What are the best long-term visa options for a retired American expat in Thailand?

@David *****

my wife and I found good insurance here for us both for $2200 USD a year, with everything I need covered. Insurance here is much more affordable than the USA, as well as treatment without insurance.

🥳

@Andy *******

not really. I don’t actually know of a single country that allows you to become tax non-resident until you clearly establish tax residency in a new country.

For most, a key advantage of becoming expat are the tax benefits. Which don’t exist until you become non-resident.

@Todd ********

UK, Canada, Australia for a start. No one should expect or offer tax advise via a comments section BTW, but you can maintain a Thai bank account without being a tax resident there, as you can in many places. Switching tax residency to another territorial tax jurisdiction that does not tax remittances or even require furnishing a return for non-local income would be an advantage for many people.

@Andy *******

you are incorrect. None of those 3 permit tax non-residency until tax residency is established in another country. You remain tethered to their tax regime until you establish new residency. And even then, some forms of income remain taxable in original nation.

Of course you can maintain a bank account without being tax resident almost anywhere. But each country has specific requirements.

‘Switching’ tax residency requires becoming tax resident in the new nation. So limiting your time in Thailand to 4-5 months a years accomplishes absolutely nothing

@Todd ********

* For the UK there is no mention of proving tax residency elsewhere. *

The UK rules are quite clear ( that if you pass the SRT as non-resident then you only pay tax on certain income earned in the UK. If you become tax resident in a country that taxes global income then the DTAs may come into play. As it stands now I understand Thailand does not tax worldwide income if not remitted to the Kingdom so DTAs don’t come into play (your UK income is taxed in the UK, Thai income and remittances in Thailand and anything else is potentially tax free).

Personally I’ve only come across one situation where I would have had to prove tax residency elsewhere - Vietnam requires proof of tax residency elsewhere if you have a lease over 183 days in Vietnam in a year but spend less than 183 days in country otherwise they can tax your worldwide income

@Todd ********

hence claims from the comments section should be taken with a grain of salt. Anyone can find the facts for themselves with some cursory research. It is good practice to challenge your assumptions.

@Andy *******

it’s a better practice not to make assumptions.

@Todd ********

it is better practice not in insult kind strangers.

@Mark *******

it’s hard to evaluate if you are that drunk or that stupid. Either way, this is a good laugh.

You can’t even construct a coherent sentence ffs. You can barely write English and you are worried about my comprehension. I have smarter house plants. Shuffle on you oxygen thief.

Anway wasting my time talking to retards is done for today, beg a couple of baht off someone and get a refill,

@Mark *******

‘anyway’ you drunken fool. And in English we use periods, not commas to indicate sentence completion. Lay off the Chang

If you want a long term visa under 50 they are the correct visas. The financial thresholds the person needs to achieve are part of the process of ensuring they get who they want rather than penniless bums. That is why these are the visas available. Or scam a DTV and live with the shortfalls.

@Mark *******

oh… which correct visas are those?

The DTV? If you have the good fortune of having a skin disease needing treatment and your gramma can lend you €13k for a few days, you may indeed enter for 5 years. Or you have a successful Only Fans channel. Or if you are in need of a 5 year Thai cooking class you can now have a ‘proper’ visa. Excellent.

Or upon reaching the arbitrary age of 50, the nation welcomes penniless bums who can cobble together 800k baht 😂 on a permanent basis. That certainly seems an important ‘financial threshold’ to achieve long term retirement in the Kingdom

I don't think DTV is any sort of proper visa,mainly a scam. Try reading the post correctly instead of running gleefully into a BS diatribe👍

@Mark *******

whether you ‘think’ it is or not is maximally irrelevant. The fact is, it’s a ‘proper’ visa. And there remains wide gaps in the system for people under 50 looking to stay long term without employment. Which is why immigration turns a blind eye to endlessly repeating border bounces and visa runs.

@Todd ********

"Which is why immigration turns a blind eye to endlessly repeating border bounces and visa runs" you are delusional😂😂

@Mark *******

wake up. I’m sitting next to someone now here since 2019 and never had a visa. Other than 6 months of exemption for Covid, all visa exempt entries. If you actually live here, there is almost zero chance you don’t know some also. I know many. Ignorance can be blissful for sure, but that’s a choice you make

@Todd ********

Yup and we will see how much longer that lasts. Just because you know of loads that have i also know of loads that have been refused entry in the recent past. I wish them luck but you will find its running out. Crawl back into your bottle of Chang wait blindly for thre moment to come...

@Mark *******

you would have said the same thing 5 years ago. It will last for years unless the system changes. Nothing has changed but the existence of more whiners online. It’s never been easier to stay long term with DTV now also.

If ‘refused entry’ then you go back and arrange with agency. Or try different entry point. They likely didn’t bother to learn the difference. It just means you know loads of people who failed to understand the system. Lot of daft folks around you there?

@Todd ********

You really are struggling can you just not understand the English language? Simple little things like "know" and by adding the word "of" changes the context completely but you are obviously so dumb you think you are really clever. I have met so many sad old trolls like yourself in Thailand and felt sorry for you all. Newsflash even agencies can't fix everything these days you will be suggesting someone use one to get a bank account next...

@Brandon ********

yes - that’s fair. Both the age and the financial thresholds for LTR seem arbitrarily high. Why not at 40? Or 30? If you have $80k USD in passive income, what difference does age make.

@Nongnuch *******

and 4 if which he wouldn't qualify for. So I mentioned the only one he could potentially qualify for.