Economy Thailand Plans 10-Year Tourist Visa and 99-Year Land Lease to Boost Economy

[Andycoops]

Laughable, I thought for a nano second it was April the 1st, there is some serious weed being smoked in these idiots offices 

[wensiensheng]

A ten year visa has nothing to do with the average well to do family that want to come for a three week holiday,ie tourists.

 

They are either talking about a retirement visa for those who want to live here without working, or a work permit/visa that allows people to live and work here. Neither are “tourists”.

 

Its hard to see how they will come up with something decent that people actually want, when they can’t even get the title right.

[wensiensheng]

1 hour ago, kuzmabruk said:

These leases are for government lands.  I doubt for a small residential property or project.  I would think the government is looking for international development companies that would be building large (100+ units) housing developments or hotels/resorts.  

Or casinos…

[wensiensheng]

55 minutes ago, jas007 said:

Here's some free advice for any country wanting to attract long term expats or tourists:  let them in on three conditions:  they have health insurance, they can't work in the local economy, and they have a regular source of income to support themselves. Make it a 10 year renewable visa, and so long as no money is earned in the local economy, there will be no tax issues.  

 

Problem solved. 

Well that would be very attractive indeed. Add in the ability to own land on a 99 year lease and you have something every retiree would covet. 
 

But for some reason the government seems to always want to bastardize a tourist visa into something that a retiree can use, rather than develop a bespoke retirement visa.

[wensiensheng]

“Pichai highlighted the fluctuating Thai stock market, which has dipped from 1,700 to 1,200 points over two years. He urged stability, noting the government's reluctance to introduce further capital market stimulus amidst existing, effective measures.”

 

I suspect the real driver for doing something, anything, is here. Lots of politicians and other wealthy Thais own stocks. They must be feeling the pinch 

[khunPer]

Tourism already makes up around 20% of GNP, little scaring raising it even more, as tourism income is quite fragile; seems like a government in panic.

[roo860]

18 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

“Pichai highlighted the fluctuating Thai stock market, which has dipped from 1,700 to 1,200 points over two years. He urged stability, noting the government's reluctance to introduce further capital market stimulus amidst existing, effective measures.”

 

I suspect the real driver for doing something, anything, is here. Lots of politicians and other wealthy Thais own stocks. They must be feeling the pinch 

Could you please put your 5 posts into 1, thanks 😊 

[renaissanc]

2 hours ago, ronster said:

Agreed. After 10 years of doing marriage visa they should extend it to 2-5 year gap before having to do it again.

Every year doing the same mind numbing paperwork and photos etc for what 🙄🙈

I get the joy of doing mine tomorrow 😩

Bad luck! I know it's a pain! But at least the process will be over for another year soon. I'll be 100 in 31 years. Hopefully, I won't still have to drive 50 km to Immigration to renew, once again, the annual marriage visa.

[Presnock]

54 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

Maybe strange for only you✌️

Yeah I read the bit on the 10-year tourist visa -  I have the 10-year pensioner visa myself and wondered why they would have another 10-year visa when they already have the one with 4 different categories.

[wensiensheng]

11 minutes ago, roo860 said:

Could you please put your 5 posts into 1, thanks 😊 

Not really. I responded to 4 different posts making different points, as well as making a couple of posts of my own. Wouldn’t be appropriate to respond to multiple people saying different  things, in only one post and would be a bit of a faff.

 

Also not sure how I respond to someone who is yet to post, when making an earlier post?

 

Unless of course there is a forum limit on how many posts can be made on a subject.

 

All in all, not sure what you are going on about.

 

Oops, now here is another one, which presumably makes 6.

[newbee2022]

12 minutes ago, Presnock said:

Yeah I read the bit on the 10-year tourist visa -  I have the 10-year pensioner visa myself and wondered why they would have another 10-year visa when they already have the one with 4 different categories.

4 categories is probably not enough to get people to settle = spend huge amounts of money.

