Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application

[DrJoy]

1 hour ago, david143 said:

1 Question Please
Driving license
once we update Data , they will give New Cards And do we have to Pay too ?

They will print your Thai Id number and give you a new card. 

Charge = THB 55/-

[david143]

1 minute ago, DrJoy said:

They will print your Thai Id number and give you a new card. 

Charge = THB 55/-

Thank You Doctor brother

[Dogmatix]

8 hours ago, khongaeng said:

This would seem quite short-sighted of the government though.  If there is significant foreign investment like this, I would suspect it would drive up land prices significantly, putting them even more out of reach for the average Thais.  Just look at the crazy prices for condos in places like Pattaya or Hua Him or Bangkok where foreigners can own condos.  You can buy a nice house with land for the price of a condo!  This will make a lot of Thais (who own land) very happy in the short term as now they could potentially offload their properties easier, but once prices go up, I could see a bubble forming very quickly like it has with Condos.  

 

Of course, this policy could just be like so many other government policies where foreigners just avoid the whole thing because it is too complicated, or just too risky overall.  For instance, didn't the government expect a few million tourists in Thailand already with the Sandbox program.  In a way, I do hope they overcomplicate the process for foreign investors to buy land.  

 

In any case, a good rule of thumb for any recession is that cash is king in the short term before things equalize.  I certainly don't hope for a recession, but I'm glad that I'm finally in the position where I can invest directly in Thailand real estate when / if paper assets hyper inflate or become worthless, as would be the case if things crash hard.  

It would definitely be galling for those who have jumped through hoops to become citizens to buy land.  But don't worry. The land ownership will die a death or will be made virtually impossible to do.  I think they might look at increasing or eliminating the foreign ownership limit on condos though which has already been in the works for some years. That would make more sense because there is no demand from Thais for many resort condos and less threat to Thais because foreigners, especially Chinese have been condo buyers for years. Expats are up in arms but they ain't seen nothing yet. 

 

This is more of threat to the average expat than the Elite Card was because that was more of a sort of club membership than an overhaul of the visa regulations that were just fudged to allow three monthly roll overs of visas without really creating a 5 year visa. If they get even a part of this done, they probably won't be able to resist raising the bar on retirement and marriage visas.  The finanicial requirements haven't been raised since the early 2000s and are due for an uplift.  But the last time the people who already visas based on the old requirements were grandfathered in permanently at the old rate. However, the numbers were much smaler  then.   Anyway I am sure all here will still feel much better off as citizens. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Dogmatix

[kst]

Quick update. Applied for Thai passport and cancelled visa at Chaeng Wattana today successfully. 

 

1. For Thai passport, they wanted to look at my current passport, blue tabien baan and ID. Process was quite smooth, paid 1,500 thb for a 10 yr passport & 40 baht for EMS fee. Total 1,540 thb. 

 

2. Then proceeded to Building B to cancel visa. Long queue today, and officers there requested copies of Thai ID, blue Tabien Baan, Naturalization Cert & RG announcement. Officer though kindly made copies which I didnt have then proceeded to key furiously into the sustem (apparently to cancel my visa status in the system?) before her superior wrote some Thai into my passport and signed it. No processing fee. As I walked out of immigration, I kissed it goodbye as that should be the last time I will be there. 

 

Above process / requirement in case someone finds it useful. 

[david143]

11 hours ago, kst said:

Quick update. Applied for Thai passport and cancelled visa at Chaeng Wattana today successfully. 

 

1. For Thai passport, they wanted to look at my current passport, blue tabien baan and ID. Process was quite smooth, paid 1,500 thb for a 10 yr passport & 40 baht for EMS fee. Total 1,540 thb. 

 

2. Then proceeded to Building B to cancel visa. Long queue today, and officers there requested copies of Thai ID, blue Tabien Baan, Naturalization Cert & RG announcement. Officer though kindly made copies which I didnt have then proceeded to key furiously into the sustem (apparently to cancel my visa status in the system?) before her superior wrote some Thai into my passport and signed it. No processing fee. As I walked out of immigration, I kissed it goodbye as that should be the last time I will be there. 

 

Above process / requirement in case someone finds it useful. 

thanks Brother

[Neeranam]

Has anyone been to the Prakan Sangkom to change their details, after becoming Thai? I just realized that I forgot to go and wonder about if it is necessary. 

