16 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

Did you explain to them that you are on a a wealthy pensioner visa? Perhaps they were not aware of the status of the visa?

Did you even read the post you replied to.....

"found out the hard way by going to Changwattana for my Certificate of Residence, who then sent me all the way back across town to BOI/IMM at One Bangkok."

If immigration sent him to BOI then they would be aware he had a LTR.

Having stated that, the io/doc check may be in error.

As per my previous post.

5 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Did you even read the post you replied to.....

"found out the hard way by going to Changwattana for my Certificate of Residence, who then sent me all the way back across town to BOI/IMM at One Bangkok."

If immigration sent him to BOI then they would be aware he had a LTR.

Having stated that, the io/doc check may be in error.

As per my previous post.

Clearly, something with the system is not working correctly.

Off topic nonsense post removed

@KhunHeineken

On 1/18/2026 at 11:06 AM, fallonwm said:

Perhaps the O-A visa would be better -....

@fallonwm ... getting back to your original post, ... quite possibly for the first year, a type-O is better.

I am an LTR-WP Visa holder - but my own view, is even if you have the money for the LTR-WP visa (ie you have the $80,000 US/year passive income) i recommend for the first year, unless you have lived in Thailand before (and know the country and have demonstrated to yourself and your family that you are happy with a plan to live here for a decade) do not rush in to the LTR-WP (assuming of course, these amounts of money are not trivial amounts for you).

My recommendation is not to go with LTR-WP right away nor go with Type-OA. Instead, I recommend go with the Type-O visa initially. The Type-O visa allows you to ultimately stay in Thailand on a yearly basis with annual extensions, year after year. Currently the type-O visa has no requirements to buy health insurance from the Thailand branch of health insurance company (unlike the the Type-OA visa which requires health insurance from the Thailand branch of a health insurance company for those on annual extensions of the Type-OA permission to stay in Thailand).

In the 1st year or two in Thailand (on a Type-O), get a sense of whether you like Thailand enough to live here for a decade. While you are here, if you see a foreign freehold condo you like, you can even buy such. Note if that condo purchase value is $250,000 US$ equivalent, it can in a case of the LTR-WP even contribute to part of an LTR-WP visa financial requirements.

I believe the majority of those who apply for LTR-WP (albeit not all) were initially on a Type-O or Type-OA visa.

3 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

So, I ask again, in 2026, if you were recently retired, would you go down the $250,000 route for this visa?

If yes, why? If no, why?

My guess is most people qualified for the LTR-WP visa using the $80k per year in pensions, or a combination of pensions & passive income. Some people probably used the $40k in pensions and/or passive income + $250k condo route, but they probably already owned their condo, or were planning to buy one anyway. It doesn't make sense for someone to buy a $250k condo (they didn't need) in order to get a LTR visa when that person could just get a Non-O.

5 minutes ago, JohnnyBD said:

My guess is most people qualified for the LTR-WP visa using the $80k per year in pensions, or a combination of pensions & passive income. Some probably used the $40k income + $250k condo route, but they probably already owned their condo, or were planning to buy one anyway. It doesn't make sense for someone to buy a $250k condo (they didn't need) in order to get a LTR visa when that person could just get a Non-O.

Thanks for your reply.

I've been cautioned twice by a Mod, so I will refrain from commenting further on your post, Suffice to say, I do agree, but I am unable to expand my reply any further.

I will no longer be posting on this thread, other than courtesy replies such as this one.

2 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

Summary: If you have an LTR-P (and maybe any other BOI facilitated LTR visa), when renewing your driving license, you need to go through BOI at One Bangkok again to get the Cor prior to the LTD driving license appt - I found out the hard way by going to Changwattana for my Certificate of Residence, who then sent me all the way back across town to BOI/IMM at One Bangkok. Also note, they won't send it to you by mail in five days anymore - nope - you need to return to the same location to get the letter 2-3 weeks after applying.

