Pib

Update: with above post I just earned my first post badge...awesome.....I'll throw that new first post on top of the previous 27,000.

Wow....with almost 27,000 posts...joining 15 years ago...I was just downgraded from a Star member to a Newbie member. What did I do to deserve such a demotion AseanNow?!

Interesting. Why don't you try sending your 7162 inquiry again but this time select the "All Other Requests" reason vs the 7162 reason. Any yea, if the Manila FBU is blocking all 7162 inquiries then that just ain't right in my book. Maybe, they don't know about the problem....or maybe they do. Maybe if you do try to send your 7162 inquiry under the All Other Requests reason include a note that you had to use the All Other Requests reason because if using the preferred 7162 reason you get an access denied reason---and ask if they are aware of this problem. Now tomorrow, 3 Feb is direct deposit payday for folks with overseas addresses "unless" some of us have had our benefit suspended in mid Jan due to non-receipt of our 7162. The wife and I appear to be good-to-go as we didn't get a 2nd notice which supposedly means they got our first mailing....and in our SSA Online accts as of a day or two ago our accts show as "Active" (in green color) and there is a planned 3 Feb payment showing for both of us.

I notice the Bangkok Immigration website now shows the requirements to extend an LTR visa (guess this means getting the 2nd 5 years on the visa). Basically you just need your passport, BoI approval/endorsement letter, and a STM8 form. See paragraph 38 at below immigration webpage. Gosh knows when the BoI will publish on their website the procedures to get the 2nd 5 years since it will not be until mid 2027 (around July 2027) that initial recipients of a LTR visa (i.e., those who were first issued an LTR visa in Sep 2022) will need to apply for the 2nd 5 years. But I expect (guess) the procedure will be very similar to the initial application with the exception of no fee to pay. And maybe, just maybe, since the procedure is now listed on the Immigration website that getting the 2nd 5yrs will not require a trip to the BoI Once Stop Service Center Immigration at Chamchuri Square in Bangkok Instead...get the 2nd 5 years at your local immigration office as long as you have the BoI approval/endorsement letter. Maybe that is BoI's and Immigration's long term plan since the LTR visa program is new...still a work in process. Heck, maybe the long term plan is to even provide the "initial" stamps (i.e., 10 years visa stamp and 1st 5 years permitted to stay stamp) at any immigration office as long as you have the BoI approval/endorsement letter which an immigration office would be able to confirm with your printed copy and within the immigration magic computer system. The again, maybe the extension procedure is listed even in those cases where only one immigration office (like the BoI immigration office) can issue an extension....don't know....I'm guessing. https://bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/visa-extension/#1663059245307-70ae5f8b-e773

Yeap. Or junior riding solo on mom's/dad's motorcycle...barely big enough to hold the motorcycle up....no helmet....too young for a license....and mom & dad may not even have the mandatory govt insurance on the ;motorcycle or even a license plate. It's a super common occurrence all over Thailand but especially in the rural areas. I see it all the time around my mother-in-law's home in a rural village. Simply a common place occurrence in Thailand and similar less developed countries.

I expect the HH work permit office is really just seeing something saying you are authorized a digital permit since having a LTR visa but the permit was never issued since you declined it. Basically it just saying you are authorized a work permit with your LTR visa "if" you should follow-thru and apply for the digital work permit which you did not do. Same for me for my LTR Pensioner visa When I click the Print Digital Work Permit nothing pulls up....just a blank white screen....surely because I declined the permit during the LTR application process.

SSA 1099R available online as of 1 Feb 2023. When clicking the circled icon below (which does not appear until 1 Feb) you can either download a copy or have them mail you another copy. The wife and I received our printed copies in early Jan 2023 here in Bangkok and also just downloaded a copy.

