Pib

Krungthai Bank does not charge Bt500 "fee" to open an account; instead they require an initial Bt500 "deposit" which can be withdrawn later if desired. An opening Bt500 deposit is standard for a lot of Thai banks. Sorry I can't help with the "current" method the Tax Revenue Dept does refunds. About 5 years ago when I was filing a Thai tax return/refund request for bank interest withheld although I got a refund check I could deposit/cash it at any Thai bank I had an account at. But it could not be cashed and "immediately" withdrawn...it was for deposit only....you had to wait a few days for the check to clear then you could withdraw the funds.

A friend asked about the mid term LTR extension process just a few days ago.....below is the response he got from BoI. He did ask if 5 years of docs, 1 year of docs, etc., would be required, but BoI just said the process would be "similar" to the initial application process so I expect they will only need 1 to 2 years of docs. But it appears BoI/Immigration have an extension process planned but probably feel it's too early to post a specific procedure on the LTR website right now as things could change over the coming years as no one needs to extend before Sep 2027 when the very first LTR visas issued in Sep 2022 will require the mid term extension.

It will be interesting as to what BoI and Immigration agrees to on the mid term/5 year extension process. I'm sure 99% of the administrative type stuff could be done online setting behind a keyboard anywhere on Earth like how the initial application was handled. BUT my question also is how will BoI/Immigration handle the "inking" of the 5 year Permitted to Stay stamp into your passport after approval of the 2nd 5 years. Will BoI/Immigration give a person a maximum of 60 days to finalize the approval by getting the stamp inked in the passport via an actual inking or using the evisa system...OR, will a BoI mid term approval letter just say to provide the letter to Immigration on your next entry and immigration will ink the new 5 year period into your passport. Like Misty pointed out, the LTR Visa is initially issued for a 10 year period. However, only a 5 year permitted to stay stamp is provided because 5 years is the maximum period immigration provides for any type of visa. Heck, even for a 20 year Elite visa although the paid membership is for 20 years each Elite visa is only issued in 5 year increments and each entry only for a 1 year Permitted to Stay before requiring an exit/reentry or going to immigration for a 1 year extension. Now when an Elite Visa 5 year stamp expires I do not think the Elite member has to get a new stamp before it expires if he happens to be outside Thailand for an extended time. Instead, he just communicates with the Elite Visa Company that his 5 yr Elite visa stamp is expired, he will need a new one as he's arriving in Thailand o/a a certain date, and when he arrives the Elite Visa Company has already provided Airport Immigration with the required paperwork to immediately issue a new 5 year Elite visa covering a 5 year period. I'm no expert on Elite visa but that's how I understand the info given on the Elite visa website. Time will tell. Since the first LTR visas were issued in Sep 2022 which means it will not be until mid 2027 that BoI/Immigration needs to publish definitive rules on the mid term renewal process I expect BoI/Immigration has decided they have plenty of time to formalize the mid term procedure especially if they think the LTR visa might mutate over the coming years as it grows from crawling to walking to running.

Yeap, I expect it works just like the multiyear BoI SMART visa which has 1 year reporting. After issue of the visa, the reentering of Thailand resets the 1 year address reporting clock. https://smart-visa.boi.go.th/smart/pages/how-to-manage.html

Misty, Thanks...my LTR work permit curiosity now totally satisfied.

I didn't want the info for tracking purposes....I stopped updating that list. If Ben had got the visa "recently" like over the last month or two I was interested in how long it took....see if BoI is getting faster in processing applications compared to 2022.

@Ben Zioner Just to confirm, does this mean you were approved (endorsed) for an LTR visa recently? If so, what type did you apply for and how many "calendar" days did it take from Submitting Your Application until receiving the Approved/Endorsement Letter? Don't really care when you got the actual LTR visa inked into your passport in Bangkok or issued via the evisa system. Thanks. As FYI for others, I know a person who very recently applied for an LTR Pensioner visa and it took approx 16 calendar days from Application Submission to Application Endorsement/Approval....and this included a day or two delay due to an additional document request relating to medical coverage where the person just re-upload the same document again but this time with a short memo explaining an issue....his application was the endorsed/approved. Yeap, getting an LTR visa can be easy and pretty fast when meeting the LTR requirements and providing the required document proof like for income, medical coverage, etc. Definitely faster than the initial months of the LTR program where it took around 2 months for most folks although some got it faster. And this is not to imply some applications still don't drag out for months and months, repeated additional doc requests, etc. Each person's situation and their application is different such as quality/thoroughness of documentation which results in some applications being approved quickly while others can take months and months especially in the case of additional document requests which might take time to round-up, maybe needs translation, etc.

