18 minutes ago, Negita43 said:

So why stay here?

 

Wife and kid.

Just now, lordgrinz said:

13 minutes ago, Negita43 said:

So why stay here?

 

Wife and kid.

So, wife and kid hell? - Thailand hell? - everything hell?

Old management technique - if a problem is too big break it down into smaller parts and deal with each part separately. Can't spend you life living in hell

1 minute ago, Negita43 said:

So, wife and kid hell? - Thailand hell? - everything hell?

Old management technique - if a problem is too big break it down into smaller parts and deal with each part separately. Can't spend you life living in hell

 

Thailand and it's culture are Hell, not family.

4 hours ago, crazykopite said:

If the taxation comes into force then I will definitely spend my time beteen the Philippines and Thailand however as I’m a UK taxpayer there is an agreement in place that should exempt me from Thai taxes 

If that Thai global taxation threat becomes reality, you'll need to be sure you aren't here more than 180 days in a calendar year. Don't rely on the Thai-UK dual taxation agreement. More than 180 days and Thailand would consider your 'their' property when it comes to globally taxing your income. If your UK OAP is automatically taxed in the UK, regardless of your residency, you can argue tax is already paid and refer to the dual taxation treaty, but it is going to be a super mess for many of us living here 'if' it happens.  

On 8/16/2025 at 1:51 PM, IsaanGuy said:

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

 

https://www.wochenblitz.com/thailand-verdrangt-mittelschicht-rentner/

 

On 8/16/2025 at 12:04 PM, 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?

 

You are quoting their reference to the conditions for the LTR visa.

 

You are not using the LTR visa.

2 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

You are quoting their reference to the conditions for the LTR visa.

 

You are not using the LTR visa.

As we agreed last time this same story was posted, the author or AI or whatever has mixed the various long-term visas into one sentence that leaves an inacurate impression about the five year WP LTR.

On 8/16/2025 at 7:20 PM, Presnock said:

like I said, that was years ago and they changed it as they built up the current immigration.  Now one doesn't really need to get they much before they open (this is CM BTW) - in BKK I used to go to Baan Suan Plu immigration but also used to have to do the bus runs to Poipet at the casinos...survived all that, moved to BM and differnt ballgame.  I didn't belong to the forum and never thought about using an agent as i speak Thai and couldn't waste money on an agent.  As a retiree, I had no special thing that had to be done except the yearly renewal and mail in the 90 day report.  NOw with things online it is even easier to do things for oneself.  But if one has money to waste be my guest as they say..up to you.  But for me the lTR is the perfect visa, benefits definitely are greater than the retirement visa and for a 10-year period turn out to be cheaper too.

I still might let someone else help me out  if there were a need for it.   My wife still has a couple of relatives that work in Thai immigration.   If the wife asks then the only fees would be what is required for the visa.  

 

 

On 8/16/2025 at 4:51 AM, gk10012001 said:

I would add that for several expats, UK USA, the big inconvenience was their embassies stopping issuing income affidavits.  That forced people to do the other methods, deposit 800k, make monthly transfers et al.

Very true, but the lack of Thailand to let the retiree prove they have the funds. Showing SS or bank statements pretty much sealed the deal for me. They were not interested in how much money you had just that you put it in their bank. Huge mistake IMO.. 

Most countries just want to know you are financially able to take care of your self , and have the funds to spend and help the economy. Not fund the next coup , shore up their banks. Common sense things. 

 

But, Thailand was never a real retirement country to consider seriously. Because of the residence laws. 

When all this came down, I was surprised at the guys that put on the blinders and defended the government for this. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Gknrd said:

Very true, but the lack of Thailand to let the retiree prove they have the funds. Showing SS or bank statements pretty much sealed the deal for me. They were not interested in how much money you had just that you put it in their bank. Huge mistake IMO.. 

Most countries just want to know you are financially able to take care of your self , and have the funds to spend and help the economy. Not fund the next coup , shore up their banks. Common sense things. 

 

But, Thailand was never a real retirement country to consider seriously. Because of the residence laws. 

When all this came down, I was surprised at the guys that put on the blinders and defended the government for this. 

Yes.  And the funny thing is showing monthly transfers doesn't really prove much.  One could have just sold off a car or something else and had some cash on hand to transfer.  Monthly transfers show no proof of future transfer ability.  Monthly transfers show no real proof of income or pensions, or net worth etc.  Oh well.

 

 

9 hours ago, radiochaser said:

I still might let someone else help me out  if there were a need for it.   My wife still has a couple of relatives that work in Thai immigration.   If the wife asks then the only fees would be what is required for the visa.  

 

 

Well like I said before, had a retirement upon my retiring and 24 years later got the LTR and never had any agent help whatsoever and now doing the yearly extension of stay has gotten easier than it used to be but I never had any problems for which I would need any other help,

and definitely nothing needed other than the regular cost for the visa.

1 hour ago, Presnock said:

Well like I said before, had a retirement upon my retiring and 24 years later got the LTR and never had any agent help whatsoever and now doing the yearly extension of stay has gotten easier than it used to be but I never had any problems for which I would need any other help,

and definitely nothing needed other than the regular cost for the visa.

I've never used an agent either for anything. If I'm not capable of doing it I might but thankfully I'm not there yet. Renewed my DL in Chon Buri last year. There was a youngish foreigner with an agent behind me in line. He was paying IIRC 6k per license. Sure the agent was cute but 12k baht to be babysat?

On 8/16/2025 at 1:13 PM, Luka77 said:

I prefer

1.Thailand

2.Vietnam

3.Phillipines 

 

But Thailand constant visa extension changes, makes it difficult for foreigner to be comfortable worrying about visa extension every 3 months or yearly...It make Vietnam my prefer place.

 

But Vietnam is impossible with no long term retirement visa

19 hours ago, Negita43 said:

MY quibble with the headline is:

I wouldn't call Thailand a retirement paradise!

I wouldn't call it hell either!

It's the same as many other countries for retirees I think.

Everchanging rules, permanent uncertainty and complications with banks, government etc in country of birth.

You might ask what keeps me here - she does - otherwise I'm long gone.

Live for today, forget tomorrow.

50 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Live for today, forget tomorrow.

I disagree but IMHO Thailand comes pretty close to being a paradise compared to the cost of living in developed countries.  The people here accept foreigners even though there are a lot of nasty storires of foreigners getting caught doing something they might not do in their home country.  The culture here is really different from many countries but they only ask the foreigners to respect the local culture  Yeah the change in governments to something totally different many times means a shake up in immigration procedures but over the past 30 years things have gotten a lot better IMHO with immigration and many other areas of the country.  Big problem IMHO is too much corrption, too few control most of the money, so hard for folks to improve their standard of living.  I love it here, after spending 35 years working and living in many countries, some developed some not so but enjoyed just about all of them.  If I couldn't stay here, I would probably go to the Philippines, have spent 7 years there, great scuba diving amongst the islands, tremendouos sea life and crystal clear waters.  But food in Thailand is one of the attractions too and very varied.  I don't plan on ever leaving here.