Several references on BOT LTR visa website...below are two. https://ltr.boi.go.th/index.html#pri https://ltr.boi.go.th/documents/LTR_Phuket_260865_EN.pdf

Yes...no...maybe. As mentioned earlier some people have been successful; others not. @mudcat was successful in using his brokerage account assets to satisfy the $100K requirements....see his post below from the main LTR visa thread. And I personally know another person who was successful is using his 401K/IRA type acct to satisfy the medical requirement. How does BOI decide whether to accept a person's brokerage/401K/IRA type acct to satisfy the $100K is something I don't know....I can only guess...have an opinion. I only know what people posted in the main LTR thread. But "IMO" I think what "may" be a factor is whether a person was also using that brokerage/401K/IRA acct to meet the LTR income requirements and also trying to use it to satisfy the medical insurance requirement...if trying to use that acct to meet income "and" medical maybe that may not fly---but that's just an opinion of mine. But if a person is primarily meeting the income requirement via pensions/salary which means that brokerage/401K/IRA type acct is not being tapped (or minimally) then maybe that satisfies the BOI. Once again, that just my opinion....a guess.

Thailand or abroad...doesn't matter. See below weblink/partial quote from LTR Visa website. Also, it does not have to be actual USD....it can be any currency and BOI will use their posted exchange rate (on the LTR Visa main webpage on the right side) to determine if it's equivalent to $100K USD. https://ltr.boi.go.th/documents/Announcement_of the Office of the Board of Investment No.2-2565 (EN).pdf

Based on my experience with the LTR visa website is often down.....or VERY show. Weekends and mornings (Thailand time) seemed to be the worst based on my experience. And I was accessing from within Thailand. Many others have posted problems in the other the main LTR thread. I'll define "often" in the 10% of the time ballpark when I was accessing the LTR website/login almost daily in the Oct thru Dec 2022 time frame which is when I was reviewing the LTR website info and/or had submitted my LTR application where I would often check the application status. I can't speak to the LTR website uptime from 1 Jan 2023 forward since I got my LTR approved/finished/issued in late Dec 2022 and stop accessing it a lot. Yea, the LTR website/application system has had more than its fair share of glitches, downtime, growing pains, etc. So, if you can't reach the LTR site OR is very slow just try again a few hours later....chances are high there is no problem on your internet/computer/phone end whether you are in or outside Thailand as the problem is all on the LTR website end here in Thailand. And if you can logon to the LTR website but it's VERY slow I would not recommend trying to upload an application docs until the speed returns to normal which will probably be a few hours later. Hopefully the LTR website reliability/uptime will get much better.

IMO the 1095B or DFAS letter saying you are receiving receiving retirement wouldn't hack it with BOI as evidence you have the required health care coverage. But that's only my opinion. Yes, the 1095B is just fine to prove health care coverage for U.S. tax law purposes, but I seriously, seriously, seriously it would be accepted by BOI as it does not provide any details on the coverage such as the name of the insurer (e.g., Tricare), amount of coverage, whether coverage applies to Thailand, etc. Now even the Tricare enrollment/coverage benefits letter you can get from DEERS does not mention coverage amount or coverage area but it does say you are enrolled in Tricare. And per my emails and face-to-face meeting with BOI, Tricare is now accepted since around the Dec 2022 timeframe as I posted about on page 57 of the other LTR thread. And I hear you about the DS Logon acct which allows you access to milConnect/DEERS as it's very easy to get locked out of DS Logon. From years of experience of using DS Logon I would only recommend using it to connect to websites that "only" allow connection via DS Logon....that is, you got no other choice. Instead, if you can connect another way then use that other way because once you connect to a certain website via DS Logon that website will then only allow you to use DS Logon vs a separate logon acct you may have had. milConnect also use to allow connect via DFAS credentials but I don't think that's allowed anymore...now I think it just DS Logon or active duty CAC ID card. I would recommend you call the the Benefits Support phone number at milConnect to see if you can request a Proof of Health Care Coverage Letter via phone....like the example I gave in the other thread.. Humans are supposedly at that number (after going thru the interactive prompts) from 5am to 5pm "Pacific Time" Mon-Fri. You may be able to request the letter that way and they would hopefully mail it to you. https://milconnect.dmdc.osd.mil/milconnect/ Keep in mind there are three ways to satisfy the LTR medical coverage requirement. 1) Thai or foreign medical insurance policy providing at least $50K coverage, 2) Thai social security medical coverage, and 3) self insure by having $100K in a bank acct for 12 months--and I'm not sure if it means the balance had to be at least $100K for at least 12 months OR it might possibly mean the acct(s) just needed to be open for at least 12 months although the balance may have be less than $100K over those 12 months...BUT, it's probably the former of the bank statement needing to show at least $100K over at least the past 12 months. Note: BOI seems to be flexible on the $100K in terms of it not necessary needing to be in a bank acct(s) as people have also been approved to self ensure using their 401K/IRA/TSP type accts which had at $100K....and I don't mean on an exception basis but quite a few people. So, self insuring might be an option if you can't get the Tricare benefits letter. P.S. I know it can be a pain to get confirmation of certain benefits provided by the U.S. govt/military due to the generic nature sometimes of their benefits letter, maybe no enrollment card, etc....you know what I'm talking about. Snapshot from LTR website regarding medical coverage proof.