They will try everything 

[sambum]

3 hours ago, renaissanc said:

I long for the day the Marriage Visa is extended beyond one year. It seems that you can get a 5-year Marriage Visa in Vietnam. I've been here 41 years, and married for 39 of them. The annual renewal documents are the same each year. The renewal process takes an hour plus the lunch hour each year. Immigration should digitalise the documents, which are the same each year, and let married people send or show an updated bank statement annually. Modernise the renewal process and decentralise it to the provinces. This will improve the quality of life of Immigration Officers.

 

Good post! The renewal process in my "neck of the woods" takes a bit longer than that, but the annoying thing is having to provide the same information (in duplicate) year after year after year e.g. Copy of Marriage Licence, copy of all pages of Passport etc etc. This year I managed to get the number of photocopies required down to about 130!!!

[Grumpy one]

3 hours ago, renaissanc said:

I long for the day the Marriage Visa is extended beyond one year. It seems that you can get a 5-year Marriage Visa in Vietnam. I've been here 41 years, and married for 39 of them. The annual renewal documents are the same each year. The renewal process takes an hour plus the lunch hour each year. Immigration should digitalise the documents, which are the same each year, and let married people send or show an updated bank statement annually. Modernise the renewal process and decentralise it to the provinces. This will improve the quality of life of Immigration Officers.

That would make life too simple for us and cut back on hopeful tea money.

I had an IMM orifice shuffle my papers for almost 1 hour then said its lunch time we go next door

My reply was, be seeing you in 1 hour

[markeewan]

3 hours ago, ryandb said:

As someone who would like a 99-year lease (I'm under 40) over a 30, I love the sound of it, but the previous rumour that the owner(well, descendant of the owner) doesn't receive the land back, and it goes to the state, is terrible. Land grabs, no way I would participate in that.

 

 

Well thats how leases work, you don't own the land.

[Cabradelmar]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

intentions to introduce

Just 2 guys talking out their arses... 

[ronster]

46 minutes ago, renaissanc said:

Bad luck! I know it's a pain! But at least the process will be over for another year soon. I'll be 100 in 31 years. Hopefully, I won't still have to drive 50 km to Immigration to renew, once again, the annual marriage visa.

They have you for life unfortunately 😄

[Packer]

To be rolled out in the embassies in Moscow and Beijing? 

[mania]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The proposed 10-year visa scheme intends to facilitate longer stays for foreigners

 

As others have said of course there is no 10 year "tourist" unless they choose to make this some kind of crazy 10 yr multi entry Tourist Visa

 

Instead they would do well to just copy the USA on these types of visa's. First issue a 2 year Temporary residence visa. Then if all goes well the third year issue a 10 year & call it a permanent residence visa.

 

This would make life a lot easier for many long term expats & may also entice many new ones too.

[mania]

3 hours ago, renaissanc said:

I long for the day the Marriage Visa is extended beyond one year.

^^^This^^^ would make life easier for both the married & the Immigration department

[Davedub]

There is one thing that is holding back investment, foriegn businesses and people visiting Thailand in the medium to long term - unecessary bureacracy.

 

Starting with the need to fill out my name, address, passport and phone number multiple times on many types of visa / permit applications and culminating in inch-thich piles of pointless paperwork for anything more substantial.

Discovering that single items of documentation require another ten pages of other documents from other government agencies feels like a normal part of many processes.

 

Every application I have to make fills me with dread. In my 17 years in Thailand I have wasted so much of my given time on Earth producing needless paperwork.

 

I mean, where do they keep it all? I am entertaining the theory that Thailand actually has power stations entirely powered by burning the tonnes and tonnes of pointless paperwork they force visitors to produce - it's the only possible good reason I can think of for making us do this stuff!

 

Really though, the bureacratic hurdles presented at every step of any 'official' process in Thailand are, for me, by far and away the worst thing about living in Thailand.

 

Time is the most precious thing any of us possess. To have it wasted on pointless bureacracy should be a crime, regardless of the country.

