Pib

You can apply up to 45 days early at some Immigration Offices (IO) like Bangkok/CW; up to 30 days at other IOs. When I was doing marriage extension of stays (for the last 3 years) I always applied 40 to 45 days early at the Bangkok/CW IO. You don't lose any time off your current or new extension by applying early assuming your last extension was also a marriage extension. I would never have dreamed of applying on the last day before expiration. Recommendation: Don't wait till the last day because one or all of Murphy's three laws may bite you. What are Murphy's three laws? Murphy's First Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's Second Law: Nothing is as easy as it looks. Murphy's Third Law: Everything takes longer than you think it will.

Yea....Thai Elite uses agents also.....and those agents receive a minimum 10% commission of each Thailand Elite membership sold. Like the Bt2M, 20 year Elite Ultimate Privilege membership would earn an agent at least Bt200K. The lowest cost Bt600K, 5 year Elite Easy Access membership would earn an agent at least Bt60K. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bGZ5sckoHZl1HdJFiaD_5svGq53Pq0xE/view Just for others listening in, to get a better idea of the number of "Agents" the Thailand Elite scheme has take a look at below Thailand Elite webpage.....look at the bottom of the page for the "View Our Agents" button. https://thailandelite.com/ Maybe a lot of these Thailand Elite agents will also want to be LTR agents....who knows. And once going to above webpage you will see many agents, their locations, etc. Just for example one of the agents is Siam Legal...and if you go to Siam Legal's Thailand Elite webpage (below) you'll see the type of Thailand Elite application service they provide. https://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-visa/thai-elite-visa.php Now based on the BoI LTR Certified Agent document posted several posts up I doubt any commission would be allowed/earned from processing a LTR application. Instead the LTR agent would set their own fee above and beyond the Bt50K govt fee....a fee that would have to be pre-approved by BoI per the BoI LTR Certified Agent document. And hopefully the BoI will still allow a person to apply directly to BoI as currently setup so an applicant could avoid using an agent if the applicant desires. Just like current 1 year visa/extensions of stay....up to the individual if he/she applies directly or has an agent hand-walk them. Now it will be interesting to see what fee LTR Agents will charge especially since there is a lot more application paperwork involved with a LTR application compared to an Elite application.

I have not changed my password but I expect if you select the Forgot Password link on the Login screen that process will email you a new one time/temporary logon password which will allow you to also create a new/updated password.

Yea, the govt promoting the LTR visa scheme as drawing 1M farangs over 5 years was basically a political statement not based in reality as political statements/promises so often are. That statement was really focused towards the Thai population as a near term economic boost for the country. In some ways like "highly, highly questionable" Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) annual tourist and economic projections/stats in the pre-COVID 19 days. I'm sure the worker-bees at the govt agencies tasked with developing the LTR scheme were shaking their heads in disbelief.....thinking "yea, in your wildest dreams".....when their bosses said our goal will be 1M over 5 years and that will be our party line from here-on-out! But the worker-bees saluted sharply to their political leadership and marched forwarded to develop the LTR requirements which they knew could never meet a political goal of 1M "approved" applications over 5 years which subdivides to represent 200K per year, 548 per calendar day, or 800 per working/business day. Heck, I'm not sure if they have even reached 548 "approved" applications since the 1 Sep 2022 kickoff date....I think they have only received around 1,500-2,000 applications. My approved LTR Pensioner visa had a number in the mid 300's for 2022. I'm sure the govt now wishes they had "not" stated numerous times the 1M over 5 year goal and such LTR statements will be a thing of the past in future govt announcements on how the program is doing. But future statements and updates will still have a positive spin....but hopefully they will not include TAT-type wild projections. And hopefully the LTR visa program will mature into a successful visa program that will result in many thousands being approved annually.

Having BoI Certified Agents (CA) to assist applicants who want to use such a service (for a fee) should very significantly increase the number LTR visas that get approved, speed the LTR application process, offload workload from BoI, and be good advertisement for the LTR program as CAs will advertise the program in order to round-up more business. And I'm sure there are many potential applicants who are paperwork-challenged, prefer to be hand-walked thru the process, wants a CA to do the heavy lifting, etc., who will gladly pay a CA fee. But I hope the BoI does not go to the point of requiring every applicant to use a CA....that is, not also allowing an applicant to apply directly to BoI like the process currently works.

