Retirement Visa

[Maxx]

Yesterday I renewed my “Retirement Visa “ for the 16th time using the monthly income method.
This was one of the most seamless renewals ,the most taxing issue in the whole process was the schlep up to Bangkok last week in the the heat to acquire my income verification letter from the Irish consulate in Wireless Rd.
That was the only financial document I submitted to the Immigration dept. in Jomtien nothing else was demanded.
He raced through my papers with his yellow maker not even demanding his usual ”you photo copy this “routine.
My reflections on the recent shenanigans regarding this issue is that much of it could have been avoided with a little more diplomacy by the western Diplomats.
The Irish Consulate has always required you submit supporting documents of income before issuing the verification letter ,This in my case has always been Bank statements .Pension letters and property income statements all U.K based.
The never at any point asked to see Thai Bank A/C”s or money transfers into Thailand.
Now while I am aware that my verification letter might not be of “Price .Waterhouse .Cooper” standard,
this has been the case for the last 15 years and seemingly nothing has changed.
When ”Big Joke” started his “Bad Guys out” Nationalist Bullshit he should have been seen as the latest Puyai who needed to be seen off by skilled diplomacy.
Netting a few Nigerian drug mules,Lao sex workers or a few destitute Americans would have kept everyone happy.
I have no idea what type of income verification he was demanding as apart from the notorious American swearing on the Bible nonsense (American exceptionalness gone mad )to the best of my knowledge most embassies required some documentation before issuing a verification letter.
Surely skilled Diplomats could see the wide range of interpretations that could be attached to the word “Verify “
Some diplomatic silence and mumbled mutterings of “Check “, Check” would surely have sufficed to maintain the status quo.
Instead we had a few of the Big Boys throwing their toys out from the pram creating unnecessary confusion and stress for their citizens
The American system of affidavits was open to abuse and surely a few accompanying documents would not have taxed the Embassy staff unduly.
As for the British consumed as they are by “ Brexit “ and not over taxing their already vastly reduced mission in Bangkok it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
So Such is life In LOS as they say who knows by next year we might all facing entirely new criteria.
Kudos to those Consulates and Embassies who were not panicked into making rash decisions, perhaps they could invite a few of the Big beasts to a refresher course in the art of Diplomacy!
I also managed to navigate this period relatively stress free by avoiding such sites as Thai visa thus keeping my blood pressure relatively stable. I checked occasionally on the Irish Consulate website and when the advice did not change I proceeded as I had done previous years

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