Yea...more embassies are stopping the issue of the letters. The US Embassy stopped on 10 Apr 2023 as talked in below US Embassy Bangkok webpage....the webpage also gives a link to a US Embassy letter a person can download which explains the situation in English and Thai.....can give the letter to any Thai Immigration office who didn't get the memo about more foreign embassies stopping the issue of the letter. https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/passports/adult-passport-renew/ https://th.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/Notification-of-cessation-of-linkage-letters.pdf

@Misty Curiosity questions: Were you issued a "5" year work permit simply because that's the standard/maximum length of a work permit under a LTR visa? Could a person ask for the work permit to be issued say only be for 1 or 2 years (i.e.., just something less than 5 years? And if say a 1 year permit is requested then does than mean the fee is only Bt3K? Or maybe the length of the work permit is determined by the employment/employer paperwork submitted which might show planned employment length? And do you have to do any "annual" report/filing related to your LTR work permit? And no, I not planning on working/asking for a work permit under my LTR-P visa, I'm just curious as to if 5 year permit is the standard length issued for an LTR visa, if a shorter length is also available and a shorter length would cost less, maybe the info would be helpful to others wanting to get the work permit with their LTR visa, etc. Just curious....hoping maybe you know off the top of your head....plus I'm too lazy to send these questions to BoI.????

At the top, right hand side of the form what date did it show as being generated/printed? By chance was it 2 June 2023 like the one I got and like others have reported? If a different date that could indicate the 1st mailing for 7162s is occurring on different dates vs all on one day (like 2 June). Pending your reply I'm going to guess yours is dated 2 June and it just took an additional week to get to you in Khon Kaen vs us folks here in Bangkok who starting getting them around one week ago.

The State Dept announced the long turnaround is primarily due to a huge increase in passport applications following the COVID pandemic when many people failed to renew their expiring passport, now want to do international travel after years of COVID lockdown, etc. I hope the State Dept does get the turnaround time back down to around 2-3 weeks for folks renewing via a US Embassy like it use to pre-COVID. Time will tell.

Yes, the USPS tracking system/number interfaces with many foreign country postal tracking systems...they exchange tracking data. But above Acceptance just means a piece of mail was accepted in the Thai postal to be forwarded/mailed into the USPS. What you should see soon is the next status along the lines of "Processed Through Facility...Savarnabhumi Mail Centre (SMC) Thailand" which means it's about to fly out/being prepared to flyout of Thailand to the U.S....most likely to the USPS International Service Center (ISC) New York City where it will process thru Customs/USPS.

Yes...bond maturity time remaining must be at least 5 years "as of the date of your LTR application"...see link/snapshot below for BoI LTR website. And when it comes mid term LTR renewal time to get the 2nd 5 years of the 10 year LTR visa you need have at least 5 years remaining on a govt bond to get that 5 year extension. So, if you buy say only a 5 year bond for the initial LTR application and able to submit your LTR application same day the bond will be maturing just before needing to apply for the extension....the bond will no longer have at least 5 years left on it come extension time....another bond of at least 5 years would be needed. And to avoid the situation of a 5 year bond maturity not syncing up with an LTR application date (like not quite having at least 5 years maturity remaining) a person should probably buy a bond of at least 6 years in length (if there such a thing as a 6 year bond....more likely a 7 year bond is the next maturity period up from a 5 year bond). While BoI has not released any detailed guidance on the mid term extension renewal process all indications are is will be a repeat process of the initial application process "minus any visa application fee"....that is, free since you paid for the entire 10 year visa when getting the initial 5 years permit to stay. Keep in mind the 10 year LTR visa is really a 5 yr + 5 yr visa which will involve a mid term extension process to get that 2nd 5 years. Since a person learned how to ride the LTR application process bicycle on the initial application the person should not have learning curve for the extension application as he/she already knows how to ride the LTR visa bicycle. And yea, Thai govt bonds pay less than most western countries....the approximate 2.5% ballpark is what Thai govt bonds currently pay. Thai govt primary bond offerings usually sell out with hours to days....the interest offered is more than adequate to quickly sell the entire bond offering....and Thais buy the great bulk of the bonds. http://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/country/thailand/#:~:text=The Thailand 10Y Government Bond,last modification in May 2023). From BoI LTR Website https://ltr.boi.go.th/documents/Announcement_of the Office of the Board of Investment No.2-2565 (EN).pdf