And below is a Google Lens translation of the "Certified Agent" doc that the BoI released. The translation is far from perfect but it's good enough to give us Thai language challenged folks a fair understanding of what the doc says. Basically, looking to certify agents to assist foreigners in obtaining a LTR visa....hand-walk applicants thru the process....act as an authorized middleman between BoI and the applicant, etc.

It sure appears with the Immigration Bureau announcing the new pilot project E-extension online application system which is currently only available to those who use the Bangkok/CW immigration office (right now a person does not have to use it...it just available if you want to use it) and the BoI putting out a request for interested companies to act as a Certified Agent(s) to process LTR visa applications/website that my guess within 5 years all visa and extension application/renewals will be handled online. The requirement to actually visit an immigration office in most cases will be a thing of the past. This can be good and bad for some applicants....but regardless it's surely in our near future.

And where Misty said above "Perhaps more can follow" relating to contracting-out of the LTR application process, well, it looks like that on 29 Dec 2022 the BoI put out a call/request to interested parties to act as "Certified Agents" with a request for interested parties to submit an application form by 31 Jan 2023. If you go to the LTR public website and select the Application Process menu that menu will reflect a new entry called "Certified Agency (CA)." Then when clicking on CA a Thai language official doc will appear where the BoI is requesting interested parties to apply to be CA's. https://ltr.boi.go.th/index.html Yeap, the BoI will be contracting-out more of the LTR program. Probably similar to the recent Immigration Bureau announcement that when applying for certain types of visa "extensions" (not all) that a person will be able to apply online where a company called VFS will handle the great bulk of the "online E-extension application"/approval/disapproval process....and the person will only need to visit immigration for the final steps....pretty much like how the great bulk of the LTR application process is handled online up until the final issuing of the visa into your passport.

Regarding how much of jointly owned real estate could be applied towards your LTR application, oldcpu ran this to ground in early December. See his 7 Dec post below. But basically, as aublumberg said above if the property (i.e., condo) is in your and the wife's name then you could apply 50% of the property value towards your LTR application.

Below 23 minutes Youtube 23 video was posted earlier in this thread and it may provide more insight on your question, specifically the part from approx 10:55 to 15:50 minutes/seconds where they talk Jane's situation/qualifications in relationship to applying for a Wealthy Pensioner application. Jane has a $25K/yr pension, $20K/yr rental income, and $600K in IRA/stocks investments. Below the video I also included a few snapshots from the video where the BoI rep points out the type of retirement savings they are looking for which is primarily pensions or annuities (like IRA, 401K, etc) vs a standard brokerage acct....enough in pensions/annuities to cover the 10 year period of the LTR visa. Please not two parts of the video have incorrect/outdated info.. The parts where they talk it's looking positive that a LTR visa recipient will be allowed to own up to 1 rai of land, but as we know the Thai govt later withdrew that proposal. And also where the guy says buying Thai govt bonds "is a snap"....easy....etc., which is completely wrong as it's hard for the typical foreigner to buy Thai govt bonds.....easy for a Thai citizen but not for a farang. Snapshots from above video

Whoops....previously I misspelled 20 & 21 above....I spelled as Juman (with a J) but correct spelling is Zuman (with a Z) which I have now corrected above. Happy New Year.

You do not need any type of LTR visa and/or work permit for the initial 2 year driver's license and then after that a 5 year driving license. You only need some type of 1 year visa like a 1 year Non B/O/OA visa. Heck I got my initial driver's license (which was valid for 1 or 2 years...I forget which one) and then my 5 year license under my OA Retirement 1 year visa....and have renewed the 5 year license twice under a 1 year retirement/marriage extension of stays.

Regarding the Thai citizenship question it would indeed provide a pathway to Thai citizenship simply because it a way of staying in Thailand for at least 3 years and working on a work permit for at least 3 years which would meet the core requirements of applying for Permanent Residence (PR) if you are a single person. Now if you are married to a Thai then the pathway to Thai citizenship is a little different but even that pathway requires some type of visa to stay in Thailand long enough to meet citizenship requirements. I think below website provides good info on "obtaining Thai citizenship" as each person's particular situation will affect the pathway to citizenship. https://www.thaicitizenship.com/

