LTR Visa is Now available for Long Term Residency

[Boomer6969]

35 minutes ago, aublumberg said:

Has anyone with a LTR-T (WFTP) been able to get a proper credit card locally in Thailand? Normal requirement is to show local pay slips as one of the conditions to get one which obviously doesn't apply for us. We also don't have a traditional local work permit for reasons mentioned above in the threat.

 

I've got a couple debit cards with the major banks here and am aware you can have a 'credit' card that must be secured by a savings account ... which is like a debit card at the end of the day. They also tend to come with fairly low spend limits like THB100 - 150k a month.

I got one while on marriage extensions, from Bangkok Bank. But the asked me to secure the 200000 THB credit limit with a fixed term deposit account.

[K2938]

7 hours ago, Karma80 said:

I did trawl a bit through this thread, but couldn't find if anyone had used regular dividend payments as proof of income, rather than pension.

 

In particular, if I own an overseas company and pay myself dividends that exceed the $80k per annum for 2 years, will that be meet the requirement for the Wealthy Pensioner plan?

 

As I approach 50, I am looking for to arrange my tax strategy and the LTR's advantages for both tax, convenience and certainly make it worth lining my ducks up for. TIA.

Based on some data points the BOI currently does not seem to be set up to process much which is not standardised and does not fit their standard pattern.  So basically they seem to want to tick certain boxes they are familiar with and if you are slightly different, even if a deeper analysis would show that this is absolutely no problem, then this tends to cause great problems.  So it is certainly worthwhile trying, but do not get your hopes up too high and maybe better apply in 6-12 months than right now.  By analogy just read what some people higher up wrote about health care insurance which does not have an expiry date which should actually be better, not worse than one with a time-limitation, but has repeatedly been rejected for various people.  Re the taxation please note that you can get nearly the same tax benefits as under the LTR-WP with any other visa as long as you do not submit overseas earnings to Thailand in the year they were earned so that tax benefit on a relative basis is really more smart marketing than reality.

Edited December 30, 2022 by K2938

[Pib]

On 12/29/2022 at 7:00 PM, Pib said:

 

 

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.  Zuman - 16 Dec (and Mrs Zuman on 27 Dec) 

22. lextsy - 21 Dec 

23. Pib - 23 Dec

24. Saraburi121 - 23 Dec

25. khunjeff - 26 Dec

 

 

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.   

[khunjeff]

10 hours ago, Karma80 said:

I did trawl a bit through this thread, but couldn't find if anyone had used regular dividend payments as proof of income, rather than pension.

 

In particular, if I own an overseas company and pay myself dividends that exceed the $80k per annum for 2 years, will that be meet the requirement for the Wealthy Pensioner plan?

 

As I approach 50, I am looking for to arrange my tax strategy and the LTR's advantages for both tax, convenience and certainly make it worth lining my ducks up for. TIA.

A Canadian woman reported on Facebook today that she and her husband don't have pensions, but obtained LTR-WP visas this week solely on the basis of dividend and capital gains income, documented on their tax returns. So it definitely seems to be possible.

 

The situation you're describing is a bit different, though, in that you wouldn't be receiving dividends from shares in a brokerage account, but essentially paying them to yourself from your own company. I would guess that BoI's willingness to accept that will depend on how the arrangement is documented, and whether it seems legitimate to them. 

[Karma80]

11 hours ago, khunjeff said:

A Canadian woman reported on Facebook today that she and her husband don't have pensions, but obtained LTR-WP visas this week solely on the basis of dividend and capital gains income, documented on their tax returns. So it definitely seems to be possible.

 

The situation you're describing is a bit different, though, in that you wouldn't be receiving dividends from shares in a brokerage account, but essentially paying them to yourself from your own company. I would guess that BoI's willingness to accept that will depend on how the arrangement is documented, and whether it seems legitimate to them. 

Thanks very much. My tax returns seperate everything clearly.

I will email them of course, but that's good to hear and a starting point. Will report back!

[aublumberg]

22 hours ago, Karma80 said:

I did trawl a bit through this thread, but couldn't find if anyone had used regular dividend payments as proof of income, rather than pension.

