David Walden
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Posts posted by David Walden
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2 hours ago, JLCrab said:
I don't have the slightest idea but I think the embassies, that are still issuing income letters, have taken the attitude that, if we need to certify to the Thai IMM folks that the moon is made of green cheese to help our citizens in Thailand get an extension, that's what we're going to do.
Yes, Embassies cannot be prosecuted for telling whoppers. They can say anything they like with diplomatic immunity. What a wonderful world.
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9 hours ago, Jingthing said:
Dude, many or most retired expats do not have 65K month income!?! What do you think the bank method and combo method are about? Speaking as an American, I can say the vast majority of Americans on social security don't have as much as 65K as the average check is closer to 45K.
I know people who live in Thailand that own an unencumbered house back in Australia and only the Aussie pension and use the illegal methods in Thailand to get a retirement visa that has been costing about Bt20,000. They don't want to give an Aussie or Thai bank the deeds to their house to get a Bt800,000 plus costs personal loan at 9% to put in a Thai bank at 1% return to get a retirement visa. They are happy to just pay some corrupt person in Thailand Bt20,000 and all happens in 3/4 days. I have in the past made inquiries about getting my retirement visa the corrupt way. Just only in the last few weeks, I have received follow up emails from some of the biggest legal firms in Thailand that this service is still available. Soon after you arrive in Thailand they will have your retirement visa all in place. It will now cost Bt25,000 and an extra Bt4000 for a multi-entry visa. Yes, the price has already gone up. TIT
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3 hours ago, Sheryl said:
What happens when the 2 years are up? Can you do these visas back to back indefinitely? Seems odd TI would make the rules it has for retirement extensions yet allow that large of a loophole , at least nor for long.
I believe it's similar to a tourist visa you can have them forever if you like over and over again.
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13 minutes ago, Olmate said:
Wrong Roy,Oz never vetted anything.
If you buy a sheep farm in Australia and the sale contract say it includes 10,000 sheep you don't have to go out and count the sheep. You get the vendor to sign a stat dec to say under oath that there are 10,000 sheep out in the paddock. It is enough that the vendor gets a JP to sign the Stat dec witnessing he signed that there 10,000 sheep out in the paddock. The JP doesn't go out with 6 sheepdogs and run around all and count the sheep. He just signs the stat dec attesting that you declared there are 10,000 shep out there. Be very careful if it turns out that there are only 8,000 sheep out in the paddock and the vendor made a sworn declaration which is wrong and could go to gaol up to 4 years. But that is only in Australia UK perhaps USA. Doesn't matter what you sware to in Thailand there may only be 5000 sheep in the paddock. That's OK. A stat dec can be applicable to any type of commercial or personal situation for anything in Australia. Affidavits in Australia are usually presented to a court in litigation or criminal cases as evidence. In most case where a witness can not attend the court for a number of reasons not quite the same in USA... maybe you are having a baby tonight you will be excused from attending court if you present an affidavit, the affidavits will be your testimony.
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3 hours ago, Tanoshi said:
It's not often your correct, but this time your dead wrong.
A statutory declaration is a statement made, sometimes under oath, but not sworn to and couldn't be used in a court of law.
An affidavit is a written statement sworn under oath and can be used in a court of law.
Neither have anything to do with your Embassy confirming the incomes in your statements.
Everything you say is correct but your words " stat. dec are sometimes made under oath". They are always made under oath or it's not a stat. dec. They don't seem to have stat decs in the US only affidavits. It is a fact that Australian Embassies do not provide you with evidence that any of the information contained therein is true. It is you that is making the sworn statement, it is your stat dec not the Embassies. that's what they are "a statement made under oath". The Embassy is only witnessing that you did make that statement. If your stat dec contains incorrect information it is you that put it there, not the Embassy. You pay the penalty (up to 4 years in gaol.) I don't think Stat dec in Thailand have any legal standing if signed at the Embassy anyway.