No....can not. But you can switch from a O/A Retirement extension of stay to an O/A Marriage Extension of Stay. As the underlying visa the original O/A visa will still be in place but the Extension of Stay will be based on Marriage vs Retirement....and this changes the required income and insurance requirements. If doing a Retirement extension based on an underlying O/A the medical insurance is required along with the 800K deposit or 65K/month income. But if switching to a Marriage extension based on an underlying O/A no medical insurance is required and only a Bt400K on deposit for only 2 months before applying or Bt40K/month income. And after getting the Marriage Extension if you were using the 400K deposit method you can take the deposit balance immediately down to zero if desired "after getting the final extension stamp (don't drop below during the Under Consideration period which lasts for about a month after applying). Or said another way you'll need to maintain at least Bt400K for 3 months over the year for a marriage extension vs 800K to 400K the entire 12 months for a retirement extension of stay. Yea, there is a little more application paperwork required for a marriage extension like providing your original marriage certificate, a Kor Ror 2 marriage doc confirming you are still married which you can get easily/very cheap (a few baht) get at any district office in Thailand (I assuming you were married in Thailand), and 4 to 6 pictures of you and the spouse around/in your residence. That's pretty much it in terms of additional paperwork over a retirement extension of stay. Around three years ago I switched from doing a Retirement extension on my O/A for around 11 years to a Marriage Extension on my O/A in order to avoid the Thai medical insurance requirement. And the marriage extension lower deposit/income requirement was nice.

Definitely apply yourself since you've had the Bt800K in a Thai bank for 12 months. It's so easy....just a few short/easy forms to complete/provide. Also, make an appt to avoid the long queue....you can renew up to 45 days early at CW. You'll probably be done within 1 hr after checking in for your appt. Then take the agent-fee money you saved and go buy something nice for yourself or someone else. Happy New Year.

Update: Known LTR Visa Approvals as of 29 Dec 2022 "based on posts in this thread I saw." Added in bold text "User3847385, Saraburi121, & khunjeff" who got LTR visa Approved 8, 23, & 26 Dec, respectively. Two were Pensioner visas and one Work from Thailand Professional visa. See their posts above over the last day or so for more details. Congrats!!! Seems like December has turned out to be a good month for LTR approvals. In below list 5 were approved in Sep, 9 in Oct, only 3 in Nov, and 8 so far in Dec. Remember, this list only accounts for those who have announced an approval in this thread. Happy Holidays To All. I know the folks below who got their LTR Golden Ticket are probably feeling pretty happy. Poster & Date Approval Notice Rec'd 1. BKKNono - 15 Sep 2. ashkale - 28 Sep 3. ThailandRyan - 28 Sep 4. pepper402 - 29 Sep 5. gajah - 30 Sep 6. Alotoftravel - 4 Oct 7. James7 - 4 Oct 8. & 9. Misty (and family member) - 4 Oct 10. mudcat - 4 Oct 11. & 12. stuarty (and wife) - 4 Oct 13. Boomer6969 - 5 Oct 14. aublumberg - 12 Oct 15. JJJJJJJJ - 8 Nov 16. smic - 28 Nov 17. Paul3456 - 30 Nov 18. anotherexpat4444 - 7 Dec 19. User3847385 - 8 Dec 20. & 21. Juman - 16 Dec (and Mrs Juman on 27 Dec) 22. lextsy - 21 Dec 23. Pib - 23 Dec 24. Saraburi121 - 23 Dec 25. khunjeff - 26 Dec

1. The Tricare evidence I submitted consisted of one page memo within my me explaining my outstanding Tricare coverage, a U.S. military benefits letter confirming I was enrolled in Tricare but this benefits letter only shows an enrollment date but no end date, a one page document from the Tricare website explaining how Tricare for Life works, and a chart consisting of around 4 pages showing Tricare outpatient, inpatient, pharmacy, etc., coverage/costs/etc. But since Tricare provides basically "unlimited" worldwide coverage no max dollars are provided like saying inpatient coverage is $100K, $1M, etc. These type of govt-provided/govt-sponsored open-ended/group type policies just look different and are written differently from a typical civilian insurance policy that comes with a policy sheet showing a start and end date, coverage amounts, etc. Basically I patched together a policy resembling a civilian policy since Tricare does not provide a written policy like a civilian policy. Instead, you pretty much just go to Tricare websites and/or your online Tricare acct to see generic docs/booklets explaining your Tricare coverage. Very similar to how Medicare coverage works in that there is no civilian type policy but just an online acct, websites to get info, phone numbers to call customer service for more info, etc. 2. Although I called quite a few times starting after the 20 working days had passed I never got to talk to the specific BoI Screener/Agent that was actually reviewing my application....and actually I don't think it was just "one" Screener but several that may have been involved. I usually ended up talking to "front desk customer service type" although two times I did get to talk to one of the actual application Screeners after I had uploaded the additional docs. But at that time the Screener said the Screening (Reviewing Section) had not yet got around to taking another look at my application after I had uploaded the additional docs. But yea, I think I gave it the ol' college try to get BoI to accept Tricare to include explaining how it's an opened ended policy....has no end date unless I croak or stop paying the premium which is automatically deducted form my retirement pay. But that try was not good enough most likely due to the "no end date showing at least 10 months left on the coverage" which the BoI seems to be firm on....a must-have at least for now. I hope in the future they provide more flexibility to open-end policies (outstanding, basically unlimited coverage) as such coverage/policies are quite common with some groups of people such as govt retirees and even those still serving with the govt.

