Retirement visa news - this time it's GOOD - maybe

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Gaybutton
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Retirement visa news - this time it's GOOD - maybe

Post by Gaybutton »

Travelerjim sent the following to me this morning. Click the link and read it for yourself.

Based on Travelerjim's information, now it does look like immigration is going to accept proof of income from evidence supported by Thai banks.

I hope to soon be able to change the part of the topic title that says "maybe" to "definitely."

One line that significantly stands out is "A certified version in English of the new requirements will be posted on Thaivisa shortly."

Until Thai immigration makes it official, it isn't official - but it certainly looks promising. Whether the people who posted this information are truly reliable is another question, but I certainly don't think they are making it up.

Hopefully, we'll have a definitive answer very soon that we all can rely on.

Here's the link: https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/10 ... ons-visas/
Up2u

Re: Retirement visa news - this time it's GOOD - maybe

Post by Up2u »

This subject was of course a "hot" topic at today's PCEC meeting. Darren from Key Visa was also the speaker. My advice for those who are going the 65k monthly income route; start documenting your monthly income from a Thai bank now. I use TransferWise and Bangkok Bank.
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Re: Retirement visa news - this time it's GOOD - maybe

Post by Gaybutton »

Up2u wrote:This subject was of course a "hot" topic at today's PCEC meeting. Darren from Key Visa was also the speaker.
Was there any definitive confirmation of the 65,000 baht per month?

By the way, receiving funds in Thailand via TransferWise does specify that the money came from a foreign source. Whenever money is direct deposited into my Bangkok Bank account I receive a text message from Bangkok Bank. I received my latest deposit via TransferWise last Wednesday and the Bangkok Bank text message includes that the funds came from a foreign source.
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Re: Retirement visa news - this time it's GOOD - maybe

Post by Dodger »

Up2u wrote:My advice for those who are going the 65k monthly income route; start documenting your monthly income from a Thai bank now.
I verified with my Thai bank several months ago that they can and will provide an Annual Bank Income Statement for a nominal fee (40-60 THB). This Statement will show the deposit history as well as reference the fact that the income was deposited by a foreign source. This Statement along with a copy of our bank book is all I believe we will need.

As I've stated multiple times...they (Thai Immigration) tied their own hands with this whole mess and this was the ONLY possible solution.

All the confusion that this knee-jerk reaction by Thai Immigration caused could have been eliminated if they simply found the solution first versus using that traditional Thai approach of Ready...Fire...Aim.

The bad news that this policy change brings is of course for those who lack the minimum income requirement. My advice to anyone who falls into this category who prefers living in S.E. Asia versus their home country is to simply start to explore the other options, i.e., Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc. if you haven't already done this. All is never lost.
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Re: Retirement visa news - this time it's GOOD - maybe

Post by Gaybutton »

Up2u wrote:My advice for those who are going the 65k monthly income route; start documenting your monthly income from a Thai bank now.
Seems to me that is simple enough to do. Just update the bank passbook every time a deposit comes in. Then, get the bank letter when you go to immigration to apply for or renew the retirement visa.

I don't have any idea what happens when people apply for their first-time retirement visa without having had deposits of 65,000 baht per month going into a Thai bank account. Actually, without already having the retirement visa, it's not so easy to even open a Thai bank account anymore.

I suppose what people can do is apply for the retirement visa while still in their home countries. These days that seems to be the best method for first-time applicants.

Dodger wrote:The bad news that this policy change brings is of course for those who lack the minimum income requirement.
Whether that's bad news or not depends on one's point of view. From the standpoint of people who have been living in Thailand and have established a life here, but have been doing it by getting away with lying about their monthly income and cannot actually meet Thailand's monthly minimum requirement and cannot come up with 800,000 baht, then yes, it's definitely bad news. They're not going to be able to continue living in Thailand, at least not on a full time basis.

On the other hand, apparently enough people have been lying about their income that it prompted immigration to deal with this mess, in this way, in the first place. Granted, the way they've gone about it leaves a lot to be desired and proving the monthly income is, at the time of this post, still not official, but all any of us living in Thailand under the retirement visa can do is either comply with the law or leave Thailand.

While I am not so cold-hearted that I don't feel sorry for people in that position, the fact remains that they put themselves there by their own choice and caused problems for everybody else who can and do comply with Thai immigration law.

I just hope nobody is going to be stupid enough to attempt to remain in Thailand by overstaying their visa. That would be the worst thing they can do. If they got the embassy affidavit in time and their visa renewal comes up within 6 months, then at least they're good for one more year - giving them enough time to figure out what they're going to do.
Up2u

Re: Retirement visa news - this time it's GOOD - maybe

Post by Up2u »

I would not be too harsh on Thai Immigration. Just a little history as explained to me by reputable sources. About seven months ago Thai Immigration met with all embassies and had in their possession a bunch of proven false income affidavit letters and asked the embassies to verify the incomes. First, the British embassy after checking with London said the embassy could not verify income and then American, Australian and Danish followed suit. So here we are with proposed solutions that seem sensible to me. If we want to play the blame game just look in the mirror and at own embassies.
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Re: Retirement visa news - this time it's GOOD - maybe

Post by Gaybutton »

Up2u wrote:Thai Immigration met with all embassies and had in their possession a bunch of proven false income affidavit letters
That is precisely the problem - people who have been lying and falsifying their income affidavits. I blame the people who have been doing that.

I wonder how immigration knew who to check. I guess since immigration staff does this all day, every day, it doesn't take very long to figure out who to suspect.
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Re: Retirement visa news - this time it's GOOD - maybe

Post by Dodger »

With Thailand's legendary reputation for anything-goes-sex, cheap living and drugs galore, the problems dealing with illegal foreigners who were (are) partaking in these splendors was simply inevitable at some point in history. I agree that those who provided false information to obtain their visa's did the wrong thing, but the actual "root cause" of the multitude of problems Thailand is facing now is buried deep in Thai culture stemming back for centuries.

You can't have your cake and eat it to.
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