oldcpu

A few years back I was flying Thai Airways from Frankfurt to Bangkok. I did an online checkin. My Type-OA Visa had been previously (deliberately) invalidated by me leaving without a re-entry permit, so I was planning to (and did) enter Thailand for a 45-day visa exempt stamp (this was when 45 day visa exempt possible). When I did the online checkin in Frankfurt (to fly to Bangkok), I did receive a popup stating an onward flight proof might be requested by Thai Airways in Frankfurt (for showing an eventual future departure from Thailand) After checking in my luggage, clearing security and immigration, at the Frankfurt departure gate (while waiting for boarding to be called), I was called to the counter and asked for my passport. The Thai airways representative spent a long time looking at the page with my Type-OA visa (which had been invalidated by me leaving without a re-entry permit), and eventually passed me my passport back without saying anything - they did NOT ask for an onward flight ticket. I think my departing early (before a stamped date of type-OA permission to stay date associated with Type-OA visa) to invalidate the Type-OA visa confused them (and so they did not ask) ?? I did have an inexpensive (Krabi to KL) onward ticket, but I was never asked for that. My view is this is all very highly airline and departure city dependent. More often than not, I think one will not be asked for an onward ticket, but it can (legally) happen at times. So its best to be prepared.

Each person's situation is different. I am age-70 and I obtain subsidized health insurance (as part of my pension) from Europe, that while it exceeds the LTR Health Insurance requirements, the Insurance company does not provide their information in a format that the BoI folks want to see. So I have gone with the $100K US$ in the bank equivalent as 'self health insurance proof'. Still, I have no intention of giving up my superior health insurance from Europe. As you note if at our age one's health insurance policy is discontinued, it be very difficult to get appropriate health insurance again. Keeping $100k US cash equivalent (and keeping my superior health insurance) is not an issue for me. My recommendation, if it is not a big financial issue to maintain the $100k US$ equivalent cash, and not an issue to keep separate health insurance, then keep both. But it reads to me this is a financial issue for you - so you need to choose which you wish to go with. Your guess is likely just as good as anyone else's guess.

When obtaining my LTR Visa, I first submitted my pension paperwork proof, and BoI still asked for my tax returns. So I would say it is normal. .

No. I tried and it wasn't accepted.

For the OP, with regards to the $100K US$ equivalent in the bank for self health insurance, that was the approach that I adopted for the LTR self health insurance (even thou I have excellent health insurance from European Cigna). Initially I provided BoI proof exceeding the the $100K US$ cash equivalent for 1 year (in Cdn$ trading account) and BoI ejected that. I then provided proof exceeding the the $100K US$ cash equivalent in a Canadian 'Registered Retirement Savings Plan' (RRSP) (similar conceptually to a USA 401k) but since my RRSP was 'self directed' (and being 'self directed' it allowed me to trade equities with the account) that was also rejected (even thou its called a 'savings account' and even thou it is registered in Canada). In the end I pointed to $100K US$ cash equivalent in a Foreign Currency account (Euros) in a Thai bank (Krungsri), that had just recently exceeded the being present of 1-year requirement and that was accepted. For the Krungsri, I went to the bank in person, and they provided me a bank statement with an accompanying letter stating the money had been in their bank for > 1 year. The above took a few iterations with BoI (pointing to account after account), but for a LTR-WP (where the WP supposedly means wealthy) I don't consider the above too onerous. I guess it all boils down to one's definition of 'wealthy'. I could have done all this much quicker if I had adopted a different approach (providing more detail on all of my financial status) but I preferred then (and still prefer now) not to provide more detail to BoI than needed. That attitude of mine likely dragged things out much more than necessary.

Just over a week ago, I left Phuket for Singapore. The immigration line (for Phuket departures) was massive. Phuket has a very large dedicated immigration area - which was totally packed with foreigners. Outside of that dedicated immigration area, in the checkin/baggage deposit area, there was also a massive line up, just to get into the dedicated immigration line. I dare say the line could have been 45 minutes to an hour. My wife and I were flying Scoot airlines to Singapore. After we checked in our luggage (via the webcheckin line), the representative at the Scoot counter, seeing my LTR visa, directed me to go to a quicker immigration entry on the 'left' of where the foreigners were all lined up. I couldn't see what line he was referring to, but I went with my Thai wife into the immigration Thai citizen entrance (which had ZERO people in line) which brought us to the main very large dedicated immigration area. Most of that area was packed, shoulder to shoulder with foreigners except for two empty areas. One empty area being the Thai citizen immigration counters and the other empty area a priority immigration line counter. I went through that priority counter (only 1 person in front of me). Total time for me to enter/clear immigration had to be less than 5-minutes (most of which was walking at a fast pace). I am VERY happy not to have been forced to be in that very long foreigner line. The LTR visa does have its perks at times.