But regarding when will a person be required to apply for the 2nd 5 years of the 10 year visa although a person might end up with rolling, conflicting permitted to stay until stamps in their passport from traveling in & out of the country, I fully expect a person's renewal window to get the 2nd 5 years will be based on when the LTR visa was actually "issued" at BoI or an embassy. I'm fully expect the clock will start ticking based on the LTR issued date (not the approval date but the issued dat) and we'll see more guidance regarding that on the LTR website. Right now the BoI is probably still developing the exact procedure/process for that 2nd 5 years which will not come due until Sep 2027 since the first LTR visa issued only just occurred staring a few months ago in Sep 2022. Plus I expect BoI knows there could be LTR policy changes (for the better or worst) between now and Sep 2027 which could alter the 2nd 5 years procedure/policy.

Jim, My Tricare was not accepted but no specific reason(s) was given. About 5 weeks in to my application I checked my application status one day (I was checking it multiple times per day) and the Status had changed from Pending to Request for Add'l Docs. There was no online notification nor did I get an email stating why. So, I started looking around my submitted application and noticed there were now a red text comment in the Income upload area stating evidence of income/tax return was required....it was just a one sentence statement saying income evidence can be provided by providing income evidence or providing a tax return. That's not the exact wording, but it's pretty close. It was just a short comment and not phrased as a request. Nor did it say the income evidence I had already provided in my pensions annuity monthly/annual statements which exceed $80K was inadequate. So, I uploaded my latest income tax return (redacted a little to partially mask my SSN) in the Income upload area. I figure the BoI wanted to see my income tax return to provide further proof of my income. And in the medical coverage area a comment in red text that was simply a quote from LTR website saying: "Provide a health insurance policy covering medical expenses in Thailand of at least USD 50,000 with a remaining coverage period of at least 10 months as of the date of the letter of qualification endorsement issuance; or evidence of social security benefits insuring medical expenses in Thailand; or a deposit balance of at least USD 100,000 in a bank account in Thailand or abroad retained for at least12 months as of the date of application." Once again, just that comment....not phrased as a request...nothing saying my Tricare evidence I had already uploaded was not good enough, etc. To me BoI was indirectly saying my military Tricare coverage did not meet the requirements probably because it did not have an "end-date" as most civilian policies have both a specific start date for the current annual coverage and also a specific end date 12 months down the road. I had also seen posts in other forums talking LTR applications where applicants with "open-ended, group" type policies which typically do not have an end date reflected on the policy also not being accepted by BoI. Opened ended, group type policies many times do "not" have a policy end date as long as you are still kicking and paying the premiums (if any premiums are needed). Typically these are government-provided/sponsored policies. Although these open-ended, group type medical coverage policies provide outstanding worldwide coverage (like Tricare), unfortunately, the lack of the policy showing an end-date at least 10 months down the road is probably why it failed to satisfy BoI. So, I went the self ensure route...uploaded self insure band/financial docs. Once again, I did not receive any specific reason why Tricare was not accepted. I just received some quoted requirements that to prove medical coverage I can do so by providing a policy that has at least 10 months remaining on it OR show I have Thai social security coverage OR self insure. After uploading the income tax return and self insure docs about 3 weeks later my application was approved and I now have the LTR Golden Ticket stamped in my passport.

When was your LTR "approved?" You said you got it "inked into your passport" on 14 Dec which means the Approval would have been sometime earlier. Since having the LTR actually put in/inked into your passport depends on when a person makes an appointment at BoI or applies at an embassy which could be up to 60 days after approval, knowing the "approval" date gives folks a better picture of how long your application took from submission to approval. Thanks.

