24 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Neither does any of the other countries mentioned

Philippines does 

8 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Wochenblitz 2025-08-

No link, and states adaption of article by ASEAN now.

I have had the Philippine Retirement Visa for 14 years and I have NEVER visited an Immigration office. No 90 day reporting, no change of Res reporting, no fines, no exit requirements, just come and go as you like. 

The SRRV is handled by a semi-govt authority, the PRA. You get a Member card, which you renew every 2 years at THEIR office. 

Your term deposit is held by the bank of your choice until you cancel

Futher info Google PRA Philippines 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Until recently, retiring in Thailand was straightforward.

 

Until NOW, retiring in Thailand is STILL straightforward.  The rules haven't changed.

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The requirements are eye-watering: an annual income of US$80,000 (£63,000) for at least two consecutive years and assets worth at least US$1m (£780,000).

 

If that's "eye-watering", you must be a part-time Subway sandwich artiste.

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

health insurance rules for retiree visas.

 

The rule for non-O is NOT required.

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Rumours

 

Rumours is the eleventh studio album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 4 February 1977, by Warner Bros. Records. Largely recorded in California in 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut.

3 minutes ago, IsaanGuy said:

No link, and states adaption of article by ASEAN now.

 

The Wochenblitz 2025-08-

 

Highlight and click go to.....

Why you run this story every month. 

 

It's factually in correct.  

 

It's adding to the options available to expats not dropping  the OA and OX as it tries to refer to as the "was" visas. Still IS. 

 

Don't publish factually incorrectcrap just for click bait. 

Really bad journalism: Nothing has changed for the usual retirees, just additional options focused at more wealthy retirees...

55 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

foreigners that put kids into schools on southern islands

Who and weather are these, please?  Southern islands are south of where exactly? 

Long term retirement visa sounds good if I were to move permanently (or semi permanently) to Thailand.   

5 hours ago, webfact said:

This seems like a very misleading (fearmongering) article.

 

 

31 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Philippines does 

You can get permanent residency though a retirement visa...how is that done, sounds interesting 

27 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

The Wochenblitz 2025-08-

 

Highlight and click go to.....

Having read the original article in German It’s obvious that the article has been directly translated by asean now, but my original comment is valid. No facts, just rumour and conjecture.

10 minutes ago, Unamerican said:

Who and weather are these, please?  Southern islands are south of where exactly? 

"Southern islands" can for example be Koh Samui and Koh Phuket, many international schools there with foreign students...

2 hours ago, bamnutsak said:

 

Maybe this article made sense in the original German?

 

https://www.wochenblitz.com/

 

Yes they mistranslated the first part of the article... Thank you for the link 👍

It's only a question of time before the 65,000 and 800,000 methods are increased. When that happens many law abiding retirees will abandon Thailand. 

 

There are legal workarounds for mandatory insurance already. 

This article is bull*hit!

 

The retirement visa rules haven't changed one iota since 2023. Yes, there is a high wealth visa available, but renewing a retirement visa remains the same as ever.

 

If they ever did make it impossible for the middle class to live here, they would crash their economy.

 

Of course, I put nothing stupid past this government.

 

Who wrote this article anyway?

 

Does Thai Visa vet the accuracy of such things? I think not.

3 hours ago, JimGant said:

BS. I only had to show one year's annual income of US$80k, and there was NO US$1m in assets required. What's the purpose of this article -- to highlight the competitor countries?

and they ignored the 50K hospitalization requirement too and costs 50,000 baht. But the requirements for different income amounts can be found at the BOI website for 4 different categories including work permit too.

58 minutes ago, biggles45 said:

I have had the Philippine Retirement Visa for 14 years and I have NEVER visited an Immigration office. No 90 day reporting, no change of Res reporting, no fines, no exit requirements, just come and go as you like. 

The SRRV is handled by a semi-govt authority, the PRA. You get a Member card, which you renew every 2 years at THEIR office. 

Your term deposit is held by the bank of your choice until you cancel

Futher info Google PRA Philippines 

 

I also have an SRRV as a back up, obtained in 2010 but renew online as I have not visited for 10 years.   The Time Deposit Account of US$10,000 pays interest into a US$ savings account.  A monthly penalty of USD 5.00 is supposedly applied  if the account is not used (USS 60 pa) but the Bank has never levied any charges and advised that they have no intention of doing so.  

44 minutes ago, radiochaser said:

Long term retirement visa sounds good if I were to move permanently (or semi permanently) to Thailand.   

I had a retirement O for 20 years, with no problems.  As a matter of fact, immigration has gotten IMHO a lot easier and faster than it used to be.  I can recall having to be at immigration CM before 5 AM in order to get in the queue quick enough so that I could then get a queue ticket for that day.  I was on the monthly income route and never had a problem obtaining the bank documents.  But hen they dropped the LTR to 50K versus 100K, i recognized that it was perfect for my financial situation.  Took about 3 weeks, doing everything online in my own house without having to get any bank letters or any trips outside.  The BOI folks were extremely forthcoming for any situation and all spoke excellent Enlish.  Benefits far out weigh the Retirement O but if after the 10 years of this visa they drop it for me I would  gladly go back to a retirement O as that is a great visa too for a year at a time.  But I can understand a possible local change to health insurance unless they decide to attach that to the tourist visas as it seems there are a lot of uninsured having problems here while having fun. 