What do you mean by 'retirement' visa? Do you mean on a Type-O or a Type-OA for reason of retirement? In that case, you have been given great advise already. If you are in Thailand for > 180 days you could be taxed on that foreign money you bring into Thailand (dependent on a number of factors such as Double Tax Agreements (DTA) with the country where the money was earned). If "retired" (like myself and others" on a LTR-WP visa), then according to Thailand Royal Decree, there is to be no tax on foreign income brought into Thailand. I think many of us on an LTR visa are waiting to see if that will indeed be the case, but I think it looks promising. Note if you re-invest in Thailand, money brought into Thailand, and if you earn money off of that money in Thaliand, then you will likely be taxed on that money in Thailand (such as Thai bank withholding tax on interest), and dependent on the amount earned, I assume if large enough, you will need to submit a Thai tax return.

According to Phuket Immigration Volunteers web page, in the case of Phuket, the Kor-22 shall be a maximum of 180-days old (when applying in Phuket for an extension on one's permission to stay for reason of marriage).

According to the Phuket Immigration volunteers page (and consistent with my experience) in Phuket one can go to Phuket immigration (to obtain a 1 year extension on one's permission to stay in Thailand, for reason of retirement) 45 days before the current permission to stay in Thailand expires. As was noted previous by DrJack54, it really depends on one's provincial immigration office.

That was NOT a typing mistake. That was the selection of the WRONG description and it had me wondering if you knew the difference. There is a difference and what you posted could be confusing for any who have not read up and studied on the LTR, and who do not want to delve into every post of this 93 to 94 page thread. The effort to help is appreciated. Note thou, calling an "1-year report" a "Visa renewal" was not appreciated. Again, it could mislead some. If you make such a misleading mistake in the future, I may reply. Again - the effort to help and pass information was appreciated, but in doing so, it is important to at least attempt to be accurate. As it is, when such a big mistake is made, it makes others wonder how accurate was the remainder of the post?

No. I am correcting a mistake. Cavalierly mistyping (stating "visa renewal" instead of "1 year report") may be a trivial matter for you, but it is not for others. Its good to read that he was successful. Hopefully such 1 year reports for LTR visas become possible at all immigration offices in the future.

Were you able to get a Kor-22 BEFORE doing all of that ? For myself (my Thai wife and I were married in Canada) I could only get the Kor-22 AFTER first having my passport 'officially' translated to Thai, the marriage certificate 'officially' translated to Thai, have translations and copy of marriage certificate certified by Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, then taken to Thai MFA (ministry of foreign affairs) in Bangkok for certification, and only AFTER that taken to local city hall in Phuket, where marriage was registered and I was able to get the Kor-22. So if you were able to get a Kor-22 before doing all that, I clearly over did it in my approach. Fortunately, my no longer being on a Type-OA visa, I no longer need to go for extensions of my permission to stay based on marriage (and hence Kor-22 no longer needed). It would surprise me if an immigration office would reject an updated Kor-22 (where I think some immigration offices require the Kor-22 to be updated every year for extensions of a permission to stay based on marriage).

Visa renewal ? His permission to stay renewal would be after 5 years, not 1 year. And a renewal (?) for another LTR would be after 10 years and not 1 year. ... I assume you mean his 1 year report? Great news if he was able to do his 1 year report at CM without having to go to Bangkok (although I type that noting that for some of us Bangkok can be a fun visit at times - in particular my wife enjoys going there to shop and the 1-year report gives her a good excuse to arrange a Bangkok trip for the two of us - and a happy wife is a happy life 😄 ).

For the 800k (or 400k) in the bank approach, for proof of funds for a 1-year extension, the annoying slowness of Bangkok Bank to provide such a 12-month statement, is one reason why a number of us switched from Bangkok Bank to another Thai bank. In my case, when I was on a Type-OA visa, I switched from using Bangkok Bank to instead using Krungsri Bank, where Krungsri will issue the 12-month statement on the spot (here in Phuket). However if one is using the monthly deposit route of 65k THB/month instead , and if one needs to show the money coming into the bank from abroad on a monthly basis, and if one is also using Wise (formerly transfer wise) to transfer the money into Thailand, then IMHO in that case, Bangkok Bank may be best bank to use, as they tend to be more reliable than other banks, when flagging a 'Wise' transfer as coming from outside of Thailand. So if using Wise (for monthly transfers from outside of Thailand) I would recommend staying with Bangkok bank and accept the annoyance of the 3 day to 1 week delay to obtain the annual statement. But if using the 400k (married) or 800K amount in one's account, change banks from Bangkok bank to another bank. Of course, all in my humble opinion (IMHO).

