New retirement extension rules forces expat, 90, to leave Thailand

[webfact]

New retirement extension rules forces expat, 90, to leave Thailand  

 

File photo

 

A ninety year old retiree in Thailand has told a newspaper that he is being forced out of Thailand.

 

New immigration  rules have forced "Don" to call it quits and head home.

 

He told the Nation on their "Your Say" page:

 

"At 90 years of age I will now have to move out of Thailand because of new immigration requirements.

 

"Can the Thai police and their "order", or Thai immigration, help and tell me where to go?

 

"They just did and it begins with the letter "H""

 

He signed his name simply "Don" and gave no other details.

 

Recent changes to immigration rules say that retirees need to have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank for two months before a visa extension application and three months after. 

 

Many have said that the new rules are designed to stop the practices of unscrupulous visa agents and the expats who pay them for their services. 

 

But large percentages of expats in recent Thaivisa forum and Facebook surveys have said they are being forced out of Thailand. 

 

Comments reveal that many feel they are no longer welcome in "The Land of Smiles".

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-02-06

[trainman34014]

It's never been the people that's welcome; only the money !

[Briggsy]

Absolute maudlin rubbish.

[Soupdragon]

Quote

Comments reveal that many feel they are no longer welcome in "The Land of Smiles".

Has anyone here actually been made to feel they are welcome in Thailand by Immigration Officials ???

[Samui Bodoh]

It makes you want to cry...

 

Be well, Don

[mokwit]

There is likely to be a stream of these stories in the foreign press. Might be enough to make Thailand take notice as they actually don't like being in a bad light internationally.

[Henryford]

Would be interesting to follow some of these (sad) stories. What does a 90 (or 70 or 80) year old do returning to say the UK.  With limited funds can you rent a home? would any Council provide you with a home? Do you get off the plane homeless (in -9C weather).

[jmd8800]

Ya know.... the west does this too:

 

https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/man-deported-separated-wife-home-office-ill/

[Pattaya46]

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

"At 90 years of age I will now have to move out of Thailand because of new immigration requirements.

Without more details, this article is just worthless 

Everyone on Retirement Extension today was supposed to already have 65k/monthly or 800k in bank,

so why exactly can't he stay anymore after these rather small changes in rules ? 

[vogie]

17 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Would be interesting to follow some of these (sad) stories. What does a 90 (or 70 or 80) year old do returning to say the UK.  With limited funds can you rent a home? would any Council provide you with a home? Do you get off the plane homeless (in -9C weather).

I believe if you have £16,000 of savings you cannot get help, except for a free TV licence of course.

If you only have a state pension you may be allowed benefits. AFAIK

[trainman34014]

10 minutes ago, mokwit said:

There is likely to be a stream of these stories in the foreign press. Might be enough to make Thailand take notice as they actually don't like being in a bad light internationally.

Too late the Hangman cried....they are already the Laughing Stock of The World !

[stanleycoin]

Feel the love, and respect. 

we've had your money,  now get out  

The true face of Thailand, in it's full glory. 

Money number one. 

 

 

[stanleycoin]

26 minutes ago, Soupdragon said:

Has anyone here actually been made to feel they are welcome in Thailand by Immigration Officials ???

Not very often  

 

[mfd101]

18 minutes ago, Soupdragon said:

Has anyone here actually been made to feel they are welcome in Thailand by Immigration Officials ???

Yes, but it's variable. In a small office (Kap Choeng) with nice staff, it's fine. When one miserable a/h arrives to take charge, however, everything goes silent & depressed.

[ChipButty]

Good luck Don I hope everything works out for you where ever you have to go back to, Keep you chin up as they say

[Henryford]

12 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

Without more details, this article is just worthless 

Everyone on Retirement Extension today was supposed to already have 65k/monthly or 800k in bank,

so why exactly can't he stay anymore after these rather small changes in rules ?  

I would suggest a big change in the rules. Before if you had the 800k you could use it for living expenses. Now if you can't touch it you need savings of far more, which at 90 is probably impossible.

[mokwit]

Just now, Henryford said:

I would suggest a big change in the rules. Before if you had the 800k you could use it for living expenses. Now if you can't touch it you need savings of far more, which at 90 is probably impossible.

Yes but Thailand can counter sob stories in foreign press by saying 800k/65k same as it ever was.

[Henryford]

1 minute ago, mokwit said:

Yes but Thailand can counter sob stories in foreign press by saying 800k/65k same as it ever was. 

But my point is it's not the same if you can't access the 800k

[Peterw42]

3 minutes ago, Henryford said:

I would suggest a big change in the rules. Before if you had the 800k you could use it for living expenses. Now if you can't touch it you need savings of far more, which at 90 is probably impossible.

