Govt approves 10 year visas for foreigners over 50

[wealthychef]

By the way, not everyone is completely honest when they report their income on their retirement visa documents.  And it is not checked at all what you claim.  I'm lucky because I qualify if I tell the truth, but you could just lie and it seems to me that would work fine.  

[Peterw42]

3 minutes ago, puukao said:

I am from China and have 100,000,000,000 baht in over 10 bank accounts....this is EASY...

 

There are millions like us.

 

to the few thousand poor............don't worry, this was designed to alienate you more!!!!

 

there really are plenty of rich people on this planet....when i'm 50, i can satisfy this.....

 

but have a house abroad and still not sure if i want to retire in LOS....

 

I am sure you are a very rich man, probably very hansum as well. 

[wealthychef]

4 minutes ago, puukao said:

 

And i'm pretty sure bank funds FROZEN, then seized......a nice 3 million baht!!!!!  and likely a house sold...

 

You do not have to keep your funds in a Thai Bank.  How are they going to seize your funds?  

[LivinLOS]

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

If you cant afford to live in Thailand you sure as hell cant afford to live in Europe. I have nowhere to stay in my country UK and where i spent most of my life in Germany i would be required by law to re-start my private health insurance which would cause me at my age to rely on social security since the payments would take most of my pension. I have a comfortable home here with family who i would have to desert and leave in the doo doo.

 

I went and set up a second home in the UK as a lifeboat from Thailand this year so I now and live in which one suits.. I am absolutely sure that the UK is cheaper to get set up than it is in Thailand if you consumer decent quality items. 

 

[55Jay]

10 minutes ago, puukao said:

 

And i'm pretty sure bank funds FROZEN, then seized......a nice 3 million baht!!!!!  and likely a house sold...

What  makes you "pretty sure" about that?  Can you cite one example where a retiree or married person with 400/800k Baht, respectively, in a Thai bank, had those funds FROZEN and then seized?

Edited November 23, 2016 by 55Jay

[Grubster]

26 minutes ago, Naam said:

i did not refer to you but to a specific poster who is continously posting derogatory incorrect comments about me. please untwist your knickers and don't listen to my crap.

Sorry Naam I guess I wrote that wrong, I was on your side there, as I saw that the other poster was giving you guff for having money.

[alanrchase]

 
People just dont get the inflation aspect thats coming.. 
 
I employ people right now in Holland and belgium.. These are lowish skilled construction workers.. I am paying them 1200 euros a week +- 
 
Who is existing on 450 euros a week ?? Poles ?? Slovakians ?? 

If I remember correctly you said earlier that you retired at 28. How can you be currently employing people if you are retired? What you should have said is you are the big boss that lounges around in Thailand off the sweat of other people's brows.

[onemorechang]

15 hours ago, Jingthing said:

We really NEED to know if these higher financial levels for the 10 year visa will be the ONLY option. If so, I guess there will be a lot of fire sale condos soon! 

 

I would say it could turn out to be  one more example of how much they dislike

us all.

[puukao]

Don't get all mad at me if you didn't plan properly for retirement!!!!  It's YOUR life, it's important to make lots of money and not spend it on bar girls.  Then the expats come here and eat bad, get super fat and go to hospital for months and months......lol....

 

money always gets people here all crazy..........if it's an INSECURITY, do something about it!!!!!!

 

remember....this is just the beginning

 

in 5-years, new visa regulations will be 30 million in the bank (Thai Bank)!!!!!!!

[Naam]

1 minute ago, Grubster said:

Sorry Naam I guess I wrote that wrong, I was on your side there, as I saw that the other poster was giving you guff for having money.

peace brother!

[Grubster]

22 minutes ago, nasa123 said:

What they do with Re Entry single and multi ?

I would guess nothing.

[Kerryd]

What gets me is they seem to be under the impression that this will help make Thailand a "hub" for medical services.

" Intended to promote Thailand as a hub for medical services, the policy was approved by the interim cabinet on Tuesday,"

 

What "medical tourists" are going to flock here, to put 3 mil into an account they can't touch for 1 year, for a 5 year "visa" they probably don't need, just to  have an operation or some kind of medical treatment ? Somewhere between zero and none I suspect. People coming to Thailand for medical reasons are more likely to get the operation/treatment and go home as soon as it is done. They aren't planning on coming here and spending 5-10 years in a hospital bed. They aren't looking to have a large sum tied up (most likely in a Thai bank) nor are they likely to even want a 5 year visa. 

 

People come to Thailand for medical reasons because it is cheap. 

Not because it is expensive to do so ! 

 

I can't see them actually replacing 1 year visas with this as very few people would even apply for one (for any reason). 