But your application was during the first few months of the LTR kickoff (i.e., Sep-Nov)...it appears around late Nov/Dec 2022 BoI stopped accepting investment like 401K, IRA, etc., for self insuring based on various posts, DMs, and follow-ups with BOI. Instead it needs to be a cash/highly liquid type of acct where month/very periodic cash balance transactions could be shown like a bank savings/checking/current/CD acct. Note on Certificates of Deposit (CD): it will need to be the type that shows monthly/very periodic interest payments which in-turn generates a balance update that will be shown on the monthly/very periodic statement. A CD that might only pay interest when it matures say after 1 year will not hack it. Apparently BoI wants to ensure the self-insure acct is cash/highly liquid and not affected the possibly of a stock market crash/downturn which could turn a $100K or more balance into a much, much less than $100K balance overnight.

Thanks. Before asking the question last night when I googled the 833-719-0632 number the googled list would lead ultimately lead to the current/2023 OEIO webpage where that -0632 number was not listed; just the -0645 number. I guess google was just giving me webpage recommendations based on their achieved/history file vs current webpage file. But when selecting the google search option of "Must Include" 833-719-0632 which forces google to only list current webpages containing that number your post on AseanNow appeared on the list. So, I was wondering where you got that -0632 number....maybe an old webpage, maybe a SSA rep gave you the number, etc. Now "in my opinion" if a person is only faxing their 7162 to OEIO (a.k.a., known as Processing Center 8, SSA Baltimore, etc) they are taking a real risk the that OEIO will not do anything with the 7162 except maybe mail/forward it the the Wilkes Barre Data Processing Center which is the address on the included 7162 return envelope. SSA Webpage saying who PC8 is https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0201050051 I say it's a risk that OEIO may not do anything with the 7162 based on the SSA POMS (i.e., regulation/instruction)...weblink/partial quote below. Below POMS covers how a Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire (i.e, fancy name for the 7162) is to be handled when a person does "not" mail their form back to the Wilkes Barre Data Operation Center (WBDOC) but instead sends it to PC8 (ie.., OEIO), Federal Benefits Unit like Manila, or a local social security office. Basically the POMS instructions says unless there is some change on the FEQ requiring their action that the OEIO, FBU, local SSA office "should" forward the 7162 to WBDOC for processing....in the very beginning of the POMS it stresses the importance that the WBDOC receives the form. Now once WBDOC receives/processes the form that that might automatically generate some required action by the OEIO, FBU, etc. And mailing a 7162 to the Manila FBU "before" 1 Nov which is after a person should have got the 1st mailing in May/June or follow-up 2nd mailing in Sep will also probably result in Manila just forwarding a 7162 to WBDOC without Manila doing any system "update" unless a person's benefits have already been suspended which wouldn't occur until mid Jan for 3 Feb and following payments. I'm not saying sending the 7162 to OEIC is a bad thing; I'm just saying if that's the "only way" a person is sending back their 7162 that it may be a risky way since the 7162 is supposed to go back to the SSA Wilkes Barre Data Operations Center for processing....and it also prevents additional work/costs for the SSA. Definitely mail a 7162 to Wilkes Barre and then if also wanting to send it to OEIO, FBU, etc., as insurance then go for it. Cheers. https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0302655007

The LTR Wealthy Global Citizen visa requires $80K/year income, $1M in assets (foreign and/or Thailand) "and" a $500K investment in Thailand. Income-wise "all three" income requirements must be met....not one, not two, all three. Also health insurance required. Each LTR visa type (5 different types when also counting the Spouse/Dependents LTR visa) has different requirements such as the income requirement. Like the LTR Wealthy Global Citizen visa income requirement is the toughest as discussed above and the LTR Spouse/Dependents visa is the easiest with no income requirement. See BoI LTR website for full details on the various LTR visa types. https://ltr.boi.go.th/

