Is This Going to Happen

[black tabby12345]

7 hours 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 ?

 

 

I extended my Retirement O in late March in Chiang Mai.

Absolutely no major change to the existing requirements.

The only difference from the last year, was now, I need to attach the photocopy of the 90-day report receipt.

Nothing else changed.

[Colki]

Walker88... it may not be a fortune after working all your life but do you think it should be mandatory to deposit your disposable income in a thai bank. This would also mean that in the case of a default by your bank you would not be compensated more than B1mill.

 

I enjoy being able to choose where I use my surplus funds beyond the required B800,000 necessary to obtain my Non O visa.

[Purdey]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

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

End Of!

The Government Savings Bank guarantees 100% of your deposit. Just FYI.

[UWEB]

1 hour ago, grain said:

the 300Bt arrival tax for foreigners has officially been announced as coming in before end of this year, it's stage 2 of the TDAC. Stage 1 is getting the online form and QR code set up and running, then a few months later stage 2 bringing in the 300Bt fee which we'll need to pay online before getting the QR code. It's no trolling rumour. It's coming. 

I guess the 300 THB are the one and only reason, why they implement the TDAC.

[Ben Zioner]

Don't think they'll increase these 800k/65k numbers. The plan is to can all these yearly extensions and force people to use appropriate visas such as the LTRs. 

 

LTVs for the toothless.

[Maestro]

2 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Wouldn't this require a change in the law rather than just an Immigration Department decision?

 

No amendment of the current Immigration Act would be needed.

[GreasyFingers]

4 hours ago, Walker88 said:

Make a measurable contribution,

At last count I have contributed 17,000,000 to the Thai economy. Wipe your snotty nose.

[DrJack54]

1 hour ago, Ben Zioner said:

The plan is to can all these yearly extensions and force people to use appropriate visas such as the LTRs. 

 

LTVs for the toothless.

That post is fanciful at best. 

Zero fact behind it just a baseless throw away line. 

LTV has financial requirements beyond many living in Thailand.. 

[blaze master]

5 hours ago, Walker88 said:

because "those people are changing our social fabric and culture". We'd be hearing the cries of "replacement theory".

 

I wonder how many of those cries would fall silent if we had a reasonable path to pr and citizenship....which IS offered in our countries.

 

Also the numbers are quite low here vs the numbers back home. 

 

Example canada let in 1.2 million people last year into a country of 40mn.

 

Might be why some are crying as you say about changing our social fabric....because it is. Whereas it isn't happening in Thailand is it.

[blaze master]

46 minutes ago, GreasyFingers said:

At last count I have contributed 17,000,000 to the Thai economy. Wipe your snotty nose.

 

Easy now you're arguing with an elitist.

[Will B Good]

That would be me done.....teetering on leaving as it is.

[Celsius]

2 hours ago, Purdey said:

The Government Savings Bank guarantees 100% of your deposit. Just FYI.

 

until they don't 

[Lacessit]

6 hours ago, Walker88 said:

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.

It's rather naive to think the corrupt agent- corrupt IO nexus would vanish if such a change took place, although the higher fees may push more of the indigent out.

 

It's also unrealistic to say Thailand is more prosperous. Not in my GF's village, where the average wage is 2000-3000 baht/month.

 

That's a village which crops rice twice a year, so one can only guess at the poverty level in Isaan, which only has one.

 

I can meet the raised requirement with cash in Thai banks now, although I suspect many people would be irritated by cash that is only earning 1% for them, while the banks are lending it out at 5-6%.

[Kopitiam]

6 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

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. 

It's no more the case since last year.

[Jack1988]

there are agencies that help. No problem anyway

[Trippy]

Wasn't this raise in deposit amounts an idea from deputy police commissioner-general Big Joke?

He got fired, so no worries.

[DrJack54]

1 hour ago, Kopitiam said:

It's no more the case since last year.

Yes that is my understanding.

So many folk with Non O-A with extensions based on retirement started over and killed off the Non O-A tag and changed to Non O (start over) 

[baansgr]

The BKK Post has just reported the Prime Minister has ordered a review on visa free entry visas. Although nothing about any other kind, maybe something is afoot

[DrJack54]

27 minutes ago, baansgr said:

The BKK Post has just reported the Prime Minister has ordered a review on visa free entry visas. Although nothing about any other kind, maybe something is afoot

Has zero to do with your OP.

Previously visa exempt entry was 30 days and changed to 60 days.

This was never suggested as a permanent change.

[ThaiVisaCentre]

On 4/22/2025 at 9:57 AM, DrJack54 said:

@ThaiVisaCentre care to comment? 

We haven't seen any developments on this so far, so it seems to be just a circulating rumor for now.

[Ben Zioner]

On 4/22/2025 at 6:07 PM, DrJack54 said:

That post is fanciful at best. 

Zero fact behind it just a baseless throw away line. 

LTV has financial requirements beyond many living in Thailand.. 

There was a typo in my post: LTV should have been DTV.

 

They have issued thousands of LTR visas and they work hard at getting more candidates, as they want middle a middle class population.

 

About 18 months ago the government announced that they identified redundancies in their visa system, Non-O particularly, but as always they were lazy in implementing reform. It was discussed at length here.

