Pib

Yes, the devil is in the details and more details apply to qualify for what you say such as having creditable health insurance in the eyes of Medicare, was volunteering as part of a non-profit organization, etc. Special enrollment does not apply to just returning from being retired overseas unless specific conditions are met. It's hard to escape the Part B penalty. https://www.medicareinteractive.org/understanding-medicare/health-coverage-options/medicare-and-living-abroad/medicare-coverage-for-those-who-live-abroad-but-plan-to-move-back-to-the-united-states-or-travel-back-frequently

To self-insure "investment" type funds like no longer work....they were accepted for some people during the first 6 months of so of the LTR program which began Sep 2022....but that's now water under the bridge. If that emergency fund you mention is in a "bank" like a savings, checking, money market, CD account where you can show 12 monthly statements (or probably 4 quarterly statements) you will be good to go. Or you buy insurance for 1 year while you season a $100K bank deposit and then not renew the insurance as you would now be covered via the $100K deposit method. You just need to ensure you either meet the insurance policy "or" self-insure method over the 10 year period of the LTR visa.

Yea...you could do that. Nothing prevents you from having another Thailand visa. like a Non O, while you apply for a LTR visa. Whatever you think best fits your particular situation. And getting the LTR visa issued/stamped into your passport within Thailand will be cheaper (Bt50K) than the LTR Visa being issued via the evisa process which is generally x-amount higher depending on the country you are apply from....but you'll need to travel to the BOI immigration in Bangkok. Since the Thai Foreign Ministry which sets fees issued via the evisa system their fees vary from country to country and are higher than the Bt50K charged by BOI Immigration in Bangkok. By higher I mean higher by not-too-much higher to significantly higher.

Yeap....you could get a Non-O visa today and if you had applied earlier for an LTR visa and the LTR visa was endorsed (approved) tomorrow you could then get the LTR visa issued while getting the Non-O visa cancelled at the same time. Well, actually the Non-O would be cancelled a few seconds before the LTR visa is issued. Immigration can see in their computers (and from your passport) if you have another active visa that needs to be cancelled in order to issued the LTR visa. At BOI immigration they can cancel your current visa and then a minute later issue the LTR visa.....it's like a combo transaction. That's how it happened for me when I was on a 1 year Non-OA Marriage Extension of Stay....that Marriage Extension of Stay (which was only about 2 months old) was cancelled by BOI immigration and a few minutes later the LTR visa was issued and stamped into my passport.

That banks that issue money (like from ATMs) earn money from the Visa/Mastercard/card-issuing bankl it's not solely from the ATM fee they charge like B250. And the money they earn besides their fee is a nice fee/profit, but bankers always want to earn more...and more...and more. And yea, being retired is great!!!

One thing for sure is solar panel sales are increasing in the provinices based on the quantity of solar panels I see for sale in large hardware stores like Thaiwasuda, Global House, etc. The selection and quantity is much larger than 5 years ago. I figure the majority of the sales is to run agricultural/stationary equipment like water pumps during the day. Now when it comes to selling solar panels mounted on home roof tops to power homes I've noticed little growth in that segment based on my driving around the country. And here in my western Bangkok gated moobaan consisting off arounf 800 homes ranging in cost from around Bt7M to over a Bt100M there are very few homes with solar....less than 10 homes...with solar panels mounted on rooftops based on my daily dog walks around the entire moobaan over the years. People living in my moobaan are predominantly middle-upper to high income folks. They have the income to install solar but they simply are not doing so for whatever reason(s).

Actually, a person from the US is most likely "not" currently going to be able to get a 6% bank rate like on CDs. Currently the highest CD rate is around 4.6% and that's only at select financial institutions (see snapshot at bottom). Most institutions are probably going to be paying around 4% for longer term CDs....and those rates are slowly going down as the Fed slowly reduces rates. I guess if a person wants to attempt to open new accounts with those select financial institutions paying the highest CD rate of the day then more power to them. Let's say 4% is more real world for most CDs at most USA banks aright now. 4% would earn you $4000/year before taxes....but let's say more like $3,400 after taxes (or approx Bt112,000) after taxes. While Bt112K can surely pay the annual premium for many Thai insurance policies (full of pre-existing exclusions and a big annual deduction) if the person is say under 65, but after 65 the premiums start sky rocketing for a policy with a high annual deductible...and at 75 these skyrocket even faster or you may not be able to even get a Thai insurance policy after 75 unless you already had coverage with the insurance company before reaching 75. It's gets to the point that the Thai insurance policy can make a person feel like they are just pouring money down the drain with little chance of partial reimbursement unless it's for some major/big money medical issues like cancer, heart attach, stroke, etc., which will also have some maximum amount (that ain't that high) they will reimburse. And then you might decide to go back to the home country for medical care where your government universal insurance, Medicare, etc. will provide coverage since the home country govt insurance does not provide coverage when outside your home country. A person definitely needs to consider their age and Thai insurance premiums by age bracket, pre-existing exclusions, max reimbursable per year or by medical event, etc....etc. Health insurance costs vary greatly based on a person age and any pre-existing conditions. Heck, some of these considerations even apply to home country insurance coverage.....each country has different insurance laws, norms of coverage, etc. OK, then don't use a CD...instead invest the $100K in the stock market, stocks, mutual funds, etc., and hope the stock market is always in a up cycle and you always pick good stocks. But realworld the stock market goes up and down in cycles. But now you can't use a stock investment type account to meet the BOI $100K self-insure requirement although some people were able to do so in the early days of the LTR visa program. And jumping back to the CD approach BOI may not accept that if they feel the particular CD can not very quickly be withdrawn to pay a medical bill and/or the CD account is not paying the interest frequently like monthly/quarterly which can be a indicator if the CD can be withdrawn quickly....seems it may really be more like a stock investment account. BOI want to ensure CD funds can "quickly" be withdrawn so choose CDs carefully when that CD acct is being used to meet the self-insure requirement. So be sure you choose a CD acct that does show regular interest payments...the periodic statement looks very similar to a regular checking/savings account. The reason I know this is from back and forth correspondence regarding this about a year ago when I started asking from a curiosity standpoint. Yeap, meeting the medical insurance requirement either by using a Thai or home country insurance policy or self-insuring will be seen differently from individual to individual....and age is a BIG factor. Best CD rate in USA as of July 2025

