Pib

When a person gets to the "qualification approved" status that mean the "BoI" has determined you meet the BoI requirements like income, insurance, etc. You are now pretty much home free. Step 5 thru 8 will now consist of dotting the i's & crossing the t's where the BoI builds/coordinates the final package with Immigration and/or Dept of Employment. These steps move pretty fast. Like immigration looking at the initial package again and sees you appear to be overdue your 90 day address report according to the immigration 90 day address report system and then immigration kicks the package back to BoI saying such and then BoI contacts the applicant identify the problems....ask you to send them your latest 90 day address report receipt or go do the report if you are indeed overdue and then provide the receipt back to BoI. Then BoI sends the package back to immigration....this makes immigration happy and immigration gives it final coordination to continue on with final approval. And if, repeat, if the person currently on a marriage visa/extension, immigration will also request that BoI remind the approved applicant to be sure to bring along earlier talked marriage paperwork on his appointment date to get the visa put in his passport. Yea, the statuses 5-8 are most dotting I's, crossing t's, wrapping the present in a box with a bow, the final administrative steps needed. Mostly stuff to fully satisfy immigration and/or if also getting a work permit satisfying the dept of employment.

I'm sure the "....short-handled and only collect the registered post every two months" is not correct". I expect the SSA sends a rep several times a week or maybe daily to pickup mail. But I do know that registered mail (or regular mail) can reach the post office as shown in tracking but is actually not available for pickup/final delivery until the post office completes the final "internal" processing of the mail. Like say 20 bags of mail consisting of thousands of pieces of mail were delivered to the post office and now the post office must move that mail from the bags and placed in the actual P.O. Boxes or passed to the mailman for delivery on his route. This is a USPS bottleneck and not a problem with the SSA. Or maybe said another way kinda like how a grocery store receives pallets upon pallets of grocery goods at its store which initially go into the store's back storage area, but until those pallets in the storage area are unpacked and the goods put on the shelves accessible to the customers those goods are not available to the customers Yeap...the goods are indeed at the store now but not fully processed/moved to where the customer can get them.

Whoops...significant typo in last paragraph above....corrected below. Now I know you may say that immigration does not ask for a bank passbook/12 month bank statement if switching from says a Non O/OA retirement extension to a LTR visa, but a marriage extension simply has different rules compared to a Non O/OA marriage retirement extension to include the rule that the marriage extension validity ends upon divorce where that rule does not apply to a retirement extension.

Yea....I'll guess that since your application completed all of it's processing before they implemented the new statuses that your record is simply not being updated anymore....kinda like it has been frozen for further updates...a locked record...an archived record...etc.

I see overnight they upgraded the LTR online account website. Like the addition of some menus on the far left such as resetting your password for digital work permit and a Signature capability Also there is now a graphic showing the new "statuses" a person see in their online account as their application progresses through the system. These new statuses actually went into effect around two weeks ago...it's just below graphics is new to help explain what they are and what they mean. And actually there is another status not shown below which would be like Step 7.5 where your status would change to Approved....and then once making an appointment to have the LTR actually put in your passport at BOI immigration the status would change to Appointment. Please note that starting at Step 6 through 8 those only apply when in your application you said you want the visa issued "within Thailand." I guess if you choose to have it issued outside of Thailand at an embassy then the final statuses will be somewhat different.