OP, Income-wise $3600/month in pension equates to $43.2K/year which means you would need to apply for an LTR Pensioner visa under the "at least $40K but less than $80K" LTR criteria where an investment of at least $250K in Thai govt bonds, foreign direct investment, or property would also be required. Now, if you "already" own a residence in Thailand you bought in the past for at least $250K and still own the residence then that would satisfy the $250K investment requirement; no need for a new $250K investment. If you have other retirement investments/fixed income like an IRA, 401K, annuity, bonds, etc., which when added to your $3600/year SSA pension gets your annual pension/fixed income to at least $80K then no investment in Thailand is required. And assuming you do not have Thai social security medical coverage you will need a $50K health insurance policy or self-insure for $100K regardless of the LTR visa applying for. Sounds like in your case you are probably better off sticking with the annual Non-O visa. But if you can meet the LTR requirements, especially if your income is at least $80K year which bypasses any investment requirement personally I think an LTR visa is an excellent choice. A 10 year LTR visa would cost Bt50K (a "one time: fee only if approved; if LTR application is not approved then no fee). As mentioned this is a onetime fee for the 10 year visa which is really a 5 yr + 5 yr visa....gives you a Permitted to Stay stamp for an initial 5 years and then you must extend at the LTR visa mid point to get the 2nd 5 years....no fee cost for the 2nd 5 years as the initial Bt50K covered visa fees for the entire 10 year LTR visa period. You also qualify for a work permit (if desired...it's optional when applying for a LTR visa) but that work permit does cost an additional Bt3K/year and you pay for 5 years at time for a total of Bt15K....you would need this work permit if also planning to work in Thailand for a Thai employer or work in your own Thai company. But if you are working remotely paying for that work permit would not be required since you are not working for a Thai company. Personally, I think an LTR visa is a good way to go "if", repeat, if a person meets the $80K income requirement which requires no further investment OR receives $40K-$80K income which requires a $250K investment "which is met by a Thai residence they own/plan to buy that's worth $250K (regardless of visa type...retiring to Thailand no matter what). Not needing to worry about an "annual" renewal, maybe associated agent-assisted annual fees like the Bt12.5K you pay...also getting a work permit if a person wants to continue to legally work while retired...a multiple reentry permit good for the life of the LTR visa (no extra fee)...address reporting every 365 days vs 90 days, etc., just provides a great deal of "peace of mind" visa-wise. Instead of the "annual" visa game (concern....worry...effort) you only play the game every 5 years. Up to you.

Do you have a SSA webpage that references above FAX number? What dept/office/location within the SSA does this fax number exist. Thanks.

Probably a miscommunication. For many years I just used Bangkok Bank ibanking.....then around 2 years ago I decided to also start using their mobile mbanking. Downloaded the app, entered my ibanking User ID and password and I was into mbanking. Now I rarely use their ibanking....instead, use their mbanking over 95% of the time....but I live in Thailand and don't have to worry about whether mbanking will work outside of Thailand without a Thai SIM. As long as you have a User ID and password which I expect you had to have to begin using mbanking that same User ID and password "should" work for ibanking unless Bangkok Bank can now set their system to grant only mbanking but not allow ibanking (or vice versa).

Proof of sending something means nothing to the SSA...will not keep a person's benefits from being suspended if the actual document never arrives SSA.

Actually for Wealthy Global Citizen LTR visa the BoI LTR Announcement signed by the BoI top-guy states an "average" over the two years preceding application. That announcement memorandum is like the underlying LTR regulation based on what the Cabinet approved. In my opinion that "average" word provides some income flexibility "if", repeat, if BoI has the same opinion as me. Like if a person made $100K the previous year and then $60K for the year before that then that an "average" of $80K over two years. Link to BoI LTR Announcement and below partial quote from it However, the Wealthy Global Citizen Required Docs Checklist does not use the "average" word....simply says no less than $80K/year in the past 2 years. Link to BoI Required Docs and below partial quote from it But from all the posts made by many LTR applicants I'm of the opinion BoI offers flexibility in deciding if a person's past income over X-period satisfies LTR requirements....and this flexibility is a good thing.