If you are seriously interested in the LTR visa be sure to review the BOI LTR website and also read the AseanNow LTR topic/thread. DrJack54 gave the weblink to the thread in his post above...but at the bottom I listed it again. Yes, the thread is long as it starts with the kickoff of the LTR Visa program in mid 2022 when many who were interested in or actually applied for an LTR visa still had many questions. Early-on there were questions, but as you read thru the "entire" thread and the LTR Visa website I expect durn near all of your questions will be answered.....and answer questions you didn't think of asking yet. The fee LTR one time fee is Bt50K for the 10 year visa. Actually it's a 5 yr + 5yr visa which does require you to reapply after 5 years to get the 2nd 5 years...but there is no fee for that 2nd 5 years. And as already mentioned by others no annual fee since the LTR visa doesn't need to be renewed annually. The LTR visa includes a multiple exit/reentry permit at no additional charge like Non-O/OA 1 year visas where a single and multiple exit/reentry fee costs Bt1K and Bt3.8K, respectively. Now, if selecting to have the LTR visa issued at the BoI One Stop Service Center/Immigration in Bangkok the fee is Bt50K. If paying in Bangkok then you can pay via Cash or Thai bank QR code (i.e., PromptPay).....payment via Thai or foreign debit/credit card not allowed. But if selecting to have a Thai Embassy/Consulate issue the LTR visa then the fee will be in the Bt50K to Bt70K equivalent range based on whatever exchange/fee that particular Thai Embassy/Consulate charges for an LTR visa....payment method would be whatever that Embassy/Consulate allows.

I expect once BoI gets around to providing 1 year address reporting info on the LTR visa website that it will probably pretty much mirror the SMART visa website which allows 1 year address reporting two ways at the BoI One Stop Service Center: (1) in person (or authorized representative) (2) by mail. See Para 4.1 at below BOI SMART visa webpage. This webpage also mentions the 1 year reporting resets every time you reenter Thailand....so, if a person exits/reenters Thailand once a year they would never have to do an in-person or by mail report. https://smart-visa.boi.go.th/smart/pages/how-to-manage.html Hopefully the LTR website will be updated/expanded over the next 6 months or so to provide a lot more info....like the lot more info on the SMART Visa website.

From a related LTR thread regarding Permanent Establishment.

This Heinecke guy always seems to be out in left field...always saying something from a total business greed standpoint. Where he says only a small percentage of the Thai population has received the vaccine is simply wrong. In fact, over 80% aree fully vaccinated/received at least two doses. And I know within my circle of close Thai friends/family most have received at least 3 dozes....and a couple 4 or 5 doses. Heck, the Thai wife and I have had 4 doses all provided free by the Thai govt. We could have already got a 5th dose but will wait another 6 months or so to get it.

There are a coupe of Thai Revenue Code/Dept Laws & notices posted on the LTR website in English and Thai...specifically attachments 8 thru 11 as circled in below snapshot. Don't know if they may help clarify things. https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/laws-regulations.html

Maybe just system overload at this time of day. Definitely keep trying at different times of the day/night. And it asked you to blink? Or maybe it said not to blink? I just know holding the phone as steady as possible under good lighting is key.

Be sure to be in good lightning, preferably daylight lighting. Use daytime lighting vs warm/yellow lightning. Try the face scan outside in daylight. And move the camera back and forth "slowly" and with a "steady" hand until you see it actually starting to do the face scan by the changing/flashing colors.