Further to this, I should note the first time (or was it the first couple of times ? ) for my 90-day report in Phuket, I had my wife drop me off at immigration, ... and I went into the office to do my 90-day. This meant getting inline to talk to one of the Phuket volunteers, get a queue number' and wait for one's number to be called. This could take as long as 30-to-45 minutes. Then I had to wait for my wife to come and pick me up. But the last occasion I went into the office (to do the 90-day report) Phuket Volunteer shook his head at me, and advised me if I wished to do it quicker, I would simply use the drive through. Less than 5 minutes if NO cars in front of one. Having typed that, on my very last 90-day report in Phuket, before I switched to an LTR visa, there were a very large # of cars in the drive through, and that took just under an hour ... as people who didn't have a car, were on occasion cutting the car line, and at risk to their health standing in line between the cars, so to do their 90-day reports BEFORE the car (and not do the report in the office building). It was a total zoo on that day. I had to make sure I didn't run anyone over. I am now happy on the LTR visa, no more 90-day reports ... although every now and then I wake up in the morning, ask myself when is my 90-day report ? ... and then I remember I am on an LTR visa. 😄

I do my immigration (visa applications and visa extensions and TM30s) business myself. It saves a small amount of money by doing this myself, but for me that is not the main reason. Basically I don't like passing my passport and documents to someone else to do on my behalf unless I have no other alternative. Maybe I am too much of a 'control' person ?? I do have friends thou (on in their late 70s, and the other in their early 80s), who both legitimately use an agent for their immigration business. In essence, they sign a document giving the agent 'power of attorney' to act on their behalf for the immigration process. They easily meet all the financial and administrative requirements, but waiting around in immigration office is too tiring for them, and their financial situation is such that they do not mind paying an agent if it makes things easier for them. They claim an agent makes the process much easier for them. But that is not for me (at least not yet - maybe in 10 more years if I should live that long, I might then use an agent). Each to their own is my view.

For the OP, as pointed out by others, your best approach is to obtain a permission to stay in Thailand that does not require the Health Insurance from a Thai TGIA-associated insurer. I pretty much followed all of the recommendations in this thread. Initially I had a Type-OA visa for a while (originally based on Retirement), and when the health insurance requirement came about, for my first renewal, I ended up: - 1st : keeping my superior European insurance (which was not accepted by Thai immigration) but instead buying double health insurance from a Thai TGIA-associated insurer for my 1st one-year extension of permission to stay (for reason of retirement) on my Type-OA visa. I actually tried to go for an extension for reason of marriage to a Thai woman at that time, but that was not allowed by Phuket immigration branch as it was my very first one-year extension of my permission to stay. Phuket Immigration told me only on my 2nd extension could I go for an extension based on marriage. - 2nd : a year later for my next extension on my permission to stay, I did not renew the Thai TGIA-associated insurer insurance, but instead I went for my one year extension on my permission to stay for reason of marriage to a Thai (instead of retirement) on my Type-OA Visa. For this second extension, it was allowed by Phuket immigration. Extensions based on marriage to a Thai do not require the Health Insurance. I did thou have to have my marriage registered in Thailand, which required a lot of paperwork to get the prerequisite Kor-22 document for immigration (and thats another long story that I won't post about here). Since the paperwork (and waiting time) for an extension of my permission to stay, based on marriage was much greater (with a longer time for approval) than one based on retirement ... , so I decided for the 3rd time around it was time for me to change my visa to one where I did not need to purchase double insurance from a Thai TGIA-associated insurer (note I kept my superior European health insurance the entire time). - 3rd : Hence, a bit less than a year later, I adopted the other approach recommended in this thread, which was to leave Thailand without a re-entry permit (which invalidated my Type-OA visa) and I returned to Thailand visa exempt. As soon as practical after I arrived, I went to the Phuket immigration office and applied for a 90-day type-O visa for reason of retirement. I recommend you apply for the 90-day Type-O visa ASAP if you adopt this approach - don't wait - as sometimes this can take a long time dependent on your immigration office (and its work load). Ensure you meet all the financial requirements when applying. After I obtained the 90-day type-O visa, when I had only 30-days left in its permission to stay, I then applied for a 1-year extension of the permission to stay, based on retirement, and there was no health insurance requirement. And the paperwork, for a 'retirement' extension was much less than that for a 'marriage' extension. Good luck.