 

When the LTR program was launched in one of the webcasts back in Aug / Sep 2022, that question came up and BOI explicitly said that dividend payments or similar recurring investment returns do qualify for the Wealthy Pensioner assessment. That's the general statement, of course the details will depend on the level of documentation etc. that you can provide them with. But in general - yes it should work.

 

 

[tai4de2]

For LTR visa purposes, does my income, and investment in Thailand, need to be only in my own name?

 

I have only joint tax returns for the past decades, and I’d like e.g. a foreigner-owned condo I buy in Bangkok to be held jointly with me and (Thai) wife. Would those still work as evidence for the LTR wealthy pensioner or wealthy global citizen application?

Edited December 31, 2022 by tai4de2

[aublumberg]

1 hour ago, tai4de2 said:

For LTR visa purposes, does my income, and investment in Thailand, need to be only in my own name?

 

I have only joint tax returns for the past decades, and I’d like e.g. a foreigner-owned condo I buy in Bangkok to be held jointly with me and (Thai) wife. Would those still work as evidence for the LTR wealthy pensioner or wealthy global citizen application?

Yes, they would consider your % portion of the respective investments e.g. if you jointly 50/50 own a condo of 10m then they would account 5m for your application.

[Pib]

On 12/30/2022 at 10:55 AM, Karma80 said:

I did trawl a bit through this thread, but couldn't find if anyone had used regular dividend payments as proof of income, rather than pension.

 

In particular, if I own an overseas company and pay myself dividends that exceed the $80k per annum for 2 years, will that be meet the requirement for the Wealthy Pensioner plan?

 

As I approach 50, I am looking for to arrange my tax strategy and the LTR's advantages for both tax, convenience and certainly make it worth lining my ducks up for. TIA.

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

 

 

 

 

 

[Pib]

5 hours ago, tai4de2 said:

For LTR visa purposes, does my income, and investment in Thailand, need to be only in my own name?

 

I have only joint tax returns for the past decades, and I’d like e.g. a foreigner-owned condo I buy in Bangkok to be held jointly with me and (Thai) wife. Would those still work as evidence for the LTR wealthy pensioner or wealthy global citizen application?

 

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.  

 

 

[K2938]

10 hours ago, aublumberg said:

When the LTR program was launched in one of the webcasts back in Aug / Sep 2022, that question came up and BOI explicitly said that dividend payments or similar recurring investment returns do qualify for the Wealthy Pensioner assessment.

I would assume some key issues for the situation described include 1) if the dividend is not really a disguised salary payment and income from work does not count for the WP qualification, 2) how sustainable that is and 3) to what extent related party transactions are acceptable

Edited December 31, 2022 by K2938

[Pib]

On 12/28/2022 at 10:04 AM, Pib said:

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.  

 

 

 

On 12/28/2022 at 11:19 AM, Misty said:

I asked the BoI folks who walked us through receiving the digital work permits how long they'd been at the BoI and where they'd come from.  They explained that their employment firm had been contracted to be in the LTR unit to work with the applicants.  So outsourcing at this level appears to be happening already.

 

All of the folks at the LTR unit front end whom I've been in contact with have been professional and helpful. They all have spoken excellent English. I'd say this was a successful outsourcing.  Perhaps more can follow.

 

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.

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Pib

[Pib]

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.

 

 

[Pib]

21 hours ago, Pib said:

 

 

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.

 

 

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.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Boomer6969]

41 minutes ago, Pib said:

 

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.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, clever enough, this will ensure that the backhanders will be exchanged only between people of the same realm.

 

Realm: a primary biogeographical division of the earth's surface.

 

[Pib]

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.

[ThailandRyan]

7 minutes ago, Pib said:

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.

Sounds like they are heading towards the way Thai Elite runs there Elite Visa program....

[K2938]

11 hours ago, Pib said:

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

I do not think that the introduction of agents will cause a step change in the number of LTR visas.  The fundamental problem of the LTR visa is NOT that the application process is technically too difficult, but that the criteria are set such that very very few people fit.  So at the margin, there might be a few more applications and visas issued with agents, but the huge embarrassing shortfall compared with the target of 1 million in five years will not disappear thereby.

