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This Pattaya Expat Club vid presentation on tax planning by Thai tax advisor. .

With higher social security kicking in pretty soon and other income I am looking at the LTR Visa as an option.

Totally different products but what is the total LTR vs Type O Visa fee cost comparison over 10 years?

The LTR Visa saves some time getting bank letters and renewing the Type O visa every year.... and the 90 day report is reduced to once a year from what I understand.

Looking at just the basics..

The LTR Visa fee with multiple entry allowed is 50k baht

If you have a Type O Visa renewed every year costs 1900 baht (plus assume you want the multi-entry options similar to the LTR) so add the 3800 baht multi-entry permit cost and the yearly Type O cost equals 5700 baht per year....or 57k baht over 10 years.

Basic costs:

LTR VISA. 50K

Type O + multi-entry 57k

With the LTR Visa you save only a bit... 7k baht over 10 years. If you invested that 50k baht LTR fee over 10 years you might make up for that 7k extra cost of Type O/multi-entry permit renewals over 10 years

But for a pensioner what are the LTR Visa income tax savings if any?

This is a basic comparison and there might be other cost details I am not aware of. Any other input is welcome.

When I ordered the new 4K Firestick from Lazada I got a US version.

This Lazada Firestick did not have Asia/Thailand-specic apps like Disney Hotstar and HBO Go so we have to cast those Asia apps from phones bought in Thailand and that's a bit of a pain.

Is there a way to Lazada order Firesticks that have the Asia-specific apps?....Or maybe they don't make one.

I even had a Health Insurance agent tell me to self insure for the small stuff.

If you are relatively healthy for your age do that and the type O visa maybe. But for the unexpected future big hospital bills like a heart problem maybe have something to cover for the biggest bills.

There are many approaches and ultimately it depends on your comfort level, bank book balance for emergencies

and your health.

@Keith ******

may help to read up on last state of residence ...and establishing residence in a non income tax state before you move. Not sure about virginia but California and a few other states are really strict and do audits to enable them to keep taxing you even after you move.

@Brian *******

With a thai address eventually you might have to opt for the Schwab international banking account. This is what they told me over the phone.

Good post. I have extended several times. Usually they tell me to come back in 90 days to show the 800k is still in the bank. But during the last extension they asked me if I plan on withdrawing any of my 800k balance. When I said no they said there is then no need to come back in 90 days to show bankbook balance. Not sure if this was a one-off or standard policy.

@Ellie ******

ok thanks.

I took your advice and tried option #1 ..... Bangkok bank opened 10 am. Received bank documents by 10.15 and then drove 15 minutes to Jomtien immigration.

New Jomtien que position #1 did not have many people in line. And then section 8 extensions called our que # in a few minutes.

Total time from Bank opening to exit IO was 1 hour! (Reason so fast...Combination of going Wed., low season and morning rain and luck?)

They said I can pick up my passport tomorrow afternoon. So I do not have to cancel next week's Vietnam travel plans.