Any thoughts about if it is better to go on the Universal Health care scheme(30b) or stay on the Social Security? 

[Arkady]

 

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Has anyone been to the Prakan Sangkom to change their details, after becoming Thai? I just realized that I forgot to go and wonder about if it is necessary. 

Any thoughts about if it is better to go on the Universal Health care scheme(30b) or stay on the Social Security? 

There were some posts about this a while back.  It can be done, although not a big deal, if you don't do it on time.  If you want to claim something from them in future, you will probably need to have your ID card no. match your SS no.

 

You are not allowed to be on both.  You have to get out of the SS system if you want to be on 30 baht.  The hospital is able to check online to make sure they are not giving 30 baht treatment to SS members.  Who knows if they will make the match, if you don't change your SS number though.  I have not made use of either scheme but I believe the SS system of healthcare is better, as it is provided by private hospitals, even if these are not top tier private hospitals.  However, in the past there have been certain expensive treatments, e.g. retrovirals for HIV that were available on the 30 baht but not SS, which resulted in people quitting their jobs because the treatment was more than their salaries. I hope they have fixed this problem.  Of course leaving SS means you might not accumulate the 15 years of contributions for your SS pension, meagre though it is. Employers are required to put all employees in SS except for directors and shareholders for some reason.  I think foreign teachers at international schools are also excluded too but I don't really understand the rules for teachers.  SS is nearly bust following the COVID payments shelled out and they have managed the investments incompetently and with corruption.   So they will definitely try t keep benefits as low as possible but I believe the government will have to bail them out, if they get to the of insolvency which is probably fast approaching since they started having to pay the first pensions a couple of years ago.

[GarryP]

2 hours ago, Arkady said:

 

There were some posts about this a while back.  It can be done, although not a big deal, if you don't do it on time.  If you want to claim something from them in future, you will probably need to have your ID card no. match your SS no.

 

You are not allowed to be on both.  You have to get out of the SS system if you want to be on 30 baht.  The hospital is able to check online to make sure they are not giving 30 baht treatment to SS members.  Who knows if they will make the match, if you don't change your SS number though.  I have not made use of either scheme but I believe the SS system of healthcare is better, as it is provided by private hospitals, even if these are not top tier private hospitals.  However, in the past there have been certain expensive treatments, e.g. retrovirals for HIV that were available on the 30 baht but not SS, which resulted in people quitting their jobs because the treatment was more than their salaries. I hope they have fixed this problem.  Of course leaving SS means you might not accumulate the 15 years of contributions for your SS pension, meagre though it is. Employers are required to put all employees in SS except for directors and shareholders for some reason.  I think foreign teachers at international schools are also excluded too but I don't really understand the rules for teachers.  SS is nearly bust following the COVID payments shelled out and they have managed the investments incompetently and with corruption.   So they will definitely try t keep benefits as low as possible but I believe the government will have to bail them out, if they get to the of insolvency which is probably fast approaching since they started having to pay the first pensions a couple of years ago.

I will receive a wonderful pension of just over Baht 5,000 a month on the SS. I do not have the option of staying on for healthcare so will avail myself of the 30Baht scheme or whatever it is called now. As I will be moving upcountry to an area where there is no SS hospital (the nearest is 85 kms away), it really does not make much sense to stay on the SS for healthcare even if I could.  So no loss in my case. 

[Arkady]

3 hours ago, GarryP said:

I will receive a wonderful pension of just over Baht 5,000 a month on the SS. I do not have the option of staying on for healthcare so will avail myself of the 30Baht scheme or whatever it is called now. As I will be moving upcountry to an area where there is no SS hospital (the nearest is 85 kms away), it really does not make much sense to stay on the SS for healthcare even if I could.  So no loss in my case. 

Lack of private hospitals is problem for the SS scheme upcountry.  Our maid retired back home and we kept her in the SS scheme through our small company as she wants to build up enough contributions for a few more years to qualify for that pension which is material for her. At first she thought she would have to give up the SS to get her regular diabetes treatment at the local government hospital but eventually she found a solution closer than she thought.  I don't really understand how it works for SS members in those rural areas.  Most small employers are in the black economy but there are large employers like factories and Lotus who have to put their staff in SS. I don't know how it works for them when the nearest SS hospital is 50+km away but the government hospital, which they are theoretically not allow to use, is 2 minutes away on a motorbike.  