A 90 year old doesnt have a pension to live on ??????

 

I would suggest if a 90 year old is drawing down savings to live, it was going to run out at some stage.

[Pattaya46]

6 minutes ago, Henryford said:

I would suggest a big change in the rules.

Before if you had the 800k you could use it for living expenses.

Now if you can't touch it you need savings of far more, which at 90 is probably impossible.

Then just send these 800k in your home country account

and move to the 65k/month income method, and you can continue to use your money. 

[ChipButty]

2 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

A 90 year old doesnt have a pension to live on ??????

 

I would suggest if a 90 year old is drawing down savings to live, it was going to run out at some stage.

Not everybody has a pension if from the UK maybe he would get some benefits not sure

[mokwit]

6 minutes ago, Henryford said:

But my point is it's not the same if you can't access the 800k

I agree but all Governments everywhere give disingenuous/not the whole truth answers/counters.

[JAG]

36 minutes ago, Soupdragon said:

Has anyone here actually been made to feel they are welcome in Thailand by Immigration Officials ???

 

19 minutes ago, stanleycoin said:

Not very often  

 

In all fairness (heavens, what am I saying) UK immigration are a somewhat charmless collection at times... 

[Kasset Tak]

Well, as usual with all these changes much of it comes back to all the people abusing the system! I have friends that complains that they can't get their visa extensions as they don't have the savings, don't have enough income and now they can't get agents to forge/fake bank accounts for them... it's thanks to this kind of people and all these Indians with just "paper" marriages that these new rules have come in place (at least according to my Thai drinking buddy who is immigration office).
It's the same as it was with people on ED extensions, people used to get a year extension but because too many abused the system, even those who were legit students got affected by the changes. And again now we have the blacklisting for overstaying your visa... in the past it wasn't a big deal so some people were abusing that too (we have all read the stories of people leaving with 20 year overstay...) and that made them put the blacklisting in effect.

So, don't blame the government for changing the system, blame all the people who have been abusing the system and by doing that forced the government to change the system!

[SkyNets]

Shame my home country's immigration rules aren't this strict, I would of stayed. 

[Just1Voice]

Everyone seems to be focusing on the 800k, and ignoring Rule #3, of having an income of 65k a month, OR  the 800k in the bank.  To me, if you can't show an income of 65k a month, you shouldn't be living here in the first place.  I know an American here in Chiang Mai who has been lying about his income for 10 years.  It's actually only about 35k a month.  Now he frantically trying to change his Retirement Visa to a Marriage Visa, which allows for a combined income of husband and wife.  He's a nice guy, and I wish him luck as, according to him, he has nothing to go back to in the States. 

[stanleycoin]

14 minutes ago, JAG said:

 

In all fairness (heavens, what am I saying) UK immigration are a somewhat charmless collection at times... 

It was most likely due to the fact you or your wife did not have a Burka or Turban on. this can have a negative impact on the way you are treated.

That sort of behaviour can also raise suspicions at uk immigration,  especially at London Heathrow,

now days. 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

30 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

Without more details, this article is just worthless 

Everyone on Retirement Extension today was supposed to already have 65k/monthly or 800k in bank,

so why exactly can't he stay anymore after these rather small changes in rules ? 

 

Perhaps the other new part not mentioned in The Nation article about, for the future, having to keep half of the 800K on deposit in a Thai bank account yearround, and not being able to spent any of that 400K at any time during the year...

 

Or perhaps the other part not mentioned in The Nation article about that a lot of expats can no longer get Embassy income letters, and as a result under Immigration's new rules, are now being forced to transfer the entire 65K baht per month, each and every month, into Thailand -- money that in the past could have stayed in their home countries and paid for expenses there if needed.

 

[wreckingcountry]

The ignorance of folk on here about the new rules and then commenting is staggering ! Let’s make it clear “the 65k a month retirement extension will no longer be an option “ you all got that ????


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[ChipButty]

11 minutes ago, Kasset Tak said:

Well, as usual with all these changes much of it comes back to all the people abusing the system! I have friends that complains that they can't get their visa extensions as they don't have the savings, don't have enough income and now they can't get agents to forge/fake bank accounts for them... it's thanks to this kind of people and all these Indians with just "paper" marriages that these new rules have come in place (at least according to my Thai drinking buddy who is immigration office).
It's the same as it was with people on ED extensions, people used to get a year extension but because too many abused the system, even those who were legit students got affected by the changes. And again now we have the blacklisting for overstaying your visa... in the past it wasn't a big deal so some people were abusing that too (we have all read the stories of people leaving with 20 year overstay...) and that made them put the blacklisting in effect.

So, don't blame the government for changing the system, blame all the people who have been abusing the system and by doing that forced the government to change the system!

With the help of a few Dodgy immigration guys