your country. OR, you do have tax returns which you can provide but since the pension(s) is not taxable/not reportable in your country the pension is not shown on the tax return....or the pension might only be partially taxable/reportable on a tax return which ends up causing the amount entered on the tax return to be a smaller amount than it actually is making it look like your gross income per year is less than $80K. An example of where a particular pension/benefit may not be taxable/not reportable is U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) payments. A VA pension is not taxable by US tax law and since it's not taxable the VA does not provide an annual tax form for filing with your tax return because it is not taxable/not reportable on tax returns. Another example is US Social Security pension that is "partially" taxable/reportable although they do provide an annual tax form. So, there are cases where a tax return may not be available OR a tax return is available but due to tax laws you may not need to even show the pension or only partially show it on a tax return. BOI is aware this happens but you should point out "why" you can not provide a tax return or why a pension some passive income does not show on your tax return. BOI deals with docs from many, many countries and already know a good amount about taxes by country. But since BOI would not know if in "your particular case" that certain tax laws may apply to "your" situation you should include a short memo in your application explaining why you are not including a tax return and/or why the tax return may not reflect a certain income/pension making it look like you have less income. THEN you will need to provide another document proving you have the income/pension and the amount. This is usually done by providing a document/benefit letter/certificate from the "pension paying agency" showing the income. Like that VA example I gave where the pension is completely tax free and not reportable on a tax return, HOWEVER< the VA does provide a benefit letter/certificate that show how much you receive....the BOI will need to see that document. Summary: BOI will accept other income documentation; it does not have to be a tax return although BOI really wants to see tax returns on most applications as that can add support to your application. But as mentioned it's not a "hardcore" requirement depending on particular situation which can explain in your situation. And if you are from certain countries that tax worldwide income and a tax return must be submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) annually unless you don't make enough money to reach a certain low income threshold then BOI knows a US applicant who is making $80K/year mu t submit an annual tax return to the IRS and therefore would have a copy to provide a tax return "unless" they haven't been paying taxes/filing a return OR really are not making at least $80K per year.

Thanks. I stand corrected....you are right...it's 4% of total applications consisting of all LTR categories. I just went back to my earlier post and corrected myself. But yeap, with the WGC category only representing 4% of the total LTR visa approvals such a low rate screams the WGC requirements are too tough.

The LTR WGC endorsement (approval) rate represents a mere 4% of all LTR visa categories according to stats on the BOI LTR webpage. Note: See Edit note at bottom...I rewrote this paragraph after being notified of a major error. BOI probably said we obviously made the requirements too high...too tough....we need to do something. So, what has been the biggest cause of not getting approval based on the three financial requirements? Has it been total assets owned....willingness to invest at least $500K "in Thailand"....or the $80K income requirement? Which one was the biggest reason for failure to qualify? After determining which one was the cause of the most disapprovals they probably concentrated on if they can delete or lower the requirement especially if such a change would result in a big increase of WGC approvals. As mentioned earlier my guess is it was a lot of WGC applicants being rich "on paper" probably due to owning a home (maybe a home right here in Thailand) but receiving a lot less than $80K in actual income....actual cash flow generated from their property/home and investments/savings/job. But that's just my guess. Edit: corrected my first paragraph after oldcpu notified me of my error in how I had originally written the 1st paragraph.

See Bangkok Post article for full article...partial quote below. https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2939505/new-us-rules-would-bar-nearly-all-chinese-vehicles

Regarding elimination of the $80K requirement for WGC, maybe since the requirements currently require $1M in assets, $80K income "AND" a $500K investment in Thailand BOI decided "three" tough requirements "ALL of which had to be met"...not just 1, not just 2, but all 3 maybe BOI determined meeting all three financial requirement was just too hard. See current WGC financial requirements at bottom. Having $1M in assets may not be that hard if you already own a house/land (you might have inherited it) or have healthy savings/investments from a life time of work. So having $1M in assets maybe wasn't a roadblock for a lot of applicants. 1 of 3 requirement met. OK, now the applicant also has to meet the investment in Thai bonds, property, "OR" a Thai company. That might already be part of the $1M in assets he already owns especially if his $1M in assets includes a pricy Thai condo....a condo he already owns or will buy using part of his $1M assets. After buying the Thai condo that still counts towards the $1M in assets. Kinda like killing two birds with one stone. 2 of 3 requirements now met. However, the applicant having $80K in income might be hard. A person can still be rich "on paper" especially if they already own real estate or have big savings, but in terms of having a lot of income being generated from that real estate and/or investments is a different story especially if they are retired already. Maybe they are still employed making a lot less than $80K, living in a nice house that they inherited, and basically just living on the passive income they get from their investments/savings but that income falls short of $80K. The inability to meet this requirement means 3 of 3 WGC requirement can not be met. If BOI decided they need to get rid of/adjust at least 1 of the 3 requirements I expect the requirement to invest at least $500K in Thailand is the "least likely" one they would drop. That leaves either getting rid of/adjusting the $1M in assets and/or $80K in income. I bet the $80K in income has been the main factor in many WGC applicants falling to qualify. Like I said, rich "on-paper" but not necessarily a lot of money actually flowing in each year. That's my guess. But we definitely need to wait for the details "as published by BOI" because Thai media get stuff wrong all the time. The 3 financial requirements for a LTR WGC Visa...."all 3" must be met. Not 1, not 2, but all 3.

Indeed it was made by a politician who at the time was one of the government's main gurus who was trying to implement major economic policy changes to increase the Thailand GDP. I think the announcement was more geared towards the Thai public to make them think this new visa will bring in many, many, many well-off farangs which will be a big boost the economy. I can just see the BOI folks rolling their eyes as this politician made this exaggerated, aspirational announcement--but hey, that's what politicians often do...just ask Donald Trump.

And I'm really glad to see the change of lifting the "only 4 dependents" limitation. With that limitation it was kinda like implying Thailand don't want well-off folks who have more than 4 kids.

Hopefully when full details do become available there will be more good changes that just didn't make the news release because the news reporters considered them minor but could make all the difference to some applicants. Time will tell. Just good to hear of these news announced changes. And I'm a little surprised we didn't hear any rumblings of these changes being under serious consideration are least a few weeks (or months) before BOI went to the cabinet for final approval. But these were all "good" changes that maybe BOI didn't want to get anyone's hopes up in case they were not approved. And it also goes to show visa requirements/benefits can also change overnight without warning. Edit: and these changes will further reduce the number of people applying for an Elite visa; not that the HUGE price increase to Elite visas a year or so ago didn't do enough damage.