[kst]

17 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Has anyone been to the Prakan Sangkom to change their details, after becoming Thai? I just realized that I forgot to go and wonder about if it is necessary. 

Any thoughts about if it is better to go on the Universal Health care scheme(30b) or stay on the Social Security? 

I asked HR to inform SS of the change and the docs SS requested were Thai ID, former ID registered with them (in my case ID in yellow tabien baan) and the naturalization cert. 

 

As they dont issue physical cards now, I believe you will need to make the change or they wont be able to find your ID in the system when you need to use it. 

 

[Neeranam]

16 hours ago, GarryP said:

I will receive a wonderful pension of just over Baht 5,000 a month on the SS. I do not have the option of staying on for healthcare so will avail myself of the 30Baht scheme or whatever it is called now. As I will be moving upcountry to an area where there is no SS hospital (the nearest is 85 kms away), it really does not make much sense to stay on the SS for healthcare even if I could.  So no loss in my case. 

Are you sure you will not be able to get on the SS insurance after you retire? 

I know you are not bothered, but I've heard that many SS offices give untrue information. Actually, I think there may be some scams going on; a friend recently went and they told him he can only get 1,000 baht a month or a lump sum after he dies(to his wife). This is after 20 odd years paying contributions, which I worked out should be around 4,000 a month. This is after I got a lump sum and stayed on the SS health system for 432 baht a month(less actually some months).

[GarryP]

38 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Are you sure you will not be able to get on the SS insurance after you retire? 

I know you are not bothered, but I've heard that many SS offices give untrue information. Actually, I think there may be some scams going on; a friend recently went and they told him he can only get 1,000 baht a month or a lump sum after he dies(to his wife). This is after 20 odd years paying contributions, which I worked out should be around 4,000 a month. This is after I got a lump sum and stayed on the SS health system for 432 baht a month(less actually some months).

In the case of those who have not paid in for at least 180 months, they will not be entitled to a monthly pension and must take the lump sum anyway. I understand that if they time it right they can get the lump sum and then continue with voluntary contributions for healthcare coverage. Otherwise, they can pay voluntary contributions and the money stays in until they stop paying. At which point they will get the lump sum. 

 

For those who have paid in excess of 180 months (15 years), they will receive a pension of 20% of the average monthly salary (which is capped at 15,000) for the last 60 months plus 1.5% of the average salary (still capped at 15K) multiplied by the number of years exceeding those 180 months for which contributions continued to be paid. 

 

The SSO pension benefit was introduced in December 1998 and I was in the system then so I met the 180 months in December 2013. I will retire at the end of December 2022 which will mean I have another 9 years on top of that. So my pension will be Baht 15,000 x (20% + (9 x 1.5%)) = 15,000 x 33.5% = Baht 5,025. 

 

.   

 

     

[GabbaGabbaHey]

18 hours ago, GarryP said:

In the case of those who have not paid in for at least 180 months, they will not be entitled to a monthly pension and must take the lump sum anyway. I understand that if they time it right they can get the lump sum and then continue with voluntary contributions for healthcare coverage. Otherwise, they can pay voluntary contributions and the money stays in until they stop paying. At which point they will get the lump sum. 

 

For those who have paid in excess of 180 months (15 years), they will receive a pension of 20% of the average monthly salary (which is capped at 15,000) for the last 60 months plus 1.5% of the average salary (still capped at 15K) multiplied by the number of years exceeding those 180 months for which contributions continued to be paid. 

 

The SSO pension benefit was introduced in December 1998 and I was in the system then so I met the 180 months in December 2013. I will retire at the end of December 2022 which will mean I have another 9 years on top of that. So my pension will be Baht 15,000 x (20% + (9 x 1.5%)) = 15,000 x 33.5% = Baht 5,025. 

 

It's surprising how they came with a social system in which you may contribute for let's say total 300K during 30 years and could expect 1.8M (6 times higher than what you paid) if you remain heathy person for 25 more years... unless the calculation was a 1998 projection of low life expectancy statistics for Thai men? 

I know this is not the topic of the forum, but since we're talking about it, do you know if one can get the retirement punsion from SSO and still maintain an activity, like some own business or get income by private/declared activity? I'd be happy to 'retire young' to get my 6K/month and at the same time continue to work on my own and generate extra income. Would this conflict?