Below BOI LTR webpage shows the LTR visa approval timeframe.....it's pretty detailed in identifying how long a person's application could take in the various steps of approval. But when the real world dust settles in seems most applications will take one to two calendar months.....one month if the BOI is satisfied with all docs provided in your application.....two months if the request additional docs later on. A few get approved in a little under a month. The step that usually takes the longest is Step 3 (see snapshot below) where the BOI must obtain coordination with five other govt agencies like Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Immigration Bureau, etc., but it's the BOI that does its best to ensure you meet the requirements and have provided all the necessary docs before the package is forwarded to the other agencies for coordination. The BOI is the key agency to please as they are the Office of Primary Responsibility for the LTR visa, but they still must ensure coordinating offices like Immigration are happy with your application also. It's the BOI and "not" Immigration that is the primary office in determining if your documents meet requirements. It different than the application process for a standard visa such as a Non O, Non OA, etc., where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Immigration are the primary offices reviewing/approving your visa/extension of stay application. And keep in mind if BOI requests Additional Docs that can slow down/reset the clock to reaching the 20 working days approval goal the BOI advertises. And it seems the request for additional docs is commonly related to meeting the medical insurance requirement and income So, be sure to provide the best/fullest documentation possible. As Misty said if you located in Thailand and in a time crunch to get the LTR visa because you current visa expiring soo,, well, phone calls and emails to BOI in trying to speed-up your application may not help much although the BOI reps will be very polite and professional on the phone. You may get better results if you visit BOI with a puppy dog eye expression to plead accelerated processing of your application. Now that will not prevent you from needing to meet all requirements and provide necessary docs but it may help your application processing date from possibly being reset to zero/being put back on the bottom of the pile in those cases where additional docs were requested. See LTR Application Steps/Timeline at this BOI webpage https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/application-timeline.html The key, longest step

It dosen't matter what type of visa you are on or even if you don't have a visa. I'm sure quite a few of the people who received an LTR visa were on Non O visa/extension of stay. If you have a visa once you are approved for an LTR visa your other visa (or extension of stay based on a years old Non O, Non OA, etc) will be cancelled once you take the final step in the LTR process were you pay the Bt50K fee. You have 60 days to take the final step after you receive the LTR endorseme approval notice from BOI. If you don't take that final step then the LTR approval expires and you must start all over. Like for me when I took the final LTR visa step the BOi Immigration cancelled my old Non OA with current marriage extension of stay while issuing me the new LTR pensioner visa. Kinda like a combo action

I expect many Thais, "especially the poor and/or old," never used ibanking much less mbanking. Instead, banking all their life has been via visit to a branch with passbook in hand and/or visit to an ATM (or a close relative/friend going to the ATM for them with the person's debit card to withdraw what small amount is in the acct). I sure know that's how it works with a lot of my poor and/or old Thai friends/family. Yea, I just don't think there will be much fretting except from those who simply prefer ibanking bigtime over mbanking. For me as an older farang with excellent eyesite thanks to the magic of PanOptix intraocular lens (IOLs) I can read my smartphone with ease. I do like using mbanking for most of my Thai basic banking but for my U.S./home country banking from Thailand I prefer ibanking.

First of all there are few grey hair Thais since the great, great majority of Thais, old or middle aged, keep their hair dyed pitch black as they don't want to look old....a Thai/oriental face thing. I just love seeing some fancy gathering on TV news of some ceremony/event consisting of only Thais all dressed up and 98% of them, whether 40 years old or 90 years old, have pitch black hair---especially the women. So, few grey hairs will be beating down KrungThai Bank doors. ???? Seriously though, since KrungThai is Thai govt owned bank and has many, many "captive" customers who receive govt payments which can only be sent to a KrungThai bank acct I expect KrungThai--or should I say the govt--gives much of a sh7t. And if most of those "old captive" customers are like my older Thai friends and family who don't use a computer and only use a phone to call, use LINE, or view Youtube then this talk of KrungThai ibanking going away on 31 Jan will probably mean close to zero to them especially since they are the type who visit a branch with passbook in hand or any ATM with debit card in hand to withdraw their monthly welfare/old age pension payments which can only be sent to KrungThai. Like some of my closest "old" relatives they just let a young family member like a son, daughter, grandchild, etc., use the debit card to withdraw that monthly payment. Heck you mention mbanking, ibanking, mobile app, etc., in Thai or English language to my older Thai relatives and their eyes just roll back in their head. Heck, they never got on the ibanking train much less the mbanking train that came along much later. But they do know what a passbook is and usually an ATM card.