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3 hours ago, Olmate said:
On first glance it appears to be so.Await others view as have not heard this before
That's How I get my Thai Retirement visa in Australia. Your Thai Embassy web site appears to have the same as information as to how to go about it at the Royal Thai Embassy in Canberra Australia. You can do it by mail from anywhere in Australia.
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3 hours ago, Roy Baht said:
This is the number one reason I keep on hearing on TVF for not meeting the new requirements ("I don't want to put my money in Thailand!") and the number one reason I don't have much sympathy for them. Why? Because these people have a choice. Now, I have genuine sympathy and sadness for people who just don't have enough money to continue living here. They have no choice. They will have to leave. That's sad. But the people who say they have the money but just don't want to keep it in Thailand because they are "savvy investors" or some other nonsense: they have a choice. If you really do have a life and family and friends here and support businesses, etc, and if leaving Thailand will ruin your life, why on earth would you not simply transfer 800K baht to a Thai bank account and have done with it? You're going to ruin your life here over what? 50K baht in potential lost interest? Listen if your life here isn't worth more to you than 50K in imaginary interest, then it may be time for you to seek greener pastures elsewhere. And time to stop whinging as if the Thai government owes you a living. They never have and they never will.
You still don't get it...you have a choice of applying for a Retirements visa in your home country or in Thailand. The bt800,000 can be in a bank or in an approved Retirement investment fund. I simply say I get mine in Australia. That way I save Bt70,000per year by leaving the money in my Australian retirement fund.
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41 minutes ago, Spidey said:
Nope. As the 800k baht was to prove that you had enough funds to live on for the next 12 months, that particular change flies in the face of that requirement. It appears to be a bit of a nonsense and wouldn't be surprised if it were changed.
However, if someone has zero income and is purely relying on the 800k baht to live on as that's all their money in the world, once they've spent that 800k baht on living expenses, what are they going to use to obtain their visa extensions the following year? If someone doesn't have an extra 400k baht to park in a Thai bank account, they're going to struggle anyway.
The only people that I see this seriously affecting are those that never did have 800k baht or a decent income and employed a visa agent to circumvent the rules for them, which, ostensibly, appears to be why the rule was changed in the first place.
The only other group that I can see affected are Australian and American citizens who can no longer make a false declaration to their embassies, as to the true value of their incomes, which, IMHO was the main reason that the embassy letters were ceased.
Australians never make a declaration to their Embassy to get a Retirement visa. Australians make a statutory declaration (Stat dec) to Thai Immigration that they have the required funds, the Australian Embassy simply just witnessed that it is you and that they saw you sign that declaration. The Stat dec is really just a letter from you to Thai Immigration the Embassy just signs to say they saw you sware an oath that the information in the letter is true as you have stated The contents of the stat dec is of no interest to the Australian Embassy in Thailand, you can put anything you like in it they just saw you sign it...this is not the same when you sware to an affidavit.
The US affidavits appear to be a confirmation from the Embassy that they have perused your information and they believe that all that information supplied after checking it out is true and provide a letter from the Embassy to Thai Immigration confirming this. This appears where all the trouble is.
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If you have the Bt800,000 in a bank or in retirement fund in your own country with a surrender value of at least Bt800,000 you do not have to put any money in a Thai bank to get a retirement visa. Once you get the retirement visa you can do anything you like with money back home in your account. The visa is good for 2 years.
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3 hours ago, Roy Baht said:
I think they're just avoiding liability, no? Like if you make a claim about S&P 500 dividends, you're wrong because no one invests in the S&P 500 for dividends. It's for growth. If you want dividends, buy the Vanuard High Dividend Index.
Yes well, that's was the point I was making. If you have shares that just keep going up in value without any dividends sooner or later they will collapse. As was the case in 1929. The great depression.
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2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:
I forgot to post that I had removed a few pages of off topic, troll, inflammatory, bickering, baiting posts and etc.
I you were to look back a few hundred pages you might find where I posted that posts would be removed without notice and that continues now. If your post disappears you can assume you stepped over the line.