Actually, when using a credit or debit card to obtain cash at a bank, like a Thai bank ATM or at a Thai bank counter, the Thai bank "receives" a fee (i.e., a profit) for accomplishing the transaction. It's called an interchange fee but works the opposite to the interchange fee a merchant must pay when a person buys product/service with their card. If using a Visa debit/credit card (or really any foreign issued credit/debit card) to get funds (we are now talking getting cash and not talking about buying something) at an ATM the Thai bank receives from the card issuing bank some funds for accomplishing the transaction....and the amount received depends on how/where the cash is disbursed. That is, is it disbursed at an ATM without or without an ATM fee like Bt250 now being charged by Thai banks....and was the disbursement selected by the card-holder a Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) or not. Mastercard and other cards have very similar rules/fees. Below is a chart snapshot from the Visa rules/fees website regarding "cash disbursement" like getting cash from an ATM or a bank counter using your Visa debit/credit card. Issuer" means the bank that issued your card (does not mean the bank disbursing the cash) and Acquirer is the bank disbursing the cash like a Thai bank disbursing you cash at a ATM or bank counter when you use your card. Now since Thai bank "do" charge an ATM fee, and sometimes a counter fee, when using a foreign card the ATM fees the Thai bank will receive is Bt250 plus 0.15% if the card holder didn't choose DCC. So, if a person withdraws Bt30,000 then the Thai bank receive 0.15% which equate to Bt45 plus their applied fee of Bt250 for a total of Bt295. And if the cash disbursement happens at a Thai bank counter they get $1.75 which is around Bt56 plus 0.33%....0.33% of a Bt30K disbursement is around Bt99 plus the Bt56 for a total of Bt155 plus any counter fee disbursement the bank may charge. See below interchange cash disbursement fee table from the Visa Rules/Fees website for the cash disbursement fee that would apply depending on the situation. AND KEEP IN MIND BELOW INTERCHANGE FEES HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FOREIGN TRANSACTION/CROSS BORDER FEES YOUR CARD-ISSUING BANK MAY (OFTEN DO) APPLY ON THIER END....THOSE ARE SEPARATE FEES CHARGED TO YOU.....BELOW ONLY DEALS WITH WHAT THE BANK THAT IS DISBURSING THE CASH RECEIVE (LIKE A THAI BANK). And once again the cash disbursement interchange fees operate opposite from that of a merchant selling you something where that merchant does incur a Visa/Mastercard fee typically of a few percent....and once again you will still have routinely have foreign transaction/cross border fees on the card-issuing bank end.

View/download the latest BOI LTR brochure which includes the latest updates like dropping the 80K USD requirement for Wealthy Global Citizen Category, etc. Nice 2 page brochure. https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/publication.html

https://ltr.boi.go.th/#type And if failing to maintain LTR visa requirements (i.e., like for not maintaining insurance, etc) and this sin is too much for you to bear (i.e., sleepless nights worrying about it 😀) the BOI LTR website even has the form to complete to cancel the visa....partial snapshot below. https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/cancellation.html

You must maintain insurance the entire length of the LTR visa. The BOI web site states all requirements must be maintained during the length of the visa. Failure to do so will result in termination of the visa. Nothing stops you from canceling the insurance once the visa is issued, however, if BOI Immigration finds out you can kiss your LTR visa goodbye. Does BOI immigration ever check?...not that I've heard of. Will BOI immigration check for the 5 year renewal?....no one knows as the first 5 year renewals will not occur until late 2027 when the people who got the first LTR visas in late 2022 need to apply for their 5 year renewal.