Edited September 24, 2021 by GabbaGabbaHey

[GarryP]

12 minutes ago, GabbaGabbaHey said:

It's surprising how they came with a social system in which you may contribute for let's say total 300K during 30 years and could expect 1.8M (6 times higher than what you paid) if you remain heathy person for 25 more years... unless the calculation was a 1998 projection of low life expectancy statistics for Thai men? 

I know this is not the topic of the forum, but since we're talking about it, do you know if one can get the retirement punsion from SSO and still maintain an activity, like some own business or get income by private/declared activity? I'd be happy to 'retire young' to get my 6K/month and at the same time continue to work on my own and generate extra income. Would this conflict?

Not really something I had considered, but now you mention it I'll have to look into it further as I may take on part-time work after retirement. Potentially the company I currently work for may want to keep me on. The big thing for me is not to delay payment of severance pay which will be due upon retirement. As such, I will officially retire at 60 at the end of 2022 regardless what the company wants, so I can collect the 400 days severance. Then if they want to keep me on one year contracts after that, we can negotiate. 

 

If I find out anything more about collecting an SS pension and working part-time or other work, I'll let you know.      

[Arkady]

3 hours ago, GarryP said:

Not really something I had considered, but now you mention it I'll have to look into it further as I may take on part-time work after retirement. Potentially the company I currently work for may want to keep me on. The big thing for me is not to delay payment of severance pay which will be due upon retirement. As such, I will officially retire at 60 at the end of 2022 regardless what the company wants, so I can collect the 400 days severance. Then if they want to keep me on one year contracts after that, we can negotiate. 

 

If I find out anything more about collecting an SS pension and working part-time or other work, I'll let you know.      

I was told by my accountant that you are not entitled to draw the SS pension, unless you are fully retired without income from employment, but I don't know, if that's correct.  In your case, I believe you will no longer be a contributing SS member, if retire at 60 and get re-engaged on short-term contracts.  But, if you were to stay on over 60 on the same contract without retiring, you would remain in it.  Their rules are rather bizarre and illogical but that's normal for Thai government departments.

[GarryP]

6 minutes ago, Arkady said:

I was told by my accountant that you are not entitled to draw the SS pension, unless you are fully retired without income from employment, but I don't know, if that's correct.  In your case, I believe you will no longer be a contributing SS member, if retire at 60 and get re-engaged on short-term contracts.  But, if you were to stay on over 60 on the same contract without retiring, you would remain in it.  Their rules are rather bizarre and illogical but that's normal for Thai government departments.

One of the reasons I will not stay on over 60 is because I want the 400 days severance then, so I will definitely not be staying on over 60 on the same contract. Luckily, our office has set retirement at 60 anyway. If they wish to retain anyone past that, they put them on yearly contracts and usually reduce salary by about 25%. So I'd get my severance then anyway. I would not agree to a delay in that if they wanted to keep me on, because it is tied to current salary. If I waited a couple of years to retire and my salary was reduced, I'd be taking a big hit. As to SS, if I was hired on short term contracts I do not think they would be making any contributions for me. But then there is the issue of income/withholding tax and whether the SS Office can track the same, see that I have another income stream and refuse to pay me my pension.

 

Like I said to GabbaGabbbaHey, I am going to have to do some research on this. It is certainly getting more confusing.

[Arkady]

3 hours ago, GarryP said:

One of the reasons I will not stay on over 60 is because I want the 400 days severance then, so I will definitely not be staying on over 60 on the same contract. Luckily, our office has set retirement at 60 anyway. If they wish to retain anyone past that, they put them on yearly contracts and usually reduce salary by about 25%. So I'd get my severance then anyway. I would not agree to a delay in that if they wanted to keep me on, because it is tied to current salary. If I waited a couple of years to retire and my salary was reduced, I'd be taking a big hit. As to SS, if I was hired on short term contracts I do not think they would be making any contributions for me. But then there is the issue of income/withholding tax and whether the SS Office can track the same, see that I have another income stream and refuse to pay me my pension.

 

Like I said to GabbaGabbbaHey, I am going to have to do some research on this. It is certainly getting more confusing.

