The problem lies elsewhere, I would put it:Originally Posted by goji
...should be ensuring Foreigners do not become a burden to Thai society.
The problem lies elsewhere, I would put it:
...should be ensuring Foreigners do not become a burden to Thai society.
Re the figures you can take that up perhaps with Dab69 re his post No 21 above as THAT is the post to which I was replying ( correctly) and my reply to that was certainly not obnoxious and I stand by it. It's not unreasonable for ANY Country to ask and expect their expats to be able to pay their own way in terms of medical insurance and having enough to live in their country to a certain minimum standard over a period of time.
I accept that the 800,000 baht figure as mentioned by others if of course higher than the figures Dab69 mentions, however I would suggest ( as I've said before on other posts) that if thinking of relocating to a different county and after a life time of saving / working / selling your house or your ass or whatever I would think HAVING that 800,000 tucked away might not be THAT impossible for most people.
There's nothing obnoxious about that view, it's just a fact as I see it.
I do realise that not every has and as I've said before those people I feel for, but it's really not the Thai ( or any ) Governments fault or problem to legislate for same otherwise where do they stop - surely ?
Renewed my visa extension today. Took all day and was a pain in the butt.
Happy that the OP got his so easily.
Will Rogers said, "I never met a man I didn't like", but he never met Donald Trump.
As someone who lives here on a 1 year visa extension I enjoy hearing the experiences of others either renewing theirs or those interested in applying for one the first time however, most that insist on commenting are neither, hence their input is rather meaningless.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
Question: Is the retirement visa better or buying the Thai Elite visa ?
The Elite visa seems less of a hassle and comes with other perks.
Thoughts ?
If by chance you can arrange to have 65,000 THB deposited in a Thai bank on a consistent basis after retirement I would recommend doing the routine annual visa extension. If you do this it would be better to obtain the visa in your home country (O-Visa) otherwise you will have to have proof of heath insurance as well if you apply for the visa in Thailand (O-A Visa).
If you can't comply with the 65,000 THB/month scheme, then it's a matter of weighing out the inconvenience of maintaining 800k of your savings in a Thai bank to get your visa renewed each year - or spending the big bucks for the convenience offered by the Elite Visa.
Dodger, I believe you are wrong about obtaining an O visa in your home country and an O-A visa in Thailand. It is best/easiest to get an O visa in Thailand with no need for health insurance. The O-A visa is normally gotten in home country and requires health insurance.
Also I would think it is more convenient to maintain 800,00o Baht in a Thai bank (assuming you have 800,000 Baht) than monthly deposits of 65,000 Baht which must be shown as internationally transfers.
mr giggles (December 14th, 2022)
Up here in Chiang Mai, it seems that you can come in either on a Visa Waiver or a Tourist Visa (single or multiple) and then convert to a NON-O. This can then become an extension of stay. Personally I wouldn't risk the Visa Waiver route from a time perspective, but the Tourist Visa way is very straightforward assuming that you have, or can have, Bht800,000 in a Thai account.
Opps...
Sorry for the confusion... I had that backwards.
Good catch.
The catch 22 I keep seeing is the Thai bank account. You need to be resident with lease to get an account, you need to have an account with 800k for XX months to get a Visa. so you need to have a visa to get an account, you need an account to get a visa.
what is the timeline/method for this that I am missing?
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