Your marital situation (with a Thai) is relevant if switching from a marriage visa/extension of stay to another type of visa like say a 1 year retirement Non O Visa or LTR visa. It is relevant because "if you are on a marriage visa/extension" which is only granted to those who are married to a Thai that visa/extension in only valid while you still have a living Thai spouse. That's the main rule--you gotta still be married to the Thai. If you were to divorce anytime after getting that marriage visa/extension that visa's validity is immediately forfeited even if you just got it last week....and you must immediately leave the country (typically within 7 days) unless you immediately get another type of visa/extension allowed for your new status as no longer being married. And unfortunately over the years many farangs have divorced from their Thai spouses while on the marriage extension but did not immediately report their status change to immigration....instead waiting until the marriage extension almost expired and then applied for another extension base on something like retirement. But immigration is not receptive to switching when you failed to live up to the requirements of your marriage extension. When wanting to switch from marriage visa/extension to some other type of visa immigration wants to ensure you lived up to the conditions of the marriage visa you were on; otherwise, they will not approve you for another type visa without you leaving Thailand and getting another visa. It kinda similar but more strict than those who say was on a retirement extension but failed to maintain the required income levels while on that extension and when it comes time to renew that retirement extension immigration first wants to see a bank passbook/12 month statement showing you met the income requirements over the past 12 months. If you failed to to meet those requirement I'm not aware of any rule that says your retirement extension is immediately void but immigration will denied another retirement extension come extension renewal time. Tell you got to start over by leaving Thailand and getting another visa....or leave Thailand, come back in on a Exempt and then apply for a Non-O within Thailand. Now I know you may say that immigration does not ask for a bank passbook/12 month bank statement if switching from says a Non O/OA retirement extension to a LTR visa, but a marriage extension simply has different rules compared to a Non O/OA marriage extension to include the rule that the marriage extension validity ends upon divorce where that rule does not apply to a retirement extension.

The notification that khunjeff got is really a generic notification written to cover as many variations/possibilities as possible; it's not like each approval type notification is specifically written just for that one applicant's situation. Generic notifications that try to cover all possible situation can sometimes cause confusion like wondering if this or that applies in your situation. In the case of folks switching from a marriage visa/extension of stay to an LTR "or" doing an annual renewal of a 1 year marriage extension of stay, it's just an immigration requirement; not a BOI requirement. Like for people switching from say a 1 year retirement extension of stay to a 1 year marriage extension of stay they need to provide marriage related docs (i.e., marriage certificate (Kor Ror 3) that you get when first getting married.....marriage registration (Kor Ror 2) issued within last 30 days that you can easily/quickly get at any district office.....and a copy of Thai wife's Thai ID. And when doing an annual renewal above docs need to provided again to include the fresh Kor Ror 2. Now for folks who married a Thai in another country they need to get that foreign marriage registered in the Thai marriage data system and instead of getting a Kor Ror 2 they get a Kor Ror 22....but both the Kor Ror 2 and Kor Ror 22 are basically the same thing....one when you got married in Thailand to a Thai and one for you got married outside of Thailand to a Thai. And if you are not even married or divorced you will not have any marriage related docs. So, if you are not switching from a marriage visa/extension of stay above mentioned docs are not required/not applicable for issue of the LTR. It only applies to those switching from a marriage visa/extension of stay to an LTR.

Thanks. Yes, the links are "now" working for me....but earlier they were not....with or without a VPN connection. Earlier the links would not work whether using Chrome (even tried Chrome in Incognito mode) or using Edge.

This links don't work....at least now....at least for me. Do you (or anyone who has been approved) have new links or blank TM94 and STM8 forms you could upload? Thanks.

Update: Known LTR Approvals as of 21 Dec 2022 based on posts in this thread I saw. Added "lextsy" who got his approved today/21 Dec after some back-and-forth regarding health insurance. See his recent posts above for more details. Congrats to lextsy. 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. lextsy - 21 Dec

I'm amazed they responded so quickly based on how many people have posted they have waited weeks for BoI to respond to an inquiry submitted on the LTR website. Did you use the "Contact" webform on the LTR website or send your inquiry to a specific BoI email address? And maybe they responded so quick because it was not related to applying for an LTR visa and/or was from a current LTR visa holder vs someone just trying to get a LTR visa.

I expect the great majority of processes like transfer of stamps to a new passport, getting a certificate of residence, address reporting, and other type of activities involved in care-and-feeding issues relating to a BoI LTR Visa will be the same or very similar as for a BoI SMART Visa. No need to reinvent the wheel. And sooner or later the BoI will update their LTR website to greatly resemble the more informative SMART website....or they will just consolidate the two into one website.

