Is This Going to Happen

[baansgr]

Can someone clarify if immigration are going to increase the retirement financials to 2 million baht and marriage to 1 million baht. I wouldn't normally be worried however an I/O officer and a long time established visa agency have both said the same. With the recent banking debacle,.increases agency fees and no increase for over 20 years I think there maybe some truth to it. Anyone in the know or who has heard anything ?

[TheAppletons]

I've seen nothing official in writing or in reporting, to date.

 

It's been rumored for a while now.

[zzzzz]

i'd also like to know if the sun will explode and destroy the earth

[TheAppletons]

16 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

i'd also like to know if the sun will explode and destroy the earth

 

  Yes and yes.  The "when" is the question.

 

  Edit:  Apparently the "when" is in 2025, according to Nostradamus:

 

  "In an even more worrying prediction, he suggested next year would see a 'fireball from the cosmos' devastate the earth.

 

 'From the cosmos, a fireball will rise, a harbinger of fate, the world pleads. Science and fate in a cosmic dance, the fate of the Earth, a second chance.'"

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14631257/Nostradamuss-eerie-16th-century-prediction-Pope-makes-stark-warning-88-year-old-Pontiff-dies.html

[Denim]

48 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Can someone clarify if immigration are going to increase the retirement financials to 2 million baht and marriage to 1 million baht. I wouldn't normally be worried however an I/O officer and a long time established visa agency have both said the same. With the recent banking debacle,.increases agency fees and no increase for over 20 years I think there maybe some truth to it. Anyone in the know or who has heard anything ?

 

If ever they do it will certainly empty out the expat community.  If the intention is to get more money into Thai banks it will backfire.

[baansgr]

1 hour ago, TheAppletons said:

I've seen nothing official in writing or in reporting, to date.

 

It's been rumored for a while now.

Neither have I that's why am asking. I know how Chinese  whispers work. So it could be or could be not 😁 😁 😁 Just have to wait and see

[DrJack54]

4 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Neither have I that's why am asking. I know how Chinese  whispers work. So it could be or could be not 😁 😁 😁 Just have to wait and see

Without concrete evidence it's pointless to start a thread based on a rumour. 

[Ginkas]

This brings back memories.

Just over 20 years ago a friend of mine went to see the top honcho at his immigration office about changing his reason for extension of stay.

He was told not to change as there had been a meeting in Bangkok of all the top immigration people who were told there were big increases coming.

The single persons requirement was increasing to 1.2 million baht and a few years later this was going up to 2 million.

 

A year later this hadn't happened, he asked why on his next immigration visit and was told that as the Prime Minister, who had initiated the increases, had been removed by a coup it was not considered appropriate to implement the increases, but they were still on the cards.

As that PM is now back as pseudo-PM perhaps he's talking of resurrecting these instructions, who knows in these days of messed up politics! 

[baansgr]

29 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Without concrete evidence it's pointless to start a thread based on a rumour. 

An I/O that lives 3 doors away from me and an agency that has been established at least 20 years both said the same. Close the thread if you think it's inappropriate 

[DrJack54]

@ThaiVisaCentre care to comment? 

[KhunLA]

One can only hope ... 

 

That would up the quality of expats ... or not.  They'd have to ban the use of agents though, or it would be moot requirement.  Those agent fees would go from 10-15-25k to 100-200k 

 

ROCK ON   

[BritManToo]

I'm not prepared to put more money in a Thai bank, than they're prepared to guarantee.

End Of!

[KhunLA]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I'm not prepared to put more money in a Thai bank, than they're prepared to guarantee.

End Of!

 

You could always get married ... 

 

Multiple accounts are annoying, then every 9 months or so, they call to have you move it around, so not taxes.  Think it's just a ploy to sell you insurance.   Why the wife likes buying land instead of opening yet another account at another bank.  Better ROI anyway.

[garygooner]

Never say never, but would be really surprised if it jumped to 2 mil. 

If you transfer money that would be 165,000 baht a month, up from 65,000. 

[BritManToo]

7 minutes ago, garygooner said:

Never say never, but would be really surprised if it jumped to 2 mil. 

If you transfer money that would be 165,000 baht a month, up from 65,000. 

How much income tax would they want on 2M being brought in?

Hell no!

[grain]

It wouldn't surprise me in the least, I've kinda been expecting a hike up in the financial requirements for a few years now, but if it went to 2million THB it'll be the straw that breaks the camel's back for me. 

[bamnutsak]

2 hours ago, baansgr said:

An I/O that lives 3 doors away from me and an agency that has been established at least 20 years both said the same.

 

Did these folks mention any changes in the income method?  

 

Any timeframes?

 

This rumor pops up here every year or so, for the last ~ 20 years, with similar attribution to "Immigration insiders".

 

 

If past performance is any indicator, those in the 400/800k or 40/65k buckets would be grandfathered, and any increases would affect those applying for a first extension of stay. And I think any new rules/laws would need to be announced at least a year in advance.

 

 

[Walker88]

It would seem to make sense. Anyone retired should have at least 2 million baht free and clear to place in a Thai bank. It’s hardly a fortune for someone who has worked his entire life. It demonstrates a kind of financial responsibility that is more likely to be a benefit to Thailand than someone who pays an agent to temporarily put 800K baht in a bank and lives hand to mouth on what a local might spend. Also, as retirees tend to be elderly, having the extra money in country makes it less likely that in an infirmed state a foreigner would become a burden on Thai society.

 

I find it ironic that the folks most apoplectic about how immigrants are destroying the fabric of their home society feel it is almost a right for them to live in Thailand. Folks who "contribute" less than, say, 100K baht per month to the Thai economy are not exactly doing the country any great favor, so why should Thailand continue to welcome outsiders like that? What’s in it for Thailand? I suspect the same people who would bark at this increase would still be against the unassuming, law-abiding and tax-paying migrant to their home country, because "those people are changing our social fabric and culture". We'd be hearing the cries of "replacement theory".

 

When the retirement rules were written, Thailand was less prosperous, so even meager economic contributions were welcome. That is no longer the case. Other countries, such as Malaysia, have upped the ante, expecting a more significant economic contribution from foreigners it allows to settle. Make a measurable contribution, and one is still welcome; just try to jump on the "lower cost retirement home" bandwagon, and they don't want you.

 

Though I have no information corroborating this change in policy, it certainly makes sense for Thailand to do it.

[Zaphod Priest]

In the past these sorts of changes have been grandfathered.  Probably nothing to worry about for people already with a visa, even if these rumours are true.

[DrJack54]

2 minutes ago, Zaphod Priest said:

In the past these sorts of changes have been grandfathered

When they introduced insurance requirement for extensions from a Non O-A based on retirement the only immigration office that I'm aware of that grandfathered to avoid insurance was Phuket. 

[giddyup]

A lot of expats can't afford the 800K, hence the use of agents, so upping it to 2 mil would encourage even more to use agents.

[alanrchase]

Didn't they Grandfather everyone who was already on an extension to the previous financial requirement last time there was an increase?

[jippytum]

 like the tax for Foreigners amazing how posters give these people ideas. 

Keep your trolling roumers to yourself in future.