 

Make a 5 year Retirement (and Marriage) Visa with an annual "Report" date to verify that you are still alive and living (wherever). Charge 25,000 (equivalent to 5k/year). This would make them more money and cut down on the amount of paperwork/staff needed to do yearly visas/extensions and all those 90 day reports. Expats would be able to spend nearly 5 years without the annual renewal stress or having to do 3-4 x 90 day reports every year (4 Reports in total compared to 15-20 visits over 5 years currently). Keep the current financial requirements and just have people bring in their bank letters/proof of income statements when they do their annual report (to cut down on all the people that don't actually have any money). Once a year the expat shows up at Immigration, hands over his passport and bank letter. Passport scanned, bank letter filed, new report date issued, expat heads back to Nakhon Nowhere for another year. Shouldn't take much longer than the +/- 2 minutes it does now but only having to do it once a year would be so much easier (for the expats and the Immigration staff).

 

Make a 1 year "Medical" visa with 90 day reports (to make sure you haven't croaked from whatever medical issue brought you here). Charge 1,000 (to attract more "medical" tourists).

Keep the 1 year "Ed" Visa but require 90 day reports with verified attendance records from the school (to make sure they are actually being "educated").

 

Keep in mind that the last attempt to attract "wealthy long stay tourists" didn't work so well despite all the flash and cash spent on it. Also, it never usually works too well when your plan is to try and make money from the wealthiest 5% while ignoring (or shafting) the 80% that you actually make more from. Depending on whose numbers you use, Thailand has between 200,000-1,000,000 expats/foreigners (long stay types). This includes people from Africa/Middle East and other parts of SE Asia. Cut out the Indians/Nigerians/Nepalese/Filipino/Chinese/Japanese/etc, etc and maybe we've got 200,000 UK/American/Australian/Canadian/Euro/Scandinavian (etc, etc) long stay expats.

 

Would you rather have 10,000 people (5% of 200,000) spending 100,000/month (1,000,000,000) or 160,000 people (80% of 200,000) spending 65,000/month (10,400,000,000)? (Assuming people actually spend as much as Immigration expects them to.)

 

[tuktuktuk]

1 hour ago, Peterw42 said:

 

For most, thats the whole point of retiring in Thailand, its cheaper than home. A better life on a fixed income.

$3000 a month may be poverty in USA, here its more than most middle class Thais earn. Most counties would welcome immigrants with an income greater most of their population.

Maybe in wealthy countries. Norway, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, but not in the USA, not in the U.K., not in the Netherlands. Thailand doesn't need more anchoring their low standard of living and hindering their rise. 

[newnative]

$3000 a month is not 'living in poverty' in a lot of places in America.  I think the average Social Security payment in America is around $1400 a month.  That's about what I get and I also have a state pension of around $1700 a month after taxes.  I'm lucky to have a pension as a lot of employers are dropping them as being too expensive to maintain.  Workers are now suppose to be socking money away for their retirement in various retirement accounts but I wonder how many are saving enough. 

[55Jay]

6 minutes ago, puukao said:

Don't get all mad at me if you didn't plan properly for retirement!!!!  It's YOUR life, it's important to make lots of money and not spend it on bar girls.  Then the expats come here and eat bad, get super fat and go to hospital for months and months......lol....

 

money always gets people here all crazy..........if it's an INSECURITY, do something about it!!!!!!

 

remember....this is just the beginning

 

in 5-years, new visa regulations will be 30 million in the bank (Thai Bank)!!!!!!!

Nobody's mad at you.  You just have an overly active imagination. ^ Clearly ^.

Edited November 23, 2016 by 55Jay

[LivinLOS]

1 hour ago, moojar said:

If you're smart, you hang on to your "farangland" house as an exit strategy, not sell it it move to Thailand.   So you need to find $US100K on top of the real estate you own back home.  

   

 

And in hanging on to it, you can presumably get some rental return from it.. Which will go handily towards that 100k they require.. 

[soalbundy]

12 minutes ago, wealthychef said:

By the way, not everyone is completely honest when they report their income on their retirement visa documents.  And it is not checked at all what you claim.  I'm lucky because I qualify if I tell the truth, but you could just lie and it seems to me that would work fine.  

Americans can lie maybe, self assessment, but Europeans need proof of income/pension when they go to their embassy for confirmation of income

[jamie2009]

Is the money in the bank 'protected' same as in the UK by the government, £75000 shortly to be increased to £85000 due to the devalue in the £ or €100000 in the EU ?

[LannaGuy]

I wonder if they will allow a condo with full chanot to be used as the 3m?  if not 1000s will be have to be sold to meet this new requirement.  I have a few condos but little cash and I'm sure there are many like me.

[puukao]

2 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

Americans can lie maybe, self assessment, but Europeans need proof of income/pension when they go to their embassy for confirmation of income

 

even you have the CHANCE to bash AMERICANS, why do it????????????????????????????????  WHY?????

 

the money will have to be in BAHT.......so soon the Baht will be the strongest currency in the world!!!!!!

 

and rents will go to 50,000 baht month and the poor will cry more and more!!!!!!

 

Simple....run to Cambodia....while you are still alive!!!!

[Mister Fixit]

15 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

In other words, those who fit your profile - and sod the other 'expats'?

 

No not at all.  I, and I m sure most other readers would mean that his suggestion should apply to everyone married to a Thai with children.  