OK, your broker doing a domestic "wire" and not a standard ACH transfer. Although both go over the ACH network the settling process and formats are different. Two different animals. As mentioned before a "Domestic Wire" to/thru Bangkok Bank NY still works. But a standard ACH transfer like "you" would initiate from your U.S. bank account to/thru Bangkok Bank NY for relay to your in-Thaland Bangkok Bank acct will no longer work as the NY branch will reject it which will also probably cause that ACH transfer link in your ibanking/mbanking to be restricted/blocked for further use as that is what U.S. banks normally do when a transfer is rejected back for some reason that you initiated from an ACH transfer link you setup in your ibanking/mbanking. Yeap....a domestic wire will still work....but unfortunately most U.S. banks will charge a fee in the $20 ballpark to send a domestic wire (and more for an international SWIFT transfer) whereas a standard ACH transfer is usually free or a few U.S. banks may charge around $3. Now your "broker" may be doing that domestic wire for free because I know some brokers don't charge a domestic wire fee if you have X-amount of assets with them....the broker gets his fee/profit indirectly due to the assets he manages/holds for you.

My Thai wife has a KrungThai Bank acct to receive a small monthly pension payment from the Thai govt....had no choice...had to have a KrungThai Bank acct which is owned by the Thai govt. Always used their ibanking vs the mobile app but the ibanking is going away at the end of January. Now my lovely wife is a cavewoman when it comes to using technology so I helped her setup the KrungThai mobile app today on her phone. To do the setup/registering you must be on a "mobile" connection. But after you complete that registering process the app will then work over Wifi. For the wife she had to enter/scan-in her Thai ID card and let the app do a face scan.....if all goes well you will then reach a screen which gives you 72 hours to take the final step which requires a person to go to a KrungThai ATM with Thai ID card reader capability....it a separate slot on the ATM....and the ATM should have the word CONFIRM on it which means the ATM can read both debit/credit cards and Thai ID cards. I drew an arrow pointing to the ID card slot in the middle of the ATM....the debit/credit card slot is on the right side. Now once you insert the Thai ID card it does some kind of verification and if accepted it tell you can now go back to the KrungThai mobile app and click the button/link saying you have successfully verified at the ATM. When you click that mobile app link saying you have done the verification it then does some magic for a second or two and then the app fully activates. The app now works....it will work on Wifi or mobile. I did the test by turning on Airplane Mode on the wife's phone and then turning back on Wifi (mobile connection still deactivated by the Airplane mode) and the app worked fine on Wifi. I then turned off the Airplane mode. Now a foreigner can register the app using their passport but since a KrungThai ATM cannot read a passport I expect the final step verification "probably/maybe" requires a person to go to a KrungThai Bank branch to accomplish the final step of verification. I did not read all the posts in this thread so if someone has already done the verification using their farang passport then follow their guidance/post. We asked a Krungsri Bank rep at the branch were we used the ATM if a person must go thru the mobile app activation process again if they were to buy a new phone. The rep said no "as long as you are still using the same SIM/phone number." So apparently this registration process marries the mobile app to the "SIM" versus marries the app to phone itself. Now this could very well mean you will need to have your Thai SIM card from True, DTAC, AIS, etc., in your phone vs being able to register using a home country SIM since during the registration process a person must be able to receive a OTP which is sent to the phone number you have onfile with KrungThai bank. I played with the KrungThai app for about 10 minutes after full activation....it sure offers a LOT of capability. Then I had to give the phone back to my lovely caveman wife so she could return to watching Youtube and using LINE. She will rarely use the app....just to check the balance every once in a while....because she only lets that some govt payment stay in the KrungThai acct for a few months before withdrawing it. We primarily use Bangkok Bank and Krungsri Bank for our serious banking. Picture of a KrungThai ATM where a person's Thai ID card can be read/verified along with the standard capability of accepting debit/credit cards in a separate slot.