4 hours ago, baansgr said:

Exactly, tried them all and Thailand wins hands down, not only for infrastructure, safety, and overall cost, it is still one of the easiest and cheapest visas available...the only one overing long term visas marginally cheaper is Cambodia. 

I've also tried them all,

Cambodia and Philippines as good as Thailand as place to live, paperwork easier than Thailand (almost none). Officials much more helpful and welcoming, don't make you wait around all day for extensions, don't treat you like a criminal.

 

If I didn't already have a Thai wife and kids, I'd not be here.

Vietnam easier with local wife or child, but not so easy without.

No insurance required in any of the four countries.

What a load of rubbish. The Non-O visa based on retirement, which most retirees use, has no changes in rules, no insurance.

 

This article should be deleted.

The easy one you all use can't last - due to the next wave of abusers from India/China and any massive country. It will be gone in 10 years or less or financials for the rich only.

 

You are all the last gen getting this relatively easy retiree visa.

 

Medical and financials will be raised so high soon enough on O.

Immigration could not cope otherwise in the near future.

You may all get grandfathered in at the current rate...just a guess.

 

1 hour ago, Homburg said:

For me the attraction of the Cambodian option is the lack of any administrative hassles and the totally smooth process.

 

Once a year hand your passport, a recent photo and $290 to the agent, sign the (single page) application form and get your new extension back in less than a week. 

 

No mountains of paperwork.

No bank requirements.

No income requirements.

No insurance requirements.

No ongoing reporting requirements.

One small sticker in the passport (around ¼ of a page).

Multiple entry visa - so come and go as frequently as you like.

 

It is reportedly around $100 cheaper if you don't use an agent but I have never bothered to try to do it myself.

I can understand the convenience and financial attraction, but I would never even consider living in Cambodia. The standard of living is just too low, the infrastructure so much worse imo.

 

Go for it, by all means. I expect you back in Thailand in a few months. If not, best of luck.

1 hour ago, IsaanGuy said:

No source quoted for this article and the basis of changes are based on “rumours”. 
Pointless conjecture.

 

It's the same inaccurate article that was in The Thaiger over two months ago. 

 

https://thethaiger.com/guides/visa-information/snubbed-middle-income-retirees-look-beyond-thailand-to-se-asia

11 minutes ago, freedomnow said:

You are all the last gen getting this relatively easy retiree visa.

 

Medical and financials will be raised so high soon enough on O.

Immigration could not cope otherwise in the near future.

Scaremongering. I am pretty sure immigration won't change current rules on the Non-O for retirees. This is their bread and butter, they can't afford to lose tens of thousands of retirees, who are also contributing with 50-100k baht to the society every month.

 

Especially not this era, and these years, where there are some other good choices out there, trying to capture some of Thailand's retirees.

 

Thailand can shoot themselves in one foot, but even they learn before they shoot their other one as well.

Wochnenblitz, who published this nonsense, is described as a 'German news platform' and apparently has an office in Ayutthaya. 

2 hours ago, IsaanGuy said:

No source quoted for this article and the basis of changes are based on “rumours”. 
Pointless conjecture.
 

It's based on the O-A retirement option outside of Thailand.

Even when most retirees, by far, use the Non-O retirement option inside Thailand, without any insurance requirements.

That is not even mentioned in the article, so it's completely useless. No changes of rules inside Thailand, so this article should never have been published.

 

If anything, there has been more choices for long stayers these last couple of years, with LTR, and the latest DTV. They are an addition to existing rules and choices.

 

Come on, asiannow, you know better than this.

5 hours ago, nausea said:

Whilst Thailand remains my country of choice, the Philippines is my plan B, mainly cos it would unfreeze my second (state) pension; so very interesting to read their requirements are so low. 

In general the poor food choices would be a deterrent for me in the Philippines…maybe I missed something but I struggled to find a good meal. 

Just now, terryofcrete said:

In general the poor food choices would be a deterrent for me in the Philippines…maybe I missed something but I struggled to find a good meal. 

Me too. And the retirees moving from The Philippines to Thailand (there are quite many lately), say the exact same thing.

Supposedly there are an estimated 85-125,000 people on “retirement visas” (no need to correct me on the terminology…..you know what I mean)

 

In almost 3 years, there have been approximately 6,000 LTR visas issued across all four categories.  No disclosure with regards to how many are in the “wealthy global citizen” or “wealthy retirees” categories.

 

Basic math shows that the LTR visa certainly doesn’t seem like an economic winner for Thailand.  I doubt the “wealthy” people will spend 20x as much as the middle class.  How could they if only $80,000 is required?

 

20,000 elite visas issued over 20 years hasn’t saved the economy either.

 

”Sell to the classes, eat with the masses.  Sell to the masses, eat with the classes”.  
                   -Henry Ford