News Forum - Retire to Thailand? Think again, unless you’ve got the dosh!

[Thaiger]

Retiring to Thailand is the dream of many foreigners. And why not? The Land of Smiles has it all: sun, sea, sand, sexy senoritas, and a cheap way of living so, let’s do it! But what about the red tape? Is there any? How does Johnny Foreigner retire to Thailand? Well, Thailand’s Board of Investment is set to make an announcement on September 1 regarding its Long-Term Resident Visa plan. There are 4 categories and unless you’ve got plenty of dosh don’t pack your bucket and spade because retirement in Thailand is not happening for you. The BOI believe the […]

The story Retire to Thailand? Think again, unless you’ve got the dosh! as seen on Thaiger News.

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[fyaman001]

…..or you just get a simple retirement visa that you renew each year. All it requires us 800k baht or 65,000 baht monthly income. 
but I think I get it….don’t give the whole truth and less farangs will come and muck it up for the rest of us!!

[Andreasx]

Need more details. Seems like Work-From-Thailand Professional is easy to qualify for. As a digital nomad, what will be the taxes, and will all the benefits apply? Strange that there is not a requirement to earn money once you are get the 10 year visa. 

[Giltee]

This government has seriously lost its marbles. A new Zealand pension is $25,517.96 or US$16,000 and the Australian pension isn’t much more. To keep the NZ pension you have to spend 6 months in the country. To get up US$80,000 you’d have to have a private superannuation which I have but who wants or needs to bring $80,000 a year into Thailand? With this law they’ll see way fewer retirees and the rich ones they want won’t spend a great deal more than I’d spend so in the long term they’ll lose earnings from retirees. It’s not just about money in the bank. It’s more about what we spend, houses we build, people we employ, etc. I don’t like to criticise the administration that lets me live here but I feel this is xenophobic from a government that only sees farang as a source of money. 

[DonnoAus]

What a load of twaddle. The author of this article belongs in the comments section. Four new visas for long term immigration and you whinge about them not being quite right, all while ignoring the retiree visa that already exists. 

[Ivo_Shandor]

Wouldn't be better to just update the Smart Visa scheme rather than setting up a new one from scratches? Their fondness for bureaucracy is incredible 

[Poolie]

12 minutes ago, Giltee said:

This government has seriously lost its marbles. A new Zealand pension is $25,517.96 or US$16,000 and the Australian pension isn’t much more. To keep the NZ pension you have to spend 6 months in the country. To get up US$80,000 you’d have to have a private superannuation which I have but who wants or needs to bring $80,000 a year into Thailand? With this law they’ll see way fewer retirees and the rich ones they want won’t spend a great deal more than I’d spend so in the long term they’ll lose earnings from retirees. It’s not just about money in the bank. It’s more about what we spend, houses we build, people we employ, etc. I don’t like to criticise the administration that lets me live here but I feel this is xenophobic from a government that only sees farang as a source of money. 

But surely they all do that? At least they say they do....................

[Janneman]

This will surely attract some wealthy foreigners. But no digital nomads.

Did someone mention the 5 year visa for Bali, Indonesia? 

[dimitri]

1 hour ago, Andreasx said:

Need more details. Seems like Work-From-Thailand Professional is easy to qualify for. As a digital nomad, what will be the taxes, and will all the benefits apply? Strange that there is not a requirement to earn money once you are get the 10 year visa. 

 

You didn't read everything:

 

"and their current employer must have one of the following characteristics:(a) A public company listed on the stock exchange in any country.(b) A private company that has been in operation for at least 3 years and has total combined revenue of more than US$150 million in the last 3 years."

 

So this will not work for digital nomads.  That USD 80k is a joke. I know enough digital nomads who make MUCH more. But as always, they've made it too complicated. In a few years it will turn out that no one is interested because almost no one meets the requirements. This is again something that fails before they even start. And all because of a lack of knowledge about how the world works.

 

 

[dimitri]

1 hour ago, DonnoAus said:

What a load of twaddle. The author of this article belongs in the comments section. Four new visas for long term immigration and you whinge about them not being quite right, all while ignoring the retiree visa that already exists. 

 

Maybe they ignore this because the article is about the new visa's ?  Do you really want a complete overview of all visa options in every article about visa's?

 

[Cqman]

That is strange that each time they say they want to attract more foreigners, they also make sure that the least possible amount of people meet the requirements.

Do they really want to attract more foreigners ? It seems to me that they don't.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Cqman

[Poolie]

Probably not. There's enough old giffers moaning about everything and everybody already.

[Cabra]

1 hour ago, Janneman said:

This will surely attract some wealthy foreigners. But no digital nomads.

Did someone mention the 5 year visa for Bali, Indonesia? 

The LTR is not new. While lowering the price might attract some undecided buyers, lowering the price from 100k to 50k baht is not likely what is holding back wealthy individuals from committing to the LTR

[rc1]

2 hours ago, Andreasx said:

Need more details. Seems like Work-From-Thailand Professional is easy to qualify for. As a digital nomad, what will be the taxes, and will all the benefits apply? Strange that there is not a requirement to earn money once you are get the 10 year visa. 

Agree, for someone under 50 the "Work from Thailand Professional" could be a better option than Elite.

Lots of people are working for large qualifying employers, currently earning over that threshold in their own countries. What's to stop them applying for this, getting it,  and then doing whatever they like in Thailand?

There isn't  any requirement listed to stay employed, or any ongoing proof of income from 'working  from Thailand' at this stage. 

Apparently these were approved via the government gazette on on 2nd June so applications from September 2nd.