As the LTR stats show several posts up the Wealthy Pensioner visa is the most popular....the Pensioner visa seems to be quite popular. If a person happens to receive at least $80K/year in "pension/fixed income".....OR if receiving at least $40K but less that $80K/year in pension/fixed income "along with a $250K investment in Thailand" which could be a new or past purchase of a Thai residence like a condo then a person is probably a shoe-in for LTR Pensioner visa approval assuming they also have the necessary health insurance coverage and at least 50 years old. I just don't know why Thailand can't consider a person who retires before 50....same thing for the 1 year Non O/OA/OX retirement visa. Now a condo purchase of $250K (approx Bt7.5M) might sound like it would a penthouse but at least here in Bangkok, and probably Phuket also, it would not be a penthouse...would be more like an "average" condo. Heck Bt7.5M couldn't even buy a person a basement unit in many condo buildings. I did a quick google to see what the average price for a condo was in Bangkok and currently the "median" price is almost Bt7M....I expect quite a few foreigners own such properties have used such a property investment (i.e., the condo they are living in) to meet the LTR income requirement. If you happen to currently own a condo in Thailand you paid at least Bt7.5M for, also receive at least Bt40K in pension/fixed income, and at least 50 years old with health coverage then an LTR visa could be yours.

No, "all four" must be met for the Wealthy Global Citizen. The Wealthily Pensioner has a different set of requirements to meet as does remaining/other categories. Once again, below are the Wealthy Global Citizen requirements....please note the red text at the bottom regarding the requirements where says "all" of the listed requirements must be met.....not one....not two....but "all."

Yes, it's possible and probably the norm for the bill to be paid from the wallet balance. When you have AutoRenew enabled it basically pays you monthly $3 bills and adds any remaining amount to your wallet like if you had AutoRenew enabled to pay around $5/month. And actually I think it adds the AutoRenew amount to your wallet for a split second and then the monthly fee is then deducted from your wallet. Anyway, I have two UM Paygo numbers....have been using them for around 2 years.....I do "not" use AutoReNew to pay the monthly bill....I have AutoRenew Turned Off as shown in below snapshot from one of my accts...the other acct is setup the same way. I just keep my wallet topped to around an average of $20...in the $10 to $30 ballpark...and each monthly $3 charge and any interim changes are "automatically" paid from my Wallet. I do not have to do anything manually. Now when initially getting the UM SIMs and playing around with my online acct I messed around a little with the AutoRenew setting below by changing it to AutoRenew On for a few seconds and then setting it back to the AutoRenew Off. Then for the next month or two each monthly $3 billing would still occur automatically....money automatically taken from my wallet balance....but I would get an email or two saying the AutoRenew failed so the monthly fee was taken from my wallet balance. After a month or two those emails stopped....I expect once changing it from AutoRenew On and then back to Off that it took UM's billing system a little time to stop sending me these squirrelly emails about AutoRenew....ever since then I haven't played around with the AutoRenew setting. I leave it turned off and just add money to my wallet periodically to topup. And yes, I know at the bottom of the snapshot below it says my turning AutoRenew Off I understand I will need to pay my bill manually each month. That sure implies a person would need to logon and initiate a payment but there is no way to initiate a monthly payment.....all you can do is "add to your wallet balance." So, what I expect what UM is trying to say in a vague, kinda misleading way is we sure would like you to use AutoRenew because you'll probably add more money that needed to cover your monthly bill and that's like money in the bank for us as it can't be refunded...instead it just builds-up your wallet balance. Plus, notice the sentence at the top of the AutoRenew setting where it says AutoRenew automatically recharges your wallet which is where UM really pulls the monthly payment from.

Medicare is not accepted as it does not provide coverage outside of the U.S. except in certain emergency situations for a limited timeframe....like on a short trip/vacation and certain types of medical emergencies occur. And since a supplemental Plan F (a.k.a., a Medigap plan to cover certain things/copays that Medicare does not fully cover) is just a supplement to Medicare which typically covers the Medicare copay/coinsurance requirement (i.e., the 20% that Medicare don't pay) I seriously, seriously doubt any Medigap type plan provides any coverage outside the U.S. except for certain emergencies during trips/vacation up to 60 days. Medigap type plans which supplement Medicare pretty much have to follow Medicare restrictions as to what can be covered and what can't. Heck, since 1 Jan 2020 Plans F is supposedly no longer available to "new applicants" due to a law change which said insurance companies can no longer offer plans which cover the Original Medicare Part B deductible. Supposedly, companies started offering Plan G for new applicants which is basically the old Plan F minus the Medicare Part B deductible coverage. But hey, if you can provide a Medicare Plan Supplement policy that states in the policy they provide worldwide/Thailand coverage 365 days a year I expect BoI would accept it. So, assuming your Medicare Supplement Plan is not acceptable you would need to get a U.S. or Thailand policy which provides at least $50K worldwide or Thailand coverage.