Severance pay for retirees is fairly recent and a nice touch but I fear it might put employers off from employing people who are a few years from retirement age. They are entitled to re-hire retired staff on lower salaries after paying severance but can't cut salaries without staff consent otherwise. The last company I worked for tried to give everyone in my department pay cuts when revenue was not coming in as hoped and got HR to send them letters ordering them to come and sign consent forms for their pay cuts without the option of being made redundant and paid severance on full pay.  Most agreed because they were worried about finding new jobs but one girl, who was confident of getting another job, cut up rough and went to the Labour Ministry. Confronted with a letter from the ministry the HR department backed down pretty fast and she got her full severance pay and moved straight to a new job. Disgusting the tricks some companies get up to.

[yankee99]

Today i was still clearing loose ends. 

 

Bkk Bank {pass book, old passport, id card, blue book, rg, and naturalization papers}.  i needed to go to every individual branch i had a account in and sign a pile of documents and get new pass books {100 baht each} . 

 

Kasikorn only id card and maybe 3 papers to sign kept original book. 

 

Kasikorn credit card emailed naturalization paper and id card. 

 

Mopohm app i needed my thai passport number for future travel. Went to bkk Pattaya hospital showed them my id and Thai passport Friday today they changed everything and i logged in the app with my thai id and all info was updated. 

[david143]

11 hours ago, yankee99 said:

Today i was still clearing loose ends. 

 

Bkk Bank {pass book, old passport, id card, blue book, rg, and naturalization papers}.  i needed to go to every individual branch i had a account in and sign a pile of documents and get new pass books {100 baht each} . 

 

Kasikorn only id card and maybe 3 papers to sign kept original book. 

 

Kasikorn credit card emailed naturalization paper and id card. 

 

Mopohm app i needed my thai passport number for future travel. Went to bkk Pattaya hospital showed them my id and Thai passport Friday today they changed everything and i logged in the app with my thai id and all info was updated. 

great

[onthemoon]

13 hours ago, yankee99 said:

Bkk Bank {pass book, old passport, id card, blue book, rg, and naturalization papers}.  i needed to go to every individual branch i had a account in and sign a pile of documents and get new pass books {100 baht each} . 

I'm surprised about this. When I changed by accounts from passport to pink ID, I did that at one branch and they sent the docs to HQ to change at all the other branches.

[david143]

I had change almost all my Banks.

Credit Card Aeon, First Choice, KTC.---- They changed in few hours. Can Login in APP's with Thai ID numbers.

Bank Accounts: K Bank - took 2 days to change data as they send all Doc to Head office - Can login with Thai ID number
Krungsri : 2 hours Scan all original and send to Head office -Can login with Thai ID number
Siam Commercial bank :  Change date but i still can't login to APP Via ID number due to passport number still not removed by Head office hopefully soon.
Bangkok Bank i closed account, Worse Procedure to USE APP.

 

[GarryP]

2 minutes ago, david143 said:

I had change almost all my Banks.

Credit Card Aeon, First Choice, KTC.---- They changed in few hours. Can Login in APP's with Thai ID numbers.

Bank Accounts: K Bank - took 2 days to change data as they send all Doc to Head office - Can login with Thai ID number
Krungsri : 2 hours Scan all original and send to Head office -Can login with Thai ID number
Siam Commercial bank :  Change date but i still can't login to APP Via ID number due to passport number still not removed by Head office hopefully soon.
Bangkok Bank i closed account, Worse Procedure to USE APP.

 

Surprised about Bangkok Bank. I had great service from them. 

[david143]

Just now, GarryP said:

Surprised about Bangkok Bank. I had great service from them. 

if you change mobile , you need to run to ATM for pin.
if you forgot your pin, you need to run to ATM
Worse service for APP.
i closed my 16 year old account

[Neeranam]

19 hours ago, yankee99 said:

Mopohm app i needed my thai passport number for future travel. Went to bkk Pattaya hospital showed them my id and Thai passport Friday today they changed everything and i logged in the app with my thai id and all info was updated. 

On my MorProm app, there is a blank under passport on the Digital Health Pass and Vaccine Cert. Actually, it doesn't say my nationality. 

 

Do I need my passport number on it if travelling abroad? 

[Dogmatix]

5 hours ago, david143 said:

I had change almost all my Banks.

Credit Card Aeon, First Choice, KTC.---- They changed in few hours. Can Login in APP's with Thai ID numbers.