You can message BOI at anytime about any question you have about applying for an LTR visa or during the actual LTR submission/review process. However, I don't recommend you try to start explaining certain income issues "after" you have submitted your application unless BOI asks you by message.....you should have asked those questions before applying. BOI typically responds to questions withing a business day or two. If you want to explain certain docs/issues in your LTR application, what you do instead is include a short memo(s) explaining things you want to clarify/explain. When I submitted my LTR application in late 2022 I included a memo and an income summary chart of all income primarily because of one non-reportable for tax purposes income source which I wanted to ensure BOI understood when bucking that against my tax return. I also included a doc proving the non-reportable for tax purposes income. An example might be along the lines of you receive some benefit payment/income that is totally or partially tax free in your country and not reported anywhere on your tax return since it's not required to be reported or maybe the benefit payment agency does not even issue a tax doc since by law it's tax free. However, you know that unless BOI sees that income which might put your over the 80K USD equivalent income but your gross income on your tax return falls below 80K then BOI might not approve your LTR application because of falling short of the 80K income requirement. But including a memo explaining certain income that does not appear on your tax return for reason XYZ and also providing a separate doc proving the tax free income like a benefit payment doc from the benefit paying agency. BOI understands some income may not appear on a tax return for a lawful reason in your home country but you just need to explain that lawful reason. Such a reason in the U.S. would be certain Veteran's Administration (VA) benefit payments which are tax free, no annual tax docs like a 1099 tax form is provided (i.e., non-reportable for tax purposes), and that income is not reported on your tax return.....a memo explaining this along with some proof of this non-taxable/non-reportable income along with a doc proving the income would clarify the issue with BOI. Any memo(s) you provide should be included in the appropriate LTR upload area....probably best to make that memo the first doc you upload in a certain area....kinda like the first page of a chapter in a book. A memo explaining certain issues is a good thing for BOI and the applicant...and could definitely help in BOI not rejecting your application or asking for unnecessary additional documentation which also delays your application processing. And I'm sure a memo that is determined to be "BS", disingenuous, deceitful, etc., will result in BOI putting a bright spotlight on your application for very thorough examination and strict document requirements.....will not be any possible flexibility offered in your application. Preaching to the choir....keep any explanation memo totally honest. LTR application screeners know very well applicants from certain countries have some unique tax/income laws and they will probably already be aware of many such tax/income laws that exist in certain countries. And I'm sure LTR screeners have seen a fair amount of "BS" applications where applicants are just throwing their application against the wall to see if it sticks or not---I'm sure very, very few if any have stuck.

Since it's an IRA where you can probably control the distributions (to include stopping them and how much each year) I expect you would need to show 12 months of distributions. But if it was certain types of "pension" like say a government pension which started because you reached a certain age, retired and immediately started drawing the pension, etc., and that pension is basically going to continue to flow come heck or high water until you die then I don't think BOI would require 12 months of pensions distribution. BOI would probably accept just a few months of "actual" pension distributions (if 12 times each monthly pension distribution meets the wealthy pension income requirement) along with some documentation confirming it's a lifetime pension or at least 10 years worth. Like say a military retirement pension, social security pension, etc., that typically last until death-do-you-part (i.e., you and the pension). I'm sure BOI wants to issue as many LTR visas as possible and on a case-by-case basis with adequate income proof they would approve the LTR visa. And it does not need to be a Jan-Dec window of income...it could say be July-June 12 month period in those cases where you happened to meet the income requirements due to new income flow starting in July. Tax returns are not always a requirement or the deciding factor nor the sole source of acceptable income proof if you can provide other documentation proving the income to include when it started. Like say you just started a military or social security retirement pension....the paying govt agencies provide a benefits letter that is acceptable proof. Yea, BOI does offer flexibility on a case-by-case basis since income sources can vary greatly from applicant to applicant. Good luck when you do apply. Cheers.

For the Wealthy Pensioner category see below partial snapshot of Required Docs as of 30 Jun 2025 from the LTR website. And note the unearned/passive income is income that's "actually paid" to you although you may be immediately reinvesting it; it can not just be a HUGE IRA amount on paper that you are not receiving distributions from. It not some kind of income, like unearned/passive income, until you actually start receiving pay-out like dividends/cap gains/etc., distributions (which you might be immediately reinvested), payouts that actually reach your bank account, etc. Gotta be real money flow vs just a big amount setting in an account still growing/awaiting to be withdrawn. https://ltr.boi.go.th/documents/Required-docs-Wealthy-Pensioners-30-06-2025.pdf And from the LTR main page under Types of LTR visas. https://ltr.boi.go.th/#type

He's talking a new type of visa and not the current LTR visa that in some circles/social media has indeed sometimes been referred to as a golden visa just like the Elite visa has sometimes been referred to as a golden visa. Taksin probably heard about Trump's 5 million dollar golden visa proposal that's going nowhere in Congress right now...will probably quietly die away. Taksin is probably just mimicking his supposedly good buddy, Donald. When I first started reading the Strait Times July 2025 article for a few seconds I thought it was an old article from the early LTR days predicting a gazillion people to apply/qualify for the LTR visa and it to bring in gazillion baht. Typical politician hype, exaggeration, aspirational projections (a.k.a., BS) when proposing some new govt initiative. And just before the govt finalized the LTR reqirements and benefits it was also proposed land up to 400 wah I think it was could be owned by a LTR recipient, but the uproar from some Thai groups resulted in that being dropped just before the LTR program was implemented in Sep 2022.