Property Ownership For Retirement Visa?

[Kees5]

Questions:

Retirement visa

1. I am 59, Dutch passport, my wife is 55, New Zealand passport.

2. I know about the option of retirement visa by having 800K Bt in the bankor 65K monthly income.

I have also heard about an option of investment in Thailand. Does investment in a house or condo qualify? If so, how much needs to be invested.

3. Does investment in property as ‘joint property’ qualify both of us?

4. Can anyone suggest a good lawyer in Pattaya, to deal with property buying as well as visas.

[ChokChaiChas]

Questions:

Retirement visa

1. I am 59, Dutch passport, my wife is 55, New Zealand passport.

2. I know about the option of retirement visa by having 800K Bt in the bankor 65K monthly income.

I have also heard about an option of investment in Thailand. Does investment in a house or condo qualify? If so, how much needs to be invested.

3. Does investment in property as 'joint property' qualify both of us?

4. Can anyone suggest a good lawyer in Pattaya, to deal with property buying as well as visas.

The short answer to questions 2 and 3 is "no". Afraid not. Condo was a possibility until last year.

[lopburi3]

There is no investment visa option and foreigners can not own land in Thailand. Any workaround other than normal 30 year lease is likely to be subject to change in my opinion and not what I would consider secure. Rents/lease are quite low cost alternatives to ownership here. I would also not put too much trust in lawyers that claim to have an easy answer.

[naka]

There is no investment visa option and foreigners can not own land in Thailand. Any workaround other than normal 30 year lease is likely to be subject to change in my opinion and not what I would consider secure. Rents/lease are quite low cost alternatives to ownership here. I would also not put too much trust in lawyers that claim to have an easy answer.

Excellent answer in my opinion.

Naka.

[brahmburgers]

using secured property as part of the requirement would be a fair and common sense provision for attaining a visa. So, as such it's not an option - thanks to Thai immigration folks working diligently to complicate matters.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

using secured property as part of the requirement would be a fair and common sense provision for attaining a visa. So, as such it's not an option - thanks to Thai immigration folks working diligently to complicate matters.

Should the visa rules here be a moveable feast to accommodate the variety of requirements asked by the sometimes strange expatriate community ? GROW UP

[Hampstead]

using secured property as part of the requirement would be a fair and common sense provision for attaining a visa. So, as such it's not an option - thanks to Thai immigration folks working diligently to complicate matters.

Should the visa rules here be a moveable feast to accommodate the variety of requirements asked by the sometimes strange expatriate community ? GROW UP

Is it such a strange assumption to ask why the thai immigration have removed the investment visa?

is this an act of strange foreigners?

if the BOI can offer tax breaks, incentives to foreign businesses then why is not possible for thai immigration to introduce such visa's for investments by foreigners?

it seemed very strange for the thai immigration to finish the investment visa on october 1st

maybe the thai immigration will never again introduce such a visa in the future

but a visa for investments makes perfect sense in thailand and is no way a strange request, the only problem is, it just doesnt exist!

as for moveable feast, does this imply you rather have the same visa immigration laws in thailand stuck for a hundred years!! or would you prefer that thailand move forward in its laws and its way of life

Edited March 31, 2007 by Hampstead

[lopburi3]

I believe if you check back you will find that the investment visa program was never an Immigration program but was picked up by Immigration after the original program finished in an attempt to provide a service. From posts here we foreigners then demanded that exceptions be made to the original criteria (used/non-Thai owned, multi units for rent etc.). Believe Immigration got fed up with running a program that only provided them extra work, along with the negative comments from those who did not qualify, and decided to pull the plug.