None of my posts even remotely fit your description above. They are simply posts as to facts about the different returns one can expect between the USA S&P 500 and the Australian ASX200 in relation to posts on this site when deciding to apply for a retirement visa either in the USA, Australia or Thailand. It appears you a reluctant to allow posts on this site you do not agree with...TIT
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1 hour ago, Roy Baht said:
I'm sorry but this is the part I don't get. If you're a millionaire (in pounds or dollars), how can you not afford 800K baht? I mean, you're willing to break up your family, relocate, let it ruin your life--for less than 20K sterling? "He deserted his wife & children--because he's a savvy investor"?!
The only reason I don't want take money out of my retirement fund in Australia and put it in a Thai Bank is that the Bt800,000 required if left in my retirement fund in Aus returns me about Bt80,000 a year dividend and capital gains or about 10% appreciation. If I put the money in a bank account in Thailand I may get Bt 10,000 interest equal 1% or nothing. I can save up to Bt70,000 a year which if you do the sums it's costing about Bt1200 a week to have a Retirement Visa issued in Thailand as that is what I would be forfeiting in dividends to my retirement fund. I get my Thai Retirement Visa from the Thai Embassy in Australia. The Thai Embassy accept the surrender value of my retirement fund as money in the bank as the fund is managed by a bank an provided that surrender value is worth more than Bt800,000 it is all OK. I have never had a bank account in Thailand and it's all up front and legal. No problems, but you must be able to prove you have the money and its good for 2 years.
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3 hours ago, humbug said:
we can all see this, there was even a banned book on 'a coup for the rich' but your comment on 'politics over their heads' should be put in the low iq comments section where it deserves, maybe you meant oppression
lets just hope for a change
from a regime of prohibition to a regime of permission
With your response, you sound like what I'd expect from the 700,000 or so Thais who own 2/3rds of the wealth in Thailand
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50 minutes ago, JackThompson said:
Translated: "I don't agree with your retirement scheme, even though you live well here and are happy."
Thailand may no longer allow them to be here while retired, but that does not change whether they "can afford to retire," or not. If prevented from staying here, they will simply retire and spend their money in another country, while the Thais whose incomes they previously supported, lose their jobs.
The 700,000 Thai elites with 2/3rds of the wealth in Thailand would not even blink in regard to the 69,300,000 poor people who have the other 1/3rd of the countries wealth shared between them, they probably have no idea how to even vote. For most, politics is just over their heads and only for the rich?
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12 minutes ago, Kadilo said:
Christ this thread needs a good clearout of all the nonsense bickering and keep on the important subject that many will be trying to follow.
The big problem is, as with me, considering I know a bit more about Thai Immigration than a lot of people. The whole system is confusing to lots of people, Keep in simple keep it short. Like I've said before "I sent you a 5 page letter because I did not have time to write you a one page letter"
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44 minutes ago, notamember said:
that Q tip in your ear?
stop pushing, you are there
The best advice I've seen on this site so far. It really feels good when you stop.
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56 minutes ago, Lacessit said:
David, a question here. Do you have to attend the Thai embassy in Canberra in person, or can it be done by mail or on the internet?
I live in Western Australia when and applying for a "Retirement Visa" technically known as a O-A M at the Royal Thai Embassy in Canberra 4000kms away. If I ask about a Retirement visa the staff at the Embassy know exactly what I'm talking about. That is I want to buy a retirement visa so I can go and retire in Thailand. taking to a friend of mine in my home he asked what sort of visa do you need to retire. I said"a Thailand O-A multi- entry visa" he said what the hell is that. I said "it's a Thai Retirement visa". He said now I know what you're talking about?
To answer your question...Yes, it quite simple, you just fill in all the information required as shown on the retirement application form section called "Retirement Visa" (fair dinkum) At the Thai Embassy in Canberra, It also tells you on the application form that Retirement visas are only issued by an Embassy. (Canberra). The application form says it must include an Information sheet. Copies of passport and pics, medical, police check from the post office in W.A, bank statements as required. Get a money order from the post office for $275. 3 set of all the required information. Get everything signed by a JP or CD, inside your letter include a self-address express return envelope (very important) to get visa passport etc back. Just follow the instructions about getting a Retirement Visa in Australia for Thailand. Your mail can be tracked from the post office and the Embassy will usually send you a tracking number also. http://canberra.thaiembassy.org/Home/visa
PS make sure when you are talking to anyone about a Thai retirement visa you put the proppa name...