[kiwikeith]

4 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

 

Aimed at the corrupt and scamming Chinese and Russian business community?

 

4 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

 

Aimed at the corrupt and scamming Chinese and Russian business community?

That came straight into my mind 

[pub2022]

Why focus everything on tourism?
Tourism is an economically non-value-added sector.
Tourism only needs unskilled and underpaid workers.
Tourism is the economy of industrially underdeveloped countries.

The most important thing is instead the manufactoring industry.

[Dan747]

 How about just bringing back the Non-O with multiple entry visa ($200) for one year. They are always trying to "Jerry-Rig" the system that eventually "FAILS" with more changes every year. 

[Packer]

4 hours ago, renaissanc said:

This will improve the quality of life of Immigration Officers.

 

They seem to be doing okay off all the money they make from agents. 🙂 

[harryviking]

10 hours ago, JoePai said:

10-year tourist visa

 

They seem to have a different of what a Tourist is to me !

LOL! Yeah....confusion and panicing seems to be the case...🤪

[mania]

1 hour ago, Davedub said:

I mean, where do they keep it all? I am entertaining the theory that Thailand actually has power stations entirely powered by burning the tonnes and tonnes of pointless paperwork they force visitors to produce

 

Oh that would be better than the reality I have seen

 

I have been given little notes on their scrap paper from Imm

When I turned the paper over it had a Japanese nationals name, info & passport number

 

Hopefully they no longer use all the old forms with personal info as their scrap paper but I would not expect they actually take the time to shred sensitive identity info

[zmisha]

5 hours ago, ronster said:

Agreed. After 10 years of doing marriage visa they should extend it to 2-5 year gap before having to do it again.

Every year doing the same mind numbing paperwork and photos etc for what 🙄🙈

I get the joy of doing mine tomorrow 😩

And every time you approach the border with such a visa, the whole crowd of male workers perceives it as a challenge. They think that you have come for their women and they are obliged to do everything to prevent this. Therefore, the number of requirements has been constantly increasing over the last 10 years and in the next 10 years you will need to pass through an even much larger obstacle course. 

[Quentin Zen]

https://www.samuiforsale.com/real-rights/usufruct-property-rights.html

 

I think this is related.    I know a guy who is now 80s, nearing death, broke, miserable, and lost it all in LOS.  He had one of these.   Got an inheritance, got married, built some homes, did this usufruct, and......

 

10 years or so later, she kicked him out, and he went to court for years.  years. A  very long time.  He lost.  lost it all.   had to leave Thailand, and well,l it only went downhill from there.

 

I don't have all the facts, sorry.  But when I see this 99-year lease thing, I think of my friend's usufruct, and I saw him lose it all.......

 

I hope his case is super rare, there are facts he didn't tell me that are very relevant, and this is a safe thing....But I have my questions.  

[MangoKorat]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

Tourism stands at the forefront of this economic revitalisation push. The proposed 10-year visa scheme intends to facilitate longer stays for foreigners, potentially transforming Thailand into a preferred hub for work and lifestyle.

One week they're re-visiting the 60 day visa exempt entry, linking it to behaviour problems and suggesting that people are working on such entries, the next week they're considering 10 year tourist visas. Thailand, Land of Flip Flops.

[ikke1959]

10 year tourist visa with working opportunities... Retired people are even not allowed to do volunteer jobs as a workpermit is always needed. Now it could be on a tourist visa?? Backpackers came many years ago and they found a job an worked and spend their earnings on holidays here in Thailand, but after the coup the visa rules were changed and the backpackers stayed away and the economy started to decline...as with these rules also the people who had to do border runs for staying in Thailand were not allowed anymore to do so only for a stay of max 90m days.. Many foreigners with a small restaurant or shop went out of the country and the partners and their families lost that income.. And now a 10 year tourist visa?? for staying how long? 90 days in 180 days?? so that they can stay exact 180 days and have to pay tax here? and with no other rights as they are just tourists?? It will not work