@Mark ********

seems like I'll be picking up the dog tomorrow in Lampang (the owner is already in Chiang Rai ... Just started her new job, the dog is with her mother right now.)

After I pick up the dog I'll give you a call and you can send me directions and I'll drop her off at your place ... No exact time, but I suspect we'll leave home around noon, get to Lampang before 1pm, knowing that ladies, they will chat for an hour ;-) so probably head to Doi Saket at around 2pm ... I'm guessing an hour or so drive ... Anyway, I'll call when we get to Lampang.

Cheers

@Mark ********

she knows more than I about the dog. If she doesn't answer you can call me at 08-4069-1086

@Mark ********

nice to meet you (in Canadian) call me (my wife) say 0929639957

@Mark ********

Do you speak Thai or your wife speak Thai?

The owner is my wife's friend she only speaks Thai. If we need a translator my wife speaks both.

If you can communicate in Thai I'll send you her line number and you can talk directly to her.

Is that okay?

Do you speak Thai or your wife speak Thai?

The owner is my wife's friend she only speaks Thai. If we need a translator my wife speaks both.

If you can communicate in Thai I'll send you her line number and you can talk directly to her.

Is that okay?

@Mark ********

hi Mark, are you in the change Mai area? And do you have a large yard? She's not a small house dog. :-)

800,000 baht, yes, usually.

Depending upon where you are from you may be able to get the retirement visa (O-A) in your home country, and the Thai embassy there may just ask you for your financial information from your local bank accounts and income streams, and if they give you the O-A that gives you time to possibly work your way into meeting the requirements for the 65,000 Baht monthly deposit option (but I forget if that is a 6 month or 1 year record of monthly deposits, so you may need to come to Thailand first for a couple of months, open a bank account, then go home and start the O-A process while making monthly 65K deposits to 'prime' the process.

The other option is arriving here on a tourist visa and try to convert to an 'O' visa (same as an O-A with same financial requirements, although no insurance requirements,so depending on your need for health insurance would make for a cheaper, if not very wise, option.) Also be aware that arriving on a tourist visa and converting in Thailand is not ' a given', they may turn you around and tell you to apply from your home country ... a good immigration agent, or lawyer (at a cost of probably 25K and up Baht, might make that option more viable, but still probably safer to go the O-A route frim your home country.

The above is all just my opinion, do your own research since there's chance I could be wrong.

At immigration I have been asked for the address I am staying, and I was only asked that because I didn't put it on my arrival card (it was during Covid and I wasn't sure if they wanted the quarantine hotel I would be staying at for 10 days or my final destination.)

'depleting your savings' is a strange way to put it. I have a mixture of guaranteed income and regular RRSP savings. The RRSPs have to have a minimum amount withdrawn from them every year anyway, so it works out best for me to withdraw mostly from the RRSPs and allow the guaranteed pensions to fully mature.

So in theory there's no issue with 'proving' income except possibly for the potentially restrictive requirements that the Chiang Mai Canadian consulate might require from me.

I'm only looking for the details because I want to make some major purchases and using the money deposited in my Thai bank account makes sense from a tax perspective (if I take a big lump sum of money out of my RRSP, it will get taxed at higher rate than my normal monthly withdrawals, so if better to use the money here and then refill it over a few years with smaller lump sum withdrawals, taxed at a lower rate.)

If that's not possible then I'll take the more 'expensive' route ... But if I can save 5 or 10% then why not? ;-)

@John *********

yeah, but that 'annual income' part is the issue. I went there last year to see how much effort it was to get that certificate and I was led to understand that I need to show them either documentation from guaranteed income sources (Canadian pension, private pensions of the guaranteed income variety, employment income, or investment income ... My understanding of the investment income was that the interest earned was the portion they considered as 'income', and not the investment 'principle' itself ... My situation is that I'm using the investment principle as my primary 'income' until I'm 70 and my guaranteed income pensions fully mature.)

Maybe I misunderstood, so lacking any definitive answer I'll go to the immigration office and the Canadian consulate to have them clarify what they want and what I need to show.

Thanks for your input though, at least it clarifies the questions I need to ask!