@Edna ******

yes. Some accounts yield no interest and require an annual or bi-annual maintenance fee. Not much, I think my account had less than ฿300.

However, some IO may respond negatively to ฿799.700 in the account.

If I wanted to “set it and forget it”, I would deposit an extra ฿1000.

Unless, you open an interest bearing account like discussed elsewhere in this thread.

Make sure you keep a little more than the 800k on the “immigration” account if you are not going to pay attention tot be account. There might be annual fees from the bank that’ll draw down the amount and some IOs are sticklers for keeping the amounts completely at or above the required amounts.

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

not a bad suggestion. Some tourism but probably not as overwhelming as some other islands.

My question would be health care for a western couple. I don’t know the answer to that.

However, I would probably care more about that than a school for the two young children.

Physicians generally speak reasonable English most places I. Thailand, but the question would be the quality of hospitals and access to medical tools.

I’ve been to some government run hospitals with apparently good doctors but over crowding and lack of aircon would be a big question for me.

A commercial hospital (an international hospital) would be a must if I had children in Thailand.

@Robert ********

it doesn’t look like they need schools at all. Their kids are 2 and 4 and they plan to stay 6-12 months.

Best plan in my opinion would be to get a bilingual “maid” to help with the kids and the household. Cheaper than an international school and the kids might learn a little Thai.

@Erik **********

and from experience, I can vouch for the Norwegian embassy being VERY helpful and accommodating in all matters.

@Asim *********

the new rules appears to be interesting. As usual, the devil will be in the details, but I certainly would welcome the opportunity to be a “snow bird” with long stays abroad but with a remaining home base.

Let’s see how this works out when the details are published.

@Brandon ***********

a very clear explanation. Thanks!

@Jan *****************

I have a norwegian passport but I have lived as a resident in the US my adult life, so Norway has no records of my social security income. And the US doesn’t provide income affidavits.

Thanks for answering the question. I was wondering why this hasn’t come up before (now I know!).

I am sure this method would have been good for many near-retirement age. If it only had been possible.

I do also want to thank the moderators for their great work. At this point, I think I am better versed in Thai immigration minutiae than I am in the American rules!

Talk to the staff at the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok. I got a (Norwegian) passport in May and it took less than four weeks to process and return.

I have rarely found a more helpful government post than the Norwegian Embassy.

@Darren ********

the IO had a stamp which he dated and signed and added the existing dates from the old passport stamp.

I did, however, have a letter from the (Norwegian) embassy declaring that the fresh passport was a replacement for my old passport. I don’t think the IO unfolded that letter, so he didn’t much look for that.

On the form, there is a spot where you have to declare the REASON for having your passport changed. Mine had songkran water damage and since I was near my embassy, I figured getting a replacement passport now was easier than doing it at home (in the US, where I need to go to Washington DC for the biometric recordings - annoying).

And now, the passport has Bangkok as the place of issuance, which is kind of cool. I thought. I please easily.