Sometime in January is when one SSA department generates a non-responder file that is sent to another SSA department to send out the suspension notices. Exactly when in January is probably variable but I expect (guess) it would be right after the 3 Jan foreign payment is made.....be the first half of January. See SSA regulation weblink and partial quote at bottom. So, I expect if Wilkes Barre receives "and scans" a person's form before that early-mid January non-responder file is created that the person would be good-to-go. And I have no doubt that a lot of people take some vacation days during the holidays period which runs the last week or Dec thru the first week of Jan.....so, the processing of forms at Wilkes Barre might be slower than normal during that period.....OR, maybe that is one task Wilkes Barre maintains as a priority task due to possible impact on the beneficiary....who knows. https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0302655010

I expect it would work just like moving a BOI SMART visa to a new passport.....see bottom of this post from BOI SMART Visa website. And although they ask for a Certificate from the Embassy which I expect is just a letter consisting of a sentence or two saying the person has gotten a new passport please provide assistance in transferring stamps/visas to the new passport, the fact is "some" embassies no longer issue such letters and the immigration side of BOI knows this....probably knows which ones don't issue such letters any more. The BOI rep you talked to probably does not know this and that side of the BOI would not be transferring the info to the new passport but the immigration office collocated with BOI. Based on my personal experience in calling BOI numerous times over the last 3 weeks or so I have found quite a few reps who answered the phone just seem to be "not-so-experienced".... who are "winging-it" in providing answers or just providing scripted answers which really don't fit the situation. And I can't see "where your new passport is issued/produced" would make one bit of difference, because I think most embassies actually have a new passport produced/printed back in the home country although you can apply for the new passport at your embassy. Example: like U.S. passports....you can apply in person or by mail to the U.S. Embassy Bangkok, they take your application, electronically submit it to a U.S. Passport Center in the U.S., that passport center produces/generates the passport & mail it back to the U.S. Embassy who in turn remails it to your Thailland address. And the U.S. embassy still includes a very, very short letter to Who It May Concern asking for assistance in transferring stamps/visas to the new passport. But as mentioned some countries no longer do that....all depends on your country...and BoI Immigration will know which ones still provide or don't provide such letters. From BOI SMART Visa Webpage https://smart-visa.boi.go.th/smart/pages/how-to-manage.html

I expect when the dust settles and BoI has time to expand the LTR webpage with more info, how to do this or that, etc, that the every 1 year address reporting will be handled just like how it's handled for a BoI SMART visa. You can either report in person to Bangkok (or designate someone to report for you) OR report by mail. See below SMART Visa webpage for full details....I also included a partial quote. https://smart-visa.boi.go.th/smart/pages/how-to-manage.html

Update: Known LTR Approvals as of 15 Dec 2022 based on posts in this thread I saw. Added "Paul3456" who received his Wealthy Pensioner approval on 30 Nov. See his post above for full details. Congrats to Paul3456. 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

Well, I've been doing annual retirement/marriage extensions for almost a decade and a half now. Based on the speed my LTR application is crawling thru the process looks like I'll be continuing these annual extensions. I'm sure others are in a similar situation. Just a shame the LTR application process has gotten slow. Seems many applications submitted up until early-mid Oct moved thru the process within 3-6 weeks....but now it's taking significantly longer. Will just have to wait and see what happens....still time for a Christmas surprise but I'm not holding my breath.

Don't feel like you are alone in being told things like "...he will get right on it and it should be approved ASAP." Over the last three weeks or so I been told similar things like "your application will get looked at within 2 days, my staff will process your application today, your application will be looked at very soon, etc." The BoI folks are always nice and polite on the phone but unfortunately processing of applications since around early October appear to have slowed down greatly for whatever reasons. Seems folks who applied in early/mid September got priority treatment maybe because the BoI was better staffed to handle LTR applications at that time, maybe IT system problems has really bogged down their application processing capability, etc....I don't know....just appears applications are taking much longer now to reach either an answer of, "sorry, you do not meet requirements" OR "congrats you have been approved."