Sounds like you need to bounce the question off BoI again since one BoI rep said yes but another BoI said no. You need to politely point out the conflicting answers. Note: before I applied for my LTR Pensioner I asked BoI via email a medical insurance question and their reply weeks later ended up being completely wrong. Kinda like they initially answered with a firm "Yes" but when applying it turned out to be a "No." If I was you I would call BoI to ask your question again and see if you can talk to someone who is just not the "all purpose customer support rep" which might answer as such reps may not be inexperienced on some questions/issues. I don't see anything on the LTR website that says a LTR Work from Thailand Professional could not be issued a digit work permit....in fact the Work from Thailand Professional application has a Work Permit area for completion "if" you plan to or are currently working in Thailand. Link to application https://ltr.boi.go.th/documents/Work-From-Thailand-Professional.pdf Partial snapshot from the application regarding work permit

And I wonder if Boi is considering outsourcing "part or all" of the LTR application process to include LTR website management. I could easily see where part of the process could be outsourced like website management and doing the "initial" processing/review of applications. And then at the tail-end of the application process BoI would then take the baton to do a final review, provide final coordination with other govt agencies like Immigration/Dept of Employment, and final approval. Kinda like a 10 lap track race....maybe the first 9 laps would be run by a contracted third party who has a contract with BoI and then BoI takes the baton to run the final/10th lap. I think the probability of BoI outsourcing the entire process is very remote but "partially" outsourcing some of the process like the initial review of applications and website management should be quite doable, but I'm also sure there are a lot of laws/regulations/policies/rice bowls which might not make such a move easy. It sure would be nice if the BoI could improve the application efficiency to where they could routinely meet their 20 working days goal of reaching a final decision (approved or disapproved). Right now that 20 working day goal seems to be the exception vs the norm.

I wonder if the genesis of this disclaimer is caused by visa agents, lawyers, scammers, etc., beginning to advertise they can hand-walk a person thru the LTR application for a fee?

Update: Known LTR Approvals as of 27 Dec 2022 based on posts in this thread I saw. Added "Zuman" and his wife who got approved 16 & 27 Dec, respectively. See his post above for more details. Congrats!!! And I know of one other poster in this thread who just got approved and hopefully he'll announce his good news soon so we can add him to the list. Seems like December is turning out to be a good month for LTR approvals. In below list 5 were approved in Sep, 9 in Oct, only 3 in Nov, and 5 so far in Dec. Remember, this list only accounts for those who have announced an approval in this thread. Poster & Date Approval Notice Rec'd 1. BKKNono - 15 Sep 2. ashkale - 28 Sep 3. ThailandRyan - 28 Sep 4. pepper402 - 29 Sep 5. gajah - 30 Sep 6. Alotoftravel - 4 Oct 7. James7 - 4 Oct 8. & 9. Misty (and family member) - 4 Oct 10. mudcat - 4 Oct 11. & 12. stuarty (and wife) - 4 Oct 13. Boomer6969 - 5 Oct 14. aublumberg - 12 Oct 15. JJJJJJJJ - 8 Nov 16. smic - 28 Nov 17. Paul3456 - 30 Nov 18. anotherexpat4444 - 7 Dec 19. & 20. Juman - 16 Dec (and Mrs Juman on 27 Dec) 21. lextsy - 21 Dec 22. Pib - 23 Dec

Just some more FYI....one other change I noticed in my online acct after my status moved from Approved to Complete.....and that is a "Work Permit" selection appearing in my acct menu (see below). Click on that Work Permit selection and it takes you into a Work Permit application. I did not apply for a Work Permit for my LTR Pensioner visa (i.e, selected No in the LTR application area where they ask if you were also applying for a work permit). So guess since I initially declined a work permit in the LTR application that my online acct updated to provide a separate area to apply for a work permit if some day I decide I do want the permit since I'm allowed a work permit with a LTR visa. After clicking the Work Permit menu selection you see below. And then after clicking above Work Permit icon you get below where you could create the Work Permit application and upload necessary docs. But when I clicked "Submit" assuming it might take me to another screen to actually start the Work Permit application it just took me back to above icon. So, I guess if I ever do change my mind after getting a work permit....going to work in Thailand (which I can't image doing such since total retirement is just fine with me) I would probably have to call BoI to have them fully activate the Work Permit menu selection so I could actually submit a Work Permit application.