[JimGant]

12 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Sounds like they are heading towards the way Thai Elite runs there Elite Visa program....

....which means I could accomplish everything here in Chiang Mai, which means never having to go to Bangkok, which means they'll get at least one more customer.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, K2938 said:

I do not think that the introduction of agents will cause a step change in the number of LTR visas.  The fundamental problem of the LTR visa is NOT that the application process is technically too difficult, but that the criteria are set such that very very few people fit.  So at the margin, there might be a few more applications and visas issued with agents, but the huge embarrassing shortfall compared with the target of 1 million in five years will not disappear thereby.

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.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Pib

[Alotoftravel]

I would like to update my password to my login account on BOI but unable to locate the settings to allow me to do so.
 

Has anyone found a way to change password ? Appreciate any help . This is part of my yearly routine to update my login accounts. 

 

The only option I see is to reset the digital work permit password , is that it?

Edited January 2, 2023 by Alotoftravel

[Pib]

6 minutes ago, Alotoftravel said:

I would like to update my password to my login account on BOI but unable to locate the settings to allow me to do so.
 

Has anyone found a way to change password ? Appreciate any help . This is part of my yearly routine to update my login accounts. 

 

The only option I see is to reset the digital work permit password , is that it?

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.

[Misty]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

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.

Yes, just echoing what Pib says above.  In a foreign chambers meeting with one of the senior architects of the LTR program, we were told that the targets were basically aspirational, and maybe used as a political incentive to get the program in place.  There didn't seem to be any expectation that these would be necessarily achieved.  It didn't sound like anyone would be embarrassed if the targets were not met.

 

Remember that the LTR program is a significant departure from the previous status quo.  There was push back against it from vested interests in the old system.  Just getting it in place is definite progress, and an achievement in itself. I for one won't be critical if the numbers fall short.

[Pib]

23 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Sounds like they are heading towards the way Thai Elite runs there Elite Visa program....

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.   

 

 

[Pib]

My laptop calendar/task reminder notified me today it was time to do my 90 day report again.   But instead, I happily reset my task reminder to a 365 vs 90 days address reporting schedule since I now have a LTR visa and my next report is not due till late Dec 2023.  ????

 

Yea, yea, I know that with the latest new online reporting system it is easy and "usually" reliable to report online.  That is, it's a lot easier to get your 90 day address report "approved" online but even the new system can give your rejection...usually with no reason given for the rejection.

 

However, in my case when I started using the new online reporting system in Dec 2021 my 1st report was rejected with no reason given.  I immediately tried again after that rejection as people reported that sometimes works for them but I was rejected again.  So, I reported by mail....or maybe it was in person...I forget.   

 

Then in early March 2022 I tried online reporting again and Yea!!!! I got approved. 

 

And then in late May 2022 I got approved again for my next report.   

 

But for my Aug 2022 report I got rejected probably because I had renewed my passport although I had earlier went to immigration to have stamps transferred from the old to new passport.... but I still got the 90 day address rejection.   So, I did an in-person report and immigration said online 90 day reporting should start giving me approvals again.   

 

Now when I renewed my marriage extension of stay in Oct since I was at the immigration office to pick my new 1 year marriage extension stamp I just did my report in person since it was almost due instead of chancing the online method which "should" work for me.  But I just played it safe since I was already at immigration for another reason.   This made my next report due in mid Jan 2023....the self-reminder I just got.

 

Yeap, although the latest 90 days online reporting system is much more reliable in terms of a person being able to get approved online vs having to do the report in-person or by mail, the LTR one year address reporting is a nice benefit.

 

Snapshot of my success rate using the latest

online 90 days address reporting system.  Only

2 out of 5 approved.

 

[Pib]

Although this thread is focused on LTR visas while youtubing last night I came across below 20 minute video talking the Thailand Elite visas in layman's terms.  I think the video host does a really good job in explaining the Elite visas pros, cons, requirements, etc. (pretty much just a police check and payment for an Elite visa), etc.   

