I did take accident insurance when I got a Kasikorn account. A couple of months later I had an accident and Kasikorn paid in full. I bought more insurance the next year. They eventually wouldn’t sell to me when I turned 65.

@Tom *******

You don’t have to be retired. You just have to be over 50 and not work in Thailand.

Why are you trying to transfer exactly 65,000฿? The 65k is a minimum. You can transfer more than 65k to meet the monthly requirement.

@Tom *******

He can’t work in Thailand

@Yo***

That is what I meant by “awkward consequences” for both the owner and tenants.

The new rules actually make sense to me but the change and the path from here to there will be difficult . Similar to clearing out bank accounts opened while on tourist entries.

I signed a lease last month, fortunately with a Thai owner.

I saw the video yesterday . Buzzing Pattaya.

I think the desired effect is to limit what foreigners on short term visas/entries can do in Thailand. The same as not being able to open a bank account without a long term visa. I can see some awkward consequences to this.

I had an OA from 2017-2023. There was no insurance requirement back in 2017. I bought Thai insurance in 2018 because my US insurance wouldn’t cover me as a long term resident of Thailand. When they added the insurance requirement to the OA in 2019 it didn’t affect me but many people switched from their OA to an O. I guess the insurance alone was the motivation. Since then I have to believe that insurance is still keeps some people from the OA. I often hear people say they want to keep their current home country insurance and don’t want an additional minimum policy just to qualify for an OA when the O is available. All those people using agents are, of course, getting an O visa.

I kept 800,000฿ in my Thai bank account all those years. I got a pensioner LTR in 2023 so I got the 800k back and I am glad to have had the insurance because the LTR has an insurance requirement too.

@Helen ******

There is a Facebook group dedicated to using Wise in Thailand. If you might want to join that group for Wise questions.

I wire transfer from my US bank to my Thai bank. It typically takes 24-36 hrs for the money to show up in my Thai bank account. Note though that banks in the US and Thailand won't process the transfer on weekends and holidays and that there is a 12 hr time difference between the US and Thailand. That can increase the time to transfer. That has been my experience the past few years.

@David ********

I got the OA in 2017 when there was no health insurance requirement. It was the first thing I saw on the website and I didn’t know about the other visas.

I did get Thai insurance in 2018 that qualified for the requirement implemented in 2019 so the change didn’t affect me. I still have the insurance and used it to qualify for my pensioner LTR in 2023.

OA has some unique features that even today appeal to some expats. I have to believe that fewer people consider it now unless, like me at the time, they don’t know any better.