Non-Immigrant Visa Category “O-A” (Long Stay) mulit-entry Retirement Visa. The customers will know what you're talking about? as shown on the Thai Embassy web site
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Previous post has been about testosterone, a pharmaceutical, and the recently overcharging of these commodities. Overcharging of pharmaceutical is relevant to these posts.
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9 minutes ago, Roy Baht said:
Yeah the Royal Thai Embassy in Athens, Greece just call it "TEMPORARY RESIDENCE [ NON-IMMIGRANT "O-A" (LONG STAY)] " http://www.thaiembassy.org/athens/en/services/785/17707-Visa-Issuance-for-temporary-residence-[Non-Immigra.html
https://mm2h.co/mm2h-requirements/. Information for a My Malaysia 2nd home visa MM2h visa. You should think yourself lucky with Thailands requirements compared to Malaysia
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55 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:
One or two Thai Embassy/Consulates websites do refer to the O-A as a retirement Visa. Australia is one, whereas most refer to it correctly as the long stay Visa. Pound to a penny Dave Walden is an Australian?
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37 minutes ago, jimn said:
Yes of course he is. He bangs on and on about getting a Retirement visa in Australia all the time. I remember him having a lengthy disagreement with Ubonjoe on the subject last year lol
All of my post on ThaiVisa are as a result my own personal experience. That is where I see on the Thai the web site the Embassy refers to an O-A M visa as a Retirement visa. If it's good enough for them it's good enough for thousands to call it a Thai Retirement Visa Also, calling it by its correct name is complete and utterly confusing to most applicants.
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5 minutes ago, notamember said:
you or they or anyone can say it as often as you like but it is still not a retirement visa
its not pedantics, its just not a retirement visa , that is a fact
especially as there is no such thing as a retirement visa
No wonder these sites are clogged up with irrelevant tripe. It doesn't matter we are talking about an O-A M visa which you can retire on within Thailand. Lord stone the crows.
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1 hour ago, notamember said:
An O-A visa is not a retirement visa
in fact there is no such thing as a retirement visa
Just look at the Royal Thai Embassy web site in your country under RETIREMENT VISA. It's all there in black and white. If it's good enough for the Thai Embassies worldwide to talk about it to be called as an O-A M retirement visa as a retirement visa well that is what it is. Talk about pedantics upon pedantics...get a life.' "A rose by any other name will still be a rose". http://canberra.thaiembassy.org/Home/visa
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6 hours ago, Canuck50 said:
I have been extending my stays based on retirement for the past 5 years using the income letter method by providing legitimate proof of income in the form of federal tax assessment notices. Although Canada has not yet announced they will stop issuing these, I think it is likely they will follow the other countries.
I will NOT use the bank deposit method for several reasons:
1. I will not tie up that amount of money in Thailand at a low interest bank rate and risk currency fluctuations when I can invest the money for a much better return in my home country.
2. I have only been living here for about 6 months each year (due to requirement to reside in Canada for 5 months per year to maintain free health insurance coverage) so it would be crazy to follow the new rules of 400K year round and 800K for 5 months.
I will not use the monthly transfer-in method because:
1. Again it would make no sense to transfer money here year round considering I only stay 6 months.
2. The majority of my income is from investments and personal retirement plan, with my government pension not meeting the 65K requirement. It is not clear to me that they would accept the non-government income, and even if they did, the monthly transfer/exchange costs would be too high. Currently I do one or two large lump sum wire transfers to meet my needs.
3. I am very suspicious that when they get large numbers of expats making monthly (income) transfers into the country, they will begin to exercise their rights under tax treaties to charge income tax on that income. This applies to anyone staying in the country for 6 months or more. It has not been done in the past because they had no proof the transfers in were income during the current year. Will be interesting to see (from a distance) how this turns out.