Anyone on here have some thoughts / knowledge of this?

 

[Guest1]

1 hour ago, dimitri said:

Maybe they ignore this because the article is about the new visa's ?  Do you really want a complete overview of all visa options in every article about visa's?

On on side, yes, on the other side: they talk about retirement, but aren't this visas more for people under 50, working, digital nomads? Or even rich people, perhaps with no intention to marry a Thai, to get a long term visa or extension. 

If it is about retirement, the "existing" ways are not really to exclude, imho.

 

[dimitri]

4 hours ago, Guest1 said:

for people under 50, working, digital nomads? Or even rich people, perhaps with no intention to marry a Thai, to get a long term visa or extension. 

 

All digital nomads I know are self employed, and do not fall in the category "working for a public company listed on the stock exchange".

And most professionals making 80k+ who work for "A public company listed on the stock exchange" will not be allowed to work fulltime from Thailand.  And if you want to work parttime from Thailand a tourist visa is also good.

I really do not understand who they are targeting. I think the group they are targeting is so very small that in some years they will find out that nobody uses these visa.

 

[Artemis080]

I have to agree that working for a public company yada yada is straight up garbage.

You can't effectively send an employee to directly work in Thailand without triggering some planning around permenant establishment risk. This is why many remote workers have their own legal entity or structure to offset it.

I'm 100% for there being relatively high financial bar. There are plenty of remote workers and digital nomads who would pass that test and add value to the Thai economy. And, ultimately if you make use of an LTR visa you end likely becoming a tax resident anyway.

But that hoop is just pointless. 

[DonnoAus]

23 hours ago, dimitri said:

Maybe they ignore this because the article is about the new visa's ?  Do you really want a complete overview of all visa options in every article about visa's?

Good point.  I was mislead by the clickbait heading "Retire to Thailand? Think again, unless you’ve got the dosh!". 

[Cabra]

22 hours ago, rc1 said:

Agree, for someone under 50 the "Work from Thailand Professional" could be a better option than Elite.

Lots of people are working for large qualifying employers, currently earning over that threshold in their own countries. What's to stop them applying for this, getting it,  and then doing whatever they like in Thailand?

There isn't  any requirement listed to stay employed, or any ongoing proof of income from 'working  from Thailand' at this stage. 

Apparently these were approved via the government gazette on on 2nd June so applications from September 2nd.

Anyone on here have some thoughts / knowledge of this?

It's a option for a few. Particularly sole proprietors (as they can do as they please). However, there are tax and HR implications (for public companies) to letting people work/earn from wherever they want (it can also result in larger employers adjusting your pay based on where to work). Abnb is trying a bold experiment. But they are not the rule  I do believe they/Abnb are all classified a contractors to avoid tax issues. Some large companies are opting to allow workers to work from anywhere as long as it's in the same time zone. It's sort of all over the place right now, this remote work thing. As far as gaming the system once you get to Thailand... Anything is possible I suppose

 

 

[SteveL]

I think this boils down to two simple things -

Thailand likes tourist and not expats.....come spend your money then go home. 

And much like all the new plans that the government comes up with (tourism, visas, etc.,) the first iteration is always very grand and when if isn't met with much success it is revised multiple times until it gets back to roughly where it was originally. 

[Zorba_the_Geek]

On 6/17/2022 at 4:17 PM, Giltee said:

This government has seriously lost its marbles. A new Zealand pension is $25,517.96 or US$16,000 and the Australian pension isn’t much more. To keep the NZ pension you have to spend 6 months in the country. To get up US$80,000 you’d have to have a private superannuation which I have but who wants or needs to bring $80,000 a year into Thailand? With this law they’ll see way fewer retirees and the rich ones they want won’t spend a great deal more than I’d spend so in the long term they’ll lose earnings from retirees. It’s not just about money in the bank. It’s more about what we spend, houses we build, people we employ, etc. I don’t like to criticise the administration that lets me live here but I feel this is xenophobic from a government that only sees farang as a source of money. 

I am in the same boat as you, but I don't and won't grovel to this government! In any case, all governments see their serfs as a source of money.

I solved the problem by ending my retirement (I started at 50) and returning to the workforce. I am upskilling to be a useful an digitally savvy senior, and will take rent from two Thai properties, which of course, help keep several Thais employed too, agents, maids, security etc. 

I'm no tycoon, these are middle class set-ups jointly held by my wonderful Thai spouse. She owns one in her own right.  

In turn she will get a spouse visa to work -or run a food truck business downunder. Like many, we will either work till we drop, or are able to offload assets at a premium in better times ahead.

If we do well, we hope to take a few months off in the Southern winter to enjoy Thailand, but the long term dream, for now, has been shelved. 

Full retirement was a blast! I miss it terribly.  But, to sit back and do nothing after the goalposts moved revealing exactly how your B800,000 is "stolen by stealth" was my wake up call. Every retiree should be alarmed that B400,000 is effectively untouchable forever, on pain of losing your extension. 

So, screw those guys! We can all only hope they are somehow dismissed sooner than later, and a more democratic and sympathetic adminstration is returned to Thailand, for all our sakes.  

Edited June 21, 2022 by Zorba_the_Geek

[dimitri]

On 6/22/2022 at 12:36 AM, Zorba_the_Geek said:

Every retiree should be alarmed that B400,000 is effectively untouchable forever, on pain of losing your extension. 

 

What is the problem with 400k?   Where I come from that will not even cover the cost of a funeral.  So even back home it is something you should have at the moment your time here is finished. Unless you want your next of kin to pay for your funeral.

 

Edited June 23, 2022 by dimitri