 

[Rob Browder]

On 4/24/2025 at 7:54 AM, Ben Zioner said:

There was a typo in my post: LTV should have been DTV.

 

They have issued thousands of LTR visas and they work hard at getting more candidates, as they want middle a middle class population.

 

About 18 months ago the government announced that they identified redundancies in their visa system, Non-O particularly, but as always they were lazy in implementing reform. It was discussed at length here.

 

LTR is Upper Class - not "middle" class.  Good to bring in those folks too, of course.

[Rob Browder]

On 4/22/2025 at 12:45 PM, Walker88 said:

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....

If you are a boomer, maybe.  Gen-X and after were in a mine-field of having our careers Offshored or "Replaced by will work for cheap" Immigrant. 

 

On 4/22/2025 at 12:45 PM, Walker88 said:

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.

Yes, the insurance-requirement made some sense in this regard, but was never fully implemented (O-A + extensions only).  Though, the insurance was a racket - should just be a "stabilize and repatriate" form of insurance, handled by a non-profit org, to keep the rate low.  As only a small % people would be "stuck" here, if they get a long-term condition, few would actually collect.  Others would pay Thai hospitals to stay = win-win.

 

On 4/22/2025 at 12:45 PM, Walker88 said:

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?

Oh, yes, the "freeloaders" who "only" support a FEW Thai Families per-each with their spending - who are the vast majority of retirees.  Those Thai families "don't matter," so we should just boot out their paycheck-sources.  /s

 

Maybe you should talk to folks in rural areas - find out that MOST of the families there are getting money sent-home from younger members, who are being paid, thanks to the "lower income" foreigners.  Not only retirees, of course - many lost work due to the self-inflicted-wound tourist visa / exempt "crackdowns" in the past.

 

Granted, the BEST thing Thailand could do to help them, would be to cancel the "work" Visas for the poorest of the poor to come in, and bust those hiring Illegals from the neighboring countries.  That way, wages in fields like construction would become Middle-Class jobs which Thais would want to take.

 

But, the powerful don't want that.  They LOVE that Cheap Labor, to maximize their profits.  They are the same "hi-sos" who complain that some retirees "aren't good enough for Thailand" - clearly don't give a d*** about poorer / working-class Thais.  We have the same problem,with the same sort of traitors, in my passport-country.

[Lorry]

On 4/22/2025 at 1:28 PM, alanrchase said:

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

No, they didn't. 

Only those who at that time had had 6 (iirc) years continuous extensions were grandfathered.

For example,  all those who lost their extensions during covid would not be grandfathered.

 

[zzzzz]

8 hours ago, Lorry said:

No, they didn't. 

Only those who at that time had had 6 (iirc) years continuous extensions were grandfathered.

For example,  all those who lost their extensions during covid would not be grandfathered.

 

Back in 98 or maybe 99, it was less than 300,000 baht (?)  for the retirement extension , not exactly  sure of dates or amounts, but it was a lot less than 800,000
those on that were grandfathered in .
nothing to do with 6 years 

[jas007]

I'm currently using the money in the bank method, and the money is actually in a Thai bank.  

 

The increase seems like a lot.  Will the  prior requirements be grandfathered?  I'm sure that's what they've done before.  If not, I guess I put another million baht in the bank.  I could start sending in an increased monthly amount every month, but there's no way I spend that much every month in Thailand.   

 

Maybe they're planning on a plunge in the value of the dollar? 

 

I wouldn't spend any time worrying about any of this until it actually happens.  They'd end up with very few expat retirees.  

[ronnie50]

That's quite an increase. It would backfire as others have said. Expats would clean out (most) of their Thai baht accounts and come in and out on visa exemptions or tourist visas - with a break in between them long enough to hang out in Vietnam (for cheap) for several months. More difficult for families of course. Still, it could drain millions of baht out of the economy. 

[Rob Browder]

8 hours ago, zzzzz said:

Back in 98 or maybe 99, it was less than 300,000 baht (?)  for the retirement extension , not exactly  sure of dates or amounts, but it was a lot less than 800,000
those on that were grandfathered in .
nothing to do with 6 years 

I think it was 200K back then.  Then 400K through 2007.  Then 800K from 2008 to the present.  All those folks were grandfathered-in, if they got continuous extensions.  

 

What was NOT grandfathered, was when they changed the 800K from ONLY "2 months before application" to the current system of 2-mo before + 3-mo after + 400K minimum.  Suddenly, people needed a significant amount more "spare" money - vs transferring enough to "top up" to 800K + 2-months living-expenses, then spending it down the rest of the year.

 

As to the agent-factor, which was hilariously claimed to be the "reason" for that last policy-change - while agent-business BOOMED in direct-response to it - I don't see how an increase would have much effect, given the "interest" on 2M vs 800K for "15 minutes" (tops) borrowing-time, is insignificant. 

[zzzzz]

i dont think many people used the money in the bank back than as all embassy's provided notarized letters stating how much people were getting /month
why put $$ in a low interest account?
my 1st re extension was 2002

[Lorry]

3 hours ago, Rob Browder said:

All those folks were grandfathered-in, if they got continuous extensions.  

Yes, continuous for about 6 years (I think 1998-2004 iirc ).

That's what I posted and what @zzzzzdoesn't know/ understand