Bank Accounts: K Bank - took 2 days to change data as they send all Doc to Head office - Can login with Thai ID number
Krungsri : 2 hours Scan all original and send to Head office -Can login with Thai ID number
Siam Commercial bank :  Change date but i still can't login to APP Via ID number due to passport number still not removed by Head office hopefully soon.
Bangkok Bank i closed account, Worse Procedure to USE APP.

 

BBL mobile app seems to work fine for me.  I like that you can see recent transactions in the app. KBANK also works well but you have to request statements to see recent transactions. They arrive within a couple of hours but I want to check transactions immediately.  Everything else about the same. I don't use the other bank mobile aps.  BBL had a problem registering my Thai citizenship for a few months and I had to get other branches to call my branch to remind them to update details twice because they were still asking for my passport.  That was before I started using the mobile app.

Edited September 28, 2021 by Dogmatix

[Neeranam]

8 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

BBL mobile app seems to work fine for me. 

Not for me, loads of problems, unlike Krungthai/Kasikorn. 

However, Bkk bank allowed me to change my nationality easily. Din't need a new book or card(things of the past maybe), same as Krungthai. 

My daughter said she opened an account with Kasikorn last week without even needing to go to the bank, just the supermarket! 

[yankee99]

18 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

On my MorProm app, there is a blank under passport on the Digital Health Pass and Vaccine Cert. Actually, it doesn't say my nationality. 

 

Do I need my passport number on it if travelling abroad? 

I really dont know if you need your passport number. Mine had my us passport number and i wasn't looking to have a issue returning to Thailand with my thai passport with a different passport number on my certificate 

[yankee99]

18 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

BBL mobile app seems to work fine for me.  I like that you can see recent transactions in the app. KBANK also works well but you have to request statements to see recent transactions. They arrive within a couple of hours but I want to check transactions immediately.  Everything else about the same. I don't use the other bank mobile aps.  BBL had a problem registering my Thai citizenship for a few months and I had to get other branches to call my branch to remind them to update details twice because they were still asking for my passport.  That was before I started using the mobile app.

In K bank app if you tap the circle that says available balance your recent transactions are there. 

[GarryP]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

On my MorProm app, there is a blank under passport on the Digital Health Pass and Vaccine Cert. Actually, it doesn't say my nationality. 

 

Do I need my passport number on it if travelling abroad? 

Mine no longer even shows when I had my first shot, just that I've had one.  Not sure how to have the passport number added. 

[GarryP]

On 9/24/2021 at 1:21 PM, GarryP said:

Not really something I had considered, but now you mention it I'll have to look into it further as I may take on part-time work after retirement. Potentially the company I currently work for may want to keep me on. The big thing for me is not to delay payment of severance pay which will be due upon retirement. As such, I will officially retire at 60 at the end of 2022 regardless what the company wants, so I can collect the 400 days severance. Then if they want to keep me on one year contracts after that, we can negotiate. 

 

If I find out anything more about collecting an SS pension and working part-time or other work, I'll let you know.      

A little bit more information. If you continue working for the same employer past 60 years old, they should continue paying in for you and deduct an equivalent amount from your salary. Each year of employment by the same employer past 60 will be added to the total number of years of employment and payment into the scheme when calculating your pension.

 

If you have already paid in excess of 15 years and retire at 60, you will receive a monthly pension. You do not have the choice of taking the lump sum. However, if you wish to stay in the SS for healthcare, etc, you need to apply within 6 months of your retirement/termination, but your pension will be put on hold until you cease paying in. That is, if you want healthcare coverage, you will not receive a pension and vice versa. 

 

There is one issue that is worth considering. If you continue paying in as voluntary contributions post retirement, when you decide to stop paying in, the method of calculating your pension at such time would be calculated on a different basis and ultimately your pension would be much smaller than had you taken it at 60 and gone without healthcare coverage. 

 

In my case, I will receive a pension of Baht 5,025. However, if I were to delay the pension by making voluntary contributions for healthcare, when I finally stop contributing and receive my pension, the monthly pension will be less than a quarter of what I would have received had I taken the pension at 60. The HR manager where I work gave me a breakdown of how it is calculated but I couldn't take notes fast enough. He recommended taking the pension at 60 as that would total  just over Baht 60,000 a year which should be enough for general healthcare needs anyway, and make use of the 30 Baht/gold card scheme as needed.