I wonder if that is dependent on policy of the provincial branch of the Department of Transport?

in Thailand, my Yellowbook/Pink-ID combination, in the past, has been accepted as my (or maybe better phrased 'in lieu of' the) 'Certificate of Residence' (COR) at Phuket branch of the Department of Transport.

I note (per your observation) the BoI page recommends getting a COR from BoI :

https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/driving-license.html

6 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

Just dropping this here..

I already posted in the Thai Motoring Forum

Summary: If you have an LTR-P (and maybe any other BOI facilitated LTR visa), when renewing your driving license, you need to go through BOI at One Bangkok again to get the Cor prior to the LTD driving license appt - I found out the hard way by going to Changwattana for my Certificate of Residence, who then sent me all the way back across town to BOI/IMM at One Bangkok. Also note, they won't send it to you by mail in five days anymore - nope - you need to return to the same location to get the letter 2-3 weeks after applying.

Did you ask them politely if there was any way to get it faster? I paid 500 baht to come back in an hour.

COR for folk with LTR

https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/driving-license.html

2 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

COR for folk with LTR

https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/driving-license.html

This is strange. I got a COR from Chonburi Immigration after I got my LTR. And it was with respect to my driving license (extension). Or was it for the international Driving Permit? Can't remember for sure. Note: I did everything through a driving license agent, except the COR which I fetched myself from Immigration.

20 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Did you even read the post you replied to.....

"found out the hard way by going to Changwattana for my Certificate of Residence, who then sent me all the way back across town to BOI/IMM at One Bangkok."

If immigration sent him to BOI then they would be aware he had a LTR.

Having stated that, the io/doc check may be in error.

As per my previous post.

Yes, but when I got to BOI/IMM at One Bangkok, I successfully applied for the CoR at the IMM window, after BOI reviewed my standard docs (TM30 etc), and was told by the IO who accepted my application for CoR that it wouldn't be ready for 2 weeks and to come back and get it on a specific date that she gave me. BOI woman also told me they normally take 2-3 weeks, and they won't mail them out anymore. Maybe it's just that location? It used to arrive in the post within 5 days in previous years.

18 hours ago, oldcpu said:

in Thailand, my Yellowbook/Pink-ID combination, in the past, has been accepted

Yes, that's my understanding. If you own a place the yellow/pink card is all you need (plus passport, and I guess TM30 and the QR from the online driver training). The IMM CoR is just needed for those of us who rent I guess..

14 hours ago, BrandonJT said:

Did you ask them politely if there was any way to get it faster? I paid 500 baht to come back in an hour.

Rats. No I didn't think of that.. Anyway, I'll get it a week before the license appt.

3 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

Maybe it's just that location? It used to arrive in the post within 5 days in previous years.

I don't know, why CW didn't process the COR.

They even issue COR to folk on tourist class status and yes it takes ~5 days.

In the BOI link I posted earlier the link in that to application form is the same form CW uses.

14 hours ago, BrandonJT said:

Did you ask them politely if there was any way to get it faster? I paid 500 baht to come back in an hour.

Rats. No I didn't think of that.. Anyway, I'll get it a week before the license appt.

6 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

In the BOI link I posted earlier the link in that to application form is the same form CW uses.

Yes, but at the bottom of that link it also says it will take 15 days.. I dunno.

"Please note that the processing time will takes 15 days after submitting request form."

On 1/30/2026 at 6:39 PM, KhunHeineken said:

My home country, Australia, has a scheme called Superannuation. If you are working, it's compulsory to be in a Superannuation scheme and you must pay a percentage of your salary into it, every pay day. Your employer deducts the appropriate amount. You don't get to see it, and it's basically locked away until retirement age.

Are Australians allowed to make voluntary contributions if they move abroad for many years? Or does the system only allow for those working inside Australia for an Australian employer to contribute via employer deductions?

9 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

Are Australians allowed to make voluntary contributions if they move abroad for many years? Or does the system only allow for those working inside Australia for an Australian employer to contribute via employer deductions?

One can make voluntary contributions whether inside or outside of Australia.

18 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

Are Australians allowed to make voluntary contributions if they move abroad for many years?

Yes.

There is also some flexibility.

For example you can make a voluntary contribution of $100k per year or a 300k contribution in one year provided no voluntary contributions in next two years.

19 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

Suffice to say, I do agree, but I am unable to expand my reply any further.

That's unfortunate. The value of this forum is the discussion of counter points of view.

While I certainly disagree with your assessment of the LTR visa, I do wonder about why you'd be remiss to invest $250000 in Thailand. What on the horizon worries you about Thailand? With a GDP-Debt ratio of 58%, Thailand is certainly financially sound. So too with its current account numbers. Political uncertaintly? Yeah, the term "coup" has a negative ring to it. But these bloodless coups are just Thailand's way of impeachment -- and the last of these, with Prayuth, was - in my opinion - a positive step forward. Anyway, I think the age of coups has probably ended, and Thailand can now successfully muddle forth with its strange form of politics.

Anyway, before you're unfortunately chased off this forum, please explain why $250k invested in Thailand might be a problem. Maybe I'm missing something, 'cause I have well over that invested here. So, what am I missing?

1 hour ago, JimGant said:

Maybe I'm missing something, 'cause I have well over that invested here. So, what am I missing?

https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/required-documents.html

Scroll down to investment in Thailand.

From memory it has a timeframe requirement. (Purchase last 6 month) + passive income.

There is 171 page current LTR thread running. Has good information.

8 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

I don't know, why CW didn't process the COR.

They even issue COR to folk on tourist class status and yes it takes ~5 days.

In the BOI link I posted earlier the link in that to application form is the same form CW uses.

Same reason someone on a work visa can't get things from Chaeng Watthana. That's not their immigration office. The LTR people must use the office attached to the BOI (previously Chamchuri, now One Bangkok) for everything.

On 1/26/2026 at 10:41 AM, JackGats said:

I have a good mind to get the tax residence certificate next year (for 2026) in spite of my LTR WP visa. In order to get one you need to have paid some income tax in TH. I know because I tried to get one in Chonburi last year without having paid any income tax for 2024, and was refused one. I had paid 10% witholding dividend tax on my Thai stock but this apparently didn't count as "having paid income tax".

The way to go is to contrive to pay some taxes, say 2000 baht, by transferring around 10k euros in the middle of the year (instead of in early January which would make the transfer tax-free according to the BOI's latest guidance). Declare the sum through the eFiling, pay the tax, then use the receipt of tax payment to get your tax residence certificate. You'll also need a travel record from immigration for the tax year. The travel record will show you've been in Thailand for at least 6 months.

In the unlikely event TRD asks me "why the hell did you file taxes through tax-exempt as per LTR visa?" my reply will be that I declared this particular remittance because it took place in the middle of the year and was money earnt during the tax year, unlike the other remittance effected on January 2nd which was money from previous years "savings".

Thank you very much. I had an expensively paid consultation with one of the most famous expat legal-consultancies, and they told me to do something similar to what you suggest. But I do not think that it is a good solution for my case:
the "problem" with that is that I wish to use the tax exemption to remit some money into Thailand tax free, as it would be in my right to do under the LTR WP visa exemption.
So, it is difficult to justify using the LTR WP exemption to remit well more than 10kand, at the same, filing a income tax return declaring having remitted only 10k EUR (and not uploading the LTR WP visa with the tax return, to pay tax, and hence losing the exemption for that tax year).

Also, in a (free) consultation with the other top expat accounting-consultancy, I was told that many of their clients can get the Tax Residency Certificate by filing the tax return and without paying any tax:
it is my understanding that they meant it is the case of many UK and German pensioners: their clients pay withholding tax in their country of origin, then they get the tax credit due to the Double Taxation Agreement: so they sumbmit the tax return, declare the remittance, pay zero tax due to tax credit, and, so I understand, they still do get the TRC...
So, this seems to be the proper way. But, I hear you: you tried to get the TRC (in Chomburi) (by having done an income tax return) and you were denied the TRC on the basis of not having tax to pay together with the income tax declaration. Your idea of generating Thai based income was perfect: it seems that dividends already pay higher withholding tax... it seems unfair that the dividend (and bank interest) withholding tax, while being paid tax, was ignored by those issuing the TRC in Chomburi.
I now plan an expensive consultation with what seems to be to be a real expert, and in a few days I will get also that opinion. I will report your painful case in case I will be advised that the LTR WP case is similar to the pension remittance with zero tax (due to tax credits abroad) case.


Thank you again for sharing.

7 hours ago, gavitronic said:

Thank you very much. I had an expensively paid consultation with one of the most famous expat legal-consultancies, and they told me to do something similar to what you suggest. But I do not think that it is a good solution for my case:
the "problem" with that is that I wish to use the tax exemption to remit some money into Thailand tax free, as it would be in my right to do under the LTR WP visa exemption.

Its interesting to read of a strong desire (not in your case) of some who wish to get a tax clearance certificate.

I think many LTR-WC and LTR-WGC expats have significantly more money outside of Thailand than money inside of Thailand, and hence showing one is bringing money into Thailand from a tax year other than the year in which the income was earned, is very much a trivial book keeping exercise.

Further for many of us (even if not an LTR visa) our foreign sourced income is not tax assessable in Thailand per Thai Royal decree, which documents legal tax exemption if covered by specific wording in the DTA with Thailand relevant to our foreign sourced income.

Hence for many of us on LTR, and also with relevant DTAs with Thailand, there is no requirement for a Thailand tax return submission, nor any such Tax Clearance Certificate, as one's assessable income never meets the required Thai threshold, needed to be met for filing a Thai tax return.

But for those who feel compelled to apply for such a tax clearance certificate, please do share your stories.

It is IMHO always interesting to read of such despite my view that for many of us, there is legally no requirement at present for such per both Thailand tax law and Thailand immigration law.

On 1/31/2026 at 10:12 PM, oldcpu said:

@fallonwm ... getting back to your original post, ... quite possibly for the first year, a type-O is better.

I am an LTR-WP Visa holder - but my own view, is even if you have the money for the LTR-WP visa (ie you have the $80,000 US/year passive income) i recommend for the first year, unless you have lived in Thailand before (and know the country and have demonstrated to yourself and your family that you are happy with a plan to live here for a decade) do not rush in to the LTR-WP (assuming of course, these amounts of money are not trivial amounts for you).

My recommendation is not to go with LTR-WP right away nor go with Type-OA. Instead, I recommend go with the Type-O visa initially. The Type-O visa allows you to ultimately stay in Thailand on a yearly basis with annual extensions, year after year. Currently the type-O visa has no requirements to buy health insurance from the Thailand branch of health insurance company (unlike the the Type-OA visa which requires health insurance from the Thailand branch of a health insurance company for those on annual extensions of the Type-OA permission to stay in Thailand).

In the 1st year or two in Thailand (on a Type-O), get a sense of whether you like Thailand enough to live here for a decade. While you are here, if you see a foreign freehold condo you like, you can even buy such. Note if that condo purchase value is $250,000 US$ equivalent, it can in a case of the LTR-WP even contribute to part of an LTR-WP visa financial requirements.

I believe the majority of those who apply for LTR-WP (albeit not all) were initially on a Type-O or Type-OA visa.

You can use a non Thai health insurance with OA.

On 2/1/2026 at 6:52 PM, JimGant said:

That's unfortunate. The value of this forum is the discussion of counter points of view.

While I certainly disagree with your assessment of the LTR visa, I do wonder about why you'd be remiss to invest $250000 in Thailand. What on the horizon worries you about Thailand? With a GDP-Debt ratio of 58%, Thailand is certainly financially sound. So too with its current account numbers. Political uncertaintly? Yeah, the term "coup" has a negative ring to it. But these bloodless coups are just Thailand's way of impeachment -- and the last of these, with Prayuth, was - in my opinion - a positive step forward. Anyway, I think the age of coups has probably ended, and Thailand can now successfully muddle forth with its strange form of politics.

Anyway, before you're unfortunately chased off this forum, please explain why $250k invested in Thailand might be a problem. Maybe I'm missing something, 'cause I have well over that invested here. So, what am I missing?

Capital controls could be implemented by thailand as was in Malaysia some 30 years ago. Why should one use a brokerage in Thailand if you have IBKR at your fingertips? Currently you have to prove in TH where the money comes from and when was it send to TH etc if you want to repatriate the money. Why would you keep a substantial amount of money in Thailand instead of US, UK, Germany or any other country with an excellent modern banking system ?

Edited July 22Jul 22 by stat

35 minutes ago, stat said:

Capital controls could be implemented by thailand as was in Malaysia some 30 years ago. Why should one use a brokerage in Thailand if you have IBKR at your fingertips? Currently you have to prove in TH where the money comes from and when was it send to TH etc if you want to repatriate the money. Why would you keep a substantial amount of money in Thailand instead of US, UK, Germany or any other country with an excellent modern banking system ?

There are some advantages. The low Thai withholding tax, the very low Thai broker fees. Also, if you already have a big stash of money in Thailand, you could live off that for years in Thailand without having to bother about Thailand taxing your remittances.

Thai witholding tax is the same no matter where you hold your assets. Big stash of money can get confiscated and could be difficult to get out of Thailand again. Farily easy to just transfer old savings to Thailand and not be taxed. Thai brokers are not in the same league as IBKR, Charles Schwaab or Flatex regarding trading cost, interest on your cash and options or futures trading. Just my 2 cents... Which thai broker would you recommend?

6 hours ago, stat said:

You can use a non Thai health insurance with OA.

You can when first applying from outside of Thailand for an OA.

However once inside Thailand, and applying for a 1 year extension on an OA visa, its a totally different matter.

Trust me. Been there. Encountered that.

Edited July 22Jul 22 by oldcpu

3 hours ago, stat said:

Thai witholding tax is the same no matter where you hold your assets.

It depends on what is being (or not being) taxed.

3 hours ago, stat said:

Big stash of money can get confiscated and could be difficult to get out of Thailand again.

True - but I guess 'big stash' is all relative. I've been mostly living in Thailand from the amount transferred to Thailand prior to 2019 (when I was a non-tax resident). I could keep doing so for sometime - and living very comfortably.

Relatively speaking, i don't have that much money in Thailand - AND per you comment as i see no point to bring too much in. Like many things in finance, we all need to consider our own financial situation.

3 hours ago, stat said:

Farily easy to just transfer old savings to Thailand and not be taxed.

Absolutely - especially before 1-Jan-2024 savings.

3 hours ago, stat said:

Thai brokers are not in the same league as IBKR, Charles Schwaab or Flatex regarding trading cost, interest on your cash and options or futures trading. Just my 2 cents... Which thai broker would you recommend?

I find these questions of interest, and i too am curious to read assessments here.

I've been lucky to find one Canadian broker who (for Canadian citizens only) currently legally allows Canadians who no longer reside in Canada to still use that brokerage. This has worked well for me, but if this brokerage should change their policy, I would be SOL (sure out of luck). So i too am curious as to the assessments.

I think thou for Charles Schwaab, a non-US citizen residing in Thailand may have issues trying to open a Charles Schwaab account.

I had thought Flatex a European online broker primarily serving residents living within specific European jurisdictions (such as Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and via its DEGIRO brand, various European countries). I think they require European residency and local tax IDs to comply with EU banking and anti-money laundering regulations.

I could be wrong thou - this was mostly from my notes of previous research.

Edited July 22Jul 22 by oldcpu

10 hours ago, stat said:

You can use a non Thai health insurance with OA.

Sure you can use a non-Thai carrier for the embassy application, in theory. It requires your insurance carrier to sign a specific form as part of your visa application. Many insurance companies will not sign any type of document that includes any mention of insurance coverage, as legally that could bind them to coverage they do not want to offer. I know in the US, it would basically be impossible to get any insurance carrier to sign such a document, and I believe many other places are the same.