I've been to that hospital, and when I passed them my pink-ID/yellow book, they rejected such pushed it back and demanded my passport instead (that was over a year ago). For certain I did not get a 20% to 25% discount off of any hospital fees nor charges. But then again, I never 'pressed the issue'. Maybe if I had 'stood my ground' and insisted they take the 'yellow book & pink-ID', I would have discovered such a discount. Something for me to try next time. I confess, my having superb subsidized Health Insurance (as part of my European pension) means I don't always look for the cheapest medical deals. This is something I need to try harder in the future.

Yes - I worded that badly - so is mine. I should have typed a " ... and a Thai driver's license (not only in English but with more text in Thai language) ... " .. The Thai font put off the rental car agent in both Northern Ireland (Derry) and in Canada (Vancouver Airport & also Whistler), and it took some patience on my part to point out the English language text. They all initially rejected the Thai driver's licence and asked for an IDP.

Indeed - my view is if one goes for the monthly deposit route, then Bangkok Bank (which 'easily' shows the money from abroad) could be better than Krungsri, as long as one does not mind having to apply for paper work from Bangkok Bank about 1 week prior to going to immigration. However if one has a fixed deposit with 400k or 800k then IMHO Krungsri is superior to Bangkok Bank, as one can obtain a one-day statement on the same day. Until I switched to the LTR-WP visa, I successfully used a fixed deposit of 800k in Bangkok Bank (and later in Krungsri Bank) with Phuket immigration for my yearly extensions, with no problems.

I rented in Greece, Canada and Northern Ireland with my Thai driver's licence. No problems in Greece. But the rental agents in both Canada and Northern Ireland struggled with the Thai license and initially demanded an IDP. Only with polite persistence was I able to get them to back down - and in both cases I was very heavy jet lagged and this was very tiring on me. so I asked myself, ... is it worth the 505 THB to stick by "my guns" to eventually get my way ? For this upcoming trip, I am going to take the easier approach with an IDP.

No dispute there from me. Unfortunately I have in the past , encountered the (shall I say ignorant? ) at a rental car place, who saw the Thai script, and immediately refused to look at the English. They jumped on a high horse and insisted an IDP was necessary. I was VERY jet lagged at the time, and after a tiring verbal exchange (where I tried my damnedest to be polite), they eventually backed down and accepted the Thai driver's licence. I don't need a repeat of that, and if 505 THB will avoid such treatment from an a*hole then its well worth it. But hey - save the 505 THB and go for the experience of such an encounter.

During COVID, when I was on a Type-OA visa, I switched from obtaining an extension for reason of retirement, to reason of marriage. (My immigration office is here in Phuket). My Thai wife and I were married in Canada. So we hired a Translation service (that is based in Bangkok) to do most of the work for us to obtain paper work we needed for Phuket immigration. It made this all very simple for us (as Translation service did the work). We couried to the Bangkok based Translation Service (from here in Phuket) copies of my Canadian passport (for translation to Thai) plus copy of my wife's ID. We also sent our Canadian marriage certificate, which they then translated to Thai. We gave them 'limited' power of attorney for this marriage document handling (they provided to us prior (via email) the power of attorney form to fill in and to courier to them). They took this to the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, and had the marriage document (and translation) certified as valid. They then took this to the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Bangkok, to have certified. They then couried all that paperwork back to my wife and I here in Phuket. We than took this to city hall in Phuket, had our marriage registered and obtained the Kor-22. Phuket immigration accepted the Kor-22 (family status registration). This all took less than 3 weeks, and the only travel we had to do was to go to a Phuket post office to courier documents to the Translation service in Bangkok, and go to Phuket City Hall after everything was couried back to us. This approach was recommended to me by Ubon Joe (bless his soul) and it was a fabulous superb piece of advice. @Jimi007 - PM me if you would like the name of the service we used. It worked well for us, so I recommend such an approach.