 

For those trying to decide whether to apply for a LTR or Elite visa this video should help explain the Elite visa in layman's terms.  And of course this  l....o.....n.....g  thread has extensively talked the pros, cons, requirements of a LTR visa. 

 

Now the video host is an agent in Chiang Mai for Thailand Elite visas so the video is almost totally focused on Elite visas, but the host doesn't shy away from pointing out the cons of the visa such as high cost.   Maybe this agent will also end-up being a LTR agent also...who knows how this LTR Certified Agent thing will pan-out. 

 

Yea, this video may be helpful to those considering whether to apply for a multi year LTR or Elite visa....or a 1 year Non-XYZ type visa.   Need to understand all the various types of long stay visas (1 or more years) before making a decision. 

 

 

[ThailandRyan]

Looks like the main LTR BOI site is down.  However, I did find what appears to be an agents page

 

https://www.ltrvisa.net/

[Pib]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Looks like the main LTR BOI site is down.  However, I did find what appears to be an agents page

 

https://www.ltrvisa.net/

;According to Whois.com the website/domain registrant info is based in Reykjavik Iceland.  Seems to be associated with Star Visa Service as both www.ltrvisa.net and starvisaservice.com have the same registrant info in Whois.com.   And when you go to the starvisaservice.com website and click on its LTR tab you go to ltrvisa.net.  

https://www.whois.com/whois/ltrvisa.net

https://www.whois.com/whois/starvisaservice.com

 

So, it looks like the ltrvisa.net site is really Star Visa Services based in Chiang Mai....one of those persons/organizations the LTR Disclaimer below informs about....below Disclaimer is as of 4 Jan 2023, 2:20pm

which is when I took the snapshot. And the window for interested parties to apply to become LTR Certified Agents does not close till 31 Jan 2023....how long after that before the BoI completes evaluation & selects LTR Certified Agents is anyone's guess. 

 

I bet Star Visa Services will be applying to become a LTR Certified Agent and if they become one they already have their LTR webpage up and running.   And I notice the Star Visa Services website says the LTR can be issued at "Thai Immigration Offices in Thailand" which implies "all" immigration offices which is "not" the case at least right now as within Thailand currently the LTR can only be collected at the BoI Chamchuri Square Immigration Office in Bangkok. 

 

 

From the BoI website

From Star Visa Services website

 

 

[ThailandRyan]

14 minutes ago, Pib said:

;According to Whois.com the website/domain registrant info is based in Reykjavik Iceland.  Seems to be associated with Star Visa Service as both www.ltrvisa.net and starvisaservice.com have the same registrant info in Whois.com.   And when you go to the starvisaservice.com website and click on its LTR tab you go to ltrvisa.net.  

https://www.whois.com/whois/ltrvisa.net

https://www.whois.com/whois/starvisaservice.com

 

So, it looks like the ltrvisa.net site is really Star Visa Services based in Chiang Mai....one of those persons/organizations the LTR Disclaimer below informs about....below Disclaimer is as of 4 Jan 2023, 2:20pm

which is when I took the snapshot. And the window for interested parties to apply to become LTR Certified Agents does not close till 31 Jan 2023....how long after that before the BoI completes evaluation & selects LTR Certified Agents is anyone's guess. 

 

I bet Star Visa Services will be applying to become a LTR Certified Agent and if they become one they already have their LTR webpage up and running.   And I notice the Star Visa Services website says the LTR can be issued at "Thai Immigration Offices in Thailand" which implies "all" immigration offices which is "not" the case at least right now as within Thailand currently the LTR can only be collected at the BoI Chamchuri Square Immigration Office in Bangkok. 

 

 

From the BoI website

From Star Visa Services website

 

 

So possibly a rouge agent, whom as you say folks have been warned about using.

[Pib]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

So possibly a rouge agent, whom as you say folks have been warned about using.

I wouldn't say rouge as they are not advertising they are a direct representative or a BoI/LTR certified agent.   They are just saying describing the LTR visa and to contact them if you want assistance/advice in getting one.  No different than any visa service who will hand-walk a person thru getting a Non-O/OA/B visa/extension of stay, Elite visa, LTR visa, etc.