Residency - Is It Worth It?

[SanoukAngloThai]

Just 'discovered' this forum and after reading through looks very good!

I'd like to ask anyone who has acheived Permanent Residence or actually knows someone with it what are the benefits of having this over the year to year Non-Imm 'O' visa renewals. I'm from UK married to Thai, living in Thailand 4 years on continuous Non-Imm @o@ visa renewals. We have 2 kids (the kids have both Thai and UK passports - very hard work!). I'm lucky that I dont work and don't want to work in Thailand (I have rental properties in UK that support my lifestyle here).

From what I calculate that you'd need to live in Thailand at least 50 years to make the >100k THB fees worth it, and from other posts on this forum it seems PR is only given to outstanding upright TAX PAYING long term residents, and even so you still need re-entry permits so the only thing you seem to gain is to cut out the annual trip to get the 1 year visa renewed. You still cant own land (I dont care much as my wife owns our property here), and you still have to report to the police once a year, so gentlemen please what is the point???

[astral]

None.

You are very unlikely to get it either!!

PS there are ladies in this forum.

[sas_cars]

there are many threads already about it.You just search the word residency or permanent residence.

[PvtDick]

As noted above, this topic has been addressed many times.

In a nutshell, though, if you want the answer without searching, residency provides security. The common wisdom goes that if you are eligible and can afford it, you apply for it -- because you never know what the future holds, especially as it pertains to immigration rules. The trend is definitely NOT for things to get any easier or cheaper, and you never know when you might end up in the situation this poor chap has found himself in:

Is an Exception Topolicy possible?

I got mine a couple years ago because I was single, eligible, unsure of my future working status, and a long way off from retirement age. I also knew that the the screws were being tightened, and that it would never be as easy or as cheap as it was then to achieve PR (turned out I was right).

[SanoukAngloThai]

Thanks PvtDick - looks like you were right in your thinking and would agree that 50k THB was worth paying for peace of mind - and for sure the future never a given!

Apologies for not searching deeper than I tried, found a lot of info thru a more intesive search, but no-one mentions anything about their PR interview (interogation) - info on this aspect in particular would be appreciated. The unwritten and declared prerequisites are pretty much as known/expected.

[Upcountry]

I'm thinking about visiting room 301, or whatever it is now, after I get my non-imm/non-O visa renewed this month. I've been in Thailand three years now with my Thai wife whom I married before we came back here for her reasons.

I'm wondering when the interview takes place. I'm guessing that I wil pick up the application, fill it out and then return at the right time later this year and at that time go through the interview process, including Thai speaking test.

Confirmation or clarification of this would be appreciated.