 

To think he was referring just to himself is absurd.  

[madmitch]

I would have been able to show 100,000 per month if my stupid <deleted> of a "financial advisor" hadn't managed to lose a third of my pension fund with dreadful investments.

 

Unless this is the only option, and we don't know yet, I don't know why so many people are getting wound up about this. 

 

It would not surprise me, however, to see the medical insurance proviso brought in for all types of long stay visa/extension and this could be a problem for the older retirees for whom the premium has become too expensive.

[andre47]

11 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

What gets me is they seem to be under the impression that this will help make Thailand a "hub" for medical services.

" Intended to promote Thailand as a hub for medical services, the policy was approved by the interim cabinet on Tuesday,"

 

This is only a pretext :). I don't see why people should come to Thailand for medical services. The price is already at European level and the quality is below.

They just don't want the "cheap Charlies" here....

[wealthychef]

7 minutes ago, puukao said:

 

even you have the CHANCE to bash AMERICANS, why do it????????????????????????????????  WHY?????

 

the money will have to be in BAHT.......so soon the Baht will be the strongest currency in the world!!!!!!

 

and rents will go to 50,000 baht month and the poor will cry more and more!!!!!!

 

Simple....run to Cambodia....while you are still alive!!!!

 

I didn't think he was bashing Americans.  I was the one that said we can lie.  He is just responding to my post.  

But good point about rents climbing due to influx of wealthy foreigners at the detriment of the locals.  The law of unintended consequences rears its ugly head. 

Cambodia was pretty fun to visit, wonder how it would be to live there.  

[Grubster]

I'm relatively sure they won't kick those who are currently married or retired here legally, But hey I guess they can if they want. I hope if they raise the bar on those folks they only to it at the same percentage as the cost of living.

[55Jay]

5 minutes ago, puukao said:

 

even you have the CHANCE to bash AMERICANS, why do it????????????????????????????????  WHY?????

 

the money will have to be in BAHT.......so soon the Baht will be the strongest currency in the world!!!!!!

 

and rents will go to 50,000 baht month and the poor will cry more and more!!!!!!

 

Simple....run to Cambodia....while you are still alive!!!!

He's not bashing, it's a realistic statement.  I imagine some Americans do get creative with it. 

 

The US Income Affidavit form is expressed in US Dollars.  Thai Immigration converts the amount to verify it meets (or exceeds) the required amount in Baht.    This will have zero impact on FOREX or rent. 

 

[wealthychef]

Has any official announcement been made?  Or are we all just flapping around based on a news report?  

[LivinLOS]

26 minutes ago, alanrchase said:

 

 

If I remember correctly you said earlier that you retired at 28. How can you be currently employing people if you are retired? What you should have said is you are the big boss that lounges around in Thailand off the sweat of other people's brows.

 

 

 

I retired at 28.. But I own equity in many businesses.. I have slices of a few active companies. 

 

I set up a second home in the UK in May, and while back there this summer started a new operation..  My first time trying after 15 years of boozing and partying here.. I was genuinely curious how it would go as it was just a punt.. Took until september to get all my government numbers in place but am already with operations in 3 countries and managers running them 100% on commissions. With contracts in hand now I estimate the biz will be making 40 - 50k GBP income above expenditure by easter and at the one year point I can probably pay myself 200k per annum while not actually working day to day in the biz. Thats starting with nothing more than a 10k pot thrown in. Now I am back here for some winter sun while managers handle the day to day. 

Making money in the west is so easy.. 100s of k a year is realistic with a 3 year a time horizon. All this 'government pensions are...' well sorry, dont rely on government pensions. Dont be a drone.. If your pot is low fill it up again.. Theres soooo much money out there in the west it not rocket science. I just went back with no skills, no contacts, no connections and having done sod all for over 15 years.. And thats the result. 

Edited November 23, 2016 by LivinLOS

[david555]

8 hours ago, tj916 said:

Hi David.

         Yes I take your point about taking the legal amount of currency on you and your wife's person.

what I was trying to say was, what happens if you are in Europe and all of a sudden your Thai ATM card does not work anymore.

You have three million baht in Thailand but your bank says it cannot transfer by Internet banking and you have to come back and sign 'form'

I would suggest contacting your Thai bank and ask them to send € 3000 of your money to your bank in Europe.

please let us know how easy it was.

You can find any bad thing that can happen of course... , like a Earthquake hits your Thai bank ...etc.... I only make my point that with a little planning an patience you can always get your money out of Thailand ... at a cost of course ..., seems you talk as an insurance man naming all the bad can happen .I am not defending to keep 3 mill in Thailand, but I know that all money some transfer or bring Thailand example to buy condo , later when selling the condo  and paying your taxes on it , you can transfer out complete by your bank delivering the tor tor sam or English name F.E.T. foreign exchange Transfer doc.

If you follow the Thai rules no problem exists .... but that latest seems a problem ....? not for me

[OMGImInPattaya]

Will be allot of butt-hurt Thailand Elite members if this comes to pass.