Personally, I would "not" use registered airmail to mail documents from Thailand to the U.S. unless a USPS tracking was critical to prove you mailed "something" and to show last known location of that "something." I say "something got mailed" because registered mail does not reflect "what was mailed"; it only reflects something was mailed although the envelope/package could actually be empty. And a tracking number showing your 7162/7161 is somewhere between Thailand and Wilkes Barre does zero to provide the SSA the required 7162/7161 as the SSA will not reinstate benefits just because you provide a tracking number that you supposedly mailed a 7162/7161....the SSA needs the actual 7162/7161....not a tracking number of "something/7162/7161" mailed to them. I would not use registered airmail from Thailand to the U.S. simply because of my own personal controlled tests of mailing registered and regular airmail from Thailand to the U.S. (specifically to Texas and California...the registered airmail always took a lot longer to arrive...2-3 times longer that regular airmail). And add-in the numerous posts from people in this and similar topics regarding how registered airmail frequently went MIA on it's way to Wilkes Barre. It seems to go MIA between the NYC and Wilkes Barre....it gets to NYC fast enough but then frequently goes MIA trying to make that 120 mile trip from NYC to Wilkes Barre PA. Maybe the USPS only uses turtles to transport mail between NYC and Wilkes Barre? And if your registered or regular airmail does not arrive Wilkes Barre in time you will get a 2nd notice and later on another notice which is suspension notice....so, you will know if your 7162/7161 arrived in time. Not notice you are happy to receive but notice none the less....the only tracking that really counts. Yeap, foreign registered airmail seems to all to often get bogged down/goes MIA within the USPS system; not the Thai Postal System. See one of my posts below talking this subject

I called BoI today regarding the status of my application and asked what "Consideration by Govt Agencies" status meant as before it showed "Pending" until the BoI apparently did a software update last weekend. The rep said "Consideration by Govt Agencies" just means BoI as a govt agency is still reviewing the application. So, it appears "Consideration by Govt Agencies" status just replaced "Pending." Different wording but still means the same.

I expect this is indeed the problem. And visiting BoI is the only way to get it resolved anytime soon.

I started seeing those red text notifications/links o/a 8-10 Dec when apparently BoI did another software update which is also when those folks who were showing "Pending" status started showing "Consideration by Govt Agencies." Basically a "renaming" of status. My application is still under consideration just like it been for 1.5 months. Expect what you are seeing is all part of that recent software update and we are all noticing these changes at different times depending on how often a person looks and/or how thoroughly the person looks at the various screens associated with a person's application.

Based on the govt's target of 1 million approved applications over 5 years (which is 200K applications per year or 16.7K per month) in comparison to the actual number of applications being received (apparently less than 2K in approx 3 months with maybe only 25% being approved) even the "hugely underwhelming" description does not seem to accurately describe how not-popular this new visa has been so far. Even "....attracted a rather measly amount of applications..." from a very recent news article (at bottom) seems to fall short. The govt is definitely going to have to make changes, add flexibility, etc., if they want this new visa to take off versus just very slowly taxing around on the runway right now. But I really don't see any significant requirement changes occurring soon due to "save face" thinking and an upcoming election early next year. https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/visa/thailands-10-year-ltr-visa-most-popular-among-americans-and-chinese

Yea....it seems it's a roll of the dice if BoI will accept financial investment/IRA/401K type accounts....or maybe they did initially for early application but no longer do. The BoI requirement says it needs to be money in a bank acct of no less than 12 months which means plusing-up an acct for a short term, say a few days or months, may not work. Nor may it work if the name of an account is obviously an investment acct vs a bank acct even if a person can covert stocks/shares to immediately withdrawal cash in seconds. BoI Health Insurance Requirement

This is happening with all Thai banks. The wife's Krungthai Bank branch in a mall was recently closed and her acct transferred to a standalone branch a few kilometers away just a few months ago. The Krungthai personnel in the mail branch said many mall branches would close over the next few years as mobile/digital/ATM banking was basically making many branches redundant and costly. "Finger banking" where you can do more and more banking/financial tasks via smartphone is just doing away with the need for many small branches and ATMs on every corner.