This is my first posting on this excellant site, so hopefully i am posting in the correct forum, my intentioned are this, on selling my house in London, i intend to retire in Thailand on a marriage visa having been married to a Thai Lady for 6 years, we already have a house in Sattahip which we have been visiting every year on the normal 30 day visa

Last time i was there we had dinner with an expat,and he told me he still has a UK bank account and his pension is paid into this account which he withdraws from ATM's incurring the usual fees,which seemed a bit dopey to me, he has not informed the UK government of his moving permantly to Thailand,and was adament you did'nt need to, i told him i was under the impression this was illegal and he should have informed the UK government, and got his pension paid to a Thai bank, thus having it frozen on the point of contact.

Now my query is this, since i am on the point of retiring as before mentioned, do i just leave the UK without informing the UK government and draw money from a Halifax "Clarity" credit card via ATM, which does not charge a fee, other than the ATM charge which i believe at the moment is £1.50, this card has has a direct debit set up by me, thus incurring no interest charge, is this a feasable/legal arrangement, or is it better to get my pension paid into my Thai bank, thus being frozen on the spot by UK, and not getting the huge yearly increases we get, which last year my increase amounted to about £2 LOL

I await someone who can enlighten me, i do not want to have to return to the UK at a later date to inform the government i no longer reside in the UK, and will have to transfer my pension, as to do this by post from Thailand would take a month of sundays and plenty of cockups on the way.

Regards Maxc London

You should notify the UK government you are non resident at which point your pension will be frozen, to pretend you are still living in UK and entitled to all the yearly increases is an offence.

It is OK to keep a UK or Jersey bank account into which your pension can be paid in monthly. Transfer funds by TT into your Thai Bank account as and when you need it.

I am not advocating breaking the law for anyone, but I think I would keep quiet. A bolt from the blue could afflict any of us; divorce, illness... You just never know when you may need home again and burning bridges could well make things tricky.

I am not advocating breaking the law for anyone, but I think I would keep quiet. A bolt from the blue could afflict any of us; divorce, illness... You just never know when you may need home again and burning bridges could well make things tricky.

With you there for sure...

Just about everyone i have spoken with do not tell, so they get the annual increases in pension, and transfer when they need it, most if not all have a private pension so they do not need to transfer every month, not saying it is legal or the right thing to do

Edited September 7, 201411 yr by howerde