800k in bank - why?

[DefaultName]

OK, I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs of all the recent changes - though I have an opinion!  ????

 

What is the 800k for though?

I had always thought that it was to prove that I could afford to live here, and to be there in case of emergencies, medical or otherwise.  However, if we can't ever use it without risking our visa's - and hence our continued stay here - then what is it actually for?

 

I'm now wondering if the banks are somehow involved as, if we die without making appropriate arrangements, then in most cases, they'll end up with the money.  OK, a bit of a conspiracy theory I admit.

 

If anyone has got any better explanations - sane answers only please - I'd like to hear them.

 

Thanks.

[Vacuum]

1 hour ago, DefaultName said:

What is the 800k for though?

To sort out the riff-raff?

[Pravda]

It's for the privilege to stay in a great country like Thailand.

 

 

[jackdd]

I think when they came up with the idea of a retirement visa they thought that a retiree should have X baht per month to live here.

Not everybody has an income, some people are living from their savings, and they wanted to allow these people to stay as well

So they made the math that the extension is valid for one year so an alternative to having the income is to have savings equal to 12 months.

This is probably where it came from, with the recent changes this did of course change in an odd way. They are not able to fight the corruption within the immigration police, so they try to reduce corruption by adding new rules for the people who apply for the extension

[Mavideol]

1 hour ago, DefaultName said:

What is the 800k for though? 

for the privilege of meeting your handsome IMO every 90 days

[jmd8800]

Thailand used to let people live here without money if they had a smile on their face.  Isn't that where the Land of Smiles came from?? J/K

 

Seriously each and every country establishes rules and regulations concerning immigration, border controls etc. They have to draw arbitrary lines somewhere. At the time 800,000THB seemed like a good number to establish. Remember also, that number is not to reflect the simple cost of living in the host country. I live in Thailand on way less than 65,000THB per month. But, Thailand has established this as an income threshold someone has to show to satisfy Thailand that they have the ability to support themselves under any potential circumstance. i.e ... can you pay for emergency health care or settle a legal dispute you might be liable for.

 

There are all kinds of reasons why countries do as they do but the most important ones are: 1) keep a stable population 2) offset aging populations 3) allow people in to fill jobs that cannot be filled etc etc.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration

[Lungstib]

They see us with a great degree of suspicion and find a large sum in a local bank as some sort of insurance against anything illegal we could do. 

[Rimmer]

Off topic posts about America and Trump removed

[NCC1701A]

because they don't want their daughters from the farm wasting time with riff raff.