Anyway, given the steady changing (negative) attitudes toward expats over the past several years and these new (stupid) changes in requirements, I will not be renewing my extension after December 2019. I will instead spend my winter months in South America. I might come for a few weeks on a tourist visa for my gf to visit her family. Their reasoning for these changes seems to be to stop unscrupulous agent activity and expats "gaming" the system, but I think with their poorly thought out changes, they will be chasing a large number of desirables away in the process. Then a few years down the road they will be complaining "where have all the expats gone?", as they did with the Chinese. Or on the other hand maybe they simply don't care. I am sure many considering Thailand for their future will have second thoughts now.
Lucky for me I took the sage advice of some TVF members who advised against buying property here so I am free to change direction without losses. Girlfriend is quite happy to follow me to live on the other side of the pond!
It seems to me that you would be a very good candidate to apply for you to apply for an O-A M Retirement visa at the Thai Embassy in your home country. I've put lots of posts about this on ThaiVisa in the past, many do get their retirement visa in their home country. It's all on the Thai Embassy web site. Probably the same cost in Canada as in Australia. Aus $275 +police and medical reports and a bit of paperwork. It's good for 2 years. The 1st year only is multi-entry. You can make as many entries in the first year free come and go often as you like, no limit. If you depart Thailand and return a day before the visa expires (12 months) you can then stay for another 364 days. If you depart during the extension period and want to come back you have to start the process all over again.
You do have to have equal to Bt800,000 in a bank a/c in your home country or as I do use a statement from my retirement fund's surrender value of more than = to Bt800,000. I do not have now nor have I ever had a Bank a/c in Thailand in 7 years and I have an O-A M retirement visa issued in Australia. This method has been available for years. I use my ING BANK free of fee's Debit card to get money. I cannot find a simpler, cheaper or easier way to transfer money Aus to Thailand. I have an ANZ Bank and a Citibank debit card as a backup, both do charge more than ING BANK. ING BANK is cheaper and the exchange rate is excellent. Just go to any ATM in the world and the download money it is free of all charges.
I agree that the perhaps 1% interest you may receive if you do put money in a Thai bank a/c is very poor. My across the board modest bank managed blue-chip investment retirement fund increases by about 10% each year. Usually 6/7% dividends and 3/4 % capital gains ( not so good in the last few months? but coming back). This fairly safe investment is available to anyone in most countries. Just about set and forget. 40% Aus blue chips shares (ASX200) 20% international blur chip share and a variety of other investments that the bank fund tell me they are good. Some in the ANZ Bank and some in the Reserve Bank Of Australia (where they print the Aus money). If the Aus Reserve Bank goes broke so would the rest of the world (you can't insure against that). My fund often goes up or down a bit in sympathy with the local and international share markets or if Mr Trump sneezes.
The about to be released Royal Commission Report into the financial industry is showing that all banks, pension funds and Insurance companies in Australia have been telling fibs or should lies upon lies for years. Will be available to the public tomorrow Monday 4th Feb 2019. Sparks will fly.
It seems to me that there is really only a small noisy minority kicking up a fuss and making a never-ending lot of useless posts on the internet and making problems for the 90% of applicants that are doing things the right way as Thailand insists it is done, yes, their way if you want to get a retirement visa in Thailand read the instruction!!!. All you have to do to qualify is have Bt800,000 either in a bank a/c in Thailand or equal to the same amount in a bank a/c in your home country and a bit of paperwork. The 10% who have not got the required money are just "rocking the boat". Still good to go if you can beg steal or borrow the funds (it not gunna change) bit similar in Thailand with the girls "no money no honey". I don't think the Thai government is remotely concerned if the 10% with little or no money just leave, yes go to To Cambodia, Vietnam or the Philippines. You'll be back soon with the dough soon?.
To get a retirement visa in Australia $2,00,000 is a good starting point.
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Foreigners now need to keep 800k in Thai bank for three months AFTER retirement extension is granted
in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits
Posted
Well, that's what they call it.