The 505 Thai baht for this International Driver's Permit was and is a small amount of money. VERY fortunately I was able to avoid the line ups at the Phuket DoT (and fortunately I did not have to 1st go to Phuket's immigration office to obtain a piece of paper with proof of residency), so the process to obtain the IDP was not painful (where I note most time, in my experience, the line ups at Phuket's DoT are very long). As for the requirement ? I think I would call it more 'peace of mind' than a 'requirement' ... I note that the car rental sites for New Zealand, (where I plan to visit and from where I booked rental cars), from two different companies (one in the North Island and one in the South Island), both state " If the licence is not in English, an International Driving Permit will be required when you arrive to collect your rental car. " I have 2 driver's licences: A German driver's licence (not in English) and a Thai driver's licence (not in English). So I decided paying 505 THB in advance of heading to NewZealand was an ok way forward for piece of mind. ... one unrelated piece of trivia, ... the International Driver's Permit lists the countries where it is valid. Of interest - Germany is not on that list. That is a mute point for me as (1) I am not planning to visit Germany in the next 12 months, and (2) I already have a German driver's license. But I found that omission of Germany from the list of countries in this Thai purchased IDP of interest.

I went for my International Driver's Licence (IDL) in Phuket successfully earlier this week. I want such an IDL for an upcoming visit to Australia and New Zealand, where I plan to rent an automobile on different occasions at each location. The car rental places in Australia & New Zealand advised me they wanted an IDL, although I am skeptical if that is really necessary. The cost only 505 THB, and its valid for 1-year. My wife and I showed up at the Phuket Department of Transport (DoT) office around 2:00pm in the afternoon, and fortunately there was very little line (which in my experience is VERY UNUSUAL for Phuket DoT - as typically in my experience the Phuket DoT lines are massive). I already had a Thailand driver's licence (which is valid to the year 2027). So I showed up at the Phuket Department of Transport with: (1) my passport, and copy of the passport picture page and a copy of my Visa page. I have an LTR visa and I was happy that this new Visa did not cause any issues with DoT. (2) my Thai driver's licence (and a copy of driver's licence, both sides) (3) my Yellow Book (and copy of appropriate yellow book page with annotations that my name is registered to a condo that I own) (4) my Pink-ID card (and copy of Pink-ID, both sides). I had to annotate on each photocopy page my full name, my Thai phone number, and list the countries I intended to visit (using the International driver's licence). After a bit of a wait , I went to the counter (when my queue # called), paid 500 baht, and was given a piece of paper to come back the next day after 10am to pick up the International Drivers Licence (IDL). My Thai wife also went for hers at the same time, but she was initially rejected !! because: (1)she mistakenly brought her Thai motocycle driver's licence, and not her automobile driver's licence (the two licences look almost identical, and my wife mixed them up), and (2) she had a 'sleeveless' shirt on in her images (exposing her shoulders), which was not acceptable for a licence photo. So she went back the next day with (1)the correct driver's licence, and (2) a photo where her shoulders are covered. I was pleased that I did NOT have to go to Thai immigration to get a separate one-page letter/document (with my image on such) noting I was a resident in Phuket. Instead the Phuket Department of Transport accepted my Yellow Book and my Pink-ID in lieu of any immigration residency one-page document. For the Yellow-Book/Pink-ID haters and skeptics, as I am sure you will note, such Pink-ID/yellow-book is NOT necessary ... but I do note that it came in handy, as I did not have to first visit immigration to obtain a separate document (where the Phuket Department of Transport may have wanted a separate immigration 'residence' document if I did not have the "pink-ID and Yellow book"). This saved me having to do a separate trip to Phuket immigration (and saved my being forced to also wait in line there at immigration, where line-ups at Phuket immigration can be rather lengthy at times). When researching this, I read (on an unofficial webpage) that in Thailand, even if one does not have a Thai driver's licence, one can go to a Thailand Department of Transport (with one's foreign valid driver's licence) and also apply for an International Driver's Licence. Whether that is valid for use in Thailand thou, is not something I know. I suspect it is valid for 1 year only in Thailand. It does thou make me wonder, if by paying 505 THB every year (to renew one's Thailand Department of Transport international driver's licence) if one could thus avoid going for a Thai driver's licence? I suspect the answer is NO - and that one can NOT cheat the Thai driver's licensing system that way. A couple of days later, we went to Phuket DoT to pick up our IDLs at about 1:15pm, and the lineup was insane - there had to be more than 50 people waiting patiently in line to reach the information counter (where queue numbers were handed out). Fortunately we did not need a queue number, but rather walked in, and when to the counter where where we were handed our IDLs. We signed the IDLs, signed a receipt form, and left with our two IDLs. I feel rather fortunate I managed to avoid the massive lines that were present at the IDL.