@Frank-Steven **********

Even the WP category suffers from the "requirements not matching...desired target group realities" problem, though to a much lesser extent. The issue that I and many other US applicants faced is that we had comprehensive health insurance as part of our retirement, but it's in the form of group insurance - the norm in the US - that BoI either doesn't understand or is somehow barred from accepting.

They never explain what they don't like about it, but instead just keep sending the "please provide medical insurance" boilerplate again and again, even after all the insurance details have been provided. This type of insurance typically has unlimited coverage and is valid for life, and yet they just won't allow it. With that kind of restriction, many US retirees won't even bother applying.

@Natalie *******

Exactly!

@Tulip *******

That depends on your definition of "long term", but yeah, it's not permanent, which it really should be for a retirement visa (who wants to move again at age 75 or 80?). It's also not even renewable every five years; at this point, you get five years to start, and then can activate the second half of the "ten year" visa at the end of that time. What happens after that? We won't really know until 2032...

@Ludwig **********

For LTR? No, there isn't.

@Natalie *******

Right. I happened to have had enough cash in the bank, but the problem I see is that they don't understand that listed stocks can be turned into cash almost instantly, so there's really very little difference between equities and cash. (The kind of person who would refuse to sell assets to pay for medical treatment would probably also refuse to use their savings...!)

If they really want to attract wealthy individuals in larger numbers, they should realize that, and adjust their policy. But it's their decision, even if I happen to think it's not a particularly wise one.

@Eri ***********

As

@Natalie *******

said, the longest part is waiting for your qualifications (income and insurance) to be approved - in my case it took about 10 weeks. After that, everything was super quick: I got the "Qualification Endorsement" email on a Friday, uploaded my passport copies, got the "approval" email Monday morning, made an appointment for the next day, and had the visa before noon on Tuesday. Every appointment slot on every day was wide open for booking, and the process at the One Stop Center took under 90 minutes, almost all of which was spent relaxing on a sofa while the BoI people ran around and did all the work with immigration - I only had to pose for photos and pay the fee.

@Natalie *******

The question of using investment accounts in lieu of insurance is an odd one. I know several people who were allowed to use them, and others (including you) who were told very specifically that they couldn't. I'm not sure what's behind that lack of consistency - or why, for that matter, 800k USD (for example) of liquid assets isn't thought of as equivalent to 100k USD in cash.

@Natalie *******

I totally agree that the BoI folks were always polite and pleasant, but neither I nor my friends had the luck with phoning them that you did. The one time I called, it took 8 tries over two days before I reached anyone, and that seems pretty typical of what most other people have experienced. The other problem, that you seem to have avoided, is that while the staff answering the phone are friendly, their information isn't always correct, since they're not the ones making decisions. Several people I know were told every time they called that "your case should be approved next week" - and no, those cases weren't approved the next week! So it's great to be able to talk with someone, but the talks aren't always fruitful.

@Ludwig **********

That's true in general, but there is also a specific clause in the law/regulation creating the LTR that formally exempts the foreign income of LTR holders from Thai tax.

@Natalie *******

You seem to have had a great experience, which was quite different from mine and that of other people I know. The only emails I ever received from them were a request for documents, which came only after I had called them (after 22 workdays with no communication of any kind), and which conflicted with what I had been told on the phone a few minutes earlier - and then the final "qualification endorsement" and "approved, make an appointment" messages. For the rest of the 47 workdays that my case took, they maintained radio silence 🤐