I have leased land in Pai and accommodation is currently being built.

I spoke with the Thailand Consulate in Sydney, Australia who claimed I can secure a retirement visa through them as I meet all the requirements.

However I am totally confused about which visa I should initially use to freight my personal items and receive consideration for Tax Duty exemption through Thailand Customs. The retirement visa doesn’t seem to be the best for this..?

I will not be working and I’m not marrying a Thai or any of the other circumstances that will allow me to get a visa that will accommodate a possible smooth transaction with the Thai Customs Office..

I am a song writer/musician and just want to retire and practice my art..

I am wanting to relocate my home studio to Pai which may cause some problems unless the customs officer has some idea of what is involved with a studio. E.G. A kit of eight to ten microphones needed to record the drums and four guitars used for different recording purposes. I view the drum microphone kit as a single unit and the guitars all have different qualities for recording but there is the definite possibility only one mic or guitar will be duty exempt..

Obviously I want to obtain a visa that is correct for the Thailand Customs Office.

At least this may give me a chance of explaining my equipment and hopefully alleviate the worry of whether my container will sit on the dock in the too hard basket while incurring exorbitant port charges..

I do hope I have explained myself clearly.. hmm.. I will appreciate any help that can be offered.. :-)

Thank you..

All the best,

Peter

You will pay the same duty no matter what visa you get since you will not have a work permit.

Info here: http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/individuals/importing+used+or+secondhand+household+effects/importingusedsecondhandhouseholdeffects+

You just need to arrange a good customs broker to handle the import.

Like Ubonjoe says, this is only a matter of negotiations between you or your customs clearence agent and the customs in Thailand. I have know that for this kind of "teamoney" the customs as a starter consider the weight of the goods if it is being shipped as LCL (less container load), and if you ship a FCL (container) there will be some 65.000-85.000 baht in customs duties (penalties).

if it helps you,I can recommend my customsagent in Bangkok, so PM me and you will have his namne, address as well as his email and phonenumbers...

Good luck

Glegolo

Thank you so much for your advice Ubonjoe and Glegolo, I really appreciate it..

Thanks, ubonjoe! I will be bringing my